Gauging interest for a group buy for Neo Flash Cart

kiketonto · 02/25/2012, 01:27 PM

Quote from: Mishran on 02/25/2012, 08:12 AM
Quote from: kiketonto on 02/24/2012, 07:48 PMEDIT: what about the money?
Yes I got it. Had to check my paypal account. Paypal never sent me an email showing that I received it. All is good though.

ok! thank you very much, i'm happy that everything works fine!

Mishran · 02/27/2012, 01:48 PM

Put in a order status request at the neoteam forum the other day. Haven't heard anything yet. Just wanted to keep you guys updated. Soon as I hear something, you'll know.

nat · 02/27/2012, 10:53 PM

The Neo Team is currently slaving away in their basement assembling your flash carts.

Nazi NecroPhile · 02/28/2012, 10:02 AM

Quote from: nat on 02/27/2012, 10:53 PMThe Neo Team is currently slaving away in their basement assembling your flash carts.

Complete with greasy pizza fingerprints and cigarette ash.

Mishran · 02/28/2012, 12:32 PM

Had a DHL card taped to my front door today, which I believe means that our carts have shipped.

Unfortunately I wasn't home to receive the package, but they should redeliver it tomorrow. Would have been nice to have gotten the stupid tracking # so I could have made sure to be home when it came.

Will make sure to be home tomorrow though.

Keep you gents updated as usual.

Gogan · 02/28/2012, 01:12 PM

You are a good man.

nat · 02/28/2012, 07:40 PM

Quote from: guest on 02/28/2012, 10:02 AM
Quote from: nat on 02/27/2012, 10:53 PMThe Neo Team is currently slaving away in their basement assembling your flash carts.
Complete with greasy pizza fingerprints and cigarette ash.

I remember when I got mine, I swear it had tire marks on the back and was covered in dust and dirt. It's like when they field tested it, they actually took it out into a field.

incrediblehark · 02/28/2012, 09:18 PM

that was actually pretty quick

Mishran · 02/29/2012, 10:12 AM

It's party time boys!

/imag0008kl.jpg
Your hosts' have arrived!

Sadler · 02/29/2012, 10:17 AM

Hell yeah! Awesome!

When are you shipping these bad boys out?

kiketonto · 02/29/2012, 10:17 AM

Quote from: Mishran on 02/29/2012, 10:12 AMIt's party time boys!
/imag0008kl.jpg
Your hosts' have arrived!

OH MY...! What a wonderful picture!

Mishran · 02/29/2012, 10:47 AM

I need everyone who ordered one to send me a PM about whether you want your flash cart tested or not before shipping. Those that say yes, I'll test the slim loader as well as the flash cart. I pulled one (mine) out of the stack and installed the drivers from the CD. Flashed a copy of PCFXBOMB.PCE onto the cart and popped it into my TE. Worked like a charm. I'd say there shouldn't be any issues with any of the carts, but I'm extending the offer to test before ship anyway in the unlikely event that a problem did occur. Send me some PMs folks!

kiketonto · 02/29/2012, 11:13 AM

Quote from: Mishran on 02/29/2012, 10:47 AMI need everyone who ordered one to send me a PM about whether you want your flash cart tested or not before shipping. Those that say yes, I'll test the slim loader as well as the flash cart. I pulled one (mine) out of the stack and installed the drivers from the CD. Flashed a copy of PCFXBOMB.PCE onto the cart and popped it into my TE. Worked like a charm. I'd say there shouldn't be any issues with any of the carts, but I'm extending the offer to test before ship anyway in the unlikely event that a problem did occur. Send me some PMs folks!

PM send!
Thank you!

Duo_R · 02/29/2012, 07:41 PM

Oh man.... That was fast!!!

neoxeno · 02/29/2012, 10:14 PM

PM sent.

Senshi · 02/29/2012, 10:47 PM

what's on the cover?

