Messages

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: REPAIR GUIDE - TurboDuo/PC Engine Duo/R/RX: Laser Swap & Adjustment Guide]

Ok, ready to do what will hopefully be the last adjustments I will need for the pots. Mainly to see if this thing will read CD-Rs well (The discs I burned worked great on Irish Ninja's DUO-R once we got it working. But either won't load, or audio cuts out on mine.) I found an older-ish multimeter to test the resistances, but it is manual. The question I have is that there are several settings for resistance on the thing. It starts at 200ohm, and then goes to 2000, 20k, 200k, and finally 2000k. What should I have it set to to measure the pots? Also, since I'm measuring resistance, it shouldn't matter which color goes on which point correct?

Yeah, this is fairly noobish, but I haven't done much electronics work since around my first year in college and I am rusty as all hell.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: New Guy Raffle: 100 posts and under...]

I'm in. Very nice of you.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Ys Book 2 burnland boss]

Maybe you aren't high enough level? Ys can be REALLY strict about minimum levels to beat a boss, if you are too low you might not even be able to damage them.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: PC Engine Duo-R cd problem]

Second time I have seen this happen. Irish Ninja is STILL having problems with his.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: Turbob goodness for sale... 3/10]

PM sent. Assuming anything is left.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Best Deals and Best Wild Fines]

Man, you all are making me Jelly. Grats on those deals, the deals I've been happiest with I've gotten around here, with my best non-site deal being It Came From the Desert, Sherlock Holmes, Monster Lair, Addams Family and a loose Lords of the Rising Sun for $50, which is an amazing deal for ebay, but not all that great in the real world. Still, can't complain, as the deals I got here made up for it.

Just out of curiosity, where are some of you located? I'm in Miami, and the used game scene here is pretty dead. It's getting better, but it is definitely rough, we had a bunch of stores back in the day, but they are long dead now. Though with CD Trader and a new Game Exchange opening, maybe things will be different.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: FMV Games & CDRs]

I'm kinda curious about this also. I was having issues with some CD-Rs, and a couple of games, after I did my pot adjustments, I can load regular games fine, but no CDRs.

BTW, in your alls experiance, what is better, a Taiyo 80min or an MAM-A (which I hear are just as good) 74 min? I figure a 74 minute disc is easier for the Duo to read, but am a bit unsure, as they are harder to find.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: Raffle: 21 set of TG16 spine labels... Winner]

Congrats man!

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: RAFFLE! Soldier Blade (US) with damaged back]

I would like to enter. If you'll have me.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: Wild Turbo Game Found. Raffle time. Somer Assualt.]

Oh man, that's really cool of you.

Please enter me in the raffle!

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: Dragon Slayer - The Legend of Heroes (Raffle) WINNER CHOSEN!]

Glad the stuff came in. Falcom just make the world a better place.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: What happened to hit-japan?]

What the hell? Was it attacked by killer flan or something?

[Off-Topic / Re: Game Sack]

I was expecting a bigger shitstorm from you guys.

So far, like before, we've only had one comment along the lines of "You can't have a Turbo game on a 16-bit list because it's CPU is 8-bit blah blah blah". Glad to see that the vast majority have no issues of the Turbo/PCE being included whenever we talk about 16-bit stuff.

Well, the biggest issue I have is Super Ghouls and Ghosts over straight Ghouls and Ghosts, and the 2nd worst Castlevania of the generation as #1. I just cannot understand that one, Rondo and Bloodlines are just so much better, as good as SC4 is, it just doesn't compare to those two.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / MOD GUIDE - Universal RGB-to-YPbPr/Component Circuit & Mod (8/24/2014)]

ConHuevos described it best here :


https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=14876.msg320310#msg320310

Ok, nice explanation. I think this really will depend on whether or not I can track down a PVM or not. Man RGB is a pain in the ass.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / MOD GUIDE - Universal RGB-to-YPbPr/Component Circuit & Mod (8/24/2014)]

Question about this mod, how does it look compared to RGB? I am really debating getting an XRGB-mini, or barring that a PVM, if I can find one, that being the case how does component look compared to RGB? Is it a big loss of quality going from RGB to component. The websites I was looking at say yes, but a lot of the screens in this thread look amazing.

