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I'm looking for a way to read the memory of a N64, while the game is running, in real time.

I have a c# program which hooks into the memory of a running emulator and tracks SSB64 stats. I want to do the same thing with the physical N64. Currently it is possible to read the memory with a gameshark pro, however it's extremely slow, buggy, and not practical for what I am trying to accomplish.

Would it be possible to tap into the gameshark, or the N64 directly, to access the memory in real time?

Thanks!

toazron1
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  • i really doubt what you want to do is possible without heavy modifications to the machine – Toni Apr 26 '12 at 05:37
  • Lol no. Not without incredible amounts of work. More practically you can take your emulator rom, alter it, and then recompile it to spit out stats on the screen. Again "more practical" but the rom is going to be IR instructions or assembly, and a lot of it at that. Also the GameShark doesn't "access the memory in real time" it alter specific bits of data as its passed between the cartridge and the N64 (most games saved to the cartridge) so the GameShark and its brethren are simply game save modifiers. – ClassicThunder Apr 26 '12 at 05:54
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    If you're an electrical engineer you have a very difficult task ahead of you, but if you're a software guy/gal like most of us, I see trouble in your future. – House Apr 26 '12 at 05:54
  • Thanks for the quick replies!

    @ClassicThunder I don't even think you understand my question . I am not looking to alter / emulate the game. That's working fine.

    I understand how a gameshark works, and it has access to the memory while the game is active. This can be verified via the parallel port and official software but "pinging" the game freezes it, hence original question.

    Perhaps someone else can point me towards a direction? I understand that modification will be required, that is not a problem. I look at it as a learning experience.

     – toazron1 Apr 26 '12 at 06:26
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    This is kind of off-topic for GD.SE. Yes, it's technically about a game, but really it's about hardware modifying a game console, for the purpose of doing things related to development. And that's really not something people here are likely to have any familiarity with. – Nicol Bolas Apr 26 '12 at 19:41
  • Yeah, I figured it may be slighty offtopic since its hardware / console. Do you know of a place better suited to ask such questions? – toazron1 Apr 27 '12 at 00:54
  • @toazron1 You're probably looking for http://electronics.stackexchange.com/ – Hackworth May 25 '12 at 07:35

1 Answers1

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Yes you could but you would need to actively sniff the data and address bus on the cartridge with some dedicated hardware and have it spit it somewhere.. I know the arduino mega has a fair amount of digital I/O but i don't think the software serial would be fast enough especially if you wanted it to chuck data both ways.

Another way would be to piggyback the memory (literally). I fiddled with something a couple of years back with the memory expansion pack with a similar target in mind but gave up due to time.

Good luck Your gonna need it

OliStabilize
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