UniROM 8.0.K - GDB Debugging, install/backup to/from memory card, homebrew from memcard, etc

[Kryptonick]

alot of stuff, most of it is beyond me.

I appreciate your reply, but it's mostly over my head. I have 2 of these carts and the other one was detected and flashed no problem.

The one that doesn't work I can use with a real disc to load any backup I want.
The one that DOES work I flashed and it works fine. I can load the UniROM ui, hit R1R2 and load a backup - no real disc needed.

What's interesting is that playing my CTR backup with the "working" cart hangs at points that using the other cart or the real disc doesn't have those problems (specifically Blizzard Bluff in Adventure mode).

[rama3]

He is saying that the flashing tool only works with some chips.
In your case, the one with the SST chip.

[iaiajo]

Hello guys, the link is down for the UniROM V6 or is just me? all I get is:
This site can’t be reached

sicklebrick.com’s server DNS address could not be found.
DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN

if that is the case can someone please share me a new link until the website is back online


***edited***
Nvm is working fine this time

[nocash]

He is saying that the flashing tool only works with some chips.
In your case, the one with the SST chip.

Not really, I was trying to say that there are three possible problems (the FLASH memory size, the FLASH programming flowchart, or the FLASH voltages). But yeah, that means that "it won't work" (but only for people whom don't know how to track down and fix that issues).

The first issue is apparently already solved (since the SST chip with same size is said to be working). The how-to for the second issue is explained in the datasheet. And the third issue might need some soldering to get around it - if the voltages are really causing the problem.

Btw. does somebody have the firmware that has been originally installed in those "non-programmable" carts? And does that firmware contain working FLASH functions? Eg. for chaning user options stored in FLASH memory, or entering new cheat codes and saving them in FLASH memory, etc.

[Otavio23BR]

'Ello. Been a while. Development's been slow recently (no PC with LPT port, favourite PSX PSU blew, need for SIO flashing, too much work, etc lol). Cheers people who were answering questions

brunolloko:
If it doesn't recognize the cart:
A- Make sure it's plugged in properly, sometimes putting it in half-way or pushing real hard helps
B- There's nothing you can do, short of desoldering the chip and soldering in something more compatible .

sicklebrick:

Unlike bruno, my cartridge does not load, but on xflash, it shows signs that it wants to be recognized. Example: Unknown FF FF appears, when I ask to recognize change to 1F 5F or 5F 1F. Does this make me hopeful or not, should I go after another cartridge?
Because the function of this is to know if my ps1 port works and then in the future to get psio.

PS:If my English is bad, forgive me.

[nocash]

I've recently tested the Secret Unlock commands on a console with japanese/asian cdrom firmware. Of course, the commands won't work, and don't unlock anything on such consoles, and I thought that the console would just ignore those commands.

But actually it turned out to be worse than just ignoring the commands - the commands can screw up the next command. The reason is that the cdrom firmware is totally ignoring any unsupported commands (in the 1Dh..FFh range), meaning that it won't even remove the parameters from the parameter fifo, so the parameters will get passed on to the next command (and causing it to fail with a "bad number of parameters" error).

Workaround: Send the SecretUnlock command, wait for the INT5 response as usually, and, then, manually clear the parameter fifo by writing [1F801803h.Index1]=40h.

Apart from the SecretUnlock commands, that's also needed when (trying to) use GetQ on older consoles, or the VCD command on non-VCD consoles. It would also apply to ReadTOC on older consoles (but that command doesn't have any parameters anyways), and any other commands in 1Dh-FFh range (but that won't work on any console anyways).

Command 00h,17h,18h are also unsupported, but these do behave differently: The parameters are removed from fifo, so there's no need to clear the fifo manually (of course there's no good reason to use that commands, except on DTL-H2000, which is probably supporting 17h,18h for accessing its real-time-clock).

[Timrod]

I just installed the UniROM standalone to a Gameshark. It seems to work fine for some games, but none of the images of Symphony of the Night (or any other games that have multiple tracks) will load. I've even tried using merged PSX2PSP images (ripped from the eboot) and even that doesn't work: UniROM recognizes the disc but then hangs when trying to load it.

Any idea why this is?

[HatMusic]

With Xplorer FX, I'm getting "Checksum error!" every time I try to flash the EEPROM with anything other than an Xplorer FX ROM. What am I doing wrong?

EDIT: Never mind, works now.
New problem: on MGS, I get 5 seconds into the game and then the sound loops and the game freezes. its this some kind of secondary protection?

