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64DD Support on a 64Drive
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zoinkity
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 PostPosted: Mon Mar 30, 2015 9:21 pm    Post subject: 64DD Support on a 64Drive Reply with quote Back to top

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHR1y4OJ4lE

This is a preview of 64drive firmware 3.00, adding 64DD support. The FPGA simulates the ASIC registers, based in large part on Happy's work in MESS.

There isn't enough on-board memory to keep the IPL and disk image loaded at the same time, and trying to load the disk info using SD/CF LBAs was fraught with errors. Instead, disk images are placed in cart space and the IPL is read-only, accessed much like save files, for games using the sound and font data.

My contribution is a custom bootstrap replacing IPL 2 and 3 in the boot sequence. Just like a cart bootstrap it initializes the system, but also applies disk initialization found only in the DD bootloader. The disk is loaded directly without any IPL code executing.

There are some kinks. Writes are not flushed back to SD/CF but are written to cart space, so just like with the Dezaemon DD cart mod you can upload them to PC using USB. Expansion disks can't be run with a cart base, and disk swapping isn't really supported. You can upload a new image via USB, but the eject and disk change flags are not set by the FPGA yet. That would require active monitoring or possibly a trigger, but should be the easiest problem to solve.
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MRKane
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 PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 2:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top

It was a little too quiet to make out everything but (as par usual...I feel like a record here) I'm beyond impressed!

Meanwhile love watching your videos - it's really made my day (and this is coming from a guy who's just finished season one of Black List!).

I will say that every time something like this comes about, or is made public, I'm always left thinking "what if"...but we shouldn't ask those questions so onward and upward!!!
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Kerr Avon
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 PostPosted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 11:31 am    Post subject: Re: 64DD Support on a 64Drive Reply with quote Back to top

zoinkity wrote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHR1y4OJ4lE

This is a preview of 64drive firmware 3.00, adding 64DD support. The FPGA simulates the ASIC registers, based in large part on Happy's work in MESS.

There isn't enough on-board memory to keep the IPL and disk image loaded at the same time, and trying to load the disk info using SD/CF LBAs was fraught with errors. Instead, disk images are placed in cart space and the IPL is read-only, accessed much like save files, for games using the sound and font data.

My contribution is a custom bootstrap replacing IPL 2 and 3 in the boot sequence. Just like a cart bootstrap it initializes the system, but also applies disk initialization found only in the DD bootloader. The disk is loaded directly without any IPL code executing.

There are some kinks. Writes are not flushed back to SD/CF but are written to cart space, so just like with the Dezaemon DD cart mod you can upload them to PC using USB. Expansion disks can't be run with a cart base, and disk swapping isn't really supported. You can upload a new image via USB, but the eject and disk change flags are not set by the FPGA yet. That would require active monitoring or possibly a trigger, but should be the easiest problem to solve.


Does this mean that Sim City 64 can be made to work without a 64DD? Ideally with an Everdrive (er, mainly because that's what I have! Wink )?

Sim City 64 looks amazing, especially since you can walk or fly around the cities you create, in first person mode!

Have a look at it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpe_BnXcMc8


Zoinkity, if you have the time, and are looking for an N64 game related project, then please consider working on Sim City 64. I know you must be busy, but Sim City 64, translated, and running on an N64 + flash cartridge would be *fantastic*. I know I'd spend a *lot* of time playing it.
 
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zoinkity
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 PostPosted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 12:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top

Krom called it.

Incidentally, an Everdrive64 would require a physical hardware revision to run 64DD titles. Current versions cannot do it.
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Kerr Avon
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 PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2015 6:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top

zoinkity wrote:
Krom called it.

Incidentally, an Everdrive64 would require a physical hardware revision to run 64DD titles. Current versions cannot do it.


Who is Krom, please? What extra hardware does the 64DD have? I thought it was just a dial up modem and a disc drive, I didn't know it had more features.

Anyway, I'll keep hoping that someone mods Sim City 64 to run on a normal N64, as it would be great (and stranger things have happened!). It's suprising, when you come to think about it, that no one ever tried to mod the PC's Sim City 2000 to add a first person street view. Alright, so there was the official (and awful) streets of Sim City, but I mean amateur mods, as they can be brilliant (look at the mods for Doom, Half-Life 1 and 2, STALKER, the GTA games, etc) and a first person mod for Sim City 2000 would be very popular, I think.

