Messages

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Is Duo's CD driver supposed to load this slow?]

I take it TocFixer won't work on .cue/.iso with no .wav files.

There's a source for images that have all the games in that format. I tried playing Cosmic Fantasy 2 and the audio tracks are all out of wack.

I think from what he said you could burn it to disc then rip it back with TurboRip and then run the TocFixer program.

[General Gaming / Re: Your Gaming Timeline in 10 Games]

1988: Super Mario Bros (NES)

1990: Golden Axe (Genesis)

1991: Super Mario World (SNES)

1992: Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past (SNES)

1993: Ys Book I & II (Duo)

1994: Shinobi III (Genesis)

1998: Mario 64 (N64)

1999: Soul Calibur (Dreamcast)

2004: Mario Golf (Gamecube)

2008: Animal Crossing (Wii)

These I guess were the most standout titles I played in the "eras" listed.  There were of course many more that I played at the time.  I started out playing on friends' systems until 1992 when we came into some money.  To make up for lost times I guess my mom bought me all the game systems I wanted.  She actually enjoyed watching me play them.  After the Dreamcast came out I started getting less interested in modern games.  I'm just more of a 16-bit era kind of guy I guess.  As time went on you can see my "current generation" gaming took a turn for the casual.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Help to get the best picture / sound possible for composite cables?]

Before I had my console modded I had the same problem with the AV cable.  I found that it helped to pull the cable out of the DIN connector by about a millimeter.  This helped to stabilized it a bit.

As for flickering when entering certain areas, that's just how Ys behaves sometimes - regular old sprite flicker.  I notice it most in the mine on Ys II.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: pce cd rom2 not reading discs]

...the laser lights up but im assuming its not strong enough to read data. How bright does the laser need to be?

From what I understand, the laser is infrared so you are only seeing light wave interference within the diode when you see the little red light.  The actual infrared laser is extremely bright but of course in a wavelength that we can't see so be careful about looking into it.  You don't want to give yourself lasic surgery!

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Metal Jesus ruins my faith in humanity]

...Sorry I didn't get the joke, BTW. Hard for a newcomer to understand the lingo here.
Me not spaek it good yet 

I've found that on this forum you may sometimes find a bunch of guys having a sargasm all over what you said.  Respond how you want but for me what works is ignoring it, being nice, or responding with friendly sarcasm.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Retrogate having a sale on the TurboEverdrive +others]

Backup for game saves would certainly be nice but I won't complain.  I am happy with my new v1.2 TED as well.  Perhaps db Electronics will come up with a cart that we can save backups to?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: How often do you find TG-16 and TG-CD in the wild?]

LOL, there is easily at least a 1/4 of the tg-16 hucard library to be had around $20 mark or less. That gives you 20+ games right there. Even a few cd titles are priced there. And don't get me started on all the pce games too!

Yes I bought Keith Courage to complete the boxed system.  KC was only $8 complete so who wouldn't buy it to complete the system?  I already have a copy for playing on my Duo.  I have all of the HuCards I want for the time being.

Edited for clarity:  The affordability thing was a (failed, obviously) attempt at a joke to comment on the price of things in this hobby.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: How often do you find TG-16 and TG-CD in the wild?]

The only thing I've ever found was a boxed TG-16 with a Montgomery Ward sticker on it with a price of $199.99.  It was only missing Keith Courage.  I found it at Goodwill with the puzzles and board games.  It was priced at $6.99.  This had to be about 2012-ish. I scoured that store for the CD attachment if it was there and games but there was nothing else.  I recently bought a complete Keith Courage (luckily the only affordable game) and added it to the system to complete it.

[General Gaming / Re: If you havent used your Wii in a while...]

To clean up alkaline battery spillage use lemon or lime juice.  Squirt a little into a cap or something and dip qtips in it.  It'll come right off.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Ys Book 1&2 inserts - *Updated*]

Here you go feel free to download it (based this on original first release). I'm also making a graphic one that won't be as plain if anyone wants it. Be sure when printing if you use photoshop etc, set it to cymk so the bar will be correct color. RGB will be close as well but if you like are anal then do cymk.

I like anal but I don't know how to do CMYK.  Is there a tutorial?  Anyway thanks for the insert! 

