Mirrors/sf2000

mirror of https://github.com/vonmillhausen/sf2000.git synced 2024-11-03 08:35:12 +01:00

vonmillhausen 11474f6df6 Added some workaround suggestions for the system logo/"Games Exist" UI issue

2023-05-30 23:52:08 +01:00

60 KiB

Raw Blame History

SF2000

The SF2000 is a cheap hand-held emulation gaming console which was released in early 2023. Although the device itself is sold by a variety of vendors, it was the vendor "Data Frog" who caught public attention, and so the device is often simply referred to as "the Data Frog".

For a cheap device, it's actually fairly capable - most Game Boy, Game Boy Color, NES and Genesis/Mega Drive games play at full speed, and many arcade, Game Boy Advance and SNES titles do as well. The device has an IPS panel (not OCA laminated), and a user-replaceable "18650" battery, which can be charged via a USB-C port on the device. It also has analog A/V out (note: not HDMI), meaning it can be connected to a CRT TV - the type of display most arcade, Genesis/Mega Drive and SNES games were originally intended to be displayed on. It has a built-in 2.4GHz antenna, and can receive input from a compatible wireless controller (usually sold separately).

Some downsides to the device: it's mono only, there's no headphone jack (although there is a volume wheel), screen brightness cannot be altered (it's fairly bright), SNES and Game Boy Advance are hit-or-miss in terms of performance (some games are fine, many games run slowly), the stock firmware is closed-source so the device's performance may never get any better than as-shipped, and some folks have had issues with the buttons (they're quite cheap, and sit flush when pressed).

So is the "Data Frog" any good? Only you can answer that question for yourself. There are certainly more powerful devices out there, more fully featured devices, devices with better hardware, etc. - but almost all of those devices cost a lot more than the SF2000. At the end of the day, you have to look at the features offered at the given price-point, and only then can you decide if you're interested in the device or not.

SF2000

Hardware

CPU

Although the main CPU of the SF2000 has literally had it's markings milled off by a routing tool, the community has determined that it's a HCSEMI B210, a single-core MIPS processor running at 810 MHz. It appears to be a clone of an ALi Tech chip. No SDK is currently available for it, and the device is closed-source.

Display

The SF2000 features a 240x320 IPS display panel (not OCA laminated), which has been rotated 90° clockwise to give a 320x240 display. It demonstrates screen tearing for all emulators, running from the right of the console to the left due to the panel rotation.

Buttons

The ABXY are basically a clone of the original SNES controller buttons. Although everyone seems to be getting two purple and two lilac coloured buttons, there's a disparity to the type of buttons folks are getting - some get two convex and two concave buttons, others have gotten three concave and one convex, etc..

Both the buttons and the underlying membrane from an original SNES controller can be swapped into the SF2000, which may improve the "feel" of the buttons. Note that the SF2000 uses ABXY buttons that have two plastic tabs sticking out to keep them in the shell (at 180 degrees from each other); some after-market SNES-style buttons have three tabs, and won't fit the housing.

Some folks have modded the stock ABXY buttons on their SF2000s by adding a thin strip of tape or other thin material into the circular depression under each button - this causes the buttons to be raised a bit higher out of the shell, and to not sink as far into the shell when the button is pressed.

D-Pad

Just like the ABXY buttons, the d-pad is a clone of the SNES d-pad. An original SNES d-pad and membrane can be swapped into the SF2000 as well.

Thumb Stick

The SF2000 uses a Switch-style thumb stick that does not depress for L2/R2. It is compatible with Switch thumb stick third-party covers.

Battery

The SF2000 takes a 18650 type rechargeable battery, which is easily user replaceable (it's behind a battery door with a screw), and comes with a 1,500mAh one which runs for about 4 hours. 18650 batteries with and without "nubs" both fit fine. The console has built-in over-charge protection, but does not have under-charge protection, so for safety do not leave the console turned on when the battery is low. From when it displays a full-screen low battery indicator, it takes about 3.5 hours to charge the stock battery. The green charging light does not turn off when fully charged.

Also note that while you can technically charge the SF2000 while it is powered on, doing so using a charger that supports fast charging or power delivery has a high chance of blowing the charging module IC and killing the device (multiple community reports). For safest charging, use a charger that only supports a maximum output of 5v.

Wireless Connectivity

The SF2000 does not feature wifi or Bluetooth, but it does have a 2.4Ghz antenna to support local wireless multiplayer using a compatible 2.4Ghz wireless controller for Player 2. The Y2 SFC wireless controller and the SF900 wireless controller have both been reported to work fine.

A/V Output

The SF2000 features a mini-jack for analogue composite A/V output. The device is capable of output a user-selectable PAL or NTSC video signal. Only the left audio channel is output - the device does not down-mix to mono, which results in missing audio channels in games that expect to output stereo sound.

There's some limited evidence to suggest the A/V output is at 576i. When outputting a PAL signal, while the signal is indeed 50Hz, it seems like the emulators are still targeting 60Hz output - PAL scrolling is "jerky". Switching the device to output NTSC, scrolling becomes smooth. This holds true regardless of using a PAL or NTSC version of a ROM. Depending on your external display, video output over A/V may be somewhat heavily cropped on all screen edges - if so, this can result in UI elements at screen edges in games (health bars, remaining credits, etc.) being out-of-frame. Switching between PAL and NTSC doesn't alter the visible screen area. I've tested with a modern flat-panel Panasonic TV (cropped), a 1980s Commodore 1702 monitor (cropped), and with an el-cheapo USB 2.0 "EasyCap" video-capture USB stick (not cropped).

On my own unit, plugging in a charging cable while outputting over A/V introduces a lot of video noise in the A/V signal; so those planning to use the SF2000 as a TV console may need to do so while running on battery for the best experience.

