Demons of Asteborg - New Game with a physical release for the Genesis/MegaDrive

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I'm using the one that they provided me in the link they emailed me. I did open it with a hex editior to make the small change to the file hearder information that they provided to get it working on the Blastem emulator and also working with flash carts.

[insertclevernamehere]

On 8/7/2021 at 4:40 PM, nyandeyanen said:

I have two boxed carts on the way and bought the Switch version. The download came the other day too, I should probably load it up on the Mega Everdrive Pro (apparently the only flash cart which currently works with it.) It really is a well done game, I would have gladly bought it for the same price if it had been released in the commercial lifespan of the Genesis.

Have you actually received a shipping notice for the carts?  If so, when did you order it?  I bought mine back on May 3rd 2020 and have received the rom but no notice of shipping my Genesis cart yet.

[Steven Pendleton]

15 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

I'm using the one that they provided me in the link they emailed me. I did open it with a hex editior to make the small change to the file hearder information that they provided to get it working on the Blastem emulator and also working with flash carts.

I am going to try modifying the ROM header with a hex editor to see if that gets it working on the MegaSD or the Mega Sg's SD card. If not, I guess I will get my Mega Drive Mini controller and play it in BlastEm.

 

The other person on the Mega Sg GitHub said that the ROM was from a No-Intro collection. Not sure why those CRC32 and SHA-1 values are different from the ones that I have on my ROM that I got directly from the developer. I wonder which values are the correct/better ones. I trust No-Intro, but at the same time, I got my ROM directly from Neofid, the guys that actually made the thing, so...

Edited August 17, 2021 by Steven Pendleton

[+-^CrossBow^-]

1 hour ago, Steven Pendleton said:

I got my ROM directly from Neofid, the guys that actually made the thing, so...

That is where I got my ROM as well. I clicked on the google drive share link they provided in the email from them that state it would only be available for a limited time and I needed to get it soon. I actually got two emails one after the other from them, each with the same link. In any event, I believe the email stated what to change in the header of the file with an editor so that it could be made to work in Blastem and at least the ED Pro with a FW update. My x7 was updated it appears back in March of this year so several months back, but it does play the game ROM I downloaded on my actual Genesis fine. Just without the ability to save as I've stated.

 

[nyandeyanen]

On 8/16/2021 at 1:12 PM, insertclevernamehere said:

Have you actually received a shipping notice for the carts?  If so, when did you order it?  I bought mine back on May 3rd 2020 and have received the rom but no notice of shipping my Genesis cart yet.

Not yet, just a message asking for updates on the address so they can finalize shipping. I purchased it once in 2019 and again earlier this year, so I assume it'll take time for them to get through all those orders.

[insertclevernamehere]

15 hours ago, nyandeyanen said:

Not yet, just a message asking for updates on the address so they can finalize shipping. I purchased it once in 2019 and again earlier this year, so I assume it'll take time for them to get through all those orders.

Ok, thanks.  That puts my mind at ease.  I always worry something will go wrong with preordering so far in advance.

[Steven Pendleton]

New update for MegaSD. Game works on that cart now.

[Steven Pendleton]

I finally played the game for about 40 minutes. It's okay, I guess. I don't really have much else to say about it, though. Not sure if that is good or bad.

 

One thing I can say is that you should probably not play this game if you hate CRAM dots.

Edited August 26, 2021 by Steven Pendleton

[roots.genoa]

The graphics and sound are great even though I'm not sure it justifies a 120Mbits cart; I'm wondering if they didn't optimize it willingly to break a new record... ?

 

The game itself is rather good and interesting, but some boss fights are problematic. They wanted them to feature a puzzle element by forcing you to use the power you just found in the corresponding level, but sometimes it's a little too far fetched. And the real problem is that the second boss is incredibly hard, because the power requires a good timing and his patterns are difficult to understand, especially at the end. The third boss is almost as awful since he also has a second form, but the following ones were easier imho. So it's a shame because a lot of players might get stuck or give up early on... ?

[c0op3r]

I also got it working on the MegaSD, I did not have to make any changes to the ROM file but I did need the newly release Bios/Firmware from TerraOnion for the MegaSD to get it to work..

 

Now if they would just send me my cart, but I ordered really late in the offering, and I got an email to a update link the other day and they seem to have temporally halted shipping to make changes to the cart/circuit boards.  So might be a while before I get mine - still I bet I get it before my Xeno Crisis for the Neo Geo MVS (Doh!). 

[+-^CrossBow^-]

20 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

The graphics and sound are great even though I'm not sure it justifies a 120Mbits cart; I'm wondering if they didn't optimize it willingly to break a new record... ?

