Game Doctor SF7

[Bertie Bott]

I got one of these for Christmas YAY! But I plugged it in and it takes me to the main menu. Problem is I have no clue what to do next since no manual came with this. Can anyone guide me further?

[roushimsx]

Awesome :)

Some general information on it can be found on Red's Site (http://www.emucamp.com/red/SNES/PSF2.html) in addition to the instruction manual.

Also, welcome to the wonderful world of UCon64 (http://ucon64.sourceforge.net/index.php) :) The learning curve is a little steep, but it's more than worth it. I haven't tried this frontend (http://emulationrealm.net/frontends/win/ucon/ucon.php), but it might come in handy!

[Bertie Bott]

I looked at that however it looks very complicated. Can someone just post here a step by step guide how to convert a ROM that I have on my computer to a file that can be put on a floppy that SF7 can read?

Thanks a bunch! :D

[kentuckyfried]

I believe you'll have to format a disk on your SF7, then copy a rom onto the disk from your PC. I don't remember much, but I know that the .swc extension should work.

You may be limited by the amount of RAM your unit has, also there are some games that won't play unless you have the original game in the cart slot, FX games like star fox or mario cart. Also applies to SMRPG :(

There is a dummy cart that you can use that has some chip in it that allows you to play certain games that you otherwise wouldn't, but I really can't remember anything.

Everything I've mentioned is from a hazy memory, and from years ago, but yeah, check the site mentioned previously for more info. Plus cherryroms has a fairly active copier forum too.

[roushimsx]

You may be limited by the amount of RAM your unit has, also there are some games that won't play unless you have the original game in the cart slot, FX games like star fox or mario cart. Also applies to SMRPG :(

The RAM limitation won't really come into play unless you want to play Tales of Phantasia :) For DSP games, you just need to have a game with that DSP chip in it plugged in (but it doesn't need to be that specific game)...normally having either Mario Kart or Pilotwings will get you by :)

FX games....I don't know. I had to connect the pin on my DX2 to get FX games working via passthrough and there just weren't enough games that used each specific chip to ever make it really worthwhile to try to play them on my copier. :(


I looked at that however it looks very complicated. Can someone just post here a step by step guide how to convert a ROM that I have on my computer to a file that can be put on a floppy that SF7 can read?


I think you should be able to just use:
ucon64 --gd3 romname.smc (or whatever it's named)

I believe the SF7 also has a parallel port that you can connect to your PC (via a DB25-DB25 straight through cable) and then just shoot the roms directly from your PC to your console without having to use floppy disks. :)

[rpepper9]

Hey can you help me out with something? What type of power supply does the SF7 use? I have one but have not been able to aquire the correct wall power brick for it. Any help you can offer would be great.

Thanks
Rpepper9

[kentuckyfried]

Hey can you help me out with something? What type of power supply does the SF7 use? I have one but have not been able to aquire the correct wall power brick for it. Any help you can offer would be great.

Thanks
Rpepper9


I bet that your SF7 uses the standard 9v/1.2 amp/centre negative, ac adapter, the same as the NES, Famicom/S. Famicom and the Mark 1 Genesis. Most copiers I've seen use this adapter.

[kentuckyfried]

The RAM limitation won't really come into play unless you want to play Tales of Phantasia :) For DSP games, you just need to have a game with that DSP chip in it plugged in (but it doesn't need to be that specific game)...normally having either Mario Kart or Pilotwings will get you by :)

FX games....I don't know. I had to connect the pin on my DX2 to get FX games working via passthrough and there just weren't enough games that used each specific chip to ever make it really worthwhile to try to play them on my copier. :(



I think you should be able to just use:
ucon64 --gd3 romname.smc (or whatever it's named)

I believe the SF7 also has a parallel port that you can connect to your PC (via a DB25-DB25 straight through cable) and then just shoot the roms directly from your PC to your console without having to use floppy disks. :)

Thank you for the re-education :)

[Bertie Bott]

Yeah, for my SF7, I went to Radioshack and bought a 3-12v 800mA power adaptor and set the switch to 9v

[Bertie Bott]

OK,I thought I had this covered but I guess I don't. I downloaded Goof Troop for the SNES and Windows just says its Goof Troop with no extension. So I rename the file to SFGOOF and copy the 513kb file onto a floppy, I inserted it into the Game Doctor and it saw the file SFGOOF. On the bottom in A it said two things. So after it read the file it went to the PLay Game and highlighted Normal Mode. I pressed either A or Start and it went to a black screen and never started the game. What do I do?

[MarioKartMonk]

I believe you'll have to format a disk on your SF7, then copy a rom onto the disk from your PC. I don't remember much, but I know that the .swc extension should work.

Nope, SWC files are not compatible with the SF7. The files must be in GD3 format. Use the free program UCON64 to convert your ROMs.



You may be limited by the amount of RAM your unit has, also there are some games that won't play unless you have the original game in the cart slot, FX games like star fox or mario cart. Also applies to SMRPG :(


While Star Fox is an FX chip game, Super Mario Cart and Super Mario RPG are not FX chip games. Super Mario Cart is a DSP1 game and Super Mario RPG is an SA-1 chip game. Very few SNES games use a special chip, and out of that small number, only the DSP1 games (such as Super Mario Kart and Pilot Wings) are compatible with the SF7. However, you need the blue connector for the SF7 to run DSP1 games. You cannot use a cart in the cart slot.

Yes, this means that a few games such as Star Fox and Super Mario RPG cannot be played on the SF7. I suggest buying the actual carts for these games, as there aren't very many of them. At the links at the bottom of my post, you can find the Tototek forum, which has a useful post in it that lists every game that uses a special chip, along with the special chip that it uses.



There is a dummy cart that you can use that has some chip in it that allows you to play certain games that you otherwise wouldn't, but I really can't remember anything.


You are confusing the SF7 with the SWC DX2. They are completely different copier devices for the SNES. The DX2 uses the dummy cart or an original cart in the copier cart slot. The SF7 uses a blue connector.



Everything I've mentioned is from a hazy memory, and from years ago, but yeah, check the site mentioned previously for more info. Plus cherryroms has a fairly active copier forum too.

The Cherryroms forum has been dead for half a year at least. However, Google's cache and The Way Back Machine's cache have archives of the Cherryroms forums. There is good info there, so search those archives.

There are two other very useful sources. The Tototek forums:
http://www.tototek.com/

...and the NES Dev SNES forum:
http://nesdev.parodius.com/bbs/viewforum.php?f=12

[Bertie Bott]

Can anyone help me with my problem? I really wanna get my Christmas gift working :(

[MarioKartMonk]

Can anyone help me with my problem? I really wanna get my Christmas gift working :(

You need to read my post, which has all of the information that you need. Download Ucon64:
http://ucon64.sourceforge.net/index.php

Use it to convert your ROMs to GD3 format. The SF7 only supports GD3 format ROMs. The files that you find on the net are in SMC, SWC, SFC, or some other format that is not compatible with the SF7.

[Bertie Bott]

Sorry, I did not see the last post until now. I will try it and see if it works! :D

[Bertie Bott]

It worked great! Thanks for the help! :D

[MarioKartMonk]

Here is a list of games that use special chips and the specific chip that they use. Again, only DSP1 is supported by some copiers. Other special chips are not supported:

Game Genie
==========
Game Genie (US)

SA-1
====
Augusta Masters 3 New World Golf (J)
Bass Fishing No.1 (US)
Derby Jockey 2 (J)
Idaten (J)
Igo Daidou (J)
J-League '96 Dream Stadium (J)
Jumpin' Derby (J)
Kakinoki Shogi (J)
Kato Hifumi9dan Shogi (J)
Kirby 3 (J)
Kirby Super Deluxe (J)
Kirby Super Star (US)
Kirby's Dream Land 3 (US)
Kishi no Hanamichi (J)
Marvelous (J)
Masoukishin - Super Robot Wars Gaiden - Lord of Elemental (J)
Mini Yonku Shining Scorpion Let's & Go!! (J)
Parodius 3 - Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius (J)
Pebble Beach New Tournament Edition (J)
PGA European Tour (US)
PGA Tour 96 (E)
PGA Tour 96 (US)
Saban's Power Rangers Zeo Battle Racers (US)
SD F1 Grand Prix (J)
SD Gundam GNext (J)
Shogi Saikyou 2 (J)
Super Mario RPG (US)
Super Mario RPG (J)
Super Shogi 3 (J)
War in Europe Expert WW II (J)

SA-1 (ID=52)
====================
Dragon Ball Z - Hyper Dimension (J)
Igo Taisyou (J)
New Shogi Club (J)
Shogi Mahjing (J)
Super Bomberman Panic Bomber World (J)

PLGS (SPC7110 - ROM types 0xF5 & 0xF9)
======================================
Dai Kaijyu Monogatari 2 (J)
Far East of Eden Zero (J)
Large Shell Beast Story 2
Super Power League 4

FX GSU-1 (FX-Argonaut)
======================
Dirt Racer (E)
Dirt Trax FX (E)
Dirt Trax FX (US)
Doom (J)
Doom (US)
Vortex (E)
Vortex (J)
Vortex (US)

Seta ST010 (SETA DSP1)
======================
2 Dan Morita Shougi (J)
Exhaust Heat 2 (J)
F1 Roc 2 - Race of Champions (US)

CX4
===
Mega Man X2 (E)
Mega Man X2 (US)
Mega Man X3 (US)
Rockman X2 (J)
Rockman X3 (J)

O B C 1 (OBC1)
==============
Metal Combat (US)

Mario Chip 1 (FX-V1)
====================
Star Fox Competition - Weekend Edition (US)
Star Fox 2 (Beta)
Star Fox (US)
Star Fox (J)
Star Wing (E)
Star Wing (G)

FX GSU-2 (FX-V2)
================
Stunt Race FX (E)
Stunt Race FX (US)
Wild Trax (J)
Winter Gold FX (E)
Yoshi's Island (E)
Yoshi's Island (J)
Yoshi's Island (US)

S-DD1
=====
Star Ocean (J)
Street Fighter 2 Alpha (US)
Street Fighter 2 Alpha (E)
Street Fighter Zero 2 (J)

GAMEBOY
=======
Super Gameboy (J) (V1.0)
Super Gameboy (J) (V1.1)
Super Gameboy (J) (V1.2)
Super Gameboy 2 (J) (V1.16)

Unknown ID=245
==============
Nidan Morita Shogi 2 (J)

FX-KSS
======
Pachisuro Palusupe (Pachislo Story) (J)

BS-X
====
Satellaview BS-X (O.S.rom)

DSP1
====
Aim for the Ace Tennis (J)
Armored Trooper Votoms (J)
Ballz 3D (J)
Ballz 3D (US)
Battle Racers (J)
Drift King Shuto Kou Battle 2 (J)
Final Stretch (J)
Hashiriya - Rider's Spirit (J)
Korean League (K)
Lock-On (US)
Michael Andretti's Indy Car Challenge (J)
Michael Andretti's Indy Car Challenge (US)
Pilot Wings (E) (DSP1 LoRom)
Pilot Wings (J) (DSP1 LoRom)
Pilot Wings (US) (DSP1 LoRom)
Super Air Diver (J)
Super Air Diver (E) (No Good Dump Known)
Super Air Diver 2 (J)
Super 3D Baseball (J)
Syutoko Battle Racing 94' (J)
Syutoko Battle Racing 2 (J)
Super Bases Loaded 2 (US) (DSP1 A LoRom)
Super F1 Circus Gaiden (J) (22655)
Super F1 Circus Gaiden (J) (21859)
Super Mario Kart (J)
Super Mario Kart (E)
Super Mario Kart (US)
Suzuka 8 Hours (J)
Suzuka 8 Hours (US)

DSP2
====
Dungeon Master (J)
Dungeon Master (E)
Dungeon Master (US)

DSP3
====
Gundam GX (J)

DSP4
====
Planets Champ Top Gear 3000 (J)
Top Gear 3000 (E)
Top Gear 3000 (US)

Addendum:

BS-X SatellaView
================
The Satellaview consists of two units.. the base unit which connected to the IO port on the
bottom of the SNES and the BS-X cart which went in the top of the SNES.

The Satellaview system connected to St. Giga, the Satellite provider. The unit would connect and
make new content available for download.

Games on the system were often exclusive to the Satellaview, and can't be found anywhere else.
They were also available for only imited periods of time.

Games could be saved to a RAM cart (BS-X adapter).

The base unit had a 512 Kbit memory (RAM) chip to boost the SNES's capabilities and 1 Megabit ROM
chip that contained the operating system needed to control the Satellaview. It also had a 256
Kbit flash memory if the user hadn't bought him/herself an BS-X Special Broadcast Cassette that
contained a 1 Megabit flash memory chip.

The BS-X cartridge resembles a Super Game Boy. It plugs into the cart slot as normal. Inside, it
has 8 MBits of ROM that holds the operating system and the interface software. It also holds and
extra 4 MBits of RAM. The little plug-in cart is actually a unique 'Flash ROM' cart that holds
game code without the use of Battery-Backed RAM. Unlike ROM, it can be wiped and overwritten by
special methods.

Super FX
========
The Super FX is a 10/21MHz RISC CPU developed by Argonaut Software used as a game enhancer by
several game tiles. Released SNES Super FX games included Yoshi's Island (best single-player
game on SNES, if you like platform games), Doom, Winter Gold, Dirt Trax FX, StarFox, Stunt Race
FX and Vortex. If you're lucky, you might find a copy of the unreleased Starfox 2 image floating
around, but its sound code is corrupt.

S-DD1
=====
The S-DD1 is a custom data decompression chip that can decompress data in real- time as the SNES
DMA's data from the ROM to RAM. Only two known games use the chip: Star Ocean and Street Fighter
Alpha 2.

The chip uses some unknown compression algorithm, so to actually support the two S-DD1 games,
pre decompressed graphics packs are required

SA-1
====
The SA-1 is a fast, custom 65c816 8/16-bit processor, the same as inside the SNES itself, but
clocked at 10MHz compared to a maximum of 3.58MHz for the CPU inside the SNES.

The SA-1 isn't just a CPU, it also contains some extra circuits developed by Nintendo which
includes some very fast RAM, a memory mapper, DMA and, several real-time timers. These include
Mario RPG, Kirby Superstar and Paradius 3.

OBC1
====
OBC1 chip (for Metal Combat)

C4
==
The C4 is custom Capcom chip used only in the Megaman X2 and Megaman X3 games. It can scale and
rotate images, draw line-vector objects and do some simple maths to rotate