[lib] libgbpak - a Transfer Pak beta library and dumping-tool v0.63.2

[fintogive]

so it didnt show the check connection error but nothing appeared to dump after it saids dumping... dumped...  it said somthing like fatcantopenfilebyename error and didnt respond to button inputs.  i tried tetris and it came up with the same error with no rom file on the sd.

[saturnu]

for me it's working on my v2.0 :/
i'm not sure if i can really debug this without a v2.5 or v3

here is a debug rom, that displays the exact error code:
https://a.pomf.cat/zoeptv.v64

[ozidual]

I just wanted to pop in and say thank you saturnu.  I haven't tested the new version, but back when I first picked up my ed64 the first thing I did was back up my old GB/GBC saves.  It's a good feeling to have all of those old memories somewhere safe

[iwasaperson]

New version works perfectly! Thank you.

ROM Hashes match with No-Intro, and save loads up just fine.

[fintogive]

Dang well i thought maybe it was because it was on fat32 so i switched to a 2gb fat formatted card and didnt get any different results.  so should i try a earlier OS or everdrive?  or doesnt it just not work with v2.5/v3?

[saturnu]

I'm testing with the latest OS v2.12 on my ED64v2.0 and iwasaperson is using a ED64v2.5.
Acutually i don't know what's going on with your cart.
you can try put it on an alternate sdcard and place it as OS64.v64 in the ED64 folder, to boot from it directly. ^^
Or you can try to backup your sdcard, format it with fat32 and use a 4KB cluster size.

changelog:
v0.6.3.3
- updated v2.5 fw

[fintogive]

Oh!!!... I feel stupid now... i should have just read the dang readme file XD

"put the GB64 directory at the root of the sd card"
 now its working! derp...

And from what i can tell ive successfully dumped the rom! thanks man your a real life saver!

now i just got one more cart to dump and thats the n64 test cart.

[TUWieZ]

Not sure if this could help on implementing HuC3 (this game probably has little documentation),  but 'Robot Ponkottsu 64 - 7tsu no Umi no Caramel (Japan)' is an N64 title which used the transferpak to receive data from the japanese Robopon GBC titles, Sun/Star/Moon. (These games have custom cartridges with speakers + a replaceable cr2025 compartment, and use HuC3.)

https://github.com/Drenn1/GameYob/issues/51#issuecomment-16026325

Phenomenal work so far by the by, very impressed at the support for custom carts like pokemon rumble pinball and the gameboy camera 

Just wanna add onto this, there's an open source GB emu called "GEST" made specifically for the obscure HuC3 mapper. This was the only emu I've seen that can read/write battery files for HuC3 games like Robopon.
http://gest-emu.mbnet.fi/down.htm
http://www.cherryroms.co.uk/forums/copier-and-hardware-forum/gbgbc-huc1-and-huc3-mapper.html

[saturnu]

thanks for that link, this might come in userful.

it seems like there are a lot of abscure mappers supported by this emulator like:
mbc7
tama5
huc3
ROCKMAN8
BC
MMM01
POKE
8IN1
MK12

[skaman]

I built a standalone GB cart reader with support for all of the official mappers.

I dump HuC1(0xFF) as MBC1 and HuC3(0xFE) as MBC5.

MBC7(0x22) and TAMA5(0xFD) are the problem carts when it comes to save games.  MBC7 uses reads/writes to 0xA080(Kirby)/0xA180(CMaster) and TAMA5 uses 0xA000/0xA001 for both ROM and RAM.

[skaman]

Latest version of 0.63 fixes the screen problems thank you!

One last request, and this may be too much work / too difficult, so it is fine if say no, please don't worry about it!

Can you figure out how to dump saved games from Mega Memory Card by InterAct? I've got a few carts with dead batteries so I can't restore saves from MMC in order to dump them with ed64. I guess I can figure out how to change the cart battery evenutally tho..

I dumped MMC rom and I can see the save game file table at 0x7800 with my save file titles listed and if I run the DEMO.GB rom in an emulator it show my games in the delete menu like normal. So if we're lucky getting at the saves might be as simple as overdumping DEMO.GB?

