Messages

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Jackal nes2pce]

We played this enough yesterday to make it to what I assume is the the final boss, on the last level. Its second form has misaligned sprites and so much flickering with the graphics that it's impossible to beat at the moment!

That being said, wow, this game is pretty darn good for what it is, 1988 and all. So many novel ideas - they really mixed it up with the weapons system, you basically use special weapons for normal enemies and the basic gun for bosses. That is really strange and cool. Thanks so much for making the port!

[Feedback / Re: Forum Closed to Non-Registered Viewers :(]

As Clash said, there's no motivation to sign up. I've NEVER joined a forum without lurking for two weeks to two years first. A lot of noobs suck, but we have to give people a chance. Sometimes this place gets like an old coot's drinking club. Close the sale threads to non-registered users, but keep the main forums and repair section open.

Oh wow, that's a great idea to be honest! I think what would really entice folks to register would be access to the repair/mod forums. I just feel a little bad that folks aren't able to read those given that it's really hard to get your account validated these days

Oh and esteban, that's a big relief! Pooh.

[Feedback / Forum Closed to Non-Registered Viewers :(]

Only registered members are allowed to access this section.
Please login below or register an account with pcengine-fx.com.

I'm not sure if this is by design, as I haven't been reading the forums in a while, but golly, it sure would increase the userbase a whole load if non-registered members were allowed to view threads

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Low cost Flash Hucard]

Will definitely take part in the batch if you get this done!

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Neo Flash Cart for Dummies - Help!]

1. What's with these dinky little CDs? My everyday 2GHz Mac has a slot-loading DVD+RW drive so I can't insert this disc into it. It just disappears into the slot and doesn't do anything. I had to use a paperclip to pry it back out. Then, I had to go boot up the ol' PowerMac 6300 (which has a tray CD-ROM) and copy the contents of the CD over my LAN to the new Mac. After I removed the little piece of crap disc, a huge chunk of the reflective foil just ripped off in my hand! I couldn't believe it. Talk about cheap. Luckily I got the files off in time. I can at least burn them to some real media now. Did they really save that much by putting the support files on these tiny discs? I've never even seen these for sale anywhere. It almost seems like you'd spend more time and money seeking out these small CD-Rs than if you just used crappy regular media that comes pennies a piece. Jeez.

2. Does anyone else's setup not look new? The back of my flash cart has lots of those scratches HuCards get after being inserted and removed a zillion times from systems. It even has a 1/2" dirty smudge on it. It was the first thing I noticed when I took it out of the package.

Aye! We just received ours and indeed the mini-CD is totally covered in oily dirt and scratched to the point where you'd think it was rubbed in a pile of nails. And what do you know, a strip of foil also got stuck on my brother's hand when he was handling the disc! It's a miracle the CD still read - I instantly made a backup .iso of the CD in case it decides not to work later (wouldn't be surprised at all). My brother's CD drive didn't read the disc at all, either - good thing there's more than one computer in the house.

Secondly, you're right about the cart looking used, ours too looks like it's been "tested"... whatever that means.

I got the same errors others have had, but strangely enough the peripheral works fine on my brother's computer. The only difference in our installation method was that he ran "Update USB Driver.exe" where I didn't bother with it. Who knows...

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Why do CD-R's Damage the Duo Lens?]

*sings a song about urban legends* 

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: Telegames Ltd selling all PC Engine stock]

Those price tags blow minds.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Help with Duo Lens Adjustment Laser Calibration Shenanigans?]

Ah! Miracles! We received a replacement lens for our replacement lens (phew) a few days ago from Electronix (Boy, they were really fast with replacing it! Under two weeks from here to there to back here) and we installed it today. It was dead tight compared to the two other lenses we have, and strangely enough, came in a completely different package than the last one. Additionally, the lens adjuster was glued tight like the one that originally came with our Duo-R.

Bottom line: It's working great (   ) on the few games we had time to test, perfectly really. It makes a completely different read sound, too, precise and sharp.

