NeoGeoX Hacking and Mods

[Lee Gray]

I just want everything done for me thanks, as totally useless at this sort of stuff.

 

[jrronimo]

If I understand correctly, we *should* have everything available to us. There's some custom coding that would need to be done and this should all be done in such a way as to not encourage piracy. We like SNK and want to encourage them to license/release devices and more stuff like this, and to support the devices. Tommo is currently expressing interest in supporting their device in an official capacity and we really shouldn't step on their toes. I'm using the royal "we" of course, to mean the community as a whole.

Here's a very broad, very general overview of the things that need to happen:
1. We need a way to flash a modified firmware to the NGX over USB. Users then don't have to take their devices apart. Someone already posted some notes in this thread about that using a tool called USBbootTool.exe. IT IS CURRENTLY UNCONFIRMED IF THIS IS SAFE FOR 370 UNITS, although it would make sense for one method to work on all devices, especially in light of Tommo talking about putting out an update.
2. We need a firmware that is modified in such a way as to load data off a standard SD card containing data we put onto it. Ideally this is for homebrew or ROMs that people already own cartridges for. iirc, the NGX menu looks for some sort of hash to verify that files are allowed to be loaded; seems like it's whitelisted in the NGX firmware itself. Anyway, we already have the tools to modify the dumped firmware.
3. This firmware can't be distributed while containing game ROMs... so these changes need to be made to an "empty" firmware. Each user would need a way to dump the ROMs from their NGX and then re-insert them into the Community Edition firmware. (I don't think there's currently a way to access the internals of an NGX without opening the case (and even then, not at all for a 370.)) I believe that the NGX crashes if one tries to boot it without ROMs.
3b. An alternate solution would be to flash something like that Russian Dingoo clone's firmware to the NGX, modified to work on the NGX. You'd lose any "official" NGX-related stuff and probably also HDMI out.

For anyone with a 370 (like me), I guess we don't currently have a solution since there's no way to extract the game ROMs from the firmware on a 370. There might be some function of the NGX's chip that allows it, or maybe a tool will have to be written to do so, but currently there's no way.

Sorry I don't have any code to contribute... I'm just not good at that sort of thing...

 

[mr_e]

The simplest way to validate if the 370's can take the same flash as the SD capable models is to get a sys_update_file from both, then compare. If they are the same, the answer to custom firmware is already in this thread.


Someone send me an X.

 

[Ghoost]

I'm hoping Tommo just releases their own 'hack' to allow unlimited continues and whatnot to discourage pirating games they plan on releasing.

Also... let us know about releasing games!

 

[VRC-SID]

I have a 3.70 If someone gives me a guide, I will test it on this device. I would follow the steps in this thread but they are too spread out to make good sense of whats in there. I know my device is at risk, but someone needs to try. I don't mind trying.

 

[XtraSmiley]

I'm hoping Tommo just releases their own 'hack' to allow unlimited continues and whatnot to discourage pirating games they plan on releasing.

Also... let us know about releasing games!

If they even do release games. Since they are using FBA without permission (or do they have it?) and they accidently included a PS BIOS (which there is no way they have rights to) what are the odds they get shut down as is, no more future support?

That being said, you guys are doing a great job in this thread, keep it up!

 

[nerdstick]

I have a 3.70 If someone gives me a guide, I will test it on this device. I would follow the steps in this thread but they are too spread out to make good sense of whats in there. I know my device is at risk, but someone needs to try. I don't mind trying.

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.

Might need to change where it writes to, though.

 

[VRC-SID]

Might need to change where it writes to, though.

I'll try this when I get home. The hardest part right now is finding a 32-bit version of windows to use

I'll report my findings.

 

[NeoEsZ]

I am also willing to send my 370 NGX out for testing as I'm dumb with these things and don't have the time to partake in any groundwork. Not to get off topic, but I'm really tired of seeing the "I love SNK and want to see support for this" sentiment. SNK is not involved in the project. Many of us have contacted SNK to ask about future releases and they're simply not involved with any future support. Tommo purchased the rights to distribute this product with SNK's name on it and the current ROMs inside the system are inferior to what any of us could load into the machine. The presence of FBA, psx bios and other leftovers used in other ROMboxes are evidence of this. Holding any information back or coding a hack in a way to prevent full usage of this device is showing full allegiance to TOMMO, not SNK.

