Adaptors

[DaveD]

Sorry if this has already been asked before. Are those new adapters (the ones coming out around the end of the month) compatible with the old Retrode 1.(IE the one that has a case made out of gold metal)

[Matthias_H]

Sorry if this has already been asked before. Are those new adapters (the ones coming out around the end of the month) compatible with the old Retrode 1.(IE the one that has a case made out of gold metal)

Yes, they are! A firmware update will be required for full compatibility.

[BFC]

Hello everyone

there appear to be some people in here who might be able to help out. I really think this is a great hardware but I'd love to see improved support for unlicensed games in the firmware - expecially for the Game Boy system. For example I own several games of Sachen's library for the GB/GBC which appear to have some timing issues when reading with the retrode.

When I first tried with the old 0.16 firmware Thunder Blast Man and Jurassic Boy II could be read (JB II only with "forced system"), but the whole dumps consisted of blocks that were duplicated twice before new data appeared. Only Beast Fighter, the only b/w game was correct the first time. Now with the newer firmware (tried 0.18 at least) both previously undumpable games can be read correctly. However I got another cart (Street Hero) that produces duplicated data again. Funny enough returning to the old 0.16 I get repeated blocks as well but those consits of the "missing" blocks so technically you could combine both reads. Still there is another problem: The header cannot be read correctly. No internal name is shown - the first 32k are incorrect because you get a lot of redundant data here again which neither firmware is able to fix. My guess is this is all more or less timing related. Is there anyone (Muzer) who feels capable of taking a look at this?

Then we have all the "4 in 1" releases by that company as well as the 31 in 1 Mighty Mix cart. For all those you can only read 32k similar to other devices of that kind. It would be awesome to see proper support for all these games in the retrode some day.

[Seik]

Happy new year to all of you guys!

Any news about the N64/GB plug-ins now that we entered the new year?

[MasterOfPuppets]

Happy new year to all of you guys!

Any news about the N64/GB plug-ins now that we entered the new year?

I got an e-mail saying mine will be shipping the week of January 14th.

[Seik]

I got an e-mail saying mine will be shipping the week of January 14th.

Really?! I didn't get this mail yet, maybe it depends on the region (I'm in Canada). I guess its coming soon then, thanks!

[shybry]

Pardon me for quoting a nearly-year-old post, but...

Out of curiosity, you said on Twiter that in order to get MBC3 and MBC5 working you will need to cut and re-route a trace. Does this mean that it's either/or, where by doing so you can dump the Pokemon games, but not other games?  And if not, will the newest batch of adapters be able to dump these games also?

The modification will do no harm to other games. It concerns the clock signal on the GB port with is wired to ground in the old version but connected to Retrode I/O in the new version.

Is this modification documented somewhere? I've got the old GBx/N64 combo adaptor and would like to try my hand at adding MBC3/5 support, but my Google-fu is apparently too weak to find the details.

Looking at http://old.pinouts.ru/Game/CartridgeGameBoy_pinout.shtml and the schematics on http://www.retrode.org/plug-in-adapters/ I'm guessing it's GBx pin 2 that needs to be cut and re-routed, but I'm not sure where to connect it to...?

[Matthias_H]

Hi folks,
In case you were wondering about the recent lack of communication from my side, here is why. Please be a bit more patient while I get my life sorted out.

[HowlingBlue]

Hi folks,
In case you were wondering about the recent lack of communication from my side, here is why. Please be a bit more patient while I get my life sorted out.

No problem, Matthias. Take as much time as you need to get things in order -- you deserve the time off after the wonderful gift of the Retrode that you have given us. 

<------ And now for a completely unrelated message that I would post separately if I didn't hate double-posting so much ------>

I have a question for any of the local plugin experimentors: would an MSX plugin for the Retrode be feasible? I have been considering expanding my cartridge game empire, and while there already exists a device to read MSX cartridges with a PC, the device in question has been unsupported since the XP days, so there is a space for the Retrode to shine here.

There are certainly enough pins on the genesis to one-to-one the MSX's cartridge pinout and then some (here is the pinout for reference), so that is not an issue, but I am sure there are other possible issues I know nothing about.

Does anyone have any input?

