Chilmax

Chilmax (Spanish IPA: ˈʧɪlmaks) is a long-running Chilean hacking group known for its scene releases, ROMs with trainers, and accurate emulators.

Chilmax was dedicated to releasing ROMs with trainers and intros via BBS boards. Nowadays, they're still active, though they now create emulators that aim to be as accurate as the original hardware.

In addition, they also released game hacking tools, as well as bootleg games. They also released SDKs for Chilean developers, which also ended up getting used by Chilean TV channels (such as TVN) for consoles games, which ended up getting approved and licensed by the console's Chilean manufacturers.

Chilmax was also known for its emulators, such as DOSNES (an NES emulator for MS-DOS), MadNES (an NES emulator for PC), SuperNess (a SNES emulator for PC and MS-DOS), and GenesisBoy (a Game Boy emulator for the Sega Genesis).

History
Chilmax was formed in 1987 by José Caldito. Before then, Caldito hacked floppy disks to either crack copy-protection measures or to add his own signatures when starting the game, and then give them away to computer owners back then.

In its early days, Chilmax was known for releasing hacked software for popular computers at the time and then distributing them through BBS boards. A notable example would be the Commodore 64, in which Chilmax made BBS software for it and released it on stores, allowing C64 owners to post messages to everyone. This piece of software was known in Chile as CommoForos and was later released in Europe as C64 Boards, with European distribution done by Petite Entertainment in France and Nestar elsewhere. It became popular, with many C64 owners around the world creating threads in order for other people to post replies, as well as forums so that people could make threads on there.

Chilmax would later make software development kits for different systems as a way to entice Chilean developers, which also ended up getting used by Chilean TV channels for their games, which ironically enough, were officially licensed.

Following the Chilean release of the NES in 1991, Chilmax hacked NES ROMs as well, modifying and expanding the PRG-ROM bank (and the CHR-ROM bank as well, if the game uses it) to add an intro and a trainer. They also began sharing Game Genie codes via BBS boards, in case they didn't get the hacked ROM. They also began releasing hacked ROMs of region-exclusive games, in order to make reviewing easier. An emulator named DOSNES was also made for MS-DOS, using dumps of chips found inside the NES console and therefore is considered the most accurate NES emulator in existence. A Microsoft Windows port, named MadNES was also made, being a pun on the word "madness". The community translated it onto English as well and released a version for recent versions of Windows (both 32-bit and 64-bit).

In 1992, after the SNES got released in Chile, Chilmax would later hack SNES ROMs, which are later done by other hacking groups (such as Anthrox) and made their way onto the GoodSNES database. These ROMs include an intro and a trainer, as was the norm for the group's scene releases. They eventually released an SNES emulator for DOS, named MadSNES, which ran slower due to its accuracy (as just like DOSNES and MadNES, used dumps of chips found inside the console), and was later discontinued in 1993, only to come back in 1995 as SuperNess, being a pun on "Super NES" and Ness from EarthBound, due to that game being the most discussed on Chilean BBS boards at the time. That emulator was also released for Windows 95, and just like MadNES, got translated onto English and ported onto recent versions of Windows (both 32-bit and 64-bit) by the community. SuperNess also has support for enhancement chips (such as the Super FX chip) via dumps of these chips as well. During the discontinuation of MadSNES, an add-on named the SuperFloppy was released, which allowed SNES ownsers to load ROMs on their console via floppy disks. That same year, the Sega Genesis made its debut on the Chilean market, and as a result, in 1994, Chilmax made a Game Boy emulator for the Genesis, named GenesisBoy, made in honor of the Super Game Boy, which came out the same year. It supports Super Game Boy enhancements (such as custom borders and color). SGB-enhanced music is also supported, by using a custom sound driver that has the same commands as the N-SPC, and features built-in FM instruments, as well as PCM samples (the latter also being used on unenhanced games for the waveform channel, using the same trick found in Toy Story). They also cracked anti-piracy measures on copy-protected games (such as EarthBound).

In 1997, the N64 made its way onto Chile, and Chilmax began using copies of the CRC chip found on N64 cartridges, alongside an add-on that allows copying ROMs from a CD (with CDs being the main reason the PS1 sold much better than the N64), alongside running them from CDs, which also allowed for games larger than 64 megabytes (512 megabits). That add-on was named Disc64. Hacked ROMs were also sent through BBS boards and CDs also be obtained from Chilmax's headquarters, in case the ROM was too big to be posted. As per the norm, hacked N64 ROMs include trainers and an intro. ROMs bigger than 64MB would instead be sent as an ISO file.

In 2002, Chilmax released the Game Manager for the GameCube, which allowed owners to switch games by putting them on a DVD disk. It also cracked the GameCube's copy protection, being distributed on mini discs and also including a parallel port so that DVDs could be inserted. It was also ported to the Nintendo DS in 2005, this time using SD carts and DS cartridges.

Nowadays, they're still active, but now mostly update emulators.