Tutorial
Updated
Mega Drive/Genesis Virtual Console (NOT Retroarch) Injections for Multiplayer only
Hey fellow Tempers!
I figured I could share this procedure to others who might be interested in this. Basically, this will let you play Mega Drive (or Genesis) roms in local multiplayer between two 3DS systems by injecting the roms into Sega's own 3D Sonic the Hedgehog 2 ported by M2.
NB! DO NOT use this if you want high compatibility and accuracy - the only reason you would ever want to use this is if you want to play some games in multiplayer, since retroarch or picodrive are by far the better alternatives if you are just going to play alone.
Some things to note as well:
There are two ways of achieving this that I have found: One quick and dirty way through LumaCFW's LayeredFS, and another through modifying and repacking a .cia/.3ds/.cxi.
First method using LayeredFS
Pros and Cons
What you need
Step-by-step
*Note: I would have just said to look up online or through FBI for the TitleID, but I found that they differ from the TitleID you get from looking at cheats in Rosalina for this specific game for some reason.
Troubleshooting
Second method using GabrieloRomToolsGui
Pros and Cons
What you need
General Steps
Compatibility List:
Working
Playable with issues
Not Working
Untested
Sources
Disclaimer:
I am not responsible if you follow this guide in a wrong way or if your system in any way breaks when following this. You are at your own risk as always.
Also do not ask for any copyrighted stuff or where to get it. Read the forum rules.
Credits:
M2 for their emulator
@Robz8 for a 5 year old post explaining how to do this.
@gaberilde for GabrieloRomTools
@Normmatt for mdftools
Devs et al. of Luma3DS
I figured I could share this procedure to others who might be interested in this. Basically, this will let you play Mega Drive (or Genesis) roms in local multiplayer between two 3DS systems by injecting the roms into Sega's own 3D Sonic the Hedgehog 2 ported by M2.
NB! DO NOT use this if you want high compatibility and accuracy - the only reason you would ever want to use this is if you want to play some games in multiplayer, since retroarch or picodrive are by far the better alternatives if you are just going to play alone.
Some things to note as well:
- If your game has ingame saving (like Sonic the Hedgehog 3), this will not work. Every time you restart the game your save will be lost. HOWEVER, save states do work. So if you want to do a coop playthrough of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 in more than one sitting I believe you can use the save states to get to where you were, you might have to load the save state before hosting and then return to menu to host.
- Also you will not be able to use 3D on the games you inject. I repeat this is only for having the multiplayer function.
- The game will still show Sonic 2 images and have the style of that game. I do not know how to replace this. If it helps you can try to think of it as a Mega Drive emulator with a Sonic 2 theme.
- Both 3DS' need to have the same game installed - it is not Download Play.
First method using LayeredFS
Pros and Cons
Pros:
You can easily swap games and test if they actually work. I have not tested this with multiplayer yet, but I do not see why it should not work. Please report if you do, and I will update when I do myself.
Cons:
You only get one title for your game on your home menu and therefore only one game at a time, unless you inject into other roms, like maybe different regions of 3D Sonic 2.
You can easily swap games and test if they actually work. I have not tested this with multiplayer yet, but I do not see why it should not work. Please report if you do, and I will update when I do myself.
Cons:
You only get one title for your game on your home menu and therefore only one game at a time, unless you inject into other roms, like maybe different regions of 3D Sonic 2.
What you need
- Latest LumaCFW on your 3DS/2DS
- 3D Sonic the Hedgehog 2 installed on your 3DS (It is up to you how you want to install it, just don't ask where to get it for free. It's around 4€ on the eshop as of writing this.)
- The rom you want to inject and play (I cannot provide this either)
- mdfTools
- PC
- Have game patching enabled in LumaCFW. Do this in Luma3DS configuration by holding select and powering on your system. Press A on "Enable game patching" and start to save.
- Find and write down the TitleID (TID) for 3D Sonic the Hedgehog 2 by opening "Cheats..." in Rosalina menu* while running 3D Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Default: Press L+Dpad Down+Select). The TitleID will be something like [0004XXXXXXXXXXXXX].
- Find the rom that you want to use. You might want to check the compatibility list below.
- Make a second copy of your Rom.
