Cuttle Cart 2 Discussion Thread

[128bytes]

haha if i had one of those rs-mmc cards inside of my cc2 instead of the regular ones, my cc2 would be working right now, because there would be nothing sticking out to smash down during the move. 

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Keilbaca, I hope you are able to repair your CC2.

 

@Almost Rice - how easy is it to remove your RS-MMC card from the CC2? Is it as easy as sticking the extender back onto it and then pulling? After seeing what happened to Keilbaca's cart, I'm seriously thinking of getting an RS-MMC card to protect my Cuttle Cart 2.

[Almost Rice]

@Almost Rice - how easy is it to remove your RS-MMC card from the CC2?  Is it as easy as sticking the extender back onto it and then pulling?  After seeing what happened to Keilbaca's cart, I'm seriously thinking of getting an RS-MMC card to protect my Cuttle Cart 2.

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Inserting the RSMMC card I remove the extender and just push the rest of the card into the slot. To remove, I just insert the extender onto the RSMMC card and the catch locks into place and I remove the whole card. I taped the extender to the end of the cart so as to not lose it during non use.

 

I will take some pics and scan the slot when I get home tonight.

Edited January 25, 2006 by Almost Rice

[Almost Rice]

As promised here is the photo.

 

I have enclosed the label side, top and inside of the cart. I have also enclosed the top view of the system. I hope this is clear enough for everyone. I feel much safer taking off the extender. Before the pics of the MMC port being ripped off, I did not care that my RSMMC card extended out of the cart.

 

Also if you lose the extender, just use tape the remainder of the RSMMC card and let the excess hang outside the CC2 so you can pull the card out. You would just use something small like a toothpick to push the card in.

Edited January 25, 2006 by Almost Rice

[128bytes]

Thanks for the pics, Almost Rice. I really like the idea of having the storage internal to the case.

[Almost Rice]

For those looking for a RS-MMC card, I got mine at Newegg.com

Here is a link to their current stock.

 

They are about a couple dollars more than pricewatch.com prices, but they are one of the best on customer satifaction. At this time, the best deal looks like the Crucial 128 for $15+5 shipping. I got my 512 for $26 shipped last month.

 

Since everyone here probably has a MMC card, I recommend waiting and looking at Newegg's Refurb page on Flash memory. They are basicly returns from customers. Shipping is only $1 on that page and prices are about 10%-30% cheaper than new. Thats how I got mine. I bought 2 and the second one was brand new. The best deal I saw the past month was the Crucial 128 RS-MMC for $11 shipped

Here is the link

Currently, I see no refurb. RS-MMC.

Edited January 25, 2006 by Almost Rice

[+Allan]

Has anybody updated their CC2 cart with the new faster 2.1 OS?

 

I undated mine today with no problem but I'm having a problem getting the multiple menus to work.

 

I think my problem is with my 'CuttlecartTwoMenu' program under OS X.3.

 

When I add the menus to the lists and run the text file through the above program, it gives me a 'too few entries in line X', where X is the menu entry.

 

I think the problem is that this program expects 5 entries in each line but the folder-lines for the 2.1 OS only wants four entries.

 

Is there any way to edit the actual converted .CC2 files? I tried this but it didn't work. I'm not sure if it's possible or not.

 

I tried it with five entries to a line like the rom entries but when I booted the CC2 in my 7800 I got one of the 'sub-menus' first and couldn't get out of that menu. It kept saying 'couldn't find MENU.BIN'.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Update:

 

OK, I think I figured it out. The CuttlecartTwoMenu program is set for output to one file, 'MENU.CC2', which was the only file you needed to create before Chad wrote the 2.1 OS.

 

Now I need to find the source and compile it under OS X.

 

Allan

Edited February 12, 2006 by Allan

[+Allan]

OK, I found the Linux source which I understand should compile under OS X. I'll attempt this tommorow.

 

Allan

[DEBRO]

Has anybody updated their CC2 cart with the new faster 2.1 OS?

