Cart change and Saves questions

[madmonkey]

make sure that srm file size is exactly 16kb for these 3 games.
if not, you might want to update to one of the beta firmwares posted here.
and, check your emulator settings. save directory might not be the same as rom directory.

story of thor works just fine, though I only checked japanese version.
and, I didn't update firmware, I just expanded srm files.

[Matthias_H]

Exactly same story with Shining Force I.

A different user is having issues with Shining Force I, save slots 2 and 3. Slot 1 appears to be working fine, but no luck with the other ones. Can you confirm this?

Regards,
Matthias

[aaale]

Exactly same story with Shining Force I.

A different user is having issues with Shining Force I, save slots 2 and 3. Slot 1 appears to be working fine, but no luck with the other ones. Can you confirm this?

Regards,
Matthias

I've only tested slot 1 ... give me some days and i will give it a try.

[Muzer]

I just read on an emulation forum that most emulators expect Mega Drive SRMs to be 16-bit, because there are a few that actually are 16-bit apparently (a few EA Sports titles, including NFL95 and NFL98 according to that forum). So, perhaps this mode should be enabled by default, and the 16-bit SRAM chips looked into (though probably not at a high priority)?

[Matthias_H]

a few EA Sports titles, including NFL95 and NFL98

Interesting! Do you also happen to have a link to said emulation forum?

Also, does anyone have any of those 16-bit NFL titles? Because implementing 16-bit SRAM I/O is no big deal but it would be good if someone could test it.

[Muzer]

This was where I found it:

http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35987

And here's a line from the changelog of an emulator:

"* fixed SRAM 16-bits memory handlers: fix some Sega Sports and EA Sports games (NFL95, NBA Action 95, NHL97, NHL98,...)"

[aaale]

Exactly same story with Shining Force I.

A different user is having issues with Shining Force I, save slots 2 and 3. Slot 1 appears to be working fine, but no luck with the other ones. Can you confirm this?

Regards,
Matthias

I've only tested slot 1 ... give me some days and i will give it a try.

I've tested save slot 2 and 3 and i confirm they work for me.

[aaale]

Another thing:

I try to save Kega Fusion .srm on the hard drive under OSX and then cat it on the Retrode using that command:

cat /Users/aaale/Library/Application\ Support/Kega\ Fusion/ShiningForce.030D.srm > /Volumes/RETRODE/ShiningForce.030D.srm

I plugged the cart on a real Mega Drive and i found no saves on it so for me that didn't work.

[aaale]

Another little update:

When i save Mega Drive .srm directly from the Kega Fusion emulator on the Retrode using OSX i confirm they work until unit is unmounted.

I don't know if it can help 

[Matthias_H]

Another thing:

I try to save Kega Fusion .srm on the hard drive under OSX and then cat it on the Retrode using that command:

cat /Users/aaale/Library/Application\ Support/Kega\ Fusion/ShiningForce.030D.srm > /Volumes/RETRODE/ShiningForce.030D.srm

I plugged the cart on a real Mega Drive and i found no saves on it so for me that didn't work.

Did you make sure the format of the .srm matches your Retrode's config setting (8 vs. 16 bit)? You can tell the format of a .srm file by inspecting it in a hex editor. If every other byte is a zero, FF, or duplicated, the emulator saves in a 16-bit format.

When i save Mega Drive .srm directly from the Kega Fusion emulator on the Retrode using OSX i confirm they work until unit is unmounted.

That means the file is not written, only cached by the OS. Old problem.

[aaale]

Did you make sure the format of the .srm matches your Retrode's config setting (8 vs. 16 bit)? You can tell the format of a .srm file by inspecting it in a hex editor. If every other byte is a zero, FF, or duplicated, the emulator saves in a 16-bit format.

Check out this video i made:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/45975356/Registrazione%20schermo.mov

From what you say this is a 16-bit filesave, isn't it ?

If yes, my retrode is already set to save in 16-bit format.

[Matthias_H]

New firmware. I found a whole lot of weird things in the SRAM detection and I/O routines that are cleaned up in this new version. For instance, the size of the SRAM was always detected too short.

Find it on http://retrode.org/firmware

[aaale]

New firmware. I found a whole lot of weird things in the SRAM detection and I/O routines that are cleaned up in this new version. For instance, the size of the SRAM was always detected too short.

Find it on http://retrode.org/firmware

Link http://www.retrode.com/files/firmware/Retrode2-v0.17d-beta.zip doesn't work for me 

OK It's working now

[aaale]

New firmware. I found a whole lot of weird things in the SRAM detection and I/O routines that are cleaned up in this new version. For instance, the size of the SRAM was always detected too short.

Find it on http://retrode.org/firmware

Matthias another bunch of results for you from my tests.

Situation is always the same:

OS: Snow Leopard 10.6.8
Retrode Firmware: 0.17d beta
Game: Shining Force I (Mega Drive)
Emulator: Kega Fusion

Sadly direct .srm saves on the Retrode continue not to work but a step forward has be done:

I started a new game saving on slot 1 creating a .srm on the mac.
I cat it to the retrode with this command:

cat /Users/aaale/Library/Application\ Support/Kega\ Fusion/ShiningForce.030D.srm > /Volumes/RETRODE/ShiningForce.030D.srm

then i plugged the cart into a real Mega Drive and ... bidibodibibù slot 1 was there! as i saved on the mac

Next move was to copy slot 1 on slot 3, after that i plugged the cart back on the retrode, copied .srm and loaded the game. Slot 3 was there. Happy

The bad end of this little story was that i copied slot 3 on slot 2, do the cat thing another time, plugged the cart into the Mega Drive and slot 2 wasn't there

The only thing that i noticed was that .srm created by Kega Fusion was 16k but the one in the retrode is 33k.
This happens only with 0.17d-beta, with 0.17d-experimental it is 16k.

FW 1.17d-beta:



FW 0.17d-experimental



What i want to do next is to repeat my tests with the experimental firmware. Just to be secure of my past results.

Cheers

[aaale]

Another thing:

I try to save Kega Fusion .srm on the hard drive under OSX and then cat it on the Retrode using that command:

cat /Users/aaale/Library/Application\ Support/Kega\ Fusion/ShiningForce.030D.srm > /Volumes/RETRODE/ShiningForce.030D.srm

I plugged the cart on a real Mega Drive and i found no saves on it so for me that didn't work.

Sorry it was a bad test ... it's woking great with the experimental firmware.