I mean, do what you want. If you think doing ANYTHING else other than buying SNKPlaymore's digital releases or KOF XIII or Samurai Shodown Sen brand new will show support to SNK, you're dense and projecting wishful thinking onto reality.

LUV U!

 

[Spoonman]

I would assume this hack or the ability to play all of the roms on this won't affect most of our decisions to buy future games for this.
What WILL affect my decision...

1. If they make no attempt to fix the horrible video output (IE: Fix the resolution output, turn on VSYNC, sound problems).
2. If they make no attempt to add a way to play games uncensored (Give us an AES/MVS option).
3. If they release future games on a piece of cardboard instead of a proper box.
4. If they charge an excessive amount for single games. $10 seems about right.

I don't think I'm alone in the way I feel about these things.

 

[HiHiAmiYumi]

4. If they charge an excessive amount for single games. $10 seems about right.

I heard from an article that they would only charge at least $3 for each game. I guess that wasn't true.

Oh, and as you all may know I'm new. I know it's annoying with all the newbies saying this so many times, which distracts others from doing their work, but I still wanted to give my thanks. My brother mentioned the work you are doing in his Destructoid blog right here:

http://www.destructoid.com/blogs/So...eo-gaming-days-with-the-neogeo-x-241503.phtml

I don't think all are true, and there are a few typos, but it still shows our appreciation.

 

[slerch666]

I would assume this hack or the ability to play all of the roms on this won't affect most of our decisions to buy future games for this.
What WILL affect my decision...

1. If they make no attempt to fix the horrible video output (IE: Fix the resolution output, turn on VSYNC, sound problems).

They claim they are working on this in the REDDIT thread they put together. Hopefully this isn't just stringing along coke fiends (us) with a false promise.

2. If they make no attempt to add a way to play games uncensored (Give us an AES/MVS option).

Licensing UNIBIOS would be BOSS. Or, rather, getting approval to use it from Raz. Licensing isn't the right term, since UNIBIOS is a HACK, but you guys know what I mean. I hope.

3. If they release future games on a piece of cardboard instead of a proper box.

So I wouldn't care if they put it on a piece of cardboard. It's kinda shit, but fuck man, I don't need more shit taking up space. If they found a way to do an ultraslim case, like 1/4 the depth of a Blu Ray case, and about 1/3 the height, I wouldn't mind as it would be easy to store. I have so much fucking shit piled up all over the house, I don't need more. lol

4. If they charge an excessive amount for single games. $10 seems about right.

I'd pay $30 for a SamSho anthology that includes all the NG versions. I'd pay $30 for all of the KOF games on one card, or maybe $20 for 1 card for the first 4-5 and then another $20 for another card with the remainder.

I've already spent money on most all of these games in some way, and $10 a game feels like milking it. Fuck, what I'd be all over is if they sold us $5 games but let us download and install them over the 'net. I'm fine w/ not having any of the cool shit (box art, manuals, etc) since I'm an MVS whore and I've already bought emulated versions of the game on Live/PSN. Maybe offer downloadable inserts and manuals or some shit?

Or include all that shit on the card and let me view it on my PC. Since they pin swap the cards, that would be difficult unless they code us up a little "reader" program for it.

I don't think I'm alone in the way I feel about these things.

[/QUOTE]

 

[Zeek]

^ I'm on two sides here:
1) I want the games to be released in mini-shockboxes with manuals and artwork etc. for the shelf stacking and displaying aspect.
2) If they stay in the silly cardboard sleeves - I'll buy and not open. Keep them in a nice safe place with the rest of my various console rarities. 100% NOS auctions here I come in 10 years!

 

[Mattroid]

If they stay in the silly cardboard sleeves - I'll buy and not open. Keep them in a nice safe place with the rest of my various console rarities. 100% NOS auctions here I come in 10 years!

