Ninja Copimaru Kun the rare cartridge

Ascended (18718)

27-09-2020, 20:35

enribar wrote:

But I noticed that volume decreases from the normal level and then raises again!
This is really bad during loading a tape and openMSX returned "Device I/O error!".
This make me speculate that dumps are protected and loadable only within the Copimaru environment.

No, you can't control the volume of the signal from the MSX side. So this is not an effect introduced by Copimaru. More likely it's caused by the sampling process you used (an auto-gain function?). How did you save it? To a real tape?

By enribar

Paragon (1169)

27-09-2020, 21:44

I used Audacity for Windows, I will retry and check if some filter, auto gain, etc. were activated.

By Takamichi

Hero (543)

28-09-2020, 13:09

enribar wrote:

- choose LOAD <= ROM option, "TRANSFER DATA" hilights in red colour;
- choose SAVE => TAPE option, and Copimaru goes into the save screen;
- default speed is 1200 baud but you can retrype another value; I dind't test this in depth;

Highlight? That doesn't happen on emulator so suggests something important. Your next mission: Since you could save, try to LOAD the saved voice (file) by SPACE -> _CPM -> EXCHANGE MEDIA -> LOAD TAPE DATA using real Copimaru + MSX. Tip: Use a simpler cartridge instead of superprotected Gear
"Copimaru replies that I'm not allowed or like so..." might mean Copimaru can only increase RAM of 32 kb or less RAM MSX, disabling, for instance, internal 128 + Copimaru = 160 kb.

Control I found: Right/left cursor key changes cassette symbol color and baud rate; 1200 when cyan (right cursor/default), 2400 when red (left cursor).
EXCHANGE MEDIA menu of menu 2: Toggles whether to use tape or disk as the medium to save/load.

About the volume: I "saved" on menu 1 and listened to the tape .wav image but did not notice anything peculiar. It's VERY good idea to upload the dumped audio file!

By Takamichi

Hero (543)

02-10-2020, 14:30

I and enribar so far identified a .cas image taken by dumping a cart with real Copimarukun has following 46 byte header in front of the dumped rom.
1F A6 DE BA CC 13 7D 74 D0 D0 D0 D0 D0 D0 D0 D0
D0 D0 50 53 47 20 20 20 41 42 01 00 4D 53 58 00
1F A6 DE BA CC 13 7D 74 80 40 9F 40 9B 40
The header file will expire in a week. Saving -> dumping experiment was successful. BLOAD "savename",R does not cause anything, though no error either.
Btw reading several Backup Utilization Technique magazines didn't reveal anything substantial beside the online review except that BUT magazine offered 2 Copimarus as reader's prizes, which means it was not a prototype but but was really released.

By Takamichi

Hero (543)

02-10-2020, 14:09

mars2000you wrote:

The hyper-protection makes me also think that a part of the BASIC instructions are maybe there just to create extra confusion. It could be possible that some instructions are actually without any effect.

I couldn't find any explanation about the CALL commands. The review only says Copimaru runs on cursor keys and SPACE.

By mars2000you

Enlighted (6182)

17-09-2021, 19:13

I'm still trying to guess the effect of the 4 mysterious instructions ..... so, a new try:

- maybe CALL JIS is searching for kana/kanji characters on the game cartridge in slot 2 while CALL AIU would search for American/international characters

- maybe CALL WARMOFF and CALL WARMON are related to a warm reboot (software reboot) to be removed or added to the dump of the game cartridge in slot 2, something similar to the warm reboot that actually happens when you don't press SELECT or SPACE on the title screen ..... ehmm, making the dump of the game working like this strange copy tool?????

By mars2000you

Enlighted (6182)

21-09-2021, 17:02

gdx wrote:

Takamichi wrote:

The above strongly suggests the cart has SRAM beside ROM. Can any bright spark analyze further and possibly get it working on emulator?

I noticed the port #40, #41 and #43 is read several time. That may be a protection or a function.
{mod: please don't edit quotes}

Probably both, because only 2 ports are required to read from the SRAM and write to the SRAM (as tape and disk have their own routines in BIOS). So we can suspect the third port to be used as a protection, for example to detect if the cartridge is original or corrupted.

By enribar

Paragon (1169)

22-09-2021, 09:42

Do I have to open the cartridge? I have fear to damage it, since it's extremely rare...