Project Lunar (SEGA Mega Drive / GENESIS Mini)

N3wbs · Dec 29, 2019

Project Lunar 1.0.0 has landed.

It’s been over 3 months of LONG days and nights but Project Lunar 1.0.0 is now oﬃcially live and available for all!

We know many of you would have wanted this release sooner but we wanted to ensure the ﬁrst release was ready, and we could provide a safe and more-stable solution from the onset. (With a crap ton of features of course!)

WHAT TO EXPECT
With all of the hours of development and testing, does this mean 1.0.0 is bug free? Of course not! Is it safe? Absolutely. Is it stable? Yes. (…as long as it is used in the way that is expected!)

With 1 ½ months spent debugging, testing and 100+ people testing this release with 1000s of installs and uninstalls with no major ﬁres we have covered a lot of ground… But, we are not able to cover every single permutation and possible installation scenario. Expect a bug or two to crop up with the public release.

Project 1.0.0 should be considered a Public BETA. Please set your expectations accordingly.

Now that is out the way… We are super happy with the outcome and while there is still a long way to go with Project Lunar, and more exciting features we wish to implement, we are glad we can ﬁnally share our work to the public.

SUPPORT + HELP
We have archived and cleared the #sega-support channel in our discord in preparation for the masses of the questions and queries. PLEASE BEAR WITH US! It’s still the holidays and someone will try and respond to you as soon as they can.

Please ensure any support questions or general inquiries are posted in the #segasupport channel of the ModMyClassic discord so we can deal with it in one location. This is your best chance of getting help quicker!

Please also note that it’s 99% impossible to brick your console. If you blindly go crazy trying all manner of things, you might ﬁnd yourself needing some more advanced help from the devs or testers. If this happens don’t panic. As stated previously, 99% of potential bug issues can be sorted. Bring your description of your problem and ask in the support channel. Wait patiently and someone will try and resolve your issue ASAP.

One ﬁnal note, please read the FAQ and troubleshooting sections of the Project Lunar page as they will likely answer your question, before posting in the discord. We’ll try to document any further common topics as they arise.

HOW TO USE / DOWNLOAD
Before you download Project Lunar, we highly recommend you read through the documentation and FAQs to ensure you fully understand how Project Lunar works. We have also provided a full feature run down which covers:

What is included in 1.0.0

What is NOT included in 1.0.0

What is planned/WIP for 1.1.0

Please read them here:

https://modmyclassic.com/project-lunar/#Project_Lunar_feature_list

https://modmyclassic.com/project-lunar/#FAQ

https://modmyclassic.com/project-lunar/#How_to_use_Project_Lunar_Documentation

There are also a few initial tutorial videos which can be found below:

https://modmyclassic.com/project-lunar/#Video_How-To_Tutorials

Once you read the how-to documentation and are ready to proceed, you can ﬁnd the download links here:

https://modmyclassic.com/project-lunar/#Where_to_Download

ONE MORE FINAL NOTE
We would like to thank everyone for their patience and support while we have been slaving away on this project. We would also like to make a HUGE thank you to the supporters of ModMyClassic and Project Lunar.

We hope you have a great time with Project Lunar and have as much fun with it as we did making it for the community.

ModMyClassic + The Project Lunar team

Original Source : https://modmyclassic.com/2019/12/28/project-lunar-1-0-0-has-landed/

Ps : i dont take credit for this beauty, i just spent the news. Thank to all developers

N3wbs · Dec 29, 2019

NOW AVAILABLE in PUBLIC BETA!

What is Project Lunar?

Project Lunar is a fully fledged modification tool for the SEGA Mega Drive / GENESIS Mini. It allows users to add games, mods and ports whilst also including a large array of extra features and quality of life improvements. It consists of an on console payload and bespoke desktop application for the PC and is extremely easy to use.

