JST Kickstart 1.3

[jotd]

thanks for the detailed report. It seems that there are unfinished writes.

You're using an emulator, which is interesting & easier to reproduce. I haven't tested OS swaps too much with kick 1.3

BTW to restore your partition, just boot it as an aux partition of a working disk. Also copy "disk-validator" in L. it's the program which "repairs" disks when unfinished writes happen.

I'll focus my tests on kickstart 1.3 this time. BTW: found the issue for Curse of enchantia, and also solves other issues, so thank you.

[malko]

Originally Posted by jotd

thanks for the detailed report.

You are welcome .

Originally Posted by jotd

BTW to restore your partition, [...]

My partition is not touched and is working fine . The print screen shows the King's Quest boot (display the blue screen during the startup-sequence of DF0: ). So it's inside WHDLoad (the booting of the disk image).
My WB partition use the MagicWB colours (MagicWB1.3 that is available in Aminet) .

Originally Posted by jotd

BTW: found the issue for Curse of enchantia, and also solves other issues

Cool . I have other slaves to test. Will also continue reporting .

[jotd]

ok, then the image has been trashed by the write.

What's your UAE config for that?

(fixed another issue that prevented Midnight Resistance to run as well, new beta soon)

[malko]

Here is my FS-UAE config.
It is still a work in progress

[jotd]

I confirm that disksaves aren't working too well. Universe worked for me, but Faery Tale Adventure didn't.

[malko]

I have re-tested some slaves with the latest JST 6.1β (I named it 'c').

Universe:
c:jst61c Universe.slave PRELOAD VERBOSE
c:jst61c Universe.slave
-> Game loads, can play it, can restore a saved game
-> Save -> black screen (waited 2 minutes then rebooted the emulator)

Future Wars:
c:jst61c FutureWars.slave (not working with other options)
-> Game loads, can play it, can restore a saved game
-> Save -> black screen BUT (1) screen flash after 6 seconds, 10 seconds, 14 seconds, 18 seconds. After 22 seconds game screen reappears. After 30 seconds possible to play again. Save game is present in the list BUT (2) if I then reboot the emulator* and reload the slave, saved game is no more present
*(QUITKEY still not working for me)

Operation Stealth:
c:jst61c OperationStealth.slave PRELOAD VERBOSE
c:jst61c OperationStealth.slave VERBOSE
-> black screen

c:jst61c OperationStealth.slave PRELOAD
c:jst61c OperationStealth.slave
-> Game loads, can play it, can restore a saved game
-> Save -> black screen. Screen flash after 6 seconds (waited 2 minutes then rebooted the emulator)
After a reboot, reloaded the slave
-> All saved games are no more in the list ! BUT (1) it is possible to restore the saved game that was initially present (the one I made with WHDLoad - position 1 in the list) BUT (2) the emulator freezes** when I try to restore the saved game made with JST (position 2 