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byuu's SNES preservation project: $10k in EU games missing in post. Update: Found!
- Thread starter LordOfLore
- Start date
andrerobot
Member
GTFO! That's amazing!
RayearthRob
Member
Ooooh good! I'm so happy!!!
Jeez, it even had his address visibly still on the package they found.
It's like WTF why did he have to go through all that and get the media involved just to get it delivered to him.
DarkestHour
Banned
There's a good reason USPS is in such dire financial situations. It is 2017 and they still cannot even provide a real tracking system and their employees frequently "lose" mail. I've personally had packages opened and items stolen by USPS.
Glad to see he was able to find his shipment. Shame he had to bring it to the media for proper customer service.
SmiteOfHand
Member
Well he's effin' dedicated.
Really glad to hear it wasn't theft.
Not so glad to hear that USPS has machines that don't behave properly with shipping labels that other mail services managed to sort. Also they appear to have no way to recover packages or info damaged by these machines....
Not that I ever try to send anything USPS but now I will definitely try harder to actively avoid them esp for international mailing.
EDIT: WTF they auction off unidentifiable mail. Even when they are the ones that damaged it in the first place.
Not so glad to hear that USPS has machines that don't behave properly with shipping labels that other mail services managed to sort. Also they appear to have no way to recover packages or info damaged by these machines....
Not that I ever try to send anything USPS but now I will definitely try harder to actively avoid them esp for international mailing.
EDIT: WTF they auction off unidentifiable mail. Even when they are the ones that damaged it in the first place.
So glad this ended up well, Byuu running a preservation project is such a great scenario, I'm not sure anybody else has the attention to detail and lust of accuracy that guy has; so it's nice knowing the snes library I grew up with is going to get the shit preserved out of it for future generations.
Scanning carts at 300 dpi might seem a bit over kill now, but when in 10 years time we're playing emulators in VR, with accurate scan-line simulation and all that jazz; I'm sure having lovely high-res scans for manuals, carts, boxes etc will come in super useful. It better also have realistic physics so when I slam that eject button the cart flies two feet in the air.
Thanks Byuu.
An yup, dodgy as fuck they only found it after the media outcry - and it still has all those labels on it, hope they give some very clear answers as to what the hell happened as it looks pretty criminal.
Scanning carts at 300 dpi might seem a bit over kill now, but when in 10 years time we're playing emulators in VR, with accurate scan-line simulation and all that jazz; I'm sure having lovely high-res scans for manuals, carts, boxes etc will come in super useful. It better also have realistic physics so when I slam that eject button the cart flies two feet in the air.
Thanks Byuu.
An yup, dodgy as fuck they only found it after the media outcry - and it still has all those labels on it, hope they give some very clear answers as to what the hell happened as it looks pretty criminal.
Tinfoilhatsron
Banned
Good news everybody! 
Good news!
I mean, it would have had my address on the FROM field, and the postage stamps would have already been used. But there was no reason they couldn't contact me, or return with "insufficient postage" and a bill that I would have been okay paying in this case.
I don't understand how or why it was allowed to sit for 40+ days in Atlanta, GA.
I gravely underestimated the difficulty and costs. Especially on the PAL set, and some of the "not for sale" Super Famicom games (one cart I have, Kunio-kun Tournament Special, is one of only TWENTY SIX carts ever made.)
600 DPI. And lossless
I can't do manuals though, sorry. They would take far too long. Also, PAL boxes are out due to costs, with the exception of four very rare ones someone recently lent me.
...