It's funny you should ask this. I started arranging my games into menus. This is a lot of work. I have them arranged by company now...well...almost done. I'd like to do it by programmer too but I don't know how long that will take

 

I love the new menu system. It makes it easier to find the game you want because you don't have to go through the huge list of 7800 and 2600 games.

 

BTW, was there an update for the emergency boot ROM too? I'll have to go back over my notes for this.

[+FujiSkunk]

Here's a somewhat off-the-wall question. Two, actually.

 

1, How hard would it be to construct a Game-Genie-ish cartridge for the 2600 and/or 7800?

 

2, Assuming that it would be (relatively) easy to do on the 7800, could the Cuttle Cart 2 be reprogrammed to serve as a Game-Genie-ish device? I'm thinking it would be something along the lines of, load this game, but load it with this (figurative) bit changed to hold this value.

Edited March 4, 2006 by skunkworx

[+Mitch]

Here's a somewhat off-the-wall question.  Two, actually.

 

1, How hard would it be to construct a Game-Genie-ish cartridge for the 2600 and/or 7800?

 

2, Assuming that it would be (relatively) easy to do on the 7800, could the Cuttle Cart 2 be reprogrammed to serve as a Game-Genie-ish device?  I'm thinking it would be something along the lines of, load this game, but load it with this (figurative) bit changed to hold this value.

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From what I understand it's not that hard to program, just time consuming to find all of the hot spots in games that you need for the codes.

 

Mitch

[Paranoid]

I see a couple references to an online master list of games available at the schell's website that shows games (I presume with the correct/expected ROM name) and bankswitching modes... but I can't seem to actually find such a page at the website.

 

The quickstart guide took me right through the process and CC2menugenerator.exe seems to have done the job... adding about 50 of my ROMS automatically, including Dragonstomper. I did notice that it named the second and third multiloads dstomp04.bin and dstomp05.bin instead of the expected dstomp01.bin and dstomp02.bin...

 

All of the 7800 games I have end in an .a78 extension. I thought I'd just rename to .bin and run the menu generator but that doesn't seem to work. Is the rom filename the only criteria that the menu generator looks at? So between a 7800 and 2600 game with the same name (joust.bin), how does the Cuttle Cart 2 determine which console it is for? I'm assuming it expects a specific unique name between the two systems when the same title exists for both.

 

If there is some RTFM or another FAQ I should be looking at, point me in that direction. I've already read the manual... and I think I've got a good handle on how to configure manually, and I read the online information at the site pretty carefully too.

 

I suppose I'm not in any big hurry, as neither of my 7800s are going to arrive anytime soon, but I still want to play around with configuring the MMC... just because I'm so giddy with anticipation.

[+Mitch]

.A78 files are bin files with a header on them. If you remove the header then you can rename them to .bin.

 

Or you can just download the bin files.

 

For the list of names with the bankswitching info etc. look for the CC2ROMDB.TXT file that came on the CD with the CC2.

 

Mitch

[Paranoid]

I think that will fix me up just fine, and I appreciate pointing me in the right direction(s).

[Paranoid]

So the CC2ROMDB.txt was enlightening, and explains why my DragonStomper roms got renamed to 04 and 05...

 

Now I'm curious... for the roms that aren't in the master database... hacks and the like... have people been sharing their info on how to manually add those to the Cuttle Cart... as far as Bankswitching and all? Or has each CC2 user been reinventing the wheel every time they add a ROM that isn't supported in the official rom-db? I'd say way more than half of the ROMS I wanted to add were copied fine using the auto routine. But a lot of the hacks weren't recognized. It isn't that I'm afraid to go in and manually edit and play around with the bankswitching settings by trail and error... but if the information is already out there... *shrug*...