Emulators

The device advertises support for arcade, NES, SNES, Genesis/Mega Drive, Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance; it also supports loading Master System ROMs. SNES and GBA performance are very hit-or miss (more miss than hit, really); the other consoles actually perform fairly well. All consoles currently stretch their output to fill the display, and do not maintain aspect ratio.

The SF2000 appears to be using Libretro with a custom front-end (i.e., not RetroArch).

Arcade

The device is running Final Burn Alpha v0.2.97.42 (Git commit 621e371). Thanks to some truly exceptional work by adcockm#8175 from the Retro Handhelds Discord, we know it supports an unusual mix of ROM sets, largely based on MAME 0.106 and Final Burn Alpha v0.2.97.42. adcockm#8175 has gone ahead and compiled two separate Clrmamepro dat files - one for all sets technically supported by the SF2000's current BIOS (as of May 2023; though note that "supported" does not mean working or playable), and one for all playable sets with duplicates removed (and note, "playable" may include games with missing sound, graphical glitches, performance issues, but are otherwise technically functional). If you want to build a working set (must be non-merged) from the dat files, adcockm#8175 has further provided a list of "hints" as the sets you'll need to track down - for obvious reasons neither I nor anyone else can provide links to such material, but hopefully the hints will get you something you can start searching for. Finally, there's also a HTML document with a list of all of the supported sets along with some useful metadata, such as the set's full name, playability information, screen orientation, etc.. The inrom column indicates if the ROM was included on the SF2000's stock microSD card; it's interesting to note that there were more ROMs located on the card than were defined in the mswb7.tax file (and thus available from the arcade game list); none of the unlisted games were actually playable on the SF2000, so it's possible someone from Data Frog actually tested the games to an extent, and removed ones from the available list that were broken.

adcockm#8175 also provided the following interesting statistics:

Number of arcade ROMs known by the SF2000's firmware: 1431
Number properly rotated: 1291
Number with vertical orientation: 134
Number with screen upside-down: 6
Number "playable" (maybe no sound, some slowness, minor graphics issues): 949
Number unplayably broken but technically running: 175
Number fully broken (load hang/crash, etc.): 307
Number of playable unique games (dupes filtered out) in proper rotation: 354
Number of playable unique games (dupes filtered out) with rotated display: 61
Number of different versions of Street Fighter 2: 60+ 😵‍💫 [Von Millhausen: I think this stat is only half a joke!]
Playable set total size: 3.10 GB (3,336,344,502 bytes)
Full set total size: 11.4 GB (12,245,306,389 bytes)

NES

Emulator is FCEUmm (Git commit 7cdfc7e). There are references in the firmware to different NES palettes, but there's no interface or configuration for the emulator itself to choose one. On the original firmware, the A and B buttons were swapped. See "Button Mappings/Key Bindings" section below.

SNES

Emulator is Snes9x 2005 v1.36 (Git commit b94a804). With the April 20th version of the firmware, SNES games often appear to run very slowly on first launch; but if you exit the game and load it again, it usually starts performing much better.

Genesis/Mega Drive

Emulator is PicoDrive 1.91 (Git commit cbc93b6). Works pretty well. This emulator is capable of loading Master System ROMs if placed in the user ROMs folder on the microSD card; Game Gear ROMs do not load. Some PAL-region games may run too fast; NTSC-region games seem to always run at the correct speed. On the original firmware, A was mapped to A, B was mapped to B, and RB was mapped to C for some reason. See "Button Mappings/Key Bindings" section below.

Game Boy

Emulator is TGB Dual v0.8.3 (Git commit 9be31d3). Uses a black and white colour palette, which currently cannot be changed. On the original firmware, the A and B buttons were swapped. See "Button Mappings/Key Bindings" section below.

Game Boy Color

Emulator is TGB Dual v0.8.3 (Git commit 9be31d3). On the original firmware, the A and B buttons were swapped. See "Button Mappings/Key Bindings" section below.

Game Boy Advance

Emulator is gpSP v0.91 (Git commit 261b2db). Performance is fairly poor. On the original firmware, A and B buttons are mapped correctly, but the GBA shoulder buttons are mapped to X and Y for some reason. See "Button Mappings/Key Bindings" section below.

Firmware/BIOS (bisrv.asd)

The firmware for the SF2000 is actually located on the microSD card, in a file called bisrv.asd located in the BIOS folder. This file is a monolithic binary blob, which contains the device's OS, the emulators, their settings... basically everything. Data Frog have issued some firmware updates for the device since launch; the updates have added new features (e.g., additional language support, favourites, history, etc.), but have also introduced bugs (e.g., some SNES games run very slowly until they are quit and launched again, etc.). Data Frog have published a YouTube video showing how to update the firmware on the device, which you can find here; the video's description contains a link to where you can download the latest firmware.

Known firmware versions are currently (dates approximate):

Date	Version	Notes
Mid-March	?	The original firmware that shipped with the first batch of devices
April 20th	?	The first official firmware update; fixed some button mappings for Genesis, added support for 15 new languages. Also partially broke SNES compatibility - many SNES games will run very slowly on first launch, but quitting and immediately re-launching the game will have it run at normal speed (normal for the SF2000, anyway)
May 15th	?	Added a built-in UI for global button mapping (which is broken in several ways, mainly SNES and Genesis controls are swapped, and no support for setting Player 2 controls), added a History feature, added a Favourites feature
May 22nd	1.5V	First firmware with an official version number. Fixed the SNES/Genesis swapped button mappings, and now sets Player 2 controls to be identical to Player 1 (no way to set independently). There's some evidence of undocumented emulation improvements; some GBA homebrew that was non-functional in previous firmwares now loads correctly, and some GBA titles see marginally improved performance

There is not currently any custom firmware (CFW) for the device. The stock firmware is currently being investigated; here are some findings from it:

Button Mappings/Key Bindings

osaka#9664 discovered that the OS supports loading game-specific key bindings from .kmp files, stored in the save folder for each system and named after a game's ROM file (e.g., /FC/save/Game Name.EXT.kmp). They also discovered where in the bisrv.asd file the default mappings for each emulator are stored. Working with this information, notv37#4200 worked out what bits related to what buttons for each emulator. Using both their findings, we now have a tool which can be used to update both the global button mappings for the emulators, as well as create per-ROM mappings - you can find this tool here.

