Images

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Memory Base 128 + Private Eye Doll = massive TenNoKoe Bank]

Does this one operate the same way?

It appears to be slightly cheaper than this one.

If they both operate in the same manner, I may go ahead and get it.

I believe that internally they're identical.

I've noticed that the MemoryBase 128 has a pretty massive capacitor inside it, which is not unlike the Duo save capacitor. I wonder if it would allow you to change the batteries (quickly) even if it's not connected to a Duo... Anyone brave enough to try? I don't want to risk losing my current saves!

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Memory Base 128 + Private Eye Doll = massive TenNoKoe Bank]

I picked up a copy of Private Eye Doll recently, and noticed that it has a pretty cool "Backup Utility" built in. Part of the fuctionality is the ability to copy the complete PCE save memory into one of 63 banks in the Memory Base 128. Essentially it lets you use the thing like a giant TenNoKoe Bank, which is pretty damn awesome!

I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere, so I thought I'd pass on the info. For those that already own a Memory Base, it might give you a reason to pick up a copy of Private Eye Doll. The game itself isn't bad either, but won't appear to everyone. It's essentially a combat free RPG.


The Backup Utility option at the main menu:


ALL COPY:


Choose your source and destination:



Thats all there is to it. Besides the Copy All function, it also has one of the nicer memory management utilities. It's one of the few games that actually shows you how much space your saves are using. Notice that damn Shin Megami Tensei save that would take up the entire 2k save memory on a PCE!  At the bottom is BANK01, which is a copy I did.

[Off-Topic / The “What-Did-You-Buy-Today?” Thread]

I've been busy, so I haven't posted here in a while. Anyhow, just picked up some stuff. I got the Shin Megami Tensei a while ago, and upon playing it recently I saw that it takes up nearly all of the save memory. So, finally decided to buy a MemoryBase 128. I already had a bunch of games that supported it, so why not ? It serves its purpose well, and definitely saves you from lots of TenNoKoe bank swapping!

I also picked up Private Eye Doll the other day too, and noticed that it has one amazing feature - it lets you use your MemoryBase 128 as a MASSIVE TenNoKoe Bank. That's freakin cool! I'll start a thread about it.

[Off-Topic / Re: Show us your desktop!]

My work machine. Linux box running Gnome Shell 3.2.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Where can I tap a sync signal for s-video?]

SignOfZeta, I've always heard that the JRok kits don't work for whatever reason, and the guy who makes them doesn't know why. Never tried one myself, though. I have no idea about the Neobitz.

lastcallhall, seriously, stop jumping around all kinds of hoops and just go with the LM1881. It's pretty much the standard way to do this, and it works. Everyone uses it for everything. Here is a picture of a circuit from the gamesx page:

Original link:

https://www.gamesx.com/misctech/lm1881.htm


It's incredibly easy, and you only need like 50 cents worth of components. You are ONLY going to use pins 1, 2, 4, 6 & 8.


Composite out is pin 1, which is what you're after. This goes into your CXA1645.

Composite Video goes into pin 2, NOT composite sync from the HU6260. The easiest place to get composite video is off the back of the original AV out plug. Just solder a wire to the right place on the inside of your Duo. You need to put an 0.1uf capacitor in-line, which looks like this:   and will say "104" on it.

Pin 4 goes to ground. Make sure the LM1881 and your CXA1645 circuit share the same ground. The grounds for everything should end up connected to the ground on your Duo's motherboard.

Pin 6 is the "set" pin. Not reset. You need another 0.1uf capacitor, the same one as above. You also need a 680kohm resistor. Make sure the value is correct. You hook both of these parts to pin 6, then the other side of them goes to ground. The same ground as everything else.

Pin 7 is 5v input. You can use any value up to 12v, but it's easy enough to get 5v off of the Duo motherboard, and I personally use 5v.


Good luck, and if this still doesn't work please post pictures of what you have currently made.

