Retroactive 64drive User manual

DEVELOPMENT TOOL
USER’S MANUAL
121414

ii iii
Product comprising physical circuit board,
software and related IP
© 2010-2014 Retroactive
“Nintendo” is a registered trademark of
Nintendo of America Inc. Nintendo 64
is a registered trademark of Nintendo
Company, Limited.
Disclaimer:
This document is for informational use
only. The user of this device assumes full
responsbility ensuring its use in accor-
dance with local and federal laws.
The software and hardware of the
product are provided “as-is”, without any
express or implied warranty or guarantee.
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
Information contained herein reects the
current state of the product at the time
of writing.
For the most current document please
see the Support page on the product
website at:
http://64drive.retroactive.be
See the About tab in the product Menu
to see more specic attributions and
software revision information.
NOTICES
CONTENTS
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION iv
NOTICES iv
CONTENTS v
Introduction 1
Physical Considerations 1
In Case of a Problem 1
Getting Started 1
Check Formatting 1
Install the Menu 1
Copy Image Files 2
Turn It On 2
Getting Around the Menu 2
Loading an Image 2
After You’re Done 2
Menu - Options 3
Use ‘Saves’ Folder 3
Reset Button Action 3
Font Size 3
Controller Pak Saving 3
Menu - About 3
Menu 3
Firmware 3
Bootloader 3
Other Features 3
Background Skinning 3
Quick-Start 4
Controller Pak Saving 4
Force NTSC Menu Mode 4
Using Saves From an Emulator 5
NES Emulation 5
MP3 Playback 5
USB Mode 6
How it Works 6
Considerations 6
Tools 6
Tech Details 7
Region Information 7
Saving Methods 7
Lockout Chips 8
Support for 6105/7105 9
FAQ 9
Specications 10
Hardware 10
Transfer Rates (FW 1.xx) 10
Supported Save Types 10
Troubleshooting 10
Startup Problems 10
In Menu 11
Support Info 11
Website 11
E-mail 11

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• ‘A’ button selects item or tab
• ‘B’ button cancels or returns to the
previous screen
• ‘C’-Up/Down buttons can be used to
scroll quickly through long listings
• ‘C’-Left/Right jump to the start and end
of the current folder
• Both the analog stick and the d-pad
may be used to move the cursor. The
current highlighted item will have a
pulsing border around it.
Loading an Image
Once a le has been picked, the loading
options screen will be shown.
In most cases, the 64drive can pick the
best settings and you can just press A to
load the image straight away.
If the image to be loaded uses an internal
cartridge save method, the 64drive will
create a le to hold the save data on the
memory card.
In some cases the software to be loaded
may not be designed to run on your
console’s region. You can try forcing the
region, but it is best to leave it on “Auto”.
After You’re Done
Press the RESET button on the N64 con-
sole to return back to the menu, or if the
option was enabled, reset back to the
same image.
On rmwares 1.xx, you MUST press
reset to ush the savegame data
back to the memory card, or your progress
will not be updated!
Copy Image Files
Next, copy over any images you want to
run on the memory card.
Organization doesn’t matter. However,
there is a limit of about 1000 entries per
folder. You may choose to categorize your
images in folders, or you can dump them
all in the root directory.
Both .Z64 (big-endian) and .V64/.N64
(byte-swapped) formats are supported.
The latter is byteswapped by the hardware
while loading so there is no speed penalty.
Turn It On
Put the memory card in your 64drive.
MicroSD cards go in the rear, with the gold
contacts facing towards you. Compact-
Flash cards go in the front with the label
facing the front of the console.
If both cards are in at the same time, CF
will take priority.
Now power it on. The rst thing you should
see is the bootloader icon - a small rotat-
ing symbol.
It should pause for just a second while it
nds the menu program and loads it.
Within just a moment you should see the
menu for the rst time.
Getting Around the Menu
The buttons control the menu much the
same way as they do in most games.
Introduction
The 64drive is a tool designed to be used
with the Nintendo 64 video game console
for the ends of game development and/or
modication.
Conceived out of frustration at the lack
of options available on the market, it
incorporates a capable feature set, robust
hardware design, and incredible attention
to detail.
I hope that you as the user will appreciate
the polish and enjoy the product.
Physical Considerations
Please observe these guidelines when
using the product:
• The cart is designed for indoor use only.
Keep it dry, avoid dropping it, and don’t
let foreign objects get into it.
• Special attention should be paid to the
edge connector on the bottom. If it gets
dirty there will not be a good connec-
tion and in rare cases you might lose
some data.
• This product supports upgrades in the
eld. It is possible to render the car-
tridge otherwise unusable if care is not
taken when applying upgrades.
• All common sense rules for the proper
treatment of expensive electronic
equipment should be observed.
In Case of a Problem
Refer to the Troubleshooting section.
In the event of a problem not detailed in
this document, see the Contact section to
send an email to Support.
Getting Started
Check Formatting
The 64drive only works with memory
cards that are formatted with the FAT32
lesystem.
Older cards may need to be re-formatted
to work. Under Windows you can check by
viewing the card’s Properties.
For best results, you should use the SD
Association’s Formatter Software -
http://www.sdcard.org/downloads/
formatter_4/ (Mac, Windows). 64GB and
larger cards will default to exFAT, which is
not supported.
Install the Menu
Download the last menu from the Support
page on the website.
This is distributed as a compressed
ZIP archive, containing the MENU.BIN
(actual menu program) and also a text le
changelog describing the new features or
bugxes relevant to that version.
Copy MENU.BIN to the root directory of
your SD or CompactFlash memory card.
This means that the le should not be
within any other sub-folders on the card.
!

