UniROM 8.0.K - GDB Debugging, install/backup to/from memory card, homebrew from memcard, etc

[Squaresoft74]

You can use No$psx to send an executable over parallel cable to an Xplorer (you may want to use a V2/V3 rom with your device).
I had to do this 1 wire mod to get it working with Nocash kernel clone, not sure if it's needed when using original XP roms, it's been a while since i tried with those.

As for getting color with your NTSC console using an original XP V2/V3 rom, go into the "Customize" menu and set the video mode to NTSC, that should do the job.

[leafy]

You can use No$psx to send an executable over parallel cable to an Xplorer (you may want to use a V2/V3 rom with your device).
I had to do this 1 wire mod to get it working with Nocash kernel clone, not sure if it's needed when using original XP roms, it's been a while since i tried with those.

As for getting color with your NTSC console using an original XP V2/V3 rom, go into the "Customize" menu and set the video mode to NTSC, that should do the job.

Ah, ok. I had read in the No$psx FAQ about using the BIOS clone, and I have wanted to try this. I did not realize it was part of the emulator, and that it is extracted from there. Or,like you said, try to just use No$psx to upload files. I can add the wire and possible diode, if needed. Maybe a 1N4004 diode or so?

NTSC setting, customize menu... ok, I didn't notice that area. thanks! I will have to check it. So, for the XP V2, I guess I can use up to V3 official?

I wonder if dual-booting XP with Windows 98 would be useful also... depending on if I can get drivers going enough to boot and run it on a machine built for XP.....

[sickle]

Having some issues with Legend of Mana, myself. Videos are skipping, which I'm generally okay with, burning it at a slower speed did help a lot with the audio kicking in later than normal. However, a couple of times I got this error, which, while slightly annoying, though understandable, it made me laugh my @$$ off. A crash like this has happened a couple of times. Just a heads up for anyone who might need to know its happening. Thanks for doing this project though!

Oh, I didn't even realise that game was out on the PS1. I'll take a look before the next update, thanks for the pics

Edit: L1+L2 seems to help a lot, I guess my drive is on it's way out.

Woops, I forgot to update the docu. L1+L2 doesn't do anything any more, so it definitely sounds kinda random and disc related :'( I'll be sure to try in PSIO/xStation just to be sure.

ting color with your NTSC console using an original XP V2/V3 rom, go into the "Customize" menu and set the video mode to NTSC, that should do the job.

Thanks, wasn't sure where to find that in XP!

There is a problem now that I have the UniROM / Caetla side by side. If I go to Caetla, then try to use a catflap funtion like catflap run PROGRAM.EXE then it just reboots the cart. and I'm back at the UniROM main menu.

Xplorer vid mode got me thinking... could be related! I patched caetla to auto-set the video mode so I didn't have to put out a PAL + NTSC version. Unfortunately I don't have any means to test this, but you could try maybe a few versions back and see if caetla behaves? If it does (.B or earlier) then it's something I've screwed up!
Unfortunately, I don't have any hardware to test this

Unirom + XP

Get a 128k xplorer rom (exactly 128k), pad it to 128k if it's not.
(Not sure if XP ever did a 128k rom though)
Then patch the header at 0x00 and 0x80 to match what you see in unirom_withcaetla.rom

If you're gunning for something over 128k (256k etc) you'd be looking at recompiling unirom at this point since it needs to run from a specific place in memory. (For now, I guess this could be changed lol)

No nops on XP

Boo! Again, that's not something I've tested, but the source is over on github.com/JonathanDotCel (NotPSXSerial is the full title). You could see about running it in mono?
E.g. install mono, then run "mono nops /fast /exe whatever.exe COMwhatever"?
Let me know how it goes, or if the source needs any tweaks to support XP!

Did you not have any issue?

Lol tr2 is a labour of love, not my favorite but has to be done, at the monastery now only 5 to go (no issues so far on old version)

Maybe it did not flash to my cart properly as I had a green/black screen running from cart?

Nah, I finally got through the opera house, etc with no issues. Yeah it's a bit of a labour of love, but i think it'll be much nicer second time around. The levels feel pretty big and open at least, I really like that!

[sickle]

How does the disk stop

Heh, there's a debug command just to stop it!
I've heard that action replay on the PS2 used deliberately bad sectors to stop the disc, but not the case here!