[Off-Topic / The “What-Did-You-Buy-Today?” Thread]

Hudson bee!
It feels a little funny to hold, but it's good quality. The rubber contact pads on the inside are OEM Nintendo, just like the stock pad.

[General Gaming / Re: RGB mod an NES2?]

Well, as we all know LCD TVs have incredibly shitty upscalers built in. In addition to the awful video quality, you'll get varying degrees of lag as well. It really depends on the TV.

Micomsoft (The XRGB guys) were using a cool video at their booth when they were showing off the new XRGB Mini. The ring-timer-thing lets you see exactly how far behind each interface is. It would be cool to get ahold of a DVD or something with this on it, and do a side by side comparison with CRT and LCD.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Where can I tap a sync signal for s-video?]

The connection diagram on page 2 is all you need. I used this chip for my Svideo boards I was making a few years ago. Also, you didn't mention anything about the 3.579 MHz frequency input the CXA1645 needs. I guess you picked up an oscillator? If you don't have that hooked up the circuit won't work. They are available in half size dip packages, like this:

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: What's your gaming "set up?"]

Picture spam time

RGB modded PCE Super CD-Rom on the left, Super Famicom on the right. Feeding into the glorious new XRGB-mini.
This is sharing my PC monitor at the moment. The 360 pad is for PC games (I don't own a 360). One of these days
I want to get a nice 27" monitor.
  edit:
For audio, my game systems go into the XRGB, get sent along the HDMI cable to the monitor, then use the
monitor's audio out jack to feed into the Topping TP30 amp. There are a bit too many A-D conversions going on
there than i'd like, but it sounds fine so I'm in no rush to change it.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Can anyone improve the rgb output on my duo?]

Hey Blue, would you mind sharing the resistor and capacitor values for that NJM2267 circuit? The original amp design is from here:  http://baku.homeunix.net/RGB/PCE_DuoRX/PCE_DuoRX.html  but it's not so clear to me exactly what values he's using. Plus he's using a transister based pre-amp/buffer, which some folks are leaving out. I already built one of the simplified versions of these amps, but the output was a bit weak. It sucks because all my equipment is still back in the US, so I can't really test the signals.

Here's the one I built:



I ended up replacing it with a simple transistor based amp for now. I just got one of those new XRGB-minis (the XRGB-3 replacement), which luckily likes the transistor amp just fine, but i'd like to finish the NJM amp eventually.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: PCEGT replace with 3.5inch TFT LCD]

If you go with the CXA-1645 encoder, they are known to produce a nice stable RGB signal. That way you can get both S-Video and RGB out, if you're using it on a console. I don't really know if those chips are still available though.

Just for fun, here is a picture of the S-Video boards I made when I was modding systems a few years ago (minus the IC and a few caps). I actually used the CXA2075 (see this page for info: http://www.videoi.com/~pietro/cxa2075/ ), so there were a few less external components on my board. Anyways, anyone who has a system I modded should be able to easily get RGB by adding the three caps and three resistors on the top left.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Hori Fighting Commander PC with a Sanwa JLF stick]

I picked up a Hori Fighting Commander PC the other day. It has a nice microswitch joystick, but the gate is square and unchangeable. I personally dislike square gates on anything but fighters, so I put a Sanwa JLF and an octagonal gate in it. This is a pretty simple mod, but I figured I'd post it up in case anyone wanted to see the inside of this stick.

On the left is a new Sanwa JLF stick. Mine didn't come with a mounting plate, so I re-used the one that was in the Fighting Commander. The mounting holes didn't line up, so I drilled and countersunk those four holes in the center. I'm pretty sure the mounting plate that comes on the JLF sticks would just bolt in, no drilling necessary.




Modified plate mounted to the stick, ready to go in.




Here's everything bolted in. The JLF is a pretty tall stick, but there is plenty of space.
I trimmed the wires a bit, and snipped off the extra ground wires. I just soldered the wires right to the stick. Easy enough to unsolder if need be.




