NeoGeo CD SD Loader

Burning Fight!!

NIS America fan & Rent Free tenant
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Jan 12, 2014
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i just recently replaced the laser in my neo-geo CD. and it still wont work! guess i'll just wait for this thing. I dont own any legit games anyway just burns... I think the SD Loader would be better in the long-run anyway, since moving parts will eventually fail. Same reason i've held off on buying any PC Engine CD hardware, because the Super SD System 3 exists.... too bad that thing is so damn expensive. The NEO SD LOADER seems very affordable though. Honestly i'm impressed by the price. less than 100 dollars? that's a steal for anything neo-geo related...

I'm a bit disappointed that the blazing fast loading times shown before were too unstable to work, but as you said even if this had the same speed as the actual top loader drive this would be great because optical pickups on old consoles are a pain in the ass, no exceptions.
 

titchgamer

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I'm a bit disappointed that the blazing fast loading times shown before were too unstable to work, but as you said even if this had the same speed as the actual top loader drive this would be great because optical pickups on old consoles are a pain in the ass, no exceptions.

I believe Furtek is trying to get the speeds back up again in the next FW update, It seems to be a balancing act between the speeds and individual game issues.
Still, I am impressed with the loading times anyway, Every game I have tried so far is pretty fast and loading times are certainly not a hindrance or unreasonable.
But I wont complain if he manages to shave a few more seconds off here and there!

The only problem I have encountered thus far is the 128 character limit, Basically if its over the FW bugs out and it wont load the rom.
Its obviously a easy fix but what I didnt realise until Furtek told me last night is that it is 128 characters for the total file path not just the file name.

So yeah if you experience any issues with game failing straight away make sure the file path is short enough :)
So far FF3 and AoF 3 have given me that issue.
 

Hawwa

B. Jenet's Firstmate
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Sep 21, 2018
Posts
408
Well, I've signed up for this when I opened the thread and still haven't got the SD loader or any mail by furrtek...

Can I PM you, sir?
 

furrtek

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Posts
106
Confirming that the originally shown loading speeds are still possible.
I've been struggling to make the loader work in a stable manner with the original speed for everyone, as I seem to own magic consoles which present none of the problems mentionned by other people. (I don't believe in magic though so I need to keep working on the firmware :p)
 

titchgamer

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Confirming that the originally shown loading speeds are still possible.
I've been struggling to make the loader work in a stable manner with the original speed for everyone, as I seem to own magic consoles which present none of the problems mentionned by other people. (I don't believe in magic though so I need to keep working on the firmware :p)

Top Banana :)

Someone asked me about FF3 speeds so here ya go:

Initial load: 12 secs (was 35)
Load 1st fight 12 secs (was 55 apparently but that seems excessive?)
Load 2nd fight 6 secs (was 26)

I am getting original speeds off this post btw: https://videogameforums.com/neogeocd/neo-geo-cd-video-game-load-times

No need to disbelieve them obv :p
 

edd_jedi

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167
Is anyone else's place in the queue moving backwards? I don't mean to complain, but I joined the queue in early January, and by April my place in the 'vrtual queue' seemed to be near the end. Now I'm nearer the beginning again.
 
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Heinz

Parteizeit
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Is anyone else's place in the queue moving backwards? I don't mean to complain, but I joined the queue in early January, and by April my place in the 'vrtual queue' seemed to be near the end. Now I'm nearer the beginning again.

You know that whole 100 years war business? well it isn't over... at least the French don't think so. Back O' the line matey!
 

titchgamer

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May want to be carful with the 0.6 update, Mines currently unable to read the SD card due to some error with the update.
Furtek is working on a fix but it seems to of happened to a few people.
 

bwi

,
20 Year Member
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Posts
460
May want to be carful with the 0.6 update, Mines currently unable to read the SD card due to some error with the update.
Furtek is working on a fix but it seems to of happened to a few people.

He has put on his site a firmware wiper, run that and it blank the loader, then try the new 0.6 (not beta). Had to do this all myself and its sorted now
 
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Pinball

Kula's Candy
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May 7, 2012
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294
I have the same concern- my place in the queue is unchanged and it seems a long way off. I'd like to get this, but if it takes a Krautbuster Unit of time (1 x KUT) then I'm out :-)
 

titchgamer

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He has put on his site a firmware wiper, run that and it blank the loader, then try the new 0.6 (not beta). Had to do this all myself and its sorted now

Thanks man ile give that a shot.

