The Sega Saturn NetLink League

I'm guessing not well from the looks of it.

You guessed very correctly.

i wish nevski was still around, id love to help out and get this rolling again but i dont think anyone can get ahold of him anymore....

Im up for the challenege but....im not sure anyone else is. id like to try getting the genesis xband modem working again but who knows how hard that would actually be.

Looks like Neviksti actually logged in today, so let's see what happens .

Xranger60 wrote:Looks like Neviksti actually logged in today, so let's see what happens .

i've heard no word from him after sending a pm. got his email address by any chance???

MAJOR UPDATE !!!!!!!!

Ive talked to one of the original developers / big brains behind the whole xband project and he's been kind enough to offer some source code/ docs/ and diagrams... of course this is for the genesis side but im sure much can be applied to the snes side without any major problems..

Now.... if anyone is listening.....(Neviksti) ive got your info and i need your help Also any other genesis rom hackers or programmers

im sure i can hopefully get somthing working here on the modem and possibly allow direct dialing of an individuals number. the only game that WILL support the modem out of the box without the patches is weaponlord since it was already programmed with xband support in mind. obviously this will be a great test cart as we wont have to make any patches. so it makes the testing progress easier.

Anyway.... im awaiting the programmer to become free from his day job which does consume alot of his time to dig through his old hard-drives..

Currently, ive sourced an old genesis model 2 and its on its way to my place now. ive also found a phone line simulator that emulates 2 phone lines for testing as well as a BRAND NEW xband modem for the genesis ( still shrinkwraped)

EDIT: Ive made even more progress by possibly getting in contact with the guy that owns the rights to the server side of this (ex vp of catapult) i believe he has the source code to the system which ran on solaris system....

Again ive sent out an email for the server side now and im awaiting a response.....

Again if anyone knows of anyone that would be a great help that you can get in contact with PLEASE let me know. this is NOT a one man job....

Rush, that's awesome. I hope I can be of some help. I don't know anyone who could offer some great advice, but, I do program in Java and am learning C/C++ so I might be able to help with some things of that nature. Perhaps you might want to redirect anyone you come across to here, to consolidate everything and make it easier.

Holy cow. I'd love to see this stuff too. Especially the source code and diagrams and such.

I'd been toying with the idea of working on this project after the Saturn.

SPread the word guys, im gonna need some help.

All hope is not lost, i have SOME of the game patches that xband send to your modem i do have MK2, super street fighter 2, nba jam i believe and nhl94-95. i also have another patch that i think was being worked on but i dont know if the game was ever officially supported. atleast i dont know if it was ever mentioned as working...... but its a classic game

ill post more when i get home.

Wow, rush. And these patches are for Genesis, correct? This project has some huge potential and I'd love to help in any way possible. This is definitely something we can all work on.

I want copies!

Unless they're on the Xband itself. Then make sure to safeguard that very carefully! I think I remember reading that it was backed up by a battery... please don't let it lose its memory!

IIRC, Neviksti has a rom dumper. He can capture the patches stored in memory. At this point, in 2009, almost 12 years after the service was discontinued, we're running out of time to save these patches. We need to act quickly.

Patches are safe... ive got binary files here that can be uploaded to the modem. the patches are literally PROGRAMS written to run behind the scenes to get the modem to interface with the game. HEAVY 68k assembly language but it does have comments. ive got only a couple. at this point im not sure if they are the most current patches or not. but im sure they do work. nba jam and mk2 for sure as well as ssf2. nhl95 ive got but no actual source to it so its just a binary patch.

basically patches are made off one anothers source. so basicaly you mod and existing patch to run a new game but its tedious.

also ive got diagrams to turn a stock modem into a dev kit that will allow uploading of files to the modem to test and such and debug. havn;'t done anything yet but im still awaiting another developer to supply me with more info.

the guy that supplied me with this info said he doesn't have much time and would need somthing to keep his intrests in this (ie somthing. he said not money, but im sure he would take money to keep going. not sure if anyone wants to help contribute) more or less it has to be worth his time.
and i dont blame him......


ill update again later

Wow, great finds, Rush. We'll all be very curious to see what you've got and the details. I believe my uncle still has his Xband modem so I want to check to see if it's got some patches... he had played Nhl '96, '97, etc.