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

[deimos256]

Hi all,

Recently discovered Unirom as a solution to playing burned games, and after grabbing a GameShark and flashing it, I have a few questions. Here is what I'm working with
US 7501 PSX with PU-22 board
GameShark Pro V3.2 flashed with Unirom + Caetla + Plugin V6

I'm having issues getting burned games to play, and I'm trying to narrow down the cause of the issue, because some of the first games I burned work, however most don't. I originally flashed my cart to 4.4, and the first few games I burned worked with varying degrees of success. Some games booted with the R1+R2 combo, others seemingly needed Caetla Fast or Full boot. I then flashed v6 so I could get the more detailed fast boot screen. With v6, the games that previously worked under 4.4 still work, however now it seems that any subsequent game I burn, the PSX struggles to read it. If I launch under v6 with R2, the loading screen shows and never goes away. If I load the game with fast boot, the status screen works thru the unlock, and then hang when searching for files. If I boot into Caetla and select the CD Explorer, it either cannot read the problem disc, or it'll simply show Music tracks. Conversely, when I load the problem game into my computer, I can fully browse the contents of the disc.

Given that all of my boot problems seem to be related to an inability to read the disc, is it possible that my method for burning is incorrect? Do the 7501 units have issues with burned games in general due to hardware revisions? I've seen a couple folks with 7501s who seem to not have issues so I'm leaning toward a screwy burning process. More on that below

I am using imgburn with Verbatim CD-Rs. I have tried various speeds, 8x, 16x, AWS. For reference, burned Saturn and Dreamcast games using the same hardware work without issue.

Sorry for the lengthy post, just wanted to get as much info out there as possible. After reading this whole thread, it seems that sicklebrick admits that the boot options are not the most robust, but I think I should be having a bit more success than what I'm seeing, based on other user's feedback. Thanks for the help!

*EDIT*
So I verified that one of my non readable discs on the ps1 will boot fine on my computer through epsxe, which I would assume would be enough to rule out the disc?

*EDIT 2*
So if I turn my ps1 over, the problematic discs all play as expected, which I assume is because the lens sits closer to the disc. Some have slight skips in the FMVs or audio but at least they now play and I can rule out pretty much everything aside from the laser. Since it has no issues with black discs and only CD-Rs, I would assume the laser itself would need to have it's power adjusted. The general consensus for laser adjustment seems to be that it'll wear out the laser faster, so for the sake of preserving the hardware I'll just keep using it upside down.

[mistamontiel]

You're on a 7501 unit? Don't know why your eye/reader/laser is being shit ={

That's the last model with the glorious parallel port, I believe flipping the poor gal upside-down was very early models

Patiently awaiting for setting 60hz without boot discing

[deimos256]

I played with the laser adjustment pot but couldn't ever get the problematic CD-Rs to read, so I set it back to it's original position. Maybe I had a bad batch of discs? The first half of the stack seem to work without issue and the second only work upside down.

*EDIT* I think my issue was related to some bad discs. I bought a new spindle pack of Verbatims and I'm back to burning copies which play issue free with Unirom, no flipping the system over or anything. Come to think of it, I did drop my previous spindle pack off my desk, or maybe I'm reading too much into this.

[table]

Hi, i just created a profile to say this, beware of the PS Hacker Cartridge (The one that only accepts unirom standalone version, i am using V6 and tested previous versions).
I just wasted over 10 good CDR's thinking they were bad burns or rips, and turns out they were not...
I am not supporting piracy as i am ripping my own games, and also i did the swap trick to see if the problem was the cartridge or the disc.
So here it goes the games that dont work for me.
-Metal Gear Solid discs (USA/PAL) (does not work, crashes in the first cutscene)
-Crash Bandicoot 2 (Crashes when the messed up textured naughty dog logo appears)
-Crash Bandicoot 3 (Does not work when select new game, when Doctor n cortex falls off his ship)
-Ape Escape (Does not work after loading level 2)
-Mortal Kombat Mythologies Sub-Zero (I only own USA-VER, and freezes when the menu appears)
-Colin Mcrae 2.0 - USA (Freezes during loading screen)
(Will update more as i am burning more games)
I am not here to cry over this not working, i am just willing to improve this for everyone. Thanks