[Off-Topic / Re: Game Sacked]

JOE WHY DONT YOU MAKE THE SHOW HOW THIEF FROM SEGA16 LIKES IT

That bitch needs to get game sacked

If I may be so blunt, I smelled troll on Thief the first time I saw a post from him.  Seeing him post in a thread is akin to smelling someone's particularly nasty fart at walmart that seems to have taken over the entire aisle.  I very rarely block people but I'm tempted to since I've never seen anything substantial posted by him.

Edited to add: Joe your show is amazing.  I hope you keep at it for a long time!

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Custom YS I & II and Street Fighter (Fighting Street) Jewel case inserts]

  Awesome, thanks Duo_R!

[General Gaming / Re: What was your first emulation experience?]

The first emulator I ever used was AmiMasterGear for the Amiga.  It ran pretty well!

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Can software dictate the refresh rate?]

Not sure how your RGB mod was done or if it means anything to the TurboGrafx 16 at all but when I connected my Genesis to my Commodore 1084 I discovered that I needed at least 330 ohms of resistance on the CSync line to make the picture stable.  Obviously the Genesis and TurboGrafx 16 are going to be completely different but maybe the problem is similar?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Metal Jesus ruins my faith in humanity]

He's not that bad.  Nobody can excel at everything and I guess the TG-16 is one of those consoles that he hasn't wrapped his head around.  He's definitely not the most annoying video game related YouTube channel out there.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Can software dictate the refresh rate?]

Or could it be games with the 262 or 263 line dot crawl bit causing this?  I know it's not composite out that's being recorded but does it affect anything else?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Print your own stuff... (D.I.Y. GoT/Ys IV inserts & more)]

Thanks for the link to this site!  Every day I'm checking it to see if the Ys Book I & II insert has been found.  I would love to have this since I've been going through and improving/replacing the old game cases I have.  This and Gate of Thunder have been in need of a new jewel case for ages.  Ys IV English translation is getting its own case now too.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Everdrive not playing some ROMs]

Good point.  So theoretically yes but not a quick and dirty solution.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Everdrive not playing some ROMs]

If the bit endian is wrong and this is the difference between PCE and TG-16 cards, does flipping the Everdrive's region switch to the opposite position make it work?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Turbo Duo - Intermittent CD misbehavior]

Thanks for all your suggestions.  I am in touch with someone who is helping.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Turbo Duo - Intermittent CD misbehavior]

Yes, the gentleman who recapped my system did just that.  Do you think it is a temperature issue?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Turbo Duo - Intermittent CD misbehavior]

I recently had my Duo recapped.  In that sense it seems to be fine.  I noticed this other issue before having it recapped and was hoping the recap would fix it.  First I'll describe the problem as it happens playing an audio CD:

Put the CD in and play let it read the disc.  It reads the TOC and lets me select the track.  It will play fine, with maybe a little click in the sound here or there but mostly fine until it gets past about 3/4 of the way to the edge of the CD.  Then the audio on the next track or so becomes very scratchy and eventually just becomes unable to read the disc at all.

Last night I wanted to capture the sound of what was happening so I turned on my laptop, started audacity and got the audio cable plugged into the Duo's headphone jack.  Meanwhile I had the CD paused and queued up to play one of the scratchy tracks.  When I was finally ready to record I unpaused it and it played fine.  In fact it played fine for the rest of the night.

What happens with games is that it will load the data tracks and play fine unless there's an audio track near the end of the disc.  In that case it plays nothing.  The 4-in-1 pack-in SuperCD will start up but may or may not play the applause track when Bonk appears.  Last night I was playing Ys IV and the cut scene after Adol disappears from the warehouse in the beginning of the game started fine but there was no audio.  The CD drive was physically emitting a high pitched whine.  This prompted me to stop and test it with an audio CD as seen above.  When it finally started working correctly with audio CDs, I put Ys IV back in and it played perfectly, including the cut scene.

It doesn't matter if the CDs I use are pressed or burned.  The system almost seems like it needs warm-up time before it'll work.  Is there anything that can be done?  I'm really not thrilled with the prospect of sending this out again but if I have to I guess I can.  I did buy a spare HOP-M3 laser so I have that on hand.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Modless RGB and A/V Upgrade for TurboGrafx-16 and PC-Engine]

In the meantime, I took a screen of CVBS and RGB for you guys. Surprisingly, the CVBS video straight from the console looks very sharp on my Trinitron - it's light-years beyong CVBS from any Nintendo or Sega console.