By the way, here's the full games list. Some spelling errors, but you get the idea
Code:
Beavis and Butthead SNSP ABUP EUR
Bugs Bunny Rabbid Rampage SNSP R7 NOE
Black Hawk SNSP 6Z NOE
Battletoads Double Dragon SNSP UL UKV
Battletoads Battle Maniac SNSP NX NOE
Brawl Brothers Rival Turf 2 SNSP RE NOE
Busts Loose SNSP TA NOE
Boocerman SNSP AB4P EUR
Super B.c.k.i.d SNSP ZH EUR
Blues Brothers (the) SNSP B6 NOE
Kidclown in Crazy Chase SNSP ZI NOE
Crash Dummies SNSP C7 NOE
Captain Commando SNSP QM EUR
Cliffhanger SNSP 6C NOE
Cuthroad Island SNSP AC8P EUR
Castlevania IV (Super) SNSP AD NOE
Castlevania Vampire Kiss SNSP ADZP EUR
Ardy Lightfood SNSP A9 EUR
Alfred Chicken SNSP 8A NOE
Aaahh Real Monsters SNSP ANNP EUR
Animaniacs SNSP ANCP EUR
Aero-Acro-Bat SNSP XB NOE
Asterix SNSP XE NOE
Asterix & Obelix SNSP AXOP FAH
Addams Family Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt (the) SNSP AH ESP
Addams Family (the) SNSP AF NOE
Addams Family Values SNSP VY NOE
Alien 3 SNSP A3 EUR
Another World SNSP TW NOE
Bubsy SNSP YN NOE
Bubsy II SNSP ABBP EUR
Batman Returns SNSP BJ NOE
Batman Forever SNSP A3BP EUR
Adventures of Batman + Robin (the) SNSP ABTP EUR
Dracula SNSP 5D ESP
Eek! The Cat SNSP E7 UKV
Earthworm Jim SNSP AEJP EUR
Earthworm Jim 2 SNSP A2EP EUR
Frantic Flea SNSP AF8P EUR
Flintstones (the) SNSP AFNP UKV
First Samurai SNSP FK NOE
Firemen (the) SNSP AFMP EUR
Flintstones (the) The Treasur of Sierra Mudrock SNSP 9F NOE
Flashback SNSP 5F NOE
Fievel goes West SNSP 9W NOE
GODS SNSP GZ SCN
Hurricanes SNSP AHUP EUR
Hook SNSP HO NOE
Incredible Hulk (the) SNSP 8U UKV
Headphone Jack SNSP AJYP EUR
Harleys Humongous Adventure SNSP HV NOE
Congo's Caper SNSP J2 NOE
Cool Spot SNSP C8 NOE
Captain Amerika and the Avengers SNSP 6A NOE
Chuck Rock SNSP CK NOE
Claymates SNSP Y5 FRG
Le Cobaye SNSP LW FAH
Dragons Lair SNSP DI NOE
Dragon the Bruce Lee Story SNSP 4N EUR
Double Dragon (Super) SNSP WD NOE
Dark Water SNSP 8P NOE
Demolition Man SNSP AC6P EUR
Daffy Duck the Marvin Missions SNSP YF NOE
Daze before Christmas SNSP ADCP NOE
Demon's Crest SNSP 3Z EUR
Dino City SNSP DW NOE
Dr Franken SNSP 6F UKV
Dennis SNSP 4D NOE
Legend SNSP 6L UKV
Last Action Hero SNSP L5 NOE
Lucky Luke SNSP ALYP NOE
Leathal Weapon SNSP L3 UKV
Magic Boy SNSP YG NOE
Adventures of Mighty Max (the) SNSP AMOP EUR
Young Merlin SNSP Y6 ESP
Marko's Magic Football SNSP AMRP EUR
Mr. Nutz SNSP N8 NOE
Mr. Do! SNSP AUNP EUR
Mega Man 7 SNSP A7RP EUR
Mega Man X SNSP RX UKV
Mega Man X/2 SNSP ARXP EUR
Mega Man X/3 SNSP AR3P EUR
Michael Jordan Chaos in the Winy City SNSP AWCP NOE
Ninja Warriors - The Next Generation SNSP NI EUR
Hagane SNSP AHGP EUR
Izzy's Quest for the Olypimpics Rings SNSP AIZP EUR
Indiana Jones Greatest Adventures SNSP AIJP EUR
Incantation SNSP AIYP EUR
James Bond JR SNSP JJ NOE
Jelly Boy SNSP AJBP UKV
Judge Dredd SNSP AJDP EUR
Jurassic Park SNSP J8 UKV
Jurassic Park 2 - The Chaos Continues SNSP A2JP EUR
Joe + Mac Caveman Ninja SNSP JT NOE
James Pond (Super) SNSP J5 ESP
Operation Starfi5H SNSP AOSP EUR
James Pond's Crazy Sports SNSP JX UKV
Home Alone SNSP HA NOE
Home Alone 2 Lost in New York SNSP HN NOE
Knights of the Round SNSP LO NOE
TransTrender
Gold Member
Amazing!