 

The game itself is rather good and interesting, but some boss fights are problematic. They wanted them to feature a puzzle element by forcing you to use the power you just found in the corresponding level, but sometimes it's a little too far fetched. And the real problem is that the second boss is incredibly hard, because the power requires a good timing and his patterns are difficult to understand, especially at the end. The third boss is almost as awful since he also has a second form, but the following ones were easier imho. So it's a shame because a lot of players might get stuck or give up early on... ?

This is me currently. Although I don't have the actual cartridge yet and can only play it on my MegaED x7, but I've not been able to get past the 2nd boss's second form.

 

[Steven Pendleton]

They emailed me a version 1.1 of the ROM. I guess that means there's no point in using the cartridge version now. Well, disregard; they are sending new carts to everyone with 1.1 on it.

Edited September 2, 2021 by Steven Pendleton

[Steven Pendleton]

I finally decided to play version 1.1 and I decided to do it on my beloved Japanese VA4 Mega Drive, which I noticed that I have not been using very much recently. Turns out that either I need to clean my MegaSD and/or my cart slot or 1.1 has some issues. First boot = black screen, so I booted 1.0 and it worked. I tried 1.1 again and it worked, but then 2 screens later the game crashed. Restarted, and the music stopped working on the game's very first screen and basically just played a single tone with no sound effects. Restarted again and the music lasted a bit longer, but then the sound still stopped working after a few screens. Sadness. I'll go clean my MegaSD's PCB and even reinsert the SD card, but the PCB was basically spotless when I put it into my MD.

 

Cleaned my cart, reseated the SD card, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand

 

 

apparently we're doing this now.

 

Not sure what the heck is up with this thing. Now I know my Mega Drive is about 31 years and a few months old now, but I've yet to encounter major problems like this with any other game that I have played on it so far.

 

Alright, I tried it on my VA6 and my Nomad and I think I'm actually going to blame the VA4. I know the Japanese VA4 is one of the more problematic revisions, but it seems that mine really hates this game. It's 0200 right now, so I'm going to bed. I'll clean the VA4's cart slot when I wake up and try again.

Edited September 2, 2021 by Steven Pendleton

[Steven Pendleton]

Yep, Japanese VA4 hates this game. I tried it with the 32X attached and it crashed only a few seconds into the first level. I knew I should try to find a VA3. Also tested the 1.0 ROM and it also has problems. Also tried the Mega Jet and it's fine there. Only thing I have not tried it on is my VA0 Mega Drive 2. Emailed the devs to let them know that I'm having crashing problems on the VA4. Anyone else tried this game on a Japanese VA4? Kind of frustrating that I can't play this on my favourite MD.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

8 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Yep, Japanese VA4 hates this game. I tried it with the 32X attached and it crashed only a few seconds into the first level. I knew I should try to find a VA3. Also tested the 1.0 ROM and it also has problems. Also tried the Mega Jet and it's fine there. Only thing I have not tried it on is my VA0 Mega Drive 2. Emailed the devs to let them know that I'm having crashing problems on the VA4. Anyone else tried this game on a Japanese VA4? Kind of frustrating that I can't play this on my favourite MD.

I only have a va3 JPN Megadrive but I've not gotten the actual cart yet. I've only tested the 1.0 rom on my MegaED x7 on my US Genesis model 1 va2 and it worked fine on that minus not being able to save. I need to load up 1.1 as I've been playing it through Blastem and using save states. At least with the way they tweaked the game, I was finally able to get through the second boss (Wolf dude) finally!

 

[Steven Pendleton]

Just now, -^CrossBow^- said:

I only have a va3 JPN Megadrive but I've not gotten the actual cart yet. I've only tested the 1.0 rom on my MegaED x7 on my US Genesis model 1 va2 and it worked fine on that minus not being able to save. I need to load up 1.1 as I've been playing it through Blastem and using save states. At least with the way they tweaked the game, I was finally able to get through the second boss (Wolf dude) finally!

 

Yeah, I am very curious to see what happens with the game's cart. I imagine the same thing will likely happen, but I suppose I will find out when I get the thing. It's really too bad, as my VA4 has the second best audio and third best video out of all of my Mega Drives. Mega Jet is the best one in all categories by far, but damn that thing is awkward to use lol. My MD2 has the second best video, but the audio on it sucks, so I don't use it. I actually have not tried the game on the MD2. I think I will just to see what happens, but I'll bet that it works.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

My JPN MD model 1 va3 is all stock minus my adjusting the cart lock mech out of the way so I don't have to deal with it.

 

But my Genesis model 1 va2 is heavily modified at this point. I have a both the 2612 and 3438 YM chips wired in where I can switch between them and have a completely different amp circuit installed so I'm not using the onboard audio circuits anymore. Completely removed the trace from the VDP that causes the jail bar interference on RGB outputs and then wired in a switch to enable/disable the trace that was removed using separately wires on the top side of the board and ran away from the RGB lines to a switch so if I do want to use composite or the added in s-video I can enable the switch to allow those to work.