Haha, I haven't opened Ninja Masters yet for this reason as well. I'm waiting to see how stand alone copies will be packaged and if I think it might be worth keeping this one in the package or not. Probably not, but the collector in me is tying my hands on this one

 

[Lan Di]

Does anyone mind translating this video? I believe he is french. According the video description he has a 337.

 

[TurboRotary13b]

That video just made me hard... This is what I want to see! He says that the games are fully functional and running Unibios. He also says that these are loading from the external sd card. He says that its possible to put 50 games on one external sd but no more than that.

 

[ack]

Hi

I was able to create a patched ingenic-boot (linux) util that can dump the internal sd card on my 337, but suspect it will work on a 370 too.

main source:
https://github.com/gcwnow/ingenic-boot/archive/master.zip
patch:
http://www.gotwalls.com/neogeox/ingenic-boot-master.diff

Decompress the zip and apply the diff to it. Then following to build instructions in the README and the bits about the udev rules (be sure to also restart udev). Once building is complete do the following.

- With the ngx powered off, hold the start button and plug it into your linux box. The 2 led lights on the lower left of the ngx should light up, but the LCD will remain off.
- You should see something like this in your dmesg, indicating linux sees a new usb device.

new high-speed USB device number NN using ehci_hcd

- Verify the ingenic-boot util can see the device

# ./ingenic-boot --probe
probe only
 CPU data: JZ4770V1

- To dump the sd card use the --dump=filename@blocks option. I haven't figured out how to determine the number of blocks on the sd card and no error is give if you attempt to read past the end, so you must specific how many blocks to read. Each block being 512 bytes. For the sd card in the 337 firmware device its 3862528 blocks, so the command looks like this.

# ./ingenic-boot --dump=sd.img@3862528

probe 1th
 CPU data: JZ4770V1

addr set 0x80002000
 addr=0x80002000

download fw_ddr2.bin
 download len=6600

start1@0x80002000
 choice=1, addr=0x80002000

probe 2th
 CPU data: JZ4770V1

addr set 0x80002000
 addr=0x80002000

download usb_boot.bin
 download len=123944

flush cache

start2@0x80002000
 choice=2, addr=0x80002000

probe 3th
 CPU data: Boot4770

 Configuring XBurst CPU succeeded.

#SD init

dumping sd card to sd.img
  wrote 108003328 bytes 5.5%

Which will eventually complete with

dumping sd card to sd.img
  wrote 1977614336 bytes 100.0%
done

Which gives you

# ls -l sd.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1977614336 Jan 11 21:54 sd.img

# file sd.img
sd.img: x86 boot sector; partition 1: ID=0x83, starthead 0, startsector 24576, 983040 sectors; partition 2: ID=0x83, starthead 0, startsector 1007616, 266240 sectors; partition 3: ID=0x83, starthead 0, startsector 1273856, 40960 sectors; partition 4: ID=0xb, starthead 0, startsector 1314816, 2097152 sectors, code offset 0x0

# fdisk -l sd.img
Disk sd.img: 1977 MB, 1977614336 bytes
1 heads, 63 sectors/track, 61309 cylinders, total 3862528 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

 Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
sd.img1           24576     1007615      491520   83  Linux
sd.img2         1007616     1273855      133120   83  Linux
sd.img3         1273856     1314815       20480   83  Linux
sd.img4         1314816     3411967     1048576    b  W95 FAT32

-ack

 

[TurboRotary13b]

So is this all there is to getting roms to work on the NGX?

http://translate.google.com/transla...fication-d-un-adaptateur-micro-sd-en-gamecard

 

[Lee Gray]

Does anyone mind translating this video? I believe he is french. According the video description he has a 337.

I want some of that.

 

[trustMe]

Hi

I was able to create a patched ingenic-boot (linux) util that can dump the internal sd card on my 337, but suspect it will work on a 370 too.

main source:
https://github.com/gcwnow/ingenic-boot/archive/master.zip
patch:
http://www.gotwalls.com/neogeox/ingenic-boot-master.diff

Decompress the zip and apply the diff to it. Then following to build instructions in the README and the bits about the udev rules (be sure to also restart udev). Once building is complete do the following.