Still, Sim City 64 being dumped and made available for download is the first step on the path towards it being translated and made to run on a normal (i.e. non-64DD equipped) N64. The path might contain an insurmountable hurdle, but then again, hopefully not.
 
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zoinkity
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 PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2015 5:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top

Just like the modem cart they also had a video capture cart. Here's a link to gander at:
http://n64.trashfolder.org/

Krom has been doing some amazing low-level RDP work, and some of his projects on github are being used to benchtest emulator compliance. The translate folder has a running translation of a cute game called Kira to Kaiketsu! 64 Tanteidan, basically a sort of table-top mystery sort of thing that's quite fun.

Incidentally, the mouse works exactly like a controller and can be used in the place of one. Controllers have a massively wider range of motion and constant reporting of it at that, so I don't suggest using one with any game not calling for it.
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Kerr Avon
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 PostPosted: Sat Apr 04, 2015 2:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top

zoinkity wrote:
Just like the modem cart they also had a video capture cart. Here's a link to gander at:
http://n64.trashfolder.org/


Thanks for that. http://n64.trashfolder.org/ is very interesting, for example I didn'tk now that the modem was a seperate cartridge - I thought it was part of the 66DD and so could potentially be used with any game cartridge whose game could access the (non-existing, as I now know!) modem that I thought was built into the 64DD.



Quote:

Krom has been doing some amazing low-level RDP work, and some of his projects on github are being used to benchtest emulator compliance. The translate folder has a running translation of a cute game called Kira to Kaiketsu! 64 Tanteidan, basically a sort of table-top mystery sort of thing that's quite fun.


Does the game work on a non-64DD equipped N64? I have to ask, rather than just try it, as I'm away from home for the next few days Crying or Very sad



Quote:

Incidentally, the mouse works exactly like a controller and can be used in the place of one. Controllers have a massively wider range of motion and constant reporting of it at that, so I don't suggest using one with any game not calling for it.


I prefer a joyap to keyboard + mouse, when playing games, so I wouldn't use a mouse anyway, unless it was for something where a mouse was better, such as a drawing game, but then I wouldn't play those games anyway.
 
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zoinkity
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 PostPosted: Tue Apr 07, 2015 5:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top

Oh, it's a normal cart game. There isn't any real 64DD homebrew for a number of reasons.

I had always thought the same thing about the modem and was a tad surprised to see it's a cart. The cart contains several drivers for the modem but is nonbootable. I think it relies on watches to trigger interrupts. I know it's the "tom" library, but haven't really dedicated the time to RE the interface from the code.

Shame you aren't into drawing games. The majority of 64DD titles are Mario Artist ones. They're surprisingly fun--especially Talent Studio.
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Kerr Avon
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 PostPosted: Thu Apr 09, 2015 3:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top

zoinkity wrote:
Oh, it's a normal cart game. There isn't any real 64DD homebrew for a number of reasons.


I suppose. The very limited amount of N64 homebrew was due to problems such as the N64 being very difficult to write for, no (easily) affordable writeted in the 64DD's case. Well, in the 64DD's case, you do get writeable media, but on the minus side, you'd be writing for hardware that almost no one owns, and wasn't even officially available outside of Japan.


Quote:

Shame you aren't into drawing games. The majority of 64DD titles are Mario Artist ones. They're surprisingly fun--especially Talent Studio.


Well, it's all academic, at least until the 64DD games do become runnable either on a 64DD-less N64, or on an emulator that's fast enough to run on a fair but not top of the range emulator. Preferably on an N64, really, as if you want to play drawing games on a PC, then I'd imagine that there are native Windows ones already.

BTW, according to NES World (http://www.nesworld.com/) this was, and I quote

"(EDIT... THIS WAS A MEAN APRIL FOOLS PRANK)"

So it it real, or a prank? I'd imagine it was real, or you wouldn't have kept it going for the past week, but why would Nes World say that?
 
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zoinkity
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 PostPosted: Thu Apr 09, 2015 10:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top

It's mostly real. There's exactly two (and a half) lies.
I've been horrifically busy the last couple weeks and haven't been able to properly release what was done. (or answer any of Sub's emails--totally will do this, really!)

