ToToTEK.COM

[rippin snare]

Hi there.

I just recieved my cable and adaptor the GD7 in the mail this morning. All is hooked up and ready to go. However I am having problems sending ANY rom that is over 8M in size. Games that are 8M transfer over the parallel port using Ucon64 no problem. I converted my roms using

Ucon64 -gd3 <romname>

I then use ucon64 -xgd3 <romname>

if the rom is 8M the full thing transfer no problem into memory and can be played.

Any games that are over 8M lockup ucon64 at points where the GD7 is splitting the files into different banks. The first 8M portion goes fine.. after that the program locks up and the GD7 tells me file size error!

I have no clue what is going wrong.. if anyone can help please, please, please let me know. Once this is figured out I can finally fully use this thing!

btw... tsf3 does squat altogether for me.

oh yea.. im using userport as my driver.

[dbjh]

This problem seems to be caused by certain PC parallel ports. In the copier and hardware forum of cherryroms.com you can read a bit more about it. uCON64 1.9.8-1 uses the GDSF3 protocol to communicate with the Game Doctor. The current source code in CVS contains code that uses the GDSF6 protocol (option -xgd6). Several people that have problems with -xgd3 reported success with -xgd6. -xgd6 is present in uCON64 1.9.8-2, which will be released as soon someone has tested the MD-PRO transfer code.
So, either compile a binary from the latest CVS source code, get someone to test the MD-PRO code (uCON64 1.9.8-1 doesn't support the MD-PRO) or simply wait.

[edit]
If you use a Windows version of uCON64, you only need to put the right DLL in the right place which removes the need for having to manually start an I/O driver. See the FAQ for more info. Windows versions doesn't mean GUI (but I *am* busy writing a frontend).

[rippin snare]

hi there matey. You are JUST the person I was hoping to hear from. To be honest I read that post on cherryroms over and over trying to get something out of it to help me out. I am glad the original author of that thread got sorted. It must be nice. I am having literally the EXACT problem he is. games 8M and under transfer without a hitch but bigger than that and the program locks when the unit splits the roms. It is driving me nuts. I notice he got a seperate binary which actually helped him. I cannot wait for the new version to come out so that I too may try this and hopefully have some luck.

[Mozzie]

Have you tried TSF3 to transfer the ROM to the GD7?
I'm using Ucon64 for all the ROM conversion stuff. And I use TSF3 to load the ROMs to the GD7, never had a problem with it. TSF3 is also capable of dowloading games from the GD7 tot your PC.

Cheers

[rippin snare]

hi,
yes I have tried TSF3.. it did absolutely nothing to be honest. Maybe I just wasn't using it right?

but on the good news of things I managed to finally get Ucon64 to fully work with my GD7... it took hours I'm telling you but well worth the wait... waay better than floppy.

have you had any problems with some games not working on it or is it fully compatible minus the special ship games?

[rippin snare]

hi,
yes I have tried TSF3.. it did absolutely nothing to be honest. Maybe I just wasn't using it right?

but on the good news of things I managed to finally get Ucon64 to fully work with my GD7... it took hours I'm telling you but well worth the wait... waay better than floppy.

have you had any problems with some games not working on it or is it fully compatible minus the special ship games?

[Mozzie]

Hi,

About using TSF3: here's the online manual of the GD7. I describes in detail how to use TSF3: http://www.emucamp.com/red/SNES/psfiiman.htm
So far no problems with games that don''t use a special chip. I had to split some large roms (like Donkey Kong Country) to make them work, that's all.

Cheers

[rippin snare]

great!

thanks once again. you have been a great help to me mozzie.

[Mozzie]

Hey, anytime

In another message I read that you are also looking for a N64 backup unit.
I've found a company that sells CD64 units (new) for 129 dollars. But I am still not sure which unit to buy. Doctor V64, V64Jr, CD64 or Z64...

[rippin snare]

hi,
yes success compu has the CD64 new for $129.. they are the manufacturer of it. After reading around the V64jr seems to be the best bet as it is the only one that has 512M support for the newer bigger games such as Zelda. I have tried for a couple days now but have unsucssessfuly been able to track one down. If you come across one (or two if you want one) please do let me know.

say mozzie.. quick question about the GD7 as well... is yours really tempermental in terms of being moved or bumped? Today I accidently bumped/moved the snes with the GD7 running (very light mind you) and the whole screen garbled and locked up. After that now a single game would load from it period! When I reset, turn the power off and try again all I get when running a game is a black screen. On every game in the unit not just the one that was playing when the problem occured. The only way to rectify the proble3m was to re-transfer every game into the unit again which had it work.

what is up with that?

[Mozzie]

Hi,

I haven't yet tried to bounch my GD7 araound the room . But now I didn't have any of the problems you discribed. It sounds like the memorycard isn't firmly fixed. Or there is short intereption in the power supply to the GD7 when it is accidently moved.

As for the V64Jr, yep I know it sounds like a great unit. But you have to know your way around computers to get the most out of it. Well that doesn't seem to be a problem. The problem is that these babies are hard to get and not very cheap... I saw some companies selling them for 199 to 240 dollars.

Bytheway, I didn't know Zelda is 512 Mbit.

[rippin snare]

hmmm interesting on the memory card not being installed. Bouncing around the room was a huge exaggeration too hehehe... it was barely a tap... I was just trying to switch the a/v cable in the back and that is when it happened. I have another 64M card coming on the way so when that comes I will reopen the unit and make sure both are in there snug. I will also put the system in a safe place to be sure that doesnt happen again. I would hate for this to go down for good on me.

and yea.. the v64jr is great. I can't find one anywhere.. and if I did.. I would be willing to pay $200USD + shipping no problem. I just got my N64 off a friend now.

I too didn't know that zelda was 512M.. but that is why Tomy himself told me. He recommended the jr cause its the only one that can play the zeldas. There are only a few games I want for N64 anyhow.. both zeldas, mario 64, mario kart and paper mario.

ill let you know if i find something and you do the same.

thanks.

[rippin snare]

now here is a very important question I need answered.

Is there a maximum length the parallel cable can be from your computer to your GD7 before it's no good? I ask because of this. I have a very short cable I have been using the past week since I got my unit but it is such a pain dragging my snes across the room each time I was to load a game into it. I bought a 20ft. cable from ebay and had it nicely going around the sides of the room into the unit. only.. it won't work now. It transfers the first 8M of a game no problem but upon file splitting in the GD7 it drops and locks up ucon64.

The cable is a 1-1 straight thru... I read the pins on both sides of the cable.

If anyone knows what the maximum cable run length can be please let me know so I can work with that or if you have any other ideas on getting my 20ft. to work please let me know. It would be appreciated.

I have tried different bios settings as well as different i/o protocols to change the speed/reliability of the send and all do the same thing.

[kyuusaku]

zelda is not 512m, its only 256...

[rippin snare]

yea I found that out too. I was told 512 by someeone so I took there word for it. It is paper mario that is too big =*(.