Mishran · 02/29/2012, 10:55 PM

I've found my first stinker... the cart I pulled out for neoxeno. Every cart I've tested so far has passed using my TE. His did not, as it failed to operate in my system. I'm going to test on my other systems before marking it as a DOA. This situation is the reason I purchased an extra cart.

Just to elaborate to everyone of the procedure I follow:

When I receive a PM, I check to see if the individual wants the cart tested or not. I write the person's username on the bag each package is in. If the cart isn't to be tested I write "No Test" on the bag. If it gets tested, I perform the following tests: connect the slim loader to the PC by USB, insert the flash cart, write to the flash cart, test in my TE for proper power on/operation, and finally test to ensure the reset button works. If it passes, I write "OK!". If it fails, I perform further tests.

No worry, neoxeno. I've got ya covered.

mrhaboobi · 02/29/2012, 10:56 PM

Quote from: Mishran on 02/29/2012, 10:55 PMI've found my first stinker... the cart I pulled out for neoxeno. Every cart I've tested so far has passed using my TE. His did not, as it failed to operate in my system. I'm going to test on my other systems before marking it as a DOA. This situation is the reason I purchased an extra cart.

Just to elaborate to everyone of the procedure I follow:

When I receive a PM, I check to see if the individual wants the cart tested or not. I write the person's username on the bag each package is in. If the cart isn't to be tested I write "No Test" on the bag. If it gets tested, I perform the following tests: connect the slim loader to the PC by USB, insert the flash cart, write to the flash cart, test in my TE for proper power on/operation, and finally test to ensure the reset button works. If it passes, I write "OK!". If it fails, I perform further tests.

No worry, neoxeno. I've got ya covered.

Ahh thats not good news

Think i might have to change my mind and get you to test it

Mishran · 02/29/2012, 10:57 PM

Quote from: Senshi on 02/29/2012, 10:47 PMwhat's on the cover?

Pair of WWII prop planes it looks like. I would assume its from a PCE game cover. Just not sure which.

Sparky · 03/01/2012, 10:20 AM

no worries with me <<rolls dice>>
& leave mine til the end to ship, i am in no hurry man

Terminarcade · 03/01/2012, 11:27 AM

Awesome, that was faster than expected!

Mishran · 03/01/2012, 01:25 PM

Anyone wanting to know the "test status" of your cart, just check the first post.

kiketonto · 03/01/2012, 01:39 PM

Mine has past! YESSSS!
You're great Mishran!

neoxeno · 03/01/2012, 02:03 PM

Quote from: Mishran on 03/01/2012, 01:25 PMAnyone wanting to know the "test status" of your cart, just check the first post.

Thanks for swapping mine with the extra one.
Last payment sent.

xcrement5x · 03/02/2012, 03:33 PM

PM also sent for testing

Duo_R · 03/03/2012, 12:51 AM

Cant wait to get mine. Was my tested?

Mishran · 03/03/2012, 07:00 AM

Quote from: Duo_R on 03/03/2012, 12:51 AMCant wait to get mine. Was my tested?

Yes

HercTNT · 03/03/2012, 05:04 PM

anyone who has recieved there flash carts please follow these instructions. especially if you have windows 7

http://www.neoflash.com/forum/index.php?topic=6373.0

the software is much newer and will work if the cd software does not.

Edit: Despite all of this my system will still not use the card due to usb timeout. It appears to be a windows 7 64bit exclusive problem that i have yet to find a workround. If anyone has windows 7 64-bit and does not have this problem please let us know.

Sadler · 03/03/2012, 06:00 PM

Just fished mine out of the mail box and installed the manager Herc pointed to. Got some stupid message about missing an xml file apparently related to language, but I ignored it like a boss. Burned Magical Chase and just played it for the first time on real hardware! So awesome!

Thanks so much!

Sadler · 03/03/2012, 06:03 PM

Quote from: HercTNT on 03/03/2012, 05:04 PMEdit: Despite all of this my system will still not use the card due to usb timeout. It appears to be a windows 7 64bit exclusive problem that i have yet to find a workround. If anyone has windows 7 64-bit and does not have this problem please let us know.