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Menu
This is the version of the MENU.BIN
le stored on your memory card, and is
upgraded by copying a new le from the
Support page onto the memory card.
Firmware
Inside the 64drive itself is some memory
that controls the details of how the car-
tridge works, at a very low level.
It is upgraded with a special program over
USB. Periodically there may be a new
rmware available for download from the
product website that may x problems.
Bootloader
Also contained within the cartridge is a
small program that loads the menu itself
at each power-on. Generally this won’t
need to be updated, but it’s possible.
Other Features
Background Skinning
The menu supports background images.
However, the console must have an
Expansion Pak installed.
• Create a JPEG image that is exactly
640x480 pixels, and less than about
100KB in size.
• Rename the le so that it is exactly
“background.jpg”.
• Copy the picture to the root directory of
the memory card, just like you did for
the MENU.BIN le.
• Turn on the console.
Menu - Options
In the “Options” tab you can tweak a few
things. The changes are committed once
you load an image, and are stored in the
“ settings.cfg ” le on the memory card.
Use ‘Saves’ Folder
By default, when an image is loaded that
supports internal savegames, the menu
will create a new folder called “Saves”,
and also create a new save le within that
folder.
Turn off this option if you want to keep
the save les in the same place as each
image le.
Reset Button Action
When the RESET button on the console is
pressed, this option determines whether
the menu is loaded or it instantly reboots
to the same image.
In both cases, any changed internal
save progress will be written back to the
memory card.
Font Size
Changes the width of the menu listing
font. The smaller font looks better when
stretched on widescreen displays.
Controller Pak Saving
Opens a submenu for management of
virtual pak les. More details follow in the
next section.
Menu - About
This tab displays the list of tools and
people that helped and shaped the devel-
opment of the 64drive.
It also displays the current versions of
the software on your cartridge. These are
detailed below:
With this option you can have 1 physical
Pak plugged into your controller, and copy
the entire contents into a virtual “con-
tainer” le stored on the memory card.
The menu supports 6 of these virtual
“containers”, so that if you run out of
space on your real Controller Pak, it may
be set aside. You may move around the
pak contents as whole, but at this time re-
moving individual entries is unsupported.
All software designed for the N64 console
utilizing a Controller Pak should have a
menu for editing Game Notes - this is ac-
cessed by holding START on the controller
just as the software starts (just after the
menu loading screen goes away).
The virtual containers are stored on the
memory card as “
virtpak1.bin ”, “ virtpak2.
bin ”, and so on. The format is a raw 32KB
dump.
Astute readers may wonder if this is the
same as a DexDrive save le - it is, but not
quite. DexDrive saves have an additional
0x1040 byte-long header at the start of
the le.
Force NTSC Menu Mode
For PAL users only, the menu will be slight-
ly squashed vertically due to the higher
line count of the PAL video standard.
If you have a TV that supports 60hz,
you can press Z+DpadLeft, and then
Z+DpadRight to switch the display mode
to NTSC.
This option is persistent. If your TV does
not support this mode, you may see
“SYNC LOST” or something similar. Just
enter the button combo again to toggle it
back off.
Alternatively, you can delete the “ settings.
cfg ” le from the memory card to revert to
the defaults.
Every time the 64drive is booted, it will
check for the presence of this le. If it is
found, and you also have an Expansion
Pak installed, it will decode the JPEG,
convert it to an intermediate format and
render a transparent overlay using Floyd-
Steinberg dithering.
The menu will create a system le called
“background.bin” after the conversion is
complete.
The menu will detect a change in the
JPEG’s lesize and apply the changes if
it is found. To remove the background,
delete both “background.jpg” and “back-
ground.bin”.
Quick-Start
While in the menu, you can instantly load
the previously started image by pressing
the START button.
Additionally, you can hold down the START
button when turning on the console, and
bypass the menu completely.
Controller Pak Saving
While the 64drive can easily handle and
isolate savegames that are supposed to
be stored internally, it cannot access the
Controller Pak while it is running user
software.
A lot of software will use up the entire
Controller Pak and because the 64drive
can’t easily get around that, this option
exists.