EDIT2: Never mind, works now!
Unirom + Caetla seems to play much more nicely with MGS

[wikedsuperlink]

every time i try to burn unirom to a disc at the end of the burning possess it gives me a error pls help (btw im using img burn)

[mistamontiel]

Thanx very much !!! I got an extra Gameshark v2.4 and did PS-X-Change since I'm not fast enough for the swap fuckshit

I reflashed to UniROM Standalone , now I is region-free ! Sure wished the Gameshark's on/off switch still worked though to handle my memory cards ..

[mistamontiel]

Horrible findings from me . Metal Gear Integral is broken over UniROM

No smoke no muzzle flashes cameras don't have lights chaffs don't boom nor do the effect , VR Missions crashes

I need an NTSC-J PS1 after all ? ={

EDIT: Does the Caetla thing do the region bypass any better ? But need bigger than 128k ? So what else is out there ?

[fighttoby]

So i keep this simple can anyone tell me if they tried this with a Game Enhancer 2M in there ps1 com port yet?

Cause I have one and its supposed to be compatible but it doesnt show up in unirom v6 x-flash v1.2 beta 3?

[itsstillthinking1999]

Just want to say Great job! just a quick question, I have a ver 2.2 of the game shark (that's 512k) and every time i try to install unirom it goes trough but when i try to use the cartridge the playstation just goes black and nothing shows and it just reads the disk infinitely. And when i try to to install Caetla or anything else i just get an error. This could be the way im swamping the uniform disk as when i do the first swap the disk immediately loads the unirom screen, and i only did one swap. Any help is appreciated

[nocash]

Game Shark is Datel hardware, and it's having 512Kbytes FLASH memory?

Datel carts are having 128Kbyte or 256Kbyte FLASH. There are rumours about a "PAR3" version having 512Kbytes FLASH, but its memory and I/O map wasn't really reverse engineered yet (apart from some cryptic/poorly translated japanese notes, see "Datel I/O" chapter in psx-spx.htm). I don't think that there's any homebrew software that could use that hardware (at least not more than the first 128Kbytes of its memory).

[itsstillthinking1999]

Opps my bad I still wonder why it does not work
it says sst 29ee020 (explorer) - 256kb if that helps

[nocash]

Explorer seems to be mis-detected, as it's not compatible with the Datel memory map. Maybe your programming tool doesn't support Game Sharks? Or it's hardcoded to expect to use sst29ee020 only in xplorer carts? Can't help there. But you could try other tools...
For example, my own stuff http://www.psxdev.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=76&t=1319 should hopefully work, it's mainly intended to install my kernel clone, but it can be also used to install the normal datel/caetla rom-images.

[itsstillthinking1999]

Thank you very much, when i get a chance il try it out

[Kailen]

I gave it a shot to see if it would work with mine , but i get unknown eeprom 01 20. I tried to look around to see if anyone else came across the same issue but couldn't find any. So currently unable to install unirom due to not being able to detect eeprom.

[kHn]

I believe that the command which retrieves the chip ID fails and "01 20" isn't the actual ID but some data from the ROM. Hopefully the chip doesn't require 12v to page-write...

Workarounds :
A - Build an installer EXE (EXPAND.EXE) from the .rom file, using no$psx v2.0.

[...]
Got it working!
I loaded PSX-EXP.ROM into no$psx and then choose the menu option 'Create currently loaded expansion rom installer (EXPAND.EXE)'.
This executable worked in no$psx so I burned it to CD and it booted up on real hardware.
It detected my Xploder just fine and installed to it!

Installer EXE
[...]
1) Create nocash expansion rom as raw image (PSX-EXP.ROM)
2) Load PSX-EXP.ROM via "cdrom" filemenu (this will internally allocate 20000h bytes for it, fixing the issue)
3) Create currently loaded expansion rom installer (EXPAND.EXE)
The third step was normally intended for third-party roms (like datel/caetla/xplorer firmwares, for cases when existing burning tools don't work with certain chipsets, like the xplorer carts with two flash chips in them).

... where PSX-EXP.ROM is the standalone UniROM .rom file.


B - If the above did not work, use the hexhacked X-Flash of Cheat Engine Compilation, at your own risk.
That mod forces the flashing of "unknown" EEPROMs with default parameters and may brick the cartridge in the end. Very unsafe. If it goes wrong and corrupts the contents, a hardware programmer will be needed to rescue it.
Steps are :
1) Run the disc and select "X-Flash Overburn Mod", it's the last item of page 3/3;
2) Choose "Development Stuff", then "128 Bytes Sector + ROMFILE.DAT";
3) Go to the X-Flash ROM list and pick one of the standalone builds of UniROM (without Caetla);
4) Reboot.
https://youtu.be/5Z6e1HJTjyU
Again, this method is risky and could ruin your fake GameShark cartridge.

[WolfyAmbassador]

Chrome is blocking the download, and I got a warning when I clicked on the link.