Making Starfox 2 cart from original Starwing??

[MaarioS]

Hi guys!!

I saw this awesome tutorial at snesdev :
http://snesdev.romhack.de/sf2.htm
and I have 1 question: can i do it from original starfox game??? But, I must get the 512Kbit SRAM, but, I think, on the PCB starfox I can replace it . Or, I must rewire something, add or, whatewer???

[Memblers]

One thing I do know is that the FX chip is running slower on Starfox. The faster one Nintendo was calling "FX2". I know the speed is different, but I have no idea about any functional differences. So if it's even possible, for one thing you'd have to overclock it.

Better to just get the same board it used, Stunt Race FX perhaps.

[MottZilla]

I would advise against using Star Wing/Star Fox for Star Fox 2. While the game probably would run, Star Fox 2 is intended to run the SuperFX at 21mhz, not 10.5mhz which the SuperFX in the original Star Fox runs at. You need a game that has the SuperFX chip labeled GSU-2. Doom is a prime target. it has enough RAM but it is not battery backed so your high scores won't be saved. Otherwise I hear Stunt Race FX and Winter Gold are popular targets. Be careful soldering to the PCB pads as well as when desoldering the maskrom as you can easily damage the PCB.

[MaarioS]

Well, you are saying, original starfox is not good??? But, on this tutorial guy uses a stunt race FX cart has got superFX chip and this chip is the same in starfox PCB....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_FX
So, it is not possible to do it??? I have got DOOM cart in PAL, but this cart is very expensive and it is very rare and i got it for really expensive price on the auctions on the web in my country...... But, super mario world 2 has got SuperFX 2 chip with battery
And I have 1 another question: if I make a superFX 2 dev-cart (for ex. from SMW2 cart), the games on this cart will run with the super FX chip and with super FX 2 chip???

[tepples]

Well, you are saying, original starfox is not good??? But, on this tutorial guy uses a stunt race FX cart has got superFX chip and this chip is the same in starfox PCB....

Not all boards have the same revision of the Super FX.

[Hojo_Norem]

Stunt Race FX is a cart that fits the bill nicely for StarFox 2. Yes it isn't a SFX2 cart but I have made on using Stunt Race FX and baring one or two occasions it is quite playable. Also I hear that the cart can be overclocked slightly using a faster resonator or crystal to improve the frame rate but I have played through all 3 difficulty levels and found hardly ant trouble.

There are some cutscenes with rather low FPS but they do seem to sync adequately with the music.

BTW, I have built two SF2 carts, both using Stunt Race FX with no problem. In fact, the second cart not only has Starfox 2 but also has Starfox and Starfox competition edition all in one cart. I had to double the sram (easy mod, remove sram chip and replace with larger one with compatible pinout) because SF2's scores kept getting wiped by the other two games.

I would love to have a menu like Mario All Stars to select between the three but at the moment I just use a couple of switches because I haven't a clue how to code it...

[orwannon]

But, on this tutorial guy uses a stunt race FX cart has got superFX chip and this chip is the same in starfox PCB....

No, it isn't. Starfox uses the very first revision of the Super FX, labelled "MARIO CHIP 1" (or "MARIO CHIP-1-100" on the PCB itself). All other Super FX games either use the "GSU-1" or the "GSU-2". So, there are in fact three major revisions of the chip.

GSU-1 (not 2) is the one you need for Starfox 2. The translated and bugfixed version of the game is actually prone to frequent crashing when run on the GSU-2, so beware.

Also, make sure there's enough SRAM on the "donor" PCB! (When building Starfox 2 out of a Stunt Race FX cart, there's nothing to worry about, as Hojo_Norem just noted. )

And I have 1 another question: if I make a superFX 2 dev-cart (for ex. from SMW2 cart), the games on this cart will run with the super FX chip and with super FX 2 chip???

Yoshi's Island being a GSU-2 cart, games designed for the GSU-1 might work on it. To rule out possible bugs and crashes, however, I'd always recommend using the chip a game was designed for.

The MARIO and GSU-1 chips cannot handle games bigger than 8Mbit, BTW, beside other limitations and differences.

[MottZilla]

I've never heard that Star Fox 2 should be on a GSU-1 board and not GSU-2. I have heard that GSU-2 supports 16mbits where as the others support only 8mbits. I believe I've heard that GSU-2 can toggle between 10.5mhz and 21mhz where as the others can't but that may not be true, GSU-1 might be able to do it as well. I've heard that the Mario Chip has the clock for the chip inside the cartridge where as GSU-1 and GSU-2 use the Clock signal provided on the cartridge port.

Super Mario World 2 does not have enough RAM on board for Star Fox 2. It sounds like Stunt Race FX is the best game for you to use as I didn't realize Doom was uncommon in your region. In North America atleast for awhile Doom for SNES was very common and cheap.

[orwannon]

I've never heard that Star Fox 2 should be on a GSU-1 board and not GSU-2. (...)
It sounds like Stunt Race FX is the best game for you to use (...).

But you do realize that Stunt Race FX is GSU-1, do you not ...?

I've heard that the Mario Chip has the clock for the chip inside the cartridge where as GSU-1 and GSU-2 use the Clock signal provided on the cartridge port.

It's just the other way round.

[Near]

It's just the other way round.

Ugh, that's definitely not something fun to emulate :P
Especially if you get real-time oscillator rate fluctuations, eg as the chip heats up. Fun fun.

[MottZilla]

Yes I realize Stunt Race FX is so. But I never said Star Fox 2 needed to be GSU-2, just suggested Doom as its cheap here.

About the clock, that's right most Super FX have clock things in them. Not sure why I had them backwards.

[MaarioS]

Digging up my very old topic huh . Well, finally after 5 years (lol) I managed to buy a new Willem programmer, some EPROMs and a donor cart, but I have 1 basic problem- anyone have the Star Fox 2/Starwing 2 English PAL European ROM?? Or will the NTSC version work on a PAL cartridge and console as well?? Any kind of help will be very appreciated . Thanks a lot in advance!!

[MottZilla]

There is no PAL version. But the NTSC version should run on a PAL system I think. You might want to test by using an emulator with the force PAL option to be sure there isn't a lockout.