Project Lunar feature list

Add your own selection of SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis roms to your console with use on the stock UI
Manage your games, mods and configs via purpose built desktop PC application
Full NAND backups before any customisation
RetroArch bundled with Genesis GX Plus & PicoDrive. (MS,GG,MD,32X, MEGA CD support) (Also capable of playing other consoles by adding additional RetroArch cores)
Performance tweaks and boosts (fix lag issues) (1.0ghz > 1.344ghz, ZRAM compression, DRAM SWAP)
NAND (console only) and USB support
OTG support
exFat, NTFS, FAT32 filesystem support
Extended gamepad compatibility
USB2 and USB3 device support
Customisable boot menu with built-in additional option menu & network manager.
Ability to autoboot to selected boot items. (i.e. boot directly to stock UI)
Additional third-party controller support
Automatic Error recovery system (automatically reload to bootmenu if Stock E error occurs)
Launch boot menu or RetroArch from the Stock UI
EmulationStation support (optional mod package, USB only)
‘Fix’ stock scanlines by toggling smoothing off within stock emulator
Bundled Wi-Fi support (Realtek 8188eu + 8187)
RA MD mini cores downablable via RA using network adapter
RA scraper and EmulationStation scrapers work using network adapter
SSH/SFTP via RDNIS support
Boot menu, splashscreen and music are all customisable
Additional mod package support

Project Lunar Desktop App features

Easy to use interface to allow installation/removal of PL on console, and console management.
Bulk addition of ROMS
Zipped ROM support (.zip)
New MegaDrive/Genesis games integration is totally seamless in stock UI, with a scraping function providing description, cover art, spine, release year, developer, players, icons, etc. for (almost) every game.
Automatic IPS patching within desktop app
ScreenScraper, TheGameDB scraper support. (Scrape all the details, cover art, and metadata for your games online when adding them)
Automatic spine art generator. If spine art doesn’t exist, PL will generate it for you
Mod management. List, add and remove consoles mod via the mod management tool
Customise stock UI/Emulator features
Interactive assistant to assist users with the install of Project Lunar
Easy sync to either NAND or USB
Recovery mode (for console repair situations)
Automatic update checks. Every time game manager is opened, it will check for console updates online.

Project Lunar 1.0 caveats

Bluetooth support is 80% done, however we want to improve support with broadcom bluetooth devices to extend compatibility. Due to this we have delayed releasing it until 1.1
Xinput and SONY HID drivers are bugged. This means xbox based input devices are not properly working and PS4 controllers (when connected with usb) produce lag in the default emulator. This is something that is being worked on and an update will be pushed out when it’s available.
Individual game selection for sync within desktop is not supported within 1.0. It will be added ASAP

Features to come in 1.1 (or) future rolling update

Folder support. Technically we can implement folders as of 1.0, however we want to do it right and integrate it as seamless as possible.
Launch different console games from stock UI
Custom command “executors” per game. Again, executors are available within 1.0 meaning that you can run any emulator, app or command from the stock UI. This can be done via scripts on the command line however desktop integration will be available in 1.1
Bluetooth support
Desktop app sync via Wi-Fi/Ethernet. This is also available as of 1.0 but we want to improve it. It is also capable of handling multiple consoles on the same network.

Requirements to use Project Lunar

A micro USB cable capable of data transfer
Windows 7/10
MacOS/Linux *

How to use Project Lunar / Documentation
Below is a list of detailed documentation on each subject. (Click to open in a new tab)

Video How-To Tutorials
Below is a collection of “how-to” videos that should help you install/use Project Lunar

(English) Restalgia

(English) JonnyTro

(Spanish) TuberViejuner

Where to Download
Legal Notice – Please note, by downloading and using this software, you are doing so at your own risk. ModMyClassic will not be held responsible for any damages to your property when using this software.

