custom firmware for sega flashback 2018

ckzero1

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This update is the same update atgames released last December., and it's intended to only unlock the SD Card option. This update replace "data" partition and modify one file to enable SD Card support. The emulator partition is not touched here.

I've released one custom firmware based on the original European firmware (I'm not sure if I removed it or not) and the issues with PAL games are worse than with the current firmware...

I think Sega CD support was discussed extensively on the 2 threads covering this model.
You need to have the BIOS files (bios_CD_E.bin, bios_CD_J.bin and bios_CD_U.bin) in the GAME folder, and the games need to be in .cue/.bin format with no spaces (you may need to confirm the filename in the cue file), and/or in .chd format if you are using the custom firmware with Genesis Plus GX (the original firmware can't see CHD files). The support for .cue/.bin is a collateral effect of the original firmware support to .bin files in the SD Card.


Ok I see. As I said...this was just a guess. My intention was just to maybe add some "useful" information to this whole discussion. You're the pro, so just nevermind. :)

As for the Sega CD support: I did exactly what you said here. (Actually that's exactly what I did before I joined the board here.) My files are .cue/.bin (original backups from my retail games I might add) with no spaces in between. The .cue information is correct and so are the BIOS files. However, the games won't start. I don't know why. I'm still running the system on the original firmware upgrade I was talking about recently. The .bins for Genesis/MegaDrive are working. Don't know what I'm doing wrong but maybe I should give your custom firmware a try...this will probably fix it.

It's not a big deal to me at all..as I don't have much time to play with the system anyway. It simply bothers me personally that I'm not being able to make this work properly. :angry: Shame on me...
 

spanner

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I think we need a wiki page on Atgames consoles.
ATGames was a games software developer for PS2 Xbox and PC and Mobile devices up until 2011 when they started marketing cheap Sega/Atari consoles and made a new company called ATGames Digital Media Inc,it a subsidy of the original company ATGames Holdings Limited that was founded in Bermuda in 2001.All there companies are in the US and china and there consoles are imported to other countries so Millennium imported the Mega Drive Console 2018/9 to Germany.
 

spanner

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This update is the same update atgames released last December., and it's intended to only unlock the SD Card option. This update replace "data" partition and modify one file to enable SD Card support. The emulator partition is not touched here.

I've released one custom firmware based on the original European firmware (I'm not sure if I removed it or not) and the issues with PAL games are worse than with the current firmware...

I think Sega CD support was discussed extensively on the 2 threads covering this model.
You need to have the BIOS files (bios_CD_E.bin, bios_CD_J.bin and bios_CD_U.bin) in the GAME folder, and the games need to be in .cue/.bin format with no spaces (you may need to confirm the filename in the cue file), and/or in .chd format if you are using the custom firmware with Genesis Plus GX (the original firmware can't see CHD files). The support for .cue/.bin is a collateral effect of the original firmware support to .bin files in the SD Card.

You mean in the rom folder..?? GAME folder is for MD2017.. :) bios_CD_E.bin, bios_CD_J.bin and bios_CD_U.bin has to be with the games so with the cue+bin files


TIP...
A Idea for 2 disc games to work, like Ground Zero Texas, you have to call disc 1.cue the same name as disc 2.cue so I called them GroundZeroTexasUS.cue to fool the MD that it things its the same disc so you can use the same save on both discs,I made 2 folders one called groundzero1 and groundzero2 and put Ground Zero Texas US disc 1 in groundzero1 and Ground Zero Texas US disc 2 in groundzero2 and then renamed there cue files in each folder.. GroundZeroTexasUS.cue then copied in the each of the 2 folders bios_CD_E.bin, bios_CD_J.bin and bios_CD_U.bin, Ground Zero Texas will not run without them then added them with the Gamelist Manager, you need to add both discs to the MD console so you select disc 1 and when it asks for disc 2 you make a save at that point and then quit the game and select disc 2 and load the save you just save on the first disc and press a button to continue and it will play the next disc and bingo they work, I am on disc 2 now.. :) I be doing it with Night Trap next.
 

