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custom firmware for sega flashback 2018

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I've complied the firmware and most information into this post.

Mirrored from: https://forums.atariage.com/topic/3...unity-projekt/?do=findComment&comment=4886989
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Untitled222.jpg
Hello,

Atgames released a new update for the Genesis Flashback HD 2018 last week (v20190226).
The issue with PAL games seems fixed (I've only tested Sonic 2 for Master System and Sonic CD) and the games are running even better in my opinion. The scanline filter is much better than the older version. The core was not changed but they've implemented the improvements from the latest update for the Legends Flashback emulator.

I've made a custom firmware based on this new update in case anyone want to try it.

Features:
-> Genesis Plus GX to load Genesis, Master System, Game Gear and Sega CD games from SD Card OR Picodrive to load Genesis, Master System, Sega CD and 32x
-> Support to mount the games from the SD Card
-> Game Genie support won't work with this update as Atgames changes the emulator and most of the settings for retroplayer.ini are now being read from a read-only file in the /emulator partition
-> The European Firmware is based on the US version but I've replaced the assets, the "About" section will not be displayed as it's the US firmware
-> This update replaces the data partition. Save states stored in the console will be deleted. Backup them to the SD Card before starting the update

If the controllers stop responding, you may need to pair them again:
-> Turn off the console and the controller
-> Press A+UP and turn on the controller; The blue light will start blinking
-> Turn on the console, the controller will sync

To mount the rom partition in the SD Card:
-> Create a file mount_sd.ini in the root of the SD Card
-> Copy the backup from your 'rom' partition a 'rom' folder in the root of the SD Card
-> Removing the SD Card and rebooting the device will revert to the original partition
-> Renaming/deleting mount_sd.ini will also revert to the original partition


Sega FB Model #: FB3680
Update V.20190226 Custom Firmware

Mega Drive CFW w/ PicoDrive core
sega_update_20190226_EU_pico.zip

Mega Drive CFW w/ Gen+GX core
sega_update_20190226_EU_genpgx.zip

Genesis CFW w/ PicoDrive core
sega_update_20190226_US_pico.zip

Genesis CFW w/ Gen+GX core
sega_update_20190226_US_genpgx.zip



==============================================================================================
In addition, this is everything that I have, including the startup.sh and mount_cd.ini
ATGAMES_2018_CFW.zip (sega_update_20191014)


Custom Firmware for Genesis/Mega Drive Flashback HD 2018
By Rafael Rifonas (rrifonas/rmr_md) based on AtGames firmware FB3680 v2.0.1 (v20190226.img), with additional script from Brad_from_the_80s

Features:
-> Genesis Plus GX to load Genesis, Master System, Game Gear and Sega CD games from SD Card OR Picodrive to load Genesis, Master System, Sega CD and 32x
-> Support to mount the rom folder from the SD Card to allow custom games with box art
-> The European Firmware is based on the US version but I've replaced the assets, the "About" section will be displayed as it's the US firmware
-> This update replaces the "data" partition. Save states stored in the console will be deleted. Backup them to the SD Card before starting the update

Files:
"Genesis" -> Will load the Genesis Flashback HD with "Genesis Plus GX" as emulator core
"Genesis - Picodrive" -> Will load the Genesis Flashback HD with "Picodrive" as emulator core
"Mega Drive" -> Will load the Mega Drive Flashback HD with "Genesis Plus GX" as emulator core
"Mega Drive - Picodrive" -> Will load the Mega Drive Flashback HD with "Picodrive" as emulator core

Instructions:
To flash the custom firmware:
-> Copy sega_update.img to the root of the SD Card
-> Turn on the device, you will see a screen to update the firmware
-> Press LEFT to start the firmware update
-> After the update is complete, the device will restart and you will see the update screen again. Press RIGHT to start the device
-> Delete sega_update.img from the SD Card

If the controllers stop responding, you may need to pair them again:
-> Turn off the console and the controller
-> Press A+UP and turn on the controller; The blue light will start blinking
-> Turn on the console, the controller will sync

To mount the rom partition in the SD Card:
-> Create a file mount_sd.ini in the root of the SD Card
-> Copy a backup from your 'rom' partition a 'rom' folder in the root of the SD Card. If you don't have a backup or the rom folder, it will be copied on the first boot after the mount_sd.ini file is copied to the SD Card
-> Removing the SD Card and rebooting the device will revert to the original partition
-> Renaming/deleting mount_sd.ini will also revert to the original partition

To customize bezels and background music, copy startup.sh to the root of the SD Card. The /emulator partition will be copied to the SD Card and main menu will be loaded from there. The emulator and the core will still be loaded from the /emulator partition

To add ROMs to the device:
-> Copy the ROMs to the GAME folder in the SD Card (No box art support)
-> Use Genesis Flashback HD (2018) Game Manager by dcuk7 (https://gbatemp.net/threads/genesis-flashback-hd-2018-game-manager.529624/). Recommended method
-> Manually edit all-games.ini in the rom folder in the SD Card

Example for all-games.ini entry:

[Aladdin]
File=/rom/Aladdin(USA).md
Platform=Genesis
Sort=Aladdin
Year=1992
Genre=bonus
Description=
Dpad=Directional movement
Start=Start, pause
A=Throw apple
B=Attack
C=Jump
X=No function
Y=No function
Z=No function

"Genre" can be anything,
but if you use "sonic" or "bonus" you will move the games to these categories.
"sonic" genre supports only 10 games.
I haven't seen if "bonus" has a limit.

Box art must be in .png format, and you need to have 2 files: Aladdin(USA).md.png and Aladdin(USA).md.s.png.
The png file is the box art when you open the details, and the .s.png is the smaller thumbnail.