Note that the game-specific key bindings function have been removed from the May 15th firmware onwards.

Boot Logo

When the device is powered on, a "Welcome" image is displayed for a short time before the main menu appears. This image comes from inside bisrv.asd, (towards the end; exact offset varies between BIOS revisions). It's a 512x200 RGB565 Little Endian raw image file, and looks like this:

The image is actually displayed at half-resolution on the internal display though, 256x100, centred in the middle of the screen. The boot logo can be changed to an arbitrary 256x100 image using a web-based tool I wrote, which you can find here.

Resources

The Resources folder on the microSD card contains all of the resources used by the device's firmware to construct the user interface at runtime. The following tables list the files from various firmware versions (the numbered columns, in approximate mm.dd format) and what they are used for, grouped by broad categories. Resolution and format given are for the latest firmware version only; details may be different for older firmwares. The icons in the firmware columns have the following meanings:

✨: file is new to this firmware version
✅: file is unchanged this firmware version
🚩: file is changed this firmware version
❌: file is removed this firmware version

Fonts

Filename	03.15	04.20	05.15	05.22	Description
`Arial_cn.ttf`		✨	✅	✅	The "Arial" typeface, containing Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Chinese, and Japanese characters. Duplicate of `yahei_Arial.ttf`, the single font file from the original firmware version
`Arial_en.ttf`		✨	✅	✅	The "Arial" typeface, containing Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Armenian, Hebrew and Arabic characters
`Arial_jp.ttf`		✨	✅	✅	The "Arial" typeface, containing Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Chinese and Japanese characters
`Arial_kr.ttf`		✨	✅	✅	The "Arial" typeface, containing Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters
`Tahoma.ttf`		✨	✅	✅	The "Tahoma" typeface, containing Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Armenian, Hebrew, Arabic and Thai characters
`yahei_Arial.ttf`	✨	✅	✅	✅	The "Arial" typeface, containing Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters

Images (Used)

As far as I am aware, all of the below images are actively used by the 20230515 version of the firmware; happy to take any corrections if it turns out any of them are unused! Note that while the stock theme is based around a 640x480 resolution, the actual display on the SF2000 is a 320x240 one. The OS on the device uses nearest-neighbour scaling for its images, giving the stock UI a somewhat aliased appearance. If you're planning to make your own theme for the SF2000, design it for 320x240, and then double the resolution when exporting the final images to the device for a crisper look on the internal panel. I've written a generic image tool for the SF2000 - it lets you convert SF2000-formatted images to PNG files, and lets you convert PNG or JPEG images to SF2000 formats (which may be useful if you want to theme your device); you can find this tool here.

