PSX/PS2 Savegame Downloading

[The Outrider]

My old PSX memory card failed a couple weeks ago, taking lots and lots of save games with it.
Seeing as I'm too darn lazy to unlock all those characters in all those beat'em'ups again, I'd really like to just download save games for them and whip'em on my new card.
The problem is that I don't have a DexDrive, and to be honest, would like to avoid the hassle of building my own adapter (as per the manual on gamesx). I've seen commercial save game discs for the PS2 before, so I started wondering whether there was some sort of homebrew save game uploader that could just be burned to CD with a bunch of save games, booted up on a modded PSX or PS2 and show a menu to upload save games to a memory card.

Poking around on teh intarweb didn't really result in anything except cheats sites that spam the google database to get hits for ad revenue, so I decided to ask around here - is there anything like that around?

[benzaldehyde]

I fear that your data may be gone. The same thing happened to me; a third party card just stopped working. Lost my FF7 games. Aside from geting a DexDrive (they aren't that expensive on eBay), there aren't many other options.

[Crude Buster]

Hey, there are the MCCAP - Memory Card Captor Sakura, in Games Station X web page,ww.gamesx.com, construction's very simple for original memcards without the  7.8 volt regulator, but a better and cheaper way to build a slot reader, with a 5 1/4 floppy cable adapter are on the PlaySaver page, http://www.members.aol.com/playsaver/

You can get some tools to convert between emulator memcards and the playsaver soft, also a memcard reader/writer but a lot ugly.
In www.aldostools.com exist a tool to convert between emulator formats, too.
The MCCAP alone covers a lot, too, but you never know what emulator will be running that PSX game you want to play in the PC...

If you can build it, don't waste time and money buying a DexDrive... and enjoy using only one memory card to put all your saves.

By the way, anyone here codes in Microsoft Visual C++? I want to translate the recent MCCAP(It's Japanese), now that it's free by GPL and the source comes with him. Well, try it: www.nissie.com , if you dare reaading nihongo...
Well, that's all folks.

[r_f8]

Hey there is already an english version of MCCAP.

http://www.gamesx.com/mccap/

I've downloaded and used it with the DPad Pro Configuration on Win98, using 2 PSX Dual Shock Controllers and 2 Memory Cards.. I just robbed the ports from a dead PSX, got rid of the circuit card very carefully and wired it up by combining the memory card diagram on the GamesX site with the one from the DPad Pro Mirror Site. Which in essence meant I changed used pin 8 on the memory card with pin 7 of the controller and then used the rest of the Dpad Pro diagram. Which is located here....

http://www.arcadecontrols.com/Mirrors/www....pro/ffback.html

I am having difficulty getting it to work on XP because XP doesn't allow direct communication with the printer port for "security reasons". I can get the controllers to work on XP by using the program NTpad XP from Aldo's Tools

http://www.aldostools.com/dpad.html

Anyone that has a working XP PSX Memory Card Reader for the DPad Pro Setup pls let me know......

[r_f8]

I must correct myself.....I should've checked b4 I opened my mouth...but I meant to say, that I used both of the diagrams together which meant I used the pin layouts for memory card to controller port pins and then just followed the rest of the diagram on the Dpad Pro Site. Also, after checking....I saw the memory card doesn't have a pin "8" for some reason... I guess they wanted to keep the numbers together...."7" to "7" and "9" to "9", "8" doesn't get used. Ah well...it was easy enough to build and works great on Win98.

I also found the fix for the XP and MCCAP.....if you go into custom settings and make sure it is configured for Dpad Pro and put a check in the box "ACK is checked" it will read the memory card, and since I have two mem card ports I just change the wiring in MCCAP for the second and I can use both. The "ACK" tells the PC wether or not the printer is asserting it's self, MCCAP will tell the PC that a device is present and that it wants to assert it's self and therfore bypass the WinXP security.......Pretty Sweet....I'd say if I had an english version of the help file it would've told me that....but thank goodness for google, yahoo and alot of determination and too much freetime....Next time I won't get in a hurry...

