Slashdot Mirror
Mess with N64 and PlayStation Memory Cards on PCs
An anonymous reader writes
"Here's a neat little review over at gamecenter about the InterAct DexDrive. From the article: This small PC peripheral lets you manage N64 and PlayStation memory cards on your PC. Naturally, this opens up a world of opportunities: Downloading game saves from IterAct's Web site, or other sites on the Internet, and uploading them to your memory card is a snap. "
That's kinda spiffy. Wonder what a hex editor could do to
those games (oh look, I have 8 million rupies)
A little tricky, but works like a charm...
Now, if only I could figure out the serial
protocol and write a linux version...
There are two DexDrives; one for Playstation memory cards, one for N64 memory cards. (At least they use the same software.) And, yes, you bet your sweet bippy people are doing binary editing on them gamesaves.
I got a dex drive a few months back. Never needing to buy memory card again and swapping saved games are a definite bonus. But now that its been mentioned on slashdot I'm sure a Linux version of the Dexplorer utility is just down the road. until than I can have some fun with my hex editor.
Not money in Russia :)
How much memory do these cards typicalls hold?
Money in INDIA
Not russia.
I feel bad for the Indians, some idiot says no one cares about them, then another person thinks that their currency is Russian (which is RUBLES)
As the subject says... One other note, yeah Zelda stores saves on the cartridge. You need a GameShark to transfer to the contents of EPROM memory to a memory card, then you can transfer this to your PC. Which is kind of pricey IMHO. However this is still a pretty cool device.
Actually, the Game Shark for the Saturn had an ISA card that would allow you to do similar stuff. Unfortunately, the company who sold the device is the parent company of InterAct (Datel) and they're located in the UK. I'm not sure if the device made it stateside. Anyone know of where to find one? :)
(craig@ic.net, who is anonymously using IE 4.0. Shhh!)
It was 999 in a link to the past and links awakening i believe. 255 was only in the first one or two... I dont remember if there were rupies in zelda 2
For those interested in doing some heavy duty hacking on your Playstation, check out http://www.intelinet.com and see what's really possible.
The first Zelda game had a 255 max Rupie limit due to hardware (or mayby software) limitations. (I don't think they were called Rupies in the first game though. I think they were "rubies"). The second game didn't have money.
In Zelda 3 for SNES they fixed the 255 problem (but I noticed some SNES games did have similar 255 as the max number problem). 999 was the new limit. R1K (Rupie 1000) problems there. Same with Zelda: Link's awakening for gameboy (which only goes to show that Gameboy is more technically advanced than NES, just like I always said).
I haven't played Zelda 64 yet so I can't comment on that.
Just setting things straight.
The problem with the N64 DexDrive is whereas PSX saves all its save games to memory cards (which inconveniently don't come with the PSX), very few N64 games use memory cards. As in the past with Nintendo, games are usually saved to the cartridge, making the N64 DexDrive not that useful. Some N64 games don't even have saves. They use passcodes! :P Nintendo is a disgrace to the industry.
Been there, done that, even wore the T-shirt...
:)
For PSX: try the Pro Acrtion Replay (Game Shark) with PC-comms link flash it with the latest caetla rom, use piocons for linux and bob's your uncle
Uploads/downloads game saves just fine, you can even import them in PS-emu pro!
Money isnt the probem in Z64 -- you can easily
get to your maximum quikckly -- having infinite
rupees (i.e. constant at 500) wouldnt help much.
I wonder if Nintendo will pursue legal action against the creators of this neato device too?
-- You've always been owned, Corporations SUCK --
keyh
You can only do card->card, not card->disk. Much more storage capacity on a hard disk.
I haven't heard anything about any of these. Do any exist? I know they have to because people seem to get their "3133t r0m 1m4g35" from people who own such devices...how much do they cost? Do schematics exist, or is it a commerical product.
Posted by Scott Francis[Mechaman]:
The DexDrive has been out for awhile. Although I didn't know they had a N64 version. Note that the ones produced by the PSX one are compatible with PSEmuPro. And vice-versa, "cards" created with PSEmuPro work just fine transferred back to a real card.
For DIY-type people, the PlaySaver appears to work just as well, was out long before the DexDrive, and only costs as much as a floppy cable, some minor parts, and some sweat. I need to get working on mine..
