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i might of found a soloution to codemasters game dumping

(if you try and auto dump a codemasters game) ie where it gets the size from the header of the rom this will useually result in 1megabit dump thus not being the correct size as found with micromachines 2 turbo tournament for the sega megadrive, how ever if you specifify the size of the rom ie 16 megabit it will dump a fully working copy of the game

i think this applys to all cart platforms on which codemaster games were released on you have to know the final size to be able to dump as you have to dump the whole rom and not rely on the header to autosize the rom

i have found this with all code master micro machine games j-cart and none j-cart

hopefully thats the soloution (bock was looking for)

Ben

Please use a dictionary.

Codemasters carts are hard to dump on the SMS because they use cartridge pins not used by regular cartridges, and not simulated in the dumper. Choosing the right dump size has nothing to do with it.

Superficial similarities between systems are rarely helpful in determining problems on one in particular. That's also why you can't run GG games on a Mega Drive or watch TV on a microwave.

Maxim wrote

Please use a dictionary.

Codemasters carts are hard to dump on the SMS because they use cartridge pins not used by regular cartridges, and not simulated in the dumper. Choosing the right dump size has nothing to do with it.

Superficial similarities between systems are rarely helpful in determining problems on one in particular. That's also why you can't run GG games on a Mega Drive or watch TV on a microwave.

fine there is no need to be so rude, because someone is dislexic, and cant spell / use correct grammer, but it was just a thought, that was all, and if the post is completely useless, then delete the thing rather than slate / flame the op

Ben

Dyslexia doesn't mean you can't see the red underlining on the words you've spelt wrong. It doesn't provide any excuse for poor grammar, lack of capitalisation, lack of punctuation, etc.

Not making the effort to check suggests you are not bothered to make your contributions easy for others to read or understand. There are plenty of people on this forum who speak English as a second, third or lesser language and they will have a really hard time understanding you.

If your web browser doesn't have a spell checker then I suggest you use Firefox which works well for me.

Don't be sad. Maxim is the bad cop of the gang. He is always rude with me too (and I cried many times because I thought he hate me - but is just his way of saying hello).

So who's the good cop? Lesser mortals might just delete/ban, at least I let the post stand.

Anyway - Ben this is not the solution, it would be rather obvious. The solution is probably not very difficult to implement but requires someone electronically skilled to redesign the SmsReader for it.

Bock wrote

Anyway - Ben this is not the solution, it would be rather obvious. The solution is probably not very difficult to implement but requires someone electronically skilled to redesign the SmsReader for it.

Well then, the redesign, would have to use flyer's (lead's) that plug and unplug to the base unit, so you can have a flyer with the pins swaped for code master games, but would need to see if there all standard ie all the code masters games and pined the sameway, or you would end up with hundreds of flyers,

well then i will take it upon my self to redesign it, and when its made, i will test with the software, and upload a video onto youtube

Ben

It's not a problem of swapped pins, it's a problem of one pin (CLOCK) that is unconnected on the SMSReader but is used as a clock input by the mapper chip in Codemasters games. Without it, the mapper does not respond to writes and therefore does not map anything. This is mainly supposition, we don't know if there are other lines it needs to behave in certain ways too.

The SMSReader is constrained by the parallel port, which only has 4 outputs in addition to the 8-bit data read-write lines. All four are currently used by the hardware (clock reset, clock increment, write enable, read enable) so it's hard to add it on. The best solution is probably to dump using the original hardware:

...but having the data be sent to a PC instead of to a RAM cartridge, because then you still need the SMSReader.

mmdump.jpg (49.37 KB)

Would it help to have a program that dumps a cart in the expansion slot to the SRAM of a ToToTek cart in 32kB (64kB?) parts?

No, I already made such program which a decent interface to various features (by the way I should release it).

The SMS games are dumped, only problems left with the GG games, which don't read properly via a my custom SMS-GG adapter.

One last workaround would be to dump in chunk of 4+ KB by hot swapping cartridges (the game and a RAM cart) into a GG. I never tried doing that, would be rather annoying but probably faisable.
I say 4 KB because it needs to fit in RAM + the copying program itself.

If you are running it on a GG anyway, is there some possibility of using the link port for transfer?

DMEnduro wrote

If you are running it on a GG anyway, is there some possibility of using the link port for transfer?

Yes that's another solution.
In SMS mode it acts as joypad 2 so we can use TL/TH line to communicate outside. In GG mode it is a little more complex to work out but could be faster.

Do the TL/TH outputs work on the GG? Has anyone ever determined the pinouts for that?

The 7-bit bidirectional mode in GG mode seems more promising, just because it has more outputs.