[Muzer]

Hello everyone

there appear to be some people in here who might be able to help out. I really think this is a great hardware but I'd love to see improved support for unlicensed games in the firmware - expecially for the Game Boy system. For example I own several games of Sachen's library for the GB/GBC which appear to have some timing issues when reading with the retrode.

When I first tried with the old 0.16 firmware Thunder Blast Man and Jurassic Boy II could be read (JB II only with "forced system"), but the whole dumps consisted of blocks that were duplicated twice before new data appeared. Only Beast Fighter, the only b/w game was correct the first time. Now with the newer firmware (tried 0.18 at least) both previously undumpable games can be read correctly. However I got another cart (Street Hero) that produces duplicated data again. Funny enough returning to the old 0.16 I get repeated blocks as well but those consits of the "missing" blocks so technically you could combine both reads. Still there is another problem: The header cannot be read correctly. No internal name is shown - the first 32k are incorrect because you get a lot of redundant data here again which neither firmware is able to fix. My guess is this is all more or less timing related. Is there anyone (Muzer) who feels capable of taking a look at this?

Then we have all the "4 in 1" releases by that company as well as the 31 in 1 Mighty Mix cart. For all those you can only read 32k similar to other devices of that kind. It would be awesome to see proper support for all these games in the retrode some day.

Hello,

Sorry for not replying for a while, I'm afraid I've been a little distracted.

First of all, the standard boring suggestions - have you thoroughly cleaned the contacts with a cotton bud and possibly methylated spirits, etc.?

Are these unlicensed or otherwise unusual games? The 4-in-1 games obviously are, but what about the ones in question? If so, I would expect there could be a physical reason aside from timing issues why the game won't dump correctly - it could be that there's some weird and wacky bankswitching method (mapper) in use that needs support in the Retrode firmware.

Of course, there is a strong possibility it IS timing-related, though I haven't done the calculations to work out how likely in comparison with the A2600 issues.

In general, I don't know enough about how the Game Boy works to help you further aside from these rather general and probably unhelpful statements. I'll make it a priority if I manage to fix the issues I'm currently working on to have a look for you, though. This isn't a promise I'll get things done quickly, mind you, I'm still not as active as I'd like to be with the Retrode, it's my own timing problems

Finally, my build of the firmware that was released as an alpha way back still has some weird, serious issues involving the Retrode freezing randomly when dumping certain games of which I still don't have a vague clue of the cause, though I'm getting new ideas that I'll have to speak to Matthias about in due course, when he's not as busy.

[BFC]

Thanks a lot for the reply!

Yes, the cart is clean. These games are made by Sachen who are well-known for many unlicensed releases on the NES/Famicom.
They also were active on the Game Boy front resulting in several multigame-carts (those contain original Sachen software, not pirated games) and 4-5 ( a matter how you count)
single game releases. So indeed Street Hero is not licensed but what makes me believe there is a timing issue is the fact that the other games were dumpable with the correct
firmware and the data changed from FW to FW without someone actually touching the GB code or adding a Sachen mapper. Slightly different behaviour of the retrode appears to
affect the result of these games.

[Ness and Sonic]

I wonder if the Game Boy one will have ports to hook up with an actual Game Boy (Color/Advance) or Gamecube/Wii. Probably won't, but it is a cool thought.

[JonY]

I have a question for any of the local plugin experimentors: would an MSX plugin for the Retrode be feasible? I have been considering expanding my cartridge game empire, and while there already exists a device to read MSX cartridges with a PC, the device in question has been unsupported since the XP days, so there is a space for the Retrode to shine here.

There are certainly enough pins on the genesis to one-to-one the MSX's cartridge pinout and then some (here is the pinout for reference), so that is not an issue, but I am sure there are other possible issues I know nothing about.

Does anyone have any input?

Just having a look at the signals, most of them look okay, but power wise, there is a +12v (pin #48) and a -12v (pin #50). Not knowing anything about the MSX, I have no idea if the standard cartridges have anything on them that require such voltages, but the retrode, in it's default state, does not have any means of outputting +/-12v.

[newbie2]

Any updates on the ship date Matthias? I'm super excited for the adapters!

[Muzer]

Brilliant, got my adaptors (I'd forgotten I'd ordered them to my university address, typical that they arrive during the easter break )

I stupidly forgot to bring my Retrode home though. D'oh! I'll bring some SMS/GB/N64 games to uni to try them out. The adaptors look incredibly professional though.