User`s manual

PA G E 9
D E V EL OP M E N T TO O L
U S E R ’ S M A N U A L
PA G E 10
FAQ
• Is the hardware region specic?
No, but the physical case, and the in-
stalled CIC are.
• What SD cards are supported?
SD, SDHC, and SDXC cards have been
tested up to 32GB. At least a Class 4 card
is recommended. However, Class 10 cards
typically have much more consistent read/
write speeds and better build quality.
• Can I use this with a Gameshark?
Mostly not. It is possible to run in USB
mode for only those games whose CIC
matches the physically installed one.
Otherwise regularly the boot mechanism
does not play well with the Gameshark.
Replacement functionality may be added
at some point in the future.
• What image formats are supported?
.Z64 and .V64 formats. Most .rom and
.bin les fall under this category as well.
• Are there any compatibility issues?
See the previous Lockout Chip section.
• Will hacked games run?
Depends. Many of these hacks, especially
SM64 hacks, are poorly coded and only
work because emulators are actually very
inaccurate and let things slide.
A counter-example is Goldeneye X which
since it is very well designed and executed
runs on the 64drive with no problems.
• What about “high-res” texture packs?
Those are physically impossible to use on
the N64, regardless of the hardware. The
console’s texture memory is limited to
4KB in silicon.
Support for 6105/7105
A 64drive with a corresponding
6102/7101 chip will run all known soft-
ware in the wild with the exception of the
two previously named. For those that want
complete compatiblity without patches,
the 64drive hardware has a provision for
that.
A x105 may be soldered on to the circuit
board in lieu of the 6102/7101, and the
“BANK” jumper immediately above the
CIC footprint should also then be shorted
closed. This selects an alternate bootload-
er that is compatible with the new CIC.
No compatibility problems have been
found as a result of using this method.
Otherwise, there are patches in the wild
for both these two situations.
Troubleshooting
Startup Problems
• I am using CompactFlash and loading
is erratic, or goes to a black screen
instead of the menu.
→ Try holding ‘Z’ when turning on the
console. This selects Compatibility
Mode in the bootloader which is
specic to CF only, and may help
some very old cards as well as
microdrives.
• I get the error “FAT32 partition not
found”.
→ The card may be corrupted, or for-
matted as FAT16/NTFS. Reformat.
• I pressed Reset after removing the card
and it hangs.
→ The cards are not hot swappable,
power off and on.
• I installed a 6105 and now it won’t
boot.
→ Jump the BANK connection de-
scribed in a previous section.
• The spinny icon (bootloader) shows
for a short time, then disappears to a
black screen, and no menu.
→ This may indicate a physical con-
nection issue with the SDRAM.
You can try loading an image over
USB. Read the USB section for
considerations.
→ Possible incompatiblity with the
memory card, causing corrupted
data transfer. Email support
• “Undened error” shows.
→ This is intentional, and triggered by
holding the L button. Try a different
controller. This may happen with
cheap 3rd party controllers.
Specications
Hardware
• 64 Megabytes SDRAM
• USB 2.0 High-Speed FIFO
• Secure Digital
• CompactFlash
• Custom FPGA logic
• 512KB shared bootloader
• 512KB conguration ROM
Transfer Rates (FW 1.xx)
• Memory card: 9Mbyte/sec
• USB: 8Mbytes/sec
Transfer Rates (FW 2.xx)
• CompactFLash: 9Mbyte/sec
• Secure DIgital: 21Mbyte/sec
• USB: 8Mbytes/sec
Supported Save Types
• EEPROM (4Kbit)
• EEPROM (16Kbit)
• SRAM (256Kbit)
• FlashRAM (1Mbit)
• SRAM 3x (768Kbit)