You can spy a tin full of Sanwa buttons in the corner there. I decided to leave the stock buttons in for now, since they're nice quality and match the turbo switches. The ball is a Seimitsu bubble top, and it almost matches the original buttons.

[Off-Topic / The “What-Did-You-Buy-Today?” Thread]

I came across one of the ASCII sticks the other day for ￥200 (about $2.50!). It's basically the equivalent of the NES Advantage, which was also an ASCII stick. It's an OK joystick, but I think I'll mod it with a Sanwa stick.

It works OK, but even joysticks aren't safe from the dreaded "bad capacitor plague"! It acts super funky when it's cold. The turbo fire takes a second to start... turboing when you press the button. And weirdest of all, the UP direction doesn't work unless you press the II button first! If you hold the II button in for a second, UP will work for about 5 seconds. After it warms up for a few minutes everything works perfectly, which tells me that the caps are dry.

[Off-Topic / The “What-Did-You-Buy-Today?” Thread]

The other day I picked up another copy of Alien Crash, and a CD-ROM2. I asked the lady if it was for sale, and she ended up giving it to me for free. The disk didn't spin, so I figured it was junk. It turns out the the center "demon" gear was still 100% intact, just frozen.  I ended up freeing up the gears with cooking oil, and lubricated everything with margarine. I bullshit you not. I didn't expect the thing to work anyway, but it purred like a kitten. Of course i'll clean it up and lubricate it with something less edible in the future.


It was probably only 50% new (60% tops) when I got it, but this thing is at LEAST 85% new now.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: What system looks the best??]

Well, i've never been a fan of fake bolt heads, or torx heads, etc. that some electronics has. It ruins the SGX for me.

I do like the Super CD-ROM though, it reminds me of some the Geiger Aliens, with the little mouth coming out of the bigger mouth. 

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: What system looks the best??]

Egads that's ugly!   I stick to my original statement, all white is the way to go:

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: Galaxy Policewoman Legend Sapphire Booties - All Gone!]

I finally picked up an original white PCE pad to go with my briefcase setup, and threw Sapphire in. (Thanks Blue!)

It's amazing that the oldest hardware they made could play such a graphically impressive game.

I call it, old meets older 

[Off-Topic / The “What-Did-You-Buy-Today?” Thread]

Good to see your back grahf. My US Duo you modded is still going strong. I did have to replace the lens once after all those CD-Rs I fooled with back then. I have quit messing with those for a while now.

I'm glad to hear it's still working. I just came back. The lure of the PCE was too strong to resist

Well I went ahead and bought Linda3. I found it for a little cheaper than it usually goes for, so I decided to grab it. Also, I saw that the Saturn version is just as pricey. It's easy to justify buying a game when you know it can't be had elsewhere for cheaper. I also picked up the first Xanadu, Nadia - Secret of Blue Water, and Gotzendiener. That one sucks, but I'm kinda like it for some reason.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / PCFX controller hacked to work on PCE.]

I saw a fairly new (but yellowed) PCFX pad a few weeks ago for 900 yen (~$10),  and wanted to see what it looked like inside. I've heard rumors that it's the same as a Duo-RX pad minus the turbo switches. Well, it turns out the two pads are nothing alike internally. The PCFX pad uses a single custom IC for controller data, whereas the PCE 6 button pads use a few off-the-shelf ICs. I didn't want to waste it since it was still fresh, so I hacked it 

It's a plain controller, no turbo. The I and VI buttons act as button I. The II and V buttons act as button II. The III button duplicates Select, and IV button duplicates Run. It's sorta like an Avenue 3, except you just choose which row of buttons will suit your game. The bottom row works good with Dracula X (Select = Item Crash). The top row works good with Bloody Wolf (Run = grenade). 

Top row        Run-II-I
Bottom row  Select-II-I





Here is the finished item. You can see the horrible looking piss stain on the top. I think I'll try bleaching it or something 





I used the original location for the cable socket, as well as the cable socket from the donor controller. If I ever need to change the cable in the future, it can be unplugged like normal.




