Sega Megadrive (Genesis) Flashback Mini HD with an USB on internal mother board

[KiiWii]

Exceptional work @asper thank you.

 

[fixingmytoys]

Thanks heaps for your work any more videos of how it works on the flashback HD please

 

[DaXyro]

I got everything working on a 2GB model, with the exception of the start/menu/rewind buttons. After a ton of tweaking, I figured out how to get those to work, though it does break those buttons for the original emulator (you can easily restore them, though). I wrote up a basic guide and the files I'm using to achieve this.

https://mega.nz/#!RFckxSIL!PyHxZpxaYjOlDDUQV7VSMo0gR
7gCVK6JD4cGWsCenKY

Edit: Forgot to write somewhere that I made start + down show the Retroarch menu while in a game.

 

[fixingmytoys]

cool, so it runs well , can you add extra space via usb host ?? , video of it running please

 

[asper]

cool, so it runs well , can you add extra space via usb host ?? , video of it running please

Thanx to DaXyro for is work around ! I confirm my gamepad vendor and product ids are the same as yours.

I will test usb extra space as soon as my adapter will arrive. About videos unfortunately i have no time to produce them, sorry.

 

[Regulators]

Hi Asper, I have the same model genasis. I tried to do the adb patching alternative method, but no controllers seem to work in game. And everytime I try to restore the ini back it cannot find the original ini file. Is there any way you could email the ini file and possibly the stock firmware as I think I might have bricked it? I would be ever so grateful. This writeup is exactly what I have been looking for for 3 days since I have been modding the system. Haha beginners luck. Also I ca get the games running but no image comes up.. is this a resise issue? Thankyou. Open to anyone else that has had this issue. Thanks!

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Also once that is fixed is it possible to just add games without a full hack? I just want to add games without any issues.

 

[asper]

The link to the stock firmware of my console (Mega Drive Flashback, NOT Genesis Flashback, I don't know if they are the same because I do not own a Genesis Flashback) can be found in the readems .txt i provided.

My mod does not imply any .ini editing so you probably have a problem not related to my mod (anyway the original .ini is inside the stock rom file, system.img file).

Game images (PNG) must follow some rules about the image format (not x:y size, just format) which must be:
Color: [ ] ICC Profile: sRGB IEC61966-2.1
if you do not know how to save inthat specific format i cannot help you, sorry.
Those info were provided by the original hacker of the .ini file.

If you care about x:y they are 214 x 300 but the console accepts also different x:y (tested).

Without editing the .ini file it will be not possible to add any games to the original emulator, sorry.

 

[asper]

EDIT:

Just tested a japanese cartridge and found it perfectly fits inside the cartridge slot even with my usb 90-angle is inside (look here see what I mean). The dump will go do /mnt/asec/ folder in .bin format (the name of the cartridge dump tested was rom-9370.bin and it perfectly matches the CRC of the same dump found on the web).

To automatically get the dumps put the extremely simple batch file I attached to this post in the same ADB.exe folder and doubleclcik on it.

 

[nl255]

How does this compare hardware wise to the NES/SNES Classic and Rpi3?

 

[asper]

How does this compare hardware wise to the NES/SNES Classic and Rpi3?

It is probably slower than NES/SNES Classic Mini and Rpi3 anyway PSX games work fine. Very slow on N64 games (this can be dued to the core used: mupen64; unfrotunately this particular core seems to have a bug in the Android version and it does not work [rom won't load] so I used Parallel: rom loads but it is very slow, almost 10fps with Super Mario 64). Good on SNES, NES, SMS and Genesis. Not tested on other platforms/cores.

 

[Regulators]

Thanks mate. Yes the genasis is the same as mega drive. And mine is hd also.so I should see compatibility. Just curious if I need to flash via a untouched stock version or just use your cracked version. Just looking at restoring to stock for fail safe as ever time I try to restore to stock it's fine but controllers don't work in game for some reason.. would you know what would caus this? Ty

 

[asper]

Thanks mate. Yes the genasis is the same as mega drive. And mine is hd also.so I should see compatibility. Just curious if I need to flash via a untouched stock version or just use your cracked version. Just looking at restoring to stock for fail safe as ever time I try to restore to stock it's fine but controllers don't work in game for some reason.. would you know what would caus this? Ty

I have no idea, sorry.

 

[fixingmytoys]

hi again so you can run both emulator with your hack ?