Technical background:
CPU: RK3066 @816MHz
256MB RAM
256MB NAND

This device has several partitions, being the following the most significant:

/rootfs -> Base OS files (14MB). It's the same for all consoles (Genesis FB, MD FB, Legends FB)

/rom -> Where the ROMs, box arts and gamelist are stored (60MB)

/emulator -> Menu (retromenu), Emulator (retroplayer) and cores are stored in this partition (8MB in Genesis FB/MD FB, 10MB in Legends FB). My custom firmware replaces this partition. It has a change in retromenu to read all extensions, and/or replace Genesis Plus GX core with Picodrive from ModMyClassic

/data -> Has control files (retroplayer.ini, bgm_config.ini, play-data-recent.ini and sdcard_config.ini) and save states/sram files. Atgames update replaces this partition, writing a new sdcard_config.ini to enable SD Card. This partition is the same for Genesis /MD FB. The size for this partition should be around 160MB but it looks like Atgames made it smaller inside the OS; The explanation is that the OS creates a /tempfs partition for temporary cache.

Thanks:
dcuk7, for provide the /emulator partition for the EU version, and create the "Genesis Flashback HD (2018) Game Manager" tool to edit all-games.ini
Brad_from_the_80s, for provide the sample scripts (startup.sh and part of menu_launcher.sh) to load the menu from the SD Card

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WIKI:

Custom Firmware for Genesis Flashback 2018/9

Adding 2 Disc Games for Sega/Mega CD to Genesis/MD Flashback 2018

Mega Drive/Genesis Flashback HD 2018 Game Manager 0.3.2

====================================================================================================

The Game Manager and a video on how to use it
The Game manager no longer downloads the firmware but it will help with proper SD Card Creation
SGFB_Game_Manager.rar

Sega Genesis Flashback 2018 | How to add MORE games with AtGames firmware and CUSTOM Firmware!
 
Last edited by MicroNut99,
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hi, someone can help me, i had a problem with my console when I was upgrading and it got black screen with error in th e screen, 9it tries to start but it goes into error. There is a way to solve this? thanks for your answers
 
I'm so glad people have requested the Pico emu for AtGaGeneFlas2018 as gg games were converted to sms files anyway on sites so now we get sms/gg, gen, scd, 32x ;)

Edit : btw post 621 ftw ! Thx
 
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I regret flashing to the custom firmware, now my console is freezing every 10 minutes. Anyone encounter this and was able to fix it? Does it need to be reflashed?
 
Helloitsme said:
I regret flashing to the custom firmware, now my console is freezing every 10 minutes. Anyone encounter this and was able to fix it? Does it need to be reflashed?
Click to expand...
As far as I know, the custom firmware runs from the SDCard.
Remove it and the console should revert back stock.
If that does not work then try running this official ATGAMES (v20190226)
Remember to remove the card of the system will try to boot it first.
 
This is likely a hardware issue unrelated with firmware. I had this happening with one of the Genesis FB HD 2018 just a couple of months after I bought it, and this was one of my motivations studying the Atgames firmware at the time (2019).
I've tried several things, like applying a full dump from other consoles and even installing the firmware from another console (Legends Flashback), without success.

As Micronut99 said, the custom firmware runs from the SD card.
 
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Hello All,

I just got a Mini Sega Megadrive 2018 version and was looking to upgrading to the custom firmware. Thank you for providing these files and allowing us to get the best out of this mini console. I read in the thread that Picodrive got an update allowing it to play Sega game gear games. But I couldn't find a firmware file to flash with this newer Picodrive version - am I correct in thinking that this hasn't been released as a compatible flash file yet? One last question which is better in terms of performance the Genesis Plus GX emulator or the Picodrive one?

Many Thanks
 
MicroNut99 said:
As far as I know, the custom firmware runs from the SDCard.
Remove it and the console should revert back stock.
If that does not work then try running this official ATGAMES
Remember to remove the card of the system will try to boot it first.
Click to expand...
What did happen was I initially got an error message while trying to update the CFW the first time. Second time worked though and I was able to boot up. I think I tried every firmware possible, even the original firmware and it still freezes no matter what. The strange thing is it freezes even in the dashboard. Doesn't matter if I'm playing a rom or not. It's like there's a timer that counts down and freezes the system every 10 minutes after boot up.

I wasted too much time trying to troubleshoot this thing. I don't quite understand how the firmware is running off the sdcard. Why would you have to install it then initially. Also, you're suppose to delete it off the sdcard after install, so how is it running off the sdcard? From what I see is the system will boot and load the games from the sdcard if card is present, rather than internal memory.

Unrelated, but I figured out how to play Genesis roms on my old Xbox 360 now. It's working awesome and I'm no longer missing the Atgames Genesis system anymore. I did really like that rewind button though. Trying to finish Zero Wing now, cheers :D.
 
For some reason when I attempted to install the CFW it just said Error! in small white text, even without the SD Card in
 
hey all! just joined. i wanna ask if this console can play hacked roms? for example the hockey-roms from nhl94.com
 
Hey, I gotta question, Is it normal that PicoDrive core runs games like crap? Even Master System games runs terrible. I really wanted to play Knuckles' Chaotix on my Flashback.

Oh, and if it's normal then isn't there an option to update PicoDrive core to make it work better? (or even update Genesis Plus GX to make it run 32X games?).
 
NeroGamerPolska said:
Hey, I gotta question, Is it normal that PicoDrive core runs games like crap? Even Master System games runs terrible. I really wanted to play Knuckles' Chaotix on my Flashback.

Oh, and if it's normal then isn't there an option to update PicoDrive core to make it work better? (or even update Genesis Plus GX to make it run 32X games?).
Click to expand...

It's normal for picodrive games to perform poorly. Unfortunately, Genesis Plus Gx does not have 32X support.
 

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