The_Big_Man

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Hi, has anyone managed to get multi disc Mega/Sega CD games working properly when converted to chd format, ie how should they be named and how to swap discs?
 

ckzero1

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I think we need a wiki page on Atgames consoles.
ATGames was a games software developer for PS2 Xbox and PC and Mobile devices up until 2011 when they started marketing cheap Sega/Atari consoles and made a new company called ATGames Digital Media Inc,it a subsidy of the original company ATGames Holdings Limited that was founded in Bermuda in 2001.All there companies are in the US and china and there consoles are imported to other countries so Millennium imported the Mega Drive Console 2018/9 to Germany.


At least there should be a well organized kind of tutorial (more of a step by step overview) for that matter. I mean...not everybody is that much experienced with all of this stuff. But that is just a suggestion. It's hard to search and put all the relevant facts in this thread together one by one...so it would clearly make sence to "amateurs" like me. :wink:

Regarding the ROM or GAME folder: I do have a "GAME" folder and the roms work pretty fine, although it is a new 2018/19 SD-Card model. (I never checked if it'll work with a "ROM" folder as well.)

So anyways, thank your for the tip with the Multi-CD games. Sooner or later I'm gonna need it, so it's much appreciated, pal! B-)
 

The_Big_Man

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You mean in the rom folder..?? GAME folder is for MD2017.. :) bios_CD_E.bin, bios_CD_J.bin and bios_CD_U.bin has to be with the games so with the cue+bin files


TIP...
A Idea for 2 disc games to work, like Ground Zero Texas, you have to call disc 1.cue the same name as disc 2.cue so I called them GroundZeroTexasUS.cue to fool the MD that it things its the same disc so you can use the same save on both discs,I made 2 folders one called groundzero1 and groundzero2 and put Ground Zero Texas US disc 1 in groundzero1 and Ground Zero Texas US disc 2 in groundzero2 and then renamed there cue files in each folder.. GroundZeroTexasUS.cue then copied in the each of the 2 folders bios_CD_E.bin, bios_CD_J.bin and bios_CD_U.bin, Ground Zero Texas will not run without them then added them with the Gamelist Manager, you need to add both discs to the MD console so you select disc 1 and when it asks for disc 2 you make a save at that point and then quit the game and select disc 2 and load the save you just save on the first disc and press a button to continue and it will play the next disc and bingo they work, I am on disc 2 now.. :) I be doing it with Night Trap next.
I take it this solution is no good if the files are in chd format?
 

spanner

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I am using Cue+Bin on Genesis Plus GX they work fine with it so you don't need to covert them to chd or if you want to so uses less space.

I don't see why not just replace the cue file for the chd file,I just finished playing Night Trap.. :)

ATGames don't have there own forum do they would anyone be interested in a ATGames forum or a forum for the Genesis/Mega Drive only,I did make the forum for TheC64 Mini.. :).. ?
 

DoctorEvil8

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I take it this solution is no good if the files are in chd format?

If you use the custom firmware from here...

https://gbatemp.net/threads/custom-firmware-for-sega-flashback-2018.523590/page-9#post-8537041

... and use the Game Manager from here...

https://gbatemp.net/threads/genesis-flashback-hd-2018-game-manager.529624/

... I have no issues with CHD files. Multi disc games work great with the above mentioned method. (Note: I use the Genesis Plus firmware, NOT the Picodrive) I prefer CHD for only needing a single file per disc, and a smaller size.
 
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The_Big_Man

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This is exactly the setup I am using, so how do you have your multi disc games named? Night Trap Disc 1.chd and Night Trap Disc 2.chd, I would imagine you use the trick the previous poster alluded to as in creating a save point when asked to swap disks and then reloading the state after quiting back to the menu and starting disc 2?
 

spanner

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This is exactly the setup I am using, so how do you have your multi disc games named? Night Trap Disc 1.chd and Night Trap Disc 2.chd, I would imagine you use the trick the previous poster alluded to as in creating a save point when asked to swap disks and then reloading the state after quiting back to the menu and starting disc 2?
No made 2 folder name them nighttrap1 and nighttrap2 then name chd in each folder nighttrap.chd then add them to the allgames,ini as disk1 and disks 2.


