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Creative Computers
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Creative Computers CD-ROM, Volume 1 (Legendary Design Technologies, Inc.)(1994).iso
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snes.pp
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snes
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1994-11-17
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11KB
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206 lines
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NOTE: THIS FILE SHOULD BE SAVED FOR FUTURE REFERENCE. It answers
most (if not all) of the questions you have about the SNES Console
and its HardWare Game Cartridge Copier.
DISCLAIMER:
The Following information is to the best of my knowledge up to
date and current. Not responsible for money spent on getting
such a system and for the Hours of SLEEP lost from said system
if purchased by YOU! (grin)
.
The way that the Copier works is that it is supposed to take a snap
shot of the game Cartridge and store it on a Disk. Like an EPROM
burner almost.
.
Thus you can rent carts at the Video Rental Stores and copy `em!
.
What do you need ???
You NEED an original SNES machine first, then an SNES Copier.
There are three kinds of copiers designated for the SNES machine
alone.
1.) There is the Multi-Game Hunter which can copy/save SNES
as well as Sega Genesis game files.
2.) There is the Magicom copier- made origianlly for the Japanese
version of the SNES called The Super Famicom.
3.) There is the Super Com Pro, (commonly called just "Procomm.")
designated for the North American Super Nintendo Entertainment
System- SNES.
What's the difference between the Magicom and Procomm... only the
style and the language differences... both come in 8Mbit and 16Mbit
Copier versions. The 16Mbit is now sold as Standard in North America.
.
4.) Also NOTE: you NEED an IBM external 1.4 Meg Disk Drive if you
intend to save the SNES game files to disks.
The Procomm has the ability to format disks at 1.4 as well as
1.6 meg with the Disk Drive that is sold and designated for the
Procomm copier. (I don't know whether this is because of the drive
itself or if it because the Format Util built into the Procomm,
making it able to format 1.6 megs...)
5.) You also need a 9 Volt 800mA AC Adapter to power the Disk Drive.
This Adapter is sold separately.. Radio Shack sells a good Universal
Adapter made by ARCHER.
.
QUESTIONS:
1.) How are the Files archived ??
Well on IBM boards they are Zipped,
But Amiga boards have them .lzh. This is done for greater compatibility
since there is an LZH Utility for both the IBM as well as the Amiga.
(There is an Un-ZIP utility for the Amiga as well.)
.
2.) How do you copy them to Disks ??
Since these files are copied and intended for the IBM then you have
to use some ingenuity and a bit of patience when copying them to the
Amiga. Here's how:
The files can be copied to and from a 1.4 Meg Disk. Thus when you
un-archive them then you use CROSSDOS to copy them to a 720k disk.
That is, format a DD disk to 720k and copy the SNES game files to it.
However if the file is 16Mbit then you need two 720k Disks.
You have to use an Amiga SNES util called SMC_SPLIT or another util
called BSL_SPLIT (which works on the Amiga itself) to split the 16Mbit
file into two 8Mbit files so that you can save one 8Mbit file to one
720k disk, then save the other 8MBit file to the other 720k disk.
You then use another util (an SNES IBM util which works on the Copier
itself) called STOOL or STOOL1.BIN to load the files one by one and
then save them to a 1.4 Meg formated IBM disk.
The Procomm recognises that the files are split and will
automatically load the first file, search for the second file then load
that also.
NOTE: You can leave both files separately on two 720k disk, the
Procomm will prompt you to insert the second disk after it loads the
first file... simple.
.
Bit n' Bytes Explained:
Some of the games are small and some are huge... measured in
MegaBits. So a game like StreetFighterII with all of its game codes,
graphics, sound FX etc. is TWO 16Mbit Files long when copied from the
Game Cart! This needs to be saved onto TWO 1.4 meg IBM formatted Disks!
Other smaller games are 4Mbit or 8Mbit is size.
Since 8 bits equal 1 byte then:
8Mbit or 8 000 000bits = 1 000 000 bytes or 1Mb;
so therefore 16Mbits is only equal to 2 Megabytes!!