- With the ngx powered off, hold the start button and plug it into your linux box. The 2 led lights on the lower left of the ngx should light up, but the LCD will remain off.
- You should see something like this in your dmesg, indicating linux sees a new usb device.

new high-speed USB device number NN using ehci_hcd

- Verify the ingenic-boot util can see the device

# ./ingenic-boot --probe
probe only
 CPU data: JZ4770V1

- To dump the sd card use the --dump=filename@blocks option. I haven't figured out how to determine the number of blocks on the sd card and no error is give if you attempt to read past the end, so you must specific how many blocks to read. Each block being 512 bytes. For the sd card in the 337 firmware device its 3862528 blocks, so the command looks like this.

# ./ingenic-boot --dump=sd.img@3862528

probe 1th
 CPU data: JZ4770V1

addr set 0x80002000
 addr=0x80002000

download fw_ddr2.bin
 download len=6600

start1@0x80002000
 choice=1, addr=0x80002000

probe 2th
 CPU data: JZ4770V1

addr set 0x80002000
 addr=0x80002000

download usb_boot.bin
 download len=123944

flush cache

start2@0x80002000
 choice=2, addr=0x80002000

probe 3th
 CPU data: Boot4770

 Configuring XBurst CPU succeeded.

#SD init

dumping sd card to sd.img
  wrote 108003328 bytes 5.5%

Which will eventually complete with

dumping sd card to sd.img
  wrote 1977614336 bytes 100.0%
done

Which gives you

# ls -l sd.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1977614336 Jan 11 21:54 sd.img

# file sd.img
sd.img: x86 boot sector; partition 1: ID=0x83, starthead 0, startsector 24576, 983040 sectors; partition 2: ID=0x83, starthead 0, startsector 1007616, 266240 sectors; partition 3: ID=0x83, starthead 0, startsector 1273856, 40960 sectors; partition 4: ID=0xb, starthead 0, startsector 1314816, 2097152 sectors, code offset 0x0

# fdisk -l sd.img
Disk sd.img: 1977 MB, 1977614336 bytes
1 heads, 63 sectors/track, 61309 cylinders, total 3862528 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

 Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
sd.img1           24576     1007615      491520   83  Linux
sd.img2         1007616     1273855      133120   83  Linux
sd.img3         1273856     1314815       20480   83  Linux
sd.img4         1314816     3411967     1048576    b  W95 FAT32

-ack

Hello ack,
Works with Ubuntu CD Boot ?

 

[carnicero27]

THANK YOU FOR ALL STUPIDS HACKERS!!!
now tommo will not release official games...

WHO IS SO STUPID TO SPEND A LOT OF MONEY TO HACK THE SYSTEM TO PLAY UNOFFICIAL GAMES???

 

[Sushimaster]

now tommo will not release official games...

Did they say/wrote something? Nope... so plz don't complain...

 

[Demitri1983]

So is this all there is to getting roms to work on the NGX?

http://translate.google.com/transla...fication-d-un-adaptateur-micro-sd-en-gamecard

WOW! That guy needs to be a surgeon! Such small wire and parts requires some steady hands.

 

[topher]

THANK YOU FOR ALL STUPIDS HACKERS!!!
now tommo will not release official games...

WHO IS SO STUPID TO SPEND A LOT OF MONEY TO HACK THE SYSTEM TO PLAY UNOFFICIAL GAMES???

Lol...a little hostile there buddy. For a good chunk of us, the potential hackabilty of the X was the only reason this was purchased and not returned due to the blatant QA/QC issues.

 

[carnicero27]

Lol...a little hostile there buddy. For a good chunk of us, the potential hackabilty of the X was the only reason this was purchased and not returned due to the blatant QA/QC issues.

if i buy this portable is for play official releases by tommo, not for donwload many games to put in one sd card. if i want to play unofficial games from neo geo, i will not buy this console and i will play the games on my PC.

if the hackers can RUN games from mame its perfect. but not neo geo games.