[Night Trap Disc 1]
File=/rom/nighttrap1/NightTrapUSA.cue
Platform=Mega CD
Sort=Night Trap
Year=1993
Genre=Sega
Description=Night Trap is a full motion video game released by Digital Pictures for the Sega Mega-CD.After five teenage girls go mysteriously missing at a sleepover at Mr. and Mrs. Martin's house, the "Sega Control Attack Team" (SCAT, although later referred to as "Special Control Attack Team") arrive to find out what happened. As a new wave of girls enter the house for a sleepover (one being undercover SCAT agent, Kelly (Keli Medd in the manual)), the player ("control") is tasked with monitoring each of the eight rooms and trapping "Augers", vamperic beings which prey on women's blood.The traps are protected with access codes which can be changed by any of the people inside the house, forcing the player to listen in to conversations. Likewise, trapping the wrong people will result in a game over.A switches between selected rooms, B triggers a trap (when the indicated sensor bar suggests something is within range) and C changes the colour of the access code (between blue, red, green, orange, purple and yellow). Start shows the layout of the house.Night Trap consists entirely of full motion videos, meaning for the most part, gameplay is restricted to moving between rooms and pressing buttons. As the footage is always played in a certain order, this also means the same tactics can be applied in every playthrough. After about 25 minutes the game ends (although more than 90 minutes of footage exists across the two CD-ROMs).There are 95 enemies in total to capture.
Dpad=Movement
Start=Start, Pause
A=A
B=B
C=C
X=No Function
Y=No Function
Z=No Function

[Night Trap Disc 2]
File=/rom/nighttrap2/NightTrapUSA.cue
Platform=Mega CD
Sort=Night Trap
Year=1993
Genre=Sega
Description=Night Trap is a full motion video game released by Digital Pictures for the Sega Mega-CD.After five teenage girls go mysteriously missing at a sleepover at Mr. and Mrs. Martin's house, the "Sega Control Attack Team" (SCAT, although later referred to as "Special Control Attack Team") arrive to find out what happened. As a new wave of girls enter the house for a sleepover (one being undercover SCAT agent, Kelly (Keli Medd in the manual)), the player ("control") is tasked with monitoring each of the eight rooms and trapping "Augers", vamperic beings which prey on women's blood.The traps are protected with access codes which can be changed by any of the people inside the house, forcing the player to listen in to conversations. Likewise, trapping the wrong people will result in a game over.A switches between selected rooms, B triggers a trap (when the indicated sensor bar suggests something is within range) and C changes the colour of the access code (between blue, red, green, orange, purple and yellow). Start shows the layout of the house.Night Trap consists entirely of full motion videos, meaning for the most part, gameplay is restricted to moving between rooms and pressing buttons. As the footage is always played in a certain order, this also means the same tactics can be applied in every playthrough. After about 25 minutes the game ends (although more than 90 minutes of footage exists across the two CD-ROMs).There are 95 enemies in total to capture.
Dpad=Movement
Start=Start, Pause
A=A
B=B
C=C
X=No Function
Y=No Function
Z=No Function
 

DoctorEvil8

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This is exactly the setup I am using, so how do you have your multi disc games named? Night Trap Disc 1.chd and Night Trap Disc 2.chd, I would imagine you use the trick the previous poster alluded to as in creating a save point when asked to swap disks and then reloading the state after quiting back to the menu and starting disc 2?

Use subfolders.

Example:
/rom/nt1/nighttrap.chd for disc 1 file
/rom/nt2/nighttrap.chd for disc 2 file

When it's time for disc swap, save the progress. Exit game. Launch disc 2 of game from main menu, and resume from that save point. Filenames must be the same and they must be in separate folders. You also need the bios files in each subfolder too.
 
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ckzero1

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@spanner
I don't think there is a difference between them at all. The only difference is the release date. The 2018 model is the same as the 2019 model but the release date was different. As far as I know...over here in Germany this model was released in early 2019 - that's why its called MDFB-HD 2019. :teach:
 

spanner

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While mounting the SD Card in fstab is a clever idea, it's a permanent solution.
I've found a better way to do that using the script to load the menu and adding a control file in the SD Card.
Code:
#!/bin/sh
if [ -e /media/usbhd-mmcblk0p1/mount_sd.ini ]
then
    su -
    umount /rom
    mount /media/usbhd-mmcblk0p1/rom /rom
fi
while :
do
 cd /emulator
 startx ./retromenu
done
This script is already in /emulator partition so you are not touching the OS at all. My mod looks for the control file mount_sd.ini in the root of the SD Card and reload the /rom partition to a rom folder in your SD Card. If you delete the control file or boot the console without SD Card, you will have the original rom partition.

