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Anyone interested in a ATGames SEGA Flashback (SD) Comunity Projekt?


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Hello all,

I have been watching the comunity projects for the Atari Flashback 9 and X and the Flashback Legends for some time. I wonder if it is possible to make these projects available for the ATGames SEGA Flashback 2018 (SD) version. I think the hardware shouldn't be too different. Currently I use the CFW which was published at gbatemp.net. So I can use custom roms for all SEGA consoles but none for Atari or any other machines. Can anyone help out here or does anyone want to adapt e.g. the Nexus project to the SEGA Flashback?

 

 

Edited by atarimonster
little error
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We have discussed a "Project Mars" for the sega flashback. The problem is, I don't own a sega flashback and they have gotten kind of pricey.

 

You can definitely use anything from Project Nexus or Ultimate, the setups are pretty much identical. Also, I will help you any way I can.

Edited by Draxxon
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55 minutes ago, Draxxon said:

We have discussed a "Project Mars" for the sega flashback. The problem is, I don't own a sega flashback and they have gotten kind of pricey.

 

You can definitely use anything from Project Nexus or Ultimate, the setups are pretty much identical. Also, I will help you any way I can.

That sounds very good to me.

I own 2 European versions of the SEGA Flashback, so I always have a backup system. So I could try to adapt some things, unfortunately I don't know anyone who has an NTSC system.  Since I'm not a technician, I don't know the differences between PAL and NTSC emulators, emulation and roms.
Because of me I would like to try to convert Project Nexus to Project "Mars". But I can only do this on a PAL-Version.

 

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Ok, so. You have CFW from RRifonas aka RMR_MD (or maybe it was the user Gaster for the sega?) from the GBATemp forum? Does it allow you to run custom roms with box art on the main menu?

 

I guess I also want to know, which version of the SEGA flashback is best? The one that is currently on the AtGames update portal website? I'm pretty sure there is still Official firmware available. I remember hearing something about there was a final sega FB model that released quietly and was superior?

I am uploading the current version of Project Ultimate to the LFB community thread now. I would think it would be better to port "ultimate" to the sega fb than to port the Nexus project. Ultimate FB will be superior when I'm finished. And you have the same controllers and number of buttons. Atari Nexus is limited to 1-button games only. BTW, I only called the sega project "Mars" because of the mars board it uses and poke fun at Project Eris and Lunar. We can call it whatever we want to.

It is also important to know what size box art the sega fb uses? is it 183x255 pixels for large art and 122x170 for small?

Edited by Draxxon
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Ugh, i was wrong. It isn't on the AtGames page anymore. I went into the archives and this is what I found...

 

From R.Rifonas and the GBATemp thread:

Atgames released a new update for the Genesis Flashback HD 2018 last week (v20190226).
The issue with PAL games seems fixed (I've only tested Sonic 2 for Master System and Sonic CD) and the games are running even better in my opinion. The scanline filter is much better than the older version. The core was not changed but they've implemented the improvements from the latest update for the Legends Flashback emulator.

I've made a custom firmware based on this new update in case anyone want to try it.
Features:
-> Genesis Plus GX to load Genesis, Master System, Game Gear and Sega CD games from SD Card OR Picodrive to load Genesis, Master System, Sega CD and 32x
-> Support to mount the games from the SD Card
-> Game Genie support won't work with this update as Atgames changes the emulator and most of the settings for retroplayer.ini are now being read from a read-only file in the /emulator partition
-> The European Firmware is based on the US version but I've replaced the assets, the "About" section will not be displayed as it's the US firmware
-> This update replaces the data partition. Save states stored in the console will be deleted. Backup them to the SD Card before starting the update

If the controllers stop responding, you may need to pair them again:
-> Turn off the console and the controller
-> Press A+UP and turn on the controller; The blue light will start blinking
-> Turn on the console, the controller will sync

To mount the rom partition in the SD Card:
-> Create a file mount_sd.ini in the root of the SD Card
-> Copy the backup from your 'rom' partition a 'rom' folder in the root of the SD Card
-> Removing the SD Card and rebooting the device will revert to the original partition
-> Renaming/deleting mount_sd.ini will also revert to the original partition


So, it looks like @rmr_md set it all up. I'm thinking this idea will work.

 

Sega FB Model #: FB3680

Update V.20190226 Custom Firmware


Mega Drive CFW w/ PicoDrive core

sega_update_20190226_EU_pico.zip

 

Mega Drive CFW w/ Gen+GX core

 sega_update_20190226_EU_genpgx.zip

 

Genesis CFW w/ PicoDrive core

sega_update_20190226_US_pico.zip

 

Genesis CFW w/ Gen+GX core

sega_update_20190226_US_genpgx.zip

Edited by Draxxon
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You are right! This is the Firmware I actual use. (EU-Versions) One System with PicoDrive Core and one System with Gen+GX core. But I think this do not matter...

