NeoGeoX Hacking and Mods

[GohanX]

So...does this mean we could rewrite the internal memory to install Unibios without opening her up?

 

[wyndcrosser]

Very interesting, however are we under the impression that their won't be any further updates or game cards for our "beloved" new neo geo x?

I'm a "hacker" when it comes to specific focuses etc, but I haven't dug my NGX out yet from Christmas. A cliff notes section at the OP of this thread would be great, or at least a table of contents saying where to find specific details. If the other user needs help cataloging shit I can help.

Good luck and Chive on!

Wynd

 

[ack]

So...does this mean we could rewrite the internal memory to install Unibios without opening her up?

You can write whatever you want to to the internal sd with that tool.

-ack

 

[GohanX]

 

[elta68]

I can also help, the wiki is the best tool for the job, but maybe also it is time to update mediawiki to the latest version (it use 1.16.5 and we should use 1.20.2)

 

[burningtoys]

So based on the instructions for doing a firmware recovery on the rzx-50 I have been able to do the same with an empty internal sd card in my ngx.

The summary of how to do it is the following, and this only works on 32bit winxp or 32bit win7.

- download and decompress ftp://ftp.ingenic.cn:/3sw/JZ4770/01LinuxBsp/20110729/burn/usb_boot_burn-jz4770-20111025.rar
- open device manager in windows (makes it easier to see when the device is detected)
- with the ngx powered off, press and hold the start button and plug into your computer
- this will cause an unknown JZ4770 boot device to show up in device manager
- manually install the drivers that are from the rar
- unplug the ngx
- start USBbootTool.exe
- with the ngx powered off, press and hold the start button and plug into your computer

If you want to just do a full recovery, just pick your full internal sd image backup file for uboot.bin then click the checkbox to the left of uboot.bin. This should write it out to the internal sd card of the ngx, progress bar is at the bottom.

The USBbootTool.exe supports being able to write different files to different offsets within the internal sd card, these can be adjusted in tool_cfg/LinuxFileCfg.ini. The default one that you see when you start the tool is

[File1]
FileName=uboot.bin				
StartPage=0
NandOption=2

[File2]
FileName=uImage 				
StartPage=8192
NandOption=2

[File3]
FileName=filesystem
StartPage=24576
NandOption=2

The StartPage value * 512 represents where the file will be written to the internal sd card. So you can define your own offsets for where a specific file should be written, and not have to write out an entire image each time.

The full image replacement works with uboot.bin because its starting point is 0.

-ack

AWESOME. Great work!

 

[BurntKnucklz]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfH-JaFLBT8

check it out. interesting but there's no explanation for any of it.

 

[mugenmidget]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfH-JaFLBT8

check it out. interesting but there's no explanation for any of it.

Haha, that's the same Steward posting in here. :P His explanations are on this page (but they're similar to everything else going on in the thread): http://home.educities.edu.tw/fushiyun2000/neo_geo_x_hack_play_other_game.htm

By the way, great work everyone!

 

[Demitri1983]

Dude, the least you can do is ready a few pages back...

 

[BurntKnucklz]

Dude, the least you can do is ready a few pages back...

i did and this was merely a link to a video, ah thank you

 

[topher]

If someone wants to summarize the progress so far and PM the info, I'll update the original post.

TBH, I don't have time to comb through this thread and pick out the relevant info for people that are late to the thread.

 

[SlickDizzy]

If someone wants to summarize the progress so far and PM the info, I'll update the original post.

TBH, I don't have time to comb through this thread and pick out the relevant info for people that are late to the thread.

It is also frustrating for those of us who have been carefully watching this thread from the very beginning; all of a sudden we have dozens of new names showing up and demanding a pre-written "how to" guide basically, while some of us *cough* have just been patiently watching, waiting and contributing when possible...obviously many of our new joiners have been actively contributing to the hack effort, but it's somewhat frustrating when a new name pops up and expects those who have already invested tons of time and risked their systems to make this happen to bend over backwards because waaaah, reading the whole thread is too hard...

That said I would also happily contribute to the wiki, since I've been here from the beginning. I work late tonight and will be partying after, but I'm off tomorrow and will try to gather some info then.

 

[marvelus10]

From what I can gather throughout this topic, this handheld is somewhat a generic Chinese emulator of sorts, just like you find all over Ebay, but with a Neo Geo label on it. It has been compared to another Russian handheld and shows similarities in firmware to several others. We have seen it play Neo Geo games via a slightly modified SD Card slot and have seen it utilize firmware from other handhelds.
My question is will it play other emulators, like the other handhelds. I read the Russian handheld it is most similar to plays CPS1 and CPS2 games, does the Neo Geo X?
I don't own a Neo Geo X, I don't feel I need to as I have original hardware for playing games. However I may be convinced of this if I was able to play CAVE shooter games with it and several other arcade games I enjoy.

 

[Demitri1983]

So I got an adapter and popped it open. The entire pin out assembly came out in one piece.

So using the Pin out instructions by FS-mas below i would need to wire the mini connectors to the appropriate pins that the NGX wants. Basically the last 2 pins on each side flipped.

[/QUOTE]

Im just not quite sure what the best way to go about it would be. There is not a whole lot of room to work with.

