Update on Radica Genesis / Continued Talk

MM007 · Post by **MM007** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 12:16 am

Ben, can you connect a Game Genie to the system, and see if Sonic 3 will work?

SgtBowhack · Post by **SgtBowhack** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 1:04 am

I have said this like 20 times already, dang it. Like... the first response in this thread, even. I wish people would read before posting- it makes others' posts feel worthless (plus it's annoying to see the same thing posted tons of times over...)
*points fingers at MM007 and Sparkfist*

MM007 · Post by **MM007** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 1:12 am

SgtBowhack wrote:I have said this like 20 times already, dang it. Like... the first response in this thread, even. I wish people would read before posting- it makes others' posts feel worthless (plus it's annoying to see the same thing posted tons of times over...)
*points fingers at MM007 and Sparkfist*

It is called a reminder. So much is going on, I have to occasionally restate things to ensure that they are tried. I am well aware that it was posted(though in a less game specific manner).

BTW, do you think Lik-Sang would be interested in the findings so far? ^^

SgtBowhack · Post by **SgtBowhack** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 1:36 am

I have said it enough times already that I don't think a reminder is necessary though... and I don't think it should be anyone's job to have to remind others to do things- Ben did tell you how to do it. Hell, I wouldn't even be asking him to do it if I wasn't stuck in Japan, where Game Genies do not exist. I have a Genesis Game Genie at home, so when I get home in June, you can bet I'm gonna use it with this thing if it works out. The point is- you have the power. Go forth and conquer

I'm not mad that someone else said it- I'm actually more pissed that Sparkfist said it like he found something new. I'm glad that he corrected me on the Z80 thing, and I apologize for the misinformation I gave earlier (I will now have to go correct whereever it was that said it was missing). But at least say "Hey, I know this was said before, but..." if you meant it as a reminder. I'm just sorta like "what's the point of posting if no one listens..." is all. Not that I think I'm never heard or anything. If anything, the most frustrating thing is that I'm stuck here with no tools so I can't do anything to help but research and suggest

Oh yeah, and I think telling Lik-sang about this would be a good idea- but I think it'd be a better idea once we've got the compatibility a bit higher than it is at the moment first, so we have something more to tell them. Again, great work, Ben and segasonicfan for getting all of this stuff worked out.

MM007 · Post by **MM007** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 1:46 am

Yeah, they've come a long way, from 6 512K games to a compatability list comparable to the Genesis 3....wow...

I am still a bit curious about the region signals mentioned earlier though...with all the unused pins on the system, I wonder if there is a way to make a simple homebrew circuit board to connect to make it work, esp. if it only means feeding different clock signals to certain pins, like the 50/60 Hz signals. I think someone else already mentioned this, but maybe not breadboarding a circuit to fix it.

SgtBowhack wrote:If anything, the most frustrating thing is that I'm stuck here with no tools so I can't do anything to help but research and suggest

Research is VERY important, so don't diss yourself over only being able to do that. That's how they got this far!

BTW, has anyone been experimenting with the dual controllers idea yet, or has that been pushed aside for now?

SgtBowhack · Post by **SgtBowhack** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 2:00 am

Yeah, that was me too

And I think someone else might've mentioned the clock signal thing... but I don't see that as a problem, since USA and Japan models will already be using a 60Hz signal, and Euro versions (if they exist) will be using 50Hz already. But the region thing has to be something silly like, a voltage on a certain pin or something. The Game Genie will likely have this covered, but the question is- does the Game Genie work with the Radica as wired?

I'm not convinced there's anywhere where controller 2 inputs would even go on this thing... I think if we're going to actually go for a full-fledged Genesis portable with high compatibility (the Genesis 3 had much higher compatibility than the Radica does so far- it knew what region it was, and very few games complained), we'd need to take apart either a Genesis 3 or a pirate Genesis with a GOAC. I want to get a pirate Genesis to see how small they made the bastage, but looking at some internal pirate Genesis designs, fairly small seems to be the order of the day. The problem is finding them.

MM007 · Post by **MM007** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 2:05 am

SgtBowhack wrote:Yeah, that was me too And I think someone else might've mentioned the clock signal thing... but I don't see that as a problem, since USA and Japan models will already be using a 60Hz signal, and Euro versions (if they exist) will be using 50Hz already. But the region thing has to be something silly like, a voltage on a certain pin or something. The Game Genie will likely have this covered, but the question is- does the Game Genie work with the Radica as wired?

I thought Japan and USA was 50Hz, and PAL was 60Hz....I dunno what SECAM is, though....

