Please mail recommendations of what to add and/or improve to: count0@c64.org
Congratulations on purchasing the coolest cartridge for your Commodore 64 or Commodore 128 in 64 mode.
1. - INSTALLING THE CARTRIDGE
The cartridge fits into the expansion port of your computer. Looking from the
front, this is on the right hand side at the rear of the machine.
IMPORTANT: Before inserting or removing the cartridge, ensure that the computer
is switched OFF, otherwise both cartridge and computer may be damaged.
The Cartridge Version and Startup Menu will be displayed on normal C64.
1.1. GETTING STARTED
The Retro Replay (RR from here on) is upgradeable from any plain C64 or C128.
There are two jumpers for setting various modes of the cartridge. With the Flashmode
jumper set, the computer will powerup in normal basic mode and behave as normal.
This mode is required whenever you want to change the firmware (ROM) of one of the two
64kb banks of the FlashROM.
With the Flashmode jumper unset and the other jumper set or unset you may choose between
the two available ROMs. Having the Bank Jumper set means to have the first 64kb ROM Bank active.
An open jumper enables the 2nd 64kb Bank. Although the jumpers are hot-pluggable, changes on the C64
configuration do not take effect unless you reset the machine. Moretheless, the currently running ROM
is likely to crash when changing jumpers at run-time. So, make sure the machine is not busy on something
important before changing jumpers. Then simply reset. Powering down and up the machine all the time is not
a good idea either ! Remember, the 64 is 20 yrs already and your switches don't improve over time. Most
problems which were reported to us were caused by dirty expansion ports or underpowered power supplies.
Please note: The ROMs on your cartridge may be referred to as firmware aswell,
since they can be changed anytime and may be filled with about anything you like.
Whenever plugging in the cartridge for the first time it should contain two ROMs already.
The first one being the plain 32kb 3.1 Beta which you can find at this site aswell and the
other one a quickly hacked 64kb 3.18 Beta containing a new command named TOOL.
An upgraded version of this utility can be found in the download section already, but you should
dump the 64kb version of your cartridge to disk before erasing it, just to be on the safe side.
Whenever you encounter problems during flashing or cleaning please try the latest FlashUtility
version. AMD made some really strange chips and our optimisations to reduce flashing times, seem to have
caused problems on some revisions of the FlashROM.
The TASS-Command is available whenever you flash your Retro Replay with the most recent
version of the 64kb ROM. Versions prior to Beta 4 will have a plain TASS, later versions will
get a ROM based TASS Macro with many new features.
Retro Replay owners should subscribe to the mailinglist for staying up-to-date with the recent development and discussions.
Connecting a Silversurfer
Silversurfer is a serial interface that can be connected to the Retro Replay accessory connector
(22-pin pinheader). There is only one way to connect it properly, it does not fit the other way around!
More info on utilising the Silversurfer can be found in the Silversurfer section.
Most problems reported by people so far were caused by contact problems. If something does not behave as expected,
clean the edge connector and the jumpers with pure alcohol. Never use contact sprays!!
Whenever you own an NTSC system, please make sure to flash an NTSC ROM to the cartridge before playing
with the load and save features of the cartridge.
Using the files:
Using the various files from this site is relatively easy.
You will need one of the following to get started:
A C64 emulator supporting Action Replay ROMs, a real Action Replay cartridge or
the new Retro Replay hardware. The supplied files are named:
AR-(version)-32PAL.bin - 32kb PAL rom
However, VICE will run the .bin files just fine. Just grab a version 1.9+.
On real Action Replay hardware the 32kb roms can be used whenever the eprom is
on a socket and can be replaced. Simply burn the .BIN files with a start address
added (if needed by the eprom burner only ofcourse) to a 27c256 eprom and plug
it in.
If your original hardware displays version numbers from 4.x to 5.x and some of
the more unusual V7.x chances are high that the eprom inside is on a socket and
actually can be replaced. The famous V6 edition with the really ugly white turn
on screen (including the copyright notice) has a different soldered in eprom,
which most people may not even be able to burn when put on a socket.
1.2. - THE RESET BUTTON
This is the right most button at the rear of the cartridge. Pressing this
returns you to the Startup Menu. The contents of memory are not destroyed, but
any Basic program will be 'newed'.
Please note that resetting the computer while e.g. loading or being in freeze
mode kills memory from $0800 - $1000 most of the time ... :)
1.3. - THE FREEZE BUTTON
This is the inner button at the rear of the cartridge. Pressing this interrupts
the normal operation of the computer and transfers control to the Freeze Menu,
from which Retro Replay's powerful Backup, Graphics and Monitor functions are
accessed.
IMPORTANT: Do not hold the Freeze Button down for more than a second or the
program may not be frozen. Give it one quick press and then let it go. You
cannot freeze an already 'frozen' program.
The FlipFlop-Freeze logic also holds the freeze signal until the intervention
on the program can be made. Some 'unfreezable' programs could therefore happen
to freeze seconds or minutes after you actually pressed the freeze button.
Everything understood ???
Proceed to the real MANUAL then ...
Insert the cartridge with the component side UP and the two buttons to the right,
looking from the front. Firm pressure may be necessary, but excessive force
should not be used. Now switch the computer on. If your computer is a 128 or
128D, it will NOT powerup in 64 mode. These computers require a GO64 command to enter
64 mode.
Holding CBM while powering a 128 or 128D will take you to the 64 mode. While versions
prior to 3.1 of the CPX Replay will take you to the fastload immediately, an upgrade
to future versions will fix this problem and take you to the startup screen then.
Please enter the TOOL command in the basic extension (F7) to save two files with about 100 blacks overall
to atleast two disks !
Load and run the file named "FLUSH UTIL NOTE!" for some details about this basic flash utility.
Make sure that the small module is properly aligned, mistakes can cause a short which is not covered by warranty.
Having enough light when working on hardware always helps. Take your time and double-check all connections!
A very common mistake is to only hit one of the two pin rows, and this will damage both parts!
First Aid
Also move the jumpers back and forth if the flash utility complains or reports other bugs.
The FlashROM itself can hardly be damaged by wrong flashing. Sometimes I have found that
an incorrectly set or badly connected Bank jumper may destroy the contents of the wrong Flash Bank.
Please keep in mind, this happened to me only on dirty or mistakenly unclosed Bank jumpers, so watch them
before flashing your cartridge.
Since these are timing sensitive operations you NEED the NTSC firmware from this site to make everything
work.
For usage with the real Action Replay hardware you will also need to have the possibility to
burn eproms.
AR-(version)-32NTSC.bin - 32kb NTSC rom
AR-(version)-64PAL.bin - 64kb PAL rom
AR-(version)-64NTSC.bin - 64kb NTSC rom
These files may be used out of the box for your RR hardware and require no modification
for usage with the Flash Utility!
We recommend using the 64kb versions for any version that is released after the 3.1 version for
Retro Replay.
Only 32kb versions may be used with unmodified versions of the Action Replay.
Some emulators will require the .bin files to be converted to .CRT using the
mcart utility from the download page. (Rename the .bin file to .rom first.
Don't try to convert the 64kb roms with mcart, since it will crash. Maybe
someone could update mcart ?).
C128 or C128D owners will have to hold down the CBM key to stay or get in 64 mode.
IMPORTANT: The Freeze Button does not work if the computer has
"crashed" i.e. if the microprocessor has stopped processing. To re-enable the
system, press the Reset Button or switch off and on again.