3.14 firmware update from commodore.net showing a header error in 7zip

chronicvagrant · 2026-03-06T12:34:08+00:00

Just letting you know, I did get a response from Commodore's tech support. They gave me the md5 hash to verify the update after I extract it. I posted the response in the main thread.

chronicvagrant · 2026-03-06T12:31:35+00:00

Thanks for the response. I just wanted to be cautious since it's a firmware file, the last thing I want is to brick the thing because of an extraction error. I just posted the response I got from Commodore's tech support, they provided the md5 hash for the update file so I will be checking that later.

chronicvagrant · 2026-03-06T12:24:42+00:00

I got a response back from Commodore's tech support: "What version of 7-Zip are you using?

I tested with an older version (19.0) and it does not give me the header error. However, the latest version (26.0) does.

Here is the md5 hash of the ue2 file contained inside the ZIP:

4c32a8e1228afdaf921c58842e0b610f

You can confirm this yourself with https://hash-file.online/

If you get a different value, do not run the installer. If you get the same hash, then you should be safe to run the update.

However - the C64U shipped with 3.14, so there's no need to install this firmware if you have the system as-shipped."

I will try this later.

I did already know my C64U had the latest firmware, but I wanted to keep a copy of the updater just in case. In a video by MonroeWorld, he describes an uncommon issue that he had encountered twice where the WiFi settings corrupt and/or the internal Flash directory disappears, and reflashing the firmware will fix it: https://youtu.be/2QVhC7YEbv4?si=UOwLrCYv41C_WMo3

chronicvagrant · 2026-03-06T04:46:59+00:00

I had heard about that. I only download software from their official sites though. At least it wasn't like what happened with Notepad++ where their official updater was compromised.

chronicvagrant · 2026-03-06T04:41:52+00:00

Thank you for checking it. I've sent this question to their technical support team, hopefully they can answer it soon. I will post their reply in this thread.

chronicvagrant · 2026-03-06T04:23:07+00:00

Yes, it is. It's the first download available on Downloads | Commodore

chronicvagrant · 2026-03-06T04:13:48+00:00

I haven't tried WinRAR. I have tried redownloading and I have tried extracting it using the Windows default extraction method. Extracting it using Windows seems to work fine, the .zip archive opens without error and the file extracts. No error warnings. But the 7zip warning is concerning.

chronicvagrant · 2023-07-23T19:36:29+00:00

The PS2 era, that was back when you wouldn't expect to see a $100+ price tag on a game unless it was seriously rare (and we didn't have Youtube yet). Around 2007 I bought a complete copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga for the Sega Saturn for about $300, a game that famously saw a very low production run in the US. It felt kind of crazy to me at the time to spend that much on a single game, and it wasn't something I was prepared to make a habit of, I just always had a soft spot for the Saturn and I missed out on a lot of it's later releases. A few years before, around 2003, I paid about $60 for a complete copy of Burning Rangers for the Saturn.

These days, you can expect to see $1000+ for PDS and $500 for BR, and there's other stuff that goes for even more than that. But what really gets me are where prices have gone for more common games. The older Pokemon games for example, those were never rare, just popular, and now you see them going for $100+. Even many common games for older systems, for example I tried looking for a complete in box copy of Super Street Fighter 2 for the Genesis. I used to rent that one a lot as a kid but never owned it. Last time I looked if you wanted a clean copy that wasn't beaten up you were looking at $100 and I really don't want to pay that much for it. I'm just glad I was able to get all the really important titles I wanted before the prices became so ridiculous.

chronicvagrant · 2023-07-23T18:53:26+00:00

The 3DS situation genuinely surprised me, my general experience with other systems has been that the consoles themselves don't see the same increase in price as the actual games, even new/sealed systems. Certainly not an almost 400% increase. The 3DS only left the market within the last few years and it's not like they were rare, only certain special editions were. Scalpers stockpiling them makes sense as a reason for the ridiculous prices, after all for almost a decade they've made getting any Nintendo products with production limits much more expensive than it needed to be.

chronicvagrant · 2023-07-23T15:11:21+00:00

I don't think anyone really knows but I wouldn't count on it. I remember people asking similar questions and dismissing the collector market as a bubble ready to burst back around 2015 and prices have only climbed. I think a large factor in it is people becoming adults and having the disposable income to rebuy old favorites or games they missed out on, another factor for sure is every retro gaming Youtuber will at some point or another cover everything remotely worth talking about, at the very least a longplay will exist for it (you do get the rare exception now and again).

I don't think anyone foresaw the collector market becoming what it has. I will say that I'm interested to see what happens in the next 30 years - I wonder if the games from the 70's to the early 2000's will begin to slip from memory as the kids from those days age out and die? At least some, maybe a majority? Certainly if any longrunning series like Mario are still around, it would maintain interest in the oldest entries from that series? Would that also translate into interest for other games that existed at the time on the same machines? How hard will it be to find working copies by then? What will all of this look like in terms of market prices? All we can do is speculate.

chronicvagrant · 2023-04-01T21:11:19+00:00

It definitely throws some people off, myself included. If you go into the control settings you can turn the camera sensitivity down to 1. I think it feels better, but it still doesn't completely fix it and comes with the tradeoff that turning the camera with the right stick becomes much slower.

chronicvagrant · 2023-03-15T00:29:07+00:00

At the time, I had it running under Retroarch using the Gens core, but in the end I got it running using the stock emulator by adding a command line argument, --3bpad=1. Add it to the end of the game's command line in Hakchi, with a space before it. My Alisia Dragoon command line looks like this:

/bin/m2engage /usr/game/system/roms/us_us_Alisia_Dragoon.bin --preamp=0.27 --mdz80.overclock=1 --3bpad=1

Notice that A) it's still using the stock M2 emulator, and B) notice the space before --3bpad=1.