 

I also read something about a project with everyone getting together to manually edit the manuals to the correct format. Did that ever take place, is it ongoing right now, or did the idea just kind of die? If it is still an ongoing project, I'd be glad to talk to someone about taking-on reformatting manuals that are still yet to be finished. My understanding was that they were trying to get some organization so that two different people weren't working on the same manuals.

[+Mitch]

The manual project kind of died, there is a thread that has all of the ones that were finished. Almost all of the 7800 manuals were done and probably about 1/4 of the 2600 manuals.

 

You can also find other users personal copies of the CC2ROMDB.TXT files. Several people have posted them here at the forums so look around.

 

I'll even attach my latest one.

 

Mitch

CC2ROMDB.TXT

[Paranoid]

So, then... I guess I misunderstood the purpose of the cc2romdb.txt file. I figured it was a static file that simply listed the files that the cc2menugenerator.exe recognized, and that beyond that, you had no option but to enter each ROM by physically copying to the Games directory on your MMC and manually entering the item into the menu.txt. If I'm understanding you correctly, I can actually just replace the stock cc2romdb.txt file with the file you've posted, and when I run cc2menugenerator it will parse your text file and automatically copy any roms found and update the menu text and menu.cc2. Is that right?

 

I'll do some searching and find those other threads. Thanks again for your help and patience.

[Mayhem]

That's correct... or you just add a ton of shit manually like I did instead

 

Attached is my current menu file. I need to update it with some of the recent things in the last few months, been neglecting it. I also run both PAL and NTSC ROMs on my card, hence the differences.

MENU.TXT

[Paranoid]

That's correct... or you just add a ton of shit manually like I did instead 

 

Attached is my current menu file. I need to update it with some of the recent things in the last few months, been neglecting it. I also run both PAL and NTSC ROMs on my card, hence the differences.

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Thanks for the post. Adding manually wouldn't bother me... the trail and error with the right bankswitching mode sounds like a royal PITA, though.

[cschell]

Another option is to use Mot's Java version of the menu generator along with his more detailed cc2romdb.txt. You can read about it a few pages earlier in this thread.

 

Mot's has the advantage of letting you create menus by company and controller type, as well as game name. I've seen some people use this and the new submenu features in OS ver 2.01 to build some pretty nifty menus.

 

Of course what do I know. I always just end up editing the MENU.CC2 file directly. Someday I may get around to setting up my own CC2 with a controller type menu though.

 

Chad

[Paranoid]

Ok... so my 7800 arrived today... and everything is working good, basically.

 

I went ahead and bought an RS-MMC 32mb card, and I thought I had it all set up, but the CC2 is timing out on it. Is the CC2 finicky on MMC cards? Anyone else experienced anything like this?

 

I tried my trick with copying all the files over using ActiveSync and a PDA, but that didn't work with this card. The 256mb card works fine.

 

Additionally, I did some troubleshooting on the MMC card. At one point it wasn't being recognized by anything, so I did some formatting and got it to be recognized. Finally, I copied just some PALM files over, and then popped it into my Palm 505. It saw it and was able to load and run Palm apps fine. I copied over the CC2 directories and files, tried to load it, got the MMC not inserted error. Once I pulled it out and put it back in my Palm, it couldn't recognize the card.

 

It is a shame that the CC2 doesn't just use SD cards...

 

My problem is that since I loaded up the 256mb card, I've gotten a lot more ROMS loaded, but I'm hesitant to try and copy anything to it for the fear I'll get corruption. I guess my next step is to go out and pick up another multi-card reader (which I've needed to do, anyhow, just to have card readers on a couple of machines here) and see if that is the primary problem. It doesn't *seem* to be the case, though.

 

Could the metal on the RS-MMC extender be shorting out the CC2 somehow? I haven't tried inserting it without the extender on it. I figured I'd cross that bridge when I got there. I might have gotten there sooner than I expected, though.

[Paranoid]

Oh... anyhow, otherwise, I'm ecstatic. I've got all the games I *really* wanted to have playing like a champ. This was really my real expensive solution to an all-in-one Supercharger and it seems to be working fantastic in that capacity. Very cool little cart.

