Gettin GCOS 1.4 onto my Max Drive Pro

Hi,

I'm very new to all this and for the life of me I can't figure out how to get GCOS 1.4 onto my Max Drive Pro.

Please Help!

 

Found this out myself by trail and error. Just copied the GCOS 1.4 Gamecube operating system bios to the card and it said it wasn't a savestate but said it could convert it. Did that and popped the Max Drive in the Gamecube with the Max Drive Boot Disk. Chose the POS executable from the menu and ran it. Chose run back up game and it gave me 8 seconds to swap the disc for the back up! A window came up telling me the game and region. Hit A to auto detect PAL or NTSC and the back up ran perfectly! (Mario Party).

You will require...

A Gamecube (mine is UK PAL)
Max Drive Pro (Must be Pro)
Sony 8cm Mini-DVD (Handicam DVDs)
GCOS 1.4 Bios (Google for it)
A Gamecube Game RIP (Change to .ISO and burn in NERO (ISO and finalize).

Cheers

 

Sorry I am a noob and am contemplating getting a viper mod. However it seems that this system is much better. Am I to understand that the GCOS is an alternative BIOS/OS for the gamecube and that the copy protection is all contained within this? If this is so why have I not seen anything about this method anywhere else? (I am not being sceptical just want to make sure before spending $)

 

Crzy,

From what I understand, even the Viper Mods need some sort of BIOS flashing to them. The only thing different I think is that the Hardware Mod Chips don't need a BOOT DISC. That said, I've never had any first hand experience with the Hardware side.

I just purchased my Resident Evil 4 Gamecube and didn't want to start mucking about and invalidating the warranty and I'm not good with a soldering iron. So I did a quick internet search, fistly on backing up games. This gave me a mixed bag of responses from "It can't be done" and "The Gamecube can't read DVDs or 8cm DVDs as they are read differently". It was then I stumbled upon a few MAX DRIVE PRO threads and eventually found a how to on the brilliant http://modthatcube.pxn-os.com/ (Use the online version it's more up-to-date and see the MAX DRIVE PRO section)

This online guide to all mods for the Gamecube made up my mind and I purchased a MAX DRIVE PRO. This is a Memory card with a USB link and can therefore be plugged into your PC. With the aid of a PC Max Drive software package (comes with the Max Drive Pro) you can download off the net the GCOS 1.4 (Gamecube Operating System BIOS) and put it onto the Max Drive Pro. Then Plug the card into the Gamecube, pop in the mini DVD BOOT DISC (that comes with Max Drive Pro.) You'll get a menu screen where you can then select the GCOS 1.4 BIOS (PSUL.exe) and run it.

You'll then get a screen with various options. It will tell you your gamecubes IP and Gateway Addresses and let you run games from all over the world with options to switch to PAL or NTSC. You also have an option to run backups. To do this just select the option and you'll be prompted to swap the Boot disc for your Back-up (you've got about 8-10 seconds to do this). The menu will then show details about the game and options to use NTSC or PAL (depending on where your game is from).
after this selection the game will run!

Back up ISO Images should be burnt onto 8cm mini dvds in Nero using the finalise disc option. If you have downloaded a .GMC gamecube image file just rename it .ISO and burn as above.

Using the GCOS menu system you can also back up games using a GC Broadband adapter and a crossover ethernet cable. Just use the IP address and gateway details etc. that GCOS give you in its main menu and select your ethernet card setting in windows XP. You'll have spaces to fill in with these details so fill them in. Then attach the BBA to the Gamecube and link your cube to your PC with the crossover cable. Open up your webbrowser and choose the backup game option from the GCOS menu. Put in an original game you want to back up and hit A on the pad. There will be onscreen intruction with a http address to type into your browser. Type the onscreen address into your browser and hit return. You should get a window asking where you wnat to save the iso. browse to your desktop and save it there. The ISO will start to RIP (could take about 50 mins).

Now you can find online some Gamecube case tops that allow you to play games off standard DVDs but at present you can only put a single game on a 4.7GB DVD. I've been using either Sony 8cm or Traxdata (Ritek discs).

This is basicaly a softmod and you will need to switch off your gamecube and reboot with the Max drive boot disc for each back up you want to play. But I'm very happy with it so far as all of my discs have worked to date.

KNOWN BUGS!!!!!

Some games have streaming audio. Ones I know of are
18 Wheeeler
Waverace
1080 Avalanche

Games with streaming audio can produce garbled or hissing sound while playing the game. This is believed to be a BIOS issue and could be fixed in later GCOS version. It has been fixed in the Cobra Bios but Max Drive has to use GCOS.

You may get some auto resets
I haven't had one yet

Data Read Errors
Can be due to bad game rips
Not had one yet

Hope this helps!

 

Thanks heaps for the info, I see that you have had success with the max drive. I think I will order one straight away. It is good to see that someone actually knows what they are talking about. I have read some forum sites where the posts were obviously misinformed or pure conjecture. I guess that since the max drive allows the booting of executables you can play emulator games and media software. If someone brings out a divx codec/player for the gc, well then my life will be complete.

Thanks again
Crzyfl

 

Crzyfl,

Your more than welcome. It's good to be able to help out. Like you say many of the sites I tried give very vague info so I had to kinda work it all out myself.

