Any love for the 32X ?

[Ziggy]

I own Virtua Racing Deluxe (and the MD version) I will try to pop it in an see if it saves lap times, I don't recall to be honest. I also own Afterburner so I can check that out too.

Thanks, I appreciate it!

The Doom hack (which at this point is just a new port of the game) is pretty much one of the best ways to play a "pure" form of doom if you don't own an older P1 system and a crt (I know you have retro computers). If you have played through Doom heaps of times, it is a great new way to give it another playthrough. I wish the keymapping would be back ported though!

I think it's awesome on so many levels. DOOM is just so fun to play, even when it's technically inferior to DOS DOOM on a P1 machine. This 32X hack has to be the best ever port to a retro console. It looks and plays great. There's even some graphic settings you can mess around with, which may make it play smoother. It's fascinating to see what the 32X hardware is capable of. And it's amazing the work that this team has put into it. For all of these reason, I can definitely see myself playing all the way through it.

I believe I have the latest cart version before it was brought to CD. You can't map the controls, but there are a few different options for strafing. I found them to be very usable. The sacrifice is not being able to cycle backward through your weapons (just forward) but I think strafing is more important.

I may have to set up a proper Tower of Power and add my Sega CD to the model 2 + 32X. Then I would be able to play the CD version of the DOOM hack. Also, I've been playing a hack of Mortal Kombat II that brings it closer to the arcade version. I see there's something called MSU-MD, which is like MSU-1 for the SNES. I can't use the Mega ED Pro for CDs when it's inserted into the 32X. But yeah, you can get the arcade soundtrack in that MKII 32X hack. At that point, I think it might be the best version of the game on a retro console. There's an MSU-1 hack for MKII on SNES that adds the arcade soundtrack, but this 32X version (graphics hack plus MSU-MD arcade soundtrack) definitely rivals it.

So... What options exist for a power adapter solution for the Tower of Power?

[emwearz]

Okay to the thicken the plot a bit re Virtua Racing Deluxe.

I have the NTSC version of the cart.

I looked online, different places says it has a save battery. I opened my cart, there is no save battery. I played the game, it does not appear to save anything

I believe the mix up comes that the NTSC-J version of the game contains a FRAM chip to store saves, while the PAL and NTSC versions do not. I can't confirm this though as I don't have the cart, but looking online it seems to be the case.

I also opened Afterburner (but did not play it) and it did not contain a battery either.



Doom Fusion has the following;

New engine and gameplay features

• Support for CD-ROM loaded content: maps, sounds, music, title screens, additional textures
  Doom 2 power-ups, the Super Shotgun, map specials and monsters (barring the Arch Vile, Pain Elemental and SS soldier)
  PC-compatible maps you can modify with standard editing tools
  Working Light amplification visor power-up from Doom 1
  Correct speeds for Cacodemon, Baron and BFG projectiles
  High resolution weapon sprites
  Mid-textures support: fences, windows, etc
  Decals for composite textures (used on switches and decorations)
  Over 200 textures over 32X Resurrection
  Maps use the texture set stored on the cartridge but may also use additional textures loaded from the CD at the expense of 32X RAM to overcome the limitation
  WAD selection screen based on CD contents
  Music test in file browser
  PCM samples playback support in VGM music driver
  Support for streaming PCM music format for SegaCD (SPCM)
  Fine-tuned palette to more closely match the original
  Status bar that closely matches the PC version
  Sound cue upon finding a secret area
  Multiple screen resolutions: 160x90, 224x128, 256x144, 320x180
  Removed pixel doubling of low-res modes and the "high color" mode
  D-pad can now be mapped to YABC buttons on the gamepad to emulate the WASD setup
  and more!

Fusion CD

• New, more faithful port of The Ultimate Doom, including Episode 4 "Thy Flesh Consumed" (36 maps)
  A port of Doom 2: Hell on Earth (32 maps)
  A selection of 5 newly ported TNT maps
  Doom 32X Resurrection v3.2 (27 maps)
  VGM music tracks for Doom 1, 2, Plutonia and TNT and others that you can play outside the game
  Map development WAD which contains all textures necessary for modding

If you have the full tower, it seems to def be the way to go.

