Krip316 Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 Installed 8 games on the multi-cart successfully using GadgetUKs utility. All were 256kb, so only had to remove the header. One was 129kb and converted to 256kb without a problem. My only issue is, I wish I didn't have to unplug and plug it back in for each slot. Also, I left it sit plugged in for a awhile and when I went to add a game, my computer didn't recognize it. Had to unplug and plug it back in. jfmateos, all-n-all, awesome multi-cart. Thanks!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfmateos Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 Dear Krip316, In fact it is not mandatory to unplug the burner... you can burn a rom, delete it, change the slot, burn another rom, and so on... this works in most cases, but some user's computer store additional files when a file is deleted (trash bin) and then it is recommended to unplug the burner. If the burner is left plugged, the PC will probably set the saving energy mode and will not be recognized properly. thank you very much 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdoi Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 my cards arrived and I tested it: it works great!! thank you jfmateos!!I just tried 256ko games for the moment. I convert with gadjetUK soft, just remove the header of 64o (thank you also gadjetUK!). I have a question, there are some game which become bigger after the conversion with gadjetuk utility than before (256ko before and 513ko after). Is it normal? I thought the game's file would be smaller after conversion. And when i tried to put a converted game (513ko) on the card my pc said normally that it more than 512ko 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 "ko" - don't you mean "kb"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GadgetUK Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 I am not sure how the ROM ends up larger than 512Kb?!? If you select a 512Kb ROM, and chose 512Kb -> 512Kb (Mateos) it should just be 512Kb output, but ensure you tick the 'remove header' if the input file is .LNX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdoi Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Sorry, I am a bit confuse between kb and ko, but in windows explorator the lnx files are in Ko (256Ko). The thing is that I didn't try to convert a 512ko game with your utility yet. I convertedjust 256ko lnx games and some became a file .lyx but of 513ko. And I ticked the 'remove header' and 'remove header only'. Am I doing something wrong, or maybe my lnx games are not good... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOSser Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 I had similar trouble with 512Kb roms, if I ticked remove header only, they ended up being 1024Kb, if I ticked the 512Kb mateos option and remove header, they ended up at 512KB but didn't work unfortunately. 256Kb roms worked great with the utility. I came to the conclusion it was most likely user error. I managed to get the 512Kb roms working using the foolproof converter provided by Mateos so give that a shot. http://www.vectrex.hackermesh.org/alynxconverter/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GadgetUK Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 There might be a bug there when just removing header only. I will check later, it was originally a util to convert 128Kb ROM to 256Kb ROM so that's likely why it's doubling up when just header removal is ticked. It is just a quick and dirty util, plenty of room for improvement. I don't like relying on websites as they might not always be there / up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trew Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 There might be a bug there when just removing header only. I will check later, it was originally a util to convert 128Kb ROM to 256Kb ROM so that's likely why it's doubling up when just header removal is ticked. It is just a quick and dirty util, plenty of room for improvement. I don't like relying on websites as they might not always be there / up. Not to start making feature requests, but is there a way/is it possible to convert odd-sized ROMs to 256? That'd mean a lot of the homebrew stuff would be usable too (random example: adventure.lnx rom is about 11k, catkanoid is 15k) I had a quick stab at it using "dd" on the command line, but couldn't get it to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GadgetUK Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 (edited) Here's the updated version - It's still lacking some better features and exception handling etc, but its a bit better at controlling things that shouldn't be possible etc. Regards ROMs smaller than 128Kb, you will now find that it automatically disables the options that aren't valid (ie. 512Kb etc). For games like adventure and alien, just chose the 128Kb -> 256Kb BLL option and it should still work. I've just tested with Handy and those games work OK. https://www.dropbox.com/s/fglm8fp3shfnnh9/ImageConvert.1.0.0.2.zip?dl=0 NOTE: If you try and feed the output back in as an input file wierd things can happen. You really should keep your original roms safe, and just use the exports of this. Don't update / modify your original ROM files. EDIT: Just tested with Adventure and Alien - coverted 128Kb -> 256Kb (BLL) both work fine on Mateos 15 in 1. Edited July 21, 2015 by GadgetUK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOSser Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Thanks for updating the image converter, its very handy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdoi Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 is someone has tried to pad a little Rom file (less than 128kb) with 00 until 128Kb? Because I tried and I converted the file with GadjetUK's soft and it doesn't work (I tried (EPYX / Mateos) and (BLL / Mateos)). I filled the rom with 00 until 131104 bytes. Is this number correct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GadgetUK Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 What kind of file? My util doesn't support .o files. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdoi Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 for exemple luch3d.lnx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GadgetUK Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 Don't pad it - just use 1.0.0.2 of my util (above), and chose 128Kb -> 256Kb BLL. Make sure the header is removed also. Then drag the output file to the flash cart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 Shouldn't you duplicate the bank to fill the remaining space rather than pad it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdoi Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 I allready tried just to convert with your soft and it didn't work, and I know the rom works because I have tried on my lynxman's flashcard. I don't try to duplicate but, it would work only if the file is of 64kb (64*2=128), no? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+karri Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 A real 128k cart duplicates 512 bytes 4 times to build up the 2048 bytes in a block. No software relies on this duplication so you can fill the end with anything you like. Real carts wrap over. The cart has 256 blocks. You cannot make a 128k cart to work as a 256k cart by duplicating or adding zeroes. You need to enlarge each block from 512 bytes to 1024 bytes for each and every block. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 A real 128k cart duplicates 512 bytes 4 times to build up the 2048 bytes in a block. No software relies on this duplication so you can fill the end with anything you like. Real carts wrap over. The cart has 256 blocks. You cannot make a 128k cart to work as a 256k cart by duplicating or adding zeroes. You need to enlarge each block from 512 bytes to 1024 bytes for each and every block. That explains a lot. I just remember EPROM burning guides for NES/SNES repros. For instance, if you're reproing a game with a 64kbyte PRG onto an 256kbyte EPROM, the 64kbytes needs to be duplicated 4 times. That way, if the most significant bits in the mapper chip initialize so that the game loads the wrong area of the EPROM, the game will run normally and not crash. Also if the game calls on data or banks beyond the end of the ROM, it will wrap around to the beginning on a smaller ROM. Also some SNES games performed deliberate operations on SRAM memory outside the normal bounds as a means of copy protection. If the game cart or copy device had a larger bank of SRAM than it should, the check would fail and trigger a "bootleg" mode. In Earthbound this caused enemies to spawn at an accelerated rate and other nasties that made the game unplayable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GadgetUK Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 Yeah, it does work with 128K -> 256Kb BLL if you don't pad the ROM! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdoi Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 it's a bit complicated for my poor knowledge I will play other 256kb games. thanks anyway! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vectrexroli Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Finally had some time to show the cartridge in video: 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GadgetUK Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Thanks for the video =) I wanted to say thanks to Mateos again as well - I got the 2nd cart thanks! They are brilliant!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saffron1 Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Has anyone documented what settings you used to transfer each homebrew to the cart using GadgetUKs program? Cheers 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Does the creator have any plans to develop this into a memory card fed/menu controlled cart? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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