phoenixdownita

April 27

16 hours ago, juansolo said:

....

Which is why I sold my GameDrive (I didn't take the piss and sold it for what I paid for it. All up I think I lost about a tenner on the deal).

....

Uh? It doesn't really ask to be pet or something .... did you get yours on the first batch?
'cause this thing is a little of unobtanium right now I heard.

April 23

On 4/22/2021 at 4:14 PM, tripled79 said:

The hard part is getting a Game Drive...

Guess we'll revisit the question once more GDs are around.

I wonder how many are just "impulse play" just "because you can" and how long those would last.

There are good games in the Jag library no question about it, just curious if anyone's opinion is different now that he can play it all, with such a small library there aren't really hidden gems, but depending on how many OG one already has he may finally play something good he has had no access to before. As I said I already owned about half the cart library (not all good titles mind you but most of the usual suspects) and had access to the whole JagCD OG library as well for quite some time.

I "had" to play Atari Karts yesterday night to quickly test a 6 button repro ctrl (I bought a pair some time ago and forgot about them) and then test a reverted "hack-job" 6-button mod (on a 3 buttons ctrl) just left the shoulder buttons explicitly for Atari Karts .... just testing if it also still worked as expected. Of course the ctrls (both of them) worked like a charm but the game ... it is what it is ....
I am not sure I consider it worse than SNES Mario Kart as I don't like that either and the gfx on the SNES is worse but the music on Atari Karts is weird for sure and the hill mode so understated, not a very good showing of smashing superiority.

April 19

3 hours ago, UHATEIT said:

Both of my computers refuse to work with Discjuggler which is the program that can create a .cdi for the conversion. ...

Note that you MUST have a CD rom/burner connected or DiscJuggler will not even start.

If it's the installation giving you issues, you can literally just use 7zip to open up the installer (right click on setup.exe and 7zip->open archive) and manually extract all contents somewhere and run Cdj.exe out of the extracted files (that's it at least on my win10 64bits) .... the trial mode is enough for creating cdi files from actual CDs.

PS: I tried using ImgBurn to get a CUE/BIN from WTR but cd2jcd cannot really consume that CUE file correctly (it thinks every track is 600+MB so obviously a bug in cd2jcd interpretation of CUE files), but when I used DiscJuggler on the same CD I got a cdi file that cd2jcd converts just fine (yes it locks if you try to actually play WTR as reported already but the "attract mode" works).

April 19

14 minutes ago, phoboz said:

Could you please keep the Game Drive related discussions to the Game Driver thread?

It seems now that some of you frequently struggle to invent a new topics promoting the Game Drive.

You already have a pinned topic right at the top of the forum, for people who are interested in the topic.

Please let people choose which topics they want to get updates about?

Because I am getting spammed about the Game Drive right now...

If you would like to ask a question about people's opinion on Jaguar library (which has been asked many times before),

you could do that in a neutral way, or even better, use an already existing thread.

Thank you.

I have no idea what you are talking about, I am not promoting anything or at least no more than any other flash cart for any other system.

I have no pinned topic of mine.

AND the fact that the OG game library is now much easier for more people to even try is what sparked this topic AND you can see it's not exactly a super popular topic either (aside one question about Checkered Flag linear patching how-to) so it'll die silently very soon, fret not.

April 19

On 4/18/2021 at 9:26 AM, PFG 9000 said:

....

How did you get the patched Checkered Flag to work? I really like the retail version, believe it or not, and the steering patch was one of the biggest reasons I was looking forward to the GameDrive. But I can't get it to run.

The above is the manual method aka:

Using HxD as hex editor:
 
Open gamerom.j64
Open univ.bin (it will open in a different tab)
While in the tab for univ.bin – Edit > select all.  This should select the entire univ.bin code
While in the tab for univ.bin - Edit  > copy (this is for the selected text)
Go to gamerom.j64 tab. – go to beginning of file which is $0.  Then select all the way to $1FFF and CTRL-V to paste.  This will overwrite the $2000 univ.bin file to the beginning of gamerom.j64. Save this to a new name and it now has the univ.bin as header.

wrt univ.bin it appears there's a version Tursi is sharing here

https://github.com/tursilion/skunk_jcp

and just found out Tursi also made a complete header patcher (I have not tried it) available here

https://github.com/tursilion/makefastboot

with a nice explanation here http://tursilion.blogspot.com/2016/09/atari-jaguar-programming-causes-brain.html that explains the Jag boot process in great detail and documents the differences between bare Jag boot and JagCD boot ... fascinating reading (GPU boot vs DSP boot)

PS: before anyone asks, in order to post a link to my own post from a topic I have been banned from I used incognito mode, I apologize if that breaks any rule, in case let me know and I'll gladly take this post down or parts of it as needed.

