I don’t know why I never replied to this thread… I guess I just agreed with everyone else’s suggestions and didn’t feel I could contribute. Here’s some (really late) advice I came up with:

1. You could try to add some kind of friction-enhancing material to the end of the screwdriver, such as a small piece of emery cloth or sandpaper, or simply glue a bit of fine grit into the cavity of the driver (assuming you’re not using a notched flat-head).

2. You could try using a drop of super-glue to glue the head of the screwdriver to the screw, and let it fully cure before trying to turn it. The joint probably won’t last long, but maybe long enough to get the screw started. Just be sure not to glue the screw into the hole! 😉

3. You could try chilling the whole VB in the freezer for a while. The screw and case should shrink away from each other a bit.

4. A drop of acetone might soften the plastic enough to let it come loose (but don’t overdo it). Be sure to give the acetone plenty of time to evaporate away before you reinstall.

With any of the above, I second DogP’s suggestion of tightening the screw slightly before loosening it.

PM sent.

I hope the screws on this one don’t give you any trouble…

Did you get to meet Steve Woita? (In case you didn’t know, he worked on Water World.)

Dr.Crackers wrote:
I just don’t know how to shrink photos.

You probably can’t run IrfanView but you could look for an (inferior) alternative to it that’ll run on your (inferior) fruit-based operating system 😉

(Note: I don’t really have anything against OSX; I just can’t afford the “Apple-tax” on the hardware.)

Great job!

It definitely looks girly, that’s for sure 😉

I agree with KR155E; the finish looks quite professional.

bigmak wrote:
anyone else want some of these boxes ? 🙂 wallpaper a bedroom..surprise the wife….

-Eric

LOL!

Hey, maybe one of the anniversary events could be coming up with interesting uses for baseball boxes! I’m thinking stuff like origami/paper-craft and other arts-and-crafts type stuff.

Quick! Everybody scour Instructables, Etsy and Lifehacker! 😉

If you want to get a “store-bought” driver that “just works”, there’s only one (that I know of) on the market that fits the VB’s deepest screw wells:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/161091422520

They also make one for the cartridges, and you can buy the two as a set:

Also, the screws are more specifically #4 x 1/2″ sheet metal screws. #4 wood screws have a tapered thread – which also generally stops before the head – and don’t provide good grip in the VB.

Please check my PM about the actual repairs.

(Thanks for the referral, TheForce81 :thumpup:)

KJ4860 wrote:
Any other suggestions?

Just the general “keep away from sunlight, dust, heat, and moisture” kind of stuff, really.

Once they’ve been soldered it doesn’t matter as much, but it still might be a good idea to leave the IPD knob turned fully counter-clockwise (widest IPD) when not in use.

I’ve also noticed that the plastic washer in the stand’s tilt mechanism can get stuck after a while. If you take the VB off its stand for storage, you might as well also loosen the knob a bit and let it “breathe” 😉

I’ll let the more-qualified “collector-types” put their two cents in, now 😉

cr1901 wrote:
On a third note, using the keyboard is a PITA :P. I’ll need to create an adapter at some point for the Retrode that lets me use the VB controller in the Genesis port.

On a side note to your third note… 😉 You’ll want to use the SNES port, not the Gen one. The VB controller is almost identical, internally, to the SNES pad. It just uses all 16 bits, instead of only 12.

I’ve been waiting for a place to post my gratitude for everyone involved in making this surprise a reality (without spoiling the surprise for others) and here it is!

Thank you so much, guys! It is a great honor to receive such a unique and high-quality item. I’ll cherish it always.

Depending on the padder, it may have just modified the input file. Did it change size? Which padding program are you using?

DanB wrote:

I didn’t compare the source code yet, but the isx file is much bigger, so something must be different. I tried to make it into a .vb rom through the debugger, but it just turned into 48 kb of crap 😛

Have you tried using my vbcvtisx or lameboyadvance’s ISX2ROM?

The extra data may just turn out to be debugging information (which my program simply ignores).

