Cuilan wrote:CZroe wrote:Well, my first working UGX seemed to work on TG16 but died soon after. The replacement seemed to have something changed to prevent the same failure but it also no longer works with TG16. I offered the UGX guy a TG16 to work on it but David Shadoff had already sent him one.
After what happened with yours, a brand new UperGrafx was then thoroughly tested with David's TG-16 and had no issues. One likely possibility is that not all TG-16 consoles have proper grounding in/around the EXTBUS connector.
I should clarify because I totally messed that up. The first one appeared DOA but I had to get a PC Engine to confirm it since Sato (the creator) had never tested with a TG16. In the mean time, I tested on a TG-16 with RF output and found it was booting straight to inserted HuCards (no UGX menu).
I was still under the impression from older operational descriptions and RetroRGB's video that it will always boot straight to the inserted HuCard even when working, so I didn't realize booting straight to the HuCard was abnormal. With this FW it should boot to the menu regardless but I thought you had to boot without a HuCard to see the menu. When I tried without a HuCard I would get a blank screen that was sometimes green.
I happened to see a video from Ms Mad Lemon where she would also get a green screen... from a Super SD System 3
https://youtu.be/0bVWvTqwkq0
In her case it was due to a previous mod removing the shielding which broke a ground connection:
https://forums.terraonion.com/viewtopic ... t=30#p1516
Point is, I was the one who suggested to Sato it might be a ground issue based on the Super SD System 3 problem that also resulted in a green screen. It turns out that it had nothing to do with the issue I was having. All the grounds are present on a TG16.
Sato sent a replacement once we confirmed it was defective using a PC Engine. The replacement appeared to work with both TG16 and PCE... until it suddenly died the next day. Before it died I was experiencing strange issues with the Turbo Everdrive (TED) as a Super System Card (freezes, items/enemies disappearing, random objects dropping, etc). I did not get to try the UGX's virtual Super System Card on the TG-16 before it failed but, with the malfunctioning TED, it seemed to be significantly better on the PC Engine versus the TG-16 (generally longer time before issues start).
Regarding the problem with the original DOA unit, Sato said it had 3.3v internally shorted to ground but the failed components were cheap and easy to replace. He asked me to check the second dead unit for a USB connection on power-up and there was none (just like the DOA unit). We presumed it had the same failure and I never heard otherwise.
Sato said he made a change to prevent the failure and sent me a second replacement, stressing that it was only guaranteed to work with PC Engine, not TurboGrafx-16. He also said I probably shouldn't expect it to work right with the TED because it because there were too many variables with more unofficial hardware in the mix. It's no big deal, because the UGX-02 duplicates the TED's functionality anyway, but something definitely changed: the TED doesn't see the SD card/OS files and, thus, can't be used at all.
Anyway, I have something like 8 TG-16 consoles and they all appear to work with the working UGX-02 ...until you play a Super CD-ROM² titles for about 10-20 minutes. After a while they start to have issues like I was originally getting with the TED as a sys card (freezes, glitches, etc). It does not happen with a PC Engine... only TG-16. This is what I mean when I say it doesn't work with TG-16.
Again, he told me it was only guaranteed to work with PC Engine, so I can't consider that an issue, but I did find something similar when playing with an Arcade Card Duo inserted. I haven't experienced it yet with a title that requires an Arcade Card but it happens regularly in Super CD-ROM² titles (Akumajo Dracula X Chi no Rondo) and Super CD-ROM² titles with Arcade Card enhancements (Popful Mail). I can play normal Super CD-ROM² titles all day long on PCE with UGX virtual Super System Card but not when I add the Arcade Card Duo inserted (eventually has errors).
Now, the issues my UGX has with TG-16 seem to be the same the previous UGX had with the TED as a Super System Card. It's possible that my earlier unit would have done the same thing in a TG-16 without the TED but I never got to test it that way before it died. Since TED no longer works with it, the only way I know the TED exacerbates it is because it had the same issues on the PCE, but I now know that it eventually has those issues regardless on a TG-16.
Sorry for the deep-dive, but I've done a lot of testing and mine definitely doesn't work properly with the TG-16. It does work well enough that someone plugging it in and starting a game might initially think so. TG-16 has all the ground connections needed and the issue is not the same as Ms Mad Lemon with her Super SD System 3. Sato discourages people expecting to use it with a TG-16 and I've confirmed that mine does not work well. His only advice to me regarding that issue was to clean the connections, which I have done. I have confirmed the issue with enough systems and power supplies (now using one David Shadoff says should work perfectly) to know that the issue is with my UGX, not the console. I hesitate to even call it an issue when he never guaranteed TG-16 compatibility.
I will happily join the crowd-funding for a new model, especially if it works with the TG-16. If not, well, I already plan to trade extra TG-16 consoles for a CoreGrafx and CoreGrafx II so I'll be able to make use of it.
I saw his tweets about selling refurbished UperGrafx "UGX-Q5" units at a reduced cost. Though I'm not able to attend PRGE to buy one, I am interested. Do you know if there is any difference in functionality from UGX-02? Is this what RetroRGB had for his video that featured the UperGrafx? Perhaps I can get someone to pick one up for me.
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