April 18

In specific the OG title lineup of Jag and JagCD games it is what it is.

We all likely tried and already acquired the usual suspects (or subset thereof) whether because recommended, must-have or not-too-bad, but thanks to the GameDrive we can now finally experience the whole nine yards, the full enchilada, the "no holds barred" exposure.

Did your opinion on the platform change or actually solidified even more?

We are older (I for sure am), we can sink some time by choice playing the stinkers, playing "the expensive" (just because), playing the rare (more to see what the fuss is about really) and thanks to SainT outstanding GameDrive it's now easier than ever and for some people the only economically responsible way to do it (JagCD prime case in point).

The preliminary JagCD support seems to only have issues with 2 OG titles (VidGrid and WTR) and we can certainly wait for those to be fixed (if possible) to get a more rounder viewpoint on that particular subset of the library (2 out of 13 OG CD titles is like 15% of the whole JagCD shebang) .... but one can likely form an idea on the rest.

What do you think? Is the "dark-side of the force" aka the other half of the OG library what you expect it to be? Better? Worse?

I mean not only the JagCD unobtanium but also the OG cart titles not many really bring up, like Brutal Sport Football, Dino Dudes, Fever Pitch Soccer, Flip put, I-war, Sensible Soccer, Theme Park etc...etc... etc....

For me the JagCD part is as I expected obviously because I already had access to a JagCD unit and those 13 OG titles, but it appears the GameDrive is cutting the loading times quite a bit from what I remember making it feel better, at least it takes very little to get playing. In a twist of fate those 13 OG JagCD games start almost instantly on the GameDrive compared to cart based games (I saw something similar wrt NeoGeo CD support on the NeoSD pro ...) and in some ways that makes the JagCD experience actually better than on real JagCD HW .... which is a really good thing imho (or so is my experience, please share yours).

Wrt the OG cart library I already own about 20-25 games or just about 40-45% of the OG cart library (Bubsy and Katsumi included) and so I am now trying to play the other stuff, like Double Dragon V, Bruce Lee or even Club Drive etc..etc..

On the side experiencing CyranoJ's Checkered Flag steering patch for the first time has been awesome, thank you sir, no it does not fix the other flaws of the game but at least it lowers the driving frustration to a point that I actually want to give it another try somewhat akin to when I tried to use the Saturn 3D controller to play Sega Touring Car Championship for the first time, it didn't fix the other flaws of that game but it made me want to play it "one more time".

April 16

About WTR, as reported if you let it go it starts to play the "attract mode" which uses the game engine in real time, in fact if you press 2 you can toggle the texture of the road on/off, so it seems it almost works .... but yeah if you try to actually play it locks.

Also the sound of the engines in "attract mode" is very very quiet, maybe it's on purpose who knows, but it's there.

16 hours ago, KevinMos3 said:

.....

Other notes:

World Tour Racing ripped/converted/loaded fine. It freezes at the start of a race though. I specify this for clarity, as SainT already said it wasn't working, but I don't know what point others got to with the game.

.....

April 14

3 hours ago, UHATEIT said:

....

-World Tour Racing (boots to a black screen after ATARI logo) *others have noted this as well, I have tried 2 different rips of this one

are you sure this is not just the unencrypted one that has been making the rounds for a while?

April 14

Guys, Space Wars 2000 and Skyhammer were released in 2000, no idea when they were coded though.

Battlemorph and Missile Command 3D released at the end of 1995 aka after both PlayStation and Saturn released in NA.

Note that Sega Rally Championship for Saturn released at the very end of 1995 (like Dec29 lol) so really early 1996, or about 1Y and 2mo after Checkered Flags, and of course Ridge Racer was a launch title for the PlayStation and Tekken was a thing in Nov 1995, heck Battle Arena Toshinden was a thing in September 1995.

I'm sorry but the ~1.5Y/2Y Jag lead in the market does not really shine for Jag 3D: Cybermorph, Hoverstrike, Iron Soldier, Club Drive and Checkered Flag (Tempest 2000 is neither here nor there as 3D goes, I like the game mind you).
At the end of 1994 the Jag did already have AvP, Wolf3D and a nice Doom however as we know neither of them is what we are talking about ... wonder if they should have tried to have more, after all in that timeframe there was no shortage of 3D FPS like Heretic, Hexen, Duke Nukem 3D etc... but I may be confusing my timelines.

Yes the Jag proved it could do better than the 16bits in that dept (FPS, early 3D) but that was it, it was also a 2D powerhouse just that that type of games were not so interesting at that time, heck the Saturn has an outstanding 2D game library but back then it really meant little.

Wrt 16bits 3D I don't particularly like VirtuaRacing on the Genny (too few colors for sure) and so pity the SVP was that expensive as only that one game used it, and I was not too impressed by any of the 3D productions on SNES (signs of things to come more than anything imho) and its Doom is not a good port.

