TG-16 / PC-E Modding

[sonictrend]

Hey all,

Well I've got a schematic for all you TG-16 / PC-E fans out there. It's really simple, really cheap, and works with a single little switch.

Essentially it's just a pair of multiplexers which swap over the neccessary pins required to get PC-E games to run on a TG-16. It will work on a PC-E but you need to add on that pin lift for the hardware querry the TG games do.

I'm going to post images and schems a little later.

However the main point of this topic, is as follows.

I've seen the Neo Flash for PC-E and needless to say 128 Meg of usable space is not exactly perfect. I mean it's a wonderfull first step. But lets look at some other items that are on the market, specifically the cards available for the Nintendo DS. Now the DS is by far a little more compicated than NEC's HU card, as one is able to expand the total available memory exponentially (within limits) to that of a micro SD card. I think the most they can take is around 8Gb

My thinking is there is not a great deal of limitation on space on the label end of an HU-Card except where the GT portable is concerned. So why not have an SD or Micro SD card slot on the back of of the NEO Flash ?

I've not done much programming in a few years, and my ability to program hardware is unfortunatly limited to PLC and assembly line manufacturing. However to what I understand the 128 meg card will hold an array of rom images in which I believe it uses an offset bit to redirect requested information to the corresponding rom image. At least thats my understanding of it's workings I could be 100% wrong without knowing.

However having a controller interface to load the rom image from the SD into static memory of the HU to be used by system based on your selection couldn't be that hard.
As well, aside form a space issue my 2 chip multiplexing switch could be integrated into the software aspect thus switching the output pin addresses without a phisical modification, (I actually think this can be done by editing a Hex address in the header)

I've pulled apart a defective street fighter 2 to try and determine how the bloody thing works, but without the original schematics of the basic HU functionality I'm a bit at a loss. Even with pinout instructions with the address and data pins etc.. (Also I'm a little tired and sick tonight) I had a friend of mine drop by (who's an electronics engineer) and over a few drinks and dinner we discussed the above, however the drinks part seemed to hinder getting anything done aside from some introductory research.

Anyway, if anyone would be interested in helping design a PC-E / TG-16 SD compatible flash cart, or have insight into the workings of such please let me know.

I'll make sure to have the photos and instructions for the simple region modchip up shortly.

thanks

James

[PapaStu]

**moved to Tech & Resto**

[TheMissing]

This could be interesting.... Very useful.

BTW, can you snap a few pics of the open HUcard you're tinkering with? I've always been curious as to what they look like.

[sonictrend]

Here's the disected SF2 card in reverse order, not that it really matters.
As you can see the "bubble" with the image on it serves as nothing more than something to put an image on, it contains nothing but sticky glue and a small amount of air underneath it. The HU card base itself is just plastic. the black part that is visable on all HU cards is the chip itself leading one to see that some "chips" are really tiny and thus there's lots of room for images etc.. on the rest of the plastic card.

I have yet to be able to remove the black "paint" from either side of the chip board for fear of causing damage that may make the whole processes of trying to look underneath it pointless. Same goes for the "blobs" I can only assume the larger two blobs at the bake make up the "20Mbit" or so extra that most HU cards don't utalize.

Just as a side note, this particular HU card was damaged, "bent" to be exact and never worked fully or correctly and was replaced with a working one, so don't get bent out of shape saying I've destroyed it. It never worked to begin with. That and I have another that I play regularly







I've come across a webpage that is luckily in english that follows the development of some testing equipment, however the portion regarding the "ROM EMULATOR" is missing in what looks to be intentional.

Aside from that it looks as if he is trying to build a PC-E or something to replace his old one. I'm not 100% as I've not read it all.

Here's his page, its quite old and not up to date at all.

http://www.geocities.co.jp/SiliconVa...l#rom_emulator

I've not taken photos of my "mod chip" yet as I'm stupid an packed that particular console away along with a variety of others in a storrage case that is now at the bottom of a large pile of items in my office closet, I'll get it out eventually but I need to clean up the office before I make a new mess. Otherwise I'll get in more trouble from the mrs.

Let me know if anyone knows how to safely remove "black paint" or "circuit globs" without damaging whats underneath.

Thanks

James

[Bratwurst]

Just as a side note, this particular HU card was damaged, "bent" to be exact and never worked fully or correctly and was replaced with a working one, so don't get bent out of shape saying I've destroyed it. It never worked to begin with. That and I have another that I play regularly

PCE Street Fighter II is pretty common anyway and cheap to import if I recall right anyway.

Let me know if anyone knows how to safely remove "black paint" or "circuit globs" without damaging whats underneath.

There is no easy way, that's cured epoxy. You might have some luck softening it with a solvent, perhaps toluene, ether or acetone or even a combination. I'd be damn careful playing chemist though and do your homework.

[jb143]

He's right, that's epoxy. And even if you did get it off I'm not sure what good it would do you. It would look basically like the chip in the window of an EPROM. To find out *exactly* what it does would take a very powerfull microscope and a degree in electrical engineering. What they do isn't a secret though, it's going to be the same as any other cartridge. Memory chips, and possibly bank switching chips, etc... NEC is a chip manufacturer so they could be proprietary parts but I'd guess they're pretty standard.

[Bratwurst]

I'm guessing it'd be easier to fabricate a PCB with the card edge connection and your own solder points for what you wanted to put in.

[sonictrend]

Yes significantly so.

However I'm interested in the chips hidden beneath the epoxy as I wish to understand thier pinout. It would be very difficult to replicate thir functions without knowing what they are.

Unfortunatly I don't have anything more sophisticated than an old tube osciliscope around to test with so logic testing is a bit difficult.

If I could get my hands on a copy of the Devo book I'm sure this would be a great deal easier. As well I'm sure that translating it in to english would also take a few weeks of effort.

If anyone has seen or can get a scan of one please let me know.

[jb143]

However I'm interested in the chips hidden beneath the epoxy as I wish to understand thier pinout. It would be very difficult to replicate thir functions without knowing what they are.

That's sort of like saying that you want to crack the casing of an IC to see what the chip inside does. Sure it can be done. People even do stuff like that. Chip companies even put redundant stuff in their chip designs just to slow down other companies from copying their designs(think AMD/INTEL)

The best way to understand the function of the chips would be through a pinout of the TG-16's HUCard port. The address and data lines shouldn't be too hard to find. Ground and Vcc will be very easy. It should be pretty standard, it's just a matter of finding out what's what.

They do the epoxy blobs to save manufacturing costs and to make it smaller. If your interested in seeing what's under the blob, it would look basically like this...