Filename	Resolution	Format	03.15	04.20	05.15	05.22	Description	View
`aepic.nec`	1008x164	BGRA		✨	🚩	✅	User settings screen icons and labels in Korean	view
`apisa.dlk`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	🚩	✅	Arcade game-list background	view
`appvc.ikb`	150x214	BRGA	✨	✅	✅	✅	Game art placeholder	view
`awusa.tax`	1008x164	BRGA		✨	🚩	✅	User settings screen icons and labels in Thai	view
`bisrv.nec`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	In-game menu (position 3)	view
`bttlve.kbp`	60x144	BGRA	✨	✅	✅	✅	Battery level indicator icons	view
`c1eac.pal`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	SNES game-list background	view
`cero.phl`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Game Boy Color game-list background	view
`certlm.msa`	40x24	BGRA	✨	✅	✅	✅	NES game-list indicator	view
`cketp.bvs`	640x816	RGB565 Little Endian			✨	✅	The console selection images at the bottom of the new button mapping feature screen	view
`d2d1.hgp`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	In-game menu (position 2)	view
`dism.cef`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	In-game menu (position 1)	view
`djctq.rsd`	40x24	BGRA	✨	✅	✅	✅	SNES game-list indicator	view
`djoin.nec`	1008x164	BRGA		✨	🚩	✅	User settings screen icons and labels in Spanish	view
`dpskc.ctp`	640x320	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	In-game menu save-state slots (positions 1, 2, 3 and 4)	view
`drivr.ers`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	SNES main menu background	view
`dsuei.cpl`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	🚩	✅	User ROMs main menu background	view
`dxdiag.bin`	40x24	BGRA	✨	✅	✅	✅	Genesis/Mega Drive game-list indicator	view
`dxkgi.ctp`	1008x164	BRGA	✨	✅	🚩	✅	User settings screen icons and labels in English	view
`dxva2.nec`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Search keyboard (pressed)	view
`ectte.bke`	161x126	BRGA	✨	✅	✅	✅	Main menu icon selection box	view
`efsui.stc`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	🚩	✅	Game Boy Advance game-list background	view
`esent.bvs`	1008x164	BRGA		✨	🚩	✅	User settings screen icons and labels in Turkish	view
`exaxz.hsp`	152x1224	BRGA	✨	🚩	✅	✅	Main menu "Games Exist" and "Start: Open" labels for all languages	view
`fixas.ctp`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	NES main menu background	view
`fltmc.sta`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Game Boy game-list background	view
`fvecpl.ai`	40x24	BGRA	✨	✅	✅	✅	Game Boy game-list indicator	view
`gakne.ctp`	576x256	BGRA			✨	✅	A new copy of the English menu labels image, identical to older versions of `dxkgi.ctp` (which was changed entirely in `05.15`)	view
`gkavc.ers`	576x256	BGRA			✨	✅	A new copy of the Chinese menu labels image, identical to older versions of `itiss.ers` (which was changed entirely in `05.15`)	view
`gpsvc.bvs`	392x80	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	In-game menu save-state slot (position 3)	view
`hctml.ers`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Arcade main menu background	view
`hgcpl.cke`	392x80	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	In-game menu save-state slot (position 2)	view
`hlink.bvs`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Search keyboard (hover)	view
`htui.kcc`	40x24	BGRA	✨	✅	✅	✅	Game Boy Color game-list indicator	view
`icm32.dll`	40x24	BGRA	✨	✅	✅	✅	Game Boy Advance game-list indicator	view
`icuin.cpl`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Genesis/Mega Drive main menu background	view
`igc64.dll`	217x37	BGRA	✨	✅	✅	✅	"Yes" and "No" text, with "No" selected; used when being asked if you want to overwrite a save-game slot	view
`ihdsf.bke`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Genesis/Mega Drive game-list background	view
`irftp.ctp`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Game Boy Advance main menu background	view
`irmon.tax`	1008x164	BRGA		✨	🚩	✅	User settings screen icons and labels in Dutch	view
`itiss.ers`	1008x164	BRGA	✨	✅	🚩	✅	User settings screen icons and labels in Chinese	view
`jccatm.kbp`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	"Battery Empty" screen	view
`ke89a.bvs`	1008x164	BRGA		✨	🚩	✅	User settings screen icons and labels in Portuguese	view
`kmbcj.acp`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian			✨	✅	The full-screen background image for the new button mapping screen	view
`ksxbar.ax`	392x80	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	In-game menu save-state slot (position 4)	view
`lfsvc.dll`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Search game-list background	view
`lk7tc.bvs`	52x192	BGRA			✨	✅	Transparent labels for the button assignments in the new button mapping feature; these are the ones overlaid on the big SF2000 image showing the current assignments	view
`lkvax.aef`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian			✨	✅	History game-list background	view
`mkhbc.rcv`	640x1440	RGB565 Little Endian			✨	✅	Six vertically-stacked images of the SF2000 with different buttons highlighted, used as part of the new button mapping feature's UI	view
`mksh.rcv`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Search keyboard (normal)	view
`msdmo.gdb`	392x80	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	In-game menu save-state slot (position 1)	view
`msgsm.dll`	40x24	BGRA	✨	✅	✅	✅	Arcade game-list indicator	view
`mssvp.nec`	1008x164	BRGA		✨	🚩	✅	User settings screen icons and labels in Japanese	view
`normidna.bin`	40x24	BGRA	✨	✅	✅	✅	Search game-list indicator	view
`ntdll.bvs`	1008x164	BRGA		✨	🚩	✅	User settings screen icons and labels in Polish	view
`nvinf.hsp`	16x240	BGRA	✨	✅	✅	✅	Latin numbers 0 to 9 listed vertically, used for the number of games available in each main menu category	view
`okcg2.old`	32x32	BGRA			✨	✅	The star icon that appears beside favourited games in the game-lists	view
`pcadm.nec`	1008x164	BRGA		✨	🚩	✅	User settings screen icons and labels in Italian	view
`pwsso.occ`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	In-game menu (position 4)	view
`qasf.bel`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	🚩	✅	User game-list background	view
`qwave.bke`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Game Boy Color main menu background	view
`rmapi.tax`	1008x164	BRGA		✨	🚩	✅	User settings screen icons and labels in German	view
`sdclt.occ`	120x240	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	🚩	🚩	✅	TV system selection icons	view
`sensc.bvs`	1008x164	BRGA		✨	🚩	✅	User settings screen icons and labels in French	view
`sfcdr.cpl`	576x1344	BRGA	✨	🚩	✅	✅	Main menu system logos	view
`subst.tax`	1008x164	BRGA		✨	🚩	✅	User settings screen icons and labels in Russian	view
`ucby4.aax`	1008x164	BRGA		✨	🚩	✅	User settings screen icons and labels in Arabic	view
`urlkp.bvs`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	NES game-list background	view
`uyhbc.dck`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian			✨	✅	Favourites game-list background	view
`vidca.bvs`	1008x164	BRGA		✨	🚩	✅	User settings screen icons and labels in Hebrew	view
`vssvc.nec`	1008x164	BRGA		✨	🚩	✅	User settings screen icons and labels in Malay	view
`wshrm.nec`	217x37	BGRA	✨	✅	✅	✅	"Yes" and "No" text, with "Yes" selected; used when being asked if you want to overwrite a save-game slot	view
`xajkg.hsp`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Game Boy main menu background	view
`ztrba.nec`	64x320	RGB565 Little Endian			✨	✅	Non-transparent labels for the button assignments in the new button mapping feature; these are the ones that pop up when you go to change a button assignment	view

Images (Unused)

To the best of my knowledge, the following image files are currently unused by the 20230515 firmware, and were probably left over from previous devices (the SF2000 shares a bit of lineage with some USB-stick devices) or development. The images marked "Alternate UI" below appear to have been for a UI where the systems were scrolled through horizontally, and the "shortcut" games for each system were scrolled vertically.

