Prototype Dumping Resources

[Flack]

I done stick my nose in this here prototype area too often, but I thought I'd take a few minutes to check it out. Cool stuff!

I just wanted to post a standing offer for dumping any proto or rare carts anyone needs dumping. I currently have the ability to dump:

SNES
Sega Genesis
Nintendo 64

It's pretty exciting to think there are still games out there that no one has discovered yet!

EDITED FOR CLARITY: This means I can dump existing US carts into ROM format for computer use -- not the other way around (making carts out of ROMs).

[TheRedEye]

I'm going to sticky this, and let any other potential dumpers chime in. Please keep posts in this thread at a strict level of either posting your dumping resources, availability, etc., or ideas for outside resource suggestions and ideas. If you have questions for specific dumpers, or want to make a request, either make a new thread or a private message.

My equipment is out of commission at the moment, but theoretically in the future I can start dumping NES stuff again. I'm also technically capable of GBA, but being that it's modern stuff, it's kind of a gray area for me.

EDIT: A software update has fixed my CopyNES problems, I'm now capable of dumping NES games again.

[AlanD]

I can dump most early stuff - 2600, 5200, 7800, Coleco, Atari8 and basically anything beyond that with eproms. Most other older stuff I can build an adapter for the eprom reader. I have dumped a few prototypes before as I'm sure Joe, Redeye, Mike Etler and others will vouch for my discretion and capabilities.
AlanD

[Sanada78]

I guess I could help for dumping within the UK.

As of now, I can only do Mega Drive games but hopefully will be able to do SMS games soon.

[DogP]

I can dump any with socketed EPROMs too, and I can make adapters for most systems if nobody already has an adapter that can dump. I also can dump any Virtual Boy carts, although I'm doubting anyone here has any VB games that they need dumped :P .

DogP

[rbudrick]

I can do some GB/GBC and most GBA, but like Red said, GBA is a bit of a grey area. Working on getting resources for other systems.

-Rob

[nesworld]

I'm able to dump NES (socketed eproms), SNES, GB, GBC, GBA, N64...
That's about it... I guess

[merp]

I am able to dump NES (carts, not single EEPROMs), GB/C, GBA, and rip Dreamcast.

[Lemmy Kilmister]

Hey Flack i pm'ed you about a da dumped da dump.

[Lemmy Kilmister]

Sorry just read about post requests on a different post.

[ianoid]

When you say you can build an adapter does that mean you can dump a cart without opening it up and removing the chips and dumping them individually?

I have tons of protos and eproms, and it's just a matter of time before some of them go caput... I really need to get dumping. Some could be WIP variants, but there are no undiscovered items in there, as far as I know. I probably need to get a dumping rig together myself. Is there a simple step by step to do it via USB somewhere?

[leonk]

most dumping is done via parallel port.

I too can dump and burn back the memory. As long as the EPROMs you have have a window in them, I can erase them and reburn to minty fresh condition. :D

Socketed eproms are the easiest to dump.. soldered on eproms are a pain in the rear! I've done it.. but it's a pain to remove them, dump, and solder back on. Defintly a last resort thing!

[DogP]

When you say you can build an adapter does that mean you can dump a cart without opening it up and removing the chips and dumping them individually?

Right, you should be able to dump all games using the edge connector if you have the right kind of adapter, and I think most systems have pinouts and information available so I could make an adapter, although it wouldn't be worth making an adapter if someone else already has one (they're kinda time consuming to make). But, of course EPROMs (socketed especially) are the easiest to dump.

DogP

[leonk]

This edge adapter sounds like an interesting idea, and shouldn't be that difficult to implement. All you need to do is get a new 72 pin connector (and for once, the hard ones are good!) and 2 blank 32 pin sockets.

You then just connect wires between the socket tops and the connector. (I don't even think you need a protective diode on the adapter since there's one on the cart and one on any good EPROM reader). 1 socket for PRG, 1 socket for CHR. and make sure Vcc and GND are connected correctly.

pop the cart into the connector, the socket goes into the reader.. and 30 seconds later you would have dumped the PRG. Do the same thing for CHR and you're done.

If I have some time, I might put something like this together. :D

But this device is limited in what you can do. If you want to rejouvinate the EPROMs, you still need to remove them, erase them, and re-burn!

[DogP]

The biggest problem with just connecting it like that is you'll only be able to dump about the first 10 games released for the NES :P . IIRC, there's only 15 (A0-A14) PRG ROM address lines and 14 (A0-A13) CHR ROM addess lines connected to the edge. Almost every game ends up using MMC chips, which have to be driven in a certain way to read all the memory from the ROMs. About just making a regular adapter to a socket and dumping through an EPROM reader, I made one myself for the Virtual Boy, but that one was easy, because there were no MMC chips, everything was straight to the edge, and there's 23 (A0-A22) address lines connected to the edge.

My personal opinion of dumping games is writing software to load into memory on the system, then swap out the carts and read the whole memory space from the program and send it over one of the external communication ports (that's how I dump the Virtual Boy games now).

DogP

[leonk]

Thanks DogP! That's exactly how the NES copy does it.

There is one other way of doing it. You can also create a special adapter that uses pongo pins. You then put this adapter right on top of the ROM or EPROM and then dump the cart. You will have to open the cart.

I would love to build my own CopyNES, but can't find the software anywhere!

[DogP]

Yeah, I've actually built an adapter that dumps chips while they're in circuit, but the problem is when you get multiple chips sharing address and data lines, you have to make sure that you know the pinout of every chip so you're able to disable the other chips, otherwise, you'll get multiple chips trying to output data (other ROMs) and/or the other chips trying to change the address being accessed (like MMCs).