I'm on Win7 64-bit and didn't have this issue. It might be the order you performed things. Did you install the manager and driver prior to inserting the USB loader on your system? Took a while for the drivers to actually load for me.

HercTNT · 03/03/2012, 06:16 PM

the xml thing is you need to download microsofts msxml sp3 parser and it will make that warning go away. as far as the error goes, i was trying to format the card as per instructions on that page. it would not format my card. the usb would time out everytime. i hope that it did not mess anything up.

Sadler · 03/03/2012, 06:23 PM

Quote from: HercTNT on 03/03/2012, 06:16 PMthe xml thing is you need to download microsofts msxml sp3 parser and it will make that warning go away. as far as the error goes, i was trying to format the card as per instructions on that page. it would not format my card. the usb would time out everytime. i hope that it did not mess anything up.

Gotcha, I'll grab that msxml stuff eventually, though it doesn't seem to affect anything. I actually didn't format my card, I just added the ROMs I wanted. I'm a little hesitant to try formatting now!

HercTNT · 03/03/2012, 07:21 PM

Ok, i installed everything on windows xp and had zero issues with the software and drivers. I formatted the card without problems and burned roms. So far, despite setting region, i have not managed to get a single us rom to work. I did however manage to get 90% of japanese roms to work that i have tried. this thing is definately finicky. sadler, if you dont mind, pm me on what roms you used and the setting you used. Thanks.

Sadler · 03/03/2012, 07:38 PM

PM sent.

Duo_R · 03/03/2012, 07:58 PM

quick question - can I mix regions on ROMS that I throw on this thing? So put US and JP roms on it and they will work?

HercTNT · 03/03/2012, 08:25 PM

no although it seems to be possible to hex edit the roms to change their region

Sadler · 03/03/2012, 09:05 PM

Quote from: HercTNT on 03/03/2012, 08:25 PMno although it seems to be possible to hex edit the roms to change their region

Alright, disclaimer: I'm really new to this and it's quite possible I'm not telling the truth here... I have both PCE and TG ROMs on my card and they both work, I think at once. I'll have to play around some more to be sure, but I haven't seen anything fail yet. Even when I mix ROMs.

HercTNT · 03/03/2012, 09:25 PM

its possible i imagine, but their website you can't so who knows. here is a link to an updated pce bios for the program that fixed even more problems for me.

http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?33168-Using-the-NeoFlash-PCE-Flash-Carts

I loaded up 10 pce games and all but 1 worked fine. I still have not got back to the us carts yet. Sadler and i are working the issue and between the two of us i imagine we will fix most problems that people might have. Thanks goes to sadler for the support

Nazi NecroPhile · 03/03/2012, 09:30 PM

Quote from: Sadler on 03/03/2012, 09:05 PMAlright, disclaimer: I'm really new to this and it's quite possible I'm not telling the truth here... I have both PCE and TG ROMs on my card and they both work, I think at once. I'll have to play around some more to be sure, but I haven't seen anything fail yet. Even when I mix ROMs.

Same here. I've never had a problem mixing and matching ROMs, though mine's an older one using equally old flashing software.

HercTNT · 03/03/2012, 09:34 PM

maybe its just me then. the readme that came on the cd said mixing and matching was a no no. japanese games wont work on my us turbo and american ones wont work on my japanese duo-r.

Duo_R · 03/03/2012, 10:31 PM

ok i think I actually have a bad one. I only got one game to work out of about a dozen, and often the system menu freezes when i select a game. A couple times the graphics glitch out. This is on a Duo-R system.

The card wasn't formatted when I got it and followed the instructions that was posted here.

HercTNT · 03/03/2012, 10:48 PM

dont give up, first time i tried it i did not get a single game to work. got lots of garbage on the screen as well. put just one rom on the card, pick the correct region you want to program for before you load the rom into the program. then burn it to to the cart and try to load it up. sadler and i will be more than willing to help you out if you have any more questions.