- Name one of the copies: "Sonic2.SGD" and the other copy "Sonic2_USA.SGD". Make sure to delete the .md/.smd/.bin file extension suffix. Both files HAVE to end with .SGD. It is VERY IMPORTANT to do this before step 6!
- Extract the mdfTools.rar in a folder.
- Drag and drop each of the renamed copies over mdfcompressor.exe. You should get two compressed roms called "Sonic2.SGD.m" and "Sonic2_USA.SGD.m".
- Copy your compressed roms in this folder on your 3DS' SD card: "sd:\luma\titles\"YourTitleID"\romfs\system\roms\". Replace "YourTitleID" with the code you wrote down in Step 1.
- Start up 3D Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and choose start game to check if your rom injected correctly.
- Play multiplayer by chosing Local Play on the start menu before running the game.
*Note: I would have just said to look up online or through FBI for the TitleID, but I found that they differ from the TitleID you get from looking at cheats in Rosalina for this specific game for some reason.
- In case your rom is still Sonic 2 when starting the game then first double-check that you wrote the right TitleID. If it is correct then try changing the TitleID to the one on you can find for 3D Sonic 2 in titles in FBI or from searching online.
- If your 3DS crashes to an arm11 exception then you probably didn't do step 4 right. Make sure to have the names and extensions exactly that way and before you compress them. Don't change the name afterwards.
- Try using a clean rom, preferably a no-intro confirmed rom.
- If the game runs but has problems with input, graphics or sound, then there is no solution I know of. This emulator doesn't have 100% compatibility.
Second method using GabrieloRomToolsGui
Pros and Cons
Benefits:
You can make an icon on your home menu specific for that game, and most importantly you can install as many games as your home menu allows you to.
If you figure out how to edit the banner then you can customize it to look good for the rom you've injected. I have not looked into making a custom banner yet, but it should be pretty straight forward.
A Noteworthy Disadvantage:
Your 3DS will give an arm11 exception when you power off your 3DS and when you try to load another game or homebrew after leaving the game before rebooting. Yes, it sucks.
You can make an icon on your home menu specific for that game, and most importantly you can install as many games as your home menu allows you to.
If you figure out how to edit the banner then you can customize it to look good for the rom you've injected. I have not looked into making a custom banner yet, but it should be pretty straight forward.
A Noteworthy Disadvantage:
Your 3DS will give an arm11 exception when you power off your 3DS and when you try to load another game or homebrew after leaving the game before rebooting. Yes, it sucks.
- Latest LumaCFW on your 3DS/2DS
- A backup of 3D Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in either of these formats.cia/.3ds/.cxi/NCCH. (I cannot provide it.)
- The rom you want to inject and play (I cannot provide this either)
- GabrieloRomToolsGui
- mdfcompressor
- PC
- Extract GabrieloRomToolsGui to a folder and run "GabrieloRomToolsGUI.exe".
- Extract the NCCH of your 3D Sonic the Hedgehog 2 according to what format you have it backed up in (ex. 3ds/cia/.cxi/NCCH), following gaberilde's great instructional video.
- Find the rom that you want to use. You might want to check the compatibility list below.
- Make a second copy of your rom.
- Name one of the copies: "Sonic2.SGD" and the other copy "Sonic2_USA.SGD". Make sure to remove the .md/.smd/.bin file extension suffix your rom might have. Both files HAVE to end with .SGD. It is VERY IMPORTANT to do this before step 6!
- Extract the mdfTools.rar in a folder.
- Drag and drop each of the renamed copies over mdfcompressor.exe in the folder you just extracted to. You should get two compressed files called "Sonic2.SGD.m" and "Sonic2_USA.SGD.m".
- If you managed to extract your 3D Sonic the Hedgehog 2 succesfully, then copy both compressed files into the folder: ...\"name of folder you extracted into"\romfs\system\roms\", this way replacing the files that are there.
- Rebuild and repack your backup using your folder following gaberilde's video from step 2.
- Install your backup and check if it worked. If it did you should now run that game when selecting start game from the menu screen. To use multiplayer choose local play and on one 3ds and join on the other.
Compatibility List:
Working
Alien Storm
Altered Beast (Official release)
Battletoads
Battletoads and Double Dragon
Cadash
Crack Down - Some occasional graphical glitches in start menu.