(Please note, 32bit installs might have issues with the driver installer. When possible, 64bit is always recommended)

Installer Version (Recommended) – 32 bit /64 bit

Portable Version – 32bit / 64 bit

Mega Drive Mini RetroArch cores – Download here

Project Lunar IPS M2Engage patches – Download here

Credits

Swingflip – Developer
TulioAdriano – Developer
Cyanic – Developer
Wraith – Developer
CompCom – Developer
Defkorns – Developer & Chief UAT Tester
Enderling – Graphics & UI Design
Fred_PJ – Graphics & ES Sound Artist
Z-10 – Boot Menu Sound Artist
ScreenScraper – Website
TheGameDB – Website
Team Shinkansen – FEL lib

Special thanks to HoneyLab and the Project Lunar testers: DefKorns, Darkdev1, Advokaten, Milenko, AyanamiRei0, defenceplox, FaithLes, Fred_PJ, Gorez, harland_mct, Hidalgator, Iain_YX, Kaliezel, MeteK, Restalgia, Ropen, shintoz, spannernick, UNBREAKABLE, Lodmot

Troubleshooting
Q. I keep getting install errors/cannot back up console

A. Try a different USB cable and/or USB port, we have had reports in the past of weird behavior which turned out to be down to bad USB cables. Also try with nothing connected to the console and only the USB cable.

Q. The install was successful but after install, my pc won’t detect my console!?

A. This is likely because you are trying to connect your console via FEL mode (holding RESET on boot). You only need to boot into FEL for the initial install or for recovery. For normal operation, you just need to connect your console to the pc and turn it on normally without holding RESET.

Q. I pressed SYNC on the desktop app and now when I select PL from the boot menu I get a black screen! (Music will sometimes still play)

A. This is usually because of a bad sync. Before you disconnect your console from the PC after syncing make sure to turn the console off properly. Usually re-syncing the console via the desktop app will resolve the issue. If issue persists remove the last added games and try syncing again.

Q. I don’t know what I have done, every time I try to load stock UI I get a black screen!

A. This is likely due to a bug or some scenario we haven’t programmed for.Please note that your console is safe. We effectively rebuild and patch the stock UI files dynamically on the fly and load them on top of your stock files. When the black screen appears its because of an issue with the newly generated files. (Not your stock files!) If you are stuck with a black screen and you tried troubleshooting as much as possible. Load and produce the black screen, connect to the console via SFTP/SCP and grab the project_lunar.log file from /tmp and send it over for further analysis.

Q. When I try to run <insert name here> Mega Drive rom from the stock UI, I get an “E<X> Please shutdown error”

A. This is due to the fact the rom is not supported by the stock emulator. Please refer to the compatibility list here

Q. I plugged in my USB and it won’t work!? (Sometimes the console may just freeze when using USB)

A. You need to make sure that your USB is formatted NON MBR. Also you need to make sure you have an active partition on the usb otherwise you will get weird issues. To set an active partition on your USB if you are having issues:

Press WIN+R to open RUN box, type diskpart
Type list disk (diskpart will list all the disks you have installed)
Type select disk X with X being the right number.
Type list partition
Type select partition Xwith X being the right number.
Type active
Type exit

Q. I synced with Project Lunar and everytime the stock UI opens (even after playing a game) I get the language select menu

A. This is because you have a badly formated main menu save. We have to rewrite a chunk of the Stock UI code to fix some bugs with the stock code which only allows X amount of games (differs between region console) Becuase of this fix to the stock code, the old main menu save is NOT compatible with the patched stock UI. On Uninstall and install we remove that save which forces the stock UI to recreate the main menu save file in the new format. Sometime though (especially when using USB) this might go wonky. If so, follow the following instrcutions. (If you use USB storage make sure the USB is plugged in port 1 or 2 in the console directly)

Make sure you have the latest desktop app version
SYNC with Project Lunar
Open up puTTY (download if need) and SSH to console. Details in FAQ
copy and paste each line one by one with the console plugged in and on and run them (make sure usb is connected)

project_lunar toggle_usb_mounts 0
rm -f /rootfs_data/data_008_0000.bin
rm -f /rootfs_data/meta_008_0000.bin
rm -f /media/mega_drive_saves/data_008_0000.bin
rm -f /media/mega_drive_saves/meta_008_0000.bin
sync && restart

Q. Help I think I have bricked my console!

A. This is technically not possible, so don’t panic! One of our main concerns during development was safety. Because of this, we ensure that a full NAND partition backup is carried out before any modifications take place. On top of this we included a recovery/staging image which will boot your console even if your NAND partitions are completely empty and also a fail safe recovery system, which will directly flash raw backup images to your NAND partitions. (For extreme emergencies only!)