What do you think, 50mA is enough, or do I need the 250mA? I would guess 50mA, that is the first cable on the list here: https://www.ftdichip.com/Products/Cable ... Serial.htm

I'm honestly not sure, might be a @danhans42 question?
He always recommends genuine FTDI though, so that's a start.

I used this exact one if it helps any? No issues, works like a champ.

[leafy]

Heh, there's a debug command just to stop it!

That makes sense! I wonder if catflap or whatever can send those commands? Otherwise, it would be so cool if your boot disc did this.

OK, I will give the older versions of UniROM a try, and see what I can do with NotPSXSerial on XP.

[Squaresoft74]

@leafy
You can use V1/V2/V3 roms with your device (256k ones).
I gave a quick try with Xplorer V3 (England) r3.20 LIT 1999-08-11 and exe upload worked fine with no$psx without the wire/diode mod.
You would just need to manually reset the console to then upload something else.

Using Nocash Kernel clone and a modded device allows to reset the console from no$psx.

If uploading executable is just what you need, it's currently by far the fastest way to do it as long as you have the required hardware (works up to Windows 10 x86).

Else use the slower but more convenient serial method and Sickle's Unirom/NoPS for a more advanced usage.

[leafy]

No nops on XP

Boo! Again, that's not something I've tested, but the source is over on github.com/JonathanDotCel (NotPSXSerial is the full title). You could see about running it in mono?
E.g. install mono, then run "mono nops /fast /exe whatever.exe COMwhatever"?
Let me know how it goes, or if the source needs any tweaks to support XP!

OK, I built it a couple of times and finally search online for my error:
"The Application Failed To Initialize Properly (0xc0000135). Click on ok to terminate the application."

This was a clean install of XP, and no .NET framework. I installed dot net 4.0 and it works fine!

Sorry, I didn't think it had a dependency on a dll.

I re-read your readme.md for the 6th time.... "Can I use the parallel port?"
catflap yes....
I see, I can't with nops.exe. I was confused. Anyway, when I get the parts I will build a serial cable.

For the install...
I wonder if I made the ROM file 256k like the Xplorer if CAEFLASH would do it. I rejected the ROM before as too small.

I mean, I can install using the burned CD after sending the boot disk via catflap, but if I could just flash it from the command line with CAEFLASH, then no CD-R needed.

I still need to test an older UNIROM...

Thank!

[leafy]

@leafy
You can use V1/V2/V3 roms with your device (256k ones).
I gave a quick try with Xplorer V3 (England) r3.20 LIT 1999-08-11 and exe upload worked fine with no$psx without the wire/diode mod.

Great! Thanks, I tried the V3 rom. I have yet to try no$psx.

I got X-Killer working correctly finally. I did not realize the zip I grabbed was missing a couple of files; xrun_1FF.bin and flash.bin. I can use it to upload an exe now. I can also use it with the X-Flash CD to flash any ROM onto it without having to have a disk or serial connection! This lets me test these UniROM versions without needing to burn CDs.

[leafy]

@sickle

Until I build my serial, I'm living in a parallel universe...

OK, I told you that NotPSXSerial is working fine under Windows XP. Needs the .NET framework installed to work.

I wanted a way to test your UniROM versions without burning CD-R, and I have found that X-Killer will flash the ROM onto the Xplorer by booting the X-Flash CD or having an Xplorer cart with official ROM running. I used the X-FLASH 1.2B3.

So I did that and tested UniROM/Caetla versions, then used the UniROM menu to load the X-Flash disk again, rinse, repeat. I recommend that method of flashing if you have an Xplorer and parallel port, but no serial cable.

UniROM Release / catflap command result:

8.0b2_R2 / communication timeout
8.0b4, 8.0b5, 8.0b6, 8.0.C/ resets to main UniROM menu.

Also, in 8.0.C I could not get the menu item X-Flash CD to load, but it works on 8.0b6.

I may soon not need catflap... but I could test some more UniROM. Next to try would be 8.0b1, then v6...

I'm kind of interested in doing the hex edit for the UniROM / XP. The XPv2v3 ROMs are 256k, but there are a lot of cheats at the end, so maybe I could delete those and make it exactly 128k and slap them together....

[Squaresoft74]

Great! Thanks, I tried the V3 rom. I have yet to try no$psx.

Give it a try, it's extremely fast !
You may need to run it as administrator to let it install nocash io driver.
I'm using it with the nocash kernel clone flashed on a dedicated Xplorer cartridge to test my PSF rips.
It's a great setup to quickly upload executables, especially big ones.