Glad it worked out.
Glad it worked out.
Congrats byuu!
I recently lost Yakuza 0 in the mail, which got me thinking how easy it would be to lose something in the mail. There was no tracking or registered post offered so I had to go with regular airmail. It's something that could easily be delivered to the wrong house or fallen off the back of a truck or (and I've been to one of these delivery centers) just slid down a gap somewhere because they have tons and tons of parcels everywhere. Not having deliveries trackable makes it really difficult to pinpoint what happened to the parcel and makes it susceptible to theft and errors. It was the first time I lost something in probably well over 100 parcels but luckily I got my money back.
I recently lost Yakuza 0 in the mail, which got me thinking how easy it would be to lose something in the mail. There was no tracking or registered post offered so I had to go with regular airmail. It's something that could easily be delivered to the wrong house or fallen off the back of a truck or (and I've been to one of these delivery centers) just slid down a gap somewhere because they have tons and tons of parcels everywhere. Not having deliveries trackable makes it really difficult to pinpoint what happened to the parcel and makes it susceptible to theft and errors. It was the first time I lost something in probably well over 100 parcels but luckily I got my money back.
Head.spawn
Junior Member
To be fair, FedEx and UPS can lose your package just the same.
Though I do prefer FedEx, simply because I stop every package from being actively delivered, get it diverted to nearby office and pick them up bright an early at the nearest office. I've had far too many problems with all three, where they would tell me a package has been delivered and it hadn't, say they mad an attempt when I am a few feet away from my door, staring at it intently all day waiting for them to actually show up... even had an issue with UPS delivering a guitar I bought to the wrong place (wrong street, house number, town etc etc) luckily I got a text notification telling me it was delivered; then I called in and found out where they DID deliver it to, which was a 30 minute drive, luckily untouched sitting outside on someones porch. Lol.
There is also the other factor in which UPS and FedEx will sometimes punt packages to USPS to deliver for them without telling you; I've had that happen a few times as well.
Yeah, it really doesn't matter which one you pick.
1morerobot
Member
To everyone bashing USPS, yeah, there are some shitty employees. Believe me. But do you realize they handle millions of packages daily? And employee 800,000 people? There are going to be some assholes that don't give a shit. But theft is rare, despite all the claims I'm seeing in this thread.
Glad you got your games back Byuu. I told you there was still hope!
Glad you got your games back Byuu. I told you there was still hope!
ArtHands
Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
Intent or not, they should bear the responsibility of helping him
But they tried to brush it aside
KojiKnight
Member
They aren't, and they only were briefly because of mismanagement. USPS is not legally allowed to make a profit, so when they turned a massive profit in the late aughts ( 2008 or so) Congress appropriated the profits for earmarks... Then when the economy went south, the surplus USPS had couldn't be used to balance the books for those crappy years because the extra money was gone.
In short, Congress took money from USPS, then got mad when USPS couldn't pay bills and asked for some money back. Then threatened to sink USPS entirely because of it. They've since gone back into good operating levels (thanks in large part to Amazon Sunday deliveries).
Glad this all worked out for Byuu and the project!
Well, Austrian and German mail has so far not lost a single package/letter for me in almost 40 years. And that was a few hundred.
It's really about USPS not giving a damn, if you find a shipping center starts to regularly have lost mail you should go in and investigate instead of shrugging it off as inevitable.
Glad the stuff was recovered, those sleeves look so... new
I said it was $5,000 to $10,000 (I know, a few times I got lazy and just said the latter, but I've repeatedly said the range as well.) And given one single game alone can go for up to $1,000, I don't think my estimate was so far off. Although I will say, all the stickers over the artwork on these probably hurts their value a lot.
But regardless, it's silly to argue semantics over the price involved here. The package was found, donors have been contacted for refunds. All is well
chronic_archaic
Member
Do you plan on continuing now?