Yes, I'm having these problems too. I'm going to install a modchip for accuracy because this is killing me.

btw my scph-7501 only runs unirom standalone v6 through fastboot, not R2

[Arnold101]

pal 5502 chipped, unirom 6 standalone, with R2 no game is loaded, never. is for the modchip?
l1 makes nothing, r1 too

[sickle]

Hi, i just created a profile to say this, beware of the PS Hacker Cartridge (The one that only accepts unirom standalone version, i am using V6 and tested previous versions).
I just wasted over 10 good CDR's thinking they were bad burns or rips, and turns out they were not...
I am not supporting piracy as i am ripping my own games, and also i did the swap trick to see if the problem was the cartridge or the disc.
So here it goes the games that dont work for me.
-Metal Gear Solid discs (USA/PAL) (does not work, crashes in the first cutscene)
-Crash Bandicoot 2 (Crashes when the messed up textured naughty dog logo appears)
-Crash Bandicoot 3 (Does not work when select new game, when Doctor n cortex falls off his ship)
-Ape Escape (Does not work after loading level 2)
-Mortal Kombat Mythologies Sub-Zero (I only own USA-VER, and freezes when the menu appears)
-Colin Mcrae 2.0 - USA (Freezes during loading screen)
(Will update more as i am burning more games)
I am not here to cry over this not working, i am just willing to improve this for everyone. Thanks

Yes, I'm having these problems too. I'm going to install a modchip for accuracy because this is killing me.

btw my scph-7501 only runs unirom standalone v6 through fastboot, not R2

Unirom boot has been a great big ass pain for a while now, and I've not had anywhere near the time required to fix it.
Long story short - it's not super duper reliable.
Still toying with a C rewrite since the XFlash source was released, but I might have to just release the source eventually.
In the mean time you can add the .EXE from one of the boot disks mentioned above as the plugin.exe

[tic]

Hi, i just created a profile to say this, beware of the PS Hacker Cartridge (The one that only accepts unirom standalone version, i am using V6 and tested previous versions).
I just wasted over 10 good CDR's thinking they were bad burns or rips, and turns out they were not...
I am not supporting piracy as i am ripping my own games, and also i did the swap trick to see if the problem was the cartridge or the disc.
So here it goes the games that dont work for me.
-Metal Gear Solid discs (USA/PAL) (does not work, crashes in the first cutscene)
-Crash Bandicoot 2 (Crashes when the messed up textured naughty dog logo appears)
-Crash Bandicoot 3 (Does not work when select new game, when Doctor n cortex falls off his ship)
-Ape Escape (Does not work after loading level 2)
-Mortal Kombat Mythologies Sub-Zero (I only own USA-VER, and freezes when the menu appears)
-Colin Mcrae 2.0 - USA (Freezes during loading screen)
(Will update more as i am burning more games)
I am not here to cry over this not working, i am just willing to improve this for everyone. Thanks

Yes, I'm having these problems too. I'm going to install a modchip for accuracy because this is killing me.

btw my scph-7501 only runs unirom standalone v6 through fastboot, not R2

In the mean time it's fixed. You can take the ps hacker and burn the no$cash bios. Probably its not perfect, but at less I have tried Colin macrae and mortal kombat and they not freeze. If a game not run in unirom, swap cartridge and try with the bios clone.

[rdrtnk]

Hi all, first post here.

I've got my hands on a AR DVS device (128k) and flashed the Unirom Standalone from V6. It flashes successfully but my SCPH-1000 black screens when turning it on, either with the AR's switch on or off. The UniRom screen simply won't appear.

Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks

[Administrator]

It might not be compatible with that type of cartridge.

[rdrtnk]

It might not be compatible with that type of cartridge.

Even if the EEPROM is detected?

[tic]

Maybe is your port dirty.I have one game enhacer that show black screen if put the cartrige at maximum.

To boot i need put it little back.

Or maybe the flash process is not o.k and the cartridge is bricked.

[Administrator]

It might not be compatible with that type of cartridge.

Even if the EEPROM is detected?

Yes, because it could be detecting the incorrect one.

[rdrtnk]

It might not be compatible with that type of cartridge.

Even if the EEPROM is detected?

Yes, because it could be detecting the incorrect one.

Dang, I will try getting another one. Thanks!

