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WS Flash Masta v4.4 (early adopter version)
#1
This is a thread for discussions of the "early adopter" version of the WS Flash Masta. I will likely be in and out of contact with the rest of the world for a few weeks, as I'll be traveling. Please, chat among yourselves. Smile

I'll be reading, and I'll try to address problems, but we also need a place to archive tests/results of what works and what doesn't.

Also, some people may be helping with some development, and any progress on that can be discussed here, too.
- A. Marshall (AKA trap15) is helping with the menu that runs from slot 0. He's also developing the next great WonderSwan game called "Fire Lancer." Hit him up on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trap0xf
Card Fighters' Clash 2 English Translation ( http://cfc2english.blogspot.com/ )
Neo Geo Pocket Flash Cart and Linker Project ( http://www.flashmasta.com/ )
Avatar art thanks to Trev-Mun ( http://trevmun.deviantart.com/ )
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#2
First reply!

Anyhow, considering that I haven't received my copy yet, I'll just post some information about this version of the cart that I know of so both you guys who've ordered the early version and future supporters of this will have an idea of its current state as of now:

This cart will have 16 slots, of which only 15 will be games and the first being a menu for the choosing of aforementioned games.

The games can be loaded onto the cart via the use of a USB cable direct from a computer, but it is also mentioned that this will have microSD slot that allows the loading of games onto the SD card. How the loading will be done, whether it can be done directly to the SD or only through the cart to the SD or maybe both, is not yet known to us until Flavor tells us. Smile

The cart also has a battery that allows for the storage of saves for the game, but it can currently only hold one save and is unable to dump the save into the SD as the menu lacks that option for now. According to Flavor, the hardware capability of doing of doing so is present, so this function should be able to be developed at a later date.

Now for the not as good details: the circuit board itself is going to be caseless, and making a case for it will be a little tricky as it has been designed to be the size of a fully covered WS cart, thickness and all. That means that you guys won't be able to grab a plastic shell off of a donor cart.

Another problem would be that game compatibility isn't likely to be 100%, and older games that utilise the EEPROM to save will not be able to save properly until a patch to rectify this has been made and applied.


I'm pretty sure you guys who've pre ordered this have seen the email with most of the information, but it doesn't hurt to have a summary so far, no?
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#3
Yeah, thanks, BlindOldMan. I think you summed it up pretty nicely.

One little oddity that will need fixing at some point is that the numbering of slots is different between the "Flash Masta" app (that runs on your computer to upload ROMs to the cart) and the cart's menu.
App Slots: 1-16
Menu Slots: 0-15

Also, the app has a few little issues. Don't try to write a ROM to the cart itself. Choose a slot first, and then flash a file to it. For some reason, we never fixed the title bar on the app. It still says "NeoLinkMasta" there. It's now (of course) not just for the Neo Flash Masta (and we don't even make the LinkMasta anymore, but it still works with that older device). These are just a few of the minor things that have been bugging me but haven't been priority to fix.

EDIT: A. Marshall (AKA trap15) is helping with the menu that runs from slot 0. He's also developing the next great WonderSwan game called "Fire Lancer." Hit him up on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trap0xf
Card Fighters' Clash 2 English Translation ( http://cfc2english.blogspot.com/ )
Neo Geo Pocket Flash Cart and Linker Project ( http://www.flashmasta.com/ )
Avatar art thanks to Trev-Mun ( http://trevmun.deviantart.com/ )
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#4
(05-25-2016, 12:32 AM)Flavor Wrote: SNIP

Sweet! Nice to know!

On a side note, any idea if homebrew can be loaded? I know that the games themselves are just .wsc files, but the homebrew files are .fx, would that affect the loading process of those?

Here's a link to some of the homebrew that I found if you need it.
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#5
I actually talked to trap15 about this today. He seemed pretty certain that we could get the WinderWitch homebrew working fairly easily.
Card Fighters' Clash 2 English Translation ( http://cfc2english.blogspot.com/ )
Neo Geo Pocket Flash Cart and Linker Project ( http://www.flashmasta.com/ )
Avatar art thanks to Trev-Mun ( http://trevmun.deviantart.com/ )
Reply
#6
Hi there! I'm one of the guinea pigs receiving a prototype ws flash masta soon. I've been a wonderswan fan ever since I grabbed a swancrystal off ebay about a decade ago while i should have been revising (they fitted a teenager's budget a lot better back then) and this is going to be such a massive milestone for the little community - thanks Flavor! I'll try testing compatibility with a number of the fan translated ROM hacks, since I reckon those will be quite popular with flash cart users.

Are you also planning on releasing a cart reader/ writer in the future Flavor? Also has anyone come up with some ideas on how to fashion makeshift housing for the cart?
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#7
(05-25-2016, 11:09 PM)Esterno Wrote: SNIP

Yo! Nice to know there's more people on board this! I'm excited for mine to come in as well, moreso considering there are a couple of us who've already gotten theirs.

By the way, when you mean cart reader, do you mean to load games onto the cart or to dump files from official game carts?

Regarding the cart shell, the only way I can imagine a shell can be put onto this flash cart would be to look into how the PC Engine Everdrive does their's I suppose, as it is the only one that seems to fit this one.
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#8
Sorry I mean something to dump ROMs from the original game carts and to back up save files, essentially just to compile and immortalise my current collection for portability. Small, writable flash carts similar to the flash advance extreme would also be fantastic for little re-pro projects Smile
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#9
(05-26-2016, 12:13 AM)Esterno Wrote: SNIP

Hmmm.... if that's the case.... There DOES exist one such dumper made by the fella who made the WonderDog, another WS flashcart.

Here's a link to it, but it's in Japanese and the pricing.... well, take a look yourself.
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#10
I played around with the prototype recently.. tried few games and stuff from www.pdroms.de. Works nicely. So glad this thing exists Wink

In addition to the numbering thing that was already mentioned I'd like to see ROM names in slots. Don't actually know where the menu digs the names out but in the absence of game ROM name the filename should be used instead or something. Again I have no idea whether that kind of thing is doable easily..
..more coffee..
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