 

[Rot]

It is also frustrating for those of us who have been carefully watching this thread from the very beginning; all of a sudden we have dozens of new names showing up and demanding a pre-written "how to" guide basically, while some of us *cough* have just been patiently watching, waiting and contributing when possible...obviously many of our new joiners have been actively contributing to the hack effort, but it's somewhat frustrating when a new name pops up and expects those who have already invested tons of time and risked their systems to make this happen to bend over backwards because waaaah, reading the whole thread is too hard...

That said I would also happily contribute to the wiki, since I've been here from the beginning. I work late tonight and will be partying after, but I'm off tomorrow and will try to gather some info then.

I concur...

Read the thread n00bs.... it's only 20 plus pages and a lot of it is useless spam...

Anyone asking for cliff notes needs to start asking themselves if they're really gonna last too long here...

xROTx

PS. Topher could redo the posts... but he'll eventually get more n00bs in asking for cliff notes of cliff notes... just dumbass... READ THE THREAD!

 

[topher]

PS. Topher could redo the posts... but he'll eventually get more n00bs in asking for cliff notes of cliff notes... just dumbass... READ THE THREAD!

No kidding, I was worried that it had the potential to get out of hand with updates as we are still learning shit about the system. I'll be seeing you for some drunken chat later...

FYI, apparently there's a sleep function on the handheld if you don't mess with it for a bit. In game menu screen pops up on wake. Haven't noticed that happening when it's docked. Just thought I'd share.

 

[Diggerman]

Hmm, some interesting progress. I may consider buying one of these if the following happens:

-- video output gets fixed (i.e. no more tearing, better scaling, better colors)
-- audio quality gets improved (sounded scratchy on video I watched compared to AES)
-- emulation gets improved and expanded (i.e. Unibios)
-- system gets opened up to other apps, emus and homebrew.

However, I'm still concerned about the build quality. How long will the thumbstick last? I have a feeling it won't be as sturdy as my NGPC which still works perfectly after all these years. I recall someone saying they were already losing one of the directions, so that does concern me.

Good luck hackers, and happy new year!

 

[wyndcrosser]

So apparently cliff notes are bad. Yes, there's only 20 pages, but 90% of the posts are useless information. The JAP page is actually the best page, or what ACK belted out with findings. That's what I'm talking about as useful information. Ever visit GBAtemp.net, those go on for 100+ pages... try to read those LOL.

I'm interested to see what else is possible. The Dingo support looks great. I'm looking into that now... I just pulled my NGX out of the box.

 

[Rot]

So apparently cliff notes are bad. Yes, there's only 20 pages, but 90% of the posts are useless information. The JAP page is actually the best page, or what ACK belted out with findings. That's what I'm talking about as useful information. Ever visit GBAtemp.net, those go on for 100+ pages... try to read those LOL.

I'm interested to see what else is possible. The Dingo support looks great. I'm looking into that now... I just pulled my NGX out of the box.

I gave my reasons why there Topher shouldn't be the continual babysitter here.... the thread isn't big enough to warrant cliff notes...

When someone finally makes this thing happen a full summary will prob be provided...

I keep repeating myself in this thread... i'm getting annoyed... I usually have infinite patience... but i'm beginning to think some of you are just being dumb for dumbness sake..

U R S K A T I N G O N V E R Y T H I N I C E !

xROTx

 

[Bentomaster]

Hello guys,

Just wanted to share something i discovered by accident.
Please note I am on firmware 370.
Plug in the machine while holding start will ask for drivers as ack stated. However I noticed that if you hold the "-" volume key and start at the same time it will automatically install drivers for you (I am on windows 7 64-bit) to top it all off after it is done you get a 1 gb empty partition to show on your computer! again I can not confirm for other firmwares but 370 does certainly show it. I was able to write a 500kb picture to it through windows itself and it seems to act as regular storage.


Cheers.

 

[Mendel]

However I may be convinced of this if I was able to play CAVE shooter games with it and several other arcade games I enjoy.

Other than Progear... How would you play cave games with it? You would have to rotate the screen and then the controls would probably be very ankward. Or maybe you mean with the docking station and tv?

 

[nerdstick]

Hello guys,

Just wanted to share something i discovered by accident.
Please note I am on firmware 370.
Plug in the machine while holding start will ask for drivers as ack stated. However I noticed that if you hold the "-" volume key and start at the same time it will automatically install drivers for you (I am on windows 7 64-bit) to top it all off after it is done you get a 1 gb empty partition to show on your computer! again I can not confirm for other firmwares but 370 does certainly show it. I was able to write a 500kb picture to it through windows itself and it seems to act as regular storage.


Cheers.

The 1GB drive should appear when booted plugged in normally.

 

[Bentomaster]

hmm, thats odd in my case it did not show it until i installed the drivers. However the automatic driver install might help some of the folks here

 

[xarcade]

My Neo Geo X should arrive in a couple days. By the looks of the progress being made by hackers, this system may be running other emulators before the end of January.

Happy New Year to all you Neo Geo forum members, even the annoying newbies!

 

[marvelus10]

Other than Progear... How would you play cave games with it? You would have to rotate the screen and then the controls would probably be very ankward. Or maybe you mean with the docking station and tv?

Yes I meant with the docking station, sorry for the vagueness. Ultimately it would mean me breaking out the welder and making some sort of rotatable backing for my wall mount so I could play the games vertically as well.