But the Jag 3D games are what they are, if those titles cited happened to come out say in 1994 it could have been a slightly different story in that we may have had the chance to see a Jag2.

April 10

But but but but can't you hear him? I think, I think he asked politely at least 4 times, surely someone can step up and help him drill some holes in his Jag, no?

1 hour ago, cmoxm1983 said:

Come on guys someone has to be able to make a custom dust flap for the Jaguar. I'm sure we would all buy one if it was created. I'm asking can someone build one?

April 9

17 hours ago, Pete5125 said:

The thing is time has been jags friend, as a retro console it is not expected to compete or com close to ps5 or xbox.

But at the time it claims was 64bit, meaning at least 4x what snes/genesis could do and double 3d0/Cdi, at least as good as saturn/playstation.

It had trouble consistently outperforming 16 bit systems, on a 3rd of the games they were either slightly improved copies of their 16 bit competitors or missing a fundamental of gaming controll/in game music/low frame rate(slow down)

Then add to that games would trickle out...owning a Jag paying full price for club drive because it was one of 10 games out after a yr in a half, and it has to be better than checkerd flag.

Was frustrating, luckily T2k. AVsP, IS, Doom, and w3d were out.

Bad 3d, zero sports, bad fighters...oh memory lane.

Zero sports? Sensible Soccer, Troy Aikman, Val D'Isere, Fever Pitch, NBA JAM .... such a selection ... luckily I never liked sport games too much.

But yeah as "powa!!!!" goes it was in between, it was better than 16bits (although games were a little lackluster they did look the part), but it couldn't really compete with Saturn and PS1, while vs 32X and 3DO a wash (don't particularly like them either but I do enjoy VirtuaRacing on the 32X) .... pity but not pity.

History needs NOT be rewritten, the Jag didn't do enough for Atari but let's review the timeline one more time (I copied this from somewhere, it seems JSII heavy but at the same time info looks about right)

Default Atari Jaguar Timeline
June, 1991 - Atari announced the 64-bit Atari Jaguar.

December, 1992 - Atari announced the Jag will be cartridge-based & released Summer 1993 for $150.

August, 1993 - Jaguar was unveiled to worldwide press.
Atari announced that 50,000 units would be sold in New York, San Francisco, Paris, and London in October.
With a worldwide release in 1994 & an MSRP of $200.

October, 1993 - Atari sued Sega for patent infringements.

November 18, 1993 - Atari released the Jaguar with Cybermorph set in limited quantities in San Francisco and New York City for $250.
All available units were quickly bought.

November 18, 1993 - Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy released.

1993 - Evolution: Dino Dudes released.

1993 - Raiden released.

1994 - Atari Jaguar officially released in the US, Canada and Europe.

April, 1994 - Warner Communications and Time Life Inc. merged to form Time-Warner.
Atari Games was folded into the new Time-Warner Interactive.

April, 1994 - TWI announced plans to use Atari Corp.'s Jaguar technology in its arcade games.
The first "CoJag" game planned was Area 51.

April 13, 1994 - Tempest 2000 released with an MSRP of $60. The game quickly became a best seller.

July, 1994 - Wolfenstein 3D released in limited quantities. All 3000 were sold in under 48 hours.
A full release happened about 3 weeks later.

August, 1994 - Brutal Sports Football released in limited quantities.
It was the 1st third-party game released for the Jaguar.

September, 1994 - Atari announced plans to release a modem for the Jaguar.

September 28, 1994 - Atari and Sega settled their infringement lawsuit.
Sega payed Atari $50 million for patent rights, and bought 4.5 million shares of Atari's stock, valued at $40 million.
There was talk between the two companies of releasing games on each other's systems (Jaguar & Saturn).

October 20, 1994 - Alien vs. Predator released with an MSRP of $70.

November, 1994 - Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story released with an MSRP of $60.

November, 1994 - Doom released with an MSRP of $70.

November, 1994 - Club Drive released with an MSRP of $60.

November, 1994 - Checkered Flag released with an MSRP of $70.

November, 1994 - Brutal Sports Football officially released (not limited).

November 21, 1994 - Atari announced the Jaguar would be available at all 25 Toys "R" Us stores and other selected stores in Japan.

December 9, 1994 - Kasumi Ninja released with an MSRP of $70.

December 9, 1994 - Bubsy In Fractured Furry Tales released with an MSRP of $50.

December 9, 1994 - Zool 2 released with an MSRP of $60.

December 22, 1994 - Iron Soldier released with an MSRP of $60.

January, 1995 - Val d'Isere Skiing and Snowboarding released with an MSRP of $60.

February 24, 1995 - Cannon Fodder released.

1995 - Syndicate released.

