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Hi all,
I want to make my own Mega Drive cartridges, I did some research in this forum and a few others and all I gathered is that I have to buy equipment and do the right thing.
I would like to make multiple games cartridges (50 in 1/100 in 1).
Also if possible I would like to have Master System games in the games mix too.
What equipment would I have to buy and where from?
Where do I get circuit boards and cartridge shells from?
How do I create a menu for the games?
Many thanks in advance.

It's not trivial, the questions you ask suggest you have no experience with hardware or software so you're going to have a hard time.

You're going to need to design circuit boards, make some CPLD logic for multi-cart switching and paging, maybe a uC to handle loading data from NAND to NOR to allow the large capacity you seem to want, 3D printing and/or a big budget to injection mould carts, some experience dealing with the manufacturing companies to get what you need in a functional state, hardware debugging, software debugging, testing against a wide range of hardware...

I was going to provide some helpful shop links inside this post, but reading inside Maxim's post makes me question myself.

Are you intending to make reproduction cartridges of existing games, or are you intending to produce new homebrew software?

Maxim wrote

It's not trivial, the questions you ask suggest you have no experience with hardware or software so you're going to have a hard time.

You're going to need to design circuit boards, make some CPLD logic for multi-cart switching and paging, maybe a uC to handle loading data from NAND to NOR to allow the large capacity you seem to want, 3D printing and/or a big budget to injection mould carts, some experience dealing with the manufacturing companies to get what you need in a functional state, hardware debugging, software debugging, testing against a wide range of hardware...

That's right it can be quite complicated. What I want is to buy the ready staff. I've found a few sources for cartridge shells, PCB (however these are not too good for multi carts as not enough memory space), and programmers.
Main thing is to find a large enough PCB (50mb plus) and being able to put games together with a selecting menu.

Flygon wrote

I was going to provide some helpful shop links inside this post, but reading inside Maxim's post makes me question myself.

Are you intending to make reproduction cartridges of existing games, or are you intending to produce new homebrew software?

Exisisting games, just like that 112 in 1 for mega drive that's going around.
If succesful, I'd like to then put some master system games in a mega drive cartridge if possible (different project)

You're going to have a difficult time getting support if mass-piracy is your goal.

Not only that, many Chinese sellers have already came up with the same idea you have, selling cheap - and dodgy - Everdrive clones pre-loaded with every Mega Drive game onto their SD cards.

I advise giving up on the endeavor if it involves piracy. Apart from the obvious legal and moral issues, the Chinese are already doing your idea, and probably for cheaper than you could.
You might find more support selling purely homebrew software in a legal manner.

Flygon wrote

You're going to have a difficult time getting support if mass-piracy is your goal.

Not only that, many Chinese sellers have already came up with the same idea you have, selling cheap - and dodgy - Everdrive clones pre-loaded with every Mega Drive game onto their SD cards.

I advise giving up on the endeavor if it involves piracy. Apart from the obvious legal and moral issues, the Chinese are already doing your idea, and probably for cheaper than you could.
You might find more support selling purely homebrew software in a legal manner.

Where in my posts have you read the words (mass)piracy, competition against the Chinese, or pre-loaded Everdrive?
You sound like YOU don't want any new competition on the market... I really hope you are not a bulk-pirate yourself.
However, the idea is making cartridges for myself, the clones I bought, even the bespoke 100+ to 1 costs £4.50 from Bigkid at aliexpress and they sold all they could have sell, no one would buy something made in UK for £15 minium.
Anyway moving back to reality, I have found that PCBs should be 5v so console doesn't heat up. Does anyone know if that Is a general rule for every Sega console?

Author	Message
dslr Joined: 16 Jul 2018 Posts: 4 Location: UK	Making a Mega Drive cartridge from scratch. Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2018 7:55 am
dslr Joined: 16 Jul 2018 Posts: 4 Location: UK	Hi all, I want to make my own Mega Drive cartridges, I did some research in this forum and a few others and all I gathered is that I have to buy equipment and do the right thing. I would like to make multiple games cartridges (50 in 1/100 in 1). Also if possible I would like to have Master System games in the games mix too. What equipment would I have to buy and where from? Where do I get circuit boards and cartridge shells from? How do I create a menu for the games? Many thanks in advance.