Filename	Resolution	Format	03.15	04.20	05.15	05.22	Description	View
`aeinv.bke`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Alternate UI: Genesis/Mega Drive main menu background	view
`aepic.ers`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Alternate UI: User main menu background	view
`c1e.pal`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	CPS2 game-list background	view
`cca.bvs`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	In-game menu (position 1; Chinese language hardcoded)	view
`dectMap.key`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Button test screen (active)	view
`desk.cpl`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Eight-game selection screen	view
`djoin.hsp`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Alternate UI: Arcade main menu background	view
`fcont.ctp`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Alternate UI: User main menu background	view
`fdbil.ph`	1100x120	BGRA	✨	✅	✅	✅	Large icons for each system, including systems not supported by the SF2000 (selected)	view
`gpapi.bvs`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	In-game menu (position 5; looks like it was for some kind of button layout changing UI)	view
`ihds.bke`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Genesis/Mega Drive game-list background, with baked-in thumbnail placeholder	view
`kdill.hsp`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Alternate UI: Game Boy Advance main menu background	view
`logilda.be`	40x24	BGRA	✨	✅	✅	✅	CPS1 game-list indicator	view
`mfc64.emc`	40x24	BGRA	✨	✅	✅	✅	CPS2 game-list indicator	view
`mfpmp.ers`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Alternate UI: Arcade main menu background	view
`mhg4s.ihg`	400x192	RGB565 Little Endian			✨	✅	Background and buttons for a "warning" prompt with "OK", "Yes" and "No" buttons. Also has rounded edges stored in a separate image file, `zaqrc.olc`	view
`mrtac.klo`	40x24	BGRA	✨	✅	✅	✅	Neo Geo game-list indicator	view
`msdtc.bke`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Alternate UI: Game Boy Advance main menu background	view
`mswbv.cpl`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Alternate UI: Game Boy Advance main menu background	view
`nettrace.dll`	40x24	BGRA	✨	✅	✅	✅	Unknown game-list indicator (grey joystick with yellow buttons)	view
`nsibm.ctp`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Alternate UI: Arcade main menu background	view
`nvinfohsp`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Alternate UI: Genesis/Mega Drive main menu background (note: there's no extension separator for this file, I suspect the file name is typo'd in the filesystem!)	view
`pcadm.hsp`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Alternate UI: User main menu background (NTSC TV system selected)	view
`plasy.ers`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Alternate UI: Game Boy Advance main menu background	view
`rmapi.cpl`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Alternate UI: User main menu background (English UI language selected)	view
`seltMap.key`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Button test screen	view
`spmpm.gdp`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Alternate UI: NES game-list background, with baked-in thumbnail placeholder	view
`subst.bke`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Alternate UI: Arcade main menu background	view
`tsmcf.cpl`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Alternate UI: Arcade main menu background	view
`url.bvs`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	CPS1 game-list background	view
`werui.ioc`	320x240	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	"NODATA" save-state thumbnail placeholder image, with a "horror" style typeface	view
`wshom.ocx`	1100x120	BGRA	✨	✅	✅	✅	Large icons for each system, including systems not supported by the SF2000 (normal)	view
`x86e.hgp`	640x480	RGB565 Little Endian	✨	✅	✅	✅	Neo Geo game-list background	view
`zaqrc.olc`	8x224	BGRA			✨	✅	Rounded ends that pair with the warning dialogue stored in `mhg4s.ihg`	view

Other Files

These are other files that have been identified, which don't fit into the other categories. Non-Latin characters in the files are encoded in UTF-8.

Filename	03.15	04.20	05.15	05.22	Description
`Archive.sys`	✨	🚩	✅	✅	Stores the settings for UI language and TV system. Two 32-bit words (4-bytes), little endian. The first is UI language; `0x00000000` is English, `0x01000000` is Chinese, etc.. The second is the TV system setting; `0x00000000` is NTSC, `0x01000000` is PAL. Note the "🚩" icon here indicates the format of the data, or the permissible values were changed (as opposed to the data itself, which will vary from device to device based on user settings)
`bfrjd.odb`		✨	🚩	✅	UI strings in Korean
`bxvtb.sby`		✨	🚩	✅	UI strings in Thai
`dufdr.cwr`		✨	🚩	✅	UI strings in Turkish
`eknjo.ofd`		✨	🚩	✅	UI strings in Spanish
`fhshl.skb`	✨	✅	🚩	✅	UI strings in English
`Foldername.ini`	✨	🚩	🚩	✅	Used to control menu rotation for the main menu; see below for more notes on this
`History.bin`			✨	✅	Used to store the history of played ROMs; only appears after the first game is played after installing the 05.15 or later firmware. User ROMs are not added to history, only built-in games. If a built-in game that is referenced in history is removed from the device, the device will crash when trying to view the History screen. You can delete the History.bin file to clear the device's history; there is no built-in functionality to do so
`jsnno.uby`		✨	🚩	✅	UI strings in Dutch
`kcbn7.avc`		✨	❌		Duplicate copy of `bisrv.asd`, the main firmware for the device which is found in the BIOS folder
`KeyMapInfo.kmp`			✨	✅	Used to store the user-assignable global button mappings for each emulated system
`lf9lb.cut`		✨	🚩	✅	UI strings in Portuguese
`ntrcq.oba`		✨	🚩	✅	UI strings in Japanese
`ouenj.dut`		✨	🚩	✅	UI strings in Polish
`qdbec.ofd`		✨	🚩	✅	UI strings in Italian
`sgotd.cwt`		✨	🚩	✅	UI strings in French
`snbqj.uby`		✨	🚩	✅	UI strings in German
`t2act.sgf`	✨	✅	🚩	✅	UI strings in Chinese
`Test.zsf`		✨	❌		A SNES ROM, which displays a controller test program
`tvctu.uby`		✨	🚩	✅	UI strings in Russian
`vdaz5.bjk`		✨	🚩	✅	UI strings in Arabic
`wtrxj.lbd`		✨	🚩	✅	UI strings in Malay
`xjebd.clq`		✨	🚩	✅	UI strings in Hebrew

Foldername.ini

This file controls some of the UI settings for the main menu. It's a plain-text file, but not an actual INI file. It's contents from the May 22nd firmware (just as an example) are as follows:

