Turbo Duo not saving?

[DarusGrey]

I recently brought my TurboDuo out of its box after about 5yrs and fired up Ys3.

The game saves are missing(I expected that), but the game can't save anymore.

I just get an error message anytime I try.
Anyone know if theres an easy way to fix this, or am I going to have to replace some part?, or buy one of those hucard memory cards I read about in the past.
(How much do those tend to go for? If its to much I might just spring for a full version of Magic Engine instead)

[Joe Redifer]

Turn the system on without a HuCard in the slot and press select.  Now select FORMAT to format the system memory.  Now try saving again.  Be sure to leave the system on for at least an hour to let the battery charge up.

[grahf]

The hucard memory thing your talking about is the "Tennokoe Bank". I would buy one regardless, since they can be picked up for around $20 if you dont care about it being boxed. There are a few on ebay right now.

[VestCunt]

Formatting your memory should do the trick.  If it still doesn't work, you're screwed because a Tennokoe Bank can't be used while you're playing a game.  Remember that you'll need a converter or system mod to use a Tennokoe Bank on a US Duo.  Regardless, you should get one if you ever see yourself playing more than 2 RPGs at any given time.  Be careful the first time you use it.  It's pretty self explanatory but I was a dumbass and lost all of my CF2, Ys and Dragon Slayer files the first time I used one.

[OldRover]

It should work perfectly since there's no battery involved, it's merely a capacitor, and they tend to never wear out. Also, it charges virtually instantly. You should be good to go, just format the backup RAM as suggested and it should work fine.

[Joe Redifer]

It charges pretty much instantly?  I guess that's why the TG-16 manuals all said "Turn on the Turbo CD unit at least once every 2 weeks" instead of "Leave it on".  I have found that game saves last at least a year.  I had my TG-CD powered off and unplugged for over a year.  When I turned it back on my Ys saves and everything else were all still there.  Of course Ys has passwords so if you write those down you can always restore your save anywhere.

Also, about this Tennokoe Bank... how does it work?  I assume it just transfers all saves over to it?  Then you must transfer back to use them again?  How much space does it have?

[Keranu]

Don't some games like Popful Mail let you save directly to the Ten No Koe Bank Card instead of saving it to the internal RAM first?

[VestCunt]

It has four "banks" of space for data.  Each one can hold as much as a Duo/CD-Rom/TurboBooster Plus/etc.

You put the card in your system and it turns on like any other hucard.
You have 3 options after you press "run."

1)You can put all of the memory on your Duo into one of the four banks.  In this case the original files also remain on your Duo, so they now exist in two places.

2)  You can put all of the data in one of the four banks into your Duo.  This will erase anything you currently have saved on your Duo.

3)  You can switch all of the data on your Duo with all of the data in one of the four banks.  With this option you don't have to worry about erasing any of your saves.

So...with a Tennokoe Bank you can fill up all of the space on your Duo and all of the space on the four "banks" inside the card.  This gives you the equivalent space of five Duo's to screw around with.  This is crucial for those SCD RPGs like MM3, DE2 and Dragon Slayer.
The main problem is there is no way to view the files in the card before you switch.  So you either have to remember which of the four banks your Ys files are in of figure it out through trial and error.  There's also no way to edit out individual files while they're on the card without transferring them to your system first.  There's also no way to merge data from different banks into one.  This is a pain in the butt because I have my high-scores from dozens of different shooters and action games scattered throughout my two systems and two Tennokoe Banks.

If you haven't seen it yet, Darkman long ago translated the Tennokoe Bank comic.
It can be viewed here:
http://www.darkcityproductions.com/duo/Tenokoe.shtml

[VestCunt]

Don't some games like Popful Mail let you save directly to the Ten No Koe Bank Card instead of saving it to the internal RAM first?

I doubt it because there's no way to put the Tennokoe Bank in the system while it's on and hucards override CDs at the system start-up.
You're probably thinking about the MB128

[Keranu]

Ahh yes that's right, you can't put in HuCards while the system is on. I swear though that games like Popful Mail mention the Ten no Koe Bank Card and not the MB128. I'm probably wrong though.

[OldRover]

It charges pretty much instantly?  I guess that's why the TG-16 manuals all said "Turn on the Turbo CD unit at least once every 2 weeks" instead of "Leave it on".

Correct. Most electrolytic capacitors charge almost instantly...a 1000 µF elecrolytic, for example, generally has a charge time no greater than 1 second (an extreme example). Electrolytic capacitors are slow to drain unless shorted (which drains them almost instantly), so they function as effective "batteries". Extremely large capacitors (like the ones found in televisions) can hold a lethal charge for many years...touching the leads of such a capacitor can easily throw a human across a room...best case scenario.

[grahf]

Ooh, i forgot about the whole import adapter thing.  

I always use option #3 as vestcunt stated. I have 2 main save bundles, and just throw the card in and swap them depending on which game im playing.
OH! and vestcunt, you CAN check what saves are in what box with the bank. You just press select at the main Tennokoe Bank menu screen. Kinda the same way you get into the normal save data on a duo.

[DarusGrey]

Thanks everyone for the info, you guys rock!, google failed me on this issue ;>

I was able to just format it, and it works fine again(the idea of having a system functional in every way except saves was a nightmare!).

I didn't know until a couple days ago how the turbo even saved games(never occured to me as a kid), I couldn't save and then just started thinking "Wait...how *did* it save before?".
Capacitor is a pretty unique way to do it, and I was surprised and sorta impressed , TD was ahead of its time in more ways than I thought it seems.

Thanks again for all the advice. <3