Hard EverDrivin'! Flash cartridges & ODEs

[ArugulaZ]

Are you sure that quote was from Lil Jon and not Hideki Kamiya?

 

[Kazin]

I intend on getting a GCLoader eventually, but my Wind Waker disc with a hacked save boots into Swiss no problem, so I'm good for now. And yeah, load times are pretty great with it. For HDMI, I use this - it's pretty basic, but the picture looks pretty good to me, and it's not $150+ like a lot of HDMI options. It's also not a permanent mod, so if something better comes out, I can ditch it and install whatever new comes along.

And yeah, moving saves around sucks, regardless what system you're using. Getting my Shining Force III save off my Saturn+Fenrir ODE onto my Steam Deck in such a way that the Deck could read it was a confusing mess, though I eventually got it working. I wish there was a much easier way to manage saves for all these systems, I'm surprised there's not, really.

 

[Phantoon]

Sony are terrible with CMOS batteries, they seem to take pleasure in making them as hard to get to as possible

 

[Kazin]

AFAIK, PSOne's do not have ODEs yet. The ODE I installed was on a SCPH-5501, they're also available for the 1001's as well. Those are both the original style of PSXs, as well.

 

[Falselogic]

Is there one for the Slim PS2 by any chance?

 

[ArugulaZ]

This is probably what you're going to want on a slim PS2. The system has USB ports, but they're USB 1.0 ports, which means data transfer is slow and games don't run well, particularly those with full motion video clips. The memory card slot has faster data transfer, but memory cards are limited in size. However, they can be made compatible with SD cards, as the technology is fairly similar. You either pay about $20 for an MX4SIO, or cook one up yourself by bridging the connections of a micro SD card adapter to the pins of a memory card (note: it must be a Magic Gate card; third party memory cards without this technology work poorly, or not at all). I haven't tried it myself, but it's within the realm of possibility even for soldering klutzes, requiring mostly straight point to point connections with a resistor or two added.

 

[Falselogic]

This is probably what you're going to want on a slim PS2. The system has USB ports, but they're USB 1.0 ports, which means data transfer is slow and games don't run well, particularly those with full motion video clips. The memory card slot has faster data transfer, but memory cards are limited in size. However, they can be made compatible with SD cards, as the technology is fairly similar. You either pay about $20 for an MX4SIO, or cook one up yourself by bridging the connections of a micro SD card adapter to the pins of a memory card (note: it must be a Magic Gate card; third party memory cards without this technology work poorly, or not at all). I haven't tried it myself, but it's within the realm of possibility even for soldering klutzes, requiring mostly straight point to point connections with a resistor or two added.

Do you need to softmod the console to use this or is it just plug and play?

 

[ArugulaZ]

The system itself doesn't need to be hacked. However, a second memory card requires Free McBoot. You can either buy one of those pre-made, or make it yourself from a memory card you already have. You have to find a way to sneak an exploit on the card, but I think you can just burn a DVD and pop it into the system prior to booting it.

There's a huge-ass tutorial that will guide you through the process, but I have to believe there's someone online (probably MrMario) with streamlined instructions. I personally recommend Free McBoot, but there are other options available.

PS2 - [Tutorial] The Great PS2 AIO Guide

[ATTACH] . Its been 5 months since I began this guide and I've got it far enough now for an initial release. It will evolve even more as more and...

www.psx-place.com

 

[YangusKhan]

Free McBoot rules as hell

 

[Sarge]

I just recently picked up one of those MC2SIO dealies. I had a heck of a time getting it working right (probably better to just start from scratch without copying over the preexisting config files from the package Helder put together), but once I did, it seems pretty good for a Slim system. I've been running a full fat HDD setup for a while, so this was more a curiosity for me than anything.

As far as Swiss goes, that seems great as well. I bought an SD2SP2, but got unlucky in that it wasn't machined right and basically was falling out of the slot. Not even worth trying to return, so I just decided to pony up for a WiiSD card instead. There's apparently no functional difference between running through the memory card port and the port on the bottom, so I figured I'd have a better chance getting something that worked with the MC port. And blissfully, it actually worked, and seemed to load things well. Much like the PS2, it's something I didn't necessarily need (I run a lot of GC stuff on a Wii), but it's still super neat and gives me an easier way to get homebrew on there, and makes my process of updating GBI a lot easier as well.

 

[ArugulaZ]

Whatever's cheapest and most readily available, I guess. I don't know if there are distinctions beyond that. All I know for sure is that when you get a clone, you must never attempt to upgrade the firmware; you'll ruin it by trying.

 

[ShakeWell]

So uh

What's everyone's preferred GDEmu clone these days?

I've had no issues with my XBERSTAR one that I got off Amazon.

 

[Kazin]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1528695311887106048

 

[Sarge]

That's a very cool idea.

 

[Mr. Sensible]

Krikzz is doing a Black Friday sale, everything 10% off through 11/30.

 

[Kazin]

Yeah, I picked up a Mega Everdrive Pro. Figures the Black Friday sale I finally bite on one of these is only 10% off lol, but at least the money is going to Ukrainians.

 

[ShakeWell]

The Mega ED Pro is so good. I love mine.

 

[Sarge]

I'd love to get a Pro, I just can't bring myself to chuck over the cash since I do still have a Sega CD that works. But I have to admit, it sure would be nice to simplify that particular setup.

