Streemerz bundle

[thefox]

How about a new standalone version of Streemerz?

I'm waiting for thefox to put that out himself in case he comes up with some last-minute fixes. I imagine he doesn't want several publicly distributed standalone versions cluttering up GoodNES.

Yeah, please nobody rip the new version out of the multicart ROM (or at least release it). v02 release should be out in the next couple of weeks.

v02 is now out there: http://www.fauxgame.com

[tepples]

Should I be putting a signature at the end of RAM so that programs can know to offer a quit button when in the compilation and to hide it when run standalone?

[infiniteneslives]

Well it's now February... How are we doing? Is Streemerz v02 the official version we'd like in the bundle?

Some updates on my end:
I purchased all the electrical components I need, and have them ready to go. I'm going to start programming the CPLD/mappers this week. I'll be ready to program EPROMs whenever the official ROM is ready. Not at the point where it's holding me back or anything. That point shouldn't be for another week or two. Any last minute details we still need to iron out on the ROM?

I purchased the cases online today for $4.09 each including shipping. EPROMs were $2 each, I'll have to go back and check but everything I quoted previously should have been accurate in my costs.

I've got a source for labels at no charge Nobody's stepped up to the plate on designing the graphic for the label still. Assuming this doesn't happen this week I'm planning on working on something myself this weekend.

Still on target, and hoping to have everything assembled and up for sale via my site by the end of the month.

I'm going to talk with Jim's Cool about how his multi-region CIC is coming along. So far I can only assure the sale of NTSC CICs.

[thefox]

Well it's now February... How are we doing? Is Streemerz v02 the official version we'd like in the bundle?

As far as I'm concerned, yes.

[infiniteneslives]

Alright getting down to the nitty gritty here.

I don't claim to be an artist, but since there weren't any that stepped in I broke out the MS paint skills...

It's a little busy, but I got most of the contributions included since I didn't feel the need to pick favorites I figured it was easier to add now and take away later if desired. Something's could probably be better arranged but it's late and I wanted to atleast get a draft posted ASAP.

I sprinkled in Twaite everywhere partially because it was easy and also because it was the compo winner. And the biggest was Streemerz since it was the main feature. Everything is a direct screenshots from the game, didn't scale anything besides the upside down label at the top. If someone has a better image or version of what to put on the top label I'd be welcome and appreciated, my version is admittedly pretty lame...



If everyone's cool with the label I'll order those before the end of the week.

I have 50 clear cases on hand thanks to Retrozone for selling those to us at discount. Ended about the same as free shipping in the end.

I've started assembly on the boards and would like to wrap them up this week. I'm to the point now that a final rom would be of use so I could start programming these EPROMs and get em soldered in to finish things up.

Only item that needs to be resolved for some is CIC regions. Currently only NTSC is tested on the JCIC. Any one concerned about shipping out CICs to PAL or other regions that isn't fully tested? Perhaps someone (hopefully with a AVR programmer) could volunteer in each region? Then any one with concerns could be shipped after verification. I'm open to ideas/solutions here.

[tepples]

I plan to work on the release candidate ROM later today, so we can have something to test out in PAL land.

EDIT: I'm working on a more detailed label too. It's 200 dpi and 464x800 pixels including bleed parts.

EDIT: Unfortunately, I have to report a delay in this project. I just upgraded FCEUX, and it ended up reverting to "Mapper 28 is not supported at all." I reopened bug 550.

[Hojo_Norem]

Only item that needs to be resolved for some is CIC regions. Currently only NTSC is tested on the JCIC. Any one concerned about shipping out CICs to PAL or other regions that isn't fully tested? Perhaps someone (hopefully with a AVR programmer) could volunteer in each region? Then any one with concerns could be shipped after verification.

I've been keeping an eye on this thread for some time thinking I might buy one of these carts. I'm on the PAL side of the pond and I have a AVR programmer. Are you planning on having a ISP port on the cart PCB or will the AVR need de-soldering first?

[tepples]

I didn't get a chance to put together a final ROM tonight because of FCEUX difficulties and a congregation meeting. I should have the ROM tomorrow, and I encourage it to be shown at MGC.

But I did manage to get a label done. I redrew the game's logo in 2x resolution and took into account bleed, the part of the image that gets printed over the edge of the sticker in case the trimming is slightly misaligned.

[infiniteneslives]

I didn't get a chance to put together a final ROM tonight because of FCEUX difficulties and a congregation meeting. I should have the ROM tomorrow, and I encourage it to be shown at MGC.