[GrizzLee]

Ok... so my 7800 arrived today... and everything is working good, basically.

 

I went ahead and bought an RS-MMC 32mb card, and I thought I had it all set up, but the CC2 is timing out on it. Is the CC2 finicky on MMC cards? Anyone else experienced anything like this?

 

I tried my trick with copying all the files over using ActiveSync and a PDA, but that didn't work with this card. The 256mb card works fine.

 

Additionally, I did some troubleshooting on the MMC card. At one point it wasn't being recognized by anything, so I did some formatting and got it to be recognized. Finally, I copied just some PALM files over, and then popped it into my Palm 505. It saw it and was able to load and run Palm apps fine. I copied over the CC2 directories and files, tried to load it, got the MMC not inserted error. Once I pulled it out and put it back in my Palm, it couldn't recognize the card.

 

It is a shame that the CC2 doesn't just use SD cards...

 

My problem is that since I loaded up the 256mb card, I've gotten a lot more ROMS loaded, but I'm hesitant to try and copy anything to it for the fear I'll get corruption. I guess my next step is to go out and pick up another multi-card reader (which I've needed to do, anyhow, just to have card readers on a couple of machines here) and see if that is the primary problem. It doesn't *seem* to be the case, though.

 

Could the metal on the RS-MMC extender be shorting out the CC2 somehow? I haven't tried inserting it without the extender on it. I figured I'd cross that bridge when I got there. I might have gotten there sooner than I expected, though.

 

Maybe Chad will chime in here. I've had similar problems with non Sandisk MMC cards. He doesn't understand why this occurs. Anyhow, I stick to the Sandisk cards and never have problems. Not exactly sure why. Chad stated that he followed the standards as put forth by Sandisk. Weird eh?

 

-Lee

[Paranoid]

Thanks for the info. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't just nuts. I only paid $.99 for this card (plus $9.99 shipping and handling, har-har-har)... but, I can use it in my Palm or my PocketPC, so... it isn't a total waste (and 32mb is just about appropriate for the Palm....).

 

I guess I'll pick up a SanDisk MMC and Memory Card Reader tomorrow and see if that improves my luck.

 

From what I gather, MMC had some difficulties with standardization and some other issues. Kind of a transitionary card standard.

[cschell]

I've had people report problems with "white label" MMCs, but none with the major brands. The white label MMCs didn't follow the reset description as described by SanDisk. I did have one customer who had problems with a SanDisk RSMMC. He sent it to me and I couldn't read it with anything though (CC2, external card reader, laptop card reader) so I chalked it up to being a faulty card. (And still believe that to be the case.) I've had others report no problems with RSMMCs, although I've never known the brands.

 

It's possible that the RSMMC you have, being newer, only works at low voltages, lower than the CC2 can supply. In that case the MMC will simply turn itself off and refuse to play. I've never actually seen any type of MMC that won't work at 3.3V, but it is allowed in the spec.

 

I guess I'd ask people what brands of RSMMCs are working for them and stick with them.

 

As for SD cards, sure if I did it again it would use SD cards. But at the time I designed the CC2, SD Cards weren't in wide use and the information on how to initialize them was only available by joining the SD Card association for like $5000.00 (which is a lot considering the number of CC2s being made). These days the info is available on the net, although you still have to dig for it.

 

Chad

[Paranoid]

Well, can't blame you for going MMC when the price to get in the door was that steep. Actually it really sucks when the patent holders keep the price to play so high it drives the little guy to other alternatives.

 

And yeah, I only have a 256mb MMC card because SD cards were still rare and relatively expensive at the time. Now I've got several 512mb and a SanDisk 1gb SD/USB jump-drive deal just lying around.

 

The RSMMC is a Samsung "white label" card... by which I mean, it is Samsung OEM gray-market. So it figures. I didn't expect a miracle for $.99 plus shipping, though.

 

Thanks for your response.