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Using Saves From an Emulator
Internal game saves can be used in an
emulator, and vice versa. However, le
naming is very important.
PC emulators such as Project64, Mupen,
1964, etc., generally create their own
save les when they run games that need
them. EEPROM saves can be simply cop-
ied back and forth, if the le names are
what the emulator or 64drive expects.
SRAM and FlashRAM saves tend to be
stored by emulators as little-endian, due
to the heritage of the Intel x86 platform
the emulators were designed for.
64drive saves in the game’s native big-
endian format. So to exchange these you
will have to perform a 32-bit endian swap
on the data.
NES Emulation
While the menu does not directly emulate
anything, it does support automatic load-
ing via an external emulator.
Files with the .NES extension are loaded
via the Neon64 program, a great achieve-
ment by “hcs”. Download his emulator
and extract the “neon64bu.rom” le to the
memory card’s root directory.
The INES image is automatically placed at
the 2 megabyte offset in SDRAM, and the
emulator loaded at 0x0 before it.
MP3 Playback
While not a supported feature, the menu
has very basic music playback support.
MPEG Audio layer I, II, and III can be
played.
When an image is loaded, playback is
stopped.
Tools
The “64drive_usb” tool is available from
the support website. With it you can trans-
fer your homebrew images to the cartridge
for testing and debugging.
You can also read and write directly to the
USB FIFO using a set of memory mapped
registers.
The specics are detailed in the separate
Hardware Specication document avail-
able from the support website.
USB Mode
The 64drive has a dedicated USB 2.0 High
Speed FIFO that can be used to:
• Load images into SDRAM
• Select save emulation type
• Upgrade rmware/bootloader
• Do custom communications between
code running on the console and the
PC
How it Works
When the 64drive detects that a USB
cable has been plugged in, it immediately
switches modes.
In this mode,
• Save writebacks are disabled
• Bootloader is disabled
• 64drive appears as a plain cartridge
• USB registers are enabled
When the USB cable is NOT connected,
• Save writebacks are re-enabled
• Bootloader is enabled
This functionality is ideal for development.
Since the bootloader is disabled, you can
reset the console immediately without
corrupting the RDRAM state.
Considerations
Because the bootloader, menu, and by
extension, bootemu are bypassed in
this mode, the header type of the image
you upload must match the physical CIC
installed in the 64drive.
For example, with a 6102 installed, you
could load Super Mario 64 , but not 1080
Snowboarding , which uses a 6103 CIC.
Homebrew images can easily be patched
with the proper header type using a hex
editor or the “RN64CRC” tool.

