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Darksoft

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To celebrate the 4th of July I'm releasing a new version of the Chihiro TYPE 3 Firmware that allows to boot your Chihiro with any CF or SSD.

This removes the 5 minute and 60 minutes reset that happens when you use a non original CF.

Post your experience here.

Notice that like with Naomi some CF don't work. That's related to their speed or revision and they won't work right from the beggining.

Have fun!

chihiro_info.JPG

Picture from @obcd

Get it from here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/5clui8bzhnqx840/FACTORYCHECKXB.512_hacked.BIN.7z

UPDATE 26/03/2020: SPECIAL VERSION 3 which removes all checks: http://www.mediafire.com/file/ukqwf1kd5wjdusy/FACTORYCHECKXB.512_hacked_v3.BIN.7z/file
ONLY USE IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING. It won't work with any existing tool and you need to adjust the CRC manually.
 
This only works for the Type 3 Chihiro!!! Do not attempt to load this onto a Type 1!!

I'll edit the first post.

Also, in my testing over the last 6 months or so I've found that some CF cards that would not work on Naomi work perfectly fine on Chihiro using my Naomi CF kit.

I also found a way to modify the CF kits I sell so that no GD-rom cable is needed. :)
 
Thank you !
CF will be easier than to find than original ones. :)
 
Thank you! I just purchase a chihiro that came in with a dim 3, 512mb dim 1 and a GDrom that I needed. Not sure how I would use it but looking forward to exploring this system:)
 
So the CF card system sold by Mitsurugi-W for the Naomi will now work with the Chihiro Type 3 as well? What modification is needed to not require the GD-rom cable?

Lastly, just out of curiosity and unfortunately I have a Type I Chihiro, why do these only apply to Type 3? The Type I is basically the same thing only with the separate net dimm; I have found the Type I net boots games well and plays everything that I have tried other than Outrun 2 SP which I know doesn't work with Type I. Any chance this can be modified to use with Type I or perhaps I need to start the search for a Type 3 :)

Thanks for the firmware update Darksoft - great work and a nice Fourth of July present for the hobby.
 
Neither the Type 1 Triforce nor Chihiro firmwares ever supported CF kits at all. Not even the official Sega kits. Making CF work with Type one units would require a firmware created almost from the ground up.

Attempting to install this in a Type 1 WILL brick it.

I'll give details of how to modify your Walsdawg/Summitt CF kits soon.
 
my chihiro type 3 has turned up , but im still missing my zero key....still waiting for it to turn up......may be a stupid question, but can the firmware be updated via network with out a zero key?
 
Neither the Type 1 Triforce nor Chihiro firmwares ever supported CF kits at all. Not even the official Sega kits. Making CF work with Type one units would require a firmware created almost from the ground up.

Attempting to install this in a Type 1 WILL brick it.

I'll give details of how to modify your Walsdawg/Summitt CF kits soon.
So the only loading methods that work on a Type 1 Triforce or Chihiro are GD-ROM and Netboot? Is that correct?
 
Neither the Type 1 Triforce nor Chihiro firmwares ever supported CF kits at all. Not even the official Sega kits. Making CF work with Type one units would require a firmware created almost from the ground up.

Attempting to install this in a Type 1 WILL brick it.

I'll give details of how to modify your Walsdawg/Summitt CF kits soon.
So the only loading methods that work on a Type 1 Triforce or Chihiro are GD-ROM and Netboot? Is that correct?
that's right.
 
To celebrate the 4th of July I'm releasing a new version of the Chihiro TYPE 3 Firmware that allows to boot your Chihiro with any CF or SSD.

This removes the 5 minute and 60 minutes reset that happens when you use a non original CF.

Post your experience here.

Notice that like with Naomi some CF don't work. That's related to their speed or revision and they won't work right from the beggining.

Have fun!

Get it from here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/5clui8bzhnqx840/FACTORYCHECKXB.512_hacked.BIN.7z
Just installed this on my 1GB that I had to convert to a 512 to get it to install.
It just errors out if I try to make the system a 1GB again.
The important question is what is the difference between the 512MB and 1GB versions of outrun 2 SP?
 
I don't think there is any to be honest.
Weird.I wonder why there are 1GB and 512MB versions of so many different games?
There has to be some difference.
really curious.
i think its so grubby hand operators didnt have to mess around inside the chihiro itself adding/removing ram sticks, that way games could be changed/updated by the gdrom drives to what ever game was required aslong as it matched the ram size.

i actualy dont think there were 2 different versions of each game released on gd-rom.....

it was done so folks could swap to what ever game they required without having to mess around with ram sticks...

so take outrun 2 sp for instance, it was designed for 512mb systems, if you had 1 gb ram you would have to open up the chihiro and remove 512mb stick or it wouldnt run.

so to run on 1gb systems, they padded the file to make it 1GB....

i could be wrong lol
 
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I don't think there is any to be honest.
Weird.I wonder why there are 1GB and 512MB versions of so many different games?There has to be some difference.
really curious.
i think its so grubby hand operators didnt have to mess around inside the chihiro itself adding/removing ram sticks, that way games could be changed/updated by the gdrom drives to what ever game was required aslong as it matched the ram size.
i actualy dont think there were 2 different versions of each game released on gd-rom.....

it was done so folks could swap to what ever game they required without having to mess around with ram sticks...

so take outrun 2 sp for instance, it was designed for 512mb systems, if you had 1 gb ram you would have to open up the chihiro and remove 512mb stick or it wouldnt run.

so to run on 1gb systems, they padded the file to make it 1GB....

i could be wrong lol
That really probably is all there was to it as the file sizes of a 512mb vs a 1gb are almost exactly the same.
 
Did anyone ever extracted both the 512MB and 1GB image and checked the files to see if they are identical?
It would be the perfect proof that the actual games are the same and use the same graphics.
 
That is a good question.

I recall reading somewhere that the 1GB version of the game(s) were graphically enhanced.

But, just how was not clear.
 
I doubt there was any enhancement. It's just a way to make sure that people were only playing the game in the authorized version of the Chihiro.
 
We've already discussed 512M/1G games with other members. I tried with OutRun2, Virtua Cop 3, GHost Squad and I didn't see any difference.
 
We've already discussed 512M/1G games with other members. I tried with OutRun2, Virtua Cop 3, GHost Squad and I didn't see any difference.
are the 512MB vs 1GB bins that are out there from the actual 512BM and 1GB discs, or are they just padded/shrunk after one or other was dumped.

I would think the best way to know for sure is to take the actual dump from both the 512MB and 1GB versions and then do a bit by bit comparison.

-----------------
The question in the back of my mind is if the games don't use 1GB then why was the 1GB variant even released? I mean most Outrun 2 cabs that I've seen have the 1GB version, was Sega just sending everyone extra sticks of RAM for fun?
 
You're right. I tried several dumps, some are just 512M or 1G so I presume it's dumped from these versions, but I don't have prove it's not padded.
 
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