1995 - Troy Aikman NFL Football released.

March 13, 1995 - Atari Corp. and Williams Entertainment Inc. announced that Atari would be publishing "Mortal Kombat 3" for the Atari Jaguar 64-bit multimedia system.

1995 - Theme Park released.

1995 - International Sensible Soccer released.

1995 - Double Dragon V released.

1995 - Hover Strike released.

1995 - Pinball Fantasies released.

March 21, 1995 - Jaguar Core Set (64-bit Power Kit) released.
Includes the system & controller (no game) for $150.

1995 - Jaguar system with Cybermorph set price reduced to $190.
Included a free second controller & a free game, either Wolfenstein 3D or Tempest 2000

May, 1995 - At the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3), Atari announced a joint venture with Virtuality and unveiled the Jaguar VR headset.
The only product of that venture ever released was Missile Command 3D.

-----------------------------------------------------
----- May 1995 here comes the Sega Saturn in NA -----
-----------------------------------------------------

June 26, 1995 - Atari hired Ted Hoff. Rumors of powerful leadership and prompt decisions soon followed.

July 5, 1995 - Super Burnout released.

August 1, 1995 - White Men Can't Jump released with the Team Tap 4-player adapter included for an MSRP of $70.

August 9, 1995 - Flashback released.

August 12, 1995 - Greg La Brec announced that a 2600 emulator was in the works.
Atari could now package every single Atari-owned 2600 game with it, and have OVER 200 GAMES on the Jaguar.

August 28, 1995 - Flip-Out! released with an MSRP of $50

September 1, 1995 - Rayman released.

----------------------------------------------------------------
----- September 1995 here comes the Sony PlayStation in NA -----
----------------------------------------------------------------

September 11, 1995 - Atari released the Jaguar CD for $150 with $100 worth of free software included (Blue Lightning, Vid Grid, Myst Demo & the Tempest 2000 Soundtrack.)

September, 1995 - Memory Track released.

September, 1995 - Power Drive Rally released with an MSRP of $55.

September, 1995 - Ultra Vortek released.

October, 1995 - JagLink Interface released with an MSRP of $30.

October, 1995 - Jaguar ProController released with an MSRP of $30.

October 18, 1995 - Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure released with an MSRP of $60

October 26, 1995 - Hoverstrike: Unconquered Lands released with an MSRP of $60.

October, 1995 - Highlander: The Last of the MacLeods released.

October, 1995 - Team Tap 4-player adapter released (individually) with an MSRP of $30

November, 1995 - Ruiner Pinball released with an MSRP of $60.

December 6, 1995 - Dragon's Lair released.

December 6, 1995 - Missle Command 3D released with an MSRP of $60

December 14, 1995 - Myst released.

December 15, 1995 - Fever Pitch Soccer released.

December 15, 1995 - I-War released.

December 16, 1995 - The Atari Jaguar 64-bit Power Kit system package was reduced in price from $150 to $100.

December 20, 1995 - Supercross 3D released.

December, 1995 - Battlemorph released.

December, 1995 - Primal Rage released.

December, 1995 - Baldies released.

December 22, 1995 - Atari Karts released with an MSRP of $60

December 27, 1995 - NBA Jam: Tournament Edition released with an MSRP of $70.

December, 1995 - Space Ace released.

December, 1995 - Defender 2000 released.

December 29, 1995 - Attack of the Mutant Penguins released with an MSRP of $60.

January 5, 1996 - Zoop released.

January, 1996 - Brain Dead 13 released.

1996 - Fight for Life released.

July 30, 1996 - Atari entered a "reverse merger" with JTS, a maker of computer disk drives.
JTS acquired Atari's $50 million, and the Tramiels were able to liquidate their holdings in Atari (per SEC Rule 144).
Atari Corp.'s operations were absorbed by JTS; Atari Corp. lived on for tax purposes, allowing for the licensing of game titles and patents.
Most of the remaining Atari employees were released.

The closed video game division left behind an installed base of 125,000 Jaguar game systems,
with 100,000 more systems remaining unsold in inventory and outstanding title development contracts amounting to an estimated $6 to $8 mill.
Approx. 20 employees had been laid off, leaving 30 remaining which were to depart shortly.
Layoffs included the entire Interactive division including management, accounting and legal personnel.

Atari, and the Jaguar, essentially "died"...

September 30, 1996 - Area 51 released. It was the first Co-Jag arcade game to be released.

1996 - The era of the "post Atari death" Jaguar began for the hardcore, diehard Jaguar fans.

December 9, 1996 - Breakout 2000 released.

December 9, 1996 - Towers II released.

1997 - Iron Soldier 2 (CD) released.

1997 - World Tour Racing released.

1997 - Air Cars released.

1997 - Zero 5 released.