Duo_R · 03/03/2012, 10:50 PM

i am using windows 7, should i just scrap that thing and use XP? Now it won't even recognize the card...

OldMan · 03/03/2012, 10:52 PM

QuoteI only got one game to work out of about a dozen

Quoteit seems to be possible to hex edit the roms to change their region

Quotemy system will still not use the card due to usb timeout.

I have the 128+save, and I've seen all these problems. And they are all fixable:

1) Check the rom in a hex editor, and see if it has a 128 byte header. If so, you have to remove it.
(the header causes the game to freeze on the menu screen)

2) If you want to run roms from a different region, you have to tell it which region the rom is from, using
the little drop down region box. If the software won't let you mix/match regions (some versions don't), you need
to bit-flip the rom image.

3) The usb timeout was the tough one: You have to make sure you have a <really> good connection at the usb port, and that the usb port does not go idle. If you are on a laptop with power-save mode, you need to tell windows -not- to let the device power down.

...........................................................
There are utils floating around to strip the header and flip the rom images. Fixing the usb problem requires changing some windows settings. I don't remember where it is, or where I saw the info. I just moved the reader to a desktop computer

And from what I remember, the 'newest' version of the software sucks. I think I went back to version 1.20 of the all-in-one stuff to make everything work.

Sadler · 03/03/2012, 11:07 PM

Quote from: Duo_R on 03/03/2012, 10:50 PMi am using windows 7, should i just scrap that thing and use XP? Now it won't even recognize the card...

Let's start from the top. Upon receiving your flash cart, what steps did you take, and what software (OS mainly) and hardware did you use?

As best I can recall, this is what I did (using Win7 64 bit on an intel core 2 quad):

0. Do not insert the disc, nor the slim loader in you system yet!
1. Download manager from HERE
2. Installed the manager. This included drivers. I did not make any effort to install the manager in a specific location.
3. Inserted flash cart into USB interface
4. Inserted USB interface ("slim loader") into system
5. Navigated to the exe, right clicked and ran as administrator
6. Clicked "Add" and added the ROMs I wanted to play (ie Magical Chase or Soldier Blade)
7. Clicked Burn
8. Removed the slim loader from my system
9. Inserted into DUO-RX with region mod set to Japan
10. Enjoyed ROMs

A few things to note from the above:

* I did not format the drive
* I did not alter the settings on the right for US/Japan (left on Japan), despite the type of ROM I added. See below:
/29mnlz7.jpg
* I did not use the alternate menu system listed on the neo forums
* I'm using an RX, I think both of you are using Duo-R's. Not sure if this matters.

Duo_R · 03/03/2012, 11:11 PM

Basically - I am having all the problems found here:

http://www.neoflash.com/forum/index.php/topic,6688.0.html

And what is weird, is the menu I have has a "SAVE" option? Am I using the wrong software? I thought these 64m carts didn't have a save option???

Duo_R · 03/03/2012, 11:18 PM

ok I got a hex editor, but I have no idea how to tell if it has a 128 byte header....

"I have the 128+save, and I've seen all these problems. And they are all fixable:

1) Check the rom in a hex editor, and see if it has a 128 byte header. If so, you have to remove it.
(the header causes the game to freeze on the menu screen)"

Duo_R · 03/03/2012, 11:35 PM

OK, i think the header piece was the issue. I just got Magical Chase to work. Whew....hope that is all it is. Is there a program out there that can batch a bunch of games to remove the header?

HercTNT · 03/03/2012, 11:36 PM

Duo, this link has better files for what your trying to do. hope this helps.

http://www.neoflash.com/forum/index.php?topic=6438.0

roflmao · 03/03/2012, 11:39 PM

I don't have one of these things, but I have found that sometimes some USB devices don't play well when I plug them into my computer's front USB ports or a USB hub. But if I plug them into one of the USB ports that's on the back of the computer coming right off the motherboard, they work fine. It's just something you might want to try to see if it helps.