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Lost Package Derails Project To Preserve Super Nintendo Games (eurogamer.net)
A developer's quest to preserve (and validate) every game ROM for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System has hit a glitch -- thanks to the U.S. postal service. Byuu, the creator of the Higan SNES emulator, had been expecting a package with 100 games from the PAL region (covering most of Europe, Africa, South America, and Oceania).
wertigon writes:
As it turns out, someone at the USPS thought it was a good idea to lose the package, thereby robbing the project of roughly $5000 and the sad hopes of ever seeing a full indexing, like the one done to the U.S set. Byuu writes... "I do still want to dump and scan the Japanese games I already purchased. But we will never have a complete PAL set.
Kotaku reports the games were worth up to £8,000, and though Byuu says the sender never requested reimbursement, it's going to happen "because I can't live with myself if it doesn't." He's asking for donations on Patreon, adding "If the package ultimately arrives, I will be refunding all donations."
In that Thursday update, Byuu writes that the post office had finally shipped him the label from the package "and nothing else, claiming the machine ate it." They've launched an investigation, reports Byuu, adding "It's still an incredibly long shot that they'll find anything, but we'll see. I really, really hope that they do."
It's really sad that this happened, but really, sending something irreplaceable, (and arguably culturally important), by POST for Christ's sake, strikes me as irresponsible. I know courier companies lose stuff too, but I highly doubt that the automation equivalent of "the dog ate my homework" would be offered as an explanation. And if the package had been lost by a courier company, I suspect there would a better chance of it being found sooner or later.
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
He's doing more than just dumping the ROMs, he's been photographing the carts and scanning the manuals as well as part of his preservation project. He has a custom rig for dumping that knows more about some obscure hardware quirks of how it does addressing to properly map out the ROMs.
But maybe I should let byuu explain:
Missing the point. This is a preservation effort, not a piracy effort.
You might want to do some research. For whatever reason, theft by USPS workers is far more prevalent than 10 or 20 years ago. It is particularly bad among people who are coin collectors and ship coins using USPS.
Naive child, maybe where you live, people are honest. Where I live, there is one angry woman (demographic withheld) who is known to slice open packages and give you empty boxes. She literally remembers faces or has a list of names. I was banished from my post office as well as my neighbor for coming in and demanding an explanation. Things of all sorts for me, from adult lubricant my boyfriend ordered to jewelry was stolen. For my neighbor, valuables were also stolen. A Yelp review had nothing but similar reviews of snotty service and things being obviously stolen or "lost". Yet another friend literally had tire tracks from a postal truck on his package. The carrier apologized and said he could reject it but he had his suspicions on why it was that way and wasn't allowed to go any further than that. This friend got the OK to look at the treads on the truck, and sure enough, the pattern matched the impressions in the package. Carrier apologized that someone would have the nerve to do it but he was not allowed to point fingers.
This doesn't happen with FedEx or UPS. Something might be stolen off the front porch, but packages aren't sliced into routinely. Real companies have real tracking and cameras all over the place to keep fraudulent employees in check. Their investigations are actually investigations.
I'm not saying stuff doesn't get stolen by employees. but that's not the delivery service "seeing fit" to lose anything.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Working for the USPS is a shit job, it doesn't pay much, you have to piss in a cup and take an exam and wait around for ages to find out if you've got a job so the most desirable people get offered some other job and subsequently take it while the USPS is still trying to figure out where the application is. So they apparently just hire whoever actually takes the time to go through the process and you end up with a bunch of dingleberries. They still don't have anything clever like automatic detection of routing loops built into the system, like every other shipper does. Sadly, they are the cheapest option by far.
It's not just USPS that's gone downhill, either. California Overnight used to be super fantabulous. Now Amazon is using them and it's nothing but complaints. Who knows where they delivered our stuff. We got it refunded and/or replaced (it was several items) so the only problem was a delay, but still. This shit isn't rocket surgery. The number is on the mailbox and there's no other mailbox at this driveway. It's not hard.
I've had no end of problems with the USPS, I think someone there has got it in for me on a minor, low level so they just dick with me. It all started when I requested a hold via the web. I checked the box saying I would come to pick up any accumulated mail, and in the special instructions box I said "OK to deliver letters but please hold all packages". They held everything, which was OK, and then when the hold ended instead of holding the mail for me to come pick it up as requested, they delivered all of it and it got soggy in the rain. After that they decided to hold all of my packages forever and ever amen, whether they were supposed to be held or not. I had to go in and argue with them about it twice to get them to stop.
Now the problem I'm having is that apparently all small packages from China (or which look like they might have come from China) are apparently for me. I order a lot of $1-5 crap from China on eBay, apparently more than anyone else in my post code, because they routinely mix other people's packages in with mine. I just write MISDELIVERED on the back in big fat black magic marker and drop them back in the mailbox. They told me to stop writing on them, but that's bullshit. I'm doing precisely what you're meant to be doing, and they're just trying to hide the fact that they are not giving any fucks.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Won't help. I had the postal service "lose" a $50 package once. They won't deal with the recipient, they'll only talk with the sender. In my case they "delivered" it during a Hold Mail order and I never saw it. They didn't care. Apparently to get my money pack, the sender would have to file a police report!