1997 - Iron Solder 2 (Cart) released.

February 23, 1998 - JTS Corporation sold all of its Atari assets to Hasbro Interactive for $5 million in cash.

May 14, 1998 - Hasbro announced that they had released all rights to the Jaguar to the public;
independent hobbyists and developers were thus able to develop Jaguar games and peripherals without fear of legal repercussions from Hasbro.
(Thunderbird aka Doug Engel of Battlesphere/Scatologic fame got this done, right? )

May 15, 1998 - At the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, Hasbro officially relaunched Atari as their home video game label, a subdivision of Hasbro Interactive.
Updated versions of classic Atari titles like Pong, Missile Command, Star Raiders, and other games for the Sony PlayStation and Nintendo 64 were announced.

May 15, 1998 - Worms released.

December 20, 1999 - Protector released by Carl Forhan of Songbird Productions with an MSRP of $75

February 7, 2000 - Soccer Kid released by Songbird with an MSRP of $75

February 29, 2000 - Battlesphere™ released by 4Play, who were Doug Engel, Scott Legrand, Stephanie Wukovitz & Tom Harker.

April 10, 2000 - Hyperforce released by Songbird with an MSRP of $75

May 22, 2000 - Skyhammer released by Songbird with an MSRP of $80

August 12, 2000 - The Atari Jaguar with CD Rom and Battlesphere was featured on the front cover of the Dallas Morning News.
This teaser for the personal technology section said "The Atari Jaguar was the world's first 64-bit interactive multimedia system."

September, 2001 - Spacewar 2000 Demo released by Bruce & Cathy of B & C ComputerVisions.

2002 - CD Bypass Cart released by B & C.

2002 - Demolition Man Demo released by B & C.

March 15, 2002 - Battlesphere Gold™ released by Scatologic (formerly 4Play) with extras for $160.

April 30, 2002 - Protector: SE (cart) released by Songbird Productions for $75 w/box & manual.

June 5, 2002 - Phase Zero Demo released by B & C (cart only) for $50

July, 2002 - Barkley Shut Up & Jam! released by B & C ComputerVisions for $60 (cart only).

February, 2003 - ScatoLOGIC ScatBox™ released.

March, 2003 - Black Ice/White Noise Revision 18 for the Jag CD released by Clint Thompson.

April, 2003 - American Hero Demo released for the Jaguar CD by Stone.

August 9, 2003 - Painter released by Gordon Gibson for the Jaguar CD.

August 12, 2003 - Air Cars was made available at B & C ComputerVisions for $40 (cart only).
These are not the rare, originally released Air Cars by ICD. In-game content are the same though.

January 9, 2004 - Brett Hull NHL Hockey (cart only) released by B & C for $50.

2004 - Ocean Depths released by Lars Hannig.

2004 - Soul Star Beta (bootleg) was put up for auction regularly on eBay.

May 21, 2004 - Jay Smith created the "Jaguar Sector II" message board. Insanity ensued.

2004 - Jaguar Sector II Extremist Pack #1 released by Jay Smith.

2004 - Jaguar Sector II Extremist Pack #2 released.

2004 - Jaguar Sector II Extremist Pack #3 released.

August 8, 2004 - Jaguar Sector II Commemorative Pack released by Jay Smith.

September, 2005 - Total Carnage released by Songbird.

October 31, 2005 - Fight For Life Beta released at JSII for $50.

February 1, 2006 - Gorf Classic released. The game was developed by 3D Stooges which included JSII regular Steve Scavone (Gorf).

April, 2006 - Atomic released for free on the Jaguar CD by the JagWare team.

June 9, 2006 - Battlesphere Trio™, a one-of-a-kind cart was put up for auction on eBay.
All proceeds went to Diabetes research thanks to the Scatologic team which included the JSII regular, Doug Engel (Thunderbird).

July 15, 2006 - Arena Football '95 Prototype released exclusively at Jaguar Sector II for $50 (cart only).
It also became available at B & C ComputerVisions.

July 23, 2006 - DiamJag released by JagWare team.

October 31, 2006 - Double Feature #1 released by Matthias.

2006 - Black Ice/White Noise Revision 19 released by BJ West, one of the original programmers for the game.

Dec 24, 2006 - Surrounded was released for free by Three Stooges Software.
"The GPU is succesfully JUMPing and JRing around in main RAM, unassisted. This was impossible according to Atari. This demo proves otherwise." - Gorf

October 1, 2007 - Alien vs. Predator Beta released exclusively at Jaguar Sector II, complete with custom, original style box and inserts.
Only 32 copies were produced, with the first 7 being Collector's Editions (£44 each) with the rest costing £36 each.

October 30, 2007 - Frog Feast released. It included box, manual and cartridge for $50.