I have to agree with this.  The Duo and TG-16 emit about the cleanest CVBS signal I've ever seen from a game console.  I had my Duo S-Video modded and the only thing it really cleaned up was the dot crawl.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: I just bought Keith Courage in a case w/manual & comic book]

I bought a Keith Courage game in its case with insert to complete my cib TG-16.  Next I have to replace the controller that I sacrificed to make a new Turbo Duo controller  but that's already taken care of.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: stolen collection]

Good luck in bringing justice to the filthy pig.  My partner had a thought; Is there a chance that you have posted pictures somewhere with geolocation data embedded in them?  Someone may have been able to figure out where you live that way.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Component mod on 2port]

That awesome beast is just begging for a Turbo Everdrive!

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: best video quality for turbo16]

I am satisfied with S-Video because I have a CRT that accepts it and it eliminates the pesky dot crawl present in composite.  CRTs are cheap at thrift stores and it doesn't take much to find one with S-Video.  The XRGB Mini should be able to handle S-Video as well should you go that direction in the future.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: WTB TurboDuo compatible controller]

Taken care of now.  Thanks

[Buy/Sell/Trade / WTB TurboDuo compatible controller]

Apologies if this isn't the correct forum. I was wondering if there is anyone that has a PC Engine controller for sale.  I am looking for a spare to have for my Turbo Duo but it doesn't necessarily have to be the "Duo Pad" controller.  Used condition is fine as long as it works well.

If not, perhaps a TG-16 controller would be acceptable. (I can just use the guts out of it)  I would prefer a PCE controller to that option though.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: REPAIR GUIDE - TG16 CD/PCE CD laser swap guide (pictorial)]

I keep scouring thrift stores when I get the chance trying to harvest KSS' and HOP-M3s. 

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Your most amazing score.]

About 3 or 4 years ago I found this baby lurking with the board games probably wedged between a partially complete jigsaw puzzle and a scrabble box from the 70s.  The only thing missing was the game Keith Courage.  The controller, and all the logos still have their protective plastic covering.  Not a scratch on the system and barely any dust.  It also has the manual, the Keith Courage comic, and a couple other things in a plastic bag with a placard saying "Thanks for buying the TurboGrafx 16...".

The only bad thing is the box is a little beat up and has along piece of Montgomery Wards tape wrapped over it, and a MW price tag for $199.99.

Goodwill price? $6.99.

I SCOURED that store for a CD-ROM attachment and looked through all the CDs for games but found none! Damn!

[General Gaming / Re: "Why I Dislike The N64", or "What is the Deal With the N64?"]

does make me wonder if there are any hidden gems or games only found on the game gear that wasn't originally a port of another game from the SM or Genesis....

Game Gear Shinobi comes to mind.

[General Gaming / Re: "Why I Dislike The N64", or "What is the Deal With the N64?"]

I like some games on the N64.  I really enjoyed Mario 64, Zelda Ocarina of Time (but I still hate Majora's Mask) Paper Mario, F-Zero X, and I played so very much Mario Kart 64 multi player.

The problem with the N64, Saturn, PS1, Jaguar, and even the 32X in some cases is that early 3D/polygons are not pretty.  Just like early 2D graphics on generation 2 consoles haven't held up to the test of time graphically.  They were more utilitarian, like a set up game board or maze path.  It wasn't until at least the 3rd generation 8-bit era where games started to become pleasant looking.  This is analogous to generation 6 consoles which were powerful enough to take the 3D concept and make it so much better with more polygons, colors, and textures.  Instead of people looking like they are made out of origami, they started having features resembling human.

2D games on the 5th gen consoles can really look amazing though.

There are, of course exceptions to every rule.  And this is my own opinion.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Top 5 Favourite TG16 Soundtracks]

Threadsurrection

My favorites in no particular order:

Ys (I'll cheat and count I, II , III and IV as just Ys.  They all blow me away)
Gate of Thunder
Dungeon Explorer
Air Zonk
Bonk's Adventure

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: I found my Duo door!]

Why isn't it black? Am I missing something?