 

But my JPN MD is in such excellent condition that I couldn't bring myself to do any mods or upgrades to it at all. In fact it stays put inside a blockbuster rental case.

 

Also I noticed that the color of the plastic seems more grey than black as the US Genesis is.

[Steven Pendleton]

9 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

My JPN MD model 1 va3 is all stock minus my adjusting the cart lock mech out of the way so I don't have to deal with it.

 

But my Genesis model 1 va2 is heavily modified at this point. I have a both the 2612 and 3438 YM chips wired in where I can switch between them and have a completely different amp circuit installed so I'm not using the onboard audio circuits anymore. Completely removed the trace from the VDP that causes the jail bar interference on RGB outputs and then wired in a switch to enable/disable the trace that was removed using separately wires on the top side of the board and ran away from the RGB lines to a switch so if I do want to use composite or the added in s-video I can enable the switch to allow those to work.

 

But my JPN MD is in such excellent condition that I couldn't bring myself to do any mods or upgrades to it at all. In fact it stays put inside a blockbuster rental case.

 

Also I noticed that the color of the plastic seems more grey than black as the US Genesis is.

Yeah, I have been considering removing the cart lock so I can import Genesis games, as they are generally a lot cheaper than Mega Drive games are, even complete, and there are a few games from my childhood that I really want to reacquire that did not get released here, like The Lost World and Sonic 3D Blast.

 

I can't bring myself to modify my VA4, though, as it's in almost perfect condition aside from a tiny little part of the 16-BIT thingy that's missing some of the goldness, but that spot is only about the size of a pinhead. It's also missing one of the feet on the bottom and when inspected closely you'll find that it's actually pretty dirty, but I don't know how to clean it properly without killing the AV INTELLIGENT TERMINAL HIGH GRADE MULTIPURPOSE USE text on there.

 

Anyway, have not heard from Neofid about the crashing yet. It's like 0400 in France right now and it's also Saturday, so I'm not expecting a reply for at least a few days.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Didn't require really any modification to disable the cart lock. I just had to loosen the screw on the arm and turn it the other way as I recall and then screw it back down. It still tries to do its thing, but in the other direction so it doesn't actually engage with anything at this point. But still there and intact and just has to be moved back into the proper position to use it the normal way if need be.

 

Edited September 5, 2021 by -^CrossBow^-
Because I apparently can't proof read for crap!

[Steven Pendleton]

3 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Didn't require really any modification to disable the cart lock. I just had to loosen the screen on the arm and turn it the other way as I recall and then screw it back down. To is still tries to do its thing, but in the other direction so it doesn't actually engage with anything at this point. But still there and intact and just has to be moved back into the proper position to use it the normal way if need be.

 

I was thinking of just removing it entirely and just storing it in my desk, but I guess that works. There's really not much of a reason to keep it in there, especially as Sega dropped it completely in the Genesis and that was before the MD2 removed it even in Japan. I wonder how much money they saved by eliminating the cart lock.

[Steven Pendleton]

My game finally showed up a few minutes ago. Cart edges are beveled. I wonder if it will work in my VA4 MD or if it was just something about the MegaSD, but I don't really care enough to find out at this point. Maybe I'll get around to testing it in a month or a year or whatever.

[insertclevernamehere]

7 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

My game finally showed up a few minutes ago. Cart edges are beveled. I wonder if it will work in my VA4 MD or if it was just something about the MegaSD, but I don't really care enough to find out at this point. Maybe I'll get around to testing it in a month or a year or whatever.

I preordered mine way back on May 3rd 2020 and have received nothing about shipping.  When did you preorder?

[Steven Pendleton]

21 minutes ago, insertclevernamehere said:

I preordered mine way back on May 3rd 2020 and have received nothing about shipping.  When did you preorder?

On Kickstarter a long time ago.

[insertclevernamehere]

8 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

On Kickstarter a long time ago.

Mine just arrived today.  Didn't even get an email to say it had shipped so that was a nice surprise.  Had a quick go to make sure it works and already got stuck trying to get past the raised drawbridge.  But as I said, it was just a quick game to make sure it worked.

[Steven Pendleton]

9 hours ago, insertclevernamehere said:

Mine just arrived today.  Didn't even get an email to say it had shipped so that was a nice surprise.  Had a quick go to make sure it works and already got stuck trying to get past the raised drawbridge.  But as I said, it was just a quick game to make sure it worked.

Yeah, I don't think I got an email or anything. The mail dude rang my doorbell yesterday morning and handed me a box and I was like "WTF is this? I don't remember buying anything online"

*looks at box, sees DEMONS OF ASTEBORG on the label*

"Oh, yeah, I forgot this game exists and that I've played it."

 

Still have not tested it on the Japanese VA4, but I put it in the Nomad and it works. Yay, happy, I suppose.

Edited October 30, 2021 by Steven Pendleton