February 23, 2008 - Jaguar Sector II Extremist Pack #4 released by Jaysmith2000.

April 11, 2008 - Jaguar Sector II Jaguar Press Conference DVD released by Jaysmith2000.

July 6, 2008 - Jaguar Sector II American Hero PC Files & Beta released by Jaysmith2000.

August 24, 2008 - Jaguar Sector II Source Code Collection released by Jaysmith2000.

September 7, 2008 - Skunkboard (developed by Tursi & KSkunk) Rev 1 orders started, initial run was sold out within 48 hours.
The Skunkboard rev 1 has one bank of 4 mb of memory to flash a rom image, or could load ram based programs (BJL like).
The Rev 1 and Rev 2 sold for $85 USD.

April 18, 2009 - Skunkboard Rev 2 orders mailed out. Nearly 170 orders fullfilled as of May 2, 2009.
Skunkboard Rev 2 has two 4 mb memory banks (can hold 2 rom images selectable at startup), or combine the two banks to run one 6 mb bank,
and has the ability to run ram based programs as well (BJL like) and other abilities as a development board.

April 20, 2009 - Jagware announced the production of the Compact Flash adaptors had begun.
Capibilities of the CF adaptor allow for more RAM, much faster and more reliable media than the JagCD,
additional processing power, USB connection to a PC, support for mouse and keyboard, and non-buggy networking.
(Paraphrase of Zerosquare's comment on April 22, 2009)
(This listed as the latest news on the CF Adaptor. When the CF Adaptor is sold that date will replace this entry.)

May 2, 2009 - Mad Bodies (cart) released by 3DSSS/Force Design with an MSRP of $80.
Terance Williams aka "The Graphics Man" was the driving force behind the game.
This had been the most eagerly anticipated Jaguar release in some time!

May 4, 2009 - Orion_ released his "Orion_'s Jaguar Collection" for FREE!
It's a collection of homebrew games he's developed over the years.
It was made available online via encrypted Jaguar CD image download.

May 10, 2009 - Belboz released Windows 2K/XP/VISTA Compatible Dev Tools.
This will greatly help in the developement of Jaguar HomeBrew games in the coming years.

May 14, 2009 - Atari Jaguar Hockey (essentially BHH CD..) was released for the Jaguar CD exclusively at Jaguar Sector II by Jay Smith, with an MSRP of $35.

May 23, 2009 - JetPac released by D-Bug via download for free.

September 27, 2010 - Aircars KA re-released for the Jaguar for $65

October, 2010 - Jaguar cart end labels are professionally made and available for sale thanks to mrbigreddog at AA.

October 29, 2010 - MYST Graphics, Source and Engine released for the Jaguar CD for $35

November, 2010 - Professionally made boxes and overlays for Aircars, Space War 2000, and just the overlay for Battlespere are released
thanks to Gaztee, Raven1280, Gusbucket 13, Jag Slave, Rubixcube 6 and Scatologic.

December, 2010 - Glossy white, professionally made Jaguar system outer casings are made available for sale on ebay.
Finally the dentist is good for something.

April, 2011 - Downfall! released by Reboot of Jagware.

May, 2011 - Robinson's Requiem released for the Jag CD thanks to Carl Forhan of Songbird.

November 22, 2011 - Kobayashi Maru released by Reboot of Jagware.

June, 2012 - Degz released by Reboot of Jagware.

July 9, 2012 - BlackOut! released by rush6432 & Jag_Slave of Atari Age.

July, 2013 - Elansar released by Orion.

December, 2013 - Another World released by Retro-Gaming Connexion (RGC) & Sebastien Briais of the group Removers of Jagware.

March 2, 2014 - downfall+ released by Reboot of Jagware.

June 20, 2014 - Philia: the Sequel to Elansar released by Orion.

April 9

I kind of wanted to know what's after a final run ..... guess I know now, another final run.

It's turtles all the way ..... what would make it even more grandiose is if after the pre-order is done it's revealed that this is actually a v3 with XYZ enhancements .... 'cause you know that would totally make sense.

So who's buying?
(I am not, I like it very much but I like 500U$ even more)

April 6

18 hours ago, phoboz said:

.... hopefully only for the games you own ....

... I wouldn't need an SD cart for that ... would I?

For the Jag I did purchase Orion Alice Mom's Rescue CD edition, and I do own 20-25 of the OG carts (for the time being) but this second part is because the GameDrive wasn't a thing when I started with the Jag.

I am not pirating homebrew, so unless "teh ROMZ" pack-edition already includes them I don't have a copy, for the ones that I may have in "teh pack" I don't think I loaded them at all (at least not yet for the Jag given I just got the GameDrive).

