ROM-Reader for Super Nintendo / Super Famicom Game Cartridges

[xIceMan]

So, after trying dump a few Famicom games I noticed that VRC4 (tested with Crisis Force, mapper 23) is not dumping properly. All bytes are wrong eventough the game works inside the consol.es

Also, would it be possible to also add iNES header to the dumps?

[LHCGreg]

Also, would it be possible to also add iNES header to the dumps?

I just recently started working on adding iNES header support. I'm not dedicating a ton of time to it, just an hour or two per weekend, so it's going fairly slowly. Anyone interested can look at my branch at https://github.com/LHCGreg/cartreader/tree/ines.

Speaking of which, my first step was to refactor the code to a more typical C/C++ file structure with header and source files (keeping the .ino extension) so that I could work in Visual Studio Code and get autocomplete, go to definition, find all references, etc without red squiggles everywhere. I'm new to Arduino and a software engineer by trade and found the Arduino "IDE" quite lacking. sanni, how do you feel about those changes at https://github.com/LHCGreg/cartreader/tree/refactor? It's totally untested currently other than checking that it builds in VS Code and Arduino IDE but I'm wondering if that's the kind of thing you would be willing to integrate upstream.

[skaman]

Mapper 23 (VRC 2b/4e) was tested with Akumajou Special (VRC4e), Ganbare Goemon 2 and Jarinko Chie (VRC2b).

Is it an original Crisis Force cart?  I read about Crisis Force carts that use a ROM converted to MMC3.  If I can find a Crisis Force at a decent price, then I'll pick one up to test.

[wildBcat]

Would you all be so kind as to check my solder job so far? I know it is not the best, but does anyone see anything on the parts that are soldered so far that would be of any issue?

[androxilogin]

Would you all be so kind as to check my solder job so far? I know it is not the best, but does anyone see anything on the parts that are soldered so far that would be of any issue?

Your voltage regulator, 2uf, 100nf and ground pins on some of the switches and GBA slot seem a bit rushed. N64 pin header connections around the two ground pins beside the clock generator look a bit weak as well. The best course of action is to plan out in which order you populate your board. It should probably still work this way aside from possibly the previously mentioned N64 pins but you have to basically build your own confidence while building these things. As you go along things will feel much smoother. Not a bad job so far but it's visible you're holding back possibly being intimidated by the number of joints that lie ahead.

My question is: would it be possible to implement reading of the SD card through USB rather than having to remove it to acquire files? This would be a time saver.

[sanni]

I'm wondering if that's the kind of thing you would be willing to integrate upstream.

As long as it still compiles with the Arduino IDE I see no issues with refactoring the code so it works better with Visual Studio. 
I always wanted to make the code more modular. Like when you read through it you'll notice the same lines of code appearing over and over again, especially surrounding the file access. There is probably an opportunity hidden there to turn this into some sort of function.
I only finished the first 80 pages of "The C programming language" by Kernighan and it probably shows. I stopped when they started talking about pointers.

my solder job so far?

You need to set your soldering iron to a higher temperature since some of the solder points like on the AMS1117 voltage regulator and some of the GND pins look a little "dry".
If you have a spare PCB you can try different solder iron temperatures there and see what works best.
Are you using the newer lead-free solder or the old Pb60Sn40 type?

But overall it's fine and your Cart Reader most likely will work. Just do yourself a favour and before connecting the USB cable the first time check for a short between VCC and GND using a multimeter, better to be safe than sorry. 

would it be possible to implement reading of the SD card through USB rather than having to remove it to acquire files? This would be a time saver.

If you can find an Arduino library/code example that can do such a thing and is not too big I can try to add it.

[xIceMan]

@skaman: The MMC3 version is pure trash and full of glitches. I have made th cart myself using Tiny Toon Adventures as a  donor cart since it uses the same PCB (352396), so it's original VRC4 hardware. Finding Crisis Force at a decent price is insane.

Also, which game was mapper 82 tested with?

[xjunox]

Can you force a game size for sms instead of auto detecting?

[skaman]

Mapper 82 was tested with SD Keiji Blader and copies of Kyuukyoku Harikiri Stadium Heisei Gannen Ban.

[xIceMan]

Yea, it was working fine. Just didn't know that the X1-017 actually does not support 256K on its own and the PRG ROM pinout is weird as well. Was able to dump the cart (using EPROM) now, so all good.

[wildBcat]

You need to set your soldering iron to a higher temperature since some of the solder points like on the AMS1117 voltage regulator and some of the GND pins look a little "dry".
If you have a spare PCB you can try different solder iron temperatures there and see what works best.
Are you using the newer lead-free solder or the old Pb60Sn40 type?

But overall it's fine and your Cart Reader most likely will work. Just do yourself a favor and before connecting the USB cable the first time check for a short between VCC and GND using a multimeter, better to be safe than sorry. 

Thank you! I will work with different temperatures. How would I check for a short between VCC and GND?

[wildBcat]

I have been using the youtube video, showing the assembly of the PCB board, extensively. I notice that it doesn't show the clock generator being put on. Do these images show the correct placement of it? I want to make sure before I solder it.

[wildBcat]

Does anyone have any pictures, videos, or instructions on how to put together/use the SNES to NES adapter?

[sanni]

Your placement of the clock generator is correct.

Every multimeter has a diode test you can use to check if two points are connected to each other. You just set the multimeter to the appropriate mode, see the instruction manual, and then touch one of the two probes to the GND pin and the other to the 5V pin of the Arduino/Cart Reader and then it should not *beep*. If it does make a sound then there is a connection between the two points, which would be bad and needs to be fixed. The Arduino/Cart Reader needs to remain off during this test.

As for the NES adapter, start with soldering the 4 corner pins so that the NES slot is centered then solder the rest of the pins. You will have to bend each pin a little bit towards the middle so they make contact with the PCB.
Please wear eye protection since the pins can fling back into their original position and throw hot solder at you.

As for using the NES adapter, connect it to the NES cartridge, both the "Front" of the adapter and the label of the cartridge facing you and then plug them together into the Cart Reader.
Then follow these instructions for dumping: https://github.com/sanni/cartreader/wiki/Dumping-NES-Games

[wildBcat]

Your placement of the clock generator is correct.

Every multimeter has a diode test you can use to check if two points are connected to each other. You just set the multimeter to the appropriate mode, see the instruction manual, and then touch one of the two probes to the GND pin and the other to the 5V pin of the Arduino/Cart Reader and then it should not *beep*. If it does make a sound then there is a connection between the two points, which would be bad and needs to be fixed. The Arduino/Cart Reader needs to remain off during this test.

As for the NES adapter, start with soldering the 4 corner pins so that the NES slot is centered then solder the rest of the pins. You will have to bend each pin a little bit towards the middle so they make contact with the PCB.
Please wear eye protection since the pins can fling back into their original position and throw hot solder at you.

As for using the NES adapter, connect it to the NES cartridge, both the "Front" of the adapter and the label of the cartridge facing you and then plug them together into the Cart Reader.
Then follow these instructions for dumping: https://github.com/sanni/cartreader/wiki/Dumping-NES-Games

Thank you!