Contra Hard Corps
Double Dragon
Double Dragon 3
Golden AxeGolden Axe II
Golden Axe III
Gunstar Heroes (Offical release)
Mega Bomberman
NBA JAM
Rock 'N Roll Racing
Soldiers of Fortune (known as The Chaos Engine in PAL Territories. Don't use the PAL version.)
Sonic 3 Complete - Some weird graphical glitches occur at times (File select screen and when under water in first stage). Also "Sega" intro sounds very bad for some reason.
Streets of Rage (Official release)
Streets of Rage 2 (Official release)
Streets of Rage 3
Sunset Riders
Super Smash T.V.
The Adventures of Batman & Robin
The Great Circus Mystery Starring Mickey and Minnie
The Ren and Stimpy Show Presents: Stimpy's Invention
ToeJam and Earl
ToeJam and Earl in Panic on Funkotron (Might be set as six button controller which means you lose some functions.)
Two Crude Dudes
Wonder Boy 3 Monster Lair
World of Illusion Starring Mickey and Donald
Altered Beast (Official release)
Battletoads
Battletoads and Double Dragon
Cadash
Crack Down - Some occasional graphical glitches in start menu.
Contra Hard Corps
Double Dragon
Double Dragon 3
Golden AxeGolden Axe II
Golden Axe III
Gunstar Heroes (Offical release)
Mega Bomberman
NBA JAM
Rock 'N Roll Racing
Soldiers of Fortune (known as The Chaos Engine in PAL Territories. Don't use the PAL version.)
Sonic 3 Complete - Some weird graphical glitches occur at times (File select screen and when under water in first stage). Also "Sega" intro sounds very bad for some reason.
Streets of Rage (Official release)
Streets of Rage 2 (Official release)
Streets of Rage 3
Sunset Riders
Super Smash T.V.
The Adventures of Batman & Robin
The Great Circus Mystery Starring Mickey and Minnie
The Ren and Stimpy Show Presents: Stimpy's Invention
ToeJam and Earl
ToeJam and Earl in Panic on Funkotron (Might be set as six button controller which means you lose some functions.)
Two Crude Dudes
Wonder Boy 3 Monster Lair
World of Illusion Starring Mickey and Donald
Playable with issues
Joe and Mac - Works but no background music. Sound effects are glitchy.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The Hyperstone Heist - Game plays smoothly, but sadly no sound at all.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The Hyperstone Heist - Game plays smoothly, but sadly no sound at all.
Not Working
Blades of Vengeance - Black screen after intro.
The Lost Vikings - Game plays fine but you can't change characters because the gamepad is set to six button controller but x y z aren't mappable... Maybe if you could play 3 player or edit the emulator config some way.
Zombies Ate My Neighbors - Gets to title screen but no button inputs are registered. Might be because six button controller is emulated without button mapping.
The Lost Vikings - Game plays fine but you can't change characters because the gamepad is set to six button controller but x y z aren't mappable... Maybe if you could play 3 player or edit the emulator config some way.
Zombies Ate My Neighbors - Gets to title screen but no button inputs are registered. Might be because six button controller is emulated without button mapping.
Untested
Lots of shmups
A lot of sports games (NBA, NFL etc.)
Fighting games
Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
Road Rash games
If you need more games to check out here are some lists:
http://segaclassics.blogspot.com/2012/11/genesis-multiplayer-co-op-games.html
https://www.reddit.com/r/SEGAGENESIS/comments/6s9g5e/multiplayer_games_worth_playing/
A lot of sports games (NBA, NFL etc.)
Fighting games
Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
Road Rash games
If you need more games to check out here are some lists:
http://segaclassics.blogspot.com/2012/11/genesis-multiplayer-co-op-games.html
https://www.reddit.com/r/SEGAGENESIS/comments/6s9g5e/multiplayer_games_worth_playing/
Sources
Disclaimer:
I am not responsible if you follow this guide in a wrong way or if your system in any way breaks when following this. You are at your own risk as always.
Also do not ask for any copyrighted stuff or where to get it. Read the forum rules.
Credits:
M2 for their emulator
@Robz8 for a 5 year old post explaining how to do this.
@gaberilde for GabrieloRomTools
@Normmatt for mdftools
Devs et al. of Luma3DS
Last edited by Zense,