Because we don’t adjust any of the partition table on the NAND or OOB data and make minimal adjustments to the rootfs, the mod is as safe as we could make it whilst giving as much flexibility and functionality as possible. Because we only write to areas of the NAND that are partitioned, the ultimate fail safe will allow you to flash the raw partition images back to the NAND partitions.

This being said, the stock UI is very complicated so if there is a single error due to a bug you might get issues. Please contact us on the #sega-support channel here and one of the team or devs will try and help you resolve your issue.

FAQ
Q. My console won’t respond on the PC when I have it plugged in via an OTG adapter

A. This is expected. The OTG redirects the DATA lines from the passthrough, make sure when syncing with the pc, you connect the console directly into the pc without any adapters inline.

Q. My PC won’t recognise my console? (Even if you have used hakchi in the past with another console)

A. Originally the driver for Allwinner FEL was hardcoded to Nintendo NES/SNESC. This has since changed from Hakchi and to minimise issues with users and using multi consoles/solutions, we also use the updated version of the “classic” driver. You will need to install the driver bundled with the Project Lunar Desktop App and then your console should work fine. Default location: C:\<USR>\AppData\Local\ModMyClassic\Project Lunar Desktop UI\lunar_data\driver\classic_driver.exe (replace <USR> with your desktop username)

Q. My PC won’t detect my console even after installing the driver!?

A. Make sure you are not using the Micro USB cable supplied with the SEGA Mega Drive. It doesn’t contain data lines and is only capable of power! Try a Micro USB from a different device

Q. I just want to boot straight to stock UI/RA/something else, I don’t to boot to the boot menu?

A. This is easily done. When first installed the console will boot automatically to the boot menu. All you need to do from here is to hover over your selected boot choice, (Project Lunar for stock UI) and press start. The next time you boot the console it will auto-boot to your selected element.

Q. I set my console to auto-boot to X and I want to access the boot menu?

A. When the console is starting and before it auto boots your selected boot choice, an auto-boot screen will display for one second. During this auto-boot screen press B (or equivalent) on your controller to interrupt the auto-boot and display the boot menu.

Q. How many games can be on the stock UI screen at one time?

A. At stock speeds, (1.0ghz) approximately 60 extra games will cause the stock UI start to lag however it is subjectively perfectly usable. At 100 extra games the stock UI will lag too much to be usable. Increasing the clock speed to 1.344ghz will alleviate the lag and render times. When we include folder support, this issue should effectively go away.

Q. I don’t want RetroArch on my console, can I remove it so I can add more games?

A. Short answer is no and there is a good reason why. To keep Project Lunar as simple and safe as possible, we don’t interfere with the stock console’s partition table and therefore use a normally unused partition for the on console base modifications including a slimmed down RetroArch client (which is extendable). This partition isn’t available for use by the stock emulator and therefore removing it wouldn’t provide any extra usable space for extra games, save states or additional add ons. The RetroArch client was purposefully made so it’s extremely lightweight with the option of being extended if the end user wishes to do so.

Q. I just installed Project Lunar and without doing anything it says I have 163mb (or less) available of 170mb without USB storage?

A. Project Lunar will install and utilise the same partition as the stock emulator uses for save states. If you have any save states already on the console it will take up space on the partition (approx 850kb per save). With a completely fresh set up, the stock console utilises 7mb of the partition.

Q. I just hit SYNC without any custom games and I just lost 15mb available space on my NAND!

A. As of 1.0, this is an unfortunate requirement. We have to effectively re-upload 120 of the stock artwork resources to rootfs_data along with the extra custom game artwork. This is because the Stock UI (M2engage) is hard coded to only accept one resource stream. However this won’t be the case in future revisions as we plan to remove the need to re-upload the stock 120 artwork images by rewriting more of the stock UI code to allow for multiple resource streams. When we add this feature you should find yourself with ~15mb freed up when you SYNC.

