I have two Xplorer64 cheat cartridges, and am trying to find out some more info on them: [click to enlarge] From the orange cart: From the lime cart: The cart with the orange logo seems to be more recent as the menu has more options and the PCB has been revised to accept smd caps & resistors. The earlier green cart has an Atmel ATF1508AS CPLD (datasheet), the more recent orange cart has custom printing on the IC but I assume it's the same. There's also an ATMEL AT90S1200A-12SC MCU (datasheet), And two SST 29LE010 EEPROMs (datasheet) on each board. There's a parallel connector on the back which was used to update the cheat codes and firmware via a command-line app. You could also update one cheat cartridge by plugging an updated cart into it while connected to a powered N64. I believe these were only available in PAL territories, and also renamed to Xploder64 outside the UK. The bottom of the cartridge is not keyed, so it fits in any region N64. I have tested them in an NTSC console through composite video, but the menu seems to be fixed to 50hz. I've only been able to find some basic information on the net, and was hoping to find out if it's possible to dump the firmware from each of the carts. The main idea is to see if I could modify the firmware to change it to 60hz. I'm not sure of the function of each of the IC's, i'm assuming the CPLD holds the main firmware and the EEPROMS store the cheat codes. As for the MCU, possibly to control the update procedure? Feel free to correct me on this I'm thinking that an in-system programmer would be the best way to go as i'm not sure about the capabilities of the cart's parallel port. There are three points on the boards, J4 - J6, which I assume were used to program it during manufacture. Any technical info, or advice about how to go about dumping the firmware would be most welcome.
Don't have any technical info, but there is a German-language firmware dump out there, called "Xplorer64 BIOS V1.067 (G)" in GoodN64. It's probably an official firmware update that was once available from their website, as it doesn't look like a "regular" N64 ROM and only seems to contain the menu and default cheat list. If there's anything from the manual you might be interested in - about firmware updating or whatever -, I have a complete German Xploder64 (green label) somewhere that I could dig out.
As you said, the Xplorer 64 was only released in the UK. Xploder 64 was the German version of it. I had one of the earlier models (lime) with firmware 1.066g. The 1.067g firmware (g for german) is a cheat database update. The Xploder 64 was intended to be updated by special cheat controller paks, that were never released. You can however update one xploder with another one (just put both together and insert them into an n64 with a game and power on). Can't remember which one has to be on top and which one on the bottom. Even if they were only released in Europe, they do work with NTSC consoles and games. It even works with a doctor v64 cd! Colors are a bit different when you use it on an ntsc system (green). The Hardware should be the same. You can flash an Xplorer into an Xploder, if you use the never firmware. (But be careful, the update process is not very stable, I killed one during an update with the parallel port adapter...) Hope this helps you a bit
I wondered why there was an hollow bulge with a covered port on it. That'll explain it. I just found out that holding Z at the menu shows an information page. The red cart has v1.067E, and the lime is on v1.000E. I've heard of that happening to a few people, so hopefully I can find a way of reading/writing the IC's directly. Once I manage to get an interface running I'll dump them, then start fiddling around. @xdaniel: I managed to get hold of v1.067G + the instructions. I only know a little German, but have managed to make sense of most of it. I also found v1.067E, but it turned out to be the same as the German one.
The letter behind the firmware number tells you what language the menu will have. E for English G for German I don't know if there is also a french version. Once you updated the firmware, (from 1.000 to 1.067), they will both be identical (menu, cheat list etc). Don't try to change the codelist on your computer, even if it updates your xplorer, the cheatlist will most likely be messed up. (you can manually delete all the games and reenter them). I am not sure about this, but I believe I read somewhere that you can revive a dead xplorer if you have a second working one. (as I said above, I killed mine while flashing over PC - Parallel Port adapter.
