Page 1 of 1

How to split a nes file

Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2012 6:11 pm
by jdmonly
Hello I'm new here and to this retro thing any way I hope I'm in the right section . How do I split a nes file into a prg an chr file

Re: How to split a nes file

Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2012 7:30 pm
by 3gengames
Download this tool:

http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 25&t=28549

And for windows, you can just drag the ROM to the program, or you can run it in a batch file with:

Code: Select all

ReadNES3.exe ROMNAME.NES [Number of times to repeat program bank] [Number of times to repeat character bank]
If you're in linux, I think I added a linux file to that ZIP, but if not the source is there, just compile and do the same. Shell script would just be:

Code: Select all

./ReadNES3 ROMNAME.NES [Number of times to repeat program bank] [Number of times to repeat character bank]
That should be all ya need. Good luck.

Re: How to split a nes file

Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2012 7:38 pm
by jdmonly
Ok I will try tomororrow it's bit late thanks

Re: How to split a nes file

Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 8:42 am
by jdmonly
i tried to split a nes file which was legend of zelda then looked for a Donor Cart and it is a snrom according to this link http://www.thenesdump.com/Mappers/SNROM.htm it has no CHR rom so i think i do not need to split zelda hope you understand first time playing a nes last week i was born in 1993 so this is very very new to me thanks

Re: How to split a nes file

Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 9:52 am
by tokumaru
Even if a ROM has no CHR-ROM (meaning it uses CHR-RAM), you still have to "split" it in order to remove the iNES header (i.e. the first 16 bytes of the file).

Re: How to split a nes file

Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 10:33 am
by jdmonly
so just split the Nes file and burn the prg file to an eprom and that's it ready for the donor cart and what eprom do i use thanks

Re: How to split a nes file

Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 10:57 am
by tokumaru
Yeah, just burn the PRG-ROM. Most 8-bit EPROMs will work, just keep in mind that EPROM sizes are specified in Kilobits, not Kilobytes. Take a 27C256 for example: it holds 256 Kilobits, which is 32 Kilobytes. If the PRG-ROM is 128 Kilobytes, you need a 27c010 (the 010 stands for 1024).

Also, you can't just drop the EPROM where the original Mask ROM was, because the pinouts are not 100% compatible. You have to compare the pinouts of both chips rewire anything that doesn't match.

Re: How to split a nes file

Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 12:51 pm
by jdmonly
OK thanks for the help i know i have solder and wire the chip in i was wondering if you could use a zif socket and then just swap the chip to another snrom chip like Bard's Tale is that possible thanks

Re: How to split a nes file

Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 3:02 pm
by tokumaru
jdmonly wrote:i was wondering if you could use a zif socket and then just swap the chip to another snrom chip like Bard's Tale is that possible thanks
Yes, that would work fine.

Re: How to split a nes file

Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 5:00 pm
by jdmonly
that's good whats the best site to get eproms

Re: How to split a nes file

Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 5:09 pm
by 3gengames
Just google for the ROMS. You can't post any copyrighted ROMS here though!

Re: How to split a nes file

Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 6:10 pm
by infiniteneslives
3gengames wrote:Just google for the ROMS. You can't post any copyrighted ROMS here though!
Guessing you read it too fast ;) For EPROMs, ebay is decent one of the sellers there also has their own site but they ship from china 'buyicnow' I think I've got good stuff from them in the past. Someone else might have a better supplier stateside if you don't want to wait as long.

Re: How to split a nes file

Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 6:29 pm
by 3gengames
Haha, I read it thinking he really meant ROMS, heh. My bad. But Futurlec has some ROMS, Ebay, Digikey maybe.

Re: How to split a nes file

Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2012 12:42 pm
by jdmonly
does anybody here use the GQ-4X PROGRAMMER is it worth £80 is there other ones that does the job for less then £80

Re: How to split a nes file

Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2012 2:06 pm
by proveaux
Yeah. It works well. I haven't any problems with.