Retro5.net

Hi everyone

I've discovered that my copy of Castlevania Bloodlines causes the Retron 5 to crash back to the dashboard after walking past a certain point in the screen on stage 2-5.

Interestingly enough, that stage is used for the demo mode, so if I just leave it running after booting the title it'll eventually crash back to the dashboard.

I've recorded a video of it:



Unfortunately, I don't have an original Genesis to test this on, so i can't rule out if it's the cart itself.

Could someone else with this game confirm if this is a general issue with the title, or if it's my cart which has issues.

Thanks!

So i've tested this (a bit under different circumstances which i'll explain) and it doesn't crash on mine as of firmware 2.1. It might be worth seeing if you can test the game on a real Genesis if you know someone that has one. That said the circumstances i'm testing under may not be reliable for your purposes. I do not actually have the game, what I have done instead is that I've created a patch that converts my US copy of Sonic 2 and converts it to a US copy of Castlevania Bloodlines. So while it's not what i'd call a complete troubleshoot, it's enough to cross off it being an emulation issue I think. The Retron 5 can likely emulate the game just fine without crashing if there are not other issues like the cartridge being faulty or the Retron 5 misreading it.

If anyone else wants to try the same patch that i've created you're welcome to it.

Convert Sonic 2 (US) -> Castlevania: Bloodlines (US):
http://www.mediafire.com/download/eijhh ... dlines.ips

Little unrelated to the troubleshooting but if anyone wants it..

Convert Sonic 2 (US) -> Castlevania: Bloodlines (US) (+ Color Enhancement hack):
http://www.mediafire.com/download/kcr6i ... ced%29.ips

Thanks for taking the time to test that, R9delta! Really appreciate it.

I've tried your approach, using a Wolverine Adamantium Rage cart with a patch to run Castlevania Bloodlines.

The result? Crash at the exact same place - which in a way is a relief because it suggests that it's probably a software issue, which hopefully means it might get fixed - unless of course there's a hardware issue with my specific retron 5?

Did you try playing the game on stage 2-5? Or watching the demo video after the title screen? I don't have a copy of Sonic 2 to test your patch unfortunately...

Edit: spelling

I may have missed you answering this already, but have you installed the latest software update on the unit yet?

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=138

hikaricore wrote:I may have missed you answering this already, but have you installed the latest software update on the unit yet?

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=138

Yes, I'm running the latest software.

For what it's worth I think I have a "model 2" retron 5. Mine has rubber caps on the controller ports, starts almost instantly and has 3.1gb of internal storage.

Maybe that had something to do with it?

Karny wrote:Thanks for taking the time to test that, R9delta! Really appreciate it.

I've tried your approach, using a Wolverine Adamantium Rage cart with a patch to run Castlevania Bloodlines.

The result? Crash at the exact same place - which in a way is a relief because it suggests that it's probably a software issue, which hopefully means it might get fixed - unless of course there's a hardware issue with my specific retron 5?

Did you try playing the game on stage 2-5? Or watching the demo video after the title screen? I don't have a copy of Sonic 2 to test your patch unfortunately...

Edit: spelling

The test I took was just from watching the demo for about 5-10 min. and then letting it loop for about an hour or so while I was doing other things. I came back and everything was still as normal. Although for you...with the way patching works..unfortunately even if you had a cartridge of Sonic 2 it would likely still be the same result since making a patch completely changes from one rom to another in every single way, faults and all.

Given from what you've said, yeah I agree...I don't think it's your copy of Castlevania Bloodlines that's the issue. Either it's the firmware you're on (game had issues before but was fixed later on?), maybe you're using cheats, or maybe it's something with your particular Retron...or maybe it could be me and I didn't test thoroughly enough and maybe it just affects everyone. It might take actually playing to that part and using the demo loop isn't enough. Like I said i'm on firmware 2.1 right now on a model 1 Retron 5.

The same thing just happened to me on the exact same spot in level 2-5. Weird...no cheats used just alot of save states lol. Any update on this by chance?

I used an old school password to get me to level 3 and a similar scenario happened at level 3-4. Maybe just wait for the next update?

Turns out the culprit is firmware 2.2. A few genesis games got essentially broken on it (Sonic 3 being one, Streets of Rage 2 being another). Downgrading to something like 2.0 beta 6 will work around this issue until a new firmware is released.

Thanks for the tip - I'll give that a try!

I also noticed that Alien Soldier would randomly crash at certain points if you leave the demo looping. Hopefully this fixes that too...