Also, could this board work on a Saturn in theory?

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: WTS: Junk Supergrafx "Not FS any more"]

Pceslayers work quality looks a bit better than mine....

Both look amazing to me, especially as someone looking to get back into soldering after having done nothing on it for about 15 years. I understand conceptually what you guys are doing, but dear god, it feels a bit like necromancy.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: Dragon Slayer - The Legend of Heroes (Raffle) WINNER CHOSEN!]

STATUS: If it makes anyone feel better, I plan to play through the entire Dragon Slayer: LOH campaign whilst snacking on flan and rice pudding.

This may be one of the greatest images I have ever seen.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: Dragon Slayer - The Legend of Heroes (Raffle) WINNER CHOSEN!]

Congrats!

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: Dragon Slayer - The Legend of Heroes (Raffle)]

Thankfully, Roy was awesome and cut me a deal on the game.

Haha.. Deal with the devil

Think I'm missing something here, so I'll walk away slowly...

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: WTB: Arcade Card Duo...]

Buy @ rinkya a bunch of games + your card + hardware from the same seller within a day and you´ll get a good price.

But doesn't rinkya charge a crapload for their handling fees?

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: Dragon Slayer - The Legend of Heroes (Raffle)]

What the fuckin' fuck!?  Galam, your comment led me to ebay sold auctions... While I didn't see anything from bernie, there was a $200+ auction for this! Wtf... it has only been a few months since I looked for this game, and it was going for $60 at that time.

I'm beginning to question reality...

We had a thread discussing that very auction on these boards. Alucard655 is the one who bought it. And yeah, that price was crazy. I remember watching that auction and crying, a lot. Mainly because I had just gotten my Duo and wanted the game badly, but not that badly.

Thankfully, Roy was awesome and cut me a deal on the game.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: Raffle: 21 set of TG16 spine labels that did not come with cases...]

Neat, I'd been looking at these.

Sign me up good sir.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Source Code for Art of Fighting discovered on the PC Engine release]

There's already enough knowledge to build such a device, to interface with a virtual drive (SD card) or even a real drive - or both. It's more about finding someone that wants to take on such a project.

Wait what? A SD virtual drive for the PCE would be amazing.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: What PC-Engine Stuff did you get today?]

Well, my order from hit-japan came in:


https://i.imgur.com/6lVdRyi.png

Shame that Xanadu's case was cracked along the top something nasty. Very annoyed at that. Still, got a bunch of games I have wanted in my collection for years.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Compendium of walkthroughs for PC Engine RPGs]

Is there a good walkthrough/story guide for Legend of Xanadu1? I have a bit o Japanese, but not only does my Kanji suck, that font is damn near unreadable on my screen.

Follow blueraven's guide to get started, then switch to this one from the turbolist for the rest of the game.  It's rather vague, but it was enough for me to beat the game with zero moonrune skills.

Yeah, just found the turbolist archives, and downloaded everything there, stuff like that needs to be preserved. Man I miss that thing, god I think that list started before I was even in college. God I feel old. Thanks for the info.

If you'll excuse me I'm going to ride this wave of nostalgia for a minute. (I wonder if the archives for the list still exist?)

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Compendium of walkthroughs for PC Engine RPGs]

Is there a good walkthrough/story guide for Legend of Xanadu1? I have a bit o Japanese, but not only does my Kanji suck, that font is damn near unreadable on my screen.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: Please someone sell me a US Magical Chase!]

/magicalbroomhibaihin.jpg

Ok, new here so I am totally missing something and not sure what.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: Thanks a heap, guys!]

So I was the lucky guy that won the Avenue 6 pad.  Here are some pics, as requested:



Happy Valentine's Day!



Works great in Advance V.G.!



And in Street Fighter II'!

This is a pretty great controller.  A little bigger than I expected!

Nice! Congrats. So is SF2' with this controller everything you dreamed it would be?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Question about component and RGB mods for the Duo]

There isn't one that I know off, I custom make my own din8 to rca component cable.

Ah, cool.

