Need some info on the Games Express CD games

OldRover · 06/24/2007, 01:17 AM

Aye, so I have hatched a diabolical plan!

No seriously...what I need to know is which games used the lower, 64kb-version of the Games Express card and which games used the later, 256kb model. Tomatheous already figured out that Hi-Leg Fantasy uses the later card, but I'm having little luck determining the rest of the set. There aren't many games...like what, seven?

The reason for this is so we can study the boot processes and disc makeup of the various games put out by these rather colorful fellas.

We have our reasons for this, but for now they will remain secret...

OldRover · 06/25/2007, 03:11 AM

No one knows??

guyjin · 06/25/2007, 09:13 AM

"Not I", said the snerd.

SuperDeadite · 06/25/2007, 09:47 AM

Wait I didn't think there were different Games Express Cards? I thought the later games like Hi-Leg can only be run on a Super-CD-Rom or a Duo, because these games require all of the memory built into the system. While the early games only needed the original CD-Rom's memory. I thought the GE Cards were used only for booting games, not for running them.

termis · 06/25/2007, 12:03 PM

There are apparently two versions of the GE card. One that only access the 64k RAM of the CD-ROM unit, and the latter units that has full access to the Duo's 2MBit memory, but you still need their GE card.

Take a look here for the pic of that card.
https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=3029.msg39023#msg39023

And that thread also has at least a majority list of GE games, though I'm not sure which ones use the earlier vs. latter versions of the GE card...

peperocket · 06/25/2007, 12:48 PM

I've got AV tanjou, but how could we make the difference between the two GE cards ??

CrackTiger · 06/25/2007, 04:19 PM

Quote from: Nödtveidt on 06/24/2007, 01:17 AMAye, so I have hatched a diabolical plan!

No seriously...what I need to know is which games used the lower, 64kb-version of the Games Express card and which games used the later, 256kb model. Tomatheous already figured out that Hi-Leg Fantasy uses the later card, but I'm having little luck determining the rest of the set. There aren't many games...like what, seven?

The reason for this is so we can study the boot processes and disc makeup of the various games put out by these rather colorful fellas. We have our reasons for this, but for now they will remain secret...

I'm assuming you guys want to hack them to make them compatible with official system cards?

OldRover · 06/26/2007, 01:11 AM

Three words: System Card 4.

Apparently only the second version need be replicated, as it is backwards compatible with the first. Anyways, the plan here is to create a new system card, one that combines the normal system 3 with the games express bios with the arcade card with some system 3 bios changes that alter the boot process, making the CD bootup process more lenient.

Joe Redifer · 06/26/2007, 01:43 AM

Don't forget to include System Card 1 functionality for Altered Beast CD! Also it would be cool if it were a US-regioned HuCard.

termis · 06/26/2007, 01:44 AM

Quote from: Nödtveidt on 06/26/2007, 01:11 AMThree words: System Card 4.

Apparently only the second version need be replicated, as it is backwards compatible with the first. Anyways, the plan here is to create a new system card, one that combines the normal system 3 with the games express bios with the arcade card with some system 3 bios changes that alter the boot process, making the CD bootup process more lenient.

I'd be SOOO all-over that.

Seriously, that would rule.

Turbo D · 06/26/2007, 01:46 AM

same here, that would be awesome

OldRover · 06/26/2007, 07:50 AM

We would make it for both the PCE and the TG, and of course, for both the normal CDROM system and the Duo. So, that'd be four new cards, heh.

It's gonna be awhile before this is prototyped and even longer before it's made "for real", right now it's just a concept. It's been a long time since new hardware was developed...

nat · 06/26/2007, 11:02 AM

Do you have a source in mind able to manufacture HuCards?

Nazi NecroPhile · 06/26/2007, 11:58 AM

Quote from: Nödtveidt on 06/26/2007, 07:50 AMSo, that'd be four new cards, heh.

Is it really necessary to have separate cards for the TG-CD and Duo? Memory is much cheaper now, and it wouldn't hurt anything to let some sit idle when in a Duo (e.g. Arcade Card Pro). Or would it?

guyjin · 06/26/2007, 12:28 PM

Would this card autodetect the needed bios/rom/whatever, or would it be selected from a menu?

nat · 06/26/2007, 12:49 PM

I would imagine it shouldn't be hard to program an auto-detection routine.

OldRover · 06/26/2007, 03:32 PM

Quote from: nat on 06/26/2007, 11:02 AMDo you have a source in mind able to manufacture HuCards?

There's scores of options, just a matter of selecting one.

Got any good leads, or just asking out of curiosity?

Necromancer: good point. I don't think it'd be hard to query the hardware for existing memory, and then use whatever's required.

guyjin: Not sure yet. It would be easiest to use a menu, especially if three BIOSes are supported (CDROM system 1, CDROM system 3, Games Express).

ParanoiaDragon · 06/27/2007, 12:41 AM

I think we should make it compatible with all Turbo cd games, but, make the card 100 megabits so that we can load all kinds of crazy crap into levels! Bwa ha ha ha!

OldRover · 06/27/2007, 01:51 AM

tomatheous/Bonknuts, Charles MacDonald, and myself were all discussing this tonight...tom/mal wants to add a coprocessor to the card, so we're looking at the NEC V850/SB1. It's a 32 bit CPU that runs at 20MHz. There's other things we could do too, such as adding MP3/OGG playback to the card.

Charles suggested adding an FPGA, which would certainly be interesting. A flash FPGA would probably be added anyways to handle the arcade card functions.

The V850/SB1 is an interesting little beastie. It would make a cool addition.

Joe Redifer · 06/27/2007, 01:58 AM

Please call this card either the TurboGrafx-32 or, well, the 32X. Please add more colors as well as scaling and rotation. Also make sure to only design crappy games for it.

OldRover · 06/27/2007, 02:06 AM

It's called the Sissy.

Nazi NecroPhile · 06/27/2007, 09:16 AM

Quote from: ParanoiaDragon on 06/27/2007, 12:41 AMI think we should make it compatible with all Turbo cd games, but, make the card 100 megabits so that we can load all kinds of crazy crap into levels! Bwa ha ha ha!

100 Mega Shock!

VestCunt · 06/27/2007, 02:23 PM

Quote from: Joe Redifer on 06/27/2007, 01:58 AMPlease call this card either the TurboGrafx-32 or, well, the 32X. Please add more colors as well as scaling and rotation. Also make sure to only design crappy games for it.

No way, everyone knows that one more improvment beyond the Arcade Card makes the TurboGrafx a bonafide 24-Bit system (just like the Neo-Geo...duh).
Don't worry about scaling and rotation, just design games with really cool fog and never release another RPG. Americans don't like role-playing games.

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Need some info on the Games Express CD games