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Videogamer555 · Joined: 01 May 2009 Posts: 102

Between UFO Super Drive Pro 8 (with latest bios v8.8c), and Doctor SF7 64M (with latest bios v7.11), which is better? That is, which supports the most game? Which has the most features? Which has the easiest to use onscreen interface? Are they both in English? Or is one in another language (if so it would be useless to me, who only knows English)? I would tend to think the UFO Super Drive Pro 8 was newer because 8 is bigger than 7, but I realize that UFO is a COMPLETELY different line of products than Doctor SF. So assuming UFO is the better one might be a false assumption. If anyone can shed some light on which is better, please let me know.

Trenton_net · Joined: 29 Jun 2006 Posts: 235

Define better?

GD7 has a rather crummy interface, but has a parallel port. It also can expand memory easily via expansion port. The UFO has a nice GUI which you can customize, while it also reads multiple game formats for many systems. The UFO also has little touches, such as showing you the game being loaded from disk etc.

MottZilla · Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 765

It's really personal preference. The GDSF7 is what I have and I love it. It plays 99.9% of the SNES library, the only games that don't work will not work on any copier at all. The only minor issue is it uses Game Doctor format ROMs so all your ROMs will likely require you to convert them with UCON64 before using them, but I don't see this as being a big deal. Plus the parallel port allows you to just send roms from your PC rather than using a floppy.

I don't really know much of anything about the UFO series though. But really the interface and menus don't really matter much. Probably the main thing you'd want to check out about that UFO is how you load ROMs, if its floppy disk only or if there is a parallel port link or whatever.

RGB_Gamer · Joined: 01 Oct 2007 Posts: 879

For me, the SWC DX2 is the ultimate copier, especially with the Disk Dual. I have a DVD-ROM drive in my Disk Dual, as well as a Compact Flash to IDE adapter and 2gb Compact Flash card. It's the ultimate SNES setup

Videogamer555 · Joined: 01 May 2009 Posts: 102

xiaNaix · Joined: 10 Apr 2009 Posts: 67

The end result here is that you want to play SNES games. The UFO or the GDSF7 will do that no problem so the only deciding factor is whether or not you want to convert the roms.

The UFO will play the standard SMC/SWC format roms but I don't know where you would any support for the UFO. Of course, if you are using a GoodSNES set you'll probably have to correct some of the headers anyway.

The GDSF7 uses a different format but is more widely available. Tomy sells the DSP carts and RAM expansions.

Trenton_net · Joined: 29 Jun 2006 Posts: 235

GD7's only run Bung formated images. UFO's can run a multitude of copier formatted images.

However, be aware that on a UFO it follows the ruleset for Bung images exactly. If you don't have the names of the files exactly right, it will follow strange behaviour, such as asking for disks when that was the last one, or not asking for enough disks, etc. On the other hand, GD7's seem to accept non-standard Bung images more easily.

Another intresting note, is that since UFO's can accept Pro-Fighter and other image formats, you can chunk your games down to 4mbit parts. That means, you can squeeze more data on less disks, where as the GD7 needs all chunks to be a minimum of 8mbit parts.

kyuusaku · Joined: 26 Jul 2003 Posts: 941 Location: .ma.us

To load most SMC files on a SF7 you just need to rename the file with a SF prefix. If a game doesn't have a GD3 header, it ignores it and loads the game as a LoROM based on the FAT table size.

UFOs might understand a couple formats, well, the SPF header at least which encompasses SMC (the UFO was a SPF clone). But does it understand the SWC bits? The SF3 header? I don't think so.

Game Doctors can have a game in 4M chunks, it just stupidly takes up more RAM slots.