I drilled 16 little holes and fit the IC in the neatest place I could find. (I added a tiny wire post-picture)

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: RGB to HDMI?]

I'm living in Tokyo, which would definitely qualify me as having "major space issues" Plus it's just fun to mess around with this stuff. Sure it'll never be as good as a nice CRT, but It gets the job done.
Some of the boxes on ebay are surely janky, but they aren't as bad as those VGA boxes. I opened mine up and, surprisingly, the construction was quality. I was pretty surprised with my results after what you posted, Black Tiger. My conversion box outputs in either 720p or 1080p, but I couldn't tell any difference between them.

First picture is composite -> HDMI convertor -> Computer LCD panel. 
Second picture is RGB -> HDMI convertor -> Computer LCD panel.

Composite:


RGB (ignore the interference, I didn't have all the grounds hooked up yet)


Just using composite It looks a damn sight better than on my girlfriends plasma TV. The RGB signal is working for me, but it's having problems. I built in the 3-transistor amp into my SCART shell, but the picture looks a bit too bright. I'll try it without the transistors, or perhaps with some 75ohm resistors in-line. Also the picture is really shaky, probably because the composite-sync line does need a transistor. I'll do some tweaking when I have time. I'm probably going to have to just use composite for now, because I forgot something. The CD audio gets mixed inside the interface unit, so my clean mini-din 8 mod is worthless for audio I'll probably just end up tapping RGB/Audio from within the interface unit and putting a plug on that somewhere. I kinda didn't want to mod it though.

Some other thoughts:
Mmmonkey's web site (and a lot of other ones) recommend putting 5v into SCART pin 8, so that's what I did. My  picture ended up at 16:9 like yours, Black Tiger. I checked the SCART specs, and pin 8 is supposed to be:
0v+  for TV select
5v+  for 16:9
12v+ for 4:3
Try disconnecting pin 8 and it may default to 4:3.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / RGB to HDMI?]

Unfortunately the only TV I have access to over here is a plasma, with a terrible comb filter. It also has some weird noise reduction (I think) that makes the pixels flutter behind moving sprites. Uggg... I figured there was no point in s-video modding my new setup because my Super Famicom looks just as shitty with s-video. I figured i'd give one of those SCART to HDMI converters a try, and see how it looks hooked up to my PC monitor. I've seen some screenshots from the Megadrive forums, and they aren't too bad.
It's GOT to look better than the plasma, in any case. 

I went with a quick mini-din-8 mod (the one on mmmonkey's site). I also threw together an SCART cable with the 3-transistor amp inside the shell.
This is the converter I went with:
http://www.hdcable.co.uk/scart-hdmi-converter.html

[Off-Topic / The “What-Did-You-Buy-Today?” Thread]

Well, I said I was back. Here's the proof. 
I only planned to pick up a controller. I don't know how I managed to bring all this home.




I also got one of these, but forgot to take a pic:

[Off-Topic / Re: I'm back after a few year hiatus]

Hey I remember you guys! Feels good to be back. 
Actually, I'm still in Japan. I'll probably remain here for a long while. I've only had a poor students life here so far, so i'd like to stay for a while after I graduate.

Check it out in all it's glory.




And, after a little scrubbing. It's actually not as white as in these pics. It's kind of a nice cream color, not like some that look like they've been peed on. It doesn't match the hucards though, so I gotta whiten it. Either that, or buy only yellowed hucards 
What's that RetroBath stuff you're talking about, rag-time4?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / IC based region mod. TurboExpress sized]

After getting inspiration from Moosmanns (on gamesx) website: http://mbrandel.vizionaires.net/?page_id=48
I decided to design my own region circuit with surface mount chips. The main goal was to make it as small as possible, and I'm happy with the results. I didn't want to use those ridiculously long 8pdt switches because moving parts eventually wear, and they're too long to fit in a TurboExpress or regular PC Engine. (Its doable, but its TIGHT).