SF2000
17
FFFFFF
FF8000 ROMS
FF8000 FC
FF8000 SFC
FF8000 MD
FF8000 GB
FF8000 GBC
FF8000 GBA
FF8000 ARCADE
FF8000 ROMS
FF8000 ROMS
8 7 0
24 184 144 208
40 24

And here's my current understanding of what each line is used for:

SF2000: The name of the device; I don't believe it's actively used anywhere, please correct me if I'm wrong!
17: The number of languages supported by the firmware
FFFFFF: Hexadecimal colour (RGB) for the general game-list texts, and the x/yyy game count in the top-right corner of each game-list
FF8000 ROMS: The first defined main menu section (the sections that are scrolled vertically on the main menu). Internally they are numbered from 0; so the ROMS section (user ROMs and settings) is 0, FC (NES) is 1, SFC (SNES) is 2, etc.. The FF8000 is the hexadecimal colour (RGB) to display the text of the currently selected/highlighted game in the list; the default colour is orange. Side note: after the ARCADE section, there's two additional ROMS sections; the firmware is hard-coded to have ten sections. The SF2000 appears to share its firmware with other similar devices, and some of those devices feature different menu sections (e.g., "CPS1", "Neo Geo", etc.). I suspect that the best of those systems has ten sections in its main menu, which doesn't match up with the eight sections on the SF2000 (seven supported systems + the user ROMs/settings section). As the firmware requires ten sections to be defined, they just repeated the ROMS section to fill in the remaining places. Like I say, that's just a guess!
8 7 0: This is used to control the main menu rotation. 8 tells the firmware how many main menu sections are actually in-use on this device; for the SF2000 that's seven supported consoles + the user ROMs/settings section, for eight total. 7 tells the firmware which menu section to default to when the device boots up, which is why by default it always starts in the ARCADE section. 0 tells the firmware which section to display the special "user settings" menu on (the one with History, Favourites, TV System, Language, etc.). So for example, if you wanted the SF2000 to start up on the user ROMs/settings screen instead of Arcade, you could change this line to read 8 0 0
24 184 144 208: These numbers control the position and size of the game artwork in each system's game-list. The first two numbers are the X and Y coordinates from the top-left corner of the screen for where to start drawing the artwork; the second two numbers are the width and height of the artwork to draw. Note that the SF2000 doesn't do any image scaling; the dimensions are for the rectangular area the device will begin adding each pixel of the source artwork to. If the artwork's dimensions don't exactly match the dimensions specified here, the artwork will not display properly
40 24: The width and height of the icon shown beside the currently selected/highlighted game in a game-list. Again, these are the dimensions of the rectangular area the SF2000 draws the pixel data into, so if these numbers don't match the dimensions of the list indicator image, the image will not display properly

NOTE: While the text colours above work just fine with the SF2000 first boots up, after loading a game and returning to the menu the general game-list/game count colour reverts to an off-white colour, and is likely being pulled from inside the BIOS somewhere. Also note that currently there is no way to choose a highlight colour for the Favourites or History sections - those are fixed at the stock orange colour (FF8000), and are almost certainly hardcoded in the BIOS as well.

ROM Lists

Credit for this section goes to taizou#9644, author of FROGTOOL. These files relate to the built-in game-lists under each main system; the list of games is pulled from these files instead of being built at runtime - annoying, but presumably for performance reasons. It means if you want to change the list of built-in games (instead of using the User ROMs section), you have to edit these files - hence FROGTOOL, you should really check it out.

Files	Description
`mfpmp.bvs` (Arcade), `mgdel.bvs` (Game Boy Color), `nethn.bvs` (NES), `qdvd6.bvs` (Game Boy), `sppnp.bvs` (Game Boy Advance), `wmiui.bvs` (Genesis/Mega Drive), `xvb6c.bvs` (SNES)	Pinyin translations of the English ROM names, used for Chinese language searching. Not all game names are translated
`adsnt.nec` (SNES), `fhcfg.nec` (NES), `htuiw.nec` (Game Boy Advance), `msdtc.nec` (Arcade), `setxa.nec` (Genesis/Mega Drive), `umboa.nec` (Game Boy), `wjere.nec` (Game Boy Color)	Chinese translations of the English ROM names, used to display the game-lists when the UI language is set to Chinese. Not all game names are translated
`mswb7.tax` (Arcade), `pnpui.tax` (Game Boy Color), `rdbui.tax` (NES), `scksp.tax` (Genesis/Mega Drive), `urefs.tax` (SNES), `vdsdc.tax` (Game Boy), `vfnet.tax` (Game Boy Advance)	English ROM Names, used to display the game-lists when the UI language is set to English
`xfgle.hgp`, `xfgle.hgp.bak`	The `xfgle.hgp` file contains the ROM "shortcuts" on the main menu for each game system. The `xfgle.hgp.bak` file appears to be a test version of this file that was not removed from the firmware before being sent to production
`TSMFK.TAX`	This is a ROM list file similar to the other `.tax` files, except it is built at run-time from the ROM files in the user roms folder. The file is regenerated each time the device boots

Sounds

There are several sound files in the 20230420 firmware, stored in raw signed 16-bit PCM format (mono, little-endian at 22050 Hz). The SF2000 seems to play the files back at an incorrect sample rate vs. the raw data; if you want to customise the background music, resample your audio to 21560 Hz (21561.1 Hz is technically precise, but 21560 Hz is easer to remember, and all but the most exacting of human ears is unlikely to detect the difference), and then speed the audio up to 22050 Hz, using the resulting audio as the raw data (credit to notv37#4200 in Discord for doing the initial discovery math, and to ``osaka#9664` for doing technical follow-up in the firmware - you can read their deep-dive into the details here (Discord link)).

