SNES Powerpak is now available

[schnuth]

Just wanted to mention that I received my replacement CF card today, and have had no trouble running games on my SNES Powerpak so far. I have a 2/1/3 Super Famicom and the installed DSP chip is detected and works just fine with Super Mario Kart. Now to return the SanDisk Ultra card I bought since I could not get it to work. Game on!

Aaron

[Kamigami]

i'm going to buy one ...
Mainly for j-rpgs (transleted ones of course).
Any issues with them?

I read here there's some problems with star ocean.
Anything else?

Generally snes powerpak can't read modified roms expanded with the translation patch?

[renejr902]

bunnyboy said it will work with any expanded roms with translation

[renejr902]

WOW WOW !!!

i receive my Snes Powerpak today. ALL IS WORKING PERFECT. my snes console is a NTSC (USA/CANADA) v2, v1, v1 , with printed eject. my snes powerpak has dsp1 installed correctly. version 1.02. my TV is a CRT Proscan 27''

The compact Dane-elec 2gb that is include with the snes powerpak work at full speed. no problem at all. buy your CF card from Retrozone if you dont want to find a compatible one.

Some facts:

- ALL my roms are working until now except for one game (see below asterix)
- Star Ocean save is working after i patched the rom with this:
0081D5: 32->31h
0081D6: 45->02h

A081D5: 32->31h
A081D6: 45->02h

- Final fantasy IV Hard type with english translation Work perfect.
- Seiken detstsu 3 in english work perfect.
- EUROPEAN ROMS WORK AT NORMAL SPEED !!! people that said that (E) roms on a ntsc system will run faster than normal ARE WRONG. at least for the games i tried. Jellyboy (E) and a few others european games run at Normal speed.

Problems so far. ( only one LOL):

- i convert Asterix & Obelix (E) to NTSC system with ucon64 with parameter -f, because when the game is started, it said in the tv screen that i need a pal system to play it. even after patching the rom it said the same thing. so its seem ucon64 is unable to remove the Asterix & obelix pal protection.

If your rom has no pal checking , your rom will work perfectly at NORMAL speed. but if its asking for pal system, you have to remove the pal checking with ucon64. but it doesnt work for me.

Any ideas for Asterix & Obelix ?? THANKS FOR ANSWER

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE SNES POWERPAK TO ANYONE THAT LOVE SNES GAMES. CONGRATULATION BUNNYBOY and RETROZONE , this thing is a DREAM COME TRUE FOR ME. It will help me to change my mind and forget my life problems. ITS REALLY FUN TO PLAY WITH IT. ALL games runs exactly like the original game. i cant play emualtors anymore. LOL

The BUILD QUALITY IS AWESOME. GREAT QUALITY PRODUCT. BUY IT SOON, you cant live with it LOL

[skaar]

I had a lot of fun with mine last night, played a ton of Actraiser. The second one wasn't as good though.

I had a weird thing happen though I'm not sure if it's my SNES/TV as I had it running off the LCD in the living room. I'd play a game for a little bit then video would just cut out and the TV said no signal. Sounds were still going and the controller worked - I could play but with no video.

Might just be the cables or something though... will play with it more and let people know. Still even with that I'm really happy with it. Get one!

[Kamigami]

good to hear that Renejr...

so actually ... just star ocean needs a patch to work properly?

[renejr902]

only star ocean and asterix and obelix. i will post if i find others games not working.

For asterix and Obelix: Goto $E70A. Change values to EA EA

[renejr902]

i tested several others roms.

ALL my (E) roms have been patched with ucon64 -f, But unfortunately, only a few of them will remove the PAL protection.

THIS is my favorite pal roms list in order of importance of games that dont work on a NTSC system even after trying to remove the PAl protection: IF YOU CAN GIVE ME THE HEX CODE TO CHANGE FOR SOME OF THEM I WOULD BE VERY HAPPY , only if you have time, THANKS:

1. Lucky Luke
2. Tintin au Tibet
3. Adventure of Tintin
4. Super ice Hockey
5. Spirou


OTHERS PROBLEMS:

- BS ZELDA DONT WORK, and i have 4 different versions. and i have one version made for the real hardware.

