Freeplaytech Forum

I hope this is an okay place to comment on it, I debated posting a thread in the General subforum but as this was a partial problems/solutions thread I thought it'd be alright to do so here.

First of all, my Flash Masta NGP cartridge arrived today! I thought it'd take longer as an international buyer, but it arrived pretty quickly, and in a well-protected package; was very excited when I found it sitting on the stairs waiting for me.

The presentation was great; the little thank you note from Flavor/Ed included with the cartridge and case was charming; I always like finding things like that in ebay purchases too.

I had difficulty getting the computer to recognise the cartridge at first (through Zadig), I tried disconnecting and reconnecting it a few times to no avail, and used another USB cable, which seemed to be the cause--after which it recognised it and I could install the drivers necessary.

After that, I had issues with the Flashmasta software--whenever I ran the recommended program (64-bit, at the top of the downloads page), it would simply crash with a standard "<program> has stopped working" error. I tried temporarily disabling my antivirus software as it had brought up a scan warning (though it returned a negative result anyway); still nothing.

The cartridge itself was fine--or at least still useable--I'd tried using it in my NGPC and (happily) found the pre-installed translated version of Card Fighters 2 (which I messed around with for a bit).

I tried using the 32-bit program (just in case it had any better results), and it did the same thing; so whenever I started the program (64 or 32-bit) with the cartridge plugged in, it would simply crash with no real information.

If I opened the program by itself, without the cartridge connected, the program was fine; it was only as soon as it recognised the cartridge that it crashed for no apparent reason.

I'd checked on the forum and saw that some people had to use USB hubs to get around it, but unfortunately, we don't have any in the house (and I'm impatient); however, my computer does have a plethora of different types of USB sockets--mostly 3.0 or 3.1.

After finding one of the two standard 2.0 sockets (goodbye temporarily, keyboard) I plugged it back in, started the program, and it worked. I'm not at all knowledgeable when it comes to the different drivers or software related to USB connectors, so I'm afraid I couldn't say why, but I'm sure someone here would know.

So now, I've got CFC2 and Evolutions: Eternal Dungeon installed on the cartridge, and my only question is; are there any solutions to changing the switch? It's so tiny, and I'm not sure what I should be using to change it, that far down in the cartridge as it is. I don't want to damage anything.


Sorry for the rambling post, but thank you Ed/Flavor and whoever else works on the Flash Masta team, I'm very happy with the purchase! I'll be wanting to buy one of the SNK board keychains next.

Edit: Extra picture, collection in full. With the Flash Masta cartridge, unless I can get super cheap copies of Cotton, Puyo, Pocket Drop and Rockman Battle & Fighters, I'm done collecting.

Hey Daxmort!

Thanks for posting, and thanks for sharing the photos! My recommendation for the switch would be to just use a (non pointy) toothpick or something similar. You can use something like a paperclip, but you could scratch the circuitboard if it's too sharp/hard.

I'm glad you're liking it, and I'm glad you got around your issues. I do know that it seems like a lot of USB cables are bad. Some are only for charging. That's why we included a cable for a while. The main problem, however, was that the last batch of USB cables we got were like 1/3 broken (just cheaply made). Now it seems that most people have the proper cable already, anyway.

I have heard of some people having issues with USB 3. I actually thought those issues had gone away for the most part. I wonder if it has something to do with the chipset on your computer's motherboard or something. I don't know, but I'm glad you found a fix/workaround.

Hm, if it helps (in case you have any reference point or related info, or want to know for future reference) I use an MSI Tomahawk motherboard, with the Intel Z170(A) chipset. And the toothpick method worked like a charm, thank you!

Hi!
 
I didn't want to create a new post. I just wanted to say that I've received today my FlashMasta (after 5 weeks in transit to Poland, but it finally arrived) and it's great!

I have a small question and hope it isn't completely out of the blue... Are there plans in conceivable future for a new batch of WS FlashMasta?

Thanks for great hardware!
Waldemar

PS. And thanks for the bubble gum

Another batch of WS Flash Masta cartridges (and new WS battery packs) will be available very soon. Maybe next week or the week of Thanksgiving, if all goes as planned.

Wow, great! I hope that my notification arrives before everything is sold out