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Saving Methods
Games originally could contain custom
chips that held game progress inside the
physical cartridge. Appearing in decreas-
ing frequency in production carts:
• EEPROM (4Kbit)
• EEPROM (16Kbit)
• SRAM (256Kbit)
• FlashRAM (1Mbit)
• SRAM 3x (768Kbit)
Generally, rst-party titles utilized these
kinds of built-in save mechanisms. As they
added cost to each unit built, cheaper
games relied on the user already owning a
Controller Pak (which is 256Kbit).
The last save type was used in only one
game, Dezaemon 3D . This Japan-only title
had three physical SRAM chips with some
glue logic to do rudimentary address
mapping.
The 64drive can emulate all of these
methods. A look-up table is used by the
menu to determine what kind of save
type should be assumed for each image
loaded. While this has been thoroughly
tested, it is still possible to override.
There are prototypes in the wild that
assume a certain save method and will
crash if it can’t be accessed. An example
is Mini Racers . In the worst case you can
try all 4 save types if a title hangs upon
boot.
As detailed before, save les can be
exchanged between emulators and the
64drive. All types except EEPROM les
must be 32bit endian swapped when
changing platforms.
Tech Details
This section pertains to information that
some may nd useful as background
knowledge, or to further their understand-
ing with troubleshooting an odd issue.
Region Information
• NTSC - Used in the United States, Japan
• PAL - Used in most other countries such
as the UK, most of the EU, Australia
• MPAL - Brazil
For more detailed country listings consult
your favorite search engine.
To see what region console you have, ip
over your N64 and look at the printed
label on the bottom. The region is located
after the model number (NUS-001).
Cartridges original intended for sale in the
USA have notches on the rear lower cor-
ners of the cart case. Conversely, all other
parts of the world received cartridges
whose notches are inset by about 1cm.
It is possible for software running on the
N64 to detect what region of console it
is using. Some titles were able to adapt
to these changes and apply video and
sound changes to work in both regions.
Others were hard-coded to only accept
one region.
It is possible to have the 64drive to “fake”
the proper region, but since the actual
N64 hardware has different clocking
schemes, the video encoding (PAL vs
NTSC color encoding) and audio timing
will not be updated. The result is some
minor audio pops, and not all TVs will be
able to sync to the unconventional video
signal.
Once again a great deal about region
modding has been written. More informa-
tion on this subject can be found on the
Internet.
Of special note is the x105 CIC, which con-
tains additional functionality. It can accept
a “challenge” request and provide a magic
“response” value to the software running
on the N64, if so required.
Jet Force Gemini was the rst title to
utilize this. In true Rareware style, the
game would still run on non-x105 CICs,
but it would crash randomly (on purpose)
and disallow the player from jumping or
shooting.
Banjo Tooie , another Rare title, took the
idea further. All the game assets were en-
crypted, and during runtime the respons-
es from the CIC challenges were used to
decrypt them. This was not defeated until
recently.
Lockout Chips
In addition to the physical notches in
each cartridge case, there was additional
region enforcement in original games.
Each cartridge contains a small microcon-
troller (CIC) that maintains constant
communication with a similar chip (PIF)
inside the N64 console. If the chip is
absent, the wrong type, or does not
exactly match the region, the system will
not boot.
The known CIC types for NTSC are:
• 6102
• 6101
• 6103
• 6105
• 6106
The known types for PAL are:
• 7101
• 7102
• 7103
• 7105
• 7106
Generally, the 6102/7101 is by far the
most common. Star Fox/Lylat Wars was
the rst game to receive its own CIC, and
the trend continued with each major rst-
party title.
In addition, the CIC inside the 64DD is
5101 which expects a NTSC-J console.

