How to add new games to the NES Classic Edition
The NES Classic Edition has officially been hacked to allow the install of new games, and the mod allows for more than double the number of titles to be played. The hack originally appeared on a Russian forum, and then Reddit, and in the short while since it became known there have been other modders working hard to streamline the process. At present there are two ways to make the modification; either the original, complicated process of modifying the firmware, or the somewhat more suspect option of downloading a do-it-all tool that says it’ll do all the hard work for you. Let’s do a rundown of both.
Don't Miss: All the reasons people are ditching Android and switching to iPhones
The long way
A Reddit user by the name of Xelonakias took the original instructions from the creator, MadMonkey, and translated them from the native Russian to English. The result is a very wordy, very complicated, but extremely thorough guide. Remember, doing this could result in the bricking of your NES Classic and completely ruining an already great gadget. Proceed at your own risk.
Here’s the entire guide, with some additional notes and tweaks for the sake of clarity:
Files required:
https://yadi.sk/d/IZtiQxK337RtiM
Programs used:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3t3wrkhw26shro0/nesromtool.zip
https://github.com/madmonkey1907/hakchi/releases
Attention! : regarding the archive with the software (from MadMonkey) , unzip strictly on drive “C” to have working shortcuts. (Any downloader upwards January 7, please create new folder on the disk, purge old archive and replace shortcuts and uninstall the game download, i.e. restart from scratch)
Method : MadMonkey fecsit / ProSharen instruit Kudos to them.
All information is presented for informational purposes only! There is a risk to turn your set-top box into a BRICK, DURING FIRMWARE FLASH of the KERNEL! You perform all of the following actions AT YOUR OWN RISK!
” Log dump uboot ”
uploading fes1.bin … done uploading uboot.bin … done sunxi_flash phy_read 43800000 August 6; fastboot_test usb_bulk_recv () ERROR -7: Operation timed out 8ce1857653874e8f0cd3fe68abe1bb4a void Worker :: do_dumpUboot () – OK
8CE1857653874E8F0CD3FE68ABE1BB4A – This should be the MD5 hash sum of your receipt of the file uboot.bin
IMPORTANT! Hash MD5 checksum your downloaded uboot file must be b13b538f6b7c86623ceea69c456d4eb5, if different, the boot loader you will have to flash (flash kernel) is risky! {BRICK Possibility here} In my case I got 8ce1857653874e8f0cd3fe68abe1bb4a, but I flashed successfully. Do this at your own risk !!!
After the completion of the previous operation, press the dump kernel.img, start to back up kernel.img core system, the operation lasts for 40 seconds.
” Log dump kernel ”
sunxi_flash phy_read 30 20 43800000; fastboot_test usb_bulk_recv () ERROR -7: Operation timed out 07bfb800beba6ef619c29990d14b5158 void Worker :: do_dumpKernel () – OK
07BFB800BEBA6EF619C29990D14B5158 – This should be the MD5 hash sum of your reception of the file kernel.img
Your backups are ready in the dump folder. I recommend check and redownload these files a couple of times and verify hash sums received to match, and then store them in a safe place!
{See FileNames below }
Again we perform paragraph 2, run the program hakchi-gui.exe and click unpack kernel.img
” Log unpack kernel.img ”
unpack kernel.img BOARD_KERNEL_CMDLINE root = / dev / nandb decrypt ro console = ttyS0,115200 loglevel = 4 ion_cma_512m = 148m ion_cma_1g = 176m ion_carveout_512m = 8m ion_carveout_1g = 150m coherent_pool = 4m consoleblank = 0 BOARD_KERNEL_BASE 40000000 BOARD_NAME BOARD_PAGE_SIZE 2048 BOARD_KERNEL_OFFSET 00008000 BOARD_RAMDISK_OFFSET 01000000 BOARD_TAGS_OFFSET 00000100 void Worker :: do_unpackKernel () – OK
After the press rebuild kernel.img
” Log rebuild kernel.img ”
rebuild kernel.img ‘Є®ЇЁa®ў ® d © «®ў 21.
