user guide located here!

GB(C) Reader/Writer
B
V
BENNVENN.COM
The Flash Cartridges
BennVenn offers two versions of Flash Cart. 64M and 256M.
64M Flash Cart:
This cart contains 64 megabits (8Megabytes) of ROM storage and 1 megabit (128Kbytes) of SRAM for save
game storage. It is important to note that the 128K is divided into 32K slots and any one ROM cannot access
more than 32K SRAM.
256M Flash Cart:
Identical to the 64M except it contains 256M (32Mbytes) of ROM storage and 4M (512kbytes) of SRAM for
save game storage. Again, this SRAM is divided into 16 slots and any one ROM cannot access more than
32K SRAM. Yes you can fit 16 copies of LSDJ on this cart, as well as 128M worth of other GB(C) ROM's.
What it is:
Simply, it is a USB to Gameboy Cartridge bridge. It allows your PC to speak the game cart's language. It can
get access to anything the Gameboy can access, the ROM, the Save files, any unusual hardware attached
to the cart*
What does it do?
There are many firmware versions for the same hardware (HW v1.02), this particular firmware version
(FirmV3.00) is tailored to read and write to the BennVenn GB(C) Flash Cart. The current release is able to
dump the entire contents of the Flash Cart, Erase it, and Re-Flash it with a GB(C) ROM. It also has the ability
to read and write to the many SRAM (Save RAM) areas of the BennVenn Cart.
What it doesn't do.
This Reader/Writer or any other GB(C) interface cannot re-program a commercial game cart unless
specifically designed for this purpose. The BennVenn Reader/Writer will in the future support most available
GB(C) Flash carts however, at the time of this writing FirmV3.00 only supports the BennVenn GB(C) Flash Cart.
What does this mean for you?
Up to 4 ROMs get access to their own SRAM allotment. The remaining ROM's on the cart will be placed
between these ROM's and share the SRAM that corresponds to the sector they are placed.
This means, if 5 ROM's are loaded on the cart, and each is trying to access its own SRAM, one of the
ROM's will be reading and writing to another ROM's allocation. This is completely predictable and avoidable
and even has its advantages. You can arrange Pokemon Red and Blue to use the same SRAM slot for
example. As these Save files are compatible, interesting things happen when loading a Blue save into a
Red game.
What about LSDJ?
LSDJ was intended to have access to the entire 128K SRAM and structure its file system around this. It
does detect and work with a 32K allotment however the software is limited to a single project at any one time.
You can place 4 copies of LSDJ on the 64M cart and each will get access to its own project.
How many ROM's can you fit on a cart?
The current boot-loader supports up to 100 ROM's. The ROM list is divided into 10 entries per 'page' to
make access to the many ROM's quicker and easier.
Will it play ***** ROM?
The internal MBC is equivalent to an MBC5. This means no RTC, IR or Rumble support. RTC games will
still work on this cart but will not advance the time as the game progresses. There are patches to fix this and
can be found on various forums.
How long does it take to flash a ROM?
This depends on the ROM size. These cartridges are based around early 2000's flash technology and are
quite slow. The real limiting factor to theses cartridges is the transfer speed between the PC and the
Reader/Writer. An average 64M erase time is 30seconds, 256M erase time is approx 4minutes. Write times
average around 3.30min/megabyte. This sounds slow, but how often do you expect to re-flash an entire cart?
Also worth mentioning that space between ROM's – if padded to 0xFF – will not be written. In reality, this
means a large ROM will be burnt in <2min/megabyte (or <2min/8Mbit)
Software?
The software has been written in 2 parts. The first half is the software to build your ROM. You simply add
ROM's and it will generate a Boot menu and an Output ROM which you will burn to your cart using software
number two (Flashing Software).
The flashing software can be as simple or complicated as you like. At its simplest, you can connect to the
Reader/Writer (Connect button), Erase the current Cart (Chip erase button), enter the ROM filename to be
flashed (usually Output.GB) and click Burn ROM. It is that simple!
For the adventurer, there is an Advanced window that will let you read and write raw data to the cart. This is
great for developers and hackers, you can modify MBC registers in real time, watch the results, swap out
banks and dump specific areas. You can Modify the save RAM byte by byte, or modify the ROM byte by
byte. An example of this could be patching ROM's or adding 'Game Shark' codes permanently. You can
reverse engineer unknown MBC's or read a Flash IC's CFI data. Very versatile if you know what you are
doing.
Installation
This particular software version has been written in Visual Basic 6. Python versions will be released in the
coming months for cross platform compatibility (Linux, OSX etc...)
This software has been tested on Windows Operating Systems from XP up. Windows 8 currently has driver
issues due to China cloning an IC and the manufacturer getting upset and discontinuing support for it. There is
a work around for this and will take an extra minute or two during installation to manually install the driver.
Don't worry, it's not hard.
1. Download the BennVenn Setup.rar HERE: http://www.ninstrument.com/setup.rar
2. Download the Prolific USB driver Here: http://www.prolific.com.tw/us/showproduct.aspx?p_id=225&pcid=41
3. Install the Prolific USB driver and then Unzip and install the Setup.exe from the Setup.rar
4. Once installed, copy the included GB CART directory to your desktop. This is where you will work from.
You will copy your ROM's into this folder and compile your compilation .gb files here. Make sure the following
four files are present!
CRITICAL
STEP!
5. Now copy your ROM files into the root of the GB CART directory. If you need to, please test them in a
Gameboy emulator to make sure they are working and not corrupt.
Here I have added LSDJ
and mGB ROMS to this
folder..
Compilation
Now the hard part is out of the way, Click on the Menu64.exe Program inside the GB CART directory
you added to your desktop.
Use the Menu64.exe for 64M carts
and the Menu256.exe for 256M carts.
Click the Find File button and Select
the ROM you want to include in the
compilation. It should show the
ROM's you just added to the
GB CART directory on your
desktop.
I selected my LSDJ ROM and changed
the ROM Name to display properly in
the Gameboy screen. Please don't
use any special characters for the
display name.
LSDJ requires a .sav file, so make
sure to check the Save? box, BEFORE
you Add ROM.
You can select multiple
instances of the same
ROM. Here I have three
instances of LSDJ that I
have given custom names
to.
If you added more than 64M of ROM's
than the last ones added will not get
compiled.
All of the ROM's I have
used require a .sav file
so I have checked the
Save? box for every one.
Not every ROM needs
a .sav file.
Click the Generate
Compilation button when
you have finished
Connection
DO NOT USE ANY USB HUBS OR EXTENSION CABLES!
If you get any 'freezes' or 'lock ups' than these usually are the cause.
Try and connect your Reader/Cart combo right to the computer.
Erasing
Click on the FlashTool.exe Program inside the GB CART directory you added to your desktop.
It should look like this:
When you insert your cart
reader it will be assigned a
COM port. You can find the
COM port number in the device
manager. It is located under
'Ports'. Enter this COM
number in the Flash program
and click Connect. If you
receive an error, you have the
wrong COM port.
When the screen returns to
normal color, than your cart
has been erased. Click on
Read Cart Info and confirm
that your fields below the
button looks like these.
Once you have established
connection, click on Chip
Erase. You will be prompted
with the following. Once you
click OK the screen will change
to red and erasing will
commence.
Writing
Once you have erased the
cart successfully, click on
Open and select the
Output.gb file.
Click on Burn ROM and the
window will turn red and
start Writing the ROM.
The screen will return to
normal color once the ROM
has been written. You can
click on Read Cart Info to
confirm.