Fair enough. I'm really glad it turned up, though and I applaud your efforts in SNES game preservation.I said it was $5,000 to $10,000 (I know, a few times I got lazy and just said the latter, but I've repeatedly said the range as well.) And given one single game alone can go for up to $1,000, I don't think my estimate was so far off. Although I will say, all the stickers over the artwork on these probably hurts their value a lot.
But regardless, it's silly to argue semantics over the price involved here. The package was found, donors have been contacted for refunds. All is well
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Even though it doesn't directly affect me, I was so happy that it was found. A beautiful SNES collection lost? Anxiety.... sadness....
Sigh of relief that they got it back.
Sigh of relief that they got it back.
Blackpuppy
Member
Awesome news Byuu!! I can't imagine the relief you must have had.
600 DPI. And lossless
Why not 1200dpi+?
I scan most things at 1200dpi minimum when I'm doing photo restoration for people.
File size/time consuming? Although I wouldn't think it would be that bad due to the small size of things.
lensoftruth
Member
Not really worth it for printed materials which are generally printed at 175lpi x 1200dpi from a 300 dpi source (assuming bitmaps)
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
Nah my company sends tens of thousands of packages and FedEx and UPS aren't that much better. Like, they lose a bit less but in the scheme of things we don't trust any of them. Packages just go fucking missing
Thanks for the link.
It's a really delicate process. I learned through practice of cleaning 2,000+ cartridges in the past. And I freely admit that I ruined some cartridges. I would try too aggressively to remove marker and end up taking the gritted texture off of the cart surfaces (they'd end up smooth and glossy). I would accidentally bleed ink off by using isopropyl alcohol on the wrong type of label (not enough plastic gloss to protect the label itself), overheated a label and caused a bit of bubbling behind the plastic, etc. Heck, I once royally screwed up a Final Fight Guy cartridge where a previous owner filled the screw holes with crazy glue. I thought I could drill the screws out ... horrific mistake (that was when I first started out.) The smart way to handle that is to melt the back of the clamshell off with a disposable $10 soldering iron, then take another back clamshell and drill the screw holes a tiny bit wider, drop a little bit of weak glue in there to put the cartridge back together. (I absolutely have to get inside to scan the PCBs and confirm the games aren't reproductions.)
Always practice and learn off cheaper carts before attempting to work on more expensive ones. I'm still not perfect, but I've just gotten a kind of extra sense about the limits I can take cleaning each cartridge, and I know well when to stop and not push things. Sometimes that means leaving the marker barely visible, or leaving part of a sticker on top of the game artwork.
But even still, there will always be critics when you try and clean cartridges. See the bottom of this thread for example:
http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=7&threadid=171281&StartRow=76#bottom
My scanner takes 3-4 minutes to do a 600DPI scan. About 15 minutes to do a 1200DPI scan. Multiply those minutes by 5000+ scans, and then look up how long it takes to learn a second language instead
600DPI exceeds the original print quality by so much that you can see each individual ink bubble, and as such you really need to descreen the images as a result.
There are also disk space concerns. We're at 200 GB of data wihtout manuals being scanned. I need the data to be smaller so that I can replicate it to more hard drives.
Afraid not. It's a good idea for next time, though.
Fox the Sly
Member
byuu, you are a gentleman and a scholar. Love you bro!
Sir_Crocodile
Member
Man, that was a great job with the Wing Commander cartridge.
Likewise!
For those who don't know, it's thanks to Fox the Sly that the USPS Consumer Affairs team knew how to contact me. He filed an internal case with them for me. There's a chance I wouldn't have the games right now if not for his help.
Of course, other people helped as well with providing contact info; as well as the wonderful CA rep that called and hounded all the facilities twice to get my package located.
(I would name the others, but they haven't given me permission to give out their names publicly.)
Thanks! I missed a little foil in the crevices on the sides, but I cleaned it out shortly after noticing it in the pictures.
Both of those games had metal security bars stuck right on the labels of the games. The glue was so strong it was trying to pull the plastic backing off the labels, but heating it was risking warping the plastic backing. It was a real balancing act. It took me about half an hour to clean each of those cartridges.
cubicle47b
Member
This is some crazy dedication. Good luck finishing your project, byuu.
ebullientprism
Member
Send them back via USPS.
You only live once.
You only live once.
fabricated backlash
Member
Wow, what a relief. Congrats.