- BS F-ZERO 2 DONT WORK

- Final Fantasy II ( translated in French) only show 2 lines in each paragraph, so its not possible to understand the text. Its bad because my wife dont speak english and she want to play it. Dont worry the english translation of final fantasy IV work perfectly.

- YS IV ( english translation) YOU CANT SEE ANY TEXT

- Mystick ARK (7th saga 2) i have 2 roms with a different english patch. anyway the 2 patchs are 100% translated in english. But one of them will SHOW NO TEXT. the other work perfectly.

- Pilot Wings dont work correctly

- all A&S nes hack dont work. ex: mappy, pinball, pooyan


- I TRIED TO TEST ALL SNES RPG : USA AND JAPAN AND EURO AND ALL ENGLISH TRANSLATED, ALL OF THEM WORK PERFECTLY, except for what i wrote before.

- star ocean need a patch for saving , after patching all is working great
- terranigma need a patch for working , after patching all is working great
- all others rpg work without a patch.


THANKS FOR HELP, if you can help me with one of my problem i will appreciate it. But at least, all my favaorites games are working. im happy.

[skaar]

So basically.... some of the hacks don't work for you? I've had great luck so far.

[Kamigami]

what if have a regional switch?
it mays olve the problem with (e) romz?

Btw i can't have BS Zelda working neither on my pc emu.
So i think it needs some patching work..
Just suspicious..

[renejr902]

BS zelda works with my pc emulator

[renejr902]

i patch YS iv with the english translation and it works now

[renejr902]

Finally i tried all snes games that i have played since my 10 years old ( i have 30 years old )

and i didnt find any other games that do not work. ( more than 300-400 roms tested, you can ask me if a particular game is working correclty)

So i can enjoy All my favorites games on real hardware. Finally i like the final fantasy iv large battle menu and the last translation patch.


So all my problems have been resolved

THANKS ALL.

The snes powerpak really worth it.

i have to go because i have to play final fantasy iv, star ocean, seiken 3 and final fantasy V. and all my favorites platform and racing games games: megaman x, castlevania series, mario series, asterix and obelix, Tintin, jellyboy, smurfs, mariokart, f-zero...
i have 116 nes and snes original games. But i never have been able to play most of my favorite games on real hardware ( euro and japan snes games ). That awesome.

I will be very BUSY. LOL !!!

(note: only F-zero 2, bs zelda and all versions of pilot wings dont work, if someone find a way to get one of these games working correctly dont hesitate to tell me)



Mottzilla have give me all hex code to change for each (E) roms that need to remove pal protection to working. so all my favorites pal roms are working now. ONLY A FEW OF THEM ARE FASTER THAN NORMAL on a NTSC system. Terranigma play at the normal speed, like many others.


Have a nice week !!! AND THANKS A MILLION TIME FOR YOUR HELP MottZilla. Without this guy a lot of my favorites games wont be working.

THANKS TO MOTTZILLA ( from nesdev forum) AGAIN and THANKS to SHADOWKN55 for the star ocean save hex code.

[c0ldb33r]

I got an error message with Super Noah 3D.

[Kamigami]

Did you try with Nightmare Busters?
seems to be an (E) rom...
Does it work?

[trollrx]

I ordered my SNES PowerPak last week. I'm hopping it gets shipped soon as I haven't heard anything from RetroZone yet.

Also I have I like 3-5 SNES consoles around here somewhere so we'll see if I have any problems on them. I still need to get a CF card though.

I read this entire thread and I feel unsure of whether the PowerPak is going to give me headaches or not...

[renejr902]

Did you try with Nightmare Busters?
seems to be an (E) rom...
Does it work?