[mistamontiel]

Jus got the Waka (bank got wrecked) and unfortunately the PAL titles are still not making 60hz ={

Please sickle try to implement such function to force 60 in your UniROM! Boot discing ain't no fun o.0

EDIT: She's not even booting Import Player Lite anymore hangs on Searching for files Ah now hanged on BOOT = cdrom

EDIT 2: Looks good on the 60hz boot disc! Re-burnt it sanely @ 4x

EDIT 3: Musics bug in Jumping Flash 2 SCPS-10021 , tried a genuine disc and burnt right now and it is delayed doesn't start playing until like two mins later

[sickle]

Please sickle try to implement such function to force 60 in your UniROM! Boot discing ain't no fun o.0

LMAO send me the iso/exe and I'll take a look.
Am writing unirom8 atm (skipping 7 'cause it's jank and I want to move away from assembly)... no promises, but I'll definitely take a look =)

[mistamontiel]

LMAO send me the iso/exe and I'll take a look.

It's in my last PM

Import Player Light v2.1

Thank ye kindly!!

EDIT: Also see Gamera 2000 SLPS-00833 have musics playback issues like crap out and start over many times the second level I mean

I don't think it's my laser because never missed a beat any FMV musics no read trouble in all my games even from my poor GT1 is disgusting from disc binder! Reporting with Imgburn @ 4x on JVC Taiyo Yudens

[mistamontiel]

DUDE L0L it wrecks Mission Impossible (also genuine disc if matters) exactly like GE007/PD's cartridge tilt omgmogmogmo cheers for this

[Administrator]

Hahaha funniest thing I've seen on a PlayStation game before

[mistamontiel]

This may sting ={ In light of Mission Impossible freaking out I tested my collection all going to be NTSC-U SCUS/SLUS identifiers

Mission Impossible wrecked animations makes you laugh to death?

Metal Gear non-Integral: Re-visited v1.0 and v1.1, both crash when try spawn VR, as for the campaign v1.0 right before gain control it turns pitch black then v1.1 freezes there ={

Metal Gear Integral many missing effects

Metal Gear Japanese seems that is the only good MGS1 to UniROM. VR still crashes but all effects are present, SLPM-86114

Metal Gear VR boots to black

Need For Speed 1 stays in UniROM screen

Need For Speed 5 missing brake lighting

Syphon Filter 1 first mission does not start, R1 target lock moves all over

Syphon Filter 2 NPCs NMEs flicker out+in of existence

Syphon Filter 3 boxes+inventory are rainbowed

Vigilante 8 1 frequent hard pauses puke graphics

Vigilante 8 2 crashes on character select, I know it's on Dreamcast and I hate how they overlooked the victory/fail quotes >.< I think Star Wars Demolition does that too plays no voice and I don't own the PS1 one

Rollcage 2 hangs loading ingame

Destruction Derby 3 boots to black

Dave Mirra Maximum Remix boots to black

Grind Session.. R2 does not show the tech lines on the fly.. only have Skater's Eye L2 then they appear

Ape Escape 1 many rainbow flickering textures

Spyro 2 Spyro turns flat half the time

Spyro 3 very impressive I thought would fail the piracy check I din't have the time to unlock the first balloon and see what Zoe says I know that Sparx stayed right full health

Tomb Raider 2 movement inputs is broken

Tomb Raider 5 likes to freeze randomly maybe to load music bits er voice clips. I know I had shit Dreamcast time playing it through but on UniROM does not recover

Resident Evil 1 Director's @ the first door it fades to black forever

Resident Evil 2 Dualshock the intro text and music plays but campaign stuck on black screen

Resident Evil 3 trial demo too tries to kick off campaign but hangs on black screen

Fear Effect 1 after intro you are stuck in black screen

Colony Wars 3 input gets stuck can't proceed past title screen

G-Police 2 hangs on loading

Just a heads up! Let's just 60hz force option to play the definitive Team Buddies!

[sickle]

LMAO ffs... best thing was you played for like 11 mins.

Thanks though, that's a great list!
I've tried a few of these on the new Unirom8 loader and it seems to be doing a lot better.
Rationing out CD's right now (my psx works with Tesco brand CDRs and nothing else) but I'll definitely get through these