TurboR, MFR, and SRAM

Rookie (22)

29-09-2022, 05:06

Hello everybody!

I am using a FS-A1ST with MegaFlashROM SCC+ SD, and am confused about the situation with games that require saving to SRAM. I've been using the system for a few years but am only just trying to play a game that requires save data. Specifically, when trying to play the game Crimson, I get the error "No PAC found".

1) I have come to the conclusion that neither the TurboR SRAM or MFR can be used to save games, and I need to buy a PAC cartridge (or unofficial alternative). Is this correct?
2) Can the PAC cartridge be used normally with MFR?
3) Is there no all-in-one alternative for PAC, Konami Game Master, etc.?

Thanks in advance!

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Par sdsnatcher73

Prophet (3851)

29-09-2022, 05:18

I don’t know exactly about Crimson but most games also support saving to disc. There is indeed no alternative all in one that can do both PAC and Game Master 2. Available alternative options (AFAIK):

Carnivore2 supports PAC but has by default no battery (so you have to reboot your machine and save the SRAM to disk before powering down).
PAC-V supports PAC, versions with SRAM have a battery. Now there is also a version with FRAM (needs no battery).

Par Daemos

Prophet (2052)

29-09-2022, 14:43

About no titles exsist that save to the turboR's sram. It can be done but as far as I know only the built in texteditor uses it. I managed to utilise the SRAM for game saving but it finally just became impractical.

Par gdx

Enlighted (6116)

29-09-2022, 17:02

I tryed Nandemo SRAM with some games. It worked but not with Crimson. I also get the error "No PAC found".

Par dr.slump

Rookie (22)

29-09-2022, 17:20

Thanks very much for the replies!

Thank you for testing that, gdx. I saw about Nandemo SRAM, but it seems it replaces saving to cassette, whereas Crimson (and presumably other games) demand PAC.

sdsnatcher73 wrote:

PAC-V supports PAC, versions with SRAM have a battery. Now there is also a version with FRAM (needs no battery).

Is PAC-V available for purchase somewhere? The original PAC doesn't seem too expensive but something modern would be better (not enough to warrant buying a second flash cart, though).

Only replacement PAC cart I could find was this FRAM one (which is out of stock):
https://booth.pm/ja/items/3479171

And I'm presuming it will work as with a normal game cart, but if anyone has experience using MFR with PAC, it would be good to know!

Par st1mpy

Paladin (905)

29-09-2022, 18:53

Oh cool there is a pac clone. I designed and made one myself a year or two ago with the same xilinx cpld (there is a cheap chinese dev board you can buy on ebay which is convenient, you just solder that to msx cart pins) as the clone above. I made one with battery backup with sram and a chip to control the battery circuit. I did buy a FRAM a while ago to test out as well. I even made one out of real time clock chip for PCs (has small memory) as they contain battery inside the ram chip.
I tried to test with as many pac compatible games as i could find (even BASIC games from magazines) and initially some of them didn't work, so I had to keep on tweaking the vhdl, and type of memory used, but got it all working in the end. The problem is many games does the pac detection differently.
I think I tested mine with Crimson. Isn't that a game that has disk version as well as a rom version? Which one are you playing? I guess the disk version can just save to disk as well?

Par dr.slump

Rookie (22)

30-09-2022, 13:03

st1mpy wrote:

I think I tested mine with Crimson. Isn't that a game that has disk version as well as a rom version? Which one are you playing? I guess the disk version can just save to disk as well?

I was playing the ROM version - didn't actually realize there was a disk one!