[leafy]

Great! Thanks, I tried the V3 rom. I have yet to try no$psx.

Give it a try, it's extremely fast !
You may need to run it as administrator to let it install nocash io driver.
I'm using it with the nocash kernel clone flashed on a dedicated Xplorer cartridge to test my PSF rips.
It's a great setup to quickly upload executables, especially big ones.

I definitely want to try this soon!

I have been trying to see if I could make the serial connection work with this Raspberry Pi console cable, because it also only uses TX, RX, and GND at 3.3V. https://www.adafruit.com/product/954


I soldered the 3 wires to the bottom of a SCPH-5501, and then put those into a breadboard, and then with the cable TX-RDX, and RX-TXD GND-GND.

Using a Windows 7 laptop, I tried to get nops.exe to work with UniROM, 8.0.C, and it says downloading on the TV, but then that's it. I tried with a 10k ohm resistor (must it be 8k?), but still no luck.

How long does the hello world that comes with the nops.exe take with the serial connection? I did wait a while...

The cable uses the PL-2303XA/HXA chip. I might try older drivers for Windows 7 because of the chip revision. I didn't try on the Windows XP "development PC" yet.

I have never tried this cable with PSXSerial, so I have no prior experience with it. It does work with Putty and the Raspberry Pi just fine.

I also plan to see how a breakout board using the FTDI 231x chip does with these softwares.

Hey, if the boot disc part of UniROM had just the comm part of the X-Flash CD, that would make it so parallel port Xplorer users could always have a way to flash the ROM, without a CD-R, using UniROM.

I am in awe of the programming skills of sickle and all who contribute to the PSX dev scene. Really cool hacks!

[stirfry8993]

Strange that L1+L2 doesn't do anything anymore... it loads the game. But it like skips cutscenes, and music loads MUCH later, but it doesn't lock up or freeze like the other options. Wonder what is going on then? You lucky dog, my xStation will be being ordered around December if I can swing it financially. Happy for ya though!

[sickle]

@leafy
Aaah yeah, tbh I didn't think anyone would *not* have .NET in 2020!
There's a bunch more information over on the Nops page btw, I just added a pretty comprehensive user guide:
https://github.com/JonathanDotCel/NOTPSXSerial
you might be interested in /fast

XFlash CD:
just call something whatever.rom, drop it on a CD (CDXA Mode 2) and launch it from the file explorer, the flasher will pick up on that.
The "XFlash CD" menu entry no longer has a corresponding file on the CD... it's just for if you want to switch the disc for an *actual* xflash CD. You could always add one the CD, etc, but it's a bit unnecessary!

Unirom 6 uses parallel IO, but I don't have the hardware for that, so I'm not supporting it any more . You can use it to flash Unirom 8 via XFlash/XKiller though.

"Using a Windows 7 laptop, I tried to get nops.exe to work with UniROM, 8.0.C, and it says downloading on the TV, but then that's it. I tried with a 10k ohm resistor (must it be 8k?), but still no luck.

How long does the hello world that comes with the nops.exe take with the serial connection? I did wait a while..."

It should be like 2-3 seconds and show progress.
Are you using the version of nops that shipped with the version of unirom you're using?
There's been a few protocol upgrades along the way... backwards compatible, but y'know.
If you open the serial connection in putty (115200, 8 bit, no parity, 2 stop bits), you can type into it and unirom will respond, you can use this to test your serial connection.


@squaresoft74
God damn, that nocash kernel stuff looks like fun, and all nicely intergrated
I really should get around to giving it a shot!


@stirfry
Hah, oh no I think you just got lucky (unlucky?) with that particular boot.
There's really no longer any code listening for L1 being pushed!
(Not since like 8.06 or something quite old)

[leafy]

@leafy
Aaah yeah, tbh I didn't think anyone would *not* have .NET in 2020!
There's a bunch more information over on the Nops page btw, I just added a pretty comprehensive user guide:
https://github.com/JonathanDotCel/NOTPSXSerial
you might be interested in /fast

Heh heh, I know, I know... Even on XP I would usually have it, but I had only just put it on there from a CD with SP3, and I have it isolated from the internet. It boots really really fast for a PC with a mechanical HDD. No antivirus, lol.
After that I looked at your source code for nops.exe and it made sense that of course with that C# code, you would leverage the serial IO libraries, etc. It ran on XP, but I didn't test a file yet. I will check out your new user guide, thanks!