Trenton_net · Joined: 29 Jun 2006 Posts: 235

So UFO machines don't consume the headers of GD3 and other image formats? Does it just use the filename conventions to figure it out in that case, or does it just default to base assumptions (which may or may not be right for a particular ROM)?

kyuusaku · Joined: 26 Jul 2003 Posts: 941 Location: .ma.us

Well for one UFO can't truly use the GD3 header because GD3-7 have bankswitching and the header can maps the banks to ROM blocks in a more flexible way than other copiers. I'd be surprised if the Doctor support actually used the header at all. I think it's more likely they try to find the Nintendo header (0x7FFC or 0xFFFC) from the raw binary or just assume all Bung ROMs are LoROM. This could be tested by loading a HiROM in MGD2 format (should fail), a LoROM with HiROM GD3 header (should fail), HiROM with LoROM GD3 header (should fail).

amptor · Joined: 14 Nov 2003 Posts: 207

I've owned the SF7 before and the major thing i didn't like about it was that if I left a game in RAM with it plugged in over night, the game would always get corrupted. I thought this was a feature of the SF7 so that you could keep the game stored in the memory for days on end without having to reload it. I tested it with 32M games I think donkey kong country and killer instinct probably, it was long ago.

..not to mention, having to convert everything to game doctor format is annoying. I didn't get bothered by it because I did'nt play very many games while I owned that thing. I bought it for nostalgia, but it offered very little since the menus are extremely plain and boring. Although I guess I shouldn't talk since I still own a doctor v64 which has a horrible plain ugly menu system and you can't even navigate it with the joystick.

I agree with eastbayarb here, the swc dx2 appears to be the ultimate solution since you can install the 2GB CF card and nobody else offers a unit that supports that yet. It has a decent menu, now if I could only figure out which emulator runs which swc dx2 rom again so I can play with that again... it's been so long.

Right now I'm happy with my swc dx, but if I find something cheap later on I might add to my collection of copiers. I think $210 shipped for a dx2 is not really that bad though but these days I mean, you can get a sf7 for under $100..

MottZilla · Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 765

madman · Joined: 07 Jul 2006 Posts: 598

It's been years since I've done this, but doesn't uCON convert a game from SMC to GD format automatically when you send to a GDSF copier over parallel?

I wouldn't bother with a UFO copier to be honest. GDSF7s are still super common to find and very cheap. Plus using the parallel port is a huge advantage, floppies are a pain.

Mystic_Merlin · Joined: 15 Oct 2007 Posts: 533 Location: Bangkok

I also agree the most important feature you must be looking for in a copier is the parallel port transfer, moreover if you're planning on developing, floppies are a pain!

DSP, SFX, special chips or games>32M represent less than 2% of the SNES' games catalog so since you're supposed to own the cartridge of the games you're playing at anyway, why bother? Wink

For the DSP btw, I dunno about the UFO pro 8 but I have some DSP adapters for my Pro 6.

Also another thing to mention that might sound superficial but is of importance to me is the "case design". Most of these machines have been conceived for Japanese SFC and don't always stand properly on a US SNES.
Considering some aging cart port connectors on a SNES + this "physical instability", you can often loose the connection between the copier and console just by inserting/ejecting a floppy.

amptor · Joined: 14 Nov 2003 Posts: 207

Well for DSP in the UFO Pro 8, you have to insert your own DSP chip in the unit. I'm not sure if you can plug in Mario Kart on top and use it as passthru instead. I read a long time ago that the Bung DSP adapter cards basically are built off of disassembled Mario Kart cartridges but I'm not sure if that is just rumor or fact.

The UFO copiers don't have parallel port right?

As far as the cartridge slot wearing out, can't you buy a replacement these days for it, I know you can for the NES. I have taken very good care of my first SNES so I don't think I'll ever have an issue with it. Right now I'm using a very well kept used snes deck and I also have a brand new PAL main board I guess if I ever needed to rob parts from I could do that as well.

What we need is a list of copiers that have parallel ports, including ones that Tototek makes an addon for. It is disappointing that the latest CCL copier "Smart Bros." did not include a parallel port. Too bad there aren't many of those available too.

Also Tomy's working on a USB adapter for his SNES flash carts which i think is a very good idea.

Would be nice if I could transfer games over USB to my swc dx. The only computer that I could easily hook up to it right now only has usb ports since I moved it into another room.