Please note this ~15mb requirement is a one off. So technically it’s (163mb – ~15mb) = available space on NAND. Each game will take up to 2mb on average. The 15mb requirement will disappear in future builds.

Q. I want to use USB storage, how do I do that?

A. You can plug the usb into one of the front USB ports before you power the console or during runtime. The USB will automatically mount, initialise and set up for use with Project Lunar. If you want to use the USB with OTG, once synced, shut down console and plug USB into OTG adapter.

Q. What rom formats are supported?

A. As of 1.0 only Mega Drive games are technically supported with the file formats of (.md, .gen, .bin, .zip)

Q. I am getting slow down/audio desync/input lag, how can I fix that?

A. Make sure you have all the performance tweaks enabled within the options menu. All performance tweaks are enabled by default apart from the 1.00ghz > 1.344ghz clock speed option.

Q. What is the SSH/SFTP details and login?

A. IP address: 169.254.215.100, Port: 22, User: root, Pass: (No password!)

Q. What is the deal about the 1.344ghz clock, is it safe? Is it classed as overclocking?

A. Yes and it’s not overclocking!!! It’s relatively safe however we accept ZERO responsibility for any damage caused to your console. The only reason we don’t enable this option by default is because it’s the end user’s responsibility. That being said. The 1.344ghz is fully stable and the chip is technically rated with an absolute maximum of 1.5ghz at 1.5volts. When clocked at 1.344ghz the voltage is set to 1.46volts, well within the chip’s tolerances for both frequency and voltage. However due to differences during manufacturing between chips, your console might run hotter than others. The safe limit for the chip should not exceed 80c and we have implemented a throttle facility to throttle the CPU back to 1.0ghz if the SoC temperature hits 68c. If the throttle engages, it will be logged and will last the duration that the console remains switched on. Theoretically this should never happen and isn’t something we have encountered during the hours of testing however safety is one of our main priorities.

P.s. Contrary to belief, clocking the CPU to anything below the chip’s absolute maximum frequency or voltage is not overclocking! You can read more about it here: https://linux-sunxi.org/Cpufreq#.22Overclocking.22

Q: I added a game and the image doesn’t fill the screen (downscaled).

A: Try to change the Rom Region on Project Lunar to Force USA (NTSC)

Q. What USB Ethernet/Wi-fi adapters are supported?

A. We bundle a limited number of drivers due to size restrictions, however we have always targeted any adapter running the Realtek 8187/8188EU chipset. We have a limited number of extra chipsets supported within an “extended network driver pack” available here: (coming soon) It should be noted that any generic USB2.0 Ethernet adapter should work without issue too.

Q. How do I change my options and configuration?

A. You are able to access and change console options like performance tweaks on the boot menu by pressing B (Or equivalent). You can also access the on console network management tool by pressing C (Or equivalent).

Q. I run MacOS/Linux, How can I use this?

A. There is currently a big ongoing project which is 100% compatible with MacOS/Linux/Windows however in the meantime you will be required to run it in a virtual environment using Virtualbox until the PL module is completed in the separate project.

Original Source : https://modmyclassic.com/project-lunar/#Where_to_Download

Ps : i dont take credit for this beauty, i just spent the news. Thank to all developers

Metro City · Jul 11, 2021

Hi, someone can help me? i need link european nand (MOON-mass-moon-es1-v0.8.3-1085EU-1f2365d) Thanks

lotuskings · Nov 15, 2021

Metro City said:
Hi, someone can help me? i need link european nand (MOON-mass-moon-es1-v0.8.3-1085EU-1f2365d) Thanks

i have found EU nand. can you find me US nand??!!!

Liriel · Feb 26, 2022

Late but I search too the EU firmware backup

Edit found it

https://github.com/retrodome/lunar_data
But files are wrong in EU and jp backup

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