Is it supposed to wipe it on start up or do you have to run it as a firmware update from the menu?
 
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furrtek

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About the waiting list:

People are still able to register, so your place in line may appear to go back in time as the overall count grows slowly.
I admit it can be confusing. I didn't expect this project to blow up and thought that this waiting list system would work ok.

If it can reassure you, requests are always processed in the order they came in, according to the exact date and time the form was submitted.

I'm doing my best to keep production going.
Unfortunately banks don't always take small businesses seriously here so my spending limits are relatively low.

About 2/3rds of the progress bar should be filled by the end of August.



About the V0.6 mess up:

Sorry about that.
The currently available V0.6 file should force the update as soon as the console is powered up.
If you're not getting the blinking blue LED at startup, then please try using an older or lower capacity SD card just for the update process.


Be assured that whatever happens, the loader can't be bricked with those updates.

There's a protected program independent from the actual firmware which can detect and run the update file from the SD card, regardless of the state the loader was left in. Sadly that program doesn't like some of the more recent SD cards, causing it to not "see" the update file.


Boring tech details:
The mess up was caused by a mix of bad luck (testing went perfectly fine with my consoles), and the fact that the bootloader in early units doesn't like high-capacity or recent, high-performance SD cards.

-The bootloader in units which are already in the wild uses suboptimal (not buggy but incomplete !) SD card handling code.
-The firmware itself uses updated versions of that code, allowing nearly all SD cards to work for loading games.

The bootloader could technically be udpated to make the update process simpler, but there would be a non-zero risk of borking it and making further SD card updates impossible. However even if a situation caused everything to be f*ed up, the loader could always be reprogrammed via USB with a slightly modified cable.


Current plans to make things easier in the future:
-New loaders will be shipped with an updated bootloader.
-A bootloader update file for existing users will maybe be released (risk has to be considered).
 
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titchgamer

Guerilla Warrior
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1,731
About the waiting list:

People are still able to register, so your place in line may appear to go back in time as the overall count grows slowly.
I admit it can be confusing. I didn't expect this project to blow up and thought that this waiting list system would work ok.

If it can reassure you, requests are always processed in the order they came in, according to the exact date and time the form was submitted.

I'm doing my best to keep production going.
Unfortunately banks don't always take small businesses seriously here so my spending limits are relatively low.

About 2/3rds of the progress bar should be filled by the end of August.



About the V0.6 mess up:

Sorry about that.
The currently available V0.6 file should force the update as soon as the console is powered up.
If you're not getting the blinking blue LED at startup, then please try using an older or lower capacity SD card just for the update process.


Be assured that whatever happens, the loader can't be bricked with those updates.

There's a protected program independent from the actual firmware which can detect and run the update file from the SD card, regardless of the state the loader was left in. Sadly that program doesn't like some of the more recent SD cards, causing it to not "see" the update file.


Boring tech details:
The mess up was caused by a mix of bad luck (testing went perfectly fine with my consoles), and the fact that the bootloader in early units doesn't like high-capacity or recent, high-performance SD cards.

-The bootloader in units which are already in the wild uses suboptimal (not buggy but incomplete !) SD card handling code.
-The firmware itself uses updated versions of that code, allowing nearly all SD cards to work for loading games.

The bootloader could technically be udpated to make the update process simpler, but there would be a non-zero risk of borking it and making further SD card updates impossible. However even if a situation caused everything to be f*ed up, the loader could always be reprogrammed via USB with a slightly modified cable.


Current plans to make things easier in the future:
-New loaders will be shipped with an updated bootloader.
-A bootloader update file for existing users will maybe be released (risk has to be considered).

What about the wiper fw?

I tried to run the wiper FW both off my normal SD and a really old 2GB one I have knocking around but it does not appear to run on boot up, Also I can not manually run it from the options menu presumably due to the "no sd card" error.

What can i do? :(
 
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bwi

,
20 Year Member
Joined
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Posts
460
Have you put it on the card that was originally working? I cant remember if it wiped straight from boot ( i think it did). When i rebooted it went straight to the stock bios cd player. Then i put the new 0.6 and it auto flashed from boot.