Author	Message
beyre Joined: 14 Jun 2008 Posts: 22	Codemaster's Games (Rom Dump) Possibull Soloution (Attn Bock) Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2008 3:36 pm
beyre Joined: 14 Jun 2008 Posts: 22	i might of found a soloution to codemasters game dumping (if you try and auto dump a codemasters game) ie where it gets the size from the header of the rom this will useually result in 1megabit dump thus not being the correct size as found with micromachines 2 turbo tournament for the sega megadrive, how ever if you specifify the size of the rom ie 16 megabit it will dump a fully working copy of the game i think this applys to all cart platforms on which codemaster games were released on you have to know the final size to be able to dump as you have to dump the whole rom and not rely on the header to autosize the rom i have found this with all code master micro machine games j-cart and none j-cart hopefully thats the soloution (bock was looking for) Ben

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14798 Location: London	Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2008 4:25 pm
	Please use a dictionary. Codemasters carts are hard to dump on the SMS because they use cartridge pins not used by regular cartridges, and not simulated in the dumper. Choosing the right dump size has nothing to do with it. Superficial similarities between systems are rarely helpful in determining problems on one in particular. That's also why you can't run GG games on a Mega Drive or watch TV on a microwave.

beyre Joined: 14 Jun 2008 Posts: 22	Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2008 8:51 pm
beyre Joined: 14 Jun 2008 Posts: 22	Maxim wrote Please use a dictionary. Codemasters carts are hard to dump on the SMS because they use cartridge pins not used by regular cartridges, and not simulated in the dumper. Choosing the right dump size has nothing to do with it. Superficial similarities between systems are rarely helpful in determining problems on one in particular. That's also why you can't run GG games on a Mega Drive or watch TV on a microwave. fine there is no need to be so rude, because someone is dislexic, and cant spell / use correct grammer, but it was just a thought, that was all, and if the post is completely useless, then delete the thing rather than slate / flame the op Ben

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14798 Location: London	Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2008 10:14 pm
	Dyslexia doesn't mean you can't see the red underlining on the words you've spelt wrong. It doesn't provide any excuse for poor grammar, lack of capitalisation, lack of punctuation, etc. Not making the effort to check suggests you are not bothered to make your contributions easy for others to read or understand. There are plenty of people on this forum who speak English as a second, third or lesser language and they will have a really hard time understanding you. If your web browser doesn't have a spell checker then I suggest you use Firefox which works well for me.

mattmess Guest	Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 11:37 pm
mattmess Guest	Don't be sad. Maxim is the bad cop of the gang. He is always rude with me too (and I cried many times because I thought he hate me - but is just his way of saying hello).

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14798 Location: London	Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2008 9:23 am
	So who's the good cop? Lesser mortals might just delete/ban, at least I let the post stand.

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8681 Location: Paris, France	Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2008 1:17 pm
	Anyway - Ben this is not the solution, it would be rather obvious. The solution is probably not very difficult to implement but requires someone electronically skilled to redesign the SmsReader for it.

beyre Joined: 14 Jun 2008 Posts: 22	Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 10:36 am
beyre Joined: 14 Jun 2008 Posts: 22	Bock wrote Anyway - Ben this is not the solution, it would be rather obvious. The solution is probably not very difficult to implement but requires someone electronically skilled to redesign the SmsReader for it. Well then, the redesign, would have to use flyer's (lead's) that plug and unplug to the base unit, so you can have a flyer with the pins swaped for code master games, but would need to see if there all standard ie all the code masters games and pined the sameway, or you would end up with hundreds of flyers, well then i will take it upon my self to redesign it, and when its made, i will test with the software, and upload a video onto youtube Ben

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14798 Location: London	Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 11:35 am Last edited by Maxim on Thu Mar 28, 2019 6:33 pm; edited 1 time in total
	It's not a problem of swapped pins, it's a problem of one pin (CLOCK) that is unconnected on the SMSReader but is used as a clock input by the mapper chip in Codemasters games. Without it, the mapper does not respond to writes and therefore does not map anything. This is mainly supposition, we don't know if there are other lines it needs to behave in certain ways too. The SMSReader is constrained by the parallel port, which only has 4 outputs in addition to the 8-bit data read-write lines. All four are currently used by the hardware (clock reset, clock increment, write enable, read enable) so it's hard to add it on. The best solution is probably to dump using the original hardware: ...but having the data be sent to a PC instead of to a RAM cartridge, because then you still need the SMSReader. mmdump.jpg (49.37 KB)

FluBBa Joined: 21 Jul 2005 Posts: 412 Location: GBG	Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 12:12 pm
FluBBa Joined: 21 Jul 2005 Posts: 412 Location: GBG	Would it help to have a program that dumps a cart in the expansion slot to the SRAM of a ToToTek cart in 32kB (64kB?) parts?

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8681 Location: Paris, France	Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 12:30 pm
	No, I already made such program which a decent interface to various features (by the way I should release it). The SMS games are dumped, only problems left with the GG games, which don't read properly via a my custom SMS-GG adapter. One last workaround would be to dump in chunk of 4+ KB by hot swapping cartridges (the game and a RAM cart) into a GG. I never tried doing that, would be rather annoying but probably faisable. I say 4 KB because it needs to fit in RAM + the copying program itself.

DMEnduro Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 420 Location: Australia	Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 12:43 pm
	If you are running it on a GG anyway, is there some possibility of using the link port for transfer?

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8681 Location: Paris, France	Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 10:57 am
	DMEnduro wrote If you are running it on a GG anyway, is there some possibility of using the link port for transfer? Yes that's another solution. In SMS mode it acts as joypad 2 so we can use TL/TH line to communicate outside. In GG mode it is a little more complex to work out but could be faster.

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14798 Location: London	Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 11:50 am
	Do the TL/TH outputs work on the GG? Has anyone ever determined the pinouts for that? The 7-bit bidirectional mode in GG mode seems more promising, just because it has more outputs.

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