826 496 -> 356 668 43.15% linux / arm cryptsetup
void Worker :: do_packKernel () – OK
Once completed, click memboot
” log memboot ”
memboot uploading fes1.bin … done uploading uboot.bin … done boota 43800000 void Worker :: do_memboot () – OK
After pouring memboot console will turn off (the red LED lights up and goes out). Turn off the POWER button.
IMPORTANT!!! The following operations are only made once. In the future by pouring GAMES TEAM USE ONLY AND REBUILD KERNEL MEMBOOT !!! There is a risk to turn your set-top box into a BRICK !!! Again we are fulfilling paragraph 2 and loaded in FEL mode. Push flash kernel and confirm. The operation lasts 60 seconds. AT THE TIME FIRMWARE DO turn off the power of the prefix !!! After the firmware console restarts, turn off the console POWER button.
” Log flash kernel ”
‘Є®ЇЁa®ў ® d © «®ў 21.
uploading fes1.bin … done uploading uboot.bin … done sunxi_flash phy_write 30 17 43800000; fastboot_test usb_bulk_recv () ERROR -7: Operation timed out kernel: write ok sunxi_flash phy_read 30 17 43800000; fastboot_test usb_bulk_recv () ERROR -7: Operation timed out kernel: verify ok boota 43800000 void Worker :: do_flashKernel () – OK
Further filling and removing games is as follows: Throw everything else, you do not longer need!
Download games:
REMOVAL OF GAMES:
DELETE ALL GAMES AT ONCE OR RECOVERY ERROR C8:
What can be changed in cfg.desktop file? –volume 77 – Setting the volume of the game, you can put 77 that was about how in embedded games. Players = 2 – the number of players in the game. ReleaseDate = 2017-01-06 – Released the game in this format. SortRawPublisher = GBX.RU – Publisher Copyright = © 2017 GBX.RU – Copyrights
Sort games console is done through the SELECT button on the joystick.
MiniFAQ:
Is it possible to kill the console above commands? – You can kill time kernel firmware (flash kernel)
How much memory in the console under the Game? – In nand has two sections: nandb – squashfs (~ 20mb) c OSes and nandc (~ 384mb) which stores and saves the game.
I filled in the new game with crooked games console crashes, black screen error C8: An error has occurred, what to do? – It is necessary to run the command rm -rf $ rootfs / etc / preinit procedure in the removal of all the games at once.
I created the game, and the cover does not appear, what to do? – Before the creation of the game need to put it in the format jpg image with the name label
I downloaded a game, it is a double, and points to one, how to fix? – In the game folder should be config, open notepad and replace Players = 2
Modification: MadMonkey
Instructions: ProSharen
The easy (but maybe even more risky) way
If you’re second guessing your modding abilities after reading that massive block of text, I don’t blame you. Luckily, there’s a seemingly much more straightforward way of adding games to the NES Classic, and it doesn’t require a Mario save slot or any of that complicated nonsense. It was created by a Russian modder named Cluster, who made the tool available to everyone via a recent forum post.
The tool appears to be legit in that it actually works, and many Reddit users report being able to add games to their Classic Edition with nothing more than a USB cable and, of course, the NES game ROMs (which you can find pretty much anywhere, via Google).
That being said, others have noted that the tool itself actually throws warnings on many virus scan tools, and plenty of would-be users are refusing to try it on the grounds that it could be an extremely dangerous download. After reports of virus warnings began to pour in, Cluster released a new version that removes an automatic driver installer which he says was the reason for the false virus alerts.
As is always the case with these unofficially and totally unauthorized mods, you’re accepting a pretty substantial risk when going through with either of these two methods. Still, the temptation to turn the NES Classic Edition into an even more amazing retro gaming gadget is very, very real.
Trending right now:
