Suggestions For CD64

[bluto]

Ok I gave up trying to replace my Doctor 64 so I'm gonna buy the CD64... Any current users that can drop me some helpful suggestions before I order will be greatly appreciated! Do I HAVE to have the parallel adapter to hook up to a PC? Can I put in my own IDE CD-ROM even if it's faster than 8X? Do I really need the DS1 SRAM Adaptor? Or how about the Protected Cartridge Decoder? And since I've already gott 7 CDs full of V64 ROMS, will I need to do any converting? What about Perfect Dark... do I still need to use the boot-emu? Thanks for all your answers! (including those to even more questions I'm sure I'll have)

[[SnAQ]]

Search and you´ll find your fucking answers (i might as well flame here, otherwise someone else would have done it)

No, i don´t have any idea http://www.dextrose.com/ubb/biggrin.gif (really no idea for me to respond here then, is it? http://www.dextrose.com/ubb/biggrin.gif )

[Peach]

Did you read Sarah's and Skillionaire's reply in your previous Doc64 topic?
Z64 is easier to find, easier in use and with a harddrive it rules. Also no need for additional DS1 &Dx256 savethings.

You should really consider a Z64 http://www.dextrose.com/ubb/smile.gif

[bluto]

Yes I've read sarahs and others doc64 posts which is why i decided to go cd64... now just wanting current cd64 users to answer above questions if possible...

[Qcoder]

Ok, a serious reply...

Make sure you get a good power supply for it, at least 1000mA, preferably more. The thing uses a lot of electricity. You could also try using a PC power supply to power the CDROM. I would reccomend against using a faster CD drive, due to the power/heat issue.

You don't need a DS1 if you have carts with SRAM and flash.

If you want to use non-6102 carts, you need the Protected Cartridge Decoder.

It will accept roms in V64 format.

It has a built-in bootemu which should work with Perfect Dark, but has the same limitation as all other bootemus with JFG and Banjo-Tooie.

[CrowTRobo]

Qcoder answered most of your questions, here is some extra info:

#1. No, you don't HAVE to have the Parallel Port Adapter to hook up the CD64 to a PC. You can always use a Comms Link Card.

#2. While the CD64 will accept ROMs in either Z64 or V64 format, all files have to be in the CD's root directory. So if you used any sub-directories in those CD's you have, you will have to burn new ones.

#3. From what I remember back when PD was released, I think the CD64's built-in boot emulator had problems with it. So you might have to use LaC's bootemu for a couple of games, but for the most part, the CD64 one will take care of things.

CrowTRobo

[Sarah]

You can still buy a cd64???wow. Most of them bit the dust by now. Amazing if you can buy them.

[r0]

That's how the CD64 people make money. They won't fix your CD64, but will gladly sell you a new one. http://www.dextrose.com/ubb/smile.gif

[bluto]

Qcoder: thanks for the info... i thought about getting a seperate power supply for it, but didn't know that the CD might require a pc supply... if so I may just get a external case and put the drive in that with the fan and power, and just run the ribbon cable to it from the cd64. Also, i'm using Mario 64 as the cart, but i have access to PD and 007 so will those work instead of the DS1 or protected cart decoder?

CrowTRobo: What's a comm link card? and is it as available or cheaper than the Parallel Port Adapter?

Sarah: I founf them available on their home sight www.cd64.com (http://www.cd64.com) and was going to order from there. However, i can still be swayed towards teh z64 if you can explain the advantages/disadvantages. I've been going by what www.dcd.emusanet.com (http://www.dcd.emusanet.com) reviewed and here at dextrose. But I was thinking that if there was a hack to hook up a FAT16 harddrive to the z64, couldn't you also hook up a CD-Rom instead? Reason is the cost (not to mention the flexibility) of blank CDs is far more cost-efficient today that harddrives that can only hold 2GB. So please feel free to convince me of the Z64 over the cd64.

Thanks to all for your help! I really miss my V64 but want to find a suitable replacement soon so I can get back to my games!

