Hackchi New Folder Copies Everything Again

I originally started my 'mini hacking / retro video game' hobby with Project Lunar back in March 2020, and that hack was mostly successful in regards to adding any Genesis / Mega Drive game I wanted, but there were limitations to how many games could be added and in setting up different consoles (like NES and SNES) as at that place was no file sorting system in Projection Lunar at the fourth dimension. On meridian of that, I was on a Mac and the instructions I followed involved using Virtual Box to pretend I was on a PC and that ended up being extremely slow, eventually leading to syncing problems and me having to restore my Mini back to its mill settings and searching the internet for another solution.

If you lot've e'er poked around online about hacking a mini panel, and so you probably are already aware that the other solution out there comes from Hakchi. And later on finding a suggestion on a forum to endeavor using Parallels to pretend my Mac was a PC for hacking purposes, I apace discovered that Hakchi was just equally easy to setup as Project Lunar had been, if not exponentially easier as I was no longer using that boring-ass Virtual Box. And, even better, Hakchi already had style more born functionalities, similar a file sorting system and more, fix to get. Possibly Projection Lunar has since added more features, just, for me, Hakchi has been a breeze to apply and I tin can't call back of anything I need it to do that information technology doesn't do. So I highly recommend just going with Hakchi.

Like all things related to hacking your mini console, in that location's probably a Youtube video that will hold your hand through all the steps and hither's a good one for getting Hakchi installed and setup:

Just everything to a higher place I've already said earlier — what I wanted to do with this post is put downward in one place all the things I've discovered/figured out since start getting into hacking my Sega Mini, as there were a bunch of things that I wish I would have just started off doing/knowing.

For example, rather than slowly working my way up to incorporating an external USB drive because I thought it would exist as well complicated (it's non), I would have just gone down that road right from the start. Related to that, if I hadn't slowly worked my way up to adding Playstation ane games (which, information technology turns out, play quite well on the Sega Mini), I wouldn't have concluded up spending money on a new controller that worked nicely for playing Super Nintendo games, but doesn't actually piece of work for PS1 games.

So, here's everything I've learned about hacking my Sega Mini and so far, taking my organization from something that had 2 controllers and 41 games when it arrived in a box at the showtime of Wave 1 quarantine, to something that has over 900 games + the power to have even more, on a broad range of retro consoles (my current setup is: Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Nintendo, Chief Arrangement, Game Male child, Game Boy Colour, Genesis/Mega Drive, Super Nintendo, Turbo Grafx-16, Sega CD, Sega 32x, MAME, Neo Geo, Game Male child Advance, Nintendo 64, Playstation 1) by whatsoever Wave of quarantine we're at at present.

Firstly - Instal All the Cores You'll Need

If you'd like to get your Sega Mini setup to play games on all the consoles that I have mine setup for, here are all the KMFD Cores you'll need to download & install while you're in the KFMD Modernistic Hub department (that video to a higher place shows this process, it just doesn't show for every core/console listed beneath, simply the process is the same).

Cores and Consoles:

• Stella = Atari 2600 games

• ProSystem = Atari 7800 games

• FECEUmm = Nintendo/NES games

• Snes9x2018 (Snes9x) = Super Nintendo games

• Gambatte = Game Boy, Game Male child Color games

• Glupen N64 = Nintendo 64 games

• mGBA = Game Boy Advance games

• Genesis Plus GX = Genesis/Mega Drive, Game Gear, Master System, Sega CD (BIOS files only needed for Sega CD games to work)

• PicoDrive = Sega 32x, Game Gear, Sega CD (BIOS files only needed for Sega CD games to work)

• Mednafen PCE Fast = Turbo Grafx-sixteen, PC Engine (BIOS files but needed for CD games)

• MAME 2003 Xtreme = Arcade & NEO GEO games (BIOS files required)

• PCSX ReARMed = Playstation Ane games (BIOS files required)

Add together The Needed BIOS Files

When information technology comes to installing BIOS files, information technology's a pretty easy process, and then unless you specifically don't retrieve you lot'll want to play Playstation 1 and Sega CD games (tbh virtually Sega CD games aren't that great / better than Genesis versions… merely being able to play PS1 games is a pretty sweetness upgrade), I'd recommend doing this step right from the start. The chief thing y'all demand to do is notice where you can download the BIOS files and I tin't really tell you exactly where, I tin just say that it shouldn't accept you besides much googling earlier you are directed to a place where y'all can observe the post-obit BIOS files (specially if you lot include "reddit" in your googling query) :

• For Sega CD games: bios_CD_E.bin, bios_CD_J.bin, bios_CD_U.bin

• For Playstation 1 games: scph5500.bin, scph5501.bin, scph5502.bin

• For Turbo Grafx-CD games: syscard3.pce

For adding BIOS files, you simply need to have your Sega Mini hooked up to your figurer via the microUSB cable (which, if you're downloading/installing cores, you should already be hooked upward) and then you go to 'Tools > Open up FTP Client' and so you just navigate to the post-obit file path 'etc > Libretro > System' and just drag all of your BIOS files into that folder.

