Doom64 and the Controller Pack - Is it possible to fool the N64 to save elsewhere?

[Spankenstein]

Just received my Everdrive 64 (thank you Stone Age Gamer :) ) and have a question about games that require the controller pack to save.

How do I set up the save function so the game saves SD card, thinking that it is a controller pack?

I read that the Everdrive doesn't access to the data stream for the controller pack so I wondered what I had to do instead?

[StoneAgeGamer]

Just received my Everdrive 64 (thank you Stone Age Gamer :) ) and have a question about games that require the controller pack to save.

How do I set up the save function so the game saves SD card, thinking that it is a controller pack?

I read that the Everdrive doesn't access to the data stream for the controller pack so I wondered what I had to do instead?

You answered your own question. Since the EverDrive64 can't access the data stream there is no way for it to save directly to SD card for games that use a memory card. You need to use a N64 memory card. If you bought Deluxe Edition is states this right in the manual.

KRIKzz said someday he may add ability to read/write game saves to and from SD card to N64 memory card, but you would still need the N64 memory card as the middle man.

[Spankenstein]

Cool, I got it. I thought the EverDrive64 couldn't save to the controller pack, hence the confusion.

[StoneAgeGamer]

The EverDrive64 doesn't (currently) save to the controller pack, your game does though.

[Hamster]

i am sure someone could write a game that would copy the controller pak saves to the sd card :D

[MottZilla]

Actually, someone could write a Game program that would have a simple menu to load or save controller pak data to "Cartridge SRAM". You could create multiple copies of this program named after each controller pak game. Then when you go to play the game you could first go to the program copy named after your game and load the controller pak data. Then play the game and afterward you'd just need to reset, load the program copy named after the game again and instead save the data and reset so the EverDrive 64 would now have a copy of the controller pak data on the SD card.

Eventually this feature might be added to the OS. But he has been very busy.

[derekb]

Actually, someone could write a Game program that would have a simple menu to load or save controller pak data to "Cartridge SRAM". You could create multiple copies of this program named after each controller pak game. Then when you go to play the game you could first go to the program copy named after your game and load the controller pak data. Then play the game and afterward you'd just need to reset, load the program copy named after the game again and instead save the data and reset so the EverDrive 64 would now have a copy of the controller pak data on the SD card.

Eventually this feature might be added to the OS. But he has been very busy.

i imagine eventually krikzz could implement an automatic restore/backup solution along those lines considering you already have to push reset and let it save off the sram/eeprom

[saturnu]

Actually, someone could write a Game program that would have a simple menu to load or save controller pak data to "Cartridge SRAM". You could create multiple copies of this program named after each controller pak game. Then when you go to play the game you could first go to the program copy named after your game and load the controller pak data. Then play the game and afterward you'd just need to reset, load the program copy named after the game again and instead save the data and reset so the EverDrive 64 would now have a copy of the controller pak data on the SD card.

Eventually this feature might be added to the OS. But he has been very busy.

swiss-gc is using a prepatcher to change the internal save-functions of a game on the gamecube to 'emulate' a memory card on a sd-card. But this is only working 'cause the sd-card is some way compatible to the memory-card port using a sd-gecko.

I don't know in which way the sd-card/usb-port is accessable out of a rom on the ed64 but i think there is a need of extra librarys. Maybe it's a bit to hard to prepatch the rom with the extra libs but i don't think it's impossible.
I think this could be a very cool solution beside the extra mempak management programs. if krikzz would release some information on the use of the usb-port/sd-card, maybe someone could experiment a bit with that idea. ^^

btw. such programs you mentioned were used during the v64/z64 era, maybe some of them are still working on the ed64.