Help Please
4 years ago
Illinois, USA

How do you play a .fds file on a powerpak for the NES?

Oklahoma, USA

It was a pain the first time I got it to work. It requires a different mapper. I wish I could point you to where to download it, but I can't remember how I got it.

Illinois, USA

okay, thank you, does anyone have the correct mapper?

Illinois, USA

When I try to load a .fds file it says "Bad file header"

New Hampshire, USA

You need to get a FDS Bios. I don't think we can give you any links to one or a direct download, even though it's not a ROM, it's similar to one. But once you have it downloaded, you put the bios on your card, without putting it into any folders, and you're good to go. 👌

Illinois, USA

okay, ill try it. thanks

Illinois, USA

okay, so i tryed it and it half worked I think. It loads up the "Nintendo please insert disk card" but i still can't play any games

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Did you open the game Rom or the bios Rom?

Illinois, USA

when I open the bios rom that's when it says "Please set disk card" When I open the .fds file it still says bad file header

New Hampshire, USA

It's probably a bad FDS ROM then. Either that or the FDS Bios you're using is not good.

Edited by the author 4 years ago
Illinois, USA

Should the FDS Bios be a .bin or a .fds or a .nes or what?

It should be a .fds or something however you need to change it to disksys.rom and put it into your emulator folder

New Hampshire, USA

I haven't played with a FDS Bios in a while, you should check out a tutorial on how to set an fds bios up with a flash cart. Unless someone else can help you out. I think .fds, but it's been many months since I've tooled around with one.

Illinois, USA

Okay, Thank you all for helping. I'll see what I can do.

New Hampshire, USA

👌

Illinois, USA

I'm still trying to find a Super Mario Bros. .fds file and getting no luck. every time I load it in my powerpak it says bad file header

Colorado, USA

I have the correct information you need to get this working. It is likely indeed a header issue and none of the other suggested issues. Give me a few minutes to get that together and I'll tell you how to fix it.

As an aside, any comments asking where to find ROMs, BIOS files, etc. are forbidden by site policy (not just us) and I will delete them. Also don't ask folks to send it to you.

Illinois, USA

Okay, Thank you all I need is to know how to fix the header for the fds file

Colorado, USA

Okay, I forgot that my PowerPak is MIA and I can't reference them until I find it (hopefully I didn't lose it), but I believe this is what you need to do.

  • Download a hex editor "HxD" is one that you can use if you don't have one.
  • Open the ROM in the hex editor.
  • The very first line should say "FDS............." under the decoded text. If it does not look anything like that, the header was stripped out and you need to add it.
  • Make sure you have the cursor at the very first value.
  • Go to Edit > Insert Bytes...
  • Change the bytecount to 10 and click OK and it should add the line.
  • Here are what you need to put for values 00-04: 46, 44, 53, 1A, 01
  • Values 05-0F should be all 00
  • Save the file and try it.

Quick explanation of what these values are (if you're curious)

  • 46, 44, 53 spell out FDS
  • 1A is a character break
  • 01 tells the system how many sides there are to the disk. A difference to this is Doki Doki Panic which has 2 sides to the FDS disk and that value would be 02 instead of 01.

Hopefully I got this correct as I haven't done it in a while and I don't have my games to reference. If it doesn't work, just let me know.

Here's screenshot of what it should look like if it makes it easier.

https://i.imgur.com/hVz807s.png

Edited by the author 4 years ago
Darpey likes this
Illinois, USA

The BIOS rom should be disksys.rom

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