When I had five packages ($200 in merchandise) stolen from the post office, two from inside and three from the post office box outside, I did the following:
https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/
The shippers verified my stolen package compliant, filed for insurance reimbursement, and sent out replacement packages. The supervisor who blew me and a dozen customers off when we complained got fired. Exterior cameras were installed to monitor the post office boxes located outside. Package handling inside the post office is no longer anonymous as initials are required for putting a package on the shelf for pick up or in the post office box.
I've also had them "lose" multiple credit cards and various other smaller packages over the years. They don't care. They don't have to. They're government.
Most people find it easier to play the victim game and complain about the government rather than take responsibility and take action..
I'm not saying it happened here, but many people do not understand that you have to put things in appropriate packaging for the machines to process. It saddens me every work day to see what is thrown out of the machines without the packaging it came with. No address, no delivery. Only paper goes in envelopes for example. Not hard items. Not keys. Not pens. Not coins. Not makeup you want your friend to try. Not anything but paper. And that is because it has to go around hundreds of steel rollers, held between high speed belts for sorting. If you have a hard item, put it in a flat bubble-wrap protected envelope for protection and processing through the Automated Package Processing System machines, or, better, in a well-taped box with an address written on the box. And NOT a tiny box. Heck, if you have ANYTHING that is very important, put it in a flat or a box and make it bigger than the item by far. And let me say that only a very tiny percentage of the 156 Billion pieces of mail the USPS processes every year is damaged, destroyed or lost. And most all of that is due to improper packaging of items. Think before you send because people don't route mail anymore, multi million dollar machines do, and at high speed and accuracy.
E Proelio Veritas.
Oh that's funny you think the USPS will cut you a check when they lose an insured package?
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
How do the postal services get away with charging extra for insurance?
Your goods are in their care, you're paying them for a service so why aren't they legally liable for any loss or damage ?
When you take your car in for a service, the garage is responsible if they blow it up. If a builder destroys your house when remodelling, he's responsible.
In both cases they have (or should have) 3rd party liability insurance to make good.
How would you feel if you went to a hospital and the surgeon asked "would you like insurance against me cutting the wrong bits out ?"
This is what Registered Mail is for.
It gives end-to-end point-to-point traceability. At every moment between when the package is handed to the clerk and when it is handed to the recipient, it is either in someone's hands or in a locked storage container. Every time the package changes hands, the new holder has to sign for it.
The US Postal Service HATES it. They try HARD to talk you out of using it. It is a pain in the patootie for them, being forced to do their job properly.
If you ever want to see a postal clerk get a SICK look on his face, tell him "I need to trace a missing Registered Mail piece." He knows, in that instant, that one of his co-workers may be about to lose his nice cushy job, and quite possibly move into a Federal zero-star hotel, the kind with iron bars on the windows and doors.
The part of the Sega Genesis memory map allocated to the cartridge is a linear sequence of bytes from $000000 to $3FFFFF. The part of the Super NES memory map allocated to the cartridge is not. See my diagram of Super NES address space.
The 65816 divides its 16 MiB address space into 256 banks, each 64 KiB in size. In order to make certain addressing modes more efficient to use, the Super NES divides up cartridge ROM address space as follows:
The "HiROM" mapping (mode $21 or $31) is a linear sequence of bytes from $C00000 on up. Because of incomplete decoding of the address bus, the second half of each 64 KiB bank is usually mirrored into $808000-$80FFFF, $818000-$81FFFF, $828000-$82FFFF, ..., $BF8000-$BFFFFF. In addition, banks $80-$FD are mirrored into banks $00-$7D, so that the 65816 CPU can find the reset vectors at $00FFE0-$00FFFF (which is mirrored from $80FFE0-$80FFFF). Usually, battery save memory is at $306000-$307FFF, $316000-$317FFF, ..., $3F6000-$3F7FFF.
You might notice that everything in the above skips banks $7E and $7F. That's where the Super NES puts its 128 KiB of RAM, with the first 8 KiB mirrored into banks $00-$3F and $80-$BF. It also mirrors the memory-mapped I/O ports associated with the CPU's memory controller and the Picture Processing Unit (PPU) into banks $00-$3F and $80-$BF. They are made accessible through all these banks so that the same value of the Data Bank Register (DBR), analogous to the Data Segment (DS) register on 8086, can see RAM and ROM at the same time.
The "ExHiROM" mapping (mode $25 or $35) has two linear sequences of bytes: from $C00000 to $DFFFFF and then from $400000 to $5FFFFF, which get mirrored down into the second half of $80-$BF and $00-$1F respectively. Only the largest games, mostly exclusive to Japan such as Tales of Phantasia, use ExHiROM.
The "LoROM" mapping (mode $20 or $30), more common on early games, does not connect A15 out of the system to the ROM. This means it uses only the second half of each bank: $808000-$80FFFF, $818000-$81FFFF, $828000-$82FFFF, ..., $FF8000-$FFFFFF. Banks $C0 through $FF mirror the 32K of data in that bank into both halves of the bank, and banks $00-$6F are a mirror of banks $80-$EF. Usually, battery save memory is somewhere in $700000-$77FFFF.
