custom firmware for sega flashback 2018

[rrifonas]

Do you know what version of RetroArch its using..?
How is the Legend Flashback..? its looks like the Genesis Classic console from 2009.Its a bit odd having Genesis controller when it plays Arcade games. Properly that all they had copyright to at the time.

I remember using Picodrive for the first time on the PSP.. is the name Pico the name of the chip in the Mega Drive..?? like Lisa,Angus or AGA in Amiga.

No its cos of the Sega Pico that uses the hardware from the mega Drive.

This device uses a custom emulator, it's not RetroArch, but it works with RetroArch cores. Picodrive core is not optimized for this scenario. I was only able to fix the BIOS after copying the emulator to a Tinker Board running Linux and troubleshooting from there.

The Legends Flashback is almost the same device (minus cartridge slot, wireless controllers and only 128MB RAM / 128MB NAND). I used it to test most of the updates I've made since my Genesis Flashback freezes after 10 minutes playing. They have the same OS, and the only differences between them are the emulator and rom partitions, and the menu. The Legends Flashback menu loads the cores based on the file extension, so it has some 'slots' which gave me the opportunity to expand the FBA core to a full version (Atgames compiled the FBA and MAME cores only with the drivers they are actually using), and add a new core (MAME 2000). The emulator has the same issues as the Genesis emulator, PAL games have audio delay, and even some arcade games have some delay.

I've used Picodrive for the first time in a Symbian Device (likely the N-Gage) around 2003 or 2004. I don't know if the name comes from the Sega Pico, but it's possible.

 

[spanner]

Background
By the time of the early 1990s, electronic toys were on the rise, and Sega, a company at its peak decided to create a home console geared towards a younger audience. The result was the Sega Pico, a device derived from the popular Sega Mega Drive console. "Pico", like "Mega", is an SI prefix, in this case equating to 10−12.

 

[image45]

If you want to use the Golden Axe Cheats For Genesis to select level.

(Select arcade mode. Hold Down/Left + B and press Start at the character selection screen. A number that corresponds to the starting level will appear in the upper left corner of the screen. Use the D-pad to change it to the level you want.)

I have found that since this involves Hold Down /Left and Start, that it triggers the rewind function and therefore do not work.

Has anyone found a work around at all please?


cheat10_desc = "Enable Stage Select Option"
cheat10_code = "FFC1B0:01"
cheat10_enable = false

cheat11_desc = "Stage Select"
cheat11_code = "FFFE2D:??"
cheat11_enable = false

 

[jeffyTheHomebrewer]

Wait, Doesn't it just run on some form of Android 4.4 KitKat? if so, could we play some android games on it?

 

[rrifonas]

Wait, Doesn't it just run on some form of Android 4.4 KitKat? if so, could we play some android games on it?

Not this one. The Genesis Flashback 2018 / Mega Drive Flashback 2019 runs a custom Linux. The Genesis Flashback 2017 runs Android 4.4, and in theory it could play some older Android games.

 

[jeffyTheHomebrewer]

Not this one. The Genesis Flashback 2018 / Mega Drive Flashback 2019 runs a custom Linux. The Genesis Flashback 2017 runs Android 4.4, and in theory it could play some older Android games.

Ah, thought the 2018/9 version also ran android. Well, if it runs on some form of linux, could we run linux apps on it?

 

[rrifonas]

Ah, thought the 2018/9 version also ran android. Well, if it runs on some form of linux, could we run linux apps on it?

In theory yes, but there are several caveats. The rootfs partition has only 14MB and it is ready-only (squashfs), the whole NAND has 256MB and there is no way to access the device while it's running to try to install stuff or check dependencies.

 

[jeffyTheHomebrewer]

In theory yes, but there are several caveats. The rootfs partition has only 14MB and it is ready-only (squashfs), the whole NAND has 256MB and there is no way to access the device while it's running to try to install stuff or check dependencies.

Ah, I see.

 

[dclaneta]

Hi everyone! thanks for sharing your CFW mr rrifonas, the audio delay are so bad! my unit had a lot of delay, i turned on the overdrive option, turn off the background music and doing the rewind but still have a loot of delay, i only play NTSC games

 

[dcuk7]

Unfortunately there isn't much more that can be done. The delay happens no matter which core you use so until AtGames fix their Retroplayer emulator we are stuck with the device as-is. I can't see them doing any more updates to this unit but hopefully they continue to use this Linux setup in future hardware. Maybe we can one day bring this device up to where it should be.

I'd still suggest to anyone wanting a Mega Drive/Genesis emulation machine to go with a Raspberry Pi 3 and the MegaPi case. I've got a build set up just for SEGA consoles and apart from not being able to get the Game Gear bezel working correctly it works brilliantly and has custom bezels for each console and/or game.

Or wait for the Mega Drive Mini.

 

[dclaneta]

Did you kwon how to unpack the emulator.img? For the segaupdate.img, using the rockchip rk3066 I was able to unpack the update but I can't unpack emulator.img i wonder if we can moddify the sample rate, sound latency and video refresh.

 

[rrifonas]

Did you kwon how to unpack the emulator.img? For the segaupdate.img, using the rockchip rk3066 I was able to unpack the update but I can't unpack emulator.img i wonder if we can moddify the sample rate, sound latency and video refresh.

