[Fixed in v0.17c] S&K + S3 won't dump

[hedwards]

I can't get Sonic and Knuckles + Sonic 3 to dump. I can dump Sonic & Knuckles by itself just fine and I can dump Sonic 3 just fine. I can even dump S&K + Sonic 2 just fine, but there's something about S&K + S3 which doesn't work, all I get is the normal S&K dump named Sonic3&Knuckles.DFB3.bin instead of Sonic&KnucklesS.DFB3.bin.

I've looked at the S3 contacts and they look as clean as I've ever seen a cartridge ever.

In case it makes a difference these are the US versions as far as I can tell.

[Matthias_H]

Thank you for reporting! I will look into it in good time (working on a research project right now, but I should manage sometime next week). What's the file size for S3&K as obtained with the Retrode?

[hedwards]

Thank you for reporting! I will look into it in good time (working on a research project right now, but I should manage sometime next week). What's the file size for S3&K as obtained with the Retrode?

It is precisely 2,048kb with the appropriate name. Right now it doesn't detect at all, but S2&K is still fine and S3 still works just fine when plugged directly into the retrode. AFAICT it's the same file as the S&K file, just with a different name. When I did load it up in an emulator I got the S&K ROM and could play without problems.

Unfortunately, I don't have a screw driver to open the case so I can't look too closely at the contacts. At this point it's the only cartridge other than MK2 that's giving me trouble and MK2 has visibly dirty contacts.

[Matthias_H]

Sounds like a little bug, especially since I already had it working. Will look into it in a bit.

[hedwards]

Sounds like a little bug, especially since I already had it working. Will look into it in a bit.

I'll try to help you out testing to the extent I can, but I'm hopefully going to be leaving the country for quite a while at the end of the month and I'm probably not going to be bringing my cartridges with me.

AFAICT the cart just isn't being detected at all anymore. I'm seeing it behave the same way as if I put in an unsupported cart or none at all.

[Matthias_H]

AFAICT the cart just isn't being detected at all anymore. I'm seeing it behave the same way as if I put in an unsupported cart or none at all.

Now I truly hope you don't mean the S&K cartridge but only the one plugged on top, or I see myself in some serious trouble

[hedwards]

Now I truly hope you don't mean the S&K cartridge but only the one plugged on top, or I see myself in some serious trouble

Yes, that would be correct, I probably should have been more clear as it's probably technically possible for either cartridge to no longer read.

[Matthias_H]

Could you please try the attached firmware and see if it fixes the lock-on ROM problem? I tested it with S3 (S3&K), S1 (Blue Sphere) and any other cart (No Way). SRAM won't be quite as easy to fix, but I'll put that on my list for later.

[hedwards]

Could you please try the attached firmware and see if it fixes the lock-on ROM problem? I tested it with S3 (S3&K), S1 (Blue Sphere) and any other cart (No Way). SRAM won't be quite as easy to fix, but I'll put that on my list for later.

I replied via email, but for those following at home. It did work there weren't any saves, but I have no idea as to whether or not there should have been saves to begin with.

Other than that possible save game glitch nothing at all out of the ordinary that I could tell. I'll have to give S1&K a try, even though it is so extremely short. ;-)

Hmm, S1&K game me a no way, I'll give it another try and see if I'm doing something wrong.

[Matthias_H]

S1&K is "No Way" as well; you have to hit A+B+C and you get to the Blue Sphere game with selectable level. Same for all other games, but here you will only get a single level of Blue Sphere. I thought it would make sense to name it like that.

[hedwards]

S1&K is "No Way" as well; you have to hit A+B+C and you get to the Blue Sphere game with selectable level. Same for all other games, but here you will only get a single level of Blue Sphere. I thought it would make sense to name it like that.

I think that was the confusion there. Apparently when I was mashing my keys I never hit all three at the same time. Unless there's an easy way to distinguish between the normal "No Way" and the S1&K "No Way", an entry in the compatibility database when it opens up should be more than enough.

I did verify that it was working, so it does look like you can close out that bug report.

[Matthias_H]

Alright! Thanks for reporting. I will make the new firmware version available on the homepage asap.

[hedwards]

Alright! Thanks for reporting. I will make the new firmware version available on the homepage asap.

Excellent, for whatever reason this seems to have fixed the unreliability with my MK2 cart.

Either way, I'm not seeing any problems in the short period of testing.