 

[Kazin]

After the hellish time I had buying a replacement gear for my PC Engine CD and recapping it and it still didn't work (I've sent it to a professional), I'm avoiding CD based collecting lmao

 

[Kazin]

Received my Turbo Everdrive Pro in the mail today (super early birthday gift from my wife). It's an amazing product - though I'm glad I S-video modded my PC Engine with the Turbonanza mod, which also provides stereo audio out, which the Turbo Everdrive Pro can't do on its own. Playing Rondo of Blood on a CRT through S-video is an absolute delight. I wish I could take a picture that doesn't look like crap to share, so you'll just have to take my word for it - it's gorgeous. The Turbo CD/PC Engine CD is also a library I'm super unfamiliar with, too, so exploring it will be fun. Also having save states for HuCard games will be nice as well - maybe I'll finally play all the way through the Bonk games, for example.

Anyway, I've loaded my Turbo ED Pro up with the following CD games:

- Ai Chou Aniki
- Akumajou Dracula X - Chi No Rondo (English)
- Beyond Shadowgate
- Bonk III
- Cosmic Fantasy 2
- Double Dragon II - The Revenge
- Dragon Slayer - The Legend of Heroes
- Dungeon Explorer II
- Exile
- Exile - Wicked Phenomenon
- Faussete Amour
- Fighting Street
- Final Zone II
- Forgotten Worlds
- Gradius II - Gofer no Yabou
- Loom
- Lords of Thunder
- Madou Monogatari I - Honoo no Sotsuenji (English)
- Metamor Jupiter
- Meteor Blaster DX
- Might and Magic III - Isles of Terra
- Monster Lair
- Motteke Tamago (English)
- Nekketsu Koukou Dodgeball-bu CD
- Panic Bomber
- Prince of Persia
- R-Type Complete CD
- Space Invaders - The Original Game
- Star Parodier
- Super Air Zonk - Rockabilly Paradise
- Super Darius
- Super Darius II
- The Dynastic Hero
- Valis II
- Valis III
- Valis IV
- Xak III - The Eternal Recurrence (English)
- Ys Book I & II
- Ys III
- Ys IV (English)

Let me know if there's anything I'm missing, a lot of these I've never played before but I've either heard about elsewhere or were English patches that were easily available.

I've also ordered a PC Engine GT from Japan, no idea when that will get here, but I'm looking forward to modding and using that with the Turbo Everdrive Pro, too.

 

[ShakeWell]

While Lords is more unique, don't sleep on Gate of Thunder. Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari is a port of River City Ransom though it doesn't have any kind of English translation currently, so unless you've committed the NES version to memory, that might be a tough one.

I don't recall if this device supports Arcade Card games, but if so, Sapphire is a very visually impressive game. It became this legendary thing, so I think a lot of people thought it was a better game than it is, but it's certainly a solid shooter. Also, I've talked about Fatal Fury Special, but it's frankly a ridiculously impressive port. Absolutely dog-walks the Sega CD version.

Finally, get Fighting Street off that thing. It means to do you harm.

 

[Kazin]

I always wanted to try Fighting Street, I never have haha. I'll probably just boot it once.

I think it supports Arcade Card games, so I'll download Sapphire, though I think I do have Gate of Thunder on there already (it's a HuCard game, right?). I think the only thing this card can't do is Supergrafx without actual Supergrafx hardware, which I don't have (and don't plan on getting. I'll emulate those games if I want to play them - the Supergrafx is hideous looking lol).

 

[ArugulaZ]

Don't forget! There are many guys like you all over the world!

 

[ShakeWell]

I always wanted to try Fighting Street, I never have haha. I'll probably just boot it once.

I think it supports Arcade Card games, so I'll download Sapphire, though I think I do have Gate of Thunder on there already (it's a HuCard game, right?). I think the only thing this card can't do is Supergrafx without actual Supergrafx hardware, which I don't have (and don't plan on getting. I'll emulate those games if I want to play them - the Supergrafx is hideous looking lol).

No, Gate of Thunder is a CD game, in the US it was a pack in with Bonk 1 & 2 and Bomberman on the same CD.

 

[Sarge]

Yep, I'll second Gate of Thunder - if you dig Thunder Force, you'll dig this.

 

[Kazin]

Heads up for anyone considering using an Everdrive to complete the various gen 3/4 Pokedexs - the EZ Flash Omega Definitive Edition allows you to flash a game to NOR memory (dunno what that stands for), which makes the device you're playing the game on think whatever game is loaded into that slot is a real cartridge. Meaning, for example, you can transfer Pokemon from GBA to DS without having to pay the exorbitant prices the GBA games cost these days (the EZ Flash Omega Definitive Edition cost me ~$79 from Amazon, for example, which is less than the cost of Fire Red/Leaf Green which go for $90-$100, much less Emerald which goes for freaking $200 loose these days). Sadly, the Krikzz-made GBA Everdrives don't do this.

...Meaning, I now have an extra GBA Everdrive X5 Mini if anyone would like to buy one from me lol

 

[Sarge]

Fun, sounds like the EverDrives trip the anti-piracy measures.

NOR memory is a type of flash memory, so when you flash it, it looks just like a ROM chip as far as the system is concerned. I have an old FlashAdvance 256M Pro that is NOR-only, and I suspect the old EZ Flash 3-in-1 carts would also work for this purpose.

 

[Kazin]

@Sarge Well, I don't think the Everdrive carts have a way to tell Pokemon Pearl or whatever which game to load, so it just acts like no GBA game is there. The Everdrive itself loads up fine on a DS, but you still have to select the game you want to play from the menu.

 

[Sarge]

Ohhhhhh... I think I get it now. So the DS version is literally accessing the cart while it's not running? Now it makes sense why the EverDrive wouldn't work. For some reason I thought it would be some sort of link-cable deal.

 

[muteKi]

Same things with the 3-in-1 cartridge; the way the NOR is mapped, as I recall, does not appear to be where the Pokemon, etc. games would otherwise expect it, so they don't actually identify it as such. That said, I have not checked this myself to say for certain.