Without in depth knowledge of the triforce specs, but assuming it to be identical (please correct me if I am wrong) to the standard cube's sans the memory, is it possible to run Triforce games on gamecube development systems (or SN-TDEV) that have 48MB of RAM? I am asking because I might be getting my hands on Mariokart, but just the software.
erm I dont think it would be posible. Mostly because of the extra code to lock the game to the SC. It might be posible to hack it but I highly dout it. Probably be easier to hack taito type-x arcade games to work on a pc.
I doubt that there would be a software lock mechanism, since the image mastering process is different between the standard gamecube development environment and the Triforce. One uses SEGA's GD-rom tools for master, and the other one goes with GCM. Which means that even if u get your hands on the mariokart GD-rom, it wont run on your gamecube, first because there's no way to load it, even if you try and load it as an image (since it's not a .gcm final submission form) and most importantly the memory issues would lock it up (although I believe that there's a POST function on the arcade board in order to point out any defects in hardware - which in turn would find that the memory is not the size it's supposed to be) It is at this point that my question from a previous post arises. Is the triforce tricked into believing that the GD-rom layout is GCM? or is it natively oriented towards the GD-rom? After digging here and there regarding the specs, I saw almost no different in the hardware setup, save the memory. Even issues relating to the abstraction layer would be self-solved since the base hardware is the same (assuming the addressing and I/O follow the same configuration on both arcade and development/home systems) EDIT: The triforce's media connector can accept virtually anything, including ROM boards (no tangible proof for that) and GD-rom drive, thus leading to conclude that it sits on its own (perhaps similar to the gamecube's) media abstraction layer, to which the GD-rom drive adapts. Again, if anyone knows actual information, or thinks that i m talking out of my ass, I d be glad to listen to what they ve got to say for I could be totally wrong.
I'm refering to the security chip or dongle that is common on all GD software for the naomi/triforce/chehiro. Its a big part in why naomi gd software has not been cracked for piracy or emulation. (its a black chip that plugs into the DIMM board). Its probably that pre master builds were able to run on a gcn devkit but I dont think after master builds can because of the extra securty added in. Also it's very probable the GD on the triforce works like the one on naomi. The naomi GD system dumps the contense onto the dimm board apon boot. The game does not use the gd durring operations, just the dimm.
You might be correct on this, since SEGA's approach of the Chihiro and the Triforce has been to port the tools over. Could you please explain in detail how this security feature works? (including any request/replies from components if possible) The reason it doesnt stream the GD-rom but dumps it upon boot is to maximize the drive's life-span (the usual arcade environment includes alot of smoke from cigarettes and many hours of constant operation, both of which would render a mechanical drive dead in weeks), as we all know, but some one who reads these posts might not
I know very little over the security chip other then what I could figure out from owning a naomi. The chips are uniq per game (minus upgrade version, there are sometimes a ver a or b of a game that shared the same chip). I dont believe they are eeprom/flashrom. I think the only naomi disc to boot without a sc would be the dimm upgrade Gd disk. I am still unsure if the check is done via the dimm firmware or if the naomi firmware calls for it.
