SNES Powerpak is now available

[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. 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

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