Paramix Studio

A tool for the Tamagotchi Paradise that runs in your browser. Open a dump of the device (the 16 MB flash image), change it, save a new ROM and write it back to the device over a UART dongle.

• TamaEmu: build an emulator for colour Tamagotchis into the ROM (Plus Color, iD L, P's, 4U+, 4U). You bring your own firmware (4 MB or 8 MB). Download content (food, clothes, games ...) can be added for the 8 MB firmware. Optionally starts when the Paradise is switched on.
• T7Emu: the Tama-Go with its figures (also the full figure dumps) and the Tamagotchi Friends, from your own ROMs.
• T18Emu: the Tamagotchi Meets / On (TG18 firmware). Grow up on the device, items and Tamapoints from MyMeets files, visits and marriages over mixing-meets.com through the UART dongle.
• V1Emu (test): the first Tamagotchis (P1 Japanese and English, P2, Angel ...) and the Digital Monster V1, V2 and V3, from your own ROMs; small enough for many of them on one ROM.
• V3Emu (test): the Tamagotchi Connection V3, from your own ROM.
• Visits between two Paradise: plug two Paradise together at the top: T18Emu, T7Emu (Tama-Go), TamaEmu (P's, iD L) and V1Emu (Digimon battles) talk to each other as two toys would.
• More emulators: up to twelve more programs next to the main one, started from the on-device menu.
• Start device: turn the Paradise into a device for programs only: after the setup (language, clock) a menu with your emulators and DOOM comes up, with its own settings (sound, display time) and a DOWNLOAD entry for the PC. All pictures of the game go, which gives about 5 MB more room.
• DOOM: build DOOM into the ROM from your own DOOM.WAD.
• More fields: Land, Water and Sky on Tropical and Glacier, Sky on Jade Forest, with pictures, special characters and the matching planet.
• Menu: an on-device menu with several saves (each on a field of your choice), items in the bag, Tamapoints and changes to the Tama (level, care, character).
• Save editor: change level, character and care of a Paradise save (a .tamasave or the save inside the loaded ROM).
• Characters: export every character as an image sheet, edit it in any paint program, upload it again. Digimon from DIM cards too.
• Names: rename fields, Tamas and items; move the eyes and the mouth of a character; take characters from TamaSma cards.
• Device: read the ROM from the device and write a new one, only the parts that changed, keeping the saves on the device.
• Save games: back up the Paradise and the TamaEmu save on their own and restore them, for example to play on in the TamaParadise or TamaEmu app.

Everything runs locally in one HTML file. Your ROM, firmware and WAD never leave your computer. The Studio contains no ROM, no firmware, no WAD and no game graphics; you need your own.

Use this tool at your own risk. Changing a ROM and writing it to a device can make the device unusable or erase its saves, and something can always go wrong (a loose cable, an empty battery, a bug). Read a backup of your device first and only use the tool if you know what you are doing.

This software is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind. The authors are not liable for any damage to devices, data or anything else that results from using it (see sections 15 and 16 of the LICENSE).

Tamagotchi is a trademark of BANDAI. DOOM is a trademark of id Software. All trademarks and product names belong to their respective owners. They are only named to describe what this tool works with. This is not an official product and is not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by any of these companies. The repository contains no firmware, ROM, WAD or game graphics of theirs; use your own devices and your own files.

1. Download ParamixStudio-vX.Y.Z.html from the Releases and open it in Chrome or Edge (or open the GitHub Pages site of this repository).
2. Open a ROM. Recognised editions: Land, Water, Sky, Jade Forest, Tropical, Glacier. No dump yet? Read one with the Device button (see below).
3. Make your changes in the tabs. "Your new ROM" at the top shows what the new ROM will contain and how full the flash is.
4. "Save new ROM" downloads the new ROM, or write it straight to the device.

Click a character, download its sheet, edit it (keep the size), upload it. Extras: all sheets as ZIP, upload many sheets at once, take characters from the image of a character card, number test ROM (each character shows its number).

Rules the tool keeps on its own: eye images keep their byte size, new colours use palette slots 8 to 15 (outline slot 1, slots 2 to 7 are recoloured by the game), archive checksums are recalculated and every changed image is read back before saving.

Every edition carries complete character sets for several field types: Land, Water and Sky ROMs have all three, Jade Forest also has Sky, Tropical and Glacier carry all six. Each field has the same structure: 1 child, 4 teens, 17 adults. In the Characters tab, "Field" shows only one field's characters. "Field as ZIP" exports everything of that field (characters, field map, close-up backgrounds) for editing; upload the edited sheets as usual. "Load field from ZIP" puts a field from the same or another ROM into the selected field. Eye images must not get bigger than the original ones, so characters whose eyes do not fit stay original.

Tab "Emulator": choose the firmware of a colour Tamagotchi (4 MB or 8 MB image). Known: Plus Color, iD L, P's, 4U+ and 4U. The 4U and 4U+ firmware keeps asking its NFC chip, which the Paradise does not have; TamaEmu answers in its place, so the menus react to a single press ("4U: emulate the NFC chip", on by default). The P's and 4U firmware is bigger and uses the room the menu needs for the field switch, so the two do not go together. It is packed into the ROM on save. On the device: hold A and C on the home screen to start, hold the wheel to go back (the state is saved and continues next time). To start over from the Tamagotchi's own save instead, release A and C and press the wheel within the first 3 seconds: the saved session is dropped and you are back on the Paradise; the next start begins fresh.

Battery change (1.6.8): the emulators no longer need the wheel to keep the game. Every emulator writes its run state by itself when the screen goes dark (10 minutes after the last time at the earliest) and otherwise every 30 minutes after 10 s without a key (V1Emu: every 15 minutes). A session is used once: after it has been resumed it is dropped, so an old one never wins over newer play. Switches SESS_ONCE and SESS_AUTO in the build scripts (SESS_T1/SESS_T2 for shorter test times).

TamaEmu and T18Emu settings (1.6.8): volume (normal, quiet, loud, off), brightness (5, 10, 20 .. 90, 100 %), screen off after (as the toy, 10 s to 10 min; the first key only wakes). In the Studio under ▾ in the program's row (flags bits 16-22 and 24-27, switch HW_OPTS), and on the device with a short press on the wheel (A next line, B change, C close; switch OPT_MENU). A change on the device is kept in the save area (TamaEmu: its last sector, T18Emu: behind the session) and applies until the Studio's setting changes.

Card tab (1.6.8): besides character cards (4 MB) also TamaSma cards (1 or 2 MB): their characters are drawn from body and face layers (accessories that live in the toy are left out) and go into a figure like card characters.

Names (1.6.8, tab Names): fields, Tamas and items get new names (capitals, digits, space and . & ' ! ? /). They go into every text table with Latin letters (EN, FR, DE, PT, ES, IT; third file of the asset archive), laid out anew, and into the menu's field names. With six fields switched on (Tropical, Glacier) the names of Land, Water and Sky can be changed too.

Eyes and mouth (1.6.8, figure drawer): "Move the eyes" and "Move the mouth" shift a character's eye or mouth layer in all its composite entries on the field (small figure half as far). The game copies these entries when a Tama hatches or grows, so a Tama that is already there keeps its old eyes until then. The preview steps through every pose of the big and the small figure; "This pose only" moves eyes or mouth of the pose shown alone (for own figures). A layer of the data pack (table 15) is a mask word, one word per set bit (x, y, sub-image, ..., type) and the picture last; x and y are the picture's centre.

Six fields: the field pictures taken from the Land, Water or Sky ROM show under All Sprites once the new ROM is loaded, but they cannot be changed (they share their data and are made again when the fields are updated).

Start when switched on (tick under ▾ in the main program's row, tab Emulator): after power-on the Paradise starts the emulator right away. Holding the wheel goes back to the Paradise, which stays there, also when its screen goes dark. A and C, the reset button or a battery change bring the emulator back. Hold B while the Paradise starts to skip the emulator once.

Two colour Tamas in one ROM (1.6.9, start device, e.g. iD L as the main program and P's in the menu): each starts its own firmware (switch APP_SELF). The iD L clock no longer runs fast while its screen is off and only finished pictures go to the panel (1.6.8). When the colour Tama wakes its display without its own light (the P's does it every 20 minutes for about 9 s, all night) the Paradise's light stays off: it follows the toy's own backlight, a key or a tone (1.6.9, switch BL_GUEST_PWM).

Updating the emulator: open your ROM with the emulator in a newer Studio and save it (do not choose the firmware again). Only the emulator program is replaced. Written with "Keep saves", the Tamagotchi keeps its save and the saved session. Choosing the firmware again starts the emulator fresh.

The guest may write anywhere in its flash (item stores, shop purchases, its own reset). Written parts of blocks that are empty in the firmware go into spare pages behind the packed firmware (up to 0xD40000).

With the 8 MB firmware the tab lists the download content stores (meals, snacks, clothing, accessories, items, daily items, wallpapers, games, destinations). Add .jpg download files (several at once), remove entries per slot.

Tab "Emulator": choose the ROM of the Tama-Go (640 KB) instead of a firmware. The ROM of the Tamagotchi Friends (768 KB) works the same way (test version, no figures). Figure ROMs (the ones that start with AA 55) can be added with "Add figure", also the full figure dumps (4 MB, with the extra games), and removed with the cross next to their name. Everything is packed into the ROM on save; you bring your own ROMs.

On the device: hold A and C on the home screen to start, hold the wheel to go back (the state is saved). A short press on the wheel opens the settings: A goes to the next line, B changes it, C goes back or closes. Figure, background colour, Tama colour, light and dark grey, screen (Large fills the width, Pixel exact keeps every pixel the same size), pixel look, grid, pixel view, icons, sound (off, quiet, medium, loud), light (5 to 100 %), dim after, dim to (1 to 50 %), screen off after, clock and language. The settings stay on the device. When the game asks for the time, T7Emu fills it in (the Paradise's time, or the local time written along by the Studio, or after a restart the game time from before); birthday and name follow. The game clock follows the Paradise clock (see "How the emulators behave"). If T7Emu hangs: start with A and C, release them and press the wheel within the first 3 seconds.

Since 1.6.13 T7Emu translates the game code while it runs (much less work for the chip) and saves power with the screen off: it runs slower and sleeps between the seconds; a call still rings and lights the screen. The game clock no longer skips seconds.

Updating: open the ROM in a newer Studio and save it. Written with "Keep saves", the Tama-Go keeps its save as long as its ROM is the same.

Gotchi Points (1.6.9, under ▾ in the Tama-Go's row): 0 to 999999, written into its saved EEPROM like an imported save (the Tama stays, the running state starts anew).

PC passwords (1.6.9): Door and PC of the Tama-Go work. The game's nibble helper at $3080 was missing, so the login password was always 000000000000 and no logout password was taken (switch T7_PW_FIX).

Battery, keys and tone (1.6.9): the game's wait for the next frame is added up at once and its STOP (the Tama-Go stops its CPU until a timer or a key) halts the emulated CPU too, as in TamaGo for the Pebble; about 80 % of the emulated time no longer needs the Paradise's CPU (switches T7_IDLE, T7_STOP). For 1 s after a key there is no STOP (T7_STOP_KEYACT). Every press is counted every millisecond (after 30 ms released, against bouncing contacts) and goes to the game for at least 120 ms, then 100 ms released (T7_KEYQ): quick presses are kept in order instead of lost. Tones are queued and played on the real clock, 80 ms late, so melodies keep every note (T7_TONE_Q). The main loop sleeps whenever it is less than one 2 ms step behind (T7_WFI_FIX, 1.6.9; before it spun through every other millisecond). Details in t7/README.md.

"Choose firmware or ROM" (tab Emulator) takes the main emulator first; every further file goes to the list of further programs (Tama-Go, Friends, V1Emu ROMs, up to twelve). Each entry has a × to take it out again. The filled star marks the main program (DOOM when it is in the ROM; in a start device the emulators then all go to the menu; DOOM has its own × and ↺ in the list), a click on an empty star makes another one the main program. In a normal ROM a colour Tama or TG18 always becomes the main program. Each program goes in once.

Editions whose firmware reaches past 0x0A0000 (Jade Forest wave 2 up to 0x0A1683, Tropical and Glacier up to 0x0B5E00; 1.6.9, GitHub issue) have no room for a main program there. The Studio then puts every program into the menu: in a normal ROM Tama-Go, Friends, V1Emu and V3Emu (A and C, with field switch or items switched on), colour Tamas and TG18 only in a start device. 0x0A0000.. of the firmware stays untouched. DOOM as the main program of a normal ROM can start when switched on (▾ in its row). ▾ opens a program's row: its settings (clock per program, NFC for a 4U, start when switched on for the main one) and its figures or download slots. The overview "Your new ROM" shows all emulators in one entry, the main one in bold. Every program has its extras in its own row, wherever it sits (1.6.8): figures for every Tama-Go, download content with ⓘ for the slots for every 8 MB colour Tama (iD L, P's, 4U+, 4U). The room on the ROM decides what fits. Each program keeps its own save: T7Emu 24 KB, TamaEmu its run state (320 KB) and spare pages, T18Emu its save area, V1Emu 4 KB session plus 4 KB settings. With "Keep saves" a colour Tama keeps its save when only download content was added; the first item in a still empty store needs a new block and starts the save anew (the Studio says so). In a start device (see below) also colour Tama firmware (TamaEmu) and one TG18 firmware (T18Emu). In the menu each program is named after its firmware (TAMA-GO, FRIENDS, ID L, 4U+, PS, PLUS COLOR, TAMA MEETS). Each one gets its own copy of T7Emu, its own save and its own ROM, placed from the top of the emulator area (0xD40000) down: program 64 KB, save 24 KB, then the ROM. They are started from the menu (A and C, then "PROGRAMS"), so the field switch or the items must be switched on in the Menu tab. In the Save tab a choice "T7Emu" picks which one a save.bin is backed up from or taken over into. "Keep saves" keeps the save of each one as long as its ROM is the same; a T7Emu or V1Emu that changes its place (main program and menu) takes its save along. The Save tab has two parts: "Programs" lists every program (main and menu) to back up or restore its save (T7Emu, TamaEmu, V1Emu), "Paradise" holds the Paradise save and its editor.

The first Tamagotchis and the Digital Monster: ROMs of 12 KB or 16 KB (Epson E0C6S46 and E0C6S48, as TamaLIB and MAME read them). Known by name: Tamagotchi P1 and P2, Angel, Morino, Umino, Yasashii, Genjintchi, Tamaotchi, Digimon V1, V2 and V3; other ROMs of the same kind run as well. Each one takes about 88 KB (program, session, settings, ROM), so many fit next to the other programs; the menu takes up to 12 further programs. Choose the ROM with "Choose firmware or ROM", it goes to the menu.

On the device: A, B and C as on the toy. Wheel short: settings (colour, grid, shadow of the unlit dots, icons on or off, brightness of the unlit icons, sound, light (5 to 100 %), dim after, dim to (1 to 50 %), screen off after, clock, language, A next line, B change, C close). Digimon V1/V2 and Yasashii have their LCD the other way round; V1Emu turns them (flags bit 5). Turning the wheel shakes the toy (Angel's shake sensor). Wheel long: save and back. The toy is paused while you are away. The eight LCD icons are our own pictograms. The Digimon has its own icon segments, takes its keys by interrupt and beeps with the one-shot buzzer; V1Emu does all three (1.6.8).

V1Emu can be the main program too (star in the list): A and C on the home screen, start when switched on (▾). Shake (the Angel's sensor): turn the wheel. Icons: the Angel and the Digimon have their own sets, the others the P1/P2 set for now.

The Digimon's LCD is mounted the other way round: V1Emu turns it (and its icons). The Digimon V3 (1.6.9) is handled like V1 and V2: turned LCD, the Digimon icons, its clock at 0x1A (checked on the host: set and running as the V1), battles over the contacts (V1_LINK; its send and receive routines are the same as in the V1, at 0x0B06 and 0x0B5B).

Clock (1.6.8): for Tamagotchi P1, P2, Angel, Morino and the Digimon V1/V2/V3 V1Emu takes the Paradise's time at every start (tick "Take the clock from the Paradise" under ▾ in the program's row, and "Clock: Auto" on the device). On a fresh start it first sets the toy's clock with the toy's own keys (B, B, A, C), so the Angel comes down on its own. For the other ROMs set the clock in the game as on the toy. After the start the toy's clock is checked against the Paradise's time and set again when it is off (1.6.9, switch V1_CLK_CHECK; a resumed P2 kept its old time). Register B of the toy is kept with the running state (1.6.9, V1_REGB; it was 0 after a resume).

Since 1.7.0 V1Emu behaves like the other emulators: sound in four steps (off, normal, loud, quiet) played in real time (V1_VOL, V1_TONE_Q), the screen comes on when the toy calls (V1_CALL_WAKE), deep sleep with the screen dark (V1_PW, as V3Emu: internal 12 MHz clock, the toy's time is run in one go after each RTC second), the battery display smoothed and the empty battery handled as described under Battery.

The Tamagotchi Connection V3: ROM of 512 KB (Sunplus SPLB32, a 6502, as BrickEmuPy reads it). Choose it like a V1Emu ROM ("Choose firmware or ROM"); the Studio treats it as a V1Emu (same settings block and save layout) and puts V3Emu in instead of V1Emu. Main program: ROM at 0x940000. In the menu: about 584 KB (ROM, 64 KB aligned, then program, session 4 KB, settings 4 KB).

On the device: A, B and C as on the toy (left, middle, right). The screen shows the ten menu icons above and below, lit as the toy lights them, and the 32 x 30 dots three times enlarged (setting "Icons" off: no icons, the dots four times enlarged). The icon pictures are mameise's V3 icons (v3/gen/icons.py makes icons_v3.h from the PNGs). Wheel short: settings (battery, colour, grid in percent, pixel view in percent (the unlit dots), icons on/off, icons inactive in percent (how strongly the icons that are off show), sound, light, dim after, dim to, screen off after, clock Auto/Game (when the Studio knows the toy's clock), language; A next line, B change, C close; switch V3_SETX for the percent settings and the clock line). Wheel long: save and back. The toy's own save (its EEPROM, 1 KB) is kept in the settings sector and written 3 s after the game changed it; the running state on leaving, when the screen goes off and every 15 minutes. If the game has saved since the last running state, it starts from its own save, like the toy after a battery change.

The core (v3/src/core) is ported from BrickEmuPy: the instructions are generated from its Python (v3/gen/py2c.py), the rest follows it line by line, checked to the bit against it on the host. The timers only get the time when something can happen, and while the toy has stopped its CPU the steps up to its next timer event are skipped at once. Clock (switch V3_CLOCK): with "Take the clock from the Paradise" (on by default) V3Emu writes the Paradise's time and date into the toy at every start: seconds 0x81/0x82, minutes 0x83/0x84, hour 0x85 (1..12) and 0x86 (PM), day 0x13D (ones) and 0x13E (tens), month 0x13F. Only when the toy's clock runs, so set it once in the game; then it is checked and written again if it is off.

Connection (switch V3_LINK): two Paradise plugged together at the top, V3Emu on both, then the connection in the game as with two real V3. The core turns the toy's infrared pulses into bytes and back (as BrickEmuPy's CON_V3_IR, which links two emulators over a serial line); the bytes go as 'V' frames over the UART on the contacts (plink.h).

V3Emu can start when the Paradise is switched on (main program, ▾ "Start when switched on"), like the others.

Tab "Emulator": choose the firmware of the Tamagotchi Meets or On (TG18, 8 MB) instead of a colour Tama firmware. The Studio puts its used 64 KB blocks into free blocks of the Paradise flash, from the top down (from 0xF00000, then from 0xD40000 downwards; empty blocks are left out), plus up to 10 spare blocks for the save data the firmware writes later. T18Emu fills them by the 4 KB sector (1.6.8): start, photo and diary need 30 sectors in 7 blocks, 6 spare blocks hold 96. A game that has grown up needs more (a baby to child step was measured with 99), so in a start device the Studio adds spares up to 15 where there is room (1.6.9, also to an installed T18Emu, behind its spares: the save stays), and a full pool takes over sectors the firmware has erased (switch T18_POOL_RECLAIM). The bottom (from 0x830000) stays free, so the field switch of the menu fits next to it on Land, Sky and Water. The program has two parts: one is loaded into the PRAM, the other runs from the flash (0x0F0000).

On the device: hold A and C on the home screen to start, hold the wheel to go back (the state is saved). The firmware keeps its own save in its flash as on the toy; the first start sets that area up and takes a while. If T18Emu hangs: start with A and C, release them, press the wheel within the first 3 seconds and confirm with A; the firmware then starts over from its own save ("CONTINUE"). Busy scenes (a call) can still run a little slower than on the toy; melodies keep their tempo anyway (played on the real clock, about 0.3 s late). The camera (Item Box, Special) and the diary work on all nine known firmwares.

Grow up (on the device, wheel short, line "Grow up"): as in the Android T18Emu, the Tama becomes an adult in about a minute and a half (its age is put just before each step, the game clock runs fast only for that one game minute, the step and its animation run in real time, care stays full, the screen stays on, the firmware does the rest). A Tama of the first generation can be chosen (ten adults, the Sanrio firmware has Flowertchi); a child of a married pair grows up like its parents. Pictures for the choice: the Studio has none; under ▾ in the T18Emu row "Choose pictures" takes your own PNG files named after the character (Mametchi.png, Kuchipatchi.png ...) or its number (16.png), or the folder erwachsen of the Android T18Emu with its erwachsen.json. They are scaled to 64x64 and stored at 0x0E4000 (main program only).

Items (under ▾ in the T18Emu row): MyMeets files (tg18_gh..., _oy..., _as..., _ac..., _bg... .txt, also in a .zip) go into the game's save, with a picture, the number of pieces (1 to 3) and a room. Tamapoints can be set. The game must have run once (read the ROM from the device). The running state of the emulator starts anew, the Tama stays. A name in Japanese letters shows as its number (Nr. 3006). T18Emu in the menu of a start device keeps its place when the ROM is saved again. With "Keep saves" ticked, writing items or Tamapoints to the device asks first: T18Emu's save is replaced by the one in the ROM.

The date (1.6.9, switch T18_DAY_FIX): the game counts the days itself and a new start (CONTINUE) loaded the day of leaving; the days since are added once after the start. Started from the menu, a sleeping game is woken once with a short C (T18_WAKE_START).

Screen (1.6.9): the picture goes out whole once the game has finished drawing it, only the rows that changed (1.6.6 to 1.6.8). The check value per row is now FNV-1a (T18_SUM_FNV): the old one gave the same value for many different rows and left parts of the picture old (AM/PM on the clock, frames). One row per picture always goes out (T18_ROW_RR), the first picture after the start is complete (T18_PRES_FIRST), and switching the screen on no longer stops the game for 145 ms while the panel wakes (T18_WAKE_ASYNC).

MixingMeets (1.6.9, under ▾ in the T18Emu row): visits and marriages over mixing-meets.com through the UART dongle on the Paradise's contacts. Drag the "Paramix bridge" bookmark to the bookmarks bar once; disconnect the Studio from the dongle ("Release UART" or close it); on the Tama CONNECTION, APP, VISIT; on mixing-meets.com open Connect or Return, click the bookmark, then Select Tamagotchi and choose the dongle. Click the bookmark again after every page change. The page's Bluetooth goes over the dongle to T18Emu, which hands it to the firmware's Bluetooth module like the Android T18Emu (switch T18_LINK).

Plug two Paradise together at the top (the connector crosses TX and RX), start the same program on both and connect as with two toys. The programs talk over the contacts (UART1, 460800 baud), the Studio does not take part (under ▾ it only says how).

Checked on the PC with two cores in lockstep; on the device see the test notes.

Tab "Game Boy": choose Game Boy games (.gb, the black and white Game Boy; Game Boy Color games do not work). They go into the Paramix menu (switch the menu on in the tab "Menu"). The screen is shrunk from 160 x 144 to 128 x 115, nothing is cut off. The keys are set in the tab for all games (default: A left, C right, B = B, wheel press = A, wheel up and down, A+C Start). On the device: A+B+C together opens the settings (with Select and sound), holding the wheel for 2 s saves and goes back. Battery saves of the games are kept. Sound: the Paradise's buzzer plays one tone at a time (the melody or the effect). Since 1.6.12: holding the wheel keeps the whole game, the next start continues exactly there; "Restart game" in the settings; two Paradise plugged together at the top work like a link cable (e.g. trading Pokémon). Since 1.7.1 equal banks at the end of a game are stored once (Pokémon Red and Blue: 256 KB less, GB_TRIM). Program and details: gb/.

Tab "Wolf3D": choose all files of your own Wolfenstein 3D together, the shareware (.WL1, episode 1) or the full version (.WL6, six episodes), version 1.4. The Studio builds one data pack from them in the browser (nothing is sent anywhere) and the game goes into the Paramix menu (switch the menu on in the tab "Menu"). Screen: the view 128 x 96, below a status bar with face, health, ammo, keys, weapon, floor, lives and score. Sound: the game's PC speaker sounds on the buzzer (no music). Keys as DOOM on the Paradise, set in the tab: A fire, B forward, C back, wheel turns (degrees per step to choose), wheel press doors and switches, hold C + wheel weapon, B twice quickly run. Fixed: A+C menu, holding the wheel for 2 s saves the game and goes back to the Paradise; "Continue" goes on at the next start. Since 1.6.12 also Spear of Destiny (.SOD, 21 floors), as a second entry next to Wolfenstein 3D. Game from Wolf4SDL (GPL), program and details: wolf/.

Tab "Master System": choose your own Sega Master System games (.sms). They go into the Paramix menu (switch the menu on in the tab "Menu"). The screen is shrunk from 256 x 192 to 128 x 96, nothing is cut off. The keys are set in the tab for all games (default: A left, C right, B button 1, wheel press button 2, wheel up and down, A+C Pause). On the device: A+B+C together opens the settings (with Pause and sound), holding the wheel for 2 s saves and goes back. Battery saves of the games are kept. Sound: the buzzer plays the loudest tone channel. Since 1.6.12 also Game Gear games (.gg, 160 x 144 shrunk to 128 x 115, START on A+C), the whole game kept when holding the wheel, and "Restart game" in the settings. Own emulator (Z80, video chip, Sega mapper), program and details: sms/.

Under "Device" the Studio can play a second Paradise over the dongle, so one device is enough for a playdate. The Paradise runs its normal game (no flash app). "Connect" above is not needed for it.

1. Choose the edition the visitor comes from (Land, Water, Sky, Jade Forest, Tropics, Glacier), "Start", pick the dongle.
2. On the Paradise: planet menu, CONNECTION, PLAYDATE, then B.

The visitor is a copy of your own Tama (its picture comes from your device, the Studio has no game data); only the edition and its IDs are its own, so every edition is a friend of its own. At the young stage the Paradise notes the edition of each partner (seen in its save after a visit from Water and one from Sky); the secret characters want two other colours there. Whether the secret character then comes is to be checked on the device. Protocol: GMMan's tama-para-research (TCP over UART, 460800 baud), code in src/visit.js. The Studio answers as the device that was asked (the Paradise presses B), never breeds (it answers BREED 0). Checked on the PC with the emulated Land against the Studio in the browser (Sky, Water, Jade Forest).

Battery saving (1.6.9, switch CLK_ECO, emu/src/emu/eco.h): with the screen off T7Emu, V1Emu and V3Emu lower the chip's clock (AHB prescaler SYS_AHBCP 0x45000010, Sonix TRM: SYSCLK / 2^n for core, memory and peripherals) step by step from 96 MHz down to 12 MHz while the emulation keeps up (busy share from the DWT cycle counter every 500 ms: below 35 % one step down, above 80 % one step up). If it falls 25 ms behind: full speed at once, then one step less deep for 5 minutes. A key, the screen, a tone or link traffic (30 s) bring full speed. SysTick is set for 1 ms at each step, a playing tone keeps its pitch. Measured in the Unicorn simulation with the screen off: V1Emu (P2) at 12 MHz, V3Emu and T7Emu at 48 MHz, T18Emu (Meets in standby) mostly at 12 MHz. TamaEmu has it too (no simulation for it); on the device the busy share decides how far each one goes down. ECO_LAG per program (T7Emu 400, TamaEmu 50, T18Emu 120, V1/V3 25 ms). Tick check (1.6.9, switch ECO_RTC): T7Emu, V1Emu and V3Emu compare the millisecond tick with the Paradise's seconds counter every 4 whole seconds; a clock step that counted fewer than 3800 ms is not used again until the next start, T7Emu adds the missing time (its emulation catches up). The counts go into T7Emu's session sector at 0xFF0 (clock steps found wrong | corrections << 8, ms added), so a dump shows them.

Care and points on the device (wheel short, in the settings): T18Emu has "Tamapoints" (A next digit, B the digit + 1, C OK, the wheel goes back without change) and "Full care" (hunger and mood full, not sick, no call), on all nine known firmwares. T7Emu (Tama-Go and Friends) has "Gotchi Points" (up to 999999) and "Full care" (hunger and happy 5 hearts). TamaEmu has "Gotchi Points" (up to 99999) and "Full care" with Plus Color, iD L (v050 to v055), P's, 4U and 4U+ (hunger full and the happy bar as far as the game allows it: iD L friend level and Plus Color HAPPY! by the medals, P's ring by the medals, 4U love ring by the stage). V3Emu has "Gotchi Points" (4 digits) and "Full care" (hunger and happy 4 hearts). V1Emu has "Full care" for all twelve known ROMs (P1 also English, P2, Angel, Genjintch, Morino, Tamaotch, Umino, Yasashii, Digimon V1 to V3; Digimon: hunger and strength). Other ROMs show no such lines.

The settings of T7Emu, V1Emu, TamaEmu and T18Emu (wheel short) show the battery, e.g. "2.84V 80%", and the home screen of a start device shows it bottom right. It is measured as the Paradise firmware does it: SAR ADC at 0x4003A000, channel 4 (P0.6), volts = sample x 3.3 / 1024; below 2.2 V the Paradise switches off (0 %), 3.0 V and more count as full. Shared code emu/src/emu/batt.h, switch BAT_SHOW. "?" means no reading came.

Empty batteries (1.7.0, switches BAT_GUARD, BAT_PIC): every emulator reads the battery every 20 s; twice in a row below 2.21 V it saves everything, shows the Paradise's own "battery empty" picture for about 3 s and switches off, as the Paradise does at 2.2 V. New batteries: it continues where it was. The Studio puts the picture (sprite 53 of Land, Water and Sky, 54 of Jade Forest, 56 of Tropical and Glacier) into the last sector of the write protection block (0xFFF000, "BAT1", 16 colours, run lengths).

Starting and leaving:

Leaving with the wheel saves the whole state (CPU, memory, screen). The next start continues exactly there. The Tama's own save (the one the toy keeps in its flash or EEPROM) is written by the game itself as on the toy and stays even when the state is dropped.

The clock: by default ("Take the clock from the Paradise at the start", under ▾ in each program's row of the tab "Emulator", set per program) every start sets the emulator's clock to the Paradise's time. The time in between is not played through by the emulator: the Tama sees the clock jump, as when the toy's clock is set. If the Paradise's time cannot be read (for example right after its own first setup) the old way is used. Without the tick: TamaEmu moves its clock on by the time the Paradise counted while away, T7Emu lets the missed hours pass (up to 30, the pet ages), T18Emu moves its clock on like TamaEmu. While running, all three keep their clock on the Paradise's seconds counter, also when the emulation falls behind.

The Paradise while a program runs (1.6.8, switch PARA_BACK): the Paradise does not run, but its seconds counter does, and back home its firmware would live the whole gap at once (hunger, care misses). So every program (and the menu) notes the Paradise's time when it starts (clock mailbox "PCLK" at 0x20000FC0, kept over the restart) and, when it goes back, moves the "lived up to" date of the Paradise's settings block (both copies, new CRC) on by the time spent outside, never past now. The Paradise's clock itself stays right. Shared code: emu/src/emu/paraback.h.

Brightness and dimming (1.6.8, switch BL_PWM): the light itself, not darker colours. Traced in the Paradise emulator: the Paradise's own brightness setting (settings byte 8, bits 0..2) changes nothing but the duty of timer 2 (MR1 = 85, 70 or 55 % of the period 0x17700; MR1 = period at the start). Left at that, the counter never restarts at MR3 (match control 0 after the setup), so MR1 changes nothing; the emulators keep MR3 reset on for a dimmed light (hw_bl_set in emu/src/emu/hw.c, switch BL_MR3RST), a 750 Hz PWM. TamaEmu and T18Emu "Brightness" 5 to 100 %; T7Emu and V1Emu "Light" 5 to 100 % and "Dim to" 1 to 50 % after the dim time (never brighter than the light).

Battery: the emulators sleep (WFI) whenever they have caught up with real time; waiting loops of the guest firmware are skipped, the screen only gets the rows that changed, and the light goes off when the guest switches it off. A running pet screen keeps the CPU busy, as on the toy.

Tab "DOOM": choose your own DOOM.WAD (Ultimate DOOM or the shareware DOOM1.WAD) and an episode. The WAD is converted in the browser. Keys can be changed, also for a ROM that already has DOOM. Start with A and C like the emulator. In a normal ROM only one of the emulator and DOOM fits; in a start device both go together (the emulator becomes a further program of the menu).

Tab "Menu": "Start device for programs only". Of the Paradise only its setup stays (continue or new, clock, after "new" also language, birthday and planet name). Then the PARAMIX menu comes up instead of the home screen: wheel selects, B starts. Leaving a program brings the menu back. All pictures of the game are replaced by tiny empty ones, which frees about 5 MB for programs. The menu only comes once the Paradise has a save, so a fresh device runs its setup to the end first.

• SETTINGS in the menu: sound of the Paradise (off, low, medium, loud; its own settings screen is gone) and the time after which the display goes dark when no key is pressed (30 s to 5 min, or never). B changes, C saves.
• DOWNLOAD in the menu: starts the Studio's flash app, the Studio then connects without the Paradise's download screen (which a start device no longer has).
• The Studio opens a start device again: the programs show in the Emulator tab as further programs. Choosing the same firmware again does not add it twice.
• The room behind the Paradise's save (from 0xF00000) is used for programs as long as there is no T18Emu (which needs it).
• A colour Tama in the menu (1.7.1, GUEST_SPARSE): almost empty firmware blocks that the game hardly reads are kept as 8 KB parts, iD L about 250 KB and P's up to 450 KB less room.
• Main program with DOOM (1.6.9): DOOM stays at its place, but the star in the Emulator tab can make any program of the menu the main one. It is shown first and, with "Start when switched on" under ▾, starts instead of the menu after a battery change or a reset while it ran (hold B: the menu). Switch FELD_AUTO in the menu program, settings version 9.

Tab "Menu": tick "Several saves (with field choice)", "Items and Tamapoints" and/or "Change Tama". On the device, hold A and C on the home screen: wheel selects, B confirms, C goes back.

"Back from programs" (1.7.0): how to get back from the emulators, Game Boy and Master System to the Paradise or the menu: hold the wheel (as before), hold wheel and A, hold wheel and C, or hold the wheel 5 s. The Studio writes the choice into every program (the last word of its vector table, 0x13C, "EX" and the mode; emu/src/emu/exitkey.h). The menu itself, while the screen is dark, sleeps deeply until a key or the wheel (1.7.0, FELD_PW).

• Several saves: the menu keeps several saves and switches between them; a new save starts on a field of your choice.

• Field switch: every edition has three fields (Land/Water/Sky, Jade Forest: Land/Water/Forest, Tropical and Glacier: Tropical/Glacier/Forest). Switching packs the save of the current field and brings back the save of the chosen one. A field that never ran starts like a new device. All fields share the room for the saves, so one big save can use what the others do not need.

• All 6 fields (Tropical and Glacier): tick "All 6 fields" and choose your own Land, Water or Sky ROM. The menu then offers Tropical, Glacier, Forest, Land, Water and Sky. The pictures of Land, Water and Sky are taken from that ROM; characters of all six fields are already in Tropical/Glacier. Without the tick you keep the three own fields and still have several saves; on a ROM that already has them, untick it to take the extra fields out again (the device must be on one of the own fields).

• Game menu Fields: all fields from level 4 in the game's own field menu.

• Sky as 4th field (Jade Forest): tick "Sky as 4th field". Jade Forest already has everything of Sky, no second ROM is needed.

• Planet to match the field: on by default. Land, Water and Sky then show their own planet like the original devices. Untick it to keep the planet of the edition. Changing it on Tropical/Glacier needs the Land, Water or Sky ROM.

• Neither works together with DOOM or the emulator (these editions have no room for them).

• Items: put items into the bag and set their amount, with picture. The list and the pictures come from your own ROM. Amount 0 ("REMOVE") takes an item out again; items the game holds with amount 0 (eaten up) are not shown (switch BAG_DEL).

• Tamapoints: set digit by digit.

• Change Tama: level, care (fed, happy, healthy) and the character.

• TamaEmu or DOOM, when built in, is the last entry of the same menu.

Needs a USB UART dongle with 3.3 V (CH340 or similar) and Chrome or Edge on a computer (Web Serial).

Wiring to the three contacts of the Paradise: left = RX of the dongle, middle = GND, right = TX of the dongle. 3.3 V, not 5 V.

1. On the Paradise open the download screen: Planet, A, Connect, Download, Download. On a start device choose DOWNLOAD in the menu instead.
2. Click "Device", then "Connect" and pick the port. The Studio loads its own flash app into the device's RAM (nothing is written for this; switching the device off and on returns to normal).
3. "Read ROM" reads all 16 MB (about 6 minutes), downloads the file as a backup and opens it in the Studio.
4. "Write new ROM to the device" writes the ROM you put together.
   • "Only write changes": the device's flash is compared first (CRC per 64 KB, then per 4 KB) and only differing sectors are written. A typical change takes about a minute instead of 40.
   • "Keep saves": the game progress stays as it is on the device: the save area of the Paradise, stored fields of the menu, the TamaEmu state and its guest save, the DOOM save. The rest of the new ROM is written. To change the edition (for example Glacier onto a Land), untick it. Keep the device switched on while writing. Every sector is checked after it is written and the whole flash is checked at the end. If something goes wrong, leave the device on and write again.
5. "Back up save" reads only the game progress: the Paradise save as a .tamasave for the TamaParadise app (with the device's clock), and if the device runs TamaEmu also the colour Tama's save as a .sav for the TamaEmu app. "Save to device" writes a .tamasave back. It must be from the same edition; a save of another edition is refused. Only pages that differ are written and the clock is set from the save.

From the loaded ROM: the Paradise save as a .tamasave (without the clock, set it in the app if needed), the TamaEmu save as a .sav and the T7Emu save as a .bin (the save.bin of the T7Emu app). Import: a .sav or a T7Emu .bin goes into the ROM (then save the ROM or write it to the device), a .tamasave goes straight to a connected device. Since 1.6.12 every program in the list has export and import: T18Emu the firmware with its save (.bin, as a firmware for T18Emu), Game Boy and Master System the cartridge RAM (.sav, as other emulators use it; a kept game state is dropped), Wolfenstein 3D and Spear of Destiny their saved game (.bin). An imported save wins over "Keep saves". T7Emu saves written up to 1.6.8 may lie 2 bytes off in the flash (the page buffer was not word aligned, the flash DMA takes words); the export finds them too and gives the right save.bin, and T7Emu from 1.6.9 reads them itself (switch T7_EE_SHIFT).

How to import a save (1.7.0):

1. Read the ROM from the device ("Device", read), or open the dump you read last.
2. Tab "Save": "Import" and choose the file. It goes to the program it belongs to (a T7Emu .bin to T7Emu, a TamaEmu .sav to the TamaEmu with that firmware, a T18Emu .bin, .sav or .zip of the T18Emu app to T18Emu), whatever the list shows. An emulator added in this session counts too.
3. Write to the device with "Keep saves" on. Only the imported save is replaced; the Paradise's own save and the saves of all other programs stay as they are on the device. Without "Keep saves" every save comes from the file, the Paradise's too: from a fresh read that is the same, from an older file everything goes back to that file. When a program is added or removed in the same write, other programs may get a new place. T7Emu, V1Emu, TamaEmu and T18Emu take their save along then (TamaEmu and T18Emu: the Studio reads the sectors of their flash that changed on the device and puts them into the new place; the pet continues from its own save, as after a battery change). If the device does not hold the loaded ROM, the Studio asks before writing. Exporting all saves first is still a good idea.

Slot (1.6.8): with the menu's "Several saves" (or the field switch) the menu keeps further saves in slots. "Slot" picks which one: export takes it out of the ROM (unpacked), write to device puts the .tamasave into that slot on the device (packed like the menu does it, header page last). With the field switch a save only goes into the slot of its own field. The device must have the same menu as the loaded ROM.

Change save: open a .tamasave, or take the save inside the loaded ROM. Level, character (names from your ROM) and care (fed, happy, healthy) can be changed. A .tamasave is saved as a new file; the ROM's own save is changed in the ROM (then save the ROM, or write it without "Keep saves"). "Close" puts it away.

node build.js          # creates dist/ParamixStudio.html
node test/unit_test.js # checks the core without a ROM

The other tests in test/ need your own dumps and are run by hand (see the first lines of each file). test/flash_bridge_test.js and test/ui_device_test.js run the flasher against an emulated Paradise.

GitHub Actions builds the HTML on every push and attaches it to a release named after VERSION (see .github/workflows/paramix-studio.yml). Optional: Settings, Pages, Source "GitHub Actions" publishes the page as a website as well.

Every shipped binary (emu/emu.bin, t7/t7.bin, t18/t18.bin, emu/stub_tpl.bin, doom/*.bin, doom/mcuwad.wasm, gb/gb.bin, sms/sms.bin, v1/v1.bin, v3/v3.bin, wolf/wolf.bin, wolf/wolfsod.bin, feld/*.bin, six/six.bin, flash/flashapp.bin) is built from the source next to it; the build commands are in the README of each folder.

Paramix Studio is free software under the GNU General Public License version 3 or later, see LICENSE. It builds on the work of others, see NOTICE.md for the full list:

• TamaEmu is based on tamaemu by maragotchi (GPL-3.0). The JIT and the Paradise port were written for this project; the emulator core and the download content layout come from tamaemu.
• V1Emu is based on TamaLIB by Jean-Christophe Rona (GPL-2.0-or-later).
• V3Emu is based on BrickEmuPy by azya52, released under CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication: free to use, change and pass on, no conditions): the SPLB32 core, the HT24LC08 EEPROM, the infrared byte link and the dot and icon layout of the Connection V3 face. See NOTICE.md.
• DOOM is based on nRF52840 Doom by next-hack, GBADoom by doomhack, PrBoom and the DOOM source by id Software (GPL-2.0-or-later). The WAD converter is MCUDoomWadUtil by Nicola Wrachien (GPL-2.0).
• File format research: tama-para-research and the S1C33 SLEIGH definition by GMMan.

Made by mameise. ! Supported by AI !