If you want to do it using Audacity , the steps are:

Open your audio file
Click the "Audio Setup" button on the top toolbar, choose "Audio Settings..."
- Set "Project Sample Rate" to "22050 Hz"
- Click "OK"
Click the "Select" button in the lower-left corner of your audio track area to select all the audio
If your track is stereo, downmix to mono: "Tracks" menu > "Mix" > "Mix Stereo Down to Mono"
"Tracks" menu > "Resample..."
- Set "New sample rate (Hz)" to "22050"
- Click "OK"
"Effect" menu > "Pitch and Tempo" > "Change Speed..."
- Set "Speed Multiplier" to "1.023"
- Click "Apply" (your audio will now sound slightly too high-pitched if you play it back, but don't worry - the SF2000 plays everything slightly slow/low-pitched, so we speed/pitch things up before exporting so it plays back correctly)
"File" menu > "Export" > "Export Audio..."
- Set "Save as type" to "Other uncompressed files"
- In "Format Options", set "Header" to "RAW (header-less)"; set "Encoding" to "Signed 16-bit PCM"
- Enter your "File name", and click "Save"
- If the "Edit Metadata Tags" window appears, just leave everything blank and click "OK"

Filename	03.15	04.20	05.15	05.22	Description	Listen
`c2fkec.pgt`	✨	✅	🚩	✅	"Popping" sound that is played when moving around the search keyboard	listen
`dpnet.dll`	✨	✅	✅	✅	"Downwards Zap" sound, unknown usage	listen
`dsreg.bvs`	✨	✅	✅	✅	"Upwards Bleeping" sound, unknown usage	listen
`help.lis`	✨	✅	✅	✅	"Double Buzzer" sound, unknown usage	listen
`mfsvr.nkf`	✨	✅	🚩	✅	"Beep" sound that is played when entering a letter on the search keyboard	listen
`nyquest.gdb`	✨	✅	🚩	✅	"Whooshing" sound that is played when switching between emulated systems on the main menu, between the "Resume", "Quit", "Load" and "Save" options on the in-game menu, and scrolling by pages within a system's game-list	listen
`oldversion.kbe`	✨	✅	🚩	✅	"Three Note Upward Chime" sound that is played when deleting a letter on the search keyboard	listen
`pagefile.sys`	✨	✅	🚩	✅	Main menu background music. If you don't like background music, and would rather just have silence, you can find a replacement silent `pagefile.sys` here - just replace the one in the `Resources` folder (don't forget to backup the original file first, in case you ever want that jaunty tune again!)	listen
`swapfile.sys`	✨	✅	✅	✅	"Squishy" sound played when navigating horizontally through "shortcut" games on the main menu, or vertically within a system's game-list	listen

Unknown Files

These are files that I have not yet determined what they do; if anyone has any information on these, do post about it in the Data Frog channel in the Retro Handhelds Discord server please!

Filename	03.15	04.20	05.15	05.22	Description
`kcnuv.lit`	✨	✅	✅	✅	UNKNOWN; a bunch of 4-byte binary chunks (e.g., `0xC4 0x00 0x00 0x00`), followed by a list of .NES ROM file names. Very similar to the `.bvs`/`.nec`/`.tax` files detailed above, but doesn't have the same type of "header" they have

Notes For Theme Creators

This section isn't really about the Resources files per-se, but it's tangentally related. The fact that the SF2000's UI resources are pulled from the microSD card opens up the door to "theming" the device, which is great. However, if you do decide you want to make a theme for the SF2000, here's a few things I've found that you may want to bear in mind:

If you're including background music in your theme, note that when the SF2000 starts up it fails to output about the first 1 second of audio; therefore, if you'd like the person using your theme to hear your background music from the start, cut one second off the end of your background music loop, and move it to the start of the loop instead.
If you're creating custom system logos (sfcdr.cpl), make sure the logos don't overlap the "Games Exist" image's screen area (exaxz.hsp, top-left coordinate 456, 88, width and height 152, 72); the main menu compositor clips an area of the section's background image behind where the "Games Exist" artwork will be drawn, renders the "Games Exist" artwork into that clipped section, and then draws the result on top of the system logo. As a result, any pixels of the system logo that should be visible in that area will be replaced by the background image, even if you make the "Games Exist" image fully transparent. Removing the exaxz.hsp file entirely doesn't work either, as you get garbage drawn on the screen in the same area instead. The only section not impacted by this is the "User ROMs and Settings" section, as on that screen the "Games Exist" artwork is not drawn.
- There's a workaround, but it's not perfect: you can bake a system's logo directly into the background for its main-menu section, and make it's portion of sfcdr.cpl fully transparent (so that you don't see the logo physically moving). As the code for drawing the "Games Exist" image pulls from the section's background, it'll pull the portion that overlaps with the system logo and render that too. The downside is that the poor draw code of the stock OS only updates the horizontal portion of the screen that contains the rotating logos during section transitions, and only draws the lower portion of the screen (the bit under the rotating logos) afterwards. So baking your logo into background for the section will create some artificial "latency" for the theme user - they'll see the new logo appear instantly, then have to wait the quarter second for the invisible "rotation" animation to complete, before the lower portion of the screen with the new shortcuts for the new section appears.
- One other workaround (that's even worse than the first workaround): bake just the portion of the system logo that overlaps with exaxz.hsp into the background. Doing it this way, you can still have your custom system logo in sfcdr.cpl, and still have it in the rotation animation (which gives the user something to look at, and reduces that fake "latency" feeling from the workaround above)... but you'll see the bit of logo baked into the background appear instantly, and then the rotating logo will slide up/down to meet it, so it'll still look a bit janky. So really it comes down to picking your particular flavour of jank: scaling your logos to avoid the exaxz.hsp screen area (which might leave you with a lot of empty space), baking your logo into the section background (adding fake "latency" to the experience), or only partially baking your logo into the section background (which will make things look jank during the rotation animation, but perfect otherwise)... the decision is yours!
When designing your theme, think carefully about the use case in which you want your theme to look best. Although the SF2000 uses many different UI images at many different scales, internally the screen area it draws to is 640 x 480 pixels in size. However, the actual physical display is only 320 x 240; as the SF2000's OS does not do any image resampling when downscaling its UI output to the screen, what essentially happens is every second row and column of pixels is thrown away - and as a result, a theme designed for the internal 640 x 480 resolution can look a bit aliased or "jagged" on the internal display. If you want your theme to look pixel-perfect on the internal display, design it for 320 x 240 instead (i.e., for any image asset you create, design and create it at half of the original resolution of the same file in the stock SF2000 theme), and perform a nearest-neighbour upscale of the image back to the original resolution when converting it to an SF2000 data format. The resulting images will be pixel perfect on the internal display. HOWEVER... there is one major downside to do thing this: AV output. When using the AV output of the SF2000, it does so at 576i - higher than the resolution of the internal display. If you're using a theme that was scaled up from a 320 x 240 design base, you can clearly see pixelisation of the UI assets on the external display; a 640 x 480 based theme displays smooth assets. So what if you want to design a theme that looks decently sharp (not aliased) on the internal display, and looks decently smooth on an external display, then design your theme for three-quarters resolution (480 x 360 design base), and do a bilinear upscale to 640 x 480 based resolutions during final data conversion. To summarise:
- If you only care about how your theme looks on the internal display, and don't care about how it looks on AV output, design for a 320 x 240 base resolution and do a nearest-neighbour 2x upscale when converting to SF2000 formats
- If you only care about how your theme looks via AV out, and don't care about it looking alised/jagged on the internal display, design for the regular 640 x 480 base
- If you care about both display types, and want your theme to look great (but not perfect) on both, design for a three-quarters 480 x 360 base, and do a bilinear upscale to regular 640 x 480 base resolutions when converting to SF2000 formats