You can use a tool called imgRePackerRK to unpack the .img file, search for it in XDA-Developers forum.
You can open emulator.img with 7-zip, and there is a file called retroplayer_ro.ini with the contents below:

[Global]
AudioSample=150
ScanlineFilter=0
RewindStep=4
UseBezel=0
BezelPath=<path to bezel>
Language=0
UseOSD=0
MaxBlackTimeout=600

[Core]
genesis_plus_gx_no_sprite_limit=disabled
genesis_plus_gx_ym2612=gens
genesis_plus_gx_audio_filter=low-pass
genesis_plus_gx_lowpass_range=60

The AudioSample parameter is a dead-end, some guys have tried to change it when this information was not in a read-only file, but it didn't reduce the delay.

There are no other settings available for the emulator. I've opened retroplayer with a hexadecimal editor, and these are the only settings available.

 

[dclaneta]

You can use a tool called imgRePackerRK to unpack the .img file, search for it in XDA-Developers forum.
You can open emulator.img with 7-zip, and there is a file called retroplayer_ro.ini with the contents below:

[Global]
AudioSample=150
ScanlineFilter=0
RewindStep=4
UseBezel=0
BezelPath=<path to bezel>
Language=0
UseOSD=0
MaxBlackTimeout=600

[Core]
genesis_plus_gx_no_sprite_limit=disabled
genesis_plus_gx_ym2612=gens
genesis_plus_gx_audio_filter=low-pass
genesis_plus_gx_lowpass_range=60

The AudioSample parameter is a dead-end, some guys have tried to change it when this information was not in a read-only file, but it didn't reduce the delay.

There are no other settings available for the emulator. I've opened retroplayer with a hexadecimal editor, and these are the only settings available.

thanks for sharing that info, opening with 7zip finally can see what are inside of the emulator.img, but I can't make any changes on the .ini, what program are you using for doing modifications on the emulator.img files
thanks

 

[rrifonas]

You will need linux or Windows subsystem for linux and use mksquashfs to rebuild the partition.
And you can use the same ImgRePackerRk to create the update file. Use the parameter /rkaf to recreate. You can send me a private message if you need assistance to rebuild the update file.

 

[dclaneta]

You're right mr rrifonas, the audio delay it's a retroplayer issue, the fix i think will save this hardware are a new emulator like retroarch and send retroplayer to hell, I'm still wonder if we can change the stock emu for a Mdemu.apk for example like I see on the neo Geo mini firmware

 

[rrifonas]

The Md.Emu apk is Android only. Besides that is a mess on the licensing perspective. It's "open source" but you can't distribute your own build. And it's not easy to build for yourself, it took me several months to build a working version for the Flashback HD 2017 - you will need a custom version compatible with the device's key map. I know there is a Linux version but I've never been able to compile it successfully. I'm not a developer so I've never tried to go deeper on this.

Retroarch is a no-go without full access to the device using ssh or a debug interface. I can compile Retroarch on the Tinkerboard (which runs on a rockchip cpu), but it doesn't work on the Flashback HD due to different OS/dependencies.

 

[Metaka75]

Hi Guys

My first post here but have been reading thru the 18 pages over the past 2 weeks when I have had 10mins or so to get this working but keep coming across the same issue everytime!

I have the SD version 2018/19? Mega Drive UK model bought from Argos.

Using an 8gb branded SD card I have successfully used both the Atgames flash and then I have also tried the latest ones posted on this thread, this all works fine and the machine updates no probs everytime I start over.

My problem is when I add the "GAME" folder onto the SD card and put a selection of test games on the card (street fighter, puzzle bobble etc...) then put the card into the mega drive it all shows up when I go down to the SD Card are in the menu where all the games added show up, but no matter which one I try the screen goes black for a few seconds then comes up with an Ooops message saying its having trouble loading the game?
(attached pic of the message)

Any ideas guys? im getting the roms from a standard site and are .bin files, if I am going to the wrong place maybe thats the issue?

Look forward to any replies

Cheers

Leon aka Metaka75

 

[DoctorEvil8]

Hi Guys

My first post here but have been reading thru the 18 pages over the past 2 weeks when I have had 10mins or so to get this working but keep coming across the same issue everytime!

I have the SD version 2018/19? Mega Drive UK model bought from Argos.

Using an 8gb branded SD card I have successfully used both the Atgames flash and then I have also tried the latest ones posted on this thread, this all works fine and the machine updates no probs everytime I start over.

My problem is when I add the "GAME" folder onto the SD card and put a selection of test games on the card (street fighter, puzzle bobble etc...) then put the card into the mega drive it all shows up when I go down to the SD Card are in the menu where all the games added show up, but no matter which one I try the screen goes black for a few seconds then comes up with an Ooops message saying its having trouble loading the game?
(attached pic of the message)

Any ideas guys? im getting the roms from a standard site and are .bin files, if I am going to the wrong place maybe thats the issue?

Look forward to any replies

Cheers

Leon aka Metaka75

It's most likely your filenames. This system is very picky. No spaces, no symbols.

 

[dclaneta]

Better use the dcuk7 game manager, it's very easy to use.

 

[Metaka75]

Hi, no I have been thru all the file naming with and without spaces using underscores From the offset including making sure it’s .bin file etc.

Not sure why it would show the file on the mega drive but then fail to load?