Post by dshadoff on Mar 19, 2023 14:29:01 GMT
I mentioned back in this thread about a non-volatile memory cartridge as a replacement for the FX-BMP cart (although parts were potentially hard to get and expensive):
pcengine.proboards.com/thread/1361/pc-non-volatile-bmp-replacement
I have made a less-expensive, less-challenging version now, with a few behavioral differences; it can be found here:
github.com/dshadoff/PC-FX_Flash
The main difference is that it's made of Flash memory - an easy-to-find 5V version which is now coming back into stock at places like Mouser, etc. but may still be out of stock at the PC board assembly houses for a bit longer.
Flash memory will NOT be able to be used directly by the FX Memory Manager in the boot menu (it won't even display savegames in the correct format as read-only).
...However, the interesting thing is that one can make bootable cartridges.
I have written a memory manager which runs on the Flash cart which operates like the TenNoKoe Bank card on the PC Engine does; rather than manipulate individual game saves back and forth, it allows you to copy the memory (with all save games) as an entire block and file it away for later, or restore a prior version to replace the current contents (be careful !).
I also created a flash utility to program blank cartridges (as a bootable CDROM).
If you want to create your own bootable cartridges containing other hombrew, that's also been a goal of the Flash_Programmer code in that repository. But be careful - once a flash cartridge is made bootable, there is no way for the PC-FX to erase/reprogram it (since it boots directly, before other programs can take control) - for this reason, you should always include a failsafe "erase first sector" command somewhere in the code to allow for the reprogramming.
Happy to talk more about this if there is interest.
pcengine.proboards.com/thread/1361/pc-non-volatile-bmp-replacement
I have made a less-expensive, less-challenging version now, with a few behavioral differences; it can be found here:
github.com/dshadoff/PC-FX_Flash
The main difference is that it's made of Flash memory - an easy-to-find 5V version which is now coming back into stock at places like Mouser, etc. but may still be out of stock at the PC board assembly houses for a bit longer.
Flash memory will NOT be able to be used directly by the FX Memory Manager in the boot menu (it won't even display savegames in the correct format as read-only).
...However, the interesting thing is that one can make bootable cartridges.
I have written a memory manager which runs on the Flash cart which operates like the TenNoKoe Bank card on the PC Engine does; rather than manipulate individual game saves back and forth, it allows you to copy the memory (with all save games) as an entire block and file it away for later, or restore a prior version to replace the current contents (be careful !).
I also created a flash utility to program blank cartridges (as a bootable CDROM).
If you want to create your own bootable cartridges containing other hombrew, that's also been a goal of the Flash_Programmer code in that repository. But be careful - once a flash cartridge is made bootable, there is no way for the PC-FX to erase/reprogram it (since it boots directly, before other programs can take control) - for this reason, you should always include a failsafe "erase first sector" command somewhere in the code to allow for the reprogramming.
Happy to talk more about this if there is interest.