[pierrot]

I believe the mix up comes that the NTSC-J version of the game contains a FRAM chip to store saves, while the PAL and NTSC versions do not. I can't confirm this though as I don't have the cart, but looking online it seems to be the case.

FRAM is non-volatile, so even if the PAL and NTSC carts also had FRAM, there wouldn't be a need for save batteries, if the save battery was the only thing you were looking for.

Edit: I wasn't trying to suggest you were wrong at all btw, but I did get curious and just went to check my cart. (I thought I had lost the driver for the security screws, but it was actually the smaller one I can't find--.) Anyway, yeah, I don't see any save RAM on the board. I don't know why I felt like I had something saving when I was playing it long ago, but looks like it wasn't. In my defense, more than half of my enjoyment of it comes from just sitting on the main screen listening to the music--.

[emwearz]

Yeah, I know what FRAM is, I was more meaning sites like this;
https://www.retrosales.com.au/blogs/ret ... -batteries

List it as having a battery save, so I was not sure if the idea was the NTSCJ version had FRAM with the NTSC and PAL versions using a battery, or what the go is, but quite a few forums seem to think it has a battery save or FRAM, but this might just be the case with the NTSCJ (again can't confirm, don't have that version) and others have just assumed it does or what the go is.

End of the day, the game is bloody hard and chances are you are not going to wipe off too many high scores for it to matter anyhow haha.

EDIT: Also, curious, did your VRD cart have shielding on it? My Afterburner cart (PAL) had full shielding, both front and back, while my VRD cart had none. I wonder if it is just a case by case thing or being compliant to a regions EMI laws or something. I will have to open up my NTSC and PAL carts and see if it holds true across the board.

[Ziggy]

Hmm, interesting.

Also FWIW, there's a third type of backup chip you can find in Genesis and 32X carts. There's SRAM which needs the battery. Then the RAMTRON FRAM that Sega likes to use (Sonic 3, Knuckles Caotix) and then there's EEPROM which seems only to be used by some third party developers. The Acclaim 32X carts use EEPROM, so NBA Jam and NFL Quarterback Club. You can easily spot the EEPROM because it's a much smaller IC. Which BTW, that list on retrosales.com linked above doesn't even list NBA Jam.

https://consolemods.org/wiki/Genesis:Li ... _Batteries
(Scroll down, a list of 32X games is below the list of Genesis games)

I think a lot of sites just naively say "games that contain a battery" because they are wholly unaware of alternative methods to SRAM. They really just mean "games that can save."

I can check with my flash cart if the Japanese version of Virtua Racing has save data. But I think the 32X is region locked, so I might need a Game Genie code or something.

That's also interesting about the shielding. I seem to vaguely remember seeing a picture of shielding in a 32X cart. But all of the pics I've seen online recently, and also the one 32X cart I have in my possession, does not have shielding. The only carts I know of that have shielding are N64. I found this: https://www.sega-16forums.com/forum/con ... -shielding

If you have the full tower, it seems to def be the way to go.

Yeah, I might as well. My Sega CD isn't getting any use at the moment anyway (because I've been using the Mega Everdrive Pro). I'll just have to make room for it.

The only thing now is that I will have 4 power bricks. So I might want to look into getting one of those power adapter solutions, the ones that can power the Tower of Power with a single plug.

[emwearz]

I think a lot of sites just naively say "games that contain a battery" because they are wholly unaware of alternative methods to SRAM. They really just mean "games that can save."

I suspect this is the case.

Yeah, I might as well. My Sega CD isn't getting any use at the moment anyway (because I've been using the Mega Everdrive Pro). I'll just have to make room for it.

I didn't realise the Mega Everdrive Pro could do not 32XCD games, such a small use case I guess.

[Ziggy]

I didn't realise the Mega Everdrive Pro could do not 32XCD games, such a small use case I guess.

