PowerPak and Mappers

Discuss hardware-related topics, such as development cartridges, CopyNES, PowerPak, EPROMs, or whatever.

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notherealbigjoe
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PowerPak and Mappers

Post by notherealbigjoe »

Hi i got a powerpak about a year ago, and finally starting using it, the issue im running into is boots no problem, but whenever i add the save state mappers, games freeze or dont load at all, i see tons of streaners do it with no problem, wondering if someone could help me out and take a look. I have attached a picture of what the contents of my folder looks like. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
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Memblers
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Re: PowerPak and Mappers

Post by Memblers »

Sounds like the usual problem with the PowerPak, I've experienced a similar thing myself. Seems like it can choke up on the filesystem sometimes, the files themselves are probably fine. The fix is to copy the data off the CF card, reformat the CF card, then replace the files. Hopefully that fixes it for you.
notherealbigjoe
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Re: PowerPak and Mappers

Post by notherealbigjoe »

so i tried that and im playing punchout currently and it crashes and goes back to the title screen... then i boot batman revenge of the joker and that doesnt boot at all. im so confused? do i maybe have a bad card? ive tried my sideloader and my toploader and i have the same issues
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aquasnake
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Re: PowerPak and Mappers

Post by aquasnake »

The save state function requires hijacking the data bus and replacing instructions (possibly NMI). It is latched during the first 1/3 cycle (approximately) of the data bus OE signal, and then judging: If it matches the byte data that needs to be replaced, it must be hijacked. Then, it is forced to output to the data bus within the last 2/3 cycle (approximately)

Applications that require hijacking of data lines, such as SAVE STATE and GAME GENIE, are very demanding on CPU timing and may have an impact on console compatibility
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Memblers
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Re: PowerPak and Mappers

Post by Memblers »

I'm not sure if there's a specific utility for CF cards, but there are SD card formatting utilities, maybe one of those might have a better chance at clearing out whatever possible filesystem corruption. On the other side of the interface, it's all NAND flash, either way.

If formatting the card doesn't fix it, and you know your files are good, then maybe it is the card.
aquasnake wrote: Thu May 04, 2023 7:08 pm Applications that require hijacking of data lines, such as SAVE STATE and GAME GENIE, are very demanding on CPU timing and may have an impact on console compatibility
That reminds me, the first batch of PowerPaks did have compatibility problems and were recalled, to have series resistors installed on the CPU data bus. Which were built-in on later versions. But that was over 15 years ago, long pre-dating the save state mappers. I suppose there's a chance some of these vintage units are floating around out there without the mod. If it just happened to work on someone's system, they might not have noticed the recall at the time.
Fiskbit
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Re: PowerPak and Mappers

Post by Fiskbit »

I suspect the resistor fix was for the OAM corruption issue that was rediscovered in the last few years, where signal reflection off the cartridge on the CPU data bus can flip bits in OAM. The amount of corruption is dependent on both the console and the workload. Presumably it can crash games by breaking sprite 0 hit or sprite overflow, but you'd also probably be seeing general sprite corruption in games, particularly on lag frames. Note that the Everdrive N8 original triggers this corruption and I haven't heard of it crashing games.
notherealbigjoe
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Re: PowerPak and Mappers

Post by notherealbigjoe »

if its the card can someone tell me which one i should order, im uploading a picture of the one im currently using
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krzysiobal
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Re: PowerPak and Mappers

Post by krzysiobal »

Can someone make good quality photos of both front and back side of PowerPak? Looks like there is not much footage of it on the internet.
Image My website: http://krzysiobal.com | Image My NES/FC flashcart: http://krzysiocart.com
notherealbigjoe
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Re: PowerPak and Mappers

Post by notherealbigjoe »

also was thinking about it, is there a limit on how many games should be in the "games" folder? I know when you mod the nes/snes classics, you could only have 25 per page or the system would crash, does the powerpak run the same issue?
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