I got my Performance adapter with my second VB back in the late 90’s or early single-digits. I got the console (sans visor), a stand with a broken clip, the aforementioned adapter, a controller, and a loose copy of Vertical Force, for… drum roll, please… $5 😀

I’ve never used batteries in a VB, since, although I think I stopped after my first set died, instead using some kind of jury-rigged adapter.

I also have a very nice custom-made adapter-tap someone gave me. I won’t mention names so he won’t get swamped with requests (but he should totally make a few more and sell them, because they rock ;-))

[RunnerPack]

HP Lovethrash wrote:
Well my first X’Eye came without anything, just a 5v power adapter (to quote Dana Carvey on SNL, “WROOONG!!”). So I tracked down a proper adapter and the turbo 6-button official controller. I have to say, Sega made a killer D-pad.

My experience is limited to the Genesis 3-button, the Game Gear, and the Dreamcast, plus a few minutes of “Nights” on the Saturn “3D Controller” in Toys’r’us many moons ago, but I’ve never truly enjoyed using a Sega controller. The d-pads are always stiff and imprecise. The buttons are mushy and poorly laid out. I just don’t care for the lot. The only things I like (about the Genesis ones, anyway) are the use of standard d-sub connectors, and their devotion to proper backward-compatibility.

Did they make TLV on Sega CD?

AFAIK, no. If anything, they would have released LV2 (specifically “Norse by Norsewest: The Vikings Return”) on SegaCD, since it was much larger for reasons I’ve mentioned, but they seem to have skipped straight to the Saturn for that one.

Another Blizzard game I would recommend based on the SNES version is “Blackthorne” (mechanics similar to the original “Prince of Persia” and “Oddworld” games, and great graphics), but it seems to be 32X-only in the Sega world.

I’ll look up reviews of each version and get whichever seems better. Haven’t played my SNES in months, since my VB controller mod failed to work right heh. But I will definitely play it, I regret not buying it at my last game store trip. Wasn’t TLV the last game made for the SNES?

The consensus online seems to be that it was 1998’s “Frogger” (in the U.S.).

I actually found a better deal on a 2nd X’eye that was modded for S-video output via a newly installed CXA1645 chip (or whatever the better chip on Genesis boards was). I plan to open it up and give my first one the full treatment once I see exactly how they did the mod.

The chips (or at least Chinese clones thereof) are only $3 shipped on eBay, and it seems like a pretty straightforward mod. Here’s some info about using one on a Genesis III that should help, if you can’t find anything x’eye-specific (I found reference to a detailed build thread on nfggames.com, but not the thread itself).

If I have trouble, I’m gonna email this guy who I bother with my tech problems sometimes 😉

I’m sure that guy isn’t bothered at all by your emails 😉

• This reply was modified 11 years, 11 months ago by RunnerPack.

The only thing The Lost Vikings has too much of is fun! 😀

Okay, that was pretty cheesy… but trust me: if you like puzzle-platformers, it’s hard to do better than TLV (and especially its sequel). The challenge is definitely there in the later levels, but it has a very nice difficulty curve to get you there.

I hope your X’Eye came with a pad, though (or that you have some kind of 6-button pad). It’s pretty much necessary for the Genesis version (but even then, the controls aren’t nearly as intuitive as the SNES ones).

Actually, the controller is the main reason I never liked the Genesis (although the crappy video and sound didn’t help any :-P). I do own a Mk. III, but it’s not hooked up, and I have no games to speak of.

Modding a console is like playing a game on one: if there were no challenges, it wouldn’t be fun 😉

It was just a joke, anyway. So… what was the thing you were trying to link to?

…although you were too excited to check the VBjin-OVR release date or use the search engine, I guess… 😛

How much do you get every time someone clicks that short URL? 😉

I completely forgot about The Lost Vikings! Probably because I prefer the SNES version, and its sequel, which skipped the Genesis/MD and went to the Saturn, instead (so they could replace the beautiful pixel-art with hideous pre-rendered CGI and add okay-but-not-great voice acting).

I never had a Genesis “back in the day”, so I don’t have a ton of experience, but a friend rented one that I’ve always wanted to put more time into: B.O.B.

I’m not sure if it’s a puzzle-platformer, per se, but it has some puzzle elements.