Tools and Links

All of these are linked above already in their relevant sections, but just in case you prefer to see them as a pulled-out list, here they are again:

BIOS CRC32 Patcher
Boot Logo Changer
Button Mapping Tool
Community DataFrog SF2000 Compatibility List
Data Frog's firmware update tutorial
FROGTOOL (for updating the built-in game lists)
Generic Image Tool
Silent background music file (replace the file in the Resources folder on the microSD card)

Version History

20230530 - 1.15: Added link to the community ROM compatibility list. Added some personal notes for theme creators.
20230529 - 1.14: Updated the main menu BGM sample rate details with the latest findings from osaka#9664. Clarified which menu text colour resets after exiting a game. Added a note about charging safety (thanks for your sacrifices, Zerter#4954! 🫡)
20230526 - 1.13: Updated Audacity instructions to support latest version of Audacity. Added a BIOS CRC32 patcher tool for the reckless and brave. Added a note about Foldername.ini text colours reverting after loading a game (thanks Zerter#4954!)
20230525 - 1.12: Added a section about the internals of the Foldername.ini file. Added a note to the Arcade section about the "inrom" column in adcockm#8175's metadata document. Added a small firmware note for the May 22nd about community-spotted GBA performance improvements. Added specific emulator versions and Git commit links for each emulator (thanks osaka#9664 and notv37#4200!). Added specific steps for producting SF2000-format audio files using Audacity.
20230524 - 1.11: Added my new Generic Image Tool. Added more exceptional information from adcockm#8175 in regards to arcade emulation on the SF2000, and cleaned up the old info accordingly. Corrected some typos related to bisrv.asd (thanks Luke#4448!). Usage of nvinf.hsp was tracked down to the numbers of games available on the main menu pages (thanks kid_sinn#9691!).
20230522 - 1.10: Updated resource tables for the new 05.22 firmware (no changes); added a table with details about known firmware versions. Added a "Tools & Links" section.
20230516 - 1.9: Updated most of the Resources file lists to include firmware-related information (added, (un)changed, removed). Added new image resources for the latest May 15th firmware. Updated some images files previews to contain the fake name extensions as well. Added detail about the removal of per-game button maps from May 15th firmware. Renamed the sound previews to contain the fake name extensions as well.
20230513 - 1.8: Discovered two "unused" images (the yes/no buttons) are indeed actually used, when being asked if you want to overwrite a saved game. Fixed a few typos. Changed formatting of file names used throughout. A bit more info on A/V out.
20230512 - 1.7: Added a note about stock battery runtime. Added a section with information about A/V output performance. Added a bit of info about PAL/NTSC region speed for Genesis/Mega Drive. Retitled the "bisrv.asd" section to make it clearer that's the BIOS/firmware.
20230511 - 1.6: Added a quick note about the display panel to the Hardware section, and added a new section for Emulators, including an incredible collection of ROM notes for Arcade thanks to adcockm#8175! Also added a "silent" background music file for download, and a table of contents (this page is getting fairly long 😅). Added a favicon.ico to get rid of that one annoying console error.
20230510 - 1.5: Added additional detail to the Hardware section about the buttons, d-pad, thumb-stick, battery, and wireless controller support.
20230510 - 1.4: Added my own version of osaka#9664's button mapping tool at their request, and changed the link in the Key Mapping section accordingly.
20230509 - 1.3: Added more details about how the boot logo ends up scaled on the screen, as well as a link to a new tool I wrote for altering the logo. Corrected one small formatting error.
20230508 - 1.2: Added details for Archive.sys - thanks to osaka#9664 for the hints on what it related to!
20230507 - 1.1: Some "unknown" files from the Resources folder identified with taizou#9644's help (thanks!); moved them to the Sounds and Rom Lists sections with details. Only two files left!
20230507 - 1.0: Original creation of this page.

60 KiB Raw Blame History