 

[asper]

hi again so you can run both emulator with your hack ?

Yes; at start you will enter for few seconds in the original menu and then retroarch will automatically launch; exiting retroarch will take you back to the original menu but form the original menu you will not be able to re-enter retroarch without powering off->on the console.

 

[Regulators]

Hi Asper. Got it working again now but the images show up blank even png 214/300 using paint to convert the images. Is there something I could do better? The last step to get them running full.. thanks . mate

 

[asper]

Hi Asper. Got it working again now but the images show up blank even png 214/300 using paint to convert the images. Is there something I could do better? The last step to get them running full.. thanks . mate

Use anther graphic software for those images; they are probably saved in the wrong PNG format. I use a very old software (paint shop pro 6 - really small) and it seems to produce good images.

 

[Regulators]

Hi mate got the mod working everything works well. But now I'm still stick at adding games, after retroarch is installed I want to update to near version from 1.69 to 1.70 Is this worth it? /necessary? I still cannot seem to add any games all I see in window explorer is still the sd card.. frustrating! I'm thinking of soldering a Wi-Fi port if it's possible to get into the system and upload easier goading automatically. What do u think?

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And the console is exactly the same. Mega drive genasis is the same. Mine is the 4gb model so the files worked perfectly. Everytime I want to uninstall retro arch and reload to near version with updated cores, the cmd says device not found and waiting for device.. odd

 

[asper]

Hi mate got the mod working everything works well. But now I'm still stick at adding games, after retroarch is installed I want to update to near version from 1.69 to 1.70 Is this worth it? /necessary? I still cannot seem to add any games all I see in window explorer is still the sd card.. frustrating! I'm thinking of soldering a Wi-Fi port if it's possible to get into the system and upload easier goading automatically. What do u think?

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And the console is exactly the same. Mega drive genasis is the same. Mine is the 4gb model so the files worked perfectly. Everytime I want to uninstall retro arch and reload to near version with updated cores, the cmd says device not found and waiting for device.. odd

I feel difficult to understand what you are saying anyway I will try to answer about what I think I got from your sentences...

Updating to 1.7.0 just updates the cores, Retroarch NEVER provide games/roms; updating the cores is always a good thing (procedure for updating is written inside .txts).

In windows explore you will ALWAYS and ONLY see the "SD card" (rk3036 NAND /mnt/internal_sd/ partition) because all other console partitions can be accessed through ADB shell software only.

Soldering... where ? Without knowing where to solder it is a very "unsuggested modification"; you can try to attach an USB WiFi adapter but if you have difficulties with this simple mod I think you will find even harder to get a WiFi USB device working with the console.

It seems you are missing ADB drivers: I suggest you to CAREFULLY re-read the included .txt files.

I do not know if the files inside a Genesis Flashback console are exactly the sames (I do not own any), they should be checked/compared 1 by 1 to say that; the fact that my ROM works in your Genesis console does not mean that the data inside are identical to the ones you had when you bought it.


EDIT
If someone can provide an Atari Flashback dump I can try to add the emulator to Mega Drive/Genesis Flashback.

 

[Regulators]

Yeah. The adb drivers are installed. Which is confusing me. Reason why I'm stumped is everything went awesome and works fine, followed your whole installation to a t. I'm looking to see if it's newer cores that could cause the system in Windows not to accept and copy more games to the games folder? Ever since I did the update adb shell works fine but just does not accept writing to the nand flash..

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Maybe I'll look for updated adb drivers? In the process of your install doing the retro arch, then you copied files to the games folder? Or is there a workaround to install via adb? Sorry for being confusing I'm just stumped as looking at the winflash program you had, it had a file explore option.. How did you get the backups to mount? They all keep saying file is corrupted.. weird.. caus the programs you gave in the instructions read it fine.. lol. Damn micrisoft!!!

 

[asper]

The console has 3 possible and DIFFERENT drivers to install, each one with its own purpose.

Flashing the custom rom does not require ADB drivers (just USB-Download Mode drivers).
Seeing rk3036 NAND Flash on Windows does not require ADB drivers (just MTP-USB drivers).
If ADB shell is not working for you (you said no device found when using the unisntall script) then you are missing ADB drivers, this is the reason why no devices are found.

I still find VERY difficult to understand what you are saying so I will probably not answer you again if you are not able to EXACTLY describe what your problem is.

I extracted .img files using WinHex but I suppose there are many other software able to manage them.