I swear I read about some of the mods you guys do one these boards and it seems like wizardry.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: Urusei Yatsura Raffle]

Actually own this one, barely touched it. This raffle has gotten me excited to try it again. Good luck to the entrants.

Edit: Just realized that the one I have has that CD you guys were talking about. Huh, never realized there was more than one version of the game. Neat.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: RAFFLE: FIGHTING RUN CIC]

Stuff that hasn't been mentioned... tough...

THen again, you didn't specify nonfiction so...

Hmm...

How about:



A surprisingly good novelization of the game.

Or going the other way:



A suprisingly BAD novelization of the game. (Though oddly entertaining for just how bad they screwed up the story and characters)

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: WTB pc engine rare games and goods]

In the image above, is that a Valis III anime?

No, it is a promo video of the game!

Ah, cool beans. I remember when promo videos were a cool thing I would watch over and over again. I still have my Lords of Thunder Promo.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Where is the RIGG community?]

Yeah, I remember hanging out in their DC++ room back in the day. God I feel old.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Question about component and RGB mods for the Duo]

I also use din-8 connector for my component video mods I do. Keeps it looking stock plus it keeps the native composite video.

Looks good, I might hit you up in the next month or so for that component mod, I just found out my TV DOES handle 240p, and it looks GLORIOUS (well for not having an XGRB or something similar). Very excited to see how the Duo would look on my screen with that. For the cable, do I look for a Din-8 component cable?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: What happened to hit-japan?]

Well, looks like my games should be in within the next couple of days, maybe even tomorrow if I'm lucky. Hope to god the Tennokoe works though, I need the space badly. Still, I am annoyed it took so long, it was a few days late and I paid extra for EMS. This is the first time I have ever had EMS take more than a week, hell it was the first time it took more than about 4 days.

Still at least it looks like it's coming. If I had another lost package from Japan I think I would scream.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Could a Duo be modded so as to have more internal save capacity?]

As many other gamers have discovered, the save capacity of Duos is rather lacking, what with many of the later release RPGs saves taking up most (if not all) of the save capacity.

Is there any easy way that a Duo could be modified so as to increase the internal save capacity and allow more save games to be stored using the same internal memory manager?  If so, then I think that this would be a useful mod.

Well, without actually connecting up any hardware, the answer is at least "partially yes".

The internal save RAM is a capacitor-backed 2KB SRAM.

When David Michel first came out with MagicEngine, he "accidentally" allocated the savegame memory bank as 8KB, and realized that the CDROM memory manager was dealing with addresses beyond 2KB without any problems (or rather I should say, "without any fixed-size limitations").

So, one could expand the 2KB to 8KB.

However, I don't know if everything would treat the 8KB savegame naturally.
- Some games implement their own BRAM managers, so they migh not deal well with larger-than-2KB.
- Tennokoe banks would not deal with the size beyond 2KB well
- Not sure about the Memory Base 128/Save-kun unit either - or rather, I should say, not sure about the various MB-compatible games, and their associated BRAM managers.

Beyond that, one could take a larger-than-8KB (or larger-than-2KB) SRAM, and connect a certain number of the high-order address lines to a selector circuit, so you could "dial-in" a BRAM bank.  I've seen some PCB-mounted rotary switches which have 8 positions and BCD output, so one of those might work well.

For anything like SDCards or other flash memory, that's not really feasible, unless a related patch is made to the BRAM save functions inside of the CDROM card, if you use flash memory.  On the other hand, FRAM or MRAM may not have this constraint, and may actually be available in sizes relevant to this application.  Of course, you would almost certainly need some sort of 5V-to-3.3V (or lower) conversion circuitry.