[r0]

Someone just posted an offer to sell a V64 on alt.binaries.emulators.nintendo-64 today, and last I checked Madeiragames was still selling them too. So if you really want a V64, you should be able to get one.

[CrowTRobo]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">CrowTRobo: What's a comm link card? and is it as available or cheaper than the Parallel Port Adapter?</font>

The Comms Link Card is an ISA card that will allow you to hook up a CD64 to the PC. It's about 2x as fast as a PPA. I don't know if UFO still sell them, you will have to ask. It would probably be around the same price as the PPA.

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Also, i'm using Mario 64 as the cart, but i have access to PD and 007 so will those work instead of the DS1 or protected cart decoder?</font>

007 has the same save chip as Mario (4kbit eeprom) and you can't use PD as a bootcart without the PCD. Read all the info at www.elitendo.com (http://www.elitendo.com) to learn about all the save chip and bootcart issues.

CrowTRobo

[ss_forces]

just thought i'd add a correction note:
z64 hard drives can hold up to 8 gigs total, across four 2gig partitions in fat16. there isn't much that needs "hacked" to accomplish this, as the bios with those drivers are available. As for a cdrom, it is possible but not available at the moment (for newer z64s), and personally i whouldn't like a big 5.25 inch drive in something meant for a 3.5 inch bay. If you're seriously considering a z64 and are interested in the ide device changing i hope you've read/will read the big 150 post topic in the 'bios mania' forum.

[Darkflame]

Cd-Rom support is available on all z64's...it's just you gotta tell the z64 to prompt before saving....then always hit no or if you hit yes it'll lock up and say write file error...but yeah it does look kinda ackward...

The bios only has support for the 8 gigs due to it's join features, but if you edit the bios to add more join checks, I think you can overcome that 8 gig limit.


For those of you with the technical skills...give this a shot.

Get EZ-Drive, run EZ Drive on your hard drive (the one for z64, make one large partition) using ez-drive make a bootable diskette to allow access to your ez drive, take the boot sector and ez bios from the diskette and patch it into your z64 bios....voila!, oh you will need msdos 7.0 and higher to be able to make use of this...also due to the limitations on the bios, you'll have to resort to transfering a few of the onboard proggies on to your hd and calling them from the autoexec.bat on the bios...just make sure you leave command.com io.sys and msdos.sys on the chip and ezbios bootstrap...everything else you can call from c:\

experiment....and no I cannot do this for you because you need the drive to make the bios, the bios is coded individually based on the type of drive you have...i'm experimenting with other drive bios's hopefully i'll stumble across something more universal.

I am also trying to find a way to do away with the bios chip, (I mean still make it bootup using the chip but hen using the hd as a virtual a: drive)..i know it's possible, just not sure how....

[bluto]

r0: I checked on the Madeiragames site but if you click on the V64 it takes you to a PS2 game... I'd rather buy from a company/dealer to insure I don't get screwed.

CrowTRobo: I looked for a ISA Comm Link Card in the local computer & electronics catalog but couldn't find one... can you suggest a brand name card I can look for? And can it be used for any other device? I have a GB Xchanger currently hooked up to the LPT1...

ss_forces: Thanks for the info. I still think a CD would be a better solution for storing and playing the games, but if you can hook the Z64 to a PC that would be good too... any way to do that?

Darkflame: I'm sure it would look awkward, but I figured if you but a nice faceplate over the zip hole, then rout the ribbon cable unseen somewher in the rear to a self-standing external case with CD and power and fan, you could use a faster drive and have it look somewhat presentable. In theory. I do need to study up on the bios issue as I don't have the foggiest idea what all these posts about editting bios are.

Sarah: I'd like your input on z64 over cd64... or anyone else for that matter. I have a severe itch to go and buy something, anything right away, but I'm holding back to make the right choice.

Thanks to all for your help and input!