Anyway I'm very happy with this program as is already thanks so much!!!


edit:

Here is a picture of MMC.

Also it seems all of 0x7000 ~ 0x7FFF is used for file management. I see this by comparing with
never used MMC rom file from the net.

0x7000 ~0x7800 looks like a FAT table!

Finally found some time to look at the Mega Memory.  I'm still working out all of the little details but the two tables that timmy posted are the mapping for each stored save game and the save title list.  Each byte in the mapping table represents 0x100 (256) bytes.

The save data is run length encoded and uses the 1st byte of each block as the RLE marker.  For example, if the save game block starts with 0x12 then that is the byte used for run length encoding.  You will most likely see a bunch of 0x12s repeating thru out the block.  Each 0x12 (except the 1st one) designates a run length encoded item consisting of 3 bytes.  Following the 0x12, the 2nd byte is the count and the 3rd byte is the byte that repeats.  If bytes don't repeat in the save then they're stored as is. 

The actual RLE marker byte changes based on the save data.  The Mega Memory selects a byte not used in the save game.  This prevents corruption of the save game due to the RLE.

More testing to do.

For anyone wanting to dump their MMC and extract their stored saves, more details posted here:  http://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=15181

[Asaki]

I got it to work and was able to repeat it one or two more times. I have everdrive64 v2. Here are the steps I took:

1. System was turned off
2. Plugged both gb camera and transfer pack SNUGGLY into the controller on port 1.
3. Turn on and start  libgbpak beta v.6 (with sram write)
4. Libgbpak makes the gb ding sound and shows the "check connection" message on the bottom and NO -1 or -4
5. If requirements in step 4 has been met, then slightly pull the gb camera out JUST A LITTLE BIT instead of it being all the way in the transfer pack. I am talking about 1 or 2 mm.
6. Press the reset button on the system - not powering it off.
7. Start libgbpak again with a little prayer...
8. Once it shows the name of the game, press B to dump the SRAM, and be patient because it is about 128KB.

Can this information be added to the main post or the readme file or something? I was having the same issue, and pulling the cartridge out just a tiny bit really did the trick.

[TUWieZ]

thanks for that link, this might come in userful.

it seems like there are a lot of abscure mappers supported by this emulator like:
mbc7
tama5
huc3
ROCKMAN8
BC
MMM01
POKE
8IN1
MK12

I built a standalone GB cart reader with support for all of the official mappers.

I dump HuC1(0xFF) as MBC1 and HuC3(0xFE) as MBC5.

MBC7(0x22) and TAMA5(0xFD) are the problem carts when it comes to save games.  MBC7 uses reads/writes to 0xA080(Kirby)/0xA180(CMaster) and TAMA5 uses 0xA000/0xA001 for both ROM and RAM.

Any updates on a release for a save dumper with huc3 support?

The speaker and RTC in huc3 cartridges make the save battery die very fast; which is why the cartridges for huc3 games are designed for battery swapping (while the game is powered on so the save isn't lost.)

Sorry to post about this again but I don't wanna lose my saves if I forget to replace the batteries on time lol

[skaman]

Details on MBC7 Saves here:  http://gbdev.gg8.se/forums/viewtopic.php?id=448

Details on TAMA5 Saves here:  http://gbdev.gg8.se/forums/viewtopic.php?id=469

[r1ggles]

Can't dump the save from Pokemon Crystal (JPN) version, the English versions of Yellow, Gold work fine. Thanks for developing this tool btw!

If I view the Japanese ROM in GB View it shows SRAM as "UNKNOWN" meanwhile the English version says 256 KBit (32 KBytes (4 banks of 8 Kbytes each)), if that's any help to know what the region difference could be.


Here's a pastebin with memory addresses to the Japanese version of Pokemon Crystal:

https://pastebin.com/jTJdNYZK
(thanks to gifvex)


GB64 Info:

Title: PM_CRYSTAL
Mapper: 0x04
Rombanks: 0x00
Romsize (kb): 2048
Rambanks: 0x00