Downfall on RetroKidz 16MB Flash Cart

[GeorgeSpinner]

Hi. I am very new here (1st post).

 

I've been a Jaguar gamer since the 90's (on and off). At some point, I gave my collection to my older brother (stupid me).

 

Now, I'm borrowing a few pieces of it from him, because I got the itch (and I'm not really into emulation if the real thing is available. Also because the prices on ebay are insane, IMO).

 

While I "borrow" the Jaguar, I've invested in a few items to help me enjoy it a little more. One is the Jag2Gen AV port converter (wonderful), the other is RetroKidz 16 MB Flash Cart (pretty fun!).

 

I have always loved Downfall. It's very addictive. Such a satisfying game. I want to flash it to the RetroKidz 16 MB Flash Cart, but every time I've tried, it hasn't worked.

 

I get the spinning Jag-cube, the roar, the jingle, then scale to black, and... nothing. It just sits there on a black screen.

 

I have successfully flashed many other games to the RetroKidz 16 MB Flash Cart, but Downfall just doesn't work; neither does Native (USA) (Proto), but I'm less concerned about it.

 

All other games on the EPROM pair work fine.

 

I downloaded the ROM from https://reboot.untergrund.net/new-reboot/downfall.html.

 

I've seen an instance of someone playing it on their Skunk Board, so it seems to be compatible with real hardware.

 

If the Game Drive was in stock, I might have purchased it that day; it wasn't and I didn't. I have the RetroKidz 16 MB Flash Cart instead. For my needs, so far, it's great (minus Downfall). I've already invested $160 into something I'm only "borrowing", so I'm sticking with the RetroKidz 16 MB Flash Cart.

 

If anyone has any experience flashing Downfall, and there is something special I should know, I'd love to hear it.

 

Thanks for your time.

[neo_rg]

Maybe treat yourself to one of these carts this Xmas. You'll be supporting the people that released it originally.

 

https://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1224

[Machine]

1 hour ago, neo_rg said:

Maybe treat yourself to one of these carts this Xmas. You'll be supporting the people that released it originally.

 

https://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1224

 

This game(actually all of Reboot's games) are well worth the price. I can not tell you how many hours our family has played Reboot's games. Do yourself a favor, buy them. They are the most fun you can have on a Jag.

[GeorgeSpinner]

Thanks for the suggestions but, as I said in the original post, I'm borrowing this Jaguar from my brother, and he already purchased Downfall+

 

I have the original Downfall+ cart right next to the jag, right now (image included). If I wanted to, I could open it up, dump the roms, and (probably) be done.

 

I don't want to do that. Reboot gives the ROM away for free. I'm not pirating anything or taking any sales away, as it's not even the same exact game.

 

I could play it on an emulator all day long. I just want to get it running on the jag to get it running on the original hardware.

 

It's also a challenge at this point, it doesn't work and I want to understand why. I invested a lot of time learning how to use this flash cart for the exact purpose of getting the free Downfall ROM running on it.

 

If reboot didn't want me doing this, the ROM wouldn't be available.

 

If anyone knows how to get the freely available Downfall rom working on a flash cart, I'd appreciate the help.

[Editorb]

3 hours ago, Machine said:

 

I can not tell you how many hours our family has played Reboot's games.

Reboot's very strict End User Agreement stipulates a precise accounting of time invested enjoying the game. Do not try to fudge the numbers after the fact: Reboot knows all.

[Goochman]

Due to various factors not worth going into here, Reboot for the most part have their released ROMs locked to a Skunkboard or Gamedrive device.  Im guessing that is why you are having problems using it with your flash cart.

[GeorgeSpinner]

34 minutes ago, Goochman said:

Due to various factors not worth going into here, Reboot for the most part have their released ROMs locked to a Skunkboard or Gamedrive device.  Im guessing that is why you are having problems using it with your flash cart.

Thanks for this reply.

[+CyranoJ]

Downfall should work, it's not locked.  

[GeorgeSpinner]

1 hour ago, CyranoJ said:

Downfall should work, it's not locked.  

Thanks.

 

That's what I just heard from the reboot support chat on Facebook.

 

When I mentioned that it boots but then black, it was suggested that maybe there's an issue with the header.

 

Idk anything about that though. I'll try to see what I can find out.

[GeorgeSpinner]

I made some good progress on this. 

 

Although this flash cart is no longer in style (was it ever?) because of devices like the Game Drive, I thought I should share my experience.

 

If anyone else ever has trouble with the Downfall ROM, maybe this will help.

 

I said I was going to look into the header and I did.

 

I did some googling and came across the Universal Cartridge Header. This was exciting, at first, but it turns out that is the exact header that reboot used for the Downfall ROM.

 

I next came across the "makefastboot" tool (https://github.com/tursilion/makefastboot). This was interesting, because the tool has the ability to generate a different header.

 

I generated a fastboot ROM from the Downfall ROM and flashed it to cart. makefastboot didn't solve the problem, but it was a step in the right direction.

 

The game did load successfully on 3 separate occasions, but more often than not (many dozens of times) it would exhibit the same behavior as the original Downfall ROM (albeit with a faster boot up). The 3 successful loads encouraged me to keep digging.

 

The next thing I tried was converting the Downfall BJL to a j64 ROM using JiFFI (https://reboot.untergrund.net/new-reboot/jiffi.html). I applied the fastboot header before flashing it to the EPROMs.

 

This proved to be the solution that worked.

 

So, I never get the Downfall ROM to work with the flash cart, but I was able to successfully create my own ROM from the BJL. That's good enough for me.

 

Downfall works great and (as everyone knows) is a blast.

 

My high scores are not saved (this cart supports saves), but it's not a big deal.