SgtBowhack · Post by **SgtBowhack** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 2:09 am

LOL, SECAM, not SOCOM. SECAM is a competitor to PAL, and has pretty much all of the same stats (50Hz, 625 lines, good color) except it was simply made to be incompatible with PAL. And I'm sure that NTSC (US and Japan) is 60Hz and PAL is 50 because they're made to synch with the power system. Look on an AC adapter and see what it says and you'll know which system your TV is using too

(this doesn't necessarily apply to Europe where a lot of TVs are made to do both 50 and 60 and have an asynchronous way of doing it)

MM007 · Post by **MM007** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 2:13 am

SgtBowhack wrote:LOL, SECAM, not SOCOM. SECAM is a competitor to PAL, and has pretty much all of the same stats (50Hz, 625 lines, good color) except it was simply made to be incompatible with PAL. And I'm sure that NTSC (US and Japan) is 60Hz and PAL is 50 because they're made to synch with the power system. Look on an AC adapter and see what it says and you'll know which system your TV is using too (this doesn't necessarily apply to Europe where a lot of TVs are made to do both 50 and 60 and have an asynchronous way of doing it)

hmm......maybe you're right...maybe I just have my clock signals mixed up. Or maybe I'm thinking my monitor refresh rate...

SgtBowhack · Post by **SgtBowhack** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 2:27 am

I've designed video encoding signals- I know I'm right in this case

Not to sound like a know-it-all or anything. Cuz there's about 1000x more stuff on this forum that I know nothing about than the little bit I do. But yeah, so, I am fairly sure the 50/60Hz thing would be taken care of by that. It's probably simply a matter of setting USA/Japan.

Red5 · Post by **Red5** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 4:25 am

I don't think a Game Genie is going to solve our problems... it likely uses a data line (a pin on the cart slot) that isn't used by "normal" carts. This is why it won't work on a Mk3, the required data line isn't connected to anything, and is therfore not likely to be included in the Radica either (or it's going to be very difficult to find out where to connect the "extra" data lines needed). I'll be more than happy to be proven wrong however!

It'll be a few days, at least, before I can have a stab at modding my european Radica and testing it with my Game Genie, but if anyone has already modded their system and tried using a Game Genie (or Pro Action Replay) on their system it would be interesting to hear the results. i.e. can you enter cheat codes on games that already work in the Radica or is it non-functional as with the Mk3? If you can enter cheat codes then it should work, it's just a case of knowing the correct codes to get around the region lock-out for any particular game, if it doesn't then you probably have a snowball's chance in hell of ever getting it to work as outlined above

As it now appears that the biggest problem is the Language setting (Jap/English), or perhaps the lack of it, researching a language mod might be more helpful? Here's a good page detailing language mods on Genesis/Mega-Drives other than the Mk1 & MkII (nomad, Mk3 etc.) which might be helpful for those with more electronics experience than myself: http://www.gamesx.com/importmod/gen2import.htm If the Radica has NO Jap/English setting though, as has been suggested on the other thread, then fitting one retro-actively may also be an impossibilty

Post by **Sparkfist** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 8:43 am

Ok first of I was looking for info on how to get around the region lock on the games we all know that. I didnt see anything that said that the game genie can do that, I had read that most people were planning on using the game genie to get the cart connector. I wasnt looking for praise or apploval, I was trying to get more info and provide it to everyone that was reading the topic. Why because for a while Ben got stumbled, I know I know next to nothing about console hardware so if there is someone that can take it and solve the problem that benifits everyone.

So I think that you need to chill out on repremanding people as we've done hadly anything wrong. MM007 is write though many topics go off track and so you might mis or gloss over the info mentioned before. We all dont have that keen eye that obviously you have, SgtBowhack.

Red5 · Post by **Red5** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 9:07 am

Looks like there are 2 Game Genie "camps" as Sparkfirst has quite rightly pointed out, lets see if I've got things right...

1) Can I REMOVE the cart connector from a Game Genie and use that instead of ripping apart a Gensis or buying a new connector?

YES! Although this will leave you with a "dead" Game Genie (Obviously). It should also be noted that Game Genie's are much rarer than Genesis' so this may not be the best way to go.

2) Can I use the WHOLE Game Genie as the cart connector, i.e. make a Radica Genesis portable with "built in" Game Genie support, AND use that to get around the *apparent* language setting problem?

Although the Game Genie can be used to get around the language/frequency settings (on a real Genesis, and only with games where the GG Codes are known!) I stongly suspect that the Game Genie will not work with the Radica, so the answer here is MOST LIKELY NOT!

The same can also be said for using the cart connector from a Pro Action Replay or Sonic & Knuckles cart (although you may be able to play Sonic 3 via the S&K cart).

Post by **benheck** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 12:55 pm

I don't have a Game Genie to test because I am an "anti-cheat" kinda guy.

My Exodus is going to be a fairly simple affair... just plays Sega games is all.

Post by **Sparkfist** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 1:05 pm

Well its the fact the Game Genie can get around the region lock it means we can play all the games. But until someone tries we'll never if it works.... right?