I broke my camera, so forgive the shitty pic. The traces are shiny, so the scanner I used made the board look like garbage.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Reputable places/people installing S-Video,etc on Duo's?]

Ok, the ICs came in today so I assembled a circuit. Works beautifully. These CXA2075s are maybe even a tiny bit crisper than my cxa1645 based circuit in my personal duo. Overall i'm very pleased with the results, and I think the video quality improvement will speak for itself. I would have posted more pictures but I dropped my camera right on the lens boom, ruining it . 

BTW sorry for the big pictures, but it helps to see the difference.




The difference is really apparent when you look at the kanji. Composite is nearly unreadable, but  svideo is nice and crisp.
Colors are also much more vibrant, but don't bleed like the composite. I really wish I had the means to make videos, because thats where you notice the real improvement. Dot crawl is gone. No blurry mess of pixels when scrolling.




The real question everyone wants to know is pricing. I can do these mods for $85 including return shipping w/ insurance. Thats $10 cheaper than what D-lite was charging, and I feel your getting a better product. Between sourcing parts, ICs, shipping, and having these PCBs made i'm really not making much. You're mainly paying for my labor. I think this is fair, and I hope you guys feel the same.
-Ben

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Reputable places/people installing S-Video,etc on Duo's?]

Well I received most of my parts in the mail and started construction of my first board. The only thing i'm waiting for is the CXA2075s. Hopefully it wont take more than a few more days for them to arrive, but there is always the chance that customs will do their magic  

Here is a pic of a partially assembled board. Please note that my hand isnt that pink in real life

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Reputable places/people installing S-Video,etc on Duo's?]

The screws go about 1.5cm into the jack, so its 100% sturdy. Also, you cant see from the picture but the plug part protrudes out a few mm, so it sits into the hole I made in the case. The jack is made by Calrad, and can be bought from www.minute-man.com among other places. I was going to add two rca audio jacks so I didnt have to waste the original a/v cable just for audio. Instead, I just used a din-5 solder plug and made up an audio-only cable.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Reputable places/people installing S-Video,etc on Duo's?]

grahf,
Any pictures of your finished system? I'm curious to know what the exterior looks like, where you placed the jacks and such. I've seend pics fo the interior, that's about it.

If D-Lite doesn't get back to me in a week or two, and you're feeling up to it, I may work out somethign with you on the condition that if you melt my Duo-R you provide a replacement, hahaha.

If anyone else is in touch with D-Lite, please let him know I've been waiting a while and I've been really looking forward to an S-Video mod, however I can't wait anotehr year, hah!

I found these really cool flush mount svideo jacks when I was doing mine. They are a little more pricey than the regular nut-mount jacks that you find, but its way cleaner. Plus you never have to worry about the nut coming off the back of your svideo jack.  Another option (I probably should have done mine this way), is to remove the original din-5 plug and install a din-8. With the right din-8 you will have backwards compatability with the original A/V plug, plus you can solder up a din-8 cable that has audio and svideo in one cord, instead of two.

[General Gaming / Re: Nintendo's best console]

What the? The Game Boy Player doesn't have an eject mechanism. It's phuggin' impossible to get the carts out of that thing, I have to lift the whole GC up in order to reach for that "handle" thing on the underside of the cartridge.

You'd be surprised how many people have no clue about the eject. I didnt even know myself until reading it online. Careful though, its capable of firing a gamepak halfway across the room if you dont respect its power

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: complete DUO S-Video mod]

Kspiff, first of all welcome to the forum! Secondly, good job on the schematic. You saved me the trouble of finishing mine. As far as I can tell, everything is 100% correct. You did fine on the LM1881 also, the CXA1645 likes the composite sync input fine. The actual construction of this encoder isnt really hard, but its difficult to understand what goes where if your not familiar with electronics schematics and terminology. Plus, soldering to the SMD cxa1645s is a bitch. You really only need a few things:

cxa1645
Assorted ceramic caps.
Assorted electrolytic caps.
Assorted resistors.
The 3.579~ oscillator (makes the output of the chip NTSC).
LM1881 sync seperator (because the cxa1645 doesnt like the sync output from the HU6260 chip, so we strip a clean signal off of the composite video).