If I like an homebrew enough to pay the asking price I will purchase it, if not I can just not play it, but I will take a look if I have the time, that's one of the best things of an SD cart, I can finally playtest to my heart's content.
Wrt the Jag OG library I don't really feel bad, I know I bought those 20-25 because I could not really because I cared, luckily for me most of them were on the cheap, just a couple set me back more than the when-new price and in the end I don't think I should have bought them as I ended up not playing them much (Atari Kart and Rayman I am looking at you, just not fun for me, however Rayman does look gorgeous on the system).

April 5

15 hours ago, phoboz said:

Have you ever heard about the SkunkBoard, it has been around for years?

I have, and not the same, and keep in mind I made my own 7800 multi-carts (with dip-switches) and my own GX4000 multicart (also dip-switches + changeable EPROM). Many systems actually had small flashable solutions via PC available to them but it is SD carts that were game changers to a whole lot of people (Krikkz Everdrive line being a very nice case in point, but not the only).

I am sure that the SkunkBoard enabled Jag homebrews and if it wasn't for that we wouldn't have the recent homebrews/ports.

The JagCD support itself is a nice addition to the GameDrive for completionism sake, and a testament to SainT work and dedication, I hope me and you can agree on that.

For the rest I can understand you want to experience those games and buying a JagCD unit is unreasonably expensive these days, and with the GameDrive there's a solid chance so far that you'll be able to ~~endure~~ play those too, and hope me and you can agree on that too.

Tieing the value of the GameDrive only to the JagCD support itself is imho silly, but to each its own.

April 4

On 4/2/2021 at 12:59 PM, phoboz said:

....

Such a device would be a game changer in the Jag community, as the Jaguar CD ROM add-on is very hard to find at an affordable price.

Also I understood that these CD ROMs have very poor reliability, so I haven't bothered to look for one...

Why exactly is that?

The Jag CD games are not exactly a bunch to die for:

Baldies : ~~exclusive but~~ boring ----EDIT: available on PS1, Amiga, MS-DOS etc.. JagCD was the first version

Battlemorph : cybermorph ++ (I can see the appeal)

Blue Lightning : ugh (tech demo more than a real game imho)

Brain Dead 13 : ugh (MS-DOS, PS1, 3DO, CDi versions available if you really really have to)

Dragon's Lair : ugh (better versions all around, Wii Dragon's Lair Trilogy for example)
Highlander : c'mon now
Hover Strike UL : I can see some appeal
Iron Soldier 2: exists also as cart without in game music but ok
Myst : MS-DOS please or anything really
Primal Rage : it's not a great game to begin with and it's everywhere
Space Ace : ugh (better versions all around, Wii Dragon's Lair Trilogy for example)

Vid Grid : tech demo more than a real game imho, I loaded it exactly once

WTR : not too bad

So we have maybe 5 titles really worth looking at ... how's supporting Jag-CD a gamechanger?
It's not as bad as the 32X-CD games (all 6 of them) but it's not game-changing or maybe it is as you really want to change game.

The game changer is the GameDrive itself, JagCD support is icing on the cake and a testament to SainT ingenuity and determination but there's really little about it beside "gotta have them all!".

And yes I have a JagCD and all JagCD games in backup format at that and if I had to pay lot more than the 25c per coaster on any of them I'd likely pass aside a subset of the 5 above (unclear really how much I'd pay for any of them singularly as none of them is really my cup of tea, maybe WTR).

Maybe there are devs that signed up to make/port games and support redbook audio, cut-scenes etc... but not really sure.

EDIT: it appears I forgot about Gorf .... well ... I liked the C64 version back in the day more than I care to admit, another JagCD backup I loaded exactly once.

April 2

Quake on Voodoo2 .... pure bliss, only Voodoo2 SLI could beat it.

April 2

20 hours ago, Macross_VF1 said:

The SG-1000 does have an RF modulator and I did try to get the composite and audio signals from there but again, I wasn't happy with the result.

Now it should be possible to get RGB from this system. As stated earlier the VDP is the TMS9918 and it can only do composite but the later TMS9928 outputs a set of signals that can be converted to RGB. However they are not completely pin compatible, the 9918 provides both the CPU and sound chip with the clock signal on pin 38, something that the 9928 does not. In fact, pin 38 on the 9928 outputs one of the video signals necessary for RGB.

It should therefore be possible to build a separate clock circuit for the CPU and sound chip and swap the 9918 for a 9928, isolate the necessary pins on the 9928 and get RGB that way. However I don't know how to build a clock circuit with the proper MHz.

... or piggy back the 9928 on top with only the necessary input wired in parallel to the left-alone 9918 and use the out from it (you may have to ground/10K-ground some pins of the 9928 rather than float them but I don't think the input signals would mind a second load).

March 27

GD received and working!