Cool info. Also, didn't the Duo-RX have 128k SRAM? I could have sworn I read that somewhere. If that's the case, how did the Tennokoe and MB work with that system? Of course I might be completely confused, but I could have sword I read the 128k thing somwhere.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: PC Engine DUO for sale. S-video modified. Recapped. includes six button pad, ACD]

It is a nice sticker.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: REPAIR GUIDE - TurboDuo/PC Engine Duo/R/RX: Laser Swap & Adjustment Guide]

Welp, got it working again, it's still giving me hell on a few of the burns I have, but at least my physical games are working. I may open her up again once I am done with a couple of my regular games and see if I can get it working a bit better with burns. The fix, messing a little with VR 102, which I hadn't touched at all for the whole experiment. No idea why that worked, but it at least got me back to being able to read an audio CD, and was then able to follow BlueBMW's tips and even got my scuffed up YS III working, the music in the mines is no longer cutting out on that one at least.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Question about component and RGB mods for the Duo]

I know these exist, but I am curious, after the system has been modded for component or RGB, can you still output in composite if you need to? For example, I have tube TV that only has composite, and my regular flatscreen that has component. After the mods, could I switch my Duo from one TV to the other?

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: WTB pc engine rare games and goods]

In the image above, is that a Valis III anime?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: REPAIR GUIDE - TurboDuo/PC Engine Duo/R/RX: Laser Swap & Adjustment Guide]

The pots spin all the way around without breaking
Just spin it back
 2

That's what I did, it's just refusing to work now, was at it for hours last night.

Appreciate the help though.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: REPAIR GUIDE - TurboDuo/PC Engine Duo/R/RX: Laser Swap & Adjustment Guide]

Slipped?
Did you hit something with a screwdriver?

If not center the pot and try again 2

TUrned a little bit farther than I expected. Not TOO far, but clearly enough.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: REPAIR GUIDE - TurboDuo/PC Engine Duo/R/RX: Laser Swap & Adjustment Guide]

Vr104 is focus, Vr103 is focus comp
Vr101 and Vr102 are tracking
Vr105 is spindle comp
Crackle is either focus or tracking
Spindle comp will cause early or late track issues 2

Any tips for getting the spindle pot working again? I had everything just about perfect then my hand slipped while dealing with vr 105, now I can't get it to read discs anymore, I've been using small increments, as I did with the other pots, but nothing, I'm hearing a clicking, which I assume is the gears, and a high pitched whining at times as well. I wasn't hearing the whine before I screwed up on 105.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: REPAIR GUIDE - TurboDuo/PC Engine Duo/R/RX: Laser Swap & Adjustment Guide]

The og duo can get stuck like that any time its having read issues
You will need to open it and spin the motor gear 2

Yeah, opened her up, didn't realize just how much force was going to be needed to spin the gear, the rails seem lubed up and clean already, which is nice, now to mess with the pots. Which pot is it for audio cutting out on a bad read?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: PCE CD ROM Not Reading CDRs]

Nearly as good, the thing is that acrylic can have small cracks in them, were not talking visual cracks here, more in the molecular structure here, and it can let oxygen in and that can make the reflective surface oxidize, and the gold one does not. real pressed cds will all suffer from this in time let it be 20 or 300 years, but one day they all come to an end, should also note that by chemical standards nothing transparent exists, it's just something floating very very slowly so the plastic will go bad and drip away in time, acrylic moves slower then glass though....

Some early commercial pressed cds has developed CD Rot http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD_rot

Some early were even made with real silver, that oxides in just a decade.

And then there's the bronzing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD_bronzing

I might have a CDV (mini laserdisc, multiplexed, analog version of videocd) that's also pressed in gold.

Some sleeves can make marks on discs too, by slowly leaving chemicals and oils, some petroleum based products just don't like each other, so the best storage ever for a cd was invented by Philips in the early eighties, the standard jewelcase, it's dark inside, nothing touches the surface while in it and makes handling it in such a way you never touch the surface, no reason to reinvent the wheel, the best perfect solution is already made.

Damn a lot of info there. Now I'm curious, have there been any reports of CD rot on PCE and Turbo CDs? That would suck a whole lot if it happened to them.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: PCE CD ROM Not Reading CDRs]

There is also the more High-End CD-Rs when only the best is good enough, if you are backing up your own discs and verifies each step bit for bit, it's still not as good pressed and lets not forget all pressed discs are not equally made, a really good burn is better then the cheapest backalley pressed ones.

And a note, biwax is used on cds, pressed and cd-r as when in production it's made by machines and it's going fast, it's there as a layer to see through that the discs don't stick together and can be separated.

Before a disc is copied that should be removed, washed gently in soap and hot water or by ultrasonic cleaning, actually a cd-r chould have this done before burned too but you might make more marks in the surface then the biwax distorted the surface.....

