Cartridge Dump

Hero (562)

20-12-2007, 17:22

Hello all,

Anyone knows if there's a tutorial or something teaching how can I dump a regular cartridge?
Preferably without using any device other than a MSX and the cartridge itself.
Something like, plugging the cart on slot 2 with MSX turned on, running a series of PEEKs and saving it to a floppy.

Is that possible?

Best Regards,

By cax

Prophet (3735)

20-12-2007, 17:32

1) yes, it is possible with poke/bsave, if this is not enough - small machine code routine needed to help to copy the data from ROM to RAM and you will be able to bsave then.
2) what a "regular cartridge" is ? Small one (up to 48K) or a megarom (64K and higher, you have to know the mapper type, otherwise only analysis of first 16K will help)
3) which cartridge are you trying to dump ? Maybe the dump can be found on the net and you don't need to dump it again ?

By hbarcellos

Hero (562)

20-12-2007, 17:56

Thanks Cax. Its a small cart. Less than 48k.
About the code, can you give me small directions about what should be done? I think I can code it myself, if I still remember my old z80 assembly experience.
And I'm sure it was not dumped, because this cart was a personal experience from the old days!

[]s

By msxrestarter

Master (222)

20-12-2007, 18:13

Maybe this could help :P

By hbarcellos

Hero (562)

20-12-2007, 18:53

Definitely! Thanks msxrestarter...
I'll try that at night when I get home.

By Jipe

Paragon (1380)

20-12-2007, 19:05

Warning : plugging the cartridge with power on is dangerous for your MSX
other solutions :
cutting SLOTSELECT and sold a switch with résistor
take a slot expander with switch for select slot

By Yukio

Paragon (1541)

20-12-2007, 19:44

You don't need any tutorial. Only the ROM extractor program that could be downloaded on MSX Resource Center.

Sure, that this is not recommended for people without a slot expander with switch. Ok, the program works into foreign hardware. Some Brazilian machines could need a extra poke to disable the reset button on the cartridge port ...

By hbarcellos

Hero (562)

20-12-2007, 19:55

yeah! But I'll not use my beloved Turbo-R!
I'll use a spare expert (Brazilian MSX1) for that!

By Yukio

Paragon (1541)

21-12-2007, 02:36

The Turbo-R has a "hardware PAUSE" button for this ... but ...
Anyway, this works.Even for megarom games.
I tried and got a fully working XEVIOUS dump.

Even worked back on a real Turbo R plus megaram 512KB when using the patching system of EXECrom!

Brazilian MSX1.
I don't remember the pokes for disable the "RESET" button ...
Maybe the "European" pokes could work!

Well, thinking positively about it. If someone bundle a multi EPROM cartridge, it could be easy to use the button on the slot to reset and start another new game!!!

By LeandroCorreia

Paladin (951)

21-12-2007, 07:47

HBarcellos, what's the cartridge you intend to backup?

By NYYRIKKI

Enlighted (5509)

21-12-2007, 13:35

@Yukio It is still just as dangerous no matter if you press PAUSE or not. It is unlikely that you damage anything, but it is very much possible... Pause button does not have effect in R800 (but there is a software in BIOS that makes the computer to pause as long as interrupts are enabled) in Z80 mode pause is actually connected to HALT line, so it is hardware solution. How ever it does not make any change to cartridge slot.

Software to dump the cartridge could be something like this:

; DUMP.BIN
	DB #FE
	DW BEGIN,END,BEGIN
	ORG #C000
BEGIN:
	LD A,1	;MSX slot ID number
	LD H,#40
	CALL #24
	LD HL,#4000
	LD DE,#8000
	LD BC,#4000
	LDIR
	LD A,#80
	LD H,#40
	JP #24
END:

Loading:
POKE &HF677,&HC1:POKE &HC100,0:NEW
BLOAD"DUMP.BIN",R
BSAVE"CART.BIN",&H8000,&HBFFF

... remove 7 first bytes and rename to .ROM