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FAQ
• Is the hardware region specic?
No, but the physical case, and the in-
stalled CIC are.
• What SD cards are supported?
SD, SDHC, and SDXC cards have been
tested up to 32GB. At least a Class 4 card
is recommended. However, Class 10 cards
typically have much more consistent read/
write speeds and better build quality.
• Can I use this with a Gameshark?
Mostly not. It is possible to run in USB
mode for only those games whose CIC
matches the physically installed one.
Otherwise regularly the boot mechanism
does not play well with the Gameshark.
Replacement functionality may be added
at some point in the future.
• What image formats are supported?
.Z64 and .V64 formats. Most .rom and
.bin les fall under this category as well.
• Are there any compatibility issues?
See the previous Lockout Chip section.
• Will hacked games run?
Depends. Many of these hacks, especially
SM64 hacks, are poorly coded and only
work because emulators are actually very
inaccurate and let things slide.
A counter-example is Goldeneye X which
since it is very well designed and executed
runs on the 64drive with no problems.
• What about “high-res” texture packs?
Those are physically impossible to use on
the N64, regardless of the hardware. The
console’s texture memory is limited to
4KB in silicon.
Support for 6105/7105
A 64drive with a corresponding
6102/7101 chip will run all known soft-
ware in the wild with the exception of the
two previously named. For those that want
complete compatiblity without patches,
the 64drive hardware has a provision for
that.
A x105 may be soldered on to the circuit
board in lieu of the 6102/7101, and the
“BANK” jumper immediately above the
CIC footprint should also then be shorted
closed. This selects an alternate bootload-
er that is compatible with the new CIC.
No compatibility problems have been
found as a result of using this method.
Otherwise, there are patches in the wild
for both these two situations.
Troubleshooting
Startup Problems
• I am using CompactFlash and loading
is erratic, or goes to a black screen
instead of the menu.
→ Try holding ‘Z’ when turning on the
console. This selects Compatibility
Mode in the bootloader which is
specic to CF only, and may help
some very old cards as well as
microdrives.
• I get the error “FAT32 partition not
found”.
→ The card may be corrupted, or for-
matted as FAT16/NTFS. Reformat.
• I pressed Reset after removing the card
and it hangs.
→ The cards are not hot swappable,
power off and on.
• I installed a 6105 and now it won’t
boot.
→ Jump the BANK connection de-
scribed in a previous section.
• The spinny icon (bootloader) shows
for a short time, then disappears to a
black screen, and no menu.
→ This may indicate a physical con-
nection issue with the SDRAM.
You can try loading an image over
USB. Read the USB section for
considerations.
→ Possible incompatiblity with the
memory card, causing corrupted
data transfer. Email support
• “Undened error” shows.
→ This is intentional, and triggered by
holding the L button. Try a different
controller. This may happen with
cheap 3rd party controllers.
Specications
Hardware
• 64 Megabytes SDRAM
• USB 2.0 High-Speed FIFO
• Secure Digital
• CompactFlash
• Custom FPGA logic
• 512KB shared bootloader
• 512KB conguration ROM
Transfer Rates (FW 1.xx)
• Memory card: 9Mbyte/sec
• USB: 8Mbytes/sec
Transfer Rates (FW 2.xx)
• CompactFLash: 9Mbyte/sec
• Secure DIgital: 21Mbyte/sec
• USB: 8Mbytes/sec
Supported Save Types
• EEPROM (4Kbit)
• EEPROM (16Kbit)
• SRAM (256Kbit)
• FlashRAM (1Mbit)
• SRAM 3x (768Kbit)

PA G E 11
DEVELOPMENT TOOL
Support Info
Website
http://64drive.retroactive.be
Click “Support” tab
E-mail
support -(at)- retroactive.be
In Menu
• After upgrading menus some buttons
are inconsistent with the effects I’m
seeing, or inexplicably broken.
→ Delete the “settings.cfg” le from
the memory card, and let the menu
rebuild it.
• “Sector too close to MBR” error
→ Please email me at the support
address.
• “Filesystem issue”
→ This may indicate a problem with
the FAT table. Put the memory card
in a computer and run a disk integ-
rity scan such as “chkdsk”.
• “Settings.cfg is corrupt”
→ Delete the le and try again

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