To add games to the System I use the tool Genesis HD (2018) Game Manager 0.3.2 by dcuk7.

It writes automatically a new Allgames.ini to the SD Card when you add a game. It works basically only with the by hand added Games on SD-Card when these SD card is inserted at booting time. there is no copy of the internal roms available, so you have to boot without sd-card when you want to play the original integrated roms.

 

The size of pictures are: 122 x 170 small and 183 x 255 large (so I think its the same as in Legends)

And you're right because of "Ultimate", the controllers have 6 buttons similar to Legends flashback... So it seems we can use hopefully the same mappings.

 

On the Atgames support site the version of firmware with SD-Support is vanished, so I think they removed it somehow. Perhaps you can get it by wayback machine. But I think we can use the gbatemp.net CFWs you posted.

 

I think hopefully SD-support works on the Sega Flashback SDFW and CFW in the same way as on Atari Flashback...

 

 

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On 8/17/2021 at 3:35 PM, Draxxon said:

ok so, the mount_sd.ini file AND the startup.sh file is used to get it all going.

 

I'm thinking this setup will only dump the /rom partition. We will also need the /emulator partition.

 

here is the mount file from the AFB9 CFW. Maybe it will work to dump both partitions?

 

mount_sd.ini 0 B · 2 downloads

I think the mount_sd.ini file is only to detect the sd-partition. So we have to start with the startup.sh file.

From the FB9 I have this file. It seems to copy the emulator partition. I am going to test it out...

 

startup.sh

Edited by atarimonster
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Hi,

 

its disappointing, it seems the CFW for the SEGA Flashback don`t have the ability to use a startup.sh. So I can`t dump anything... Running the startup.sh on Atari Flashback it does want is wanted but on SEGA FLashback it do not work with same SD-Card.

Edited by atarimonster
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  • 2 weeks later...

I unpacked the Firmware update.  It remounts the /rom from the one on the SD card, but it does not call the startup.sh.

 

The whole house of card sits on top of that little script, so we could really use some help from the "founding fathers" to make that change.

 

Meanwhile, I can already tell it's practically identical to a Legends Flashback.  A lot of stuff from the LUFB would probably just work - or nearly so - IF you got the mod to call the startup.sh into your FW update...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Possibly the original guys have lost interest but you might want to ask them individually via PM or something.  I know a little about what they did, but frankly only enough to be dangerous.  I can provide some information I have about the tools which can be used to unpack/repack firmware but I would not trust myself to create something reliable which would not brick your device.  If you brick it, you may not be able to recover - depends on what gets damaged.

 

I am attaching my notes from the overclocking exercise that give a lot of hints.  I think I jumped straight to afptool to unpack the update Draxxon found for this device.  In principle, all you would want to do is replace the menu_launcher.sh in /emulator in your firmware update with the one from the legends flashback which I am attaching here.  It conditionally calls startup.sh (if it is found) on the SD card and basically never returns from there.

 

One part I'm not sure of is - after copying out the contents of the /emulator partition - what is the best approach to modify the file and re-create the partition image?

 

 

 

 

 

 

overclocking_commands.txt menu_launcher.sh

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  • 1 month later...

Okay, so, the game manager dumps the rom folder?

 

This application will allow you to manage your 'all-games.ini' file and ROMs for your Flashback HD (2018 model).

PLEASE NOTE: To use this you will need to use the custom firmware created by rrifonas over at GBAtemp.net - https://gbatemp.net/threads/custom-firmware-for-sega-flashback-2018.523590/page-9#post-8537041

To get started, please make sure you have an SD card with a 'rom' folder on the root of the device. Inside this 'rom' folder should sit your 'all-games.ini'. This is what the app will look for when you select your SD card. If this doesn't exist the app will let you know. It will also check for the mount_sd.ini which is what the custom firmware uses to make your SD card the default game location. If this does not exist it will ask you if you want to create one.

You can add and remove games from the SD card/.ini file using this tool as well as changing existing game names/properties/artwork. File types for artwork supported are .JPG, .GIF, .BMP and .PNG. You do not need to worry about the format or the size, the app will convert these for you. ROM files supported are .ZIP, .BIN, .SMS and .32X. AtGames do not allow spaces or special characters in the ROM names so this app will rename your ROMs for you automatically.

Please check the thread for this tool over at GBAtemp for more updates: https://gbatemp.net/threads/genesis-flashback-hd-2018-game-manager.529624/

Please also report any bugs/feature requests.

 

SGFB_Game_Manager.rar

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