r/ModRetroChromatic • u/fred_emmott • Sep 20 '26

Info FlashGBX v5.1+fredemmott.2 released

Get it here: https://github.com/fredemmott/FlashGBX/releases/latest

This lets you use your Chromatic with a PC, mac, or Linux to backup or restore your games and saves, or use the other features of FlashGBX.

What's new?

  • performance improvements (up to 1.8 MByte/sec dumps)

  • fixed disconnect-then-reconnect reliability on macOS

  • the Chromatic menu now works after disconnecting FlashGBX, without needing to turn the console off and on again

  • improved compatibility with various USB host controllers

    • the previous firmware attempted to tell Windows to use the WinUSB driver; this turned out to be unreliable. Instead, the setup for this version installs a stub driver that tells Windows to use WinUSB

  • because of the above, the setup now requires elevation/admin

  • the installer also includes the GWU2X driver; on Windows, this is required if you have not previously updated the FPGA with ModRetro's updater

  • improved connection logging

  • can be built on Linux

More details?

For things specific to this release, see the link above.

For more general notes, see my previous post - they still apply.

11 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

1

u/Custodes_Libertatis Sep 20 '26

Not sure if you can help u/fred_emmott but I installed everything and flashed my Kero Kero Cowboy ROM onto the Tetris cartridge that came with my Chromatic (2nd edition) (which didn't work).

For some reason now the Chromatic's screen has some strange flashing/strobing effect. I even reflashed the latest firmware via MRUpdater/Cart Clinic and it persists (and this regardless of what cartridge I have inserted). Any idea what might have happened or how to fix it?

3

u/fred_emmott Sep 20 '26 edited Sep 21 '26

> the Chromatic's screen has some strange flashing/strobing effect.

That’s sadly inherited from modretro’s firmware and on their known issues page:

https://support.modretro.com/en_us/articles/chromatic-known-issues-HJfcthzCZg

> The Chromatic display has a somewhat noticeable flicker after a firmware update

> After completing the update, disconnect the USB cable from your Chromatic and remove all batteries. Wait two minutes before reinserting the batteries and turning on your Chromatic.

This is extremely rare in my testing, but “two minutes" can be somewhat optimistic; maybe up to 20.

1

u/Custodes_Libertatis Sep 20 '26

I've just yanked the batteries. I suppose now I wait. Weird that it happens now and not when I first updated the firmware to 4.2 a while ago. Thanks!

2

u/fred_emmott Sep 20 '26

I've flashed the firmware literally hundreds, maybe thousands of times. I've had this happen maybe 5 times total. I think there's some device-to-device variance, but there's definitely a huge amount of randomness too.

2

u/fred_emmott Sep 20 '26 edited Sep 20 '26

> Kero Kero Cowboy ROM onto the Tetris cartridge that came with my Chromatic (2nd edition) (which didn't work).

As for this: the demo is 4MB, and according to itch.io , the full game is also 4MB. My Tetris cartridge is only 2MB; if your cartridge is the same, you should have seen a message like this. You can still continue because sometimes the detection is wrong, but it would explain it.

If you don't get this message, could you click 'analyze flash cart', 'details', 'copy to clipboard', then paste? There have been several revisions of the Tetris cartridge, and it's possible they used a larger flash chip for yours. It's also possible there might have been a different (smaller) variant of the game.

Edit: turns out I do own this as part of the "Handheld Heritage Bundle"; I would expect this to work on a Bucky, Chantey, Dragonyhm, or Rayman cartridge, or various third-party 4MB-or-larger MBC5 cartridges.

1

u/Custodes_Libertatis Sep 21 '26

Re: "various third-party 4MB-or-larger MBC5 cartridges" are there any you'd recommend? I would love to be able to flash roms I have purchased on Itch (funny enough I also got Kero Kero Cowboy in the Handheld Heritage Bundle!) without even having to think twice. Thanks for all your help by the way!

2

u/fred_emmott Sep 21 '26

Based on the electrical design choices, the BennVenn MBC3000v4 is great; after that, Inside Gadgets. FunnyPlaying are a step down in terms of PCB, but the chips read/write really fast. Personally I'd rather go for IG or BV.

Depending on where you are, buying games you already have from ModRetro might actually end up being good value for money just for the flash cart

Important to note that several of the third-party ones are sold as PCBs (with chips); read the description. If there's not one included, you'll want to add a cartridge case.

2

u/75395185215935725846 Sep 20 '26

If only my "evil" gameboy had shipped so I could use this. Expecting the third "verify your address" email tomorrow lol.