Complete Noob Questions

Are you new to 6502, NES, or even programming in general? Post any of your questions here. Remember - the only dumb question is the question that remains unasked.

Moderator: Moderators

Post Reply
User avatar
Markos11
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2018 11:30 pm
Location: Canada

Complete Noob Questions

Post by Markos11 »

Hi there,

So, I'm a definite newbie, with very minimal soldering and programming skills.

But, I'm passionate about the nes, got my first set @ 6 yrs old.

I'm eager to create some "repros" of games that never were, and swag out my collection with some uniqueness.



I've looked into a couple of tutorials, and have ordered some donor carts, and tools etc.
Doubtless I will need some guidance when they come in.

Now since a lot of games are of the homebrew variety, and are not in pcb databases, how does one discern which board/pieces to use? And what is needed to make sure the game is compliant with nes hardware? ..No$nes won't seem to run some titles, for instance..

Sorry if my questions are not specific enough.. gss I'm not there yet...
Also sorry if this has been covered already...

But if anyone can point me in the direction of more resources for the ultra noob, would be much appreciated.
Thnks!
tepples
Posts: 22705
Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 11:12 pm
Location: NE Indiana, USA (NTSC)
Contact:

Re: Complete Noob Questions

Post by tepples »

The mapper number in a ROM's iNES header tells which boards will work. There are ways to look up a ROM's mapper: look in the debug or log section of an emulator. Give me a few homebrew game titles and your preferred emulator, and I might walk you through finding their mapper, and then based on that, finding boards that work.
User avatar
Markos11
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2018 11:30 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Complete Noob Questions

Post by Markos11 »

Thanks for the response!

Ok some titles would include: Solar Wars, The Mad Wizard, Pitfall: The Unofficial Adventure, Sting, and Mineshaft.

I'm using fceux (2.2.3)

I'd def. like to know how to locate the relevant info in the emulator, but also have found the famiROM tool to be useful in this regard.

Other questions would be:
Where to get erasable eproms?
The only source I've managed to find would be the Repro X ones, over at game-tech. These will work on donor boards, right?

And lastly, perhaps a silly question, but a title which uses a simpler board, like cnrom, may also be produced on an mmc3 board I'm guessing?
tepples
Posts: 22705
Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 11:12 pm
Location: NE Indiana, USA (NTSC)
Contact:

Re: Complete Noob Questions

Post by tepples »

In FCEUX for Windows, from the Help menu, choose Message Log.
fceux_message_log.png
fceux_message_log.png (4.08 KiB) Viewed 4076 times
Games designed for CNROM, such as Solar Wars, have to be ported in order to use a more powerful mapper, such as MMC3. Usually this involves finding every write to a mapper register and changing it so that it instead performs a write to the other mapper's corresponding registers. This isn't trivial unless you're good at assembly language. I've made a patch to run Solar Wars on UNROM, for example.
User avatar
pubby
Posts: 583
Joined: Thu Mar 31, 2016 11:15 am

Re: Complete Noob Questions

Post by pubby »

I think most people use flash memory nowadays instead of eeprom.
User avatar
Markos11
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2018 11:30 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Complete Noob Questions

Post by Markos11 »

@Tepples -Ok, thanks for the info!
Doubtless I'll have more questions when my tools arrive.

@Pubby -Oh really? Even for carts with only one game? I'll look into it in that case.. Do you happen to know of a vendor?
tepples
Posts: 22705
Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 11:12 pm
Location: NE Indiana, USA (NTSC)
Contact:

Re: Complete Noob Questions

Post by tepples »

Infinite NES Lives sells flashable NES cartridges.
User avatar
Markos11
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2018 11:30 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Complete Noob Questions

Post by Markos11 »

Right, but I'm interested in improving my soldering skills... I'd consider flash if I needed to solder them on.
User avatar
rainwarrior
Posts: 8731
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:03 pm
Location: Canada
Contact:

Re: Complete Noob Questions

Post by rainwarrior »

You can get UV EPROMs on ebay. That's been the easiest source for them that I've found. They'll probably be old and used, though.
User avatar
Markos11
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2018 11:30 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Complete Noob Questions

Post by Markos11 »

Cool thnks, that's def. the place to get 'em.

Edit: Do I need to look for ones that say 27c128, or 27c020 ?
Or will any with the right capacity and pins work?

Edit the 2nd: I ordered some AM27C040, and M27C512.
Post Reply