View Full Version : Game Doctor SFIII - How the hell dose this thing work???
norkusa
11-23-2005, 12:30 AM
Just got one of these and I'm trying to figure out how to play games off of disks on it. I've used SNES copiers before but this one is really driving me apeshit.
After some messing around with it, I figured out you have to hold R when powering up to bring up the menu and that's about as far as I got. On my other copier (Super Wild Card), all I had to do was format a disk with the copier, drop the .smc rom into the disk on my Mac and it was ready to play. Can't do it on the Game Doctor though. When I do this and load the disk on the SFIII, it starts to says something like "no game data on disk!"
Even copying a cart doesn't seem to work either. When I do it and try loading the disk, I always get a black screen. Seems to store the ripped cart roms to memory fine though but I still get the black screen when I try loading them.
Can anyone give me some tips here? I replaced the disk drive on the Game Doctor with the working one on my other copier, so I don't think it is that.
Jorpho
11-23-2005, 02:03 AM
As I recall, you may have to convert the ROM to something other than SMC, possibly an interleaved format.
Have you downloaded UCON64 from http://ucon64.sourceforge.net yet? That should do everything you need. (Last time I checked, it still had a graphical Java frontend to simplify usage.)
JLukas
11-24-2005, 10:42 AM
If that one has a parallel port you can use ucon64 or the tsf2.exe/tsf3.exe Game Doctory utility to send files.
Are you using the power supply for it? I know with the GDSF7 it'll boot up without it, but certain things like the floppy disk drive won't work.
If it is reading disks, make sure they're in the proper format. A 4 megabit file would look something like SF4xxx where xxx is any 3 random numbers. A 16 megabit file would be SF16xxxa and SF16xxxb (each slot holds 8 megabit)
PS1Expert
11-24-2005, 10:59 AM
Why not just use the SWC then? (Super Wild Card) All others are junk IMO.
norkusa
11-26-2005, 11:21 AM
Why not just use the SWC then? (Super Wild Card) All others are junk IMO.
I'd love to but the problem is that I think I busted it while trying to solder a new battery to the circuit board of the SWC. After I took the bad battery out, the game graphics are distorted and staticy. The strange thing is that the the SWC menu graphics are still crystal clear though. :hmm:
Yeah, I'm using a power supply for it. One didn't come with it but I'm using a Genesis 2 one and that's working okay. Doesn't have a parallel port though, so I can't transfer files to it that way. Even if it did, I couldn't use it since my Mac doesn't have a pp on it.
PS1Expert
11-26-2005, 01:43 PM
Why not just use the SWC then? (Super Wild Card) All others are junk IMO.
I'd love to but the problem is that I think I busted it while trying to solder a new battery to the circuit board of the SWC. After I took the bad battery out, the game graphics are distorted and staticy. The strange thing is that the the SWC menu graphics are still crystal clear though. :hmm:
Yeah, I'm using a power supply for it. One didn't come with it but I'm using a Genesis 2 one and that's working okay. Doesn't have a parallel port though, so I can't transfer files to it that way. Even if it did, I couldn't use it since my Mac doesn't have a pp on it.
I'm actually thinking of selling my SWC 2 dx. Comes with an external zip drive and a bunch of zip disks (blank). Like new in box. I hardly used it.
InsaneDavid
11-26-2005, 06:43 PM
The Game Doctor SFIII requires the game images to be in a specific format before they will run. To convert your SNES ROM images to the GDSF3 readable format, use the methods provided on the following page...
http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/u/sstackho/faqs/gdsfconv.txt
I haven't used it myself but pretty much any site where someone talks about a Game Doctor SF III points to it as the resource to use. Remember, however, that there are three different memory sizes of Game Doctor SF III.
Yeah, it's not as robust as the Super Wildcard DX2 (ZIP disk and HD support rock), but if you learn how to operate your GDSF3, after spending a little time to convert your files you'll be ready to go.
NOTE: I suggest this be moved to the Technical and Restoration Society as it's more of a technical question as opposed to "I found a..."
norkusa
11-27-2005, 02:25 AM
Thanks a lot for the link. That helps a ton!
Flack
11-27-2005, 10:50 AM
Did you get it working? I've noticed that my Game Doctor is much pickier about headers and file formats than my Super Wildcard DX (not a "2"). My SWC works fine without a power supply but most of the other ones require one (that drove me crazy with the MGH).
PS1Expert
11-27-2005, 01:25 PM
My SWC DX 2 with external zip drive never needed a power supply (except the zip drive did).
Jibbajaba
04-20-2006, 02:46 PM
Bumping an old thread rather than creating a new one. I just got a Game Doctor SF7. IS it possible that it is incompatible with some SNES units? Did Ninty ever make a ROM revision to defeat these devices? I bought this item from someone else on the boards who I trust completely, and they tested it and said it worked fine. I picked it up locally, so it didnt' get damaged in shipping.
Any help?
Chris
Blur2040
04-20-2006, 04:10 PM
Hmm...well...I have an SF3...I might be able to help you out...
Are you sure you're powering it correctly?
Are you sure you're making the disks right? (did the seller give you some working disks with the unit? Or are you trying to read from a PC?
For the record, I've never heard of a revision of SNES that's incompatible.
Jibbajaba
04-20-2006, 04:55 PM
Hmm...well...I have an SF3...I might be able to help you out...
Are you sure you're powering it correctly?
Are you sure you're making the disks right? (did the seller give you some working disks with the unit? Or are you trying to read from a PC?
For the record, I've never heard of a revision of SNES that's incompatible.
I haven't tried making any disks. It doesn't get that far. No menu or anything pops up on the screen.
Otherwise my SNES works fine.
Chris
Blitzwing256
04-20-2006, 08:01 PM
Try holding the l and r buttons when you turn it on
JLukas
04-20-2006, 08:07 PM
You should at least be getting the 5 4 3 2 1... menu on starting up. Sounds like possibly dirty cart contacts. The entire plastic cart connector piece that goes into the SNES is removable. Re-seat it and try again.
The GDSF7 should boot on any model SNES, I've used mine on a launch model SNES, a DKC SNES, and a SNES mini.
Blur2040
04-21-2006, 03:16 PM
Sounds like possibly dirty cart contacts. The entire plastic cart connector piece that goes into the SNES is removable. Re-seat it and try again.
Agreed...the only way i have a problem with my unit is when its not seated right...or gets shaken. These things don't sit perfectly on US SNES units, as they don't have a flat top. Try propping up the back a little bit.
Jibbajaba
04-21-2006, 03:37 PM
Sounds like possibly dirty cart contacts. The entire plastic cart connector piece that goes into the SNES is removable. Re-seat it and try again.
Agreed...the only way i have a problem with my unit is when its not seated right...or gets shaken. These things don't sit perfectly on US SNES units, as they don't have a flat top. Try propping up the back a little bit.
Thanks, this seems to have worked. Unit is now working fine.
Thanks!
Chris