I cant find this rom anywhere. very strange. Did you spell it correctly ?

[renejr902]

One of my favorites games is on the incompatibility list. But i think someone can get it to work.

The game is street fighter Alpha 2. It use the SDD-1 chip.

If someone decompress Street fighter alpha 2 like someone did for Star OCean, i think street fighter alpha 2 will work with the Snes Powerpak ?

right ?

Is it a hard job to do ?

Thanks for answer.

[Kamigami]

I cant find this rom anywhere. very strange. Did you spell it correctly ?

sure i can wait :angel:

thanks for the help. ^_^

same here for SFA2.. btw

EDIT:
yes it's correct.
Maybe you can't find it beacuse you look in your SNES romset.. but actually it's an unrealeased game:
http://www.snescentral.com/article.php?id=0827

I'll drop the rom over you in pm. ^_^

[renejr902]

i tried the nightmare busters. im sorry !! the game load but stuck at a black screen. i tried to wait and i tried to smash all butons several times.

its the first time i got a rom that load correclty and show a black screen. i will try to download it elsewhere

[renejr902]

i downloaded it at a different source and i got the same black screen

sorry

i tried your pm rom and another rom from another web site.

[renejr902]

i convert it to a NTSC rom, but not work either.

i played with a game title: Sonic the hedgehog (UNL) ??

Is Sega have a done a Sonic game for the super nes ?? im very surprised ??

or its a hack ?

the game have several stages and several worlds and it work on the snes powerpak

thanks for answer

[Kamigami]

is very odd.. because on on emu you have a full screen and full speed playable game.
Looks like a ntsc game.

Btw i wrote something in the repro thread since kogami have maded a repro with this game and maybe he know a little more about it.

the Sonic one is definitely an hack ^_^

[renejr902]

pm me if you have others info i can test it for you

[acedo2]

- Star Ocean save is working after i patched the rom with this:
0081D5: 32->31h
0081D6: 45->02h

A081D5: 32->31h
A081D6: 45->02h


I got my powerpak today!! and was thinking on playing star ocean this week, I have no idea how to patch a rom file though so could you please tell me how?

[renejr902]

1. Download Cygnus Hex Editor FREE EDITION
2. Open the rom file ( you need the star ocean rom of 96mbit edition translated in english, made by neviksti)
3. go to edit choose GO TO and write : 0081D5 , choose ok
4. now change the 32 value to 31. FORGET the h
5. change the others too the same way:
0081D6: 45->02h
A081D5: 32->31h
A081D6: 45->02h

6. go to file and choose save

i hope it can help a few people.

note: i sent you the patch anyway)

[eastbayarb]

I got my powerpak today!! and was thinking on playing star ocean this week, I have no idea how to patch a rom file though so could you please tell me how?

I PM'ed you. I have star ocean working on my powerpak, and even with the music unlocked (I downloaded a .srm save )

[shadowkn55]

One of my favorites games is on the incompatibility list. But i think someone can get it to work.

The game is street fighter Alpha 2. It use the SDD-1 chip.

If someone decompress Street fighter alpha 2 like someone did for Star OCean, i think street fighter alpha 2 will work with the Snes Powerpak ?

right ?

Is it a hard job to do ?

Thanks for answer.

There is no point in doing that since the snes version is the most inferior version of the game available. It would be a lot of wasted effort to decompress the game just so it runs on the powerpak. If you want to play the game, the saturn port is quite good.

[renejr902]

There is no point in doing that since the snes version is the most inferior version of the game available. It would be a lot of wasted effort to decompress the game just so it runs on the powerpak. If you want to play the game, the saturn port is quite good.

i have the dreamcast version. But STILL i really like playing the snes version, even if its inferior. LOL

hope someone will do it.

Thanks a million times for the star ocean hex edit code, i will always remember your gift. youre a GOD for me and for many others people

[klausien]

It would be pretty cool to play a SF Alpha 2 on the Powerpak. Just sayin'.

