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

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

Moderator: Moderators

Hubz
Posts: 19
Joined: Sun May 04, 2014 4:16 pm

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

Post by Hubz »

Just ordered one! Thanks for the great product. :)
Tomy
Posts: 56
Joined: Sat May 06, 2006 9:19 am
Contact:

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

Post by Tomy »

Hi James,

Can you provide the pinout of the cable for read/write fds disk ?
Is it same as fdsstick one ?

Thanks
User avatar
deadbody
Posts: 37
Joined: Thu Oct 30, 2008 8:11 pm
Location: Nashville, TN
Contact:

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

Post by deadbody »

Tomy wrote:Hi James,

Can you provide the pinout of the cable for read/write fds disk ?
Is it same as fdsstick one ?

Thanks
Yes sir. Same cable. I have been installing fdsemu into a few ram adapters and I used the ram adapter cable. Just match the wire colors

Not trying to beat a dead horse here, but here is a cut-and-paste from the fds tech reference document of the connector.

Code: Select all

*********************************
*FDS RAM adaptor control signals*
*********************************
Special thanks to Christopher Cox for additional FDS wiring information not 
originally here.


              ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ
  ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ
  ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ
  ÛÛÛ  1   3   5   7   9   B   ÛÛÛ
  ÛÛÛ                          ÛÛÛ
  ÛÛÛ  2   4   6   8   A   C   ÛÛÛ
  ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ
  ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ

Open-end view of the RAM adaptor's disk drive connector.
On the cable you assemble, ensure pin 1 connects to pin 1 on the other end, 2 connects to 2, etc. Pin 8 is not connected so you can omit wiring that pin up.
User avatar
Emperor Udan
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Jan 08, 2016 9:52 am

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

Post by Emperor Udan »

What a fantastic project, really thank you.

I'm very interested in this project especially for writing on real Disk.
I recently bought Kid Icarus, and once loaded found it was SD Gundam game... :(
I would like to write Kid Icarus on it and enjoy some translated games on real hardware.

Building cable and modding FDS unit with your "FD3206 Write Mod Board" seems pretty easy.
I would like to know what is the method to write FDS image on real FDS disk?

Sorry if this question has been asked before, I carefully read this topic and your instruction, but nothing found.
(And sorry for my bad English, Frenchy here ^^)
User avatar
deadbody
Posts: 37
Joined: Thu Oct 30, 2008 8:11 pm
Location: Nashville, TN
Contact:

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

Post by deadbody »

Emperor Udan wrote:What a fantastic project, really thank you.

I'm very interested in this project especially for writing on real Disk.
I recently bought Kid Icarus, and once loaded found it was SD Gundam game... :(
I would like to write Kid Icarus on it and enjoy some translated games on real hardware.

Building cable and modding FDS unit with your "FD3206 Write Mod Board" seems pretty easy.
I would like to know what is the method to write FDS image on real FDS disk?

Sorry if this question has been asked before, I carefully read this topic and your instruction, but nothing found.
(And sorry for my bad English, Frenchy here ^^)
Just build the cable mentioned in the above post, and use the command line client program.

Example command line:

Code: Select all

fdsemu-cli -w file.fds
Will write a disk image to disk. Ensure cable orientation is same as if it was hooked up to the ram adapter. See the manual on my site for photos.

I have edited the coupon code to give $5 off. And I have lowered the base price of the 128mbit version to $30. After the coupon it costs $25.

Thanks.
User avatar
Emperor Udan
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Jan 08, 2016 9:52 am

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

Post by Emperor Udan »

Fantastic!
Ordering right away.
And again, thank you very much, seriously. :D
User avatar
deadbody
Posts: 37
Joined: Thu Oct 30, 2008 8:11 pm
Location: Nashville, TN
Contact:

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

Post by deadbody »

I have been working Game Doctor support for some time, and here it is.

To load the game doctor images, just specify the first file of the set (the .A file) and the client software will pick up the other images if thier files are named properly in sequence, for example: file.A file.B file.C. Just specify the first one is all you need to do, it will load it to the flash.

Next up is the menu. I have some suggestions from users and I will be releasing the next update containing the menu update. The most important feature will be easier navigation and remembering the previous game selected before you turned the power off.

