PowerPak & iNES 2.0

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PowerPak & iNES 2.0
by neilbaldwin on 2010-07-15 (#64250)
http://nesdev.com/bbs/viewtopi ... c&start=30

Hoping to attract some attention from relevant people who might not have been following the thread.

I've been trying to get a SXROM + 32Kb NVRAM ROM working with emulators and eventually (as you'll see) a solution was found to get it working in Nestopia. The only current emulator to support this, it seems.

However, using the same ROM image in my PowerPak, you seem only able to write to the first 8Kb of the .sav file, despite PowerPak seeming to support 32Kb .sav files (a blank 32Kb one comes supplied along with an 8Kb).
Re: PowerPak & iNES 2.0
by tepples on 2010-07-15 (#64263)
neilbaldwin wrote:
despite PowerPak seeming to support 32Kb .sav files (a blank 32Kb one comes supplied along with an 8Kb).

The PowerPak firmware bundle comes with firmware for both NES and Super NES compatible products. Even if the SNES PowerPak supports 32 KiB save, the NES one might not.

by tokumaru on 2010-07-15 (#64269)
Why does the NES PowerPak have a 32KB RAM chip then (its official page says so)? Could it be that it is just cheaper/easier to obtain? Are the higher address lines even controllable?

by tepples on 2010-07-15 (#64273)
tokumaru wrote:
Why does the NES PowerPak have a 32KB RAM chip then (its official page says so)? Could it be that it is just cheaper/easier to obtain?

Yes. A 62256 with two address lines tied down is cheaper than a 6264 nowadays.

Quote:
Are the higher address lines even controllable?

If SOROM can be emulated, then yes. SOROM has 8 KiB battery backed and another 8 KiB not.

by tokumaru on 2010-07-15 (#64275)
I'd think that even if the reason bunnyboy used 32KB chips was availability/price, and even if he wasn't aware of commercial games using more than 8KB of extra RAM, he wasn't going to prevent usage of the whole chip. So yeah, I think that even if the PowerPak doesn't support larger saves yet, it should be able to with a proper mapper update.

by thefox on 2010-07-15 (#64277)
Supporting 32K SRAM is definitely possible in the PowerPak with a mapper update if not supported already. The SRAM saving code actually already can save 32K (I disassembled it) but I'm not sure if the MMC1 mapper bankswitches the SRAM correctly.

by neilbaldwin on 2010-07-19 (#64496)
Does anyone know how to make bunnyboy appear? Say his name three times?

:)

by NESHomebrew on 2010-07-19 (#64497)
neilbaldwin wrote:
Does anyone know how to make bunnyboy appear? Say his name three times?

:)
He usually answers emails if they have to do with one of his products. The email I believe is in the FAQ section on his site.

by neilbaldwin on 2010-07-26 (#64907)
Hmmmm. Does anyone know if bunnyboy is around or away? I sent him an email and it's been a week with no reply :(

by Gil-Galad on 2010-07-26 (#64916)
neilbaldwin wrote:
Hmmmm. Does anyone know if bunnyboy is around or away? I sent him an email and it's been a week with no reply :(


You might have an easier time contacting on him IRC, on EFnet #nesdev. He's there quite often.