Before I realized I just needed .NET framework, on my Windows 7 machine, I used Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 to git the source and build it. For a test from Win7 (not XP) I used this built version I think. I can try the one from the UniROM8.0C instead... I installed mono and used that too. I tried /fast too.

I read if you want to build for XP, you can't go over a VS2017 and you need to build for XP. There is an option also when you install that you check.

XFlash CD:
just call something whatever.rom, drop it on a CD (CDXA Mode 2) and launch it from the file explorer, the flasher will pick up on that.
The "XFlash CD" menu entry no longer has a corresponding file on the CD... it's just for if you want to switch the disc for an *actual* xflash CD. You could always add one the CD, etc, but it's a bit unnecessary!

Unirom 6 uses parallel IO, but I don't have the hardware for that, so I'm not supporting it any more . You can use it to flash Unirom 8 via XFlash/XKiller though.

"Using a Windows 7 laptop, I tried to get nops.exe to work with UniROM, 8.0.C, and it says downloading on the TV, but then that's it. I tried with a 10k ohm resistor (must it be 8k?), but still no luck.

How long does the hello world that comes with the nops.exe take with the serial connection? I did wait a while..."

It should be like 2-3 seconds and show progress.
Are you using the version of nops that shipped with the version of unirom you're using?
There's been a few protocol upgrades along the way... backwards compatible, but y'know.
If you open the serial connection in putty (115200, 8 bit, no parity, 2 stop bits), you can type into it and unirom will respond, you can use this to test your serial connection.

OK, great info. I didn't know the settings for putty.. 2 stop bits, got it.

BTW, what does the PSX serial hardware do as far as logic, protocol, voltage levels... is it a RS232 implementation?

[tessa]

sickle or whomever may be familiar with this issue: I am trying to flash rom my Gameshark v2.4 and Goldfinger carts with no avail. It ends up hanging at the point where it says:

This is using your latest build 8.0 D and for example the goldfinger reads as follows:
Detected EEPROM ID: BF, 10
SST 29EE020 : Datel AR/GS V2 256K (0.0)
Loaded Rom: Datel_v2.Rom:1
Hit X to Flash or Sel to Nope out

Everything is unresponsive after this point.. I tried using my 1001 model as well as the 7501 and get the same results with no flashing occurring whatsoever.

Unless I am choosing the wrong option (flash rom) from the menu I don't exactly think this is something on my end. I have tried doing automatic and manual and again both just hang with no opportunity to retry or make changes. Let me know if you need more information. Both of these carts have the same SST29EE020 chips with main difference being the gameshark has an actual Datel ASIC1 chip and the other 2 generic looking ones. Any ideas what could be going wrong? Could it be a bug? Thanks for your time!

[mistamontiel]

Just burnt BattleTanx 2 SLUS-01044

Can't read anything in menus all distorted corrupt garbled text

b5 but I did want to upgrade to current and can't boot the disc..

[Squaresoft74]

@tessa
Did you try booting Unirom disc without the cart inserted and only hot plug it once in main menu ?

[sickle]

BTW, what does the PSX serial hardware do as far as logic, protocol, voltage levels... is it a RS232 implementation?

So you can get away with either the basic 3-wire TX/RX/GND (and forget ground even, if you're not paying attention).
But it does support the more involved protocols with more wires, such as those used by the net yaroze and the sharklink cable. Set your chip to 3.3 and you're good to go.
In terms of actual setup (stop bits, etc) I'd say go take a look at the NoPS source:
https://github.com/JonathanDotCel/NOTPSXSerial

Come chat in the discord btw!

woops, I deleted all the quote text

Unfornately I've only been able to get ahold of *one* V2 cart for testing, so while the mapping is supported... it might be a bit patchy

Would you mind showing pics of them?

Just burnt BattleTanx 2 SLUS-01044

Cheers dude, that's on the todo: for the next release.
Will prod on discord if I need more infos

[mistamontiel]

Sorry must re-iterate I can't update no longer! Not with the D incremental using b5 only hangs no boot

[tic]

I have installed the 8.0.d x-men vs street fighter freeze in the standard piracy text message.

Scph 7502-pal

I have in another GameShark the no cash bios and it boot o.k

Edit it work in fast boot mode(pressing R1 directly at boot) , but not in normal mode.

Sles 012.47