Dumping Satellaview mempacks

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blurayno
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat Apr 28, 2012 7:22 am

Dumping Satellaview mempacks

Post by blurayno »

Hello and yes, I'm kind of hesitant to find out how complicated it is to dump these.
So about a year ago, I got two 8M packs from the neighbour living next to my wife's parents and hopefully it's not too late to dump them now.
The other one at least partially contains an RPG Tsukuuru save data and the other one most probably has data marked as deleted.

I know a friend who's got some kind of equipment to program eeprom chips and other useful toys as well, but I'm afraid I'm unable to provide more information about them right now.
I did search this forum extensively and probably found enough info already how to do it, it's just I don't probably understand how to use these tidbits of information to read the mempacks safely.

Thank you in advance.
skaman
Posts: 88
Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2014 1:56 am

Re: Dumping Satellaview mempacks

Post by skaman »

I've worked on a couple projects that can dump the Memory Paks.

I wrote an Enhanced sketch with BS support for the Arduino based SNES cart reader (https://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=158974.0). LuigiBlood made a video of it in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JZFZ_-VRkI

I recently added BS support to the Retrode firmware. The firmware is being BETA tested so you'll need to contact me if you want a copy. More details on the Retrode forum: http://forum.retrode.org/index.php/topic,361.0.html

There's another project by sanmaiwashi that can read Memory Paks using the SuperUFO cart. His page is in Japanese but I've corresponded with him in English several times. I have no experience with using his code but it is available here: http://www4.wazoku.net/npflash.html

I recently dumped a Memory Pak that contained the broken Bounty Sword BS ROM that apparently suffers from bit rot. The ROM is being analyzed with the hope that it can be restored and made playable.

I hope you're able to recover the data off your Memory Paks!
blurayno
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat Apr 28, 2012 7:22 am

Re: Dumping Satellaview mempacks

Post by blurayno »

Oh, wow. Thank you!
Didn't expect the mempak dumpers to have gotten so sophisticated :D

So far gave your links a quick glance since I'm in a hurry and all methods look pretty easy to use, although acquiring the dumper hardware is necessary.
It's just I don't happen to have the Satellaview system cartridge and I was looking for a way to read the paks directly.
Probably destroying the carts and removing the flash chips would be the cheapest way, but that's totally out of question.
Did I understand correctly that with your Retrode dumper, it's possible to use other slot-cartridges, like RPG Tsukuru, as well?

Apparently my friend only has a kazzo programmer, which probably can't be used for Satellaview paks without writing new software/drivers, I believe...

So far looks like the Retrode will be my best option, so I'll be getting back to you about it. Sometime in near future, hopefully!
skaman
Posts: 88
Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2014 1:56 am

Re: Dumping Satellaview mempacks

Post by skaman »

You can use any of the slotted BS carts except for the SA-1 carts (SD Gundam and Itoi No. 1).

RPG Tsukuru, Ongaku Tsukuru, Sound Novel Tsukuru, Joushou Mahjong, Same Game, Derby Stallion 96, and BS-X will work.

If you should have the SD Gundam Map & Data Pak, I was only able to dump it properly with the slotted SD Gundam cart using the Arduino reader.
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LuigiBlood
Posts: 62
Joined: Thu Jul 29, 2010 2:24 pm

Re: Dumping Satellaview mempacks

Post by LuigiBlood »

skaman wrote:I've worked on a couple projects that can dump the Memory Paks.

I wrote an Enhanced sketch with BS support for the Arduino based SNES cart reader (https://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=158974.0). LuigiBlood made a video of it in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JZFZ_-VRkI

I recently added BS support to the Retrode firmware. The firmware is being BETA tested so you'll need to contact me if you want a copy. More details on the Retrode forum: http://forum.retrode.org/index.php/topic,361.0.html

There's another project by sanmaiwashi that can read Memory Paks using the SuperUFO cart. His page is in Japanese but I've corresponded with him in English several times. I have no experience with using his code but it is available here: http://www4.wazoku.net/npflash.html

I recently dumped a Memory Pak that contained the broken Bounty Sword BS ROM that apparently suffers from bit rot. The ROM is being analyzed with the hope that it can be restored and made playable.

I hope you're able to recover the data off your Memory Paks!
I just checked what the SuperUFO one does and it basically erases the data and replaces it inside the Memory Pack. It does not dump.
EDIT: There is a dumper... http://www4.wazoku.net/ufo_exdumper.html
But it does not dump the Memory Pack. It just checks for really special carts.

