Wily Wars doesn't work with Everdrive X3

[bluejay]

It's odd. Every other Genesis and 32x game I tried on that Everdrive X3 worked. The Genesis is a Non-TMSS Model 1 with a 32x equipped. Can't test it without the 32x because I don't have a cable to connect the Genesis directly to the TV. I tried multiple .md files of Wily Wars; all of them resulted in a blank red screen. What's going on?

[Steven Pendleton]

1 hour ago, bluejay said:

Can't test it without the 32x because I don't have a cable to connect the Genesis directly to the TV.

What cable are you using to connect the 32X to the Genesis? The HD Retrovision Genesis 1 adaptor cable lets you plug in any Genesis 2 cable to that, but it also replaces the stock Genesis 1 -> 32X converter cable. I'm not home right now and can't check my original Sega converter cable, but if you are using the official Sega-made Genesis 1 to 32X converter cable, ditch the 32X, keep the short part of the 32X converter cable attached, and remove the longer part. Then plug your video cable into the short cable, as I do believe it shares the same female DIN as the Genesis 2 and 32X, which should theoretically let you plug into the display with your existing cable without needing the 32X.

 

Again, not sure if this will work and can't check now, but I suppose you can try it.

 

I forgot to mention it, but I have found that in order to run some US and PAL games on my Japanese Mega Drive using the MegaSD, even with the region fix option enabled, I must remove my 32X. This might be what you are encountering if you are using the PAL or Japanese ROMs. Make sure you're using a good ROM, as well.

Edited January 30, 2021 by Steven Pendleton

[bluejay]

Oh, alright. I'm not sure if the cable I'm using is off brand or not, but there's no way I can connect the Genesis directly to the TV. Both cables have male connectors. I can try it on my Genesis Model 2, although that won't be until much much later when I unpack all the stuff once I've moved to Korea. Regardless, thanks for the help.

[Steven Pendleton]

Sure. It sounds like you have a non-official 32X cable, in that case, as the official Sega one has 2 parts, one of which is the converter for the Genesis 1 with a male end and a female end and is not used for the other models. I can only find this small picture of it right now

 

 

 

Anyway, yeah, if you're using a good US ROM, it should work. The system always had some form of region identification, but most of the region locked games didn't show up until after 1993 or so unless you count the Japan/Asia carts not fitting in the Genesis and PAL Mega Drive as a physical region lock, but I don't know if this was intentional or not. Pretty sure this game was released after then, so I'd recommend the US ROM in that case... but you probably already knew that. Only other thing I can think of is that maybe the 32X and the Everdrive don't like each other for some reason or the cart itself is incapable of running that specific game. I'm sure you probably checked Krikzz's forum, but if you didn't, I'd go there and see if you can find anything.

Edited January 30, 2021 by Steven Pendleton

[bluejay]

I don't think a dump of the US version of the game exists yet; afaik the only known version is the one in the Genesis Mini... which is a shame. I think someone might have hacked a European version to run at 60fps though.

[Steven Pendleton]

Okay, that's probably what it is. If you're using the PAL or Japanese ROMs, it's probably that thing that I mentioned earlier where my MegaSD was having difficulty breaking the region lock because of the 32X. I thought that the Sega Channel version was available, but maybe not. I do know that the Genesis Mini ROMs are available, though. I checked all of those ROMs when they got dumped and I do believe all of them are region free.

 

That said, I'm pretty sure that if you were to remove the 32X and run the original PAL or Japanese ROM, it should work and there is actually a way you can verify this. Remove the 32X, plug some headphones in using the front headphone jack, navigate through the Everdrive's menu, and run the ROM. Yes, you won't be able to see what you're doing without plugging it into a display, but if you can do it, the game will eventually make some sort of noise. If it does, safe to assume it's probably the 32X. I'm not sure exactly what it is about the 32X that makes it difficult for the MegaSD to undo region protection, but maybe the Everdrive has the same difficulty, so maybe try it.

 

I don't know if that Everdrive model has cheats, but I checked and it does seem to have cheats, so you can try entering the Game Genie cheat EAAT-BL1T, which forces PAL games to run as NTSC-U, complete with 60Hz (well, 59.92Hz, but close enough), although I think how well it works may depend on the game. This will likely have no effect on the region lock at all with the 32X there, but you can maybe try it to see what happens. It's the only Game Genie cheat that I have ever memorized and there's only a single game that I use it on (Maui Mallard), but maybe it might work. Probably won't, so no promises, but maybe you'll be lucky and it will work.

Edited January 30, 2021 by Steven Pendleton

[Asaki]

If it's not the 32x causing the issue, I'd still suggest finding a different ROM. There should be one at the EverDrive forums that works (with saving), I know I had issues with a lot of other ones. There's also a set of patches that modify the gameplay/physics to match the NES originals.

The "official US NTSC" one from the Genesis Mini doesn't work, BTW.

[Steven Pendleton]

59 minutes ago, Asaki said:

The "official US NTSC" one from the Genesis Mini doesn't work, BTW.

Uh... yeah it does. It works for me, anyway. I tried it on my primary Mega Drive and it works with the MegaSD. Then I put the 32X on and it told me that it was for NTSC Genesis only. Then I put my 32X on my Nomad since that's the only Genesis that I have and it works on the Nomad with the 32X attached. I don't have a PAL MD to test, though, and I didn't bother testing it on the Nomad without the 32X.

[Asaki]

19 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Uh... yeah it does. It works for me, anyway.

I'd have to check again, but I remember loading it in the EverDrive X5 and it wouldn't run (USA NTSC Genesis 1).

And some of the other ROMs that were labelled as (U) were still in Japanese, like Super Fantasy Zone.

[bluejay]

I found a 60hz patched version of the PAL version of the game, and that worked. Thanks for the help though.