Problems with some Genesis save ram

[Zerker]

I've been having hit-or-miss results with the Genesis save ram support. I have four games with valid saveram that I wanted to copy:

Phantasy Star 2 = Works (yay!)
Sonic 3 & Knuckles = can't rip; see other thread
Light Crusader
Beyond Oasis

The latter two games still have valid saves on them (I plugged into the Genesis to confirm). However, when copying with the retrode into the directory where my emulator expects saveram, the emulator then runs the game as if it had no save. I cleaned and re-tried, only to end up with the exact same copy as the first attempt. Since the game itself copied flawlessly, I don't think it's a dirt issue.

[phazed]

I'm having the same problem with phantasy stars 3 and 4. The srm file copies over just fine.  I've taken the files out of read only, tried putting the srm in the same folder with the bin file, pointing the emu directory... nothing seems to pick up on them.  I've tried RetroCopy, GENS and Fusion.  I was able to successfully copy over Zelda from the SNES cart and zsnes picks up on the save games just fine.

[Matthias_H]

Have you tried the 16-bit mode? (see RETRODE.CFG)

[Pat1986]

same problem here with phantasy star iv so far. changing to 16-bit mode doesn't help. neither kega nor regen recognize my sram. any news on this?

[Matthias_H]

In case you're talking about Wonder Boy In Monster World, it's probably not SRAM; see my reply in your other thread.

[Pat1986]

so Phantasy Star IV is using EEPROM as well? Because according to this site, it's using something called "SRAM bankswitch hardware" http://code.google.com/p/genplus-gx/wiki/Features

[Matthias_H]

Ah, I just found some information:

4.3) Phantasy Star 4

Phantasy Star 4 is a 24 megabit game with 16k of battery backed RAM
mapped to $200001-$203FFF. (odd addresses used) It has ROM in the same
area where the RAM is. I've observed that the game will always write
$01 to $A130F1 before accessing the RAM, and then write $00 when
done. It could be that bit 0 of $A130F1 controls ROM/RAM banking at
that location.

Jeff Quinn has tested this and confirmed it to work, and also reported
an area of the game where supporting banked SRAM is important; when
your characters encounter a GEROTLUX below the town of Tyler on Dezolis,
the game will try to access the ROM data that is obscured by SRAM.

Got to give that a try whenever I find the time for it.

[Matthias_H]

@Pat1986: Thanks for confirming that Firmware v0.17g reads PS4 SRAM fine.

[Pat1986]

You're welcome. Now all i need is support for EEPROM and the ability to dump Super Skidmarks.

[Matthias_H]

Don't know what's the matter with Super Skidmarks, and finding out will be a bit more troublesome. Do you have a continuity tester or multimeter with "beeping" functionality?

[Pat1986]

Nope, sorry.

[Vangar]

Hey there!

Just got the Retrode in, and it works perfectly. Just dumped my copy of Sonic3&Knuckles and the SRAM, works perfect in Fusion 3.51 ! 

I updated to the Retrode .17h firmware by following the instructions with FLIP, then changed the setting in CFG:

[segaSram16bit] 1 

Otherwise the SRAM does not work. I also cleaned all the connectors before doing this. Hope this helps anyone else.

Great work Matthias, thank you!

EDIT: I'd also like to mention that copying the save game back after playing in KEGA does work, so long as it is still in segaSram16bit . Checked it on my MegaDrive and the save is updated! Amazing.

[Eyedunno]

I just got my Retrode today, but my PS4 save (or more appropriately Phantasy Star: The End of the Millennium save) didn't copy (in 0.17g). I have the Japanese version, and I don't know if that has something to do with it, but it does get detected as NoName.7667.bin, so I'm wondering if there's some special autodetection of the specific cart that doesn't exist for the Japanese version and thus doesn't copy the save correctly. It may be worth noting that the ROM copies fine.

I'd appreciate any input!

[Matthias_H]

Is the cart clean? Does it still give the NoName filename after resetting the Retrode with the cart in?

[Eyedunno]

I will give it a thorough cleaning when I get home.

It DOES still give the NoName filename after resetting the Retrode. Also, the NoName file does get detected as a good dump of Phantasy Star: The End of the Millennium by GoodGen. It's just the save file that does not work (the only option is to start a new game, while the cart itself WAS confirmed to still have proper save data).