I know, patience is a virtue......but that doesn't mean I've gotta like it....LOL

[The Outrider]

Okay, I've finally made up my mind and decided to go with the MCCAP. There's two questions remaining
#1 - will this work with PS2 cards as well?
#2 - the gamesx page for it says the stepdown from 5 to 3.6V should be done with a diode; is there any particular reason for this? For all I know about electrical engineering, isn't that kind of thing usually done with plain and simple resistors? Also, if I need a diode, does anyone happen to know specifics?


Thanks in Advance,

Outie

[r_f8]

The PS2 Memory card uses different technology than the PSX memory card, for starters. Also, the PS2 memory card will not plug into a PSX memory card slot. I guess we'll have to wait for the PS2 emulators to get better (although they are making great progress....he he)  b4 someone tries to get a PS2 memory card reader going that can be built at home.........so in short the answer to your 1st question is no......



Now for your second question, the dpad pro setup robs power from the output data lines on the parallel port (Pins 5-9), however the power flow is not steady so the diodes are used to trigger and pulse the power....not step it down...I know what it said....but if you have a volt meter and measure the port without the diodes you will have anywhere from 2.4v to 5.0v.....with the diodes you will have the same.....the difference is that the diodes cause the power to be steady by pulsing each pin....that's why they all get connected in the end to the same pin (Pin 5 on the controller/mc port)......now the diodes are easy to find, just go to your local Radio Shack and ask for 1N914 diodes....you should get 5 for a buck or two.....since these are the only "components" that are polarized (have a + or -) you should make sure that the black ring around the diodes are pointing "AWAY" from the parallel connector and "TOWARDS" the controller/mc ports.......

Hopefully that's got it for you......No time to get busy....LOL.....the quicker you get started the quicker you play..... So good luck and take your time.....all those connections can get blurry if you don't pay attention......

[Aidan]

For all I know about electrical engineering, isn't that kind of thing usually done with plain and simple resistors?

No. A resistor is great in certain circumstances, but this is not one of them. A resistor will resist the flow of power in a circuit. If you can be sure that the current is fixed, then a resistor will drop a certain amount of voltage.

However, a memory cards current consumption changes, depending how much processing it's doing. If it's sitting idle, then it's not using much power. If it's actively writing data to flash, then it's probably using the most power. If you put a resistor in there, you can set it to drop a certain amount of voltage, but it would only drop that voltage whilst the current was at the calculated value. If the current increased, the voltage drop would increase, and if the current decreased, the voltage drop across the resistor would decrease.

A silicon diode however, has something known as a forward voltage drop. That's typically in the region of about 1.2v. The forward voltage drop is basically how much voltage you have to put across the diode in order for it to start conducting. So by putting a diode in the circuit, you can be sure it'll drop 1.2v. So, the 5V that comes out of the parallel port will lose 1.2v, leaving 3.8V afterwards. It doesn't matter what the current is, the diode will drop the same voltage. (At least, it doesn't matter what the current is, until you try to put too much current through it)

[r_f8]

Oh man.....Aidan....



Teach me......LOL.....I need to learn how to explain things like that......I read my post after reading yours and didn't get across exactly what I meant....LOL.....mine looks like it says something totally different, but I meant the same. The diode is switching....lol....ah well....looks like you got it covered....from now on I'll leave explaining to the pro's....so I can learn more.....TY, TY......


Now off to Play "D"....LOL, I need to find a better copy of it too....hmmmm.... <_<  

[phreak97]

there is an action replay max hack i figured out for getting ps2 saves onto the ps2 card, but it requires you to make an image of, and reburn the disc.. so im wary as to post it here knowing the anti piracy policy. and it will only go one way, you cant get saves from the card to your pc, only from your pc to your card

[range]

I did the MCCAP (dpadpro-layout) with an PSone as power supplier no diodes and a maxplay memorycard clone. My printerport supplies 4,5volt and I got no problems with this. Maybe luck - I�ve got no clue in electronics.
I used Userport to access the parallel port (I�m on win2k).
And I�m interested in loading ps2 savegames to a memorycard. Is this memorystation or ps2link not just another dexdrive, is it?