I'm so delighted, we've been messing with this thing for months now. It's such a shame the lens that we first received from Electronix was faulty from the get-go - I mean, beginner and all, you really start freaking out inside when things don't work when they should.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: I don't care what you say, DDII PCE soundtrack is great!]

CD game indeed and the screams really make it for me at least. Totally makes it. Just like the awesome drumming during the world map sequences in Fatal Fury 2. 

All in all, the Double Dragon 2 soundtrack is TC (That's Totally Camembert for you - talk about banning abbrevs). 

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Where to Get SCART-DIN8C or Mini-DIN8 M/F?]

I believe I understand now, though some clarification would have been appropriate: Where Turbo models have DIN8 ports for controllers, the Duos have mini-DIN8. One could use a TurboTap to get the necessary DIN8 plug. Interesting.

I've also seen nat's post on using a pad cable in the tap - fairly nice.

Belkin makes a very nice mini-DIN8 extension cord (meant for Apple printers, haha!), by the way, but I've been unable to find these around here. You may have better luck if a readymade extension is all you want: http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=65552

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Help with Duo Lens Adjustment Laser Calibration Shenanigans?]

We've had some skittery behavior with the old lens now. It does a rapid clicking sound a lil' too often and actually got stuck to the rightmost side once as well. After that we freaked out and cleaned & lubricated the support bars and it seems better off (we were able to play a few games after that!). I'm suspecting some kind of misplacement issue with the gear, as if the motor expected the lens to be at a place and keeps on returning to the wrong position. Just a guess, though.

I'm also sending the new but clearly non-functional HOP-M3 (it just ain't working, it didn't work outta the box and it ain't working now, plus we've treated it like a lil' baby) back to Electronix. I hate to say, the service I received from them while buying the product was excellent and fast, but now that I'm returning it, it's taken them days to get any kind of response and I've gotten a series of very slow-witted responses to my own e-mails. I hope I get to turn it in fast for a replacement so that we can experiment more with the lens situation 

It'd be fun to get some proper play time out of the machine - I've noticed that a lot of PC Engine fans have woes with their systems and eventually get very little play time out of their machines, instead spending a lot of time and money on repairs and fixes. It's quite interesting

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Where to Get SCART-DIN8C or Mini-DIN8 M/F?]

That's right - I'm really hard-pressed to find either of these cable types. Our RGB-modded Duo-R is wearing out its DIN8-C style (not mini-DIN) SCART AV cable and it's fairly annoying to have to try and get it show picture. Our machine uses the rarer DIN8 instead of DIN5 so the Master System/Mega Drive SCART cables won't do.

Can anyone recommend these AV cables for less than $40 anywhere? Does anyone know any European shops that sell these?

What about the mini-DIN8 the Duos use for pads, then? I'd love to extend my cord a little! I've actually got some old Apple M/M mini-DIN8 cords but I'm all out of F/F gender changers - any tips with either a full M/F cord or a F/F gender changer?

Soldering something together is of course an option but we just don't have any time or equipment for that matter. I'll let you guys know if I find any stores with proper prices too of course!

I'm sorry if this is a confusing post, so let me reiterate what I'm looking for:

• DIN8C Female plug -> SCART cable
• Mini-DIN8 Male-Female or Mini-Din8 F/F gender changer

Thanks again guys!

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Help with Duo Lens Adjustment Laser Calibration Shenanigans?]

Thanks for the tip - I think we'll just try reinstalling the lens at some point. I can't say I see anything wrong with it. I'll clean it up with rubbing alcohol real carefully and make sure the wires are all tight. We actually tried it without the cover, too. It wasn't that. Since the old lens works fairly well these days there's less need to replace it, but I'd sleep a lot better knowing there's an all-new lens doing the reading though.

About the CD-Rs - there are a lot of urban myths (like them wearing the lens out) moving on regarding the Duos. In any case, we only use lossless and confirmed ISOs - I'll have none of that mp3/ogg/mpc -encoded rubbish that still permeates the net. You're totally right about it, it's probably more than 75% of the ISOs that are nothing but garbage.