Cartridges use either slow or fast mask ROM. Modes $20, $21, and $25 are "slow ROM", where the CPU slows down slightly in order to allow use of cheaper 200 ns ROM. Modes $30 and $31 are "fast ROM", which needs 120 ns ROM that was more expensive in the early 1990s. Mode $35 has fast ROM for the $C00000-$FFFFFF region but slow ROM for the $400000-$5FFFFF region.
Slight differences in address decoding in each cartridge lead to differences in which address ranges actually contain mirrored ROM (as opposed to open bus) and which address ranges contain battery-backed RAM. Furthermore, some coprocessors included in cartridges can change this mapping at runtime.
If you/re shipping 5K, insure it for at least 5K if not 10K. That allows you to replace it and deal with costs associated with that replacement. If this did anything other than delay the effort, its from sheer incompetence.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
They do- up to a certain dollar amount. If you need more than that, you buy the insurance. At which point you have to declare what's in the package, and how much insurance you want. They then charge for that, because otherwise it would be ripe for abuse to claim every letter you send if worth 10K.
And a surgeon does have insurance against cutting the wrong bits out. Its called malpractice insurance.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
When you send a package internationally, there are a lot more hands than just the USPS involved.
Shipper. Did they box and package it correctly? Did they understand how durable the package had to be?
Point of origin postal service. In many countries, these operations are corrupt or prone to theft or delays. If the actual value was declared, that is a huge invite.
Point of origin Customs service. Who knows what they may open or inspect or sample. Will they reseal it properly? Who knows.
Shipper. Boat, airline, whatever. They toss it in with all the other mail. Hope it was packed correctly.
Destination country Customs service. They will check it, may open it, inspect it, impose duties or fines, or confiscate it entirely. The item is not released back into the mail until Customs clears it. If they open the box, they are supposed to reseal it properly.
Destination country Postal Service Who knows.
Sig for hire.
You need to stop pissing other people off.
How do I square that with expecting people to do at least the minimum? Should I just lower my standards so far that I suck their fucking cocks just for showing up at work and giving me bitch face? These people are grade "A" fuckups. And here's the thing, I'm more than willing to help. When the weird-ass prior mail carrier chick's classic Willys broke down, I was the only guy to stop and see if she needed help. I am polite, I smile, I say please and thank you. I do all the same shit that most of these fuckups don't bother to do. I get along great with the one postal employee who actually does her job with grace if not a smile (personally I think smiling is part of a customer service job, but I realize that people have shit days and so I don't care much) but if I rub some of them the wrong way by having some basic standards then that's just going to fucking happen.
I piss people off just by virtue of existing. I'm a gigantic part-Mexican with liberal attitudes who drives a German car in a redneck backwater full of hicks in sticks. And I do not go around telling people how backwards their ideas are, no matter how dumb I think they are. That's not my job and they don't give a shit. I treat people with more respect than they show me, and if they're not satisfied with the level of treatment they're receiving, then they can give a little more or they can fuck right off.
I stop and pick up hitchers, I stop and ask people if they're doing OK and I'll go back and get my tools and come back for them if they need me to. But I also expect people to know how to drive and keep to their side of the road and in general do their fucking job. If that's too high an expectation for you, you know where the door is.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Possibly, and that is why you should pack things like this double boxed.. and label the inner box as well.
byuu is lying. It wasn't insured properly because the German sender is a welfare defrauder and he can't admit to the government that he owns so many expensive video games. He had to lie they are worth 1000 EUR because the welfare agency would raise a red flag if had more than 1000 EUR worth of video games.
When people caught byuu on this, he added this info to his Patreon page, but on the very end and worded in a way that tries to play on people's emotions by portraying the German defrauder as a poor guy who can't give up his childhood collection. Only an idiot would believe this German person got 400 SNES games as a kid, including the rarest ones.
Actually there's a lot of that, especially on stuff that someone might think is valuable and easy to hide/dispose of.
He got the package label, which is very suspicious.
"machine ate it" is b.s., but not because machines don't damage or tear packages, but rather because the contents, even damaged, didn't arrive. They will reseal a package, or even rebox it if they have to, so if only the label arrived, it's a pretty clear indication that someone decided to take the contents for walkies.
In the military a friend got a box of VHS tapes from his family back home. (Yes, this was a while ago) It was a month and a half late, and had been opened. Even more so, all the tapes had been watched and not rewound, except for one that was stopped partway through. Some jerk in the US Postal service (yes, it was all US Postal personnel) decided to steal his tapes and watch them all. At least the creep finally let sent them back to the rightful owner.
That's the problem... You're just too darn friendly.
The package being "found" is a lot more likely to happen now that some Postal worker realizes his theft has been made very very public, and that investigations are going to come his way and shine the light on what really happened if the games aren't returned. Or her.... Probably him.
Sadly, a Libertarian cannot force his views on another, and freedom cannot spread as does the cancer known as religion.