Posted by Jeremy Witt:
No Way! I think I read a Rupee is worth about
2 American Dollars.. that makes sense until
you try to buy that fish which would come out
to around 400 Bucks I guess it could be really
fresh eh?
JWitt
I read about this drive in PSM a few months back, and tried to email the company, with all the flair of the Advocacy-HOWTO, asking about possible linux support and/or protocol release, but their mailer returned my mail, stating that there was no more room in the spool directory.. go figure, maybe its already been asked (by about 40,000 other linux users, which is why I hope the spool was full :>)
You can "manage your memory cards" just by booting up the PSX without a CD. Copy from one card to another, etc.
Most cheats are in the form of passwords though, so that's not such a hot use. As for copying to disk, bah - why not get one of those "Mega Memory Cards" for $20-40? Surely it's cheaper than getting a PC adapter...
That should be http://ubercool.ml.org/n64.htm not .html :-) I tend to flip-flop between the two.
this is cool.
anybody else seen the n64 games like Blitz99 that have arcade counterparts with n64 memory card slots? I think this may be the beginning of some serious takedowns in ye old arcade. Mix and match the greatest team players... hmm.
Wonder how long until someone writes Linux software for using the DexDrive...
Not that I'd be able to use it then... I'm out of serial ports (my modem and Pilot take one each), and also out of interrupts for new ones. Bring on the day of USB peripherals...
http://www.internetter.com/titan/mess/
Thought maybe it was going to support PSX and N64 emulation along with Colecovision and Apple II. :o>
J.
damned vulpine http://sb.drtwister.com/
...you knew that definitely nobody in here cares 'bout weak 3rd world currencies.
I'm pretty sure it was 999 in Link's Awakening (for the Game Boy).
Does narcissism count as a hobby? --Shawn Latimer
Sure, that'd be wonderful. Too bad Zelda64 stores games on the cartridge, not the memory packs. Or did I miss something? D=
Okay, just as long as I wasn't off the mark by complaining that the "DexDrive" won't help ya out in this case. Hrm... GameShark... must find one.
If it wasn't for those giant, "evil" corporations, technology on the level of the Nintendo 64 wouldn't exist in the first place. That kind of R&D is only possible with the promise of major profit return. Like it or not, it is only natural that the creators of these technologies would defend their right to keep them proprietary. This isn't anything new, it goes back to Nintendo attacking the unlicensed NES carts and the Game Genie and has only recently come to include attacks on emulators and unlicensed acessories. If you created a technology and others tried to profit off it, you'd be just as quick to attack it as Sony was to attack Connectix.
On a side note, the DexDrive has been out for a few months now and there hasn't been even a murmur of threat from Sony or Nintendo, so I really don't see it being likely that legal action will be taken.
this might be nitpicking, but it's not spelled Rupies. The correct spelling is - Rupee(s). :)
(8 thousand? that would be about $300 wouldnt it?
-Laxative
lakhs/millins/crores have nothing to do with the currency. It is simply an outdated form of power-representation (lakh = 10^5) (crore = 10^7).
My conversion of (8000RS -> $300) was wrong because:
a) I was doing it in my head
b) I was using the currency exchange rate which was valid when I moved to the US (1RS == $25) It's now around $45 I think
what's more, we cant get onions either.. thanks a lot for that embargo!
-Laxative
down w/ the BJP
no text here :)
Yeah, the Dexdrive is nifty and all, but be afraid if you have to try and get support for it. I've been trying to get a replacement unit for my psx dexdrive for 3 weeks now, and have still yet to speak to a live person or to get an email response from them.
I recall that the old NEC Turbografix-16 did this. The Turbografix-16 used the same engine as its arcade counterparts, so the user had a true arcade experience at home. The arcade versions had a card slot that allowed the user to insert memory cards from home. I don't know much about the memory cards, except that they were thin plastic with a magnetic stripe. The Turbografix-16 was expensive in its day, which may have prevented the idea from taking off.
Yes, I stand corrected, it was the Neo Geo. That was the system with the arcade machine innards and hefty price tag.
there have been a few variations of PC backup devices for PSX memory cards onto floppy or HD. however, i've never heard of one for the N64 though. keen.
The original currency was "rubies". (Yes, I know, they're green and blue and stuff, and not all red.) However, the item screen for Zelda 1 misspelled it as "RUPY" and "5 RUPIES". Someone must have gotten confused or something in subsequent Zeldas and changed it to Rupees. I dunno.