It was a quick n dirty picture from my phone camera.  It is, of course the same color as the rest of the Turbo Duo (dust and all)

As for why it broke, hell if I know, it happened sometime when I was a teenager.  I'm just shocked and pleased that I still had it somewhere!  I can fix that hinge no problem, now my Duo will be whole again (also with brand new capacitors!)

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: I found my Duo door!]

You can mold one with epoxy clay.

Thanks, I will have to give that a try.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: I found my Duo door!]

Yep, I couldn't contain my joy to just this forum so I had to express it on Facebook too. LOL

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / I found my Duo door!]

I can't believe I found this! I thought it was lost to the ages.  I was going through the closet doing some cleaning and found it in an old box with some junk from the 90s.  Glad I didn't just toss the whole box!



The only problem is that the cantilever that holds the left hinge is broken off, but I may be able to fix that.

Once my system comes back with new caps I'll be able to improve its appearance too!

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Ok, who is up for a re-cap job?]

I just want to quick thank everyone for the replies.  I am just nervous about sending the Duo out!  I know you're all passionate about these awesome NEC systems.

Thanks,
Jamie

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Ok, who is up for a re-cap job?]

I'm pretty backed up at the moment, at least 6 weeks.

***EDIT:  Since you're backed up, I may have found someone relatively close who can do it sooner so I will explore that route in the mean time.***

Hey I think I spoke to you on Facebook (Jamie Orlando).  I think perhaps I would like you to do the work since you said you can also check/tweak the laser.  Just let me know when a good time to send my system would be.  You can PM the details to me as to what to include, like if I need to supply the caps or whatever.  I have no problem waiting for your schedule to clear.  I don't have any strange audio issues other than an occasional digital distortion sound past a certain point in some CDs.  The TG-16 PSG sound is fine and matches that of my TG-16 itself.

Thanks,
Jamie

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Ok, who is up for a re-cap job?]

My Duo needs a re-cap and the time is now!  I was just playing a CD on it and realized that for some reason none of the CDs I played went past track 8 without becoming distorted.  This is strange since the last time I played an audio CD on it, it went to the edge with no trouble. (it finished an 80 minute audio CD) I'll take this as a sign to get the repair ball rolling.  The AV connector may need to be re-soldered as it is very touchy also.

Is anyone interested in doing this work and how much will it cost (ballpark)?

Please let me know if I need to buy the components and what I should send in the package.  I have never had a system re-capped before and I have to admit that I'm pretty nervous about sending my Duo away!

I live in Madison, Wisconsin so if anyone nearby is up for this that would be excellent but I am willing to ship anywhere in the country to get the job done.

Thanks,
Jamie

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Hello everyone]

Thanks for the welcome.  I've been in recovery from a spinal procedure for the last few days so I haven't been on much.  Turbo stuff was not available too close to where I grew up but I was able to get into it despite this.  I got the TG-16 from a friend at the time and the Duo was bought new at Babbages in Rockford, Illinois.  If only I were a more careful teenager my Duo would look a little prettier and still have its door!  My entire family, including my mom immediately fell in love with the Ys I & II pack-in.  I remember she made me play it through the stereo so she could listen to the background music.

As for any noticeable trouble; If you go into the CD player screen and try pressing "fade out" while it's playing it delays for a moment and the audio just stops abruptly.  I hope there is not already damage!  It's still able to games and audio CDs.  I tested it recently and it played one of my longest CDs out to the edge, and didn't seem to have trouble seeking anywhere on the disc.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: New printed parts arrived today (duo door and everdrive case) update 9-1-14]

Most excellent work!  When these are finalized you can count me in for one of the Duo doors and one of the Everdrive covers.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Hello everyone]

Hi all, Not sure if this is the proper place for an introduction thread, if not, I apologize.  I'm 35 this year and have been a TG-16 owner since 1992 and a Turbo Duo owner since 1993.  I wasn't aware of the forum here until it was recently suggested that I join.*  My favorite Turbo games are the Ys series, Ninja Spirit, Air Zonk, Gate of Thunder, Alien Crush and the Legendary Axe series.  This looks like a great place to look around so thanks for approving my request to join!

*It's been recently brought to my attention that my beloved Duo will inevitably need capacitor service.  Part of why I joined was to seek out someone capable of performing the operation since I do not possess the skills for such a task.  With the way prices on Turbo/PCE systems these days I feel that a little preventative maintenance is a good idea!