8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ

[cabbage]

steve- you could just use ucon64 for region-patching. it's open source and well-ported. nice tool worth having in this hobby.

[thesteve]

i run win2k
2.0 i think

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cjeagm0juugkx8v/Hucard%20Rom%20Converter%20.NET%202.0%20.zip

Try that.

that works

[thesteve]

didnt work on neutopia......worked when bitflipped

[ccovell]

This is the HuCard pinout that I used.  I could never find clear confirmation if this was the Turbografx or PC-Engine.  I believe, based on the results, that it must be a USA pinout.
So does that mean the bits need to be flipped for both USA and JPN games on a PC-Engine?  It appears so.

Confirmed, your pinout is the US-style pinout.  You can see both pinouts here:  http://wiki.pcengine.info/pmwiki.php?n=HuCard.HuCardPinout

US/JP games do not matter; The ROM data should, ideally, be unscrambled, even for US ROMs (makes hacking, HES ripping, etc easier).  With unscrambled ROMs on a US Turbografx, users will not have to do any bit-swapping, right, since the Flash chip->pinout is what the US Turbo expects.

The PC-Engine expects the reverse bit order, so us PCE users will have to swap the bits every time.

This is probably what sets apart your flash card from all previous ones: Tototek, etc cards were developed to run on PCE hardware primarily.  Yours is expecting Turbo hardware.  It's up to you to say whether that's a good thing or bad.  ;-)

[spenoza]

It's up to you to say whether that's a good thing or bad.  ;-)

Considering how easy this is to fix I'm not sure good or bad comes into play.

[ConHuevos]

Glad that's figured out.  So basically we'll just have the change the description to that option depending on the system you're going to run the ROM off of, not the ROM itself.  Right?

[gameofyou]

Glad that's figured out.  So basically we'll just have the change the description to that option depending on the system you're going to run the ROM off of, not the ROM itself.  Right?

It seems like this is the case.  Thanks everyone for the input.  I will modify my instructions, to make it more clear for people.

[gameofyou]

By the way, ConHuevos, your converter tool is awesome.  I played around with it last night.  This will make it a LOT easier for people to get up and running with commercial games.  I have added a link to it from my website.
 

[burn_654]

Just wanted to say I've been enjoying your flash hucard quite a bit! Been running US and Japanese roms (and some homebrew tests) successfully!

All this is in the 'US' position of my mod switch, strangely, but that doesn't bother me. The aforementioned clarity of what options should be set for what console would help that out I would think. Maybe a wizard/option at the launch of the program? "What region console are you using?"

Oh! The message stating that the flash finished did show up - it must have been a fluke that first time. :-"

[thesteve]

for the most part i have been able to use any rom as US or JAP mode
the exception is neutopia, which didnt work in either till i checked bit flip.
then it worked in US mode

[ConHuevos]

for the most part i have been able to use any rom as US or JAP mode
the exception is neutopia, which didnt work in either till i checked bit flip.
then it worked in US mode

Region protection wasn't removed perhaps?

[thesteve]

for the most part i have been able to use any rom as US or JAP mode
the exception is neutopia, which didnt work in either till i checked bit flip.
then it worked in US mode

Region protection wasn't removed perhaps?

wouldnt matter, as pin29 is grounded

[gameofyou]

Just wanted to say I've been enjoying your flash hucard quite a bit! Been running US and Japanese roms (and some homebrew tests) successfully!

All this is in the 'US' position of my mod switch, strangely, but that doesn't bother me. The aforementioned clarity of what options should be set for what console would help that out I would think. Maybe a wizard/option at the launch of the program? "What region console are you using?"

Oh! The message stating that the flash finished did show up - it must have been a fluke that first time. :-"

Awesome!  Thanks for the feedback!  I'm glad you are up and running.
 
Now that I have completed the build of the first 48 boards, I am actually getting to play around with the card, myself.  I was finally able to try out Bloody Wolf & it is awesome.  It has been on my purchase list for a long time, but the JPN version is surprisingly difficult to track down.  I will definately be buying it, when I find one.

[owen2471]

i have tried several roms. they seem to transfer fine. but when inserted into my pc engine i just get a pale blue screen.

[thesteve]

bit flip them