Now you just need to create a mount_sd.ini file and a rom folder in the root of the SD Card, copy the contents from the original "rom" partition to this folder, copy your favorite games and edit all-games.ini to include them in the game list.
Here is an example for all-games.ini:

Code:
[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.

I've created the update file to both US and EU versions to avoid using Android Tool. Both updates are using the original core:
Genesis Flashback - Support to load games from SD card with box art
Mega Drive Flashback - Support to load games from SD card with box art

And if anyone prefer Picodrive:

I was wondering you have linked the rom folder on the SD card to the rom partition right, why can't you do that with the emulator partition to make it bigger, so you store the emulator on the SD card and have more space,that way the emulator can be hacked and made better....?

This is a bit like what App2SD PRO dose on Android,it sends a app to the second partition on your SD card and leaves a link to it on the internal memory... :) so Android thinks it still on the internal when its on the SD card.

My Atgames Mega Drive Flashback 2018 looks a bit small on top of my Sega Mega CD 1.. :)
 
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rrifonas

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I was wondering you have linked the rom folder on the SD card to the rom partition right, why can't you do that with the emulator partition to make it bigger, so you store the emulator on the SD card and have more space,that way the emulator can be hacked and made better....?

This is a bit like what App2SD PRO dose on Android,it sends a app to the second partition on your SD card and leaves a link to it on the internal memory... :) so Android thinks it still on the internal when its on the SD card.

My Atgames Mega Drive Flashback 2018 looks a bit small on top of my Sega Mega CD 1.. :)

1) The script runs from the emulator partition, and we need to have it running BEFORE overmounting the partition
2) I could include the overmount script in the rootfs partition, but I don't like the idea to reflash the root partition on user's devices
3) There is no point to increase the size of emulator partition. The menu doesn't have capacity to add any additional core and we can't really replace the emulator without a proper debug interface to test a replacement... I've learned how PicoDrive was trying to read the BIOS files for sega CD with some txt scripts but this approach is unfeasible for more elaborate stuff
 
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rrifonas

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Why don't Picodrive save states work on Sega CD/Mega CD or is that the emulator the one you put in to it..?
I don't play Sega CD games on this device so I've never tried to troubleshoot.
Based on my experience troubleshooting the BIOS, and looking at the source code of the core, I can tell you the core expects to be loaded from RetroArch, or it will behave weird. BIOS files are a good example, it expects to receive the path from the 'emulator', or it tries to load from the same folder as the emulator/core. I needed to include the BIOS files in the emulator partition to make it load the games.

MAME 2000 core had a similar problem but it was 'easier' to fix as I had the code for MAME 2003 Plus core available, and I could back-port the fix using part of the MAME 2003 Plus code.

By the way, I did not replace the emulator inside this thing, I only hex-edited the menu to allow multiple extensions and replaced Genesis Plus GX with Picodrive core.
 
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spanner

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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.

The Sega Pico, also known as Kids Computer Pico,[a] is an educational video game console by Sega Toys. Marketed as "edutainment", the main focus of the Pico was educational video games for children between 3 and 7 years old. The Pico was released in June 1993 in Japan and November 1994 in North America and Europe, later reaching China. It was succeeded by the Advanced Pico Beena, which was released in Japan in 2005. Though the Pico was sold continuously in Japan through the release of the Beena, in North America and Europe the Pico was less successful and was discontinued in early 1998, later being re-released by Majesco Entertainment. Releases for the Pico were focused on education for children and included titles supported by licensed franchised animated characters, including Sega's own Sonic the Hedgehog series. Overall, Sega claims sales of 3.4 million Pico consoles and 11.2 million game cartridges, and over 350,000 Beena consoles and 800,000 cartridges.

Thanks to this we have Vtect and Leap Frog kids laptops and tables now.. :) This is the first time I have heard of a Sega Pico well I would, i am not a 3 to 5 year old.. :)
 
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