? Md Possible Builtin Sms ?

[Tarka]

Hi

whilst surfing I found this

EMULATION ON THE G/MD

Most folks nowdays don't know that the G/MD included a firmware Sega Master System (SMS) emulator. In fact, it was one of the first videogame consoles specifically designed to support emulation of another system. The SMS emulator is referred to in the G/MD tech docs as "VDP mode 4" and is believed to be triggered somehow by a special signal on the !BYTE line, which is pin B31 of the console's cartridge port. This signal causes the console to download a copy of the SMS boot ROM from a device attached to the unit's cartridge port and then reset, after which it detects the SMS boot code in memory and immediately switches itself into VDP mode 4. The result is a reconfigured console that behaves almost exactly as a real SMS console would under normal conditions.

at this site

Genesis Collective

Is this just old news or can any megadrive dev make use of this?

 

[Blah]

I know that either they released, or planned to release a add-on that plugs in to the MD/GEN and takes SMS cartridges and controller and uses the builtin Z80 (commonly used for sound) as the main processor, because the SMS used a Z80.

 

[Tarka]

I always new Sega were clever. I wonder if it was by design or someone realised it could do SMS games after the initial design was layed down

(no answer needed rhetorical question)

 

[Blah]

I'll answer anyway . They did it on purpose, whether they went through with it or not, I forget.

 

[fomit]

It was most definitely done on purpose. There was a converter released with the first generation Genesis called the Power Base Converter. It allowed SMS games to be played directly on the Genesis.

 

[Swiss_Cheeseman]

It wasn't an emulator. The Mega Drive had everything, all the graphical chips, the processor (Z80) and sound chips to run Master System games. There was no emulation involved. I get quite annoyed at the wrong use of the word "emulation".

A cart that was released in Japan, Phantasy Star 1 for the Mega Drive was just a SMS ROM in a Mega Drive cart. All the SMS converters available for the Mega Drive only change the pinout, they have no real hardware onboard.

Also, that article in general is full of bullshit:

Naka created an NES emulator for the MegaDrive... Yuji Naka's accomplishment is generally regarded as the first "true" videogame emulator (all software, no special hardware required).

Software Mainframe emulators for newer computers were written in the late 70s.

Due to a lack of third-party support, especially once Nintendo unleashed the SNES to worldwide distribution, the Sega Genesis never became as successful as Nintendo´s 16-bit console.

True, the Mega Drive didn't win the 16bit console wars, but it wasn't because of lack of 3rd party support. In fact, the number of american 3rd party Mega Drive releases outnumbers the SNES's.

It came to the United States in October of the following year as the Genesis, with the name signifying a new beginning in videogame technology

Actually its because Mega Drive was trademarked.

 

[Jaw]

the master system converter for the megadrive 1 has a fair bit of hardware, a couple of logic chips etc, but all that's for the card interface, which is not on the master mega, or the megadrive 2 convertor.

 

[ralp99]

on a related note, saw this on zophar.net -- have not tried it, but maybe one of you is bored enough...

"Game Gear 2 Mega Drive/Genesis Convertor is a tool that allows you to convert Game Gear ROMs into Megadrive/Genesis format ROMs playable on Genesis/MD emus."

link:http://www.zophar.net/utilities/download/gg2md.zip

page: http://www.zophar.net/utilities/segautil.html

 

[Tarka]

Hi Ralp99

that's a great link - if it works for DrMD then I can reduce the number of emulators I need on my card.

many thanks

PS I will try it later and report my findings Probably in a new thread.

Edit: I read that too quickly - I'll still need DrSMS the above link is for GameGear roms - ho hum - still makes for more games

 

[hired gun]

Hi Ralp99

that's a great link - if it works for DrMD then I can reduce the number of emulators I need on my card.

many thanks

PS I will try it later and report my findings Probably in a new thread.

Edit: I read that too quickly - I'll still need DrSMS the above link is for GameGear roms - ho hum - still makes for more games

​

Just had the same idea, as I love DrMD for the GP32, but I'm running late for work and don't have time to "tinker" right now. If you get it to work, please post how you set it up. I imagine puting it in the GPMM folder as a regular "fxe." file, but not shure if that will do the trick. H.G.

 

[Tarka]

Just had the same idea, as I love DrMD for the GP32, but I'm running late for work and don't have time to "tinker" right now. If you get it to work, please post how you set it up. I imagine puting it in the GPMM folder as a regular "fxe." file, but not shure if that will do the trick. H.G.

​

Hi H G same problem (Work) but after a quick look at the site it looks like a DOS Exec that modifies the ROM image - then rename the Rom image extension to match the required extension for DrMD and drop it in as a standard megadrive rom.

looks fun as there are some different Sonic games for the GG and also a rail shoot em up based on that Saturn special "Panzer Dragoon"

Tarka

 

[hired gun]

Hi H G same problem (Work) but after a quick look at the site it looks like a DOS Exec that modifies the ROM image - then rename the Rom image extension to match the required extension for DrMD and drop it in as a standard megadrive rom.

looks fun as there are some different Sonic games for the GG and also a rail shoot em up based on that Saturn special "Panzer Dragoon"

Tarka

​

Sounds like a plan, who ever gets home from work first, LOL, can try it out that way, and then "touch bases here." If it doesn't work we can always compare notes and try something else. DrMD is the BEST Mega Drive Emu out there, and it would be great to play all the G.G. games on it too. Good luck, H.G.