Anyway, that's fairly off-topic. I'm still very interested in hearing if anyone's ever adjusted their lens!

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: FS: Summer Carnival '92: Alzadick]

You may be right, I can't naturally vouch for how it's been stored in the shop. This is how it's been in my possession.

The black parts of the front show no bleaching though, I'd assume the black would have worn out more as well. Also, the orange colour seems very even - and I can't find any signs of bleaching on the front cover (which you'd think would have been affected too if it was a case of sun. Here's a scan of that:

slowdays.org/files/pictures/alzadickover.jpg

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: FS: Summer Carnival '92: Alzadick]

Guys, you know you don't want it to (I know I don't want it to!) go on eBay! I'll up the ante and include a $5 Play-Asia discount coupon with the game. It expires on the 24th of May. Still have a while to think about it.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Help with Duo Lens Adjustment Laser Calibration Shenanigans?]

Hey all,

I'm afraid this is an old topic but it wouldn't hurt with some additional insight Me and my brother recently had some slight reading problems both with CD-Rs (Verbatims were recommended somewhere, our experience is they don't read at all, even Memorex read better) and original games on our Duo-R. We thus decided to gamble and take the HOP-M3 lens replacement route to see if the lens was to blame.

The symptoms mostly include booting problems and lost audio tracks - nothing severe most of the time. Sometimes games fail to boot but not very often. Still, we thought it'd be useful to try the replacement. The procedure itself was fairly smooth (though long and tedious, what with a lot of plugging and unplugging, and the plugs being extremely tight - it was good having two guys for the job), but the new lens just didn't find anything to read.

We tried various things (different brands of CD-R, original games, rubbing alcohol, confirming plugs etc.), but we just never got the new lens working. I don't know much about the HOP-M3 but for now I'm inclined to think the issue is related to the reading adjustment mechanism. If we got it correctly, it's the bottom-right front white rotating mechanism pictured here (sorry 'bout the blurry photo):



Is this correct ? First we tried rotating it to match the angle of the older lens, then we tried various positions towards each end (leftwards, rightwards). The reading sound is definitely different depending on the angle of the mechanism, but we couldn't pinpoint the proper one. Perhaps we're on the wrong tracks altogether!

Thus I'm very much interested in knowing if anyone has more in-depth experience of the procedure! Anything will help, thanks beforehand!

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

That is indeed swell Boy do I wish I'd be able to see the difference in picture quality!

[Buy/Sell/Trade / FS: Summer Carnival '92: Alzadick]

Hello all, I thought I'd try skipping eBay this time to get a buyer who actually enjoys playing games instead of just selling them So many eBay sellers just hoard these and then relist them for higher prices. Happened with Chiki Chiki Boys just a while ago before my very eyes. Still bitter over it

So here be one opened but "mint" & unplayed Summer Carnival '92: Alzadick for your perusal for 30€. Euros and Paypal preferred & shipping not included.



The manual, obi (spine strip) and CD are all mint (the CD's shinier than... nevermind). I even forgot I had the registration card too! It's not visible in the photo, though. It's just as fine as the rest though

PM me about shipping (I can wrap it & pack it up however you please) - it's ideal if you reside in Europe or cheaper still Scandinavia!

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

We've had an interesting, night-automated collaboration going every now and then - my brother's been seeking out these DVDs and I've been reporting them.

I don't know if it's had much effect, but perhaps somebody sleeps better at night... 

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Help Needed with U.S. TG-CD system]

Me and my brother just installed a new HOP-M3 to our recently acquired Duo-R that was showing signs of a worn-out lens and after replacement we're just not getting it to read discs.

From what I understand, though, it looks like the intensity adjuster is the plus-shaped white knob at the very right-bottom corner of the HOP-M3. We've experimented it with a little but so far nothing to mention.

Just like you, I would like to get a confirmation of how this is done.

EDIT:

We've fallen back to the old HOP-M3 due to the apparent calibration issues with the new one - the new one does attempt to read CDs just fine and all of the mechanics work (we tried without a CD too) - so for now we'll be using the old lens until we find more information about the intensity adjustment.