FDSemu - New FDS drive emulator, with menu and large flash

Discuss hardware-related topics, such as development cartridges, CopyNES, PowerPak, EPROMs, or whatever.

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deadbody
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Re: FDSemu - New FDS drive emulator, with menu and large fla

Post by deadbody »

Added support for using famicom expansion controllers to the menu. Check the main page (http://fdsemu.com) for the updated loader.fds image.

Let me know what you think of FDSemu if you have bought one, always open to comments and suggestions.

Thanks!
cr4zymanz0r
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Re: FDSemu - New FDS drive emulator, with menu and large fla

Post by cr4zymanz0r »

I'm very appreciative of devices like this and loopy's FDSstick. I enjoy them both, but I wonder if it's possibly to implement auto-disk swapping like flashcarts do.

Now I don't know the low level behind the scenes workings of the FDS and its bios so I guess I can only speculate ways I'd imagine for this to be theoretically possible.

1.) Does the RAM adapter send some sort of "hey, I need a different disk side" message to the FDS that FDSemu could intercept and auto-swap the side with an appropriate firmware update?

2.) I don't know how the flashcarts do the auto-swap. Do some of them modify the FDS bios for additional functionality? If that is the case, could na eprom or whatever kind of chip is needed be burned with a hacked FDS bios that could be installed in the RAM adapter to added needed features for auto-disk swapping? (I'd assume FDSemu firmware would also need to be updated). I'm unaware if the FDS bios is on its own chip in the RAM adapter, or if it's implemented in one of the custom chips that would make replacing it nearly impossible.

If either of these are possible, is there any down side to implementing it? Is there some oddball game that it would break compatibility with?
ccovell
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Re: FDSemu - New FDS drive emulator, with menu and large fla

Post by ccovell »

Please, no. Auto disk swapping means, for example, you can't view the intros to Zelda, Doki Doki Panic, and others. It makes loading actually longer in games that load multiple files in sequence, as they pause for several seconds and show the "SET DISK B" message each time rather than keep a blank screen. On the Everdrive, at least, Kinnikuman fails to load with the autoswapping feature of the ED. There are bound to be more.

I'd like to keep full control over disk sides, even if it means the occasional total exertion of reaching over to push a button.
Arasoi
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Re: FDSemu - New FDS drive emulator, with menu and large fla

Post by Arasoi »

I would be interested in seeing auto swapping as well, though with a toggle to turn it on or off, if that is indeed possible.

Edit: Just tested expansion/15 pin controller on the new loader, works great! Thanks deadbody!
silkd
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Re: FDSemu - New FDS drive emulator, with menu and large fla

Post by silkd »

What is the compatibility on this device? Any fds games which do not work?
ApolloBoy
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Re: FDSemu - New FDS drive emulator, with menu and large fla

Post by ApolloBoy »

I just got mine today and I haven't gotten a single game to work, they keep giving me either an error 24 or 27 depending on the game. Is it really picky about what dumps you're using or could this be an issue with my FDSemu?

EDIT: Just tried the No-Intro dumps and still nothing. I'm thinking mine is somehow defective...
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deadbody
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Re: FDSemu - New FDS drive emulator, with menu and large fla

Post by deadbody »

I am working with ApolloBoy to sort this out. Each one is tested very well before I ship it.

The Windows programs are currently the only ones working properly. The OS X and Linux programs need some more work to properly write disk images to flash. This is known and now that I have many of these assembled and tested and ready to ship I can resume coding on these as well as getting the rest of my code ready for open source and updating my user manual.

Having said that, I am offering a New Years special for the entire month of January. They are priced at $40 each but with this exclusive nesdev coupon code you can have $5 off your order, to make it cost you only $35.

I am only making the 128mbit version which holds 256 disk sides.

The loader has been made internal to the firmware to free up the disk slot that the loader was using.

The coupon code for the discount is: nesdev4life

Thanks for supporting this and please keep feature requests coming. I am happy to work out any problems you may have.

Thanks again,

James

http://fdsemu.com/store/
ApolloBoy
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Re: FDSemu - New FDS drive emulator, with menu and large fla

Post by ApolloBoy »

Thanks to deadbody's help, I eventually determined that my laptop was at fault and the FDSemu was working perfectly fine. For some reason, my laptop doesn't flash games to the FDSemu properly and that's why it was throwing up errors every time I tried to load a game.
ccovell
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Re: FDSemu - New FDS drive emulator, with menu and large fla

Post by ccovell »

silkd wrote:What is the compatibility on this device? Any fds games which do not work?
I've just discovered that Silviana doesn't detect a disk switch on this FDSEmu. Probably, some games wait for an unspecified time between disk ejection and insertion, so I expect to encounter some more that are blind to "pseudo-sudden" disk switches.
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deadbody
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Re: FDSemu - New FDS drive emulator, with menu and large fla

Post by deadbody »

Thanks Chris! All fixed, and new firmware update was released on the main site.

New firmware now contains the loader. So firmware/loader updates are bundled together, no more updating just the loader.

Also fixed disk writing issue I had overlooked, tested on a 7201 drive and a 3206 drive with my Write Mod board I am selling in the store.
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LightStruk
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Re: FDSemu - New FDS drive emulator, with menu and large fla

Post by LightStruk »

Impressive work. Still, it's frustrating that one needs a FDS RAM adapter to use it. The RAM adapter alone is ~$16 these days on eBay, so I guess that's not so bad.

The only other option would be a flash cart like the PowerPak. Are there issues with the fidelity of the FDS implementation in the flash carts?
tepples
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Re: FDSemu - New FDS drive emulator, with menu and large fla

Post by tepples »

As I understand it, FDS support in the PowerPak is HLE (high level emulation), with a modified BIOS that interacts with a different set of disk I/O ports. There might be issues with copy protected games.
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tokumaru
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Re: FDSemu - New FDS drive emulator, with menu and large fla

Post by tokumaru »

Aren't audio expansions in general troublesome on flash carts?
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loopy
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Re: FDSemu - New FDS drive emulator, with menu and large fla

Post by loopy »

Powerpak does have to cheat with the disk I/O but I'm not aware of any games that don't work. Apparently they all use BIOS routines for disk access, because they wouldn't work otherwise.

Audio isn't 100% correct either. No reason it can't be, I just didn't have the hardware to compare it to when I worked on it. I need to go back and fix it sometime...
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deadbody
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Re: FDSemu - New FDS drive emulator, with menu and large fla

Post by deadbody »

I've changed the coupon code to give $10 off instead of $5, for a total cost of $30.

Use coupon code "nesdev4life" at checkout.

Thanks.
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