I made up a little elementary level chart for those who are unsure what the symbols on the schematic mean:

[Off-Topic / Re: Let's see some mugs]

Grahf, in the picture of you with the baby elephant, there is a TERRORIST in the background.  I hope you killed him (before asking any questions of course).

You'd have to be CRAZY to be a terrorist in that country. They do not fuck around AT ALL. Everyone sincerely loves the king. If you drop money, dont stop it with your foot because you'd be stepping on the kings face. I had a girl tell me that if I made fun of the king she'd kill me .

And this guy on the left, thats the motherfucker that shoots you in your tracks if you try running into the palace (seriously). Those guys are just like the guards in brittian, not allowed to smile.

[Off-Topic / Re: Let's see some mugs]

I was on vacation in Thailand. It was at "The Million Years Stone Park & Pattaya Crocodile Farm". Pretty badass place to visit, compared to zoos in the US. There was a river running alongside the park, that was just filled with wild crocodiles. We went out on this deck, and about 15 feet below were crocs the size of cows. The best part, is they would sell you chicken carcass' and let you feed them with a long pole and rope. Ive got videos of that, but dont know where to host them.

here's a picture of me after a night out drinking:

[Off-Topic / Re: Let's see some mugs]

You should have seen the performer, he was sticking his head in the crocs mouth. Here's me giving a baby elephant a "milk bong"

[Off-Topic / Re: Let's see some mugs]

Wow, I missed this thread by about 10 years Well I guess I wasnt even a member when it was started..
But anyhow, here's a picture of me sitting on a crocodile:

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: complete DUO S-Video mod]

I finally finished my CXA1645 based chroma encoder. I managed to squeeze the entire thing into a 4.5cm square project board. Video quality is EXCELLENT compared to the original composite video.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: DVD of PCE ROMs on eBay]

Out of curiosity, does anyone know what game that is in the bottom right picture?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: BIG NEWS: Turbo Express SOUND FIX!!!!]

Well, I replaced all four caps in the audio amp circuit. The result is perfect sound. This thing is LOUD, way louder than my DS or GBA. I cant believe this is how its supposed to sound, after listing to it in wisper-mode all this time

I was mistaken, I got the caps from Jameco. I can provide part numbers if anyone is interested. The hardest part of this job is removing the shields. A bit of desoldering braid is needed, and a fine tip soldering iron is a MUST. The picture below is of my parts/project GT, and has the handsfree jack removed as well. You dont need to remove it (I didnt on the one I did today), but it would give you more room. I'm going to go back in later and replace the rest of the caps for good measure.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / WOW - Cosmic Fantasy 2]

I think ive had an epiphany. All this time, ive been enjoying games on many different systems. It turns out it was all a bit fat lie. From this point on, i will like one, and ONLY one system. Everything else will be junk. SNES? too many graphic effects. Xbox? PS1&2? The disks are too big. Gamecube? The disks read backwards, and that defies the theory of relativity. Genesis? it had crappy controller ports. And all the rest. Junk.

There can be only one!
Phillips CD-i.



(ps, im being sarcastic. Cant we all just get along?   )

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Anyone know of a good (small) case for hucards?]

...I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same as the Japanese Hudson wallet, but uglier.

I find that incredible funny for some reason. You know what they say, its funny because its true.

Like Pixlejunkie suggested, ive been using a hard PCMCIA case like this one:



It works great, except it only holds 2 cards. If i could find something that held 3 or 4, i'd be happy. Maybe I can just glue 2 pcmcia cases together

[Buy/Sell/Trade / WTB: Duo-rx white 6 button control pad]

I havnt been able to find one on ebay. Do you have an item number? The one i want is pictured here: