Wizard details

Compatibility:

  • Wizard is compatbile with all FM Towns gray tower computers

While it is possible to install and use Wizard on the generation 1 (MODEL1 and MODEL2) towers, their internal construction is quite different from the later models. There is space for ODE inside but it’s not easily accesible, and care should be taken to install it in such a way as to not cause any electrical shorts to nearby PCBs or chassis. It might be preferable to use high-capacity SD card, or card slot extender cable, to avoid frequent access to ODE itself during normal operation.

IMPORTANT: Not all extender cables are of the same quality, and very long cables can cause problems, especially when parts of it run close to each other – this causes interference and glitches in the transmission that might result in game hangs.

On generation 2 towers there is an extra PCB that occupies the space where Wizard should be installed. It is possible to detach and move it out of the way to install ODE, however just like with gen 1 care should be taken to avoid any possible shorts or mechanical damage. Access to SD card slot should not be a problem though.

For more Towns information see FM Towns Details page.

Supported image types:

  • DiscJuggler – CDI
  • CloneCD – CCD+IMG+SUB
  • Alcohol 120% – MDS+MDF
  • Other – ISO / BIN

IMPORTANT: CUE format is considered broken beyond repair and not supported. ISO and BIN are only supported as single-track data images, and the difference is ISO is required to be 2048 bytes per sector while BIN is 2352 bytes per sector.

Card layout:

  • Every image must be put in a separate folder
  • Folder names must start with:
    • 2 digits for numbers 01 to 99
    • 3 digits up to 999
    • 4 digits up to 9999
  • File names in DOS 8.3 format are preferred but not strictly required
  • All image files must have appropriate extension and must be present
  • Files that do not belong to the image will be ignored

IMPORTANT: Long filenames support is currently limited to ASCII characters only.

Folder names can have extra characters after the number – for example “02 Flashback”, “107 Zak McKracken”, but care must be taken not to duplicate numbers or create holes in the numbering sequence. Any extra files present in the folder should not have extensions that might confuse image detection – for example having any BIN files along with MDS+MDF image is not a good idea.