Q: How do I compile uCON64?
A: You can optionally open the Makefile in an editor and change the defines

"DB" enables/disables the internal ROM database
     disabled with an # in front uCON64 will be only ~250kB in size!

"BACKUP" enables/disables support for backup units
         disabled with an # in front

"CD" enables/disables support for cd backups (we suggest cdrdao as burn engine for ucon64)

Afterwards enter the following lines

make -f Makefile.<your OS> clean
make -f Makefile.<your OS>
make -f Makefile.<your OS> install

Under Unix (Linux) the last command will ask for root's password, because uCON64 needs to be setuid root for parallel port access.
Under BeOS the last command will open a dialog window. Just follow the instructions.

Q: How do I install uCON64?
A: You already did if you followed the directions in the previous answer (you downloaded the source package). If you don't use WinDOS run install_<your OS>.sh and edit $HOME/.ucon64rc. If you use WinDOS you may want to copy ucon64.exe to a directory in your PATH and maybe edit ucon64.cfg.

BeOS users will also need Caz's driver inside ioport.zip or available at http://www.infernal.currantbun.com

Under Windows NT/2000/XP you will need a driver only if you want to use uCON64 for sending/receiving ROMs to/from a copier. You could use giveio or UserPort. At http://www.devrs.com/gba/files/mbv2faqs.php you can find links to those programs. With giveio sending ROMs goes faster than with UserPort, but UserPort is a bit easier to use.

Q: Sometimes my terminal seems to be locked after I do
   ucon64 -xswc "Super Metroid (JU).swc" | more
A: You are right, it seems to be locked, but the only thing that happened is that the character echoing of the terminal is disabled by more. Just don't do that ;-)

Q: How do I specify a bank number for the GB Xchanger? This doesn't work
   ucon64 -xgbxb<0> "Pokemon (Green).sav"
A: You should leave out those angle brackets. This should work
   ucon64 -xgbxb0 "Pokemon (Green).sav"

Q: How do I make uCON64 display only information about a ROM? When I use * I get strange results.
A: The help says that * will show info to indicate that most uCON64 options will show information about a ROM. If you want to display information about a ROM just run uCON64 with the name of the ROM as the only argument. Note that sometimes you will have to specify the console type for uCON64, because the ROM dump is damaged or simply not detected correctly by uCON64. For example:
   ucon64 -snes "Super Aleste (J) [t1].swc"

Q: I have two parallel ports in my PC and my Flash Advance Linker is connected to the second. However, when I try to use uCON64 to send a demo to the FAL something goes wrong. What happened?
A: Well, many things could have gone wrong, but uCON64 only detects your first parallel port (it stops probing for a parallel port if it finds one). So, you should specify the address of the second parallel port on the command line. For example:
   ucon64 -xfal demo.gba 0x278

Q: I tried to dump a SNES cartridge using a Super Wild Card connected to my PC with an interlink cable, but it didn't work. What's wrong?
A: You shouldn't use an interlink cable, but an ordinary parallel cable. Use the options "-snes -help|more" to see how the pins of the connectors should be connected.

Q: I have a SNES ROM of which GoodSNES says it's good, but uCON64 says it's bad. Who is right?
A: GoodSNES.
There may be several reasons why uCON64 reports that the checksum is bad. It could have made a mistake while determining if the ROM is a HiROM or a LoROM dump. Try the options -hi and -nhi and see if uCON64 reports the checksum differently. A bigger problem is that the interleave detection code (stolen from Snes9x ;-) is not reliable. Especially BS ROMs are often detected as not being interleaved while they actually are. Try the options -int and -int2 and see if you get better results. If the checksum is reported as good it is very likely that the ROM is really good. Alternatively, you may want to convert the ROM to a non-interleaved format with -dint and run uCON64 on the converted ROM. That gives the best results. Luckily you won't find many interleaved ROM dumps that uCON64 can't handle, probably because Snes9x and ZSNES often can't handle them either.

Q: I have a SNES ROM of which Snes9x and ZSNES say it's bad, but uCON64 says it's good. Who is right?
A: uCON64, probably :-)
Neither Snes9x 1.39 nor ZSNES 1.337 calculate the checksum correctly for BS ROMs, so you can be pretty sure the ROM is good if it's a BS ROM. See previous answer.

Q: I have a SNES ROM of which uCON64 said it was bad, so I used the -chk option. Now uCON64, Snes9x and ZSNES all say the ROM is good, but GoodSNES still says it's bad. How can that be, I did fix the ROM, right?
A: No, you did not. When you use -chk uCON64 changes four bytes in the ROM dump, so that they match with the calculated checksum. However, the ROM stays just as bad as it was. Use -chk with care. -chk might be useful if you want to store a ROM somewhere without using a database with its checksum. You can then later check if the ROM is still the same as it was when you stored it by using the checksum that is stored in the ROM.

Q: Some SNES games don't work on my Super Wild Card. What can I do about that?
A: You can do several things. First make sure the original game cartidge doesn't contain any special chips that your Super Wild Card doesn't support (look at the rom type information). For example, if you are trying to upload a game like Super Mario Kart (which uses a DSP chip) your Super Wild Card should have an extension with the correct DSP chip (or have the right cartridge with that chip plugged in your SWC). Then, make sure you are using a good dump (look at the checksum information). Also verify that the backup header is correct. You can make uCON64 rewrite the header with -swc or -fig (the SWC send code of uCON64 supports Pro Fighter dumps). uCON64 uses the information in the ROM dump's header, so this is important! You can also try to rewrite the header with the option -hi or -nhi to force uCON64 to think it is a HiROM or a LoROM dump. For example:
   ucon64 -swc -hi "Chrono Trigger (U).swc"
There are many (good) ROMs on the internet with incorrect headers, so this might well solve the problem.
Several games contain a copy protection that prevents them from running on a backup unit, so this can also be a reason why the game doesn't work. You can try -k to remove that protection. Several games also check if they are running on a PAL or an NTSC SNES. Use -f to remove that form of copy protection. Some other games check the ROM speed. You can use -l for those. Note that some games have more than one type of copy protection, so it might be necessary to use uCON64 several times with a different option.

Q: Which backup devices are supported by uCON64?
A: See hardware.html.

Q: I use Windows XP (NT/2000). When I try to run ucon64.exe under command.com (start -> Run... -> command) uCON64 crashes. What do I do wrong?
A: You shouldn't use command, use cmd instead.

Q: Where do I get PPF, APS or IPS patches?
A:

Google

Q: Where do I get ROMs/Games? A: www.ebay.com