Presenting: emulators/ucon64, the multipurpose game backup utility

2013-08-05 20:08

uCON64 is a multipurpose video game backup utility now available in FreeBSD Ports as emulators/ucon64.

It can, for example, toggle region flags on a Sega Saturn disc image, convert images for use on flash carts and classic HK copiers, pad ROM images, check ROM images against your DATabase, or apply fan-made fix and translation patches in IPS, APS, PPF.

To demonstrate, I applied J2s’s Final Fantasy IV translation patch to a Japanese Final Fantasy IV ROM image and converted it for play on my copier:

unzip ff4ev321.zip

Archive:  ff4ev321.zip
  inflating: FF4EV321.IPS
  inflating: ff4ev321.txt

ucon64 Final\ Fantasy\ IV.smc -i FF4EV321.IPS

uCON64 2.0.0 Unix (FreeBSD) 1999-2005
Uses code from various people. See 'developers.html' for more!
This may be freely redistributed under the terms of the GNU Public License

Wrote backup to: Final Fantasy IV.bak
Applying IPS patch...
Patching complete

Wrote output to: Final Fantasy IV.smc

NOTE: Sometimes you have to add/strip a 512 bytes header when you patch a ROM
      This means you must modify for example a SNES ROM with -swc or -stp or
      the patch will not work

Fixed the header checksum:

ucon64 --snes --chk Final\ Fantasy\ IV.smc

uCON64 2.0.0 Unix (FreeBSD) 1999-2005
Uses code from various people. See 'developers.html' for more!
This may be freely redistributed under the terms of the GNU Public License

/usr/home/nicole/ff4/Final Fantasy IV.smc

Super Com Pro/Super Magicom/SMC/Super Wild Card (1.6XC/2.7CC/2.8CC/DX/DX2)/SWC

000081b0  20 bc fe 60  ad e3 0f 20  bc fe 60 ff  20 f0 94 6b   ..`... ..`. ..k
000081c0  46 69 6e 61  6c 20 46 61  6e 74 61 73  79 20 34 20  Final Fantasy 4 
000081d0  28 4a 32 65  29 20 02 0a  03 00 c3 01  33 53 cc ac  (J2e) ......3S..

Super Nintendo Entertainment System/SNES/Super Famicom
Final Fantasy 4 (J2e)
Square
Japan
1572864 Bytes (12.0000 Mb)

Padded: Maybe, 16 Bytes (0.0001 Mb)
Interleaved/Swapped: No
Backup unit/emulator header: Yes, 512 Bytes
HiROM: No
Internal size: 8 Mb
ROM type: (2) ROM + SRAM + Battery
ROM speed: 200 ns (SlowROM)
SRAM: Yes, 8 kBytes
Version: 1.1
Checksum: Bad, 0xcdef (calculated) != 0xaccc (internal)
Inverse checksum: Bad, 0x3210 (calculated) != 0x5333 (internal)
Checksum (CRC32): 0x3b97b364

Wrote backup to: Final Fantasy IV.bak
000081dc  10 32 ef cd  .2..
Wrote output to: Final Fantasy IV.smc

Converted it to Game Doctor format for my GD-SFIII:

ucon64 -q -gd3 Final\ Fantasy\ IV.smc -o .

uCON64 2.0.0 Unix (FreeBSD) 1999-2005
Uses code from various people. See 'developers.html' for more!
This may be freely redistributed under the terms of the GNU Public License

Wrote backup to: ./sf12Fin.bak
Wrote output to: ./sf12Fin

Split the image to fit on 1.4MB diskettes:

ucon64 -s sf12Fin -o .

uCON64 2.0.0 Unix (FreeBSD) 1999-2005
Uses code from various people. See 'developers.html' for more!
This may be freely redistributed under the terms of the GNU Public License

/usr/home/nicole/ff4/sf12Fin

Game Doctor SF3(SF6/SF7)/Professor SF(SF II)

000081b0  20 bc fe 60  ad e3 0f 20  bc fe 60 ff  20 f0 94 6b   ..`... ..`. ..k
000081c0  46 69 6e 61  6c 20 46 61  6e 74 61 73  79 20 34 20  Final Fantasy 4 
000081d0  28 4a 32 65  29 20 02 0a  03 00 c3 01  10 32 ef cd  (J2e) .......2..

Super Nintendo Entertainment System/SNES/Super Famicom
Final Fantasy 4 (J2e)
Square
Japan
1572864 Bytes (12.0000 Mb)

Padded: Maybe, 16 Bytes (0.0001 Mb)
Interleaved/Swapped: No
Backup unit/emulator header: Yes, 512 Bytes
HiROM: No
Internal size: 8 Mb
ROM type: (2) ROM + SRAM + Battery
ROM speed: 200 ns (SlowROM)
SRAM: Yes, 8 kBytes
Version: 1.1
Checksum: Ok, 0xcdef (calculated) == 0xcdef (internal)
Inverse checksum: Ok, 0x3210 (calculated) == 0x3210 (internal)
Checksum (CRC32): 0x857d14c8

Wrote output to: ./SF12FINA.078
Wrote output to: ./SF12FINB.078

Then, copied over to two 3.5” diskettes:

Mac OS 9 Finder showing file copy to diskette.

Loaded it:

And played!