~~The rom pack I found has CF linear hack not working (red screen) and I presume that's because of signature checks, is there a "working-I-am-to-stoopid-to-resign-it-myself" version?~~

<update>
Found the post

and found univ.bin and used HxD to replace the first 8KB with it, will see if that fixes it!!

</update>

<update2> with the new univ.bin "header" it works</update2>

~~I have the CD of Alice mom's rescue [officially purchased by me from Orion] that contains the 6MB skunk rom, would that work on the GD? (I had not had time to try it yet, just asking)~~

<update2> it works right off the gate </update2>

~~Last, BSG does not seem to work, I take it's expected, I have a repro anyway.~~
<update2> nevermind I must have done something wrong </update2>

March 15

4 hours ago, newtmonkey said:

...

Next some PC Engine shots (composite video >> Retrotink >> HDMI-component transcoder >> OSSC)

ossc_profiles_0.88(2).json 52.67 kB · 1 download

Composite to HDMI (via RetroTink) then back to component (via transcoder) than forward again to HDMI (via OSSC) ..... there's gotta be a better way.

March 7

18 buttons better than 3 or 6 or etc... what were they thinking?

Thanks that line of marketing died a painful death more or less even if after a decade or so these were a thing (yeah slightly different use case, but you can definitely play PC games with these)

how many buttons is that?

To be frank I was looking forward to controllers that used toes, heels, knees, elbows, shoulders, forehead and tongue but that didn't happen ... probably for the best as those could have cause no small amount of mutilations, self-inflicted maiming and whatnot.

NOTE: I am pretty sure the 5200 controller has more buttons:

I count 19 (3 top, 2 each side [who cares if left/right are the same] and 12 keypad )

February 27

On 2/26/2021 at 9:10 PM, kevtris said:

yeah I didn't know about that until now. I can add this. thanks for the bug report

If you have time:

basically MegaED x7 SMSFM only works in "dual audio" when I turn on the MegaSg FM support for the core, if I leave it off on MegaSg the MegaED SMSFM does NOT kick in. When MegaSg has SMSFM on then both play the music (I hope that doesn't cause bus conflicts).

I am not sure if it is something your recreation performs that trips the MegaED (or the games) in not detecting the MegaED x7 SMSFM module, or if it is a bug in the MegaED implementation, at any rate, if you like a puzzle ;-)

And thanks for chiming in.

February 27

3 hours ago, kevtris said:

I could not reproduce the sms tearing during scrolling in games. I set up a 1 pixel/frame horizontal scroll and saw no tearing. what game(s) did you see it in? also if you feel so strongly about mister, there is a dedicated mister thread.

Any chance you can get Outrun SMS to stop making the terrible noise in FM mode?

There's some info here:
https://etim.net.au/smsfm/smsfm.html

"In late 2014 there was some extra details discovered about the Japanese SMS sound hardware on detailed in this thread. The benefit is there are no longer 'extra' sound effects playing in Outrun at the start of a race."

Note I do not know if on a real Genesis+FM-mod it should work as it does on a real JP SMS, but on a real JP SMS there's no uninitialized PSG at the start of the race.

(you can get to shut it up if you get offroad, then the noise goes away, if memory serves the noise comes back at the very next section)

February 23

7 hours ago, Mattelot said:

Not sure if this is the place to ask or not but has anyone done or seen any testing for SD card speeds? I know the consoles have settings for faster read speeds but what are the intervals? I have 95MB/s read cards... will I honestly get an improvement from one of those 300MB/s cards? Games load in a blink of an eye on the Noir but of course there 2-3 second load on the Super NT and Mega SG.

I tried asking this on Reddit and got "lol 1 second wtf big deal" comments. I know shaving off 1 second is nominal to some but I want to try and get the most pristine, snappiest experience possible. I mean, we're buying very expensive consoles so it seems normal that we'd want the best experience we can get.

UHS-II cards are the ones usually posting such high perfs, and those require different SD readers (more pins on the cards) which are NOT part of these products.

As far as normal cards go I found that V30 work well, SD UHS-I has a theoretical max of about 104MB/s, but in the end I am not really sure how fast these devices can really read (wouldn't be surprised if they top between 25MB/sec and 50MB/sec but don't quote me on the exact figure, for example Krikzz ED64 x7 is advertised at about 23MB/sec, the FXPAK Pro at about 9MB/sec, MegaED Pro is at 5MB/sec. I am not sure kevtris/analogue ever reported pure SD perfs).

In short I don't think super fast SD cards would make that much of difference over "normal/decent" ones.

February 23

All 3 JBs are up at the usual places:

https://github.com/SmokeMonsterPacks

February 19

23 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

If it makes you feel better, the only reason that I got into Neo Geo is because this thing

got discontinued. Don't regret it at all, as it's become one of my absolute favourite systems ever.

What exactly is that?
It looks like an AV adapter, from Neo-Geo to what?

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