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14745 Location: London	Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2018 8:36 am
	It's not trivial, the questions you ask suggest you have no experience with hardware or software so you're going to have a hard time. You're going to need to design circuit boards, make some CPLD logic for multi-cart switching and paging, maybe a uC to handle loading data from NAND to NOR to allow the large capacity you seem to want, 3D printing and/or a big budget to injection mould carts, some experience dealing with the manufacturing companies to get what you need in a functional state, hardware debugging, software debugging, testing against a wide range of hardware...

Flygon Joined: 30 Jun 2016 Posts: 196 Location: Melbourne, Australia	Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2018 9:28 am
	I was going to provide some helpful shop links inside this post, but reading inside Maxim's post makes me question myself. Are you intending to make reproduction cartridges of existing games, or are you intending to produce new homebrew software?

dslr Joined: 16 Jul 2018 Posts: 4 Location: UK	Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2018 8:50 am
dslr Joined: 16 Jul 2018 Posts: 4 Location: UK	Maxim wrote It's not trivial, the questions you ask suggest you have no experience with hardware or software so you're going to have a hard time. You're going to need to design circuit boards, make some CPLD logic for multi-cart switching and paging, maybe a uC to handle loading data from NAND to NOR to allow the large capacity you seem to want, 3D printing and/or a big budget to injection mould carts, some experience dealing with the manufacturing companies to get what you need in a functional state, hardware debugging, software debugging, testing against a wide range of hardware... That's right it can be quite complicated. What I want is to buy the ready staff. I've found a few sources for cartridge shells, PCB (however these are not too good for multi carts as not enough memory space), and programmers. Main thing is to find a large enough PCB (50mb plus) and being able to put games together with a selecting menu.

dslr Joined: 16 Jul 2018 Posts: 4 Location: UK	Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2018 8:52 am
dslr Joined: 16 Jul 2018 Posts: 4 Location: UK	Flygon wrote I was going to provide some helpful shop links inside this post, but reading inside Maxim's post makes me question myself. Are you intending to make reproduction cartridges of existing games, or are you intending to produce new homebrew software? Exisisting games, just like that 112 in 1 for mega drive that's going around. If succesful, I'd like to then put some master system games in a mega drive cartridge if possible (different project)

Flygon Joined: 30 Jun 2016 Posts: 196 Location: Melbourne, Australia	Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2018 10:27 am
	You're going to have a difficult time getting support if mass-piracy is your goal. Not only that, many Chinese sellers have already came up with the same idea you have, selling cheap - and dodgy - Everdrive clones pre-loaded with every Mega Drive game onto their SD cards. I advise giving up on the endeavor if it involves piracy. Apart from the obvious legal and moral issues, the Chinese are already doing your idea, and probably for cheaper than you could. You might find more support selling purely homebrew software in a legal manner.

dslr Joined: 16 Jul 2018 Posts: 4 Location: UK	Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2018 9:42 pm
dslr Joined: 16 Jul 2018 Posts: 4 Location: UK	Flygon wrote You're going to have a difficult time getting support if mass-piracy is your goal. Not only that, many Chinese sellers have already came up with the same idea you have, selling cheap - and dodgy - Everdrive clones pre-loaded with every Mega Drive game onto their SD cards. I advise giving up on the endeavor if it involves piracy. Apart from the obvious legal and moral issues, the Chinese are already doing your idea, and probably for cheaper than you could. You might find more support selling purely homebrew software in a legal manner. Where in my posts have you read the words (mass)piracy, competition against the Chinese, or pre-loaded Everdrive? You sound like YOU don't want any new competition on the market... I really hope you are not a bulk-pirate yourself. However, the idea is making cartridges for myself, the clones I bought, even the bespoke 100+ to 1 costs £4.50 from Bigkid at aliexpress and they sold all they could have sell, no one would buy something made in UK for £15 minium. Anyway moving back to reality, I have found that PCBs should be 5v so console doesn't heat up. Does anyone know if that Is a general rule for every Sega console?

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