EverDrive-N8 Bank Switching issue

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

Moderator: Moderators

User avatar
rainwarrior
Posts: 8734
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:03 pm
Location: Canada
Contact:

Re: EverDrive-N8 Bank Switching issue

Post by rainwarrior »

calima wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 11:26 pm
rainwarrior wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 3:11 pm Does anyone know if the Everdrive N8 Pro is incompatible with the CopyNES like its predecessor was? That's been the main question stopping me from getting one, but I never got an answer on the support forums.
The Pro has its own USB port. Why would you want to use copynes with it?
It has nothing to do with using CopyNES features. An NES in which CopyNES is installed cannot boot with an Everdrive N8 in it. There is some sort of irreconcilable hardware conflict between them that cannot be solved with a software/BIOS patch on either side.
Pokun
Posts: 2681
Joined: Tue May 28, 2013 5:49 am
Location: Hokkaido, Japan

Re: EverDrive-N8 Bank Switching issue

Post by Pokun »

tokumaru wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 6:23 pm If this is a common thing with the original N8 then this is a pretty big deal! I have the Famicom version of the cartridge and never had any issues, but I also never played anything for long periods of time.
I've played many games for longer periods of time on mine, including beating several RPGs over the years, with zero problems. I don't think this is a common issue. If you look at the support forum there are a lot of posts about faulty Everdrives, which leads me to think they are sloppily manufactured. But on the other hand they also often gets replaced by a working one, so it appears to me they have good hardware support at least. Software support also has been good in the past, but it seems to have slowed down since the Pro came out.

They do seem to take some funny design decisions though which may cause problems. It's not really ideal for testing homebrew, but it does make it easier to do quick tests without having to burn EPROMs, and with good mapper support.
User avatar
gravelstudios
Posts: 159
Joined: Mon Mar 13, 2017 5:21 pm
Contact:

Re: EverDrive-N8 Bank Switching issue

Post by gravelstudios »

Cleaning the pins on mine got me thinking. It's possible the EverDrive-N8 just has a narrow range of tolerances where it will work correctly. Slightly dirty pins might not pose an issue to a manufactured cartridge, but the slight difference in voltage could be enough to throw the EverDrive for a loop. So you end up with a lot of people using them on dirty machines, that work well enough with their old dirty carts, but causes the EverDrive to behave erratically.
calima
Posts: 1745
Joined: Tue Oct 06, 2015 10:16 am

Re: EverDrive-N8 Bank Switching issue

Post by calima »

Well, even official carts have such differences, starting from the pins' lengths. "Game X always works, but Y and Z work intermittently" is common enough on cart console forums. Then ED pulls slightly more power than a normal cart.
Pokun
Posts: 2681
Joined: Tue May 28, 2013 5:49 am
Location: Hokkaido, Japan

Re: EverDrive-N8 Bank Switching issue

Post by Pokun »

It could be. The Famicom I use is quite old (HVC-CPU-07, 1984) but I believe a previous owner have replaced the cartridge connector on it because it is in pristine condition. It only ever has problems with games that have oxidated pins themselves. Usually bumping the floor near the Famicom is enough to make many games hang, but the Everdrive (being much newer than most game carts) and a NIB SMB1 cart that I have works flawlessly on it and never freezes even if you lift up the Famicom.
Post Reply