It didn't really bother me because I took a look at the short list of 32X CD games and didn't care about any of them. Tell me if I should reconsider any of them! I also didn't even own a 32X again until recently, so it didn't matter up until now. I had already owned a real Sega CD when I purchased the Mega ED Pro, so I knew I'd be set one way or another. I really just use the flash cart for CD games because A: I've been using my model 1 Genny which looks stupid attached to the model 2 Sega CD (I'd love to purchase the model 1 Sega CD but they are known for having issues) and B: It's nice to keep wear and tear off the old CD drive.

There's an adapter that lets you plug the MegaSD flash cart into the Genesis's expansion slot, bypassing the 32X...



I haven't looked deep into it but it seems that the Mega ED Pro doesn't work with this adapter for whatever reason.

But yeah, DOOM and Mortal Kombat II are two of my favorite games. So those hacks will get me to set up the Tower of Power. I guess since I'll have it set up, I'll be able to try 32X CD games...

[pierrot]

Also, curious, did your VRD cart have shielding on it?

Nope, no shielding. The only carts I've ever noticed shielding on are N64 carts, and I always figured that was just Nintendo trying to waste money all the time by throwing shields on things that shouldn't need them because they never figured out how to properly design PCBs, even after hiring consultants for it.

I think the 32X is region locked

It's not fully region locked, at least. I don't remember if there were exceptions between games, but I have the Japanese version of Knuckle's Chaotix and played through it on my NA 32X.

[Ziggy]

OK, so Virtua Racing Deluxe is definitely region locked. I couldn't play the Japanese version on my NTSC-U 32X using my flash cart. I couldn't find a Game Genie code to work around it, but I found this...

https://www.reddit.com/r/everdrive/comm ... of_virtua/

Just had to alter a couple of bytes in a hex editor, and now it's working.

The Mega ED Pro created a save file for it. I was even able to place a best time and save it.

I guess Sega wanted to save manufacturing costs in America and Europe. Maybe this game was a bigger deal in Japan at the time? I've seen some old adverts, surprisingly the 32X carts were often expensive.

Virtua Racing Deluxe is one 32X game that is still relatively cheap. Even CIB copies aren't too much. I was considering picking it up, but if there's a version that saves I'd rather have that. The Japanese version is expensive on eBay. I wonder if this is why. Hmm, maybe I'll make my own bootleg region free copy.

In regards to the shielding... Take a look at the edge connector on a 32X cart. The one 32X cart that I have, there's two cutouts in the shell on either side of the edge connector. I'm guessing that's where the shield made contact with the cart slot's shield.


edit: I just had the craziest thing happen in Mortal Kombat II. I don't know where else to post it, so I'll just post it here. I was playing the MK2 32X hack. I usually just random pick characters. So I was Shang Tsung. And then I was fighting Shang Tsung. So I was the normal black and yellow, and the computer was black and blue. We both morphed into another character, but the computer turned back into Shang Tsung first and was yellow. Then I morphed back and was blue. I had no idea what was going on, I was so confused. This must be a bug. I must have had this scenario happen before on other platforms, but never had this happen before.

[emwearz]

There are a couple 32X hacks for MK2.

Look up Mortal Kombat II 32X Arcade Edition, I have never actually played this one (not a big MK fan) but Sega Lord X did a video and it looked like a really decent improvement on an already good version of the game.

Region locking on the 32X is the same as the base MD/GEN. If it has region locking, the first step is checking freq (50 or 60hz) and less common, but still around is the region of the console, which is really easy to mod. I have it on mine as I have mostly PAL games, though I can't even think of any that use this method, I mostly use it to play Bare Knuckle rather than Streets of Rage.

Three of my 32X games are PAL releases before the prices started going wild, with Doom being the only one that I recall not launching if in 60hz mode, it actually messed up in 60hz mode.

If you are interested I can chuck the Japanese rom on my flash cart and see if I can bypass the region protection with the region switch, on my US GEN / US 32X setup. It is the most simple mode, it would take someone like you Zigs, tops 5 minutes.