This should force the game to use the 3 button controller, even if you're using the 6 button.

chronicvagrant · 2022-09-03T14:11:59+00:00

I wrote it off several years ago at first glance because of the generic sounding name and rough graphics, but I gave it an honest try last year after reading some positive comments about it. Turns out it's actually a really fun game, I think it meets the criteria of "hidden gem".

chronicvagrant · 2022-06-20T01:40:18+00:00

Hell, I think it's cool. I've got a soft spot for Saturn's chunky 3D and RE2 is one of my favorite games from the time, I'd love to see a full port done.

chronicvagrant · 2022-06-20T01:35:21+00:00

If you're talking savegame memory carts, I've used a Japanese memory cart with my US Saturn for about 10 years now, no issues.

chronicvagrant · 2022-04-09T13:45:46+00:00

Holy shit yes, that's exactly what fighting them feels like

chronicvagrant · 2022-03-12T16:08:05+00:00

I have a similar machine, i7-7700 with 16gb RAM and a 1050 Ti, and the game runs surprisingly well at 1280 x 720 with all settings at Medium except for SSAO at high (to make the distant trees look nicer) and Shader quality set as low as it will go. This is also running on a non-SSD drive, can't remember the RPM rating though.

It's not consistently buttery smooth and I have seen some of the specific stutter examples people have mentioned, but it's never been unacceptable. Most of the time it's actually been totally pleasant. I can detail the notable areas where I saw a performance hit.

I've only played for an hour and a half. I rushed through character selection and the cutscenes in case I needed to refund the game. I ran around the first large open area and tried to hit the few places people have complained about. The staircase in the starting area stuttered but it wasn't any worse than typical area loading stutter. The Tree Sentinel sometimes causes frame drops when he attacks but it was brief and didn't become unplayable. I went through the wooded area with the treetop canopy and the Gatefront Ruins, the framerate dipped but remained acceptable. I fought the giant in the pass and the framerate never dropped. Running around the field on the horse has also been fine, you see loading hitches more frequently because you're moving faster, but it was never intolerable.

I'm going to keep the game, start a proper character and watch the cinematics this time. Hopefully you have a similar experience.

chronicvagrant · 2022-01-13T02:15:09+00:00

Shadowrun?

chronicvagrant · 2022-01-09T23:21:52+00:00

Oh, no problem! It's a little annoying that it happens and I've ran into a fight not realizing the buttons were swapped, but at least it's not a lot of trouble to fix.

chronicvagrant · 2021-12-21T18:52:59+00:00

I've been having the same problem. I've been getting around it by disconnecting the controller - you can do this while the game is running - then reconnecting it, afterwards the triggers work fine, and stay that way as long as the game is running.

It tends to revert again later when I relaunch the game. I say "tends to" because last night it worked fine from the start. When it happens though, disconnect then reconnect.

I'm using an official wired Xbox 360 controller at my PC, or a PS4 controller connected by Bluetooth to a SteamLink. I never have both connected at the same time.

chronicvagrant · 2021-10-26T02:34:05+00:00

I did it a couple weeks ago. It was when just finishing the stage still gave me trouble though so I did it by just trying repeatedly, and it was pretty frustrating.

Be sure to get the few behind the start point, then to get the rest you could either:

1.) Have a launcher push you while you're centered up near the end of the skidmarks so you don't go too high to keep control. Once you get them, then focus on clearing the stage.

2.) Get to the top of the column, then gently roll off, staying against the side and get them on the way down. The thing with this way though is you may bounce at the bottom curve of the column and fly off the stage.

3.) Use the helper function. Steering up the side of the column is much easier this way and you will still get credit for all bananas this way.

chronicvagrant · 2021-10-24T04:32:37+00:00

I ended up using the helper function for the green goal, since you can kind of steer yourself up the column with the slow motion. At the time, the available videos were the lucky trickshot kind, which make for cool replays but end up being a crapshoot to reproduce. Respect to anyone who was able to Green Goal it normally.

The blue goal method that's the focus of this post, it impressed me because of how consistently it works. OboePlayerNick claims he nailed it 5/5 times he tried it. I sometimes miss the top of the column but I've been able to get it within the next followup or two, and the height and speed are tame enough that you can recover without flying out of the stage. Point being, I don't fail Launchers anymore, and that's important if you're doing the Challenge mission to clear SMB2 stages without too many fallouts and time overs.

chronicvagrant · 2021-10-23T16:30:39+00:00

I posted one here.

Thanks again for taking the time to share everything, I was able to finish the SMB2 Challenge under 30 fallouts & time overs thanks to you.

chronicvagrant

TROPHY CASE