Yes you can play some emulators using the Max Drive but it is fiddly and most are glitchy. See the "Mod that Cube" site for details on this too!

There is a Divx Player in the works but I see a major problem in playback at first. Just for your info I have a Philips Divx/DVD player that is just superb (Philips DVP630) if your ever after a really good one with firmware upgrades and a multi region hack.

Hope all goes well with the Max Drive Pro. Need any help just shout!

 

Hi, my max drive finally arrived and I put Gcos 1.4 onto the memory card. The BIOS boots just fine but I can't boot any backups or even originals with it. The screen just goes blank. The reigon autodetection always detects JPN. The originals I tried are from Australia so I don't think that this is working. What should I do to make GCN files into playable backups? I am using sony and verbatim media and closing the session but the cube dosen't read them. The disc spins for a long time at the black screen and then stops. My cubes laser is worn I think as I play it much and the Max Drive disc dosent load first time. Will replacing the laser unit/buying a new cube solve my problems? (a new cube is only $100 AUD, a small price). Any help or tips you could give would be muchly appreciated.

 

I can't seem to figure this out. I have the max drive pro. The disk is not the same as the one shown on the website but when the program opens it says maxdrive and then "pro" in a grey squiggle next to it. File version is 1.1.0.0 12/15/04 at 10:16 AM. The program will not reconize the Dol in the hard drive side of the menue so that it can be moved. Do I have the wrong software? Is there as setting I am missing? Thanks

 

If your max drive is a pro then you have the right one. Get the software for GCoS 1.4b. Maybe your dol has errors, this method worked well for me. It should be the GCOS_PSO.dol file which you drag onto the local part of the max drive software. If you want to stream games from your pc then use the GCoS 1.4b remote loading server bios which you should find seperately. It sound to me like your dol file is corrupt. Have you tried dragging any other dols onto the max drive?
Hope this helps.

 

Yes, I tried a different download of GCOS. This one from MaxConsole forums. I downloaded the software from codejunkies and that didn't change anything either. The software reconizes my usb memory stick but will not see the DOL files on it (will see the sav file). Is putting the GCOS_POS.DOL file in the datel save folder correct? I will try with some other dol files. This is getting to me as it seems fairly simple for everyone else. Thanks for the quick reply.

 

I think your problem may be that you are copying the dol directly to the datel save folder. The dol need to be converted somehow to be read in the max drive. Try opening the folder containing the dol and drag it to the local side of the max drive.

 

I would be interested to know what media you use and what brand DVD burner you use as I had no success with any media using an LG drive.

 

Do you know anyplace to download saves to use on the max drive, I have the ones which came with but have some other games which I would like opened up without spending more money on an action replay.

 

don't know about a place to get saves for max pro. Forum down on codejunkies so no help there, may have to try to email someone. Found a program that says it converts to maxdrive format but haven't got that to work either have not played with it much http://dextrose.com/_forum/showthread.php?s=5fbb06d25ca22014ba15273c808657cd&postid=64022.
Right now I have a Sony Burner and maxwell dvd but doesn't matter if this won't work for me.
What do you suggest opening Dol or converting it with? Have you gotten this to work on your card? I will post when I remember where I got the converter program and if I find a place with save files.

 

I was always told that this is impossible!!

M

 

The GCoS dol definitely works for me, I keep the dol someplace else and drag it into the max drive software when I want to load it, have had 100% working rate with it. If you put the dol into the datel save folder yourself (just by copying/moving it there), then it will not work. The software does the conversion itself if you follow this method,
1. Open codejunkies supplied software.
2. Open folder where bios dol is located.
3. Drag 'GCOS_POS.DOL' to the 'Saves\(C:\') entry in the tree
(does not matter if tree is expanded, this should be the only level below 'PC Databases')
4. Dialog box warning you that the dol file is not in gamecube save format appears asking if you want to convert the file.
5. Press Yes
6. Plug in memory card
7. Drag 'GCOS_POS.DOL' to 'Cube' side of the codejunkies software.

You should not need any other conversion software as the bundled software does the job.

 

I read the column at dextrose and think that a homemade tool will probably be glitchy so best to stick with the software from codejunkies.
If you boot the disc and put in the memory card then your dol file should be green meaning you can execute it. Select it and press start to boot the bios. Any other issues you have I would be glad to help with if I can as I know how frustrating this can be without accurate info.

 

I can't beleive I didn't try that allready! I feel like a total tard! Thanks alot. I will start a new thread if I find some saves. Might just start one and put myown saves there allthough I don't think I have any the software didn't come with allready.

Thanks again.

 

Let me know how you get on streaming games, Alot of games I have downloaded have been corrupt, mabye we could do some trades? I have about 30 originals and a couple of working backups. I really want to get a working version of mario power tennis but the one I have keeps crashing due to dre's

 

Sure. I mainly want to use this to back up my games. I have two young sons who don't quite understand that dvds are not indestructable. I will start on this soon. I don't have power tennis tho. Might rent it to see if I want it sometime. The one game I down loaded (Starfox assult) didn't work (I have a sony burner and am using Sony minidvd) After I switch the disks I get a half second or so of green screen and then nothing. Not sure if the program that was suppost to fill in the junk files actually did what is was suppost to do. file size was still 1.45GB. Think I will just stick with my own backups or known good like you said.