Hope that sort of helps
 

furrtek

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Posts
106
Confirming that the wiper FW should start at boot, no need to go in menus.
If it doesn't start, then it's the bootloader not liking the SD card. The card used for the initial setup should work.

If you can't remember which SD card you used or if you got your loader installed by someone else, I can look into sending a working card.
 
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titchgamer

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Confirming that the wiper FW should start at boot, no need to go in menus.
If it doesn't start, then it's the bootloader not liking the SD card. The card used for the initial setup should work.

If you can't remember which SD card you used or if you got your loader installed by someone else, I can look into sending a working card.

Cheers Furrtek I will get back to you on that :p

I asked the guy who installed it, He said he updated the FW using my normal SD card from 0.4 to 0.5 and that it was fine.

I have ordered a 32mb San Disc SD card off ebay, heres hoping that works because I cant find one that does around here under 2gb that works!

If not I may take you up on that working card offer LOL
 
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Burning Fight!!

NIS America fan & Rent Free tenant
10 Year Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2014
Posts
4,336
About the waiting list:

People are still able to register, so your place in line may appear to go back in time as the overall count grows slowly.
I admit it can be confusing. I didn't expect this project to blow up and thought that this waiting list system would work ok.

If it can reassure you, requests are always processed in the order they came in, according to the exact date and time the form was submitted.

I'm doing my best to keep production going.
Unfortunately banks don't always take small businesses seriously here so my spending limits are relatively low.

About 2/3rds of the progress bar should be filled by the end of August.

I just hope us late adopters get the device before the end of the year :D
 

mdd45

n00b
Joined
Jun 27, 2016
Posts
21
Try if you can an older kingston sd card. I have a 32GB one and usually does the job done with NGCD SD Loader updates....

My Sandisks are ok only for loading games and not flashing fw updates.
 
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3rdStrikeMike

Dodgeball Yakuza
10 Year Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2013
Posts
638
About the waiting list:

People are still able to register, so your place in line may appear to go back in time as the overall count grows slowly.
I admit it can be confusing. I didn't expect this project to blow up and thought that this waiting list system would work ok.

If it can reassure you, requests are always processed in the order they came in, according to the exact date and time the form was submitted.

I'm doing my best to keep production going.
Unfortunately banks don't always take small businesses seriously here so my spending limits are relatively low.

About 2/3rds of the progress bar should be filled by the end of August.

Awesome! Thanks for the update :)
 

titchgamer

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May 31, 2018
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Seconded about the kingston 64gb card.

I only have 1 kingston card here and thats a 256GB one lol

I hope this old san disk one I have ordered from flea bay will do the trick as its not a XC/HC card just a bog standard SD heh.
 

titchgamer

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Ok I am back up and running again! :D

I also have some further info to throw into the compatibility issue hat.....

So my 32mb Card arrived today and I instantly ran upstairs to load the FW on and try it, When I popped it in the console my heart sank as it still did not register it on boot up :(

Sooo As I mentioned previously I went for the keeping the CD rom drive option as my laser is still good so my SD slot pokes through one of the vent holes in the top.
Because of this I have been using a micro SD to SD extender cable to make popping the card in and out easier and less wear on the main SD slot.

Anyway I thought what the hell maybe thats the issue, Took it out and put the 32mb card straight into the loader and it worked perfectly! :D

So long story short do not try running the update with a extension, It dont like it! Plays the games etc off the card no problem but it will not accept the boot up firmware! :D

Also can confirm old 32mb San Disk card works fine :D
 

mdd45

n00b
Joined
Jun 27, 2016
Posts
21
How is the loading speed difference from 0.5 to 0.6? is like it used to be before 0.4 fw? im asking because i will not have access to my neo geo cd console for the next 1-2 months....
 
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titchgamer

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Posts
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How is the loading speed difference from 0.5 to 0.6? is like it used to be before 0.4 fw? im asking because i will not have access to my neo geo cd console for the next 1-2 months....

I have not tested it personally, But as far as I am aware there is no difference between 0.5 and 0.6 speed wise.
The main part of the update was to get rid of the 128 character limit for file names and allow the title to scroll on the screen.
 
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