From: jarnis@mits.mdata.fi (Jarno Kokko)
Subject: Re: SEGA Genesis on Amiga?
Organization: Microdata Oy, Helsinki, Finland
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 13:44:14 GMT

In article <Steven_Hurdle.00w5@amusers.UUCP> Steven_Hurdle@amusers.UUCP (Steven Hurdle) writes:
>In a message dated Fri  2 Jan 93  2:47, Zarthac@bradley.edu (matthew Simmon
>wrote:
>
> ZS> Where can I get said backup systems?  How much do they cost?  Are
> ZS> there
> ZS> any made for SNES?  And how the hell do they compress all the stuff
> ZS> from 
> ZS> a cartridge to fit on a 880 (or 720) disk?  Or do you use HD?  Still,
> ZS> wouldn't
> ZS> that be more than one disk?  How does the backup system work?  When
> ZS> you put
> ZS> a disk back in that you had backed up a game to, does it just read
> ZS> the game 
> ZS> into the backup system's memory?  Or does it (gasp) read the game
> ZS> from disk
> ZS> as it needs it?
>
>I'd be surprised if there were any such legal back-up systems being sold at
>a decent price.  I don't know, but I'd be surprised.
>

SUPRISE! Decent copiers cost around 300-400 USD.. legal? If you ask
from Nintendo/Sega, Not, but if you stick to the LAW, as long as
you have the original to show of every backup you have on disk,
it's legal.

>   Remember that cart data is already compressed to a huge degree.  Most
>games are 8 megabits or less so should fit on one floppy 9 times out of 10,
>and that's assuming they use low-density 1 meg disks.  There are some 16
>megabit games (2 megs) so that might require more than one disk, or would
>require the back-up system to have a Hi-D or Super-Hi-D floppy.
>

NOT! Better game companies DO use certain degree of 'compressing'
in graphics, but othervise, REMEMBER: There's no ram to unpack to. Code
must be executable from ROM directly. You can use tile-style
graphics, and in theory, compress the music (on Genesis), but that's
about it.. 8 Mbit games go to single 3.5" HD floppy, 12 Mbit will
fit, if you format it to 1.6 megabytes (possible on PC with FDread,and
every copier supports this also - 16 Mbit games are simply split
to 2 disks. Nothing compared to 10+ disk long amiga games.

Data files on copier disks are NOT compressed - they are 512kb, 1024kb
1,5MB or 2MB long. It's 1:1 duplicate of the ROM chip contents.

>   As I understand it, the maximum amount of addressable ROM space on the
>Genesis is 8 megabits (one meg).  The maximum on the SNES is 4 megabits. 

I think genesis can (In theory) access lot more. SNES on the other
hand is only 8/16 bit. 8Bit address bus can access only 64k at one time.

>To get more, they separate the game into multiple banks or 8 or 4 Mbits and
>swap between them as necessary.  It seems conceivable that the back-up
>system could be designed to put one bank per floppy therefore letting a
>multi-disk system work fairly well.  Most multi-bank games, I'd imagine,
>are designed to try to work sequentially through each bank of memory in the
>cart so swapping wouldn't be too bad.  Personally I don't, nor do I plan
>to, own a Genesis or a SNES so I couldn't really care anyway.  This

Nothing like this. Games are loaded to the memory before 
execution. I practice, copier is a ROM emulator - to the console, it
shows up excatly like a cart.

>information is as I understand it based on what I've read in console mags,
>and console mags are famous for oversimplifying things or even printing
>blatantly false info so this could very well be wrong, but it makes sense
>to me however so I do trust it.
>

Mean Machines for example is pretty good on tech side, but if you
stick to EGM or GamePro, GET A LIFE! Those shitmags are only spreading
every bit of a rumor that Sega/Nintendo decide to release to the public.

>-- Via DLG Pro v0.995
>
>Steven Hurdle <==> The Swindler                [public replies only please]
>Writer of "Virtual Rumours", a rumour/news column in some club newsletters.
>Coming to you from Victoria B.C., the Bahamas of Canada:  via SupraFAX!!!!!
>
>                     "Give me AGA, or give me DEATH!!!"

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