It isn't video editing or anything though! It actually is running the games off the 64drive, just not entirely as described. Plus, not joking about this not working on an Everdrive unless it grows a couple pins overnight.

There are a couple problems too. I think the Doshins are confusing the PI settings for EPI requests, so data returned is probably inconsistent. It's something no emulator catches since you'd have to know way too much info on the media you're using, and a great way to detect if an emulator is running your code.
As an excellent example of this, run the 64drive's menu in any emulator like a normal ROM. It's worth a giggle.

I will say the 64drive's menu was hacked (the half). Originally I was going to add an icon and all, but it proved to be a bit too annoying for a throwaway joke.

I will be releasing what was seen in the video sometime in the future when everything is perfected.

MESS supports 64DD now, and every undead emu project has announced they're looking to incorporate the code. (Undead is not a typo) It isn't terribly complicated, but did need hardware analysis to understand what was going on during block-by-block transfers. Other emulator projects had gotten as far as LBA reads, but the hickup was always sequential I/O.
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Kerr Avon
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 PostPosted: Fri Apr 10, 2015 6:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top

OK, thanks. With MESS and CEN64 aiming for cycle accurate emulation, and DD64 emulation now in sight, it's a very interesting time for us N64 fans! But as someone else pointed out, it's ironic that this is happening just after

http://64dd.net/

closed down. Speaking of that site, they haven't even left it up as an online archive, they seem to have looped everything back to the front page, unfortunately.
 
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zoinkity
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 PostPosted: Fri May 01, 2015 8:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top

May Day! May Day!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAh-u2iwEm0

!update!
Thanks to LuigiBlood Project 64 not only supports these conversions but also has mouse support. You will need an LLE plugin to use Polygon Studio due to how geometry is selected. The new GlideN64 plugin is safest HLE choice. Cen also will run them, and there should be a fork of Mupen that does the same.

64DD cart conversions are now being released into the wild. Each one is being released as it is complete and bug tested. As of this update all but SM64DD and the Randnet disk are complete. Might just skip them to be honest.

So no, there wasn't a magically "hardware revision 3". They do use a specialized bootstrap though, implementing the system initialization and disk initialization usually performed by the IPL. It's a much higher-level hack than Dezaemon is, making no attempts to simulate register behavior. Read/write requests are converted directly into EPI requests.

All confirmed working on a 64drive. Use menu 1.12d or later. I happen to know they will also function on a v64jr though am not testing each one that way. Everdrive64 will not load them as of yet and full functionality can be somebody else's project.

Obvious features not implemented:
  1. Can't use a modem or video capture cart with these. Would require additional reverse-engineering and hacking to provide similar functions via USB.
  2. RTC reports the time of the disk pressing. The RTC differs in its storage format and access method from Animal Forest significantly. In all cases, games using the clock only load the time once, usually before actual gameplay, and time continues to tick forward based on the system clock. This is the same way Animal Forest functions and why it is fully playable even without the RTC present. In most if not all cases this just sets the timestamp for saved data. With the exception of Doshin the Giant 1 none of them utilize the timestamps for significant gameplay features.


As per forum rules I can't directly link the ROMs but can indirectly direct you to them.
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Trevor
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 PostPosted: Mon Jun 08, 2015 2:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top

Update Regarding Everdrive 64

http://krikzz.com/forum/index.php?topic=3098

Saturnu has enebled DD Conversion ROMS to be run and also save, including a Blended F-Zero+Exp ROM allowing tracks to be edited and saved.

While this can be done on Windows, what I hope to come from the ROM is the 3 Bonus STEREO soundtracks only included on the DD.

Trev
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zoinkity
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 PostPosted: Mon Jun 08, 2015 4:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top

The entire discussion and all releases can be found from here:
http://assemblergames.com/l/threads/64dd-cartridge-conversions-released.56654/
-since directly linking ROMs would still probably cause some trouble even for demi-admins like myself.

As translations are made and released that thread will get updated. Progress on Krom's Sim City 64 patch can also be followed on github.
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MRKane
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 PostPosted: Tue Jun 09, 2015 3:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top

Stunning Zoinkity absolutely stunning! And the video also answered one other question I've had and that's is your name pronounced zoin like coin or like tron. I can't wait to see what happens with this scene, and I guess the ultimate dream now is that some unreleased things might wriggle their way out of the woodwork Very Happy
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