Pressed discs have a more scratch resistant acrylic layer, even cloth makes small marks on CDRs if you look at it under a microscope.

So a test take out a new disc in a cake, it looks clean as a whistle, now breath on it like you were about to clean it, weird marks and spots and whole areas becomes different looking, it's not as clean as it looks.....

Here's some real goodies when it comes to Gold CD-Rs

http://www.kmgdigitalinc.com/premium/gold-preservation-discs Kodak
http://www.mofi.com/product_p/udgcdr1.htm Ultradisc
http://www.mediasupply.com/mamgold.html Various

There has been a very good expensive one, I think it's was made by Kodak and it was at 40$ each,
a disc Deutch Grammophon used for final storage of some of their works in vaults, but seem unable to find it now.

The cheaper CD-Rs degrade in the dye in time while these have very low degradation rate, nearly non existent.

The absolute best is High Quality pressed Gold 24Karat CDs but they are very unusual, I only have one.

Cool info.

I figure MAM-A Silver's should generally be fine though right? I hear they are not QUITE as nice as the gold ones, but should suit the purpose for backing up games, they claim to have a 100 year shelf life, not as nice as the 300+ of the golds, but still not bad.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: PCE CD ROM Not Reading CDRs]

There's the option of having professional CD-Rs done. Though this would have to be a group order, to keep the cost down. Professional CD-R replication is for short runs, but there are companies that offer this service for older embedded systems that have a harder time reading newer burned CD-Rs. It's not as fancy as pressing a CD, but it's a higher grade generation than simply using off the shelf CD-Rs and a consumer grade burner. Plus, you can get them ink'd on the top (whatever image you want).

 Not a bad choice if people wanted to do a small run of translations or such (non-profit, just the total cost of the smallest batch split between members).

THIS!!!

Don´t say it too loud...I can see it coming on Ebay...like it did with short runs of VB games (Faceball, to name only one). Shortly afterwards they surface for 200+ on Ebay as "rare". Lol, yeah.

But anyway - cool idea - I would instantly buy a CIB set just to have a translation. 

To be fair if we're the assholes doing it, at least we're the ones making a profit. 

But for personal use these would be pretty cool, a professionally pressed Ys IV with manual and full dub could be kinda neat, I know repros are popular, but I assume that is because you need them to play on real hardware sans a flash cart. Hell, we could even do cool labels for Fantasy Star Soldier, Xak III and the like.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes]

Well, the first ridiculous BIN post auction is up. $200!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dragon-Slayer-Legend-Heroes-US-Turbo-Grafx-CD-Turbo-Duo-PC-Engine-Complete-/221376934594?pt=Video_Games_Games&hash=item338b17f2c2

Though there was a BIN for $80 a little over a week ago. Let me thank RoyVegas again for cutting me a great deal on the game. Holy crap.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: PCE CD ROM Not Reading CDRs]

Yesterday I tried a CDR (EMTEC brand) on my CDROM2, but it refused to play at all...the lowest I can go on my writer is 10x

Lens is clean...gear lubed, gears run smoothly. And plays Originals....

As far as the Black Duo units getting the 'parked laser' issue, that's probably a bug in the firmware side of the CD setup. The laser module (on rails) goes too far to the right and the motor wedges it in there tight. It can't unwedge it though, so you have to rotate the spindle that module is on - manually. This only seemed to happen with really cheap CD-Rs, from my experience.

 As for burning, the slowest speed doesn't always produce the best CD-R results for the PCe CD systems. I've have a burner that only produced working CD-Rs for the CD unit, if you burned at 16x or higher. If I burned at 8x (the lowest), they would hardly work on the PCECD units. Just goes to show, not all burners are equal; you need to experiment with different settings.

Good to know. I'm thinking of ordering some MAM A's that are 74min. A little more expensive than the usual, but not too bad overall. Sadly can't lightscribe them though, which makes me sad. Still my CD-ROM is useless until I get my Torx t10 screwdriver in.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: Valentine's Day Contest II: One Prize Remains]

Would totally be in on this if I had 50 or more posts. Good luck.