Questions of questionable nature (FDS rewrites and chip flashing)

[milkmanv1]

Hey guys,

Loooong time no showie of the face around these parts. I VERY recently got back into my famicom, and fell back in love with it. Especially the disk system. I've got one on the way from Japan along with a RAM adapter, separate purchases, and a new belt to get this thing set up good and proper, as the Twin Famicom I've been using was poorly adjusted by me and the previous owner. It goes through spells of working well, then suddenly decides it wants to throw a fit and not load this game or that game without about 10 reinserts.

ANYWAY, I got burned on an ebay purchase (well not really cause I got a refund) but I scooped a copy of Arumana No Kiseki for a decent price, and when I popped it in it loaded RIGHT up (in comparison to castlevania which froze up and wouldn't load the b side) only to find out......it was a poker game rewritten overtop Arumana.

So I see that the FDS Stick can assist one with the disk re-writing process, but theres something in there about needing a special board revision or a mod chip to activate the full writing potential of a standard FDS. I also know that unless your FDS is REALLY ALIGNED, you may run into problems getting games up and running on other systems.

So, if this is unethical, or otherwise not allowed on this board I apologize. But is there anyone out there, that can either steer me in the right direction of rewriting my disk (specifically Arumana no Kiseki as I don't want to buy it again) or someone that would be willing to re-write a disk or two for me here or there for a small labor fee?

Which kinda brings me to my next point, which, once again, if its not allowed, please don't mind me. But I also would be interested in making my own "translations" of some games that are hard to emulate i.e. ranglash point. I don't really see the need of an "overhead" for flashing my own rom chips if I only want to make about 5 cart translations for my own perosnal collection. Is there anyone out there who can sell me just a flashed rom chip for a nominal fee (parts + labor?)

Sorry for asking so much of a community that I hardly contribute to! Mods - have at it if anything I'm asking is taboo. And last but not least, fami on my friends.

-Joe

[P]

You don't break any rules but yeah rewriting disks is generally not encouraged due to the mentioned problems. For rewriting, your disk drive must have the write protection circuitry disabled. If you have the older FD7201 drive chip you only need to do one mod but if you have the newer FD3206 drive chip you also need to do one more mod.

The good news is that the FDSStick also can be used to bypass the disk drive with all its problems with broken drive belts, misaligned heads and what not, and allows you to load up any disk image, including translations and other hacks, to the RAM Adapter. This also makes it possible to wipe the save data of your games (which isn't really possible on all games normally). Great Hierophant made a guide for that here.

If I where you I'd use the FDSStick for playing your games instead of having to pollute the market with bad rewrites. That's what I'm doing.