EDIT2: I just asked him and answered super quickly:
Image

This is the settings you should use to dump Memory Packs.
blurayno
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat Apr 28, 2012 7:22 am

Re: Dumping Satellaview mempacks

Post by blurayno »

Thank you for helping out and getting the extra confirmation :)
Earlier, I was asking the author the same thing as well, just to be completely sure the method works.
He answered kinda vaguely about EXDUMPER not supporting Satellaview paks, but a few months ago another user managed to dump them using the settings in Luigiblood's pic.
EXDUMPERは特集モノ吸い出しプログラムですが8Mメモリーパックの吸い出しには対応してませんね。BSXFLASHはSatellaview BS-Xに差し込んだメモリーパックをUFO使って書き込むプログラムです。
8MメモリーパックをRPGツクールに差し込んでもUFOでは吸い出せませんね。ダービースタリオン96に差し込んだら吸い出せるみたいですけど。
Which says that the "EXDUMPER" program he made doesn't readily support dumping Mempaks and "BSXFLASH" program is used to *censored* them. Nothing to see here, ahem.
Also I asked about if the dumping might work with using slotted cartridges other than the Satellaview one, which he replied that Derby Stallion 96 has been heard to work and RPG Tsukuru doesn't work.

Apparently, according to random forums, the Super UFO is very cheaply made piece of junk and has a high probability of not working properly for various reasons.
There seem to be two versions available though, I wonder if there's a way to distinguish them somehow..? :o

This far I've gotten. Super UFO method still looks suspicious to me and I might very well end up mailing my mempaks to one of you guys in Europe who's got the proper equipment :D
skaman
Posts: 88
Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2014 1:56 am

Re: Dumping Satellaview mempacks

Post by skaman »

Sorry for the misinformation on sanmaiwashi's program. I'm glad that the proper details are now known.
blurayno
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat Apr 28, 2012 7:22 am

Re: Dumping Satellaview mempacks

Post by blurayno »

Still trying to decide between Retrode and UFO.
Retrode would be an obvious choice over the UFO in terms of reliability but do I need the Enhanced Cart Adapter in order to dump Mempaks or is your Beta software enough, skaman?
Slightly confused here though just read the retrode thread.
skaman
Posts: 88
Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2014 1:56 am

Re: Dumping Satellaview mempacks

Post by skaman »

BETA firmware is enough to read the BS carts (non-SA-1) and Memory Paks.

Enhanced Cart Adapter is only needed for SA-1, SPC7110, and Nintendo Power (SF Memory Cassette) carts.

Dragonbox.de got their latest Retrode production run and they're now available in their store. EvilDragon1717 planned to load them with the BETA firmware so the BS support might work out of the box.

Good Luck!
blurayno
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat Apr 28, 2012 7:22 am

Re: Dumping Satellaview mempacks

Post by blurayno »

Thanks for the support! Looks like I got lucky but just a little :)
I got a really cheap and quick deal on Super UFO Pro so decided to give it a try.
Couldn't dump anything from the Mempaks using other carts but the Same Game Tsume Game, so might as well share the info to do that.

I don't really understand how to make the UFO access the memory regions where different games map the Mempak slot, but Same Game seems to do it in kind of a simple way.
In the Cart Check settings, increase the PROM size from 8 to at least 24 megabits, then check SRAM config subpage and make sure that it says Hi-ROM and enable all the address lines (except A15 of course.) SRAM size doesn't seem to matter.
Probably only A23 is needed really, but I didn't test all configurations thoroughly. By enabling the address lines I mean you should set them to 1, instead of X or 0.
Then, go to Backup menu and read from Cart to DRAM. Go back to settings and Game Check page. Decrease the PROM to 8 here and make sure the SRAM config here too is configured as earlier explained.
Finally just save your DRAM to SD card and you should have a clean 8 megabit dump of your Satellaview Mempak!

...about my dumps? Regarding them I didn't get so lucky!
The first one had one bank with 9 Kanaderu Convert songs (to be used in RPG Tsukuuru 2 and Sound Novel Tsukuuru) but they're probably not downloaded from the service.
(The musical quality is pretty horrible, as probably can be expected from a random anonymous Tsukuuru composer :D )
The rest of the banks are from Dezaemon BSX Shooting with random bit rot in every other 32k bank. Otherwise identical with the known dump.

The second pak's got Special Teeshot (date 6/17) but somehow the second bank is overwritten by an empty Kanaderu Convert file with no songs, making the game not bootable.
So..that's it for now, kind of.
Pokun
Posts: 2681
Joined: Tue May 28, 2013 5:49 am
Location: Hokkaido, Japan

Re: Dumping Satellaview mempacks

Post by Pokun »

Still pretty neat that you got some random user created Tskuuru data.

The bit rot makes me worried that there are a lot of Satellaview content lost forever to bit rot though.
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