The January New Years Special is still happening, use coupon code nesdev4life and you get the 128mbit (256 disk sides) model for only $25. I am selling the 256mbit (512 disk sides) model too, it is easy to load it up with disks with the new game doctor support.

The site has been redesigned, please let me know if any more information or resources is necessary.

Thanks,

James
Tomy
Posts: 56
Joined: Sat May 06, 2006 9:19 am
Contact:

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

Post by Tomy »

Thanks for Doctor format support !
The main different between normal *.fds and Doctor format :

As I remember,
1) Format is different.
2) Size different. Doctor format will store $8000 x 2 files = 64K.
Disk A is most large size which included :
$200 + $8 + $8000 + $8000, it is bigger than 64K.

So, I don't know if fdsemu will have bigger bank size for it.
If bank size same as before, then it will not work for all games.

Also, another problem is Doctor 4+/6+ have save button.
So, each game have save disk. You need to add 1 bank for the save disk.
The save disk use to backup sram to disk. So, you can continue play game for the RPG.
User avatar
deadbody
Posts: 37
Joined: Thu Oct 30, 2008 8:11 pm
Location: Nashville, TN
Contact:

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

Post by deadbody »

Tomy wrote:Thanks for Doctor format support !
The main different between normal *.fds and Doctor format :

As I remember,
1) Format is different.
2) Size different. Doctor format will store $8000 x 2 files = 64K.
Disk A is most large size which included :
$200 + $8 + $8000 + $8000, it is bigger than 64K.

So, I don't know if fdsemu will have bigger bank size for it.
If bank size same as before, then it will not work for all games.

Also, another problem is Doctor 4+/6+ have save button.
So, each game have save disk. You need to add 1 bank for the save disk.
The save disk use to backup sram to disk. So, you can continue play game for the RPG.
Ahh! Thanks for the additional information!

I only have a Venus Game Converter 1M, and I did not know about the save function. I can confirm operation with the disks that will work with it (yes they are bigger than $10000 bytes). I have some of the hacked NROM and GNROM games and all of them work (20 or so disks).

Doctor 6M is coming (thanks, Tomy) and as soon as it arrives I will add support for that disk format.

I would like to say thanks to Kaz for helping to get to these Game Doctor disks working.
Altazimuth
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Jul 12, 2015 3:45 pm

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

Post by Altazimuth »

Just putting in a good word here. Bought one a week or so ago and arrived today. I'm exceptionally happy with the product. Any technical issues I had were quickly eliminated by deadbody who was invaluable in getting the FDSEmu such that it it now works happily on my desktop, as opposed to a single USB port on my laptop.
dc16
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2016 4:48 pm

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

Post by dc16 »

I just got my unit today and I'm receiving the same error message that Apolloboy got, error 27. The first thing I did was flash it with the new firmware. I did manage to get Metroid to load, but it refuses to change discs. I'm running Windows 8.1 for this. Will update tomorrow when I try a different computer.
User avatar
Emperor Udan
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Jan 08, 2016 9:52 am

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

Post by Emperor Udan »

Update mine with XP, not possible on my win10.
Since update works perfectly, thanks again James for your help.

Next step, write on real Disk. ^^
This device rocks, thanks again.
dc16
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2016 4:48 pm

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

Post by dc16 »

I tested it this morning, but I used the motherboard's USB ports, not the front ones. Metroid 1.1, SMB, SMB2 worked fine. Metroid 1.2 loaded to the menu screen but the whole screen was yellow. Will continue testing it a bit more. This is definitely one of those devices that gets touchy over USB ports, kinda like my Kindle2.
Hubz
Posts: 19
Joined: Sun May 04, 2014 4:16 pm

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

Post by Hubz »

Just wanted to say deadbody is a standup guy. Accidentally threw the adapter he sent away and he voluntarily replaced it, despite it not even being his fault. Thanks again!
Arasoi
Posts: 28
Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2010 1:13 am

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

Post by Arasoi »

Image

Integrated FDSEmu into a ram adapter with help from a friend. Disk change button is in the "o" for nintendo, and a USB extension cable can be used to connect it to the PC.
Post Reply