TSC
Offline
Milwaukee, WI

I just tried the working MMC with Pulsar all wired up on an SNROM-03 and it is all garbled/scrambled/doesn't want to work. Perhaps I need to clear all/RAM but I'm not sure I see a menu for this in the Pulsar manual. Going to try PR8 now.

*edit*

PR8 runs/works until settings get crazy, at which point it freezes/continues to run with glitched out colors and characters. You have to wait about 1-2 minutes before powering back on, otherwise the program will not run. The reset button just fucks it up.

*edit #2*

It seems I found a setting which freezes it no matter what. It triggers one note and stops.

Last edited by TSC (Oct 22, 2012 2:31 am)

Theta_Frost
Offline
Milwaukee, WI

Some of that might be glitches in the software.  I've used Pulsar more than PR8 but the former especially crashed on me a lot.  Still love it, but needs a few more tweaks to be steady in my arsenal.  smile  Anyways, nice work on the NEC vs. Sharp MMC's!  That info is probably worth relaying to NESDev.

TSC
Offline
Milwaukee, WI

Thanks! I'd relay the info, but my posts are ignored. wink

How did you manage to get Pulsar working on hardware? It literally boots to a grey screen with numbers for me. It turns blue when I reset. Ha.

Theta_Frost
Offline
Milwaukee, WI

Powerpak.  I'm spoiled with my NES setup. tongue  I had the grey screen problem when I hadn't updated my mapper list.  However, that doesn't sound like it should be the problem with yours.  ???

neilbaldwin
Offline
WOW MAN!

By request I'm just registering that I'm watching this with interest and concern.

However my hands are really tied. I don't have the setup or knowledge (or time!) to start getting into testing my software on these hacked carts. It all seems a bit hit and miss which would make debugging software issues a total nightmare. If someone has a definite answer which would point to something that needs fixing/changing then I'd be more than happy to look into it.

@theta: pm me with details about the issues you've been having with PR8/Pulsar on your Powerpak

Theta_Frost
Offline
Milwaukee, WI

I've been meaning to send you a lengthy feature request/bug report kind of thing.  I'll definitely have time later this week.  smile

TSC
Offline
Milwaukee, WI

A quick update - I managed to get Pulsar to start, but it now displays the same behavior as PR8 (freezing after a minute or two of use). It also seems buggy with chain/block recognition, but I don't know if that is due to the nature of the hacked cart or if it's part of what Theta_Frost had mentioned.

On a different note -  when looking at the MMC you can tell the manufacturer by the "S" or "N" after the MMC number. I'm sure this is obvious, but I didn't feel like pouring through threads over at NESDev to confirm.

I'm still experiencing garbled screens/colors when hitting Reset. I think I may just sell all the tools off this weekend. The Powerpak is looking better by the hour.

Last edited by TSC (Nov 3, 2012 2:19 am)

yogi
Offline
Jelly Stone park, MD USA

I reallllly want to try this. Got the Willem burner set up and some ebay carts enroute, but wanted to hear from peoples that got one or both working and what carts they used? NES carts that work: Zelds, Bard's Tale: Nen Open Golf not so much?
I got a Kid Icarus, SPOT & Nen Open Golf coming. Will have to add battery to SPOT I think, but no biggie.
Just wanted to round up the winning carts

yogi
Offline
Jelly Stone park, MD USA

just to doc :
Open Golf-
NES-SNROM-05 1987   'N' MMC1B3
CR2023; R1, 2 & 3; D 1&2; C8; installed. 'SL' jumper OPEN
PRG- 32 pin

Spot-
NES-SNROM-05  1987   'N' MMC1B2
*no Batt*. R1, 2 & 3; D 1 & 2; C8 empty. 'SL'  jumper CLOSED
PRG-28 pin

Kid Icarus-
NES-SNROM-02  1987   'S'  MMC1A
*no Batt*  R1 installed, R2 & 3; D 1 & 2 Missing. No footprint for C8. Jumper bridge under D2 CLOSED
PRG-28pin

Just a thought, it occurred to me that the boot problems may be related to the backup batt. On the Golf cart, and I'm guessing others, the CR2032 is welded to the battery clips, so a weak batt can not be replaced. If it IS weak could it corrupt the ram during backup periods?