[skaar]

It would be pretty cool to play a SF Alpha 2 on the Powerpak. Just sayin'.

Or you could drop the $6 on a copy. Yeesh.

[c0ldb33r]

I want to play SFA2 on the powerpak just because I can't

[fahlim003]

There is no point in doing that since the snes version is the most inferior version of the game available. It would be a lot of wasted effort to decompress the game just so it runs on the powerpak. If you want to play the game, the saturn port is quite good.

Agreed. Seriously, SFA2 on SNES is not good, I repeat not good. Not compared to say... MAME or as mentioned yes, the Saturn version. Saturn isn't really worth it though thanks to loading so stick to MAME or a physical CPS-2 board. I'm not saying SFA2 SNES is shit but lets face facts: it's the worst port so why linger in mediocrity, coupled with the fact it's not compatable with the PowerPak, just get over it.
EDIT: I agree with Leo_Ames, strangely I forgot about Alpha Anthology/Fighter's Generation. That's best bet console wise.


Or you could drop the $6 on a copy. Yeesh.

A breakthrough! Has anyone considered the costs incurred to simply 'buy' any of the un-compatable games? People will bitch and moan about how a $130 device cannot play all 1400+ SNES games pardon a couple extra games that combined stand to cost less than $100, this is madness.

[Leo_A]

I would think buying Street Fighter Alpha Anthology would be the easiest way to play it, rather than buying old ports of it.

Or are there problems with it? I have zero interest in the series or genre, so I wouldn't know.

[Kamigami]

I want to play SFA2 on the powerpak just because I can't

:evil:

[klausien]

Wow, maybe read the whole thread? It would be cool to play SFA2 on the thing because it's probably possible with a rom hack. I've already had the SNES version of Alpha 2 pass through my possession twice. I don't need to play this version. It would just be cool to have another incompatible game playable.

[badinsults]

I seriously doubt that Neviksti really cares about you wanting to play Street Fighter Alpha 2 on your Power Pak. I doubt there are any other snes hackers who would bother, either. Let's face facts, it is not going to happen because it is technically difficult and not worth doing considering that the cart is relatively easy to come by and there are superior versions of the games on other systems that are just as cheap.

[renejr902]

im so lazy. i dont want to change the cartridge when i play street fighter alpha 2. since i have the snes powerpak, i only play eith the snes powerpak. my original cartridge will have dust in a few months. LOL i like playing this game even if the port is not great compared to others.
but to be honest i can live without it working on the snes powerpak. but if it work someday i will be very happy. and i will play a lot

[kelf]

Just ordered one of these, and was reading through this forum about Star Ocean not saving.

I was wondering if anyone has tried Dragon Quest 3's new translation from "DQ Translations" on the powerpak. I had the same issue with the game not saving on my GD7, and was wondering if it would work on this.

Thanks!

[MarioMania]

Wowl there's a alot of talk about SFA2

Face it..It won't ever happen..

If Bunnyboi did put in the C4, and other chips..that would drive the price up even higher

[renejr902]

Just ordered one of these, and was reading through this forum about Star Ocean not saving.

I was wondering if anyone has tried Dragon Quest 3's new translation from "DQ Translations" on the powerpak. I had the same issue with the game not saving on my GD7, and was wondering if it would work on this.

Thanks!

interesting. i tried the game without the english patch and it work. i didnt know a english patch was released. i will try it soon.

and star ocean save are working if you use a hex editor and change a few codes.

[kelf]

interesting. i tried the game without the english patch and it work. i didnt know a english patch was released. i will try it soon.

and star ocean save are working if you use a hex editor and change a few codes.

Yea, saw the posts about SO saving. DQ III worked fine on my GD7, just not once I patched it, think it's the same issue as SO. Just not sure what to change...

[shadowkn55]

Yea, saw the posts about SO saving. DQ III worked fine on my GD7, just not once I patched it, think it's the same issue as SO. Just not sure what to change...