Here'south a Youtube video that walks you thru that step, equally well as showing you how to add Playstation ane games (which is similar to how you add Sega CD games — ie. you pull in the 'cue' file, which will automatically pull in all the 'bin' files):

Calculation All the Games you could ever want

As y'all tin can run into in the two videos to a higher place (or whatsoever other video you can find online nearly adding games to your hacked Sega Mini with Hakchi) the process for calculation games is actually easy. For virtually all of the consoles, you can just drag and drop all your roms into Hakchi and so you only need to brand sure you have the right emulator core selected (highlight the added games, right click and choose 'Select emulation cadre') and a lot of games volition require you to grab the box art (merely most can be establish by using the 'Google' artwork option, or you can besides upload artwork yourself if you take some on your computer).

The consoles that require doing things a footling bit unlike are Sega CD and Playstation games (merely, as shown in the video above, you basically just pull in the 'cue' file as these games come up with more than than one game file unlike the more simpler sixteen-bit era games). And then the Arcade/MAME and NEO GEO games can sometimes be a flake different, but for those I but went with the 'File > Add More Games > Equally Is' option that was described in this video:

When information technology comes to "where practise I find all these games/roms to download?" — I can't really respond that, as I don't want to exist the guy that outs a good spot for downloading roms and ruins things for everyone else. Too, legally speaking, we should only acquire roms in whatever the right legal style is. So, as I have done before, I volition only recommend that if you do a search like 'safe place to download roms reddit' then check out some of the sites people recommend on in that location, you lot'll exist on your way in a couple clicks. For all my GENESIS / SNES / NES / N64 / GAME Male child roms, I theoretically got them from a site the rhymes with "Jim's Pilus". And for all my Master System / Turbo Grafx-16 / Atari / Neo Geo / 32X / Playstation 1 games, I theoretically used a site that rhymes with "The-Rye dot Pee You".

For the Sega CD games it theoretically took a little extra searching to somewhen detect some on Archive dot Org. And for my Arcade/MAME games, I peradventure just pulled off the ones that came with my Pocketgo (which is a cool little handheld retro emulator for playing roms that I have since passed on to my niece for Christmas).

A couple personal notes virtually games for certain consoles:

• I'm non sure if I e'er will get around to properly playing any Atari games. I'm pretty sure I just have some on there for a combination of "isn't that neat?" novelty + Hakchi displays things in rows of half-dozen on the tv screen, and the OCD in me felt things wait nicer by keeping the Atari folders on the Sega Mini home screen — simply the actual gameplay of a lot of those really old games simply doesn't hold up in comparison to the other systems. At least non for me — but I'yard also not quite old enough to have any real nostalgia for Atari.

• A LOT of Nintendo 64 games don't work properly or don't piece of work at all on the Sega Mini. I gauge it's simply non powerful enough to run about of those games. On top of that, the N64 controller is a picayune fleck wank compared to all the other controllers, so, all in all, a hacked Sega Mini is probably non the best place to experience N64 games (only yous can get some to work — like Mario / Mario Kart and the commencement Banjo Kazooie, so it doesn't injure having some on there just because). Some Playstation i games also don't work on the Mini, but the pct that practise is manner higher than the ones that don't, and I'd say that the N64 striking charge per unit on the games I tried is much lower than 50% (so expect a lot of disappointing trial and error with the N64 catalogue).

You're Going to need a bigger boat - USB Storage

The internal retention of the Sega Mini is less than 200mb, which sounds like hardly annihilation, but if you stick to just the xvi-chip and under games, you tin can actually get hundreds of games in in that location. Simply as soon as you start flirting with 32X, Neo Geo, and Game Boy Advance games, with their comparatively massive file sizes of 5mb-20mb per game, pretty soon your plans of keeping everything internal become upward in smoke. And if you want to even add Ane Sega CD or Playstation game, kiss your internal plans goodbye, as nearly all of those games are bigger than what the Sega Mini can hold in its ain brain.

Luckily, incorporating an external USB drive into your hack is, once again, really easy to do. Y'all basically just push the 'Export to USB' push instead of the 'Synchornize selected games with mini' button. Of course in that location's a little bit more to it so that, merely non too much, and just similar everything else 'mini hacking' there'south a Youtube tutorial on how to do it (this video also shows how to add Sega CD games, which you'll see is just like calculation Playstation games, and in that location is also a flake near 'overclocking' at the beginning that I simply ignored / take never used):

A nice thing nigh using a USB stick for external storage, besides the obvious reason of now being able to store as many games as you desire (well, depending on the size of your USB, simply if y'all go for 128 GB, you should be pretty golden — I'chiliad currently using a 64 GB stick and am on the verge of being besides total for anymore PS1 games & thinking I might practice an upgrade), whenever you need to add together/remove games, you don't need to plug your Sega Mini into your computer anymore, you merely demand to bring the USB stick along.

