TRIALS OF MANA SWITCH OFFICIAL TRANSLATION ON REAL HARDWARE

[secretsofmana]

Hey guys!

I’ve been doing a lot of digging lately & ive come across an official Trials of mana ROM that’s been successfully dumped from the Nintendo Switch Mana collection which includes ‘seiken densetsu 3’ official English translation!!!

Now the original SD3 Rom was 32Mb in size, this new official translation is a whopping 48Mb & there have been a few people who have successfully translated their own carts with either 2 TSOP chips or 1!!

The 2 TSOP40 chip sandwich method in my eyes looks to be fine as they’re both 5v and only needs a couple of extra wires to the Mad-1 decoder, but the 1 chip method which is preferable as no rewiring and is less damaging to the original pcb - theirs not a lot of info on, especially as the 64Mb (4 x 16) TSOP48 chips being used are max 3.6v so suspect level shifting going on but can’t really see any on the piccy. I’ve tried asking the guy that did it over @ ultimate-consoles.fr but he’s keeping shtumn!!!

1 chip method - https://twitter.com/redfromnec/status/1 ... 68161?s=12

2 chip method - https://www.reddit.com/r/reprogames/com ... =post_body

I’ve been speaking to the guys @ BUYICNOW and they’re quite happy to design a similar TSOP48 to snes 36 mask Rom adapter so waiting to here back about this.

I’m wondering if anybody has tackled the larger Rom sizes (above 32Mb) excluding Star ocean as thats SDD-1 & what their methods are?

Anyhow thanks for humouring me!

All the best

Tom

[Ziggy]

I can think of 3 ways of doing this, and you already mentioned 2 of them. The 2 x 29F032 (or 1 x 32 Mbit and 1 x 16 Mbit) sandwich method would probably be the easiest solution for now.

You can always go old school and use 6 x 27C080 and a 74LS138, this is how people use to make Tales of Phantasia repros until they started using 5v flash memory.

A single 64 Mbit flash would be a slick solution, but as you pointed out, it's gonna be 3v memory. The example from Twitter, we can't see if there's any level shifting going on on the bottom side of the board. I wouldn't recommend using 3v memory unless it's done properly. That said, I've been thinking about making an adapter for 3v memory anyway. If Buy IC China doesn't, it shouldn't be too hard to accomplish and share on OSH Park.

I guess I should also mention that it would be possible to use 2 x 27C322 (or 1 x 27C322 and 1 x 27C160) but that would require 3 logic ICs to the get the 16-bit memory working on the SNES 8-bit bus. It would be about the same amount of wiring as the 6 x 8-bit PROM method mentioned about, so choose your poison.

[Sarge]

Infinite NES Lives also has a repro/flash cart and programmer they sell, but they're out of stock right now.

[Ziggy]

Infinite NES Lives also has a repro/flash cart and programmer they sell, but they're out of stock right now.

Right. There's also specialized homebrew PCBs that you can use. But I think the ask is how to get the 48Mb ROM on an official Seiken Densetsu 3 SFC cart.

[Sarge]

Oh, didn't know he was going to use an SD3 cart. There's probably cheaper games that would work, too, perhaps. I'd hate to chop up a legit SD3, though.

[Ziggy]

Personally, I'm a bigger fan of using flash carts or homebrew carts. But that said, I'd rather "translate" a SFC cart than use a donor cart. If you translate a SFC cart, that copy of the game still exists just in a different language. And this can be done in nondestructive ways so that cart can always be restored if needed or desired. Using a donor cart though makes one less copy in the world of whatever game you decided to use.

[Sarge]

True, although I suspect there are a lot more copies of Madden than SD3.

I did briefly dabble in making repro carts, and I gutted a couple of Deja Vu carts to do it. Thankfully, I can restore them if needed since I held on to the ROM chips. Sadly, I also accidentally destroyed one and ripped up some pads, although I suspect I could fix that if I gave it the effort.

I actually have a few more spare copies of it and Tecmo NBA Basketball that I'd planned to use on making a copy of Final Fantasy III (among others), but never got to it. Now, I prefer to use a flash cart, and I imported the original Japanese carts to be "legit".

[secretsofmana]

Cheers guys

Yeh I have a few of the infinite Nes lives boards I made my own sweet full Audio Gimmick! & Gimmick! 2 repros with them I’ve been digging into his ribs for when the GUI will be done and SNES cart stock. As I’m with you guys in that I’d rather less harm come to precious SNES carts and I do use everdrives more than ever now.

I think it’s just the curiosity of my brain gets the better of me to try to see if it can be done

I successfully did the mod with the sandwiched method and can confirm I have an official translated copy of SD3 NCAA Final Four PCB is relatively cheap $4 and has 2 mask Rom slots so no sandwich method just 2 EPROM adapters and no wiring if wanting a simpler way, I’ve ordered one just to have a go, 32MB TSOP on P0 slot & 16MB TSOP on the P1 slot and you’ve got a working trials of mana
I’ve been using Mr.Tentacle adapter boards which you can solder up with the TSOP chip on then program direct all made up with an adapter from poorstudenthobbyist on Etsy! I must say this method was whole lot easier than trying to get the TSOP into the programming adapters

I’ve found Fishy faces games do an EX-rom pcb which solders straight into the back of an SD3 pcb and require no wires just your EPROMs and a few pads soldering which I think is pretty genius another non destructive method, I’ve ordered a few so will let you know how I get on

I have ordered a fair few of them so if any of you guys would like one for nothing (just postage) let me know I’d be happy to do it for you Ziggy587 modded my starocean nearly a decade ago for pretty much nothing so I’d like to repay the favour!

Tom

[Ziggy]

I’ve found Fishy faces games do an EX-rom pcb which solders straight into the back of an SD3 pcb and require no wires just your EPROMs and a few pads soldering which I think is pretty genius another non destructive method, I’ve ordered a few so will let you know how I get on

Awesome. What type of memory is it using?

[secretsofmana]

So I’ve just sat down to play trials of mana after making it & it starts up fine & runs through the scrolling intro you pick your players everything looks good then it cysts the 3d map then circle the ruins but it never cuts to the first fight it just drones on completely black.

I’ve done both methods today using the Tales of phantasia board (48Mb MAD-1) & the Single Dragon PcB with the sandwich method as I outlined above.
And both are doing the same!!

Continuity is great no shorts etc mu TSOPS programmed up after soldering and ID all checks out etc

So I’m wondering it could possibly be the way I have split the ROM up?

I took the 48Mb trials of mana ROM (which plays great on Everdrive & retroarch) the rom checks out and no header etc I then split it into 3 sections of 16Mb, I bind the first two files in order to make 32Mb then the remaining 16Mb I burn to a 32Mb TSOP which can be padded or unpadded doesn’t make a difference it still bugs out.

Can any of you Racketboy guys help me diagnose or potentially help!

All the best

Tom