It's not the same issue as Star Ocean. The powerpak relied on having a correct internal rom header to determine the rom and sram mapping. When Star Ocean was expanded to remove the need for the S-DD1, the internal rom header wasn't updated since the gd7 doesn't use that for the memory map.

DQIII was originally a normal HiRom game and became an ExHiRom after the english patch was applied. I've got a feeling that the save issue is due to the wrong memory space being accessed because of the HiRom/ExHiRom changes. I contacted bunnyboy about how to rewrite some of the mapping files myself but I haven't heard back yet.

[kelf]

It's not the same issue as Star Ocean. The powerpak relied on having a correct internal rom header to determine the rom and sram mapping. When Star Ocean was expanded to remove the need for the S-DD1, the internal rom header wasn't updated since the gd7 doesn't use that for the memory map.

DQIII was originally a normal HiRom game and became an ExHiRom after the english patch was applied. I've got a feeling that the save issue is due to the wrong memory space being accessed because of the HiRom/ExHiRom changes. I contacted bunnyboy about how to rewrite some of the mapping files myself but I haven't heard back yet.

Thanks! I anxiously await a reply!

[shadowkn55]

I figured out how to get saving to work for DQIII english on the powerpak. It's similar to the way the Star Ocean fix works but for the reason I mentioned above. Change the value at this address:

00FFD5: 35->31h


For users of the gd7, change these values after you apply the header:

000029: 00->0Ch
00002A: 0F->0Ch

[Mitch]

Does anyone else have a problem loading Contra 3? I can't get it to load for me.

Mitch

[maxwell7301]

Thanks a lot renejr902 and shadowkn55!

I just got the 96Mb expanded Star Ocean and the translated Dragon Quest III saving and loading properly on my SNES powerpak.

[kelf]

I figured out how to get saving to work for DQIII english on the powerpak. It's similar to the way the Star Ocean fix works but for the reason I mentioned above. Change the value at this address:

00FFD5: 35->31h


For users of the gd7, change these values after you apply the header:

000029: 00->0Ch
00002A: 0F->0Ch

Thanks Shadow, it worked perfectly :)

[maxwell7301]

After playing the translated Dragon Quest III a bit more on the SNES Powerpak (with the hex edit for saving and loading), I encountered some minor glitches (although saving and loading now work great).

Whenever an item is highlighted in any character's inventory, the small window that appears at the top right of the screen contains random strings of text that are completely unreadable.

Also, when buying weapons or armor, the window with the numbers indicating potential stat increases or decreases appears glitchy for some of the characters.

Did this happen for anyone else? I imagine that these glitches were caused by the save fix.

I snapped some pictures of this, so you can see what I'm talking about:

http://img709.imageshack.us/img709/5994/img2880.jpg
http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/9646/img2881.jpg
http://img709.imageshack.us/img709/4776/img2882.jpg
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/9478/img2883u.jpg

I also have a Tototek Superflash 64M cart, and the game works fine on it (not hex edited), without any of these problems.

I could just play it on there, plus most other games work great for me on the SNES powerpak, so this really isn't that big of a deal.

[kelf]

After playing the translated Dragon Quest III a bit more on the SNES Powerpak (with the hex edit for saving and loading), I encountered some minor glitches (although saving and loading now work great).


Luckily, not seeing the same thing on the gd7.

[shadowkn55]

After playing the translated Dragon Quest III a bit more on the SNES Powerpak (with the hex edit for saving and loading), I encountered some minor glitches (although saving and loading now work great).

Whenever an item is highlighted in any character's inventory, the small window that appears at the top right of the screen contains random strings of text that are completely unreadable.

Also, when buying weapons or armor, the window with the numbers indicating potential stat increases or decreases appears glitchy for some of the characters.

Did this happen for anyone else? I imagine that these glitches were caused by the save fix.


Do you get the same graphical glitches when you play with the unfixed rom? I'm seeing the same problem as well.

[maxwell7301]

I started a new game without the save fix, and everything appears normal.

Here's a picture with the Hero's equipment highlighted, and the top-right corner window looks good.

http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/7568/img2884d.jpg

So, it seems that the save fix messes something up, in addition to fixing the saving.

[shadowkn55]

I got a reply back from bunnyboy about the mappers. There isn't a dev kit so I can't rewrite them. We'll just have to wait until he fixes the problem himself.

Until I figure out how the memory mapping works on the powerpak, I'm out of ideas that will fix the save issue and not produce graphical problems. My only guess is that sram is not probably mirrored across the several places where it could fit.

If you a repro cart of dq3e, there aren't any problems with saving or graphical glitches so it isn't an issue with the game not working on real hardware.

[maxwell7301]

I got a reply back from bunnyboy about the mappers. There isn't a dev kit so I can't rewrite them. We'll just have to wait until he fixes the problem himself.

Until I figure out how the memory mapping works on the powerpak, I'm out of ideas that will fix the save issue and not produce graphical problems. My only guess is that sram is not probably mirrored across the several places where it could fit.

If you a repro cart of dq3e, there aren't any problems with saving or graphical glitches so it isn't an issue with the game not working on real hardware.

Yeah, I have another Snes flash cart, aside from the Snes Powerpak, and it saves and runs fine, as shown here:

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/3302/img2888x.jpg
http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/9292/img2887k.jpg

So it's definitely not that the real hardware can't handle the English translation with the expanded ExHirom.

The Snes powerpak is a new product and it's a work in progress, so I'm sure Bunnyboy will eventually update the mappers and such.

In fact, I had to set DMA=0 in the config.txt to get my CF card to work well with the powerpak. This only affects initial load times when starting up a game, not the actual in-game performance, right?

[jupitersj]

My card reader and CF card arrived from Amazon today :bigmac:

Just letting everyone know if you're buying your own CF card that on 1.02/1.02

PNY Optima Pro 4 GB 133x CompactFlash Memory Card P-CF4GB-133W-DVDC (20MB/Sec minimum sustained read/write speed) works perfectly out of the box on the SNES PowerPak.

Amazon had it up for sale for $15 but it seems they ran out since cheapest is $45 from tigerdirect atm >.< So, if you can find this one for cheap it's quick and it works great :)

Playing Seiken Densetsu III :band:

[maxwell7301]

My card reader and CF card arrived from Amazon today :bigmac:

Just letting everyone know if you're buying your own CF card that on 1.02/1.02

PNY Optima Pro 4 GB 133x CompactFlash Memory Card P-CF4GB-133W-DVDC (20MB/Sec minimum sustained read/write speed) works perfectly out of the box on the SNES PowerPak.

Amazon had it up for sale for $15 but it seems they ran out since cheapest is $45 from tigerdirect atm >.< So, if you can find this one for cheap it's quick and it works great :)

Playing Seiken Densetsu III :band:

I still don't think I've found a CF card that works 100% perfectly with the SNES Powerpak.

The first one I tried was a Sandisk Extreme III 4gb, new out of the box. I got an error message like "$01 CF Card Error", and it wouldn't boot at all. I tried formatting it in Windows XP in fat 32, and that did nothing to solve the problem. Ultimately, I returned that card back to the store, and I got my money back.

I was walking around Target a few days later, and they had a cheap Lexar 4Gb CF card for about $15. This is what I'm using now with the Powerpak. This ran games right out of the box, but everything was initially very glitchy. The text in the game selection menu appeared corrupted at times, and games only loaded and saved properly some of the time, but not consistently.

The next thing I did was open up config.txt in the POWERPAK directory with the mappers, and change DMA=1 to DMA=0. Everything has now worked perfectly for the past week or so.

So, it seems some CF cards work, and others don't. It's really hit or miss. I would still probably be happier to have a faster card that works even when DMA=1. My technical knowledge is very limited, but I understand DMA is a memory mapping mode that flash memory uses to take advantage of better read/write times.

If changing this config.txt DMA setting only affects the time it takes to load a game from the CF to the Powerpak memory, and has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of games running on the Powerpak, (my current understanding) then I probably don't need a different CF card, and my current setup is fine.

Otherwise, I would be tempted to take advantage of that Amazon sale if it still existed. I don't think Lexar is a great brand, and the performance of my CF card isn't amazing or anything. It's probably likely to fail at some point.

[eastbayarb]

I went to Target and bought a Lexar Platinum II 80x 4GB Compact Flash card for $29.99 + Tax (9.75% in my part of califorina - ouch!) which was $2.92. Works perfect with the Power Pak! Tried out about 7 games and no problems.

[schnuth]

Does anyone else have a problem loading Contra 3? I can't get it to load for me.

Mitch

I couldn't get any of the US Contra 3 ROMs to work that I've found. But the Japanese and UK versions (Contra Spirits & Super Probotector - The Alien Rebels) work just fine for me. Contra Spirits has a little bit of Japanese text in the intro that doesn't effect gameplay. The UK version however changes your guy into a robot. I guess shooting robots is better then people in the PAL territories? :2gunfire: :) Has anyone found a working US version?

Aaron

[Icarus Moonsight]

Just out of curiosity. Are we finding that the confirmed good dumps "[!]" are usually working best?

I have the compressed rom archives, somewhere. But I have already unzipped good dumps at easy and immediate access.

[Nature Boy]

Does anyone else have a problem loading Contra 3? I can't get it to load for me.

Mitch

<Raises Hand>

I also couldn't get Super Castlevania IV to work - I got the same error message about it being a bad rom. Anybody else?

[MarioMania]

Wow, people are having problems with there Powerpaks..

[Mitch]

<Raises Hand>

I also couldn't get Super Castlevania IV to work - I got the same error message about it being a bad rom. Anybody else?

Super Castlevania IV works fine for me. CRC32 for my copy is B64FFB12.

Mitch

[eastbayarb]

I think a lot of woes people are having (with some exceptions) have to do with their choice of memory card.

[maxwell7301]

I think a lot of woes people are having (with some exceptions) have to do with their choice of memory card.

This absolutely appears to be the case, as I've had lots of trouble with many CF cards in the Powerpak.

I don't think any of the problems are related to build quality, and they can all be fixed with simple firmware/mapper updates.

I never had any trouble with my NES Powerpak, but the SNES Powerpak still has a decent amount of bugs and compatibility issues to be worked out. I'm actually surprised it wasn't the other way around, considering how complex the NES mapper system is.

That isn't to say that it isn't an amazing product, and it's great once you get it working. All other SNES flash carts are far more cumbersome and difficult to use, involving outdated parallel ports and such.

[jupitersj]

I'm not able to reach the SAVE battery RAM to CF Card screen on my 1/1/1 US console but I can on my US 2/1/2 console... anyone notice this problem on their 1/1/1?

I posted this over at nesdev and emailed bunnyboy about it.

Hey guys, I'm a member over at Digital Press and thought I'd bring up a "bug" I'm encountering with my PowerPak

With over 20 different games good (U)! dumps I have not been able to reach the SNES PowerPak Saving battery RAM screen. Holding RESET for 5 seconds keeps the game playing until I let go in which that time the game resets like it would normally do with a real cartridge. Thus, I am unable to update Battery RAM onto the CF card. This problem is repeatable over and over for me on PowerPak(NTSC CIC DSP1 Installed) 1.02/1.02 on an NTSC US v1 SNES rev 1/1/1.

I am using a properly setup(with DMA=1 working fine) FAT32 PNY Optima Pro 4 GB 133x CompactFlash Memory Card P-CF4GB-133W-DVDC with premade 8kb .srm files from the Retrousb site.

This problem however does not exhibit itself on my US NTSC v1 SNES rev 2/1/2. During holding of RESET the screen immediately switches to black with my proper video 2 channel indication(as I'm assuming from change of resolution) instead of the game continuously playing. Upon release of RESET I'm greeted with the Save Battery RAM to CF Card screen as I should be.

So... bug for rev 1/1/1 systems for the time being? Anyone else here have a 1/1/1 system to test this on? I believe pre 1.02 there were DMA/HDMA problems with 1/1/1 systems?

Greatly appreciated,

jupitersj

[maxwell7301]

jupitersj, you should try opening the config.txt file in the POWERPAK directory on your CF card, and change DMA=1 to DMA=0.

This might help with the problems for accessing the "save battery ram to CF" screen.

It could be an issue with CF card compatibility.


EDIT: I reread your post, and you said that DMA=1 works fine. So I'll assume that you tried this already.

[jupitersj]

It's not, as it works on my 2/1/2 system flawlessly.

[maxwell7301]

It must be a compatibility issue of some type, then. I know there were problems with the Powerpak working at all on some system revisions, and the 1.02 mappers release fixed it to some degree.

I think I have a 3/1/2 system, as I bought it in early 1994, bundled with Super Mario World.

I experienced problems with the save screen showing up, but not letting me select "yes" or "no" for saving the ram to the CF card.

Setting DMA=0 fixed this, and it hasn't happened since.

This is with Lexar Platinum II 80x 4GB, which apparently works perfectly for eastbayarb, even with DMA=1. I wonder if eastbayarb has a different SNES revision, since all other variables would be the same.

[schnuth]

I think a lot of woes people are having (with some exceptions) have to do with their choice of memory card.

I'd say. I wish there was a official list of compatible Compact Flash cards.

The first 2GB card I got from RetroUSB would not work and appeared to be corrupted. I bought a Sandisk Ultra from Wal-mart that wouldn't work either. The replacement one I got from RetoUSB would work on and off. One day a game would work, then the next day it would throw an error. I then bought a Dane Elec 4GB card off eBay (which is the brand of the other two I got from RetroUSB) and it works perfectly without a hitch. I'm glad too since I was starting to get extremely frustrated with the Powerpak.

Aaron

[renejr902]

GREAT NEWS

i find a way to get the Nightmare Busters rom to work on the SNES POWERPAK

when you load the rom , all the screen become black and freeze. BUT IF YOU RESET THE SNES WITH THE RESET BUTTON NIGHTMWARE BUSTERS WILL LOAD AND WORK.

i played with it it work correclty

note : it doesnt work when the snes powerpak load it the first time, but the game load after you reset the snes, dont power off and power on it wont work. just reset it.

[Nature Boy]

Super Castlevania IV works fine for me. CRC32 for my copy is B64FFB12.

Mitch

Just checked, and that's what mine is too.

I decided to try padding the header with NSRT, and got the game to load after hitting Reset at the blank screen, but the graphics are scrambled and it's totally unplayable.

So far that and Contra III are the only games I've thrown at it that haven't worked. I haven't done an exhaustive test run by any means, but it definitely seems like Castlevania IV is the exception, not the rule for me.

[Greg2600]

I have a 512MB PNY CF card for my nes powerpak, and I read someone bought a XGB PNY and it works on the SNES. When you are finding cards that don't work, do they work on the NES powerpak?

[renejr902]

i read all the snes powerpak problems . and i have none of them

MY SNES POWERPAK WORK PERFECLTY NORMAL WITH the included 2gb card i bought with it.

people are not lucky here.

castlevania 4 work perfeclty.

[eastbayarb]

i read all the snes powerpak problems . and i have none of them

MY SNES POWERPAK WORK PERFECLTY NORMAL WITH the included 2gb card i bought with it.

people are not lucky here.


like i said, i think a lot of probs people are having are due to the CF card they are using. There are plenty of examples in this thread of CF cards that work.

[jeffg]

has anyone got this to work ok on an FC Twin??