The main reason I was hesitant on incorporating a USB into my hack for a long time is I thought it was going to be complicated (it wasn't) and I didn't want to lose one of my USB controller slots. To gainsay the latter concern (which isn't a major business organization as my girlfriend doesn't really play), I bought an OTG adaptor that plugs into the dorsum of the Sega Mini, which keeps the two USB controller slots on the forepart open and also supplies me with the ability of playing up to 4 players on games that recognize 4 controllers — which seems to be less than advertised, simply Bomberman on the Turbo Grafx-sixteen works with four controllers, and playing that with my nieces is probably the only time I'd need four controllers going anyways.

* Non certain if this is really a matter, but information technology seemed to me like I needed to have my OTG plugged into the back of my Sega Mini Before I plugged the power source into the OTG — otherwise the OTG wasn't being recognized.

Speaking of Controllers…

The Sega Mini (at least in Due north America) came with two three-button controllers. They say this was to make it be a replica of the original Sega release, simply I think they just wanted to make some extra coin selling controllers with more buttons, as even some of the games that came pre-installed on the Sega Mini crave more than 3-buttons to play properly. Regardless of the original intent, if you want to be able to properly play the games on consoles that came with controllers more advanced than three-buttons (similar well-nigh SNES and GBA games and all PS1 and N64 games), you lot're going to need a improve controller.

If you lot are like me and hoping to find a simple low cost controller solution that also comes with Analog sticks for proper Playstation / N64 mapping, I highly recommend the Logitech Gamepad F310 (which I was able to become online for $25). This is non an officially licensed controller for the Sega Mini (like the Retrobit controllers are) merely I happened to stumble upon a random Reddit thread where someone said that the Sega Mini recognizes the Logitech controller and, even though I couldn't find any other information that backed that upwardly, I took my chances that this person was telling the truth and… they totally were!

All you need to practice is plug it in to your Mini and then follow this instructional video to go you in the right place for mapping your controller (obviously the exact instructions volition be a lilliputian bit dissimilar, but you'll exist able to figure out what to practise in one case yous're in the right spot):

The only thing I wish is that I wouldn't accept bought one of those Retrobit half-dozen-button controllers back when I originally thought I but needed something that worked for Super Nintendo games. Ideally, I'd have 2 Logitechs right now – only I suppose the 6-button Retrobit controller tin work for games that don't require L2 + R2 or analog sticks, and so information technology's not a total loss. Live and learn (and and so web log about it).

The extra nice thing with the Logitech F310 is it also works on my Mac (just have to put the switch on the back to DirectInput), as I recently discovered how to apply OpenEmu to play all the games I've downloaded for my Sega Mini, right on my old iMac (but maybe that deserves it's own blog post).

And that's About all you need to know [that I can tell you]

Everything else comes more than downward to what kind of games you like playing and how you want to curate/organize your drove. For me, I've gone down the road of creating a folder where I put all the games that I've featured in my ongoing 'RETRO GAMES TO Add TO YOUR HACKED SEGA MINI' series (which I now have a bunch more consoles to choose games from for hereafter editions)…

…and then I have a folder where I keep a bunch of games that don't really appeal to me, but might go over well with my 3 immature nieces (ages 10, 8, and 6), and then I take 16 private folders for the xvi different consoles that I have added games for so far. The general dominion I am post-obit is that I tin't add together more than 95 games to any binder, as I remember reading that having more than 100 games in a folder can cause issues (non sure if that'south even so true, but 95 games maximum per console seems like a good plenty stopping point regardless). I hateful, at some point I should probably endeavor playing the games besides :)

And that seems similar a good stopping point for this postal service. Hopefully you've found it as helpful as I think I would have found it if I was but about to get started on hacking a Sega Mini myself. Merry Hacking!

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Jeremy / @HI54LOFI

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            * For legal reasons, I suppose I should add that this post is entirely a work of fiction and I would never actually hack my Sega Mini with games I did not acquire in whatsoever the proper legal manner is for acquiring quondam 80s/90s games in 2020 — in fact I would never even hack my Sega Mini, period, because hacking is bad, kids. "Follow the rules and e'er do things the way you were told to do them" — that'due south my motto.          

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Source: https://hi54.blog/content/an-updated-guide-on-how-to-hack-your-sega-genesis-mega-drive-mini

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