[CrowTRobo]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">CrowTRobo: I looked for a ISA Comm Link Card in the local computer & electronics catalog but couldn't find one... can you suggest a brand name card I can look for? And can it be used for any other device? I have a GB Xchanger currently hooked up to the LPT1...</font>

It's not some generic card. UFO use to make them and sell them, not sure if they still do. That's why I said in my last post to ask them. The Comms Link was originally designed for the Action Reply/Gameshark so you can use it with those devices as well. You can get a card from other places than UFO, for instance, Lik-Sang, but there might be some compatibility problems with the CD64 and certain Comms Link Cards. Might want to also ask Lik-Sang to see if the one they sell will work with the CD64.

CrowTRobo

[fab]

Regarding the Z64 vs CD64:

The only persons really qualified to answer questions regarding the Z64 vs CD64 are those that have owned/used both.

Sarah is not. I don't know if you've followed her opinions on the CD64, but she has basically just bashed it and not offered any useful opinions on it. I wouldn't use her arguments for or against anything.

I personally haven't dealt with the CD64, but I own a V64, V64jr and Z64 and can tell you about the Z64.

The Z64 is a very solid backup unit. It's the most user-friendly unit of the three that I own.. it's also my favorite despite it's limitations. It's major advantages are it's re-writable medium that makes saving 4kbit EEPROM and SRAM a breeze. It suffers from the same inability to save 16kbit EEPROM and FlashRAM data as all other units (an actual host card required). It uses Zip Diskettes which are expensive and don't hold much data, but if you already have a Zip drive on your PC it's not a concern, because you don't need to have loads of Zip Diskettes for your N64 ROM collection since you can store them on your PC or CD-ROMs on your PC and just put the games you are playing at the time on one or two zip diskettes. If you don't have a Zip drive on your PC and you plan on getting Z64 you should really invest in a Zip drive for your PC.. preferably USB or IDE since Parallel is slow as ass. If you plan on backing up any of your own game, the Z64 is by far the most simple to use as well.

Most people would agree that the V64 or V64jr are a better choice than the CD64. I say that the Z64 is a better overall unit than the V64 or V64jr.

I do eventually plan on buying a CD64 at some point in the future so I can have a more complete picture of the various N64 backup units, but I have to talk my wife into it first. She thinks the fact that I have 3 is enough already.

If I had to pick between the CD64 and the Z64 I would definitely pick the Z64.

--
fab

[SJoS]

Sarah = "she" http://www.dextrose.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

"Just unplug it, check all the connections, let it set for a couple minutes, plug it back in and try again..."

heh - Maybe Handy should ask boX for his old nick back...

[Sarah]

"heh - Maybe Handy should ask boX for his old nick back..."

I might get adventurous & see if 'handy' still works.

However, its not true that I only bash the cd64. When it first came out, you could buy it for $116 with no ram or cdrom. I really wanted one but when I got the money for one, I was lucky to find the z64.

I still think those in the US would do better with a z64 which still has plenty of manf support.

[Garth Elgar]

I have both, I prefer the z64 unless you are coding. The quality is far better and theres no arsing about with sram, flashrom, cic carts, everything works with mario in the slot. Really think about the quality thing, there have been plenty of posts on here in the past so search and make up your own mind.

[CrowTRobo]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">everything works with mario in the slot.</font>

Where did you get that from? What about 16kbit eeprom games, or flash games that haven't been converted to SRAM? Taking this situation (ie. not counting 16kbit eeprom or non-converted flash games) then with the CD64 you would only need one extra thing besides Mario, a SRAM cart or a DS-1.

And I don't recall anyone really complaining about the CD64's quality in recent times or making posts that their unit broke. All these complaints were from older units. Yes, the Z64 is built better, but you don't have to worry anymore that your brand new CD64 is already dead or will be in a short amount of time.

CrowTRobo

[bluto]

ok I guess the Z64 is the most popular unit but I still like the cd format of the cd64. So if there's any cd64 users out there who can give me more info, please respond or e-mail me at bluto@satx.rr.com. Thanks guys