No worries, Tomorrow or the next day would be great.

But I did manage to get a label done. I redrew the game's logo in 2x resolution

I like!

I did move a couple things around after uploading the last label:


But honestly I think I like your label better, so I vote yours. It's not as chaotic as mine... (and I just realized I forgot CLIK from virus cleaner somehow...)

I've been keeping an eye on this thread for some time thinking I might buy one of these carts. I'm on the PAL side of the pond and I have a AVR programmer. Are you planning on having a ISP port on the cart PCB or will the AVR need de-soldering first?

Are you PAL A or B?

I don't have a dedicated ISP header. I use SOIC packaged chips but there are DIP holes surrounding it that can be connected to for ISP. If you've got basic soldering/connectivity skills I should be able to direct you how to reflash it if necessary without desoldering the CIC.

[tepples]

So I reverted to FCEUX 2.2.0. Between 2.2.0 and 2.2.1, the mappers were reorganized, and #28 was inadvertently dropped. I was then able to make the first release candidate build: "R.C.#1". The change from beta 4 is the use of the final streemerz-v02 ROM. If this ROM works on the final production hardware, I'll release a tool that takes the chosen RC and generates a serially numbered ROM to burn onto a cartridge. I'm using serial numbers because there's someone on NA who likes to have #37 of every release or something like that.

Should we think about a manual?

[tokumaru]

I'm using serial numbers because there's someone on NA who likes to have #37 of every release

Talk about OCD! And you are doing this just for that guy? OK then...

[rainwarrior]

You could just make them all #37.

[infiniteneslives]

Everything works on the final boards. BUT streemerz no longer supports exiting back to the main multi menu. The option isn't even there, so I'm guessing it's just an issue with integrating the mulit-version into the latest streemerz version.

As for the cart numbering. I think it's a cool idea for this batch of 50, making them unique and all. Not sure I'm interested in having people fighting over numbers or keeping track of who's supposed to get what specific cart... But if it's just the one guy or a few others I don't have a problem with making sure they get the desired number. If it becomes a headache I'll quickly loose interest and name them all #37 as rainwarrior suggested.

I have played around a little with my programmer. I REALLY don't want to have to load a new file into my programmer app. I can easily modify the ROM image from within my programmer app though. So if you just give me a specific byte to manually increment with each EPROM it'll be nice and easy for me to handle. I see streemerz is in the first banks, I assume your the multi engine is in the last bank and there appears to be some unused data near the reset vectors. So something like $7FFE0 would be a good place that's easy for me to navigate to.

Additionally as discussed previously part of my testing of each cart is to dump it with the kazzo and verify the checksum. I'll whip up the mapper dumping script for it. But the checksum will be different for each ROM. You had mentioned calculating the checksums via a python script, something like that would be nice but not required I can always manually calculate the checksum with my hex editor if need be.

Out of curiosity, where will the build number be displayed when playing on the NES?

[tepples]

I REALLY don't want to have to load a new file into my programmer app. I can easily modify the ROM image from within my programmer app though. So if you just give me a specific byte to manually increment with each EPROM it'll be nice and easy for me to handle

The ASCII encoded, NUL-terminated string "R.C.#1" is in the last bank. Change that to "#00001", "#00002", etc. Or does it have to be a single byte, not a string?

I see streemerz is in the first banks

Correct. The builder's current structure puts non-NROM games in lower numbered banks.

I assume your the multi engine is in the last bank

Correct.

and there appears to be some unused data near the reset vectors.

The data near the reset vectors can be thought of as the master boot record, containing pointers to parts of the ROM's directory structure.

Out of curiosity, where will the build number be displayed when playing on the NES?

The current build number is "R.C.#1".

[infiniteneslives]

I REALLY don't want to have to load a new file into my programmer app. I can easily modify the ROM image from within my programmer app though. So if you just give me a specific byte to manually increment with each EPROM it'll be nice and easy for me to handle

The ASCII encoded, NUL-terminated string "R.C.#1" is in the last bank. Change that to "#00001", "#00002", etc. Or does it have to be a single byte, not a string?

So do things push forward or push backwards? aka: Where do I delete from to fit in the extra digits or larger numbers? I tried some things and only broke it I guessing you'll have to insert some zeros for me. I can manually convert from decimal to ascii. The hex to ascii conversion is visible in the same pane so that helps out.

Does we need thefox to supply a multi version (with exit to menu) of the latest build of streemerz for us?