TSC
Offline
Milwaukee, WI

RE: Sharp and NEC MMC chips -

The Sharp MMCs always managed to work, even on games that have been reported as not working...the NECs not so much. In the example of NES Open Golf - I replaced the NEC with a Sharp and got NTRQ to work. I even burned the game back onto an EPROM to test the soldering, and it worked, so I'm convinced it's the MMC.

RE: PR8 -

I can get it to start/play around for a bit, but it *will* crash after a few minutes of use.

RE: Pulsar -

I use the same method  as PR8, but it runs corrupt and is basically unusable.

RE: Reset -

Pushing reset basically fucks everything up no matter what on PR8/Pulsar. It's almost as though it doesn't fully clear any leftover data.

I've tested various boards, EPROMs, burns, systems, weekdays, batteries and alignments of planetary bodies. No solid answer.

yogi
Offline
Jelly Stone park, MD USA

>TSC Read your efforts here with great interest. not clear on how you fared with NTRQ, was it also MMC ver dependent? The Kid Ich cart has a Sharp MMC1A; so I'll try NTRQ with the stock open Golf MMC1B3, to confirm a TRUE neg, then plan to replace it with the KI MMC1A.

neilbaldwin
Offline
WOW MAN!

Reading about all these problems is saddening. I wish I could help more sad

yogi
Offline
Jelly Stone park, MD USA

It's Cool, Neil. fighting these problems are part of the fun. I'm not an uber NES console hacker, so messing with these hacks is fun learning. The easy route is an EMU on my PC wink
Whats got me interested is the diff between a 'real' MMU1 and PowerPak mapping. For that matter what's up between NEC MMU1 and Sharp MMU1 chips?
Anyways, Thanks Neil for doing the hard part, coding pure goodness for the world! Listening to SMMM wile sitting here!

yogi
Offline
Jelly Stone park, MD USA

I'm bumping this because I found a slight issue with ne7's NTRQ how-to. I haven't tested and don't know the impact but will be doing some testing.
After doing some research for a related SNROM mod, I noticed that the Hack it up NTRQ guide shows EPROM pin 31 tied to NES ROM pin 2. On the cart, this signal is /CE from MMC pin 5, on the EPROM this is xx/PGM. This doesn't seem right, every chip access would assert the /PGM pin on the EPROM, but I don't know how it would effect a EPROM.
  I found another SNROM guide that leaves pin 31 tied high, as well as jumpers EPROM pin 1 to Vcc rather then leave it floating. http://www.54.org/sage/condev/ff2cartproject/
Yogi

yogi
Offline
Jelly Stone park, MD USA

Well, I wired up 2 SNROM boards, one with a socket and a 'N' MMC1 B1 (open Golf) and the other with a 'S' MMC1 A (Kid Icarus).
   I burned a 27C010 with NTRQ and tried it in the socket cart (Golf)-it ran fine! I then soldered it into the second cart (Kid I) and all is well.
  On both these carts I followed the guide I just posted above. Don't know if it's just tying pin 1 Vpp and pin 31 /PRG high, but both MMCs seemed to work.
Yogi

Last edited by yogi (Dec 12, 2013 5:25 am)

ne7
Offline
UK

Hey Yogi,
blimey only just noticed your comments: just a quick note, the confusion is caused as the pinouts on my diagram mean you can use a a 27c040 (512k) chip /o\ sorry about any confusion there - the pinout for 27c010 (128k) / 27c020 (256k) have a slightly different assignment for pin 31... On a 27c040 pin 31 is A18 y'see... v. odd that pin 1 would be complaining although tbh best practice is def to tie any floating pins - didn't think that would cause any issue tho - at least it does not on the Famicom smile Well done for fiddling and getting it working on the NES smile

I'll try and change the guide to reflect that soon! ^