Not really big at all.... but for a cart then this is quite
adequate... (except for the 32-bit game systems such as the NEO-GEO
and other newer 32-Bit systems then this byte count for games goes
up much higher....)
Once you Split a 16Mbit file it becomes 8Mbit and Split it again
it becomes 4Mbit.
Some of the Game files even though they might say they are 8Mbit
or 16Mbit (1meg and 2meg files) only take up about 600k or 1.2megs
on a 720k or 1.4Meg Disk respectively... so don't worry about the
game sizes I don't know the technicalities behind this except to say
that perhaps certain Game Makers are advertising and pushing their
"NEW 16Mbit Graphics and Sounds!!" a "bit" too far <<<--- Major PUN,
Get it?? heh heh. (groan.)
.
3.) Can the Files be loaded from the Computer Instead ??
Yep.. if you have an IBM computer. You can also use the Amiga, but
you need special Copier DOS for the AMiga (Not too hard to find),
and you also need to make a special Serial Cable (or Parallel Cable)
to hook up the Procomm to the Amiga Serila/Parallel Port. Then hook
up the SNES to your 1084S Monitor and load the game files and play to
your Hearts content.
The SNES comes with a special Monitor/Audio/Video port and its
own Special hook up cable so you can use the 1084S Monitor or any
RGB Monitor with the Right RCA jacks.
Games look better on the Monitor and has Stereo sound. (A TV/Monitor
will also do... or else an ordinary piece `o crap TV is fine.)
.
4.) How is the System set up ??
a.) Get the SNES,
b.) plug the Procomm into the cart slot,
c.) put a Game Cartridge into the Procomm itself
to initialise the Procomm (any SNES Game Cart will do.)
d.) hook up the Disk Drive to the Procomm unit
e.) plug in the 9 Volt 800mA AC Adapter into the Disk Drive
f.) hook up the SNES to TV/Monitor
g.) hook up the Procomm to the Computer. (This step may be
skipped if you are playing from disks and do NOT intend
to use your computer to load and play games...)
h.) turn everything on and use the joypad to move the arrows up
and down over the menus you want, then hit the B button to
select. You can play any cart that is plugged into the
ProComm or else, Load Game Files, Format Disk, Delete File,
Save File, Copy Cartridge, Copy Disk... etc.
NOTE: There is a Battery Backup Feature on the Procomm (I am not
sure if it uses its own internal Battery or the Initialising
Cartridge's Battery,) that can be used to save game Position
to Disk in the ProComm's disk drive. All you do is save
your game at the position you want to then switch off the
SNES. Switch it back on again and choose Save Game File from
the ProComm menu. Name the Save Game File and save it.
When you want to replay from this position then simply
switch on the SNES and choose Load Game File and load the
Save position that you want...simple. NEAT Feature!
However this only works with games that allow you to save
game Positions originally in the game like Mario Bros. or
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to The Past..... etc.
.
So a quick re-cap:
You need an SNES, a Procomm copier and/or an External IBM Disk Drive.
You also need the AC Adapter for the Disk Drive. The Procomm works
off of the SNES's power. And you also need an SNES Game Cartridge
to initialise the Procomm.
The Procomm has two Serial Ports, one for the Disk Drive and another
Multi-I/O Serial Port to Hook up to the Computer.
You can save games to and load them from 1.4 meg or 720k formatted
disks. Or you can load the game files from the Computer itself.
.
Final notes:
Well the External Disk Drives that are sold for the Procomm Copiers
have a somewhat high failure rate. Mine busted within the first two
months, but the replacement has been going for six months now.
So I guess maybe I was unlucky with the first one...
Also the Drive itself Formats HD Disks to 1.4 or 1.6 Megs and is a
lot faster at formatting the HD Disks than any 386/486 Drive.
(IBM users sometimes use the Procomm to format their HD Disks
because it is a lot faster!)
Don't spend more than $420 for a Procomm 2.0 Copier which includes
External Disk Drive.
The AC Adapte