DogP

[AlanD]

DogP:
Absolutely right about the chip clips. I tried to do that on NES carts when I was dumping a lot of missing roms - chip clips will light up every chip on the board and cause a lot of problems on the bus. Much easier in my opinion to remove the chips and build an adapter for the eprom reader. That is how I read production roms once upon a time. Protos are easier since most times NES stuff isn't sodlered but even if it is it is just a standard eprom and no adapter is necessary. SMS, O2, Atari8 (usually), Colecovision and a few others are easy to read from the edge connector. My Coleco reader is an old Atari computer cart port from a dead system rewired to plug into the eprom reader. Works great.

Anyway if anyone wants to dump some previously unreleased Coleco items just let me know :) There are a few I wouldn't mind backing up

[Bock]

I can do Sega SG-1000/SC-3000/SF-7000/SMS/GG dumping.

[hydr0x]

I can do SNES/SFC dumping and i'm located in Germany :)

[Querjek]

I can do some GB/GBC and most GBA, but like Red said, GBA is a bit of a grey area. Working on getting resources for other systems.

-Rob
PM sent.

[LocalH]

I have a 16M Super Magic Drive and thus can dump Genesis/MD games that are less than 16Mbits.

[ZidanaX]

I have a 128M GDSF7, so I can dump just about any non-special-chip SNES cart

[vanadium]

I can dump Neo Geo Pocket / Pocket Color games.

[leonk]

Kevin Horton now sells CopyNES kits as well as complete systems.

So anyone can now dump NES games. so if you have a rare proto or any nes device that can be dumped (I believe the GAR is the only one that is currently supported) you have no excuse now! 8-)

[mrmark0673]

About the CopyNES units, how user friendly are they? I have some carts I would like to dump and I'm thinking about buying a CopyNES but I'm worried I won't know what I'm doing. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

[Dot50Cal]

Figured I'd put this out there:

I can dump Gamecube NR Discs and Dreamcast GDR's (prototypes). NR discs can be run on normal Gamecube's when you have a GCM of them.

I realize it looks a bit shady with 2 posts posting this, not sure what happened to my old account but it was wiped? Anyway, Im a moderator over at the Assembler forums so that should help my credibility a bit.

http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/member.php?u=1306

[MASTERWEEDO]

there are many kits on ebay right now. for many systems

[Wickeycolumbus]

Sorry to post in an old thread, but I can dump Atari 2600 games without tampering with the label, as well as most EPROMs (as long as they are not over 32 pins). I am located in Michigan. I can send out equiptment for dumping 2600 games, it only requires that you have a working 2600 system, and possibly a TV (a TV is recomended, so you can see if it is a sucessful dump).

[Wickeycolumbus]

Sorry to post in an old thread, but I can dump Atari 2600 games without tampering with the label, as well as most EPROMs (as long as they are not over 32 pins). I am located in Michigan. I can send out equiptment for dumping 2600 games, it only requires that you have a working 2600 system, and possibly a TV (a TV is recomended, so you can see if it is a sucessful dump).

I now have the ability to dump Atari 5200 games with out opening up the game/tampering with the labels and can send out the equipment to do so.

[Flack]

I am now the owner of a Retrode, which allows Genesis and Super Nintendo games to be backed up. On the Retrode website it appears that, with adapters, Atari 2600, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance, Virtual Boy, and other carts can also be backed up with the Retrode. Plus, it's USB, not floppy drive based.

[Kiddo]

Hey, thanks for bumping this thread up.

I got a Super UFO 34M for SNES ROMs. It's probably not as "advanced" as the stuff the other folks here have, but, well, yeah.

I've been hoping to get a Genesis ROM Dumper as well, to try to fetch a very specific ROM I'm looking for.

[i2a2n2]

I also have a Retrode

[3rdman]

any dumpers of GBA flash carts reside near north florida?

[nensondubois]

I have a SNES game that has not been dumped yet. Can someone here do this for me?

[BeaglePuss]

I have a SNES game that has not been dumped yet. Can someone here do this for me?
Do you mind me asking what game it is?

I can easily dump anything with socketed EPROMs, and I can vouch for Ian and his Retrode as he's dumped plenty of SNES stuff recently. He's a trustworthy dude and loves stuff like this.

[badinsults]

I have a Mash Mods flash cart programmer, which can dump any snes game (except for SA-1 and SDD-1 games). I've dumped well over 200 unique games with it, including several prototypes.

[i2a2n2]

I have a SNES game that has not been dumped yet. Can someone here do this for me?

If you want I am more then willing to help you out :)

(I am the Ian Beaglepuss is talking about)

[BeaglePuss]

I have a Mash Mods flash cart programmer, which can dump any snes game (except for SA-1 and SDD-1 games). I've dumped well over 200 unique games with it, including several prototypes.
I completely forgot that I too own a Mash Mod programmer. I've only used it a handful of times, but it's user friendly and reliable.

[badinsults]

If you are using the Mash Mods programmer, make sure to check out the No Intro forums, as emulator author Overload created an improved dumping program that increases the reliability of the device to make a proper dump.

[BeaglePuss]

If you are using the Mash Mods programmer, make sure to check out the No Intro forums, as emulator author Overload created an improved dumping program that increases the reliability of the device to make a proper dump.
Ah, very cool. Thanks for the tip! I don't have any SNES protos that need dumping at the moment, but I'll be sure to visit once I do.

[nensondubois]

Thanks to everyone who asked, but I had to pick one person. Thanks i2a2n2. :)

[nensondubois]

And here is the SNES Burn-in test Cart. A bit scrambled, but it works if you know what you're doing. The only problem is is that the Super Scope menu is broken.

[ShovelThumb]

I can dump.. or teach to dump DS Proto/Beta...