Yes, that's right, make your own pirate mulitcart for the NES:
http://www.no-carrier.com/index.php?/9999-in-1/
Have fun!
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Combining this with your software that can make a menu for your NSFs. You and your software are legendary.
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Minneapolis
Alright, now I can switch from the other freely available multi-ROM roms to the official NoCarrier one! Nice job, as always.
EDIT: Only one problem I find with this is the rather esoteric mapper chosen, but overall very nice work.
Last edited by arfink (Jun 1, 2010 11:36 pm)
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GNV / FL / USA
arfink wrote:
EDIT: Only one problem I find with this is the rather esoteric mapper chosen, but overall very nice work.
I understand. I chose it since its simple to bankswitch large amounts of data (well, by NES standards - 32k) quickly. However, I know its not ideal by dev cart standards, as Gumshose is the only title in the US that really uses it.
All that said, would you like me to make another version for a different mapper? It would be fast, and I could include it in the same zip. Let me know.
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Venezuela
haha, excelente Don!... the name fix perfect... (nice suggest VBLANK), keep up the good work!
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Sweeeeeeden
On Gameboy, (which doesn't suffer from a mapper hell 
) I'm used to having a 16 kB "Bank 0" which cannot be swapped out, and a selectable 16 kB bank. Bank 0 is where the int vectors are at and it's generally expected to be available. Thus, you can't do multi-ROMs without special mapper support. (Only available in flashcart MBC's)
How do NES mappers work in this respect?
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GNV / FL / USA
nitro2k01 wrote:
How do NES mappers work in this respect?
Well, each mapper is different. With some mappers you can only swap out CHR (graphics), while others you can only swap out PRG (program data). This mapper, number 66 (GNROM boards), allows for large swaps - 32k for PRG and 8k for CHR. It's well suited to swap out entire simple games, like Galaga, Balloon Fight, or Super Mario Brothers.
Some mappers have fixed banks, like you said - but this one is kind of strange - you can swap out the entire bank of PRG that you currently have accessible. If you take a look at the source, I copy the bankswitch routine to RAM at the beginning. When its time to bankswitch, I jump to that location. That way the bank can switch and you can jump to the reset vector of the new ROM at the same time. Without putting the code in RAM you would swap and then lose the PC somewhere in the middle of the new bank, which isn't the best thing to do! 
I hope I answered your question - but the really short answer is: there is usually a mapper on the NES best suited for a specific task when it comes to handling more than the conventional amount of data - you just have to find it.
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Minneapolis
If you don't mind doing it for, say, MMC1, that'd be excellent.
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Sweeeeeeden
NO CARRIER: Hmm, so there are NES mappers like that... I guess I should rephrase my question: 999-IN-1 apparently doesn't support just any mapper, right? (Unless the NSF format is constructed to normally reside in a non-fixed bank on mappers that have fixed banks?) How difficult is it to find a suitable donor cart that is theoretically compatible? (Because that's how you do it right? Donor cart+EEPROM socket...)
And yes, I understand the concept of copying code to RAM. I've made a whole little "framework", if you could call it that, for Gameboy to allow code execution in RAM. (Framework=Useful routines and macros to realign jumps and loads, and a simple specification for a general purpose loader.) This is useful for two things: 1) Code that modifies flash memory on supported cartridges. (Such as my LittleFM.) 2) Allows code to be loaded into RAM, after which you can remove the cartridge and have the program keep running. The latter is only really stable on GBC.
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GNV / FL / USA
nitro2k01 wrote:
NO CARRIER: Hmm, so there are NES mappers like that... I guess I should rephrase my question: 999-IN-1 apparently doesn't support just any mapper, right? (Unless the NSF format is constructed to normally reside in a non-fixed bank on mappers that have fixed banks?) How difficult is it to find a suitable donor cart that is theoretically compatible? (Because that's how you do it right? Donor cart+EEPROM socket...)
9999-in-1 uses mapper 66, which is most common as a GNROM board, or the game Gumshoe in the US. I chose it because it is prone to bus conflicts, like UNROM and other "discrete logic" mappers. There is no mapper chip per se, but GNROM uses a 74HC161 as a 4-bit register to swap between banks. Mapper 2 / UNROM may have been a better choice for this, as its more common, but I chose GNROM since it seems better suited for a multicart. The good thing is, once you understand how to avoid bus conflicts and swap with RAM code, you can apply this code to any discrete logic mappers.
arfink wrote:
If you don't mind doing it for, say, MMC1, that'd be excellent.
OK, you got it. Great idea considering the carts are available at RetroZone here: http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.ph … ucts_id=43
nitro2k01: MMC1 carts are more available, as you see above. However, they actually use a dedicated mapper chip to bank switch, rather than just something like a 74HC161.
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Minneapolis
Not to rain on No Carrier's parade here, but I found this a while back and it's pretty awesome:
http://ninjagaiden4.thegaminguniverse.c … ebrew.html
The 11-in-1 Multicart ROM. It's for MMC1, or more specifically, the SUROM board. Put 11 NROM roms into the Windows executable, get one MMC1 ROM out.
Still, open source is the bomb, and the 9999 is indeed open source. With some tweaking this could become even moar awesome!
EDIT: I did some digging for mapper 66 donor boards. There appears to be only one available in the US, and that's Gumshoe.
Last edited by arfink (Jun 2, 2010 9:24 pm)
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Chicago IL
alright now i need 4 progressively more hardcore versions of bubble bath babes
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San Francisco
woooooooooooooooooaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhwwwwwww!!!1
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GNV / FL / USA
arfink wrote:
Not to rain on No Carrier's parade here, but I found this a while back and it's pretty awesome:
http://ninjagaiden4.thegaminguniverse.c … ebrew.html
The 11-in-1 Multicart ROM. It's for MMC1, or more specifically, the SUROM board. Put 11 NROM roms into the Windows executable, get one MMC1 ROM out.
Still, open source is the bomb, and the 9999 is indeed open source. With some tweaking this could become even moar awesome!
EDIT: I did some digging for mapper 66 donor boards. There appears to be only one available in the US, and that's Gumshoe.
Yeah, I've seen that before. Totally cool. However, you're right - open source is the bomb. My goal isn't to have the best multicart program, but to have one that can teach people how to do stuff on their own. Another good one is the Forbidden Four - and it does come with source code: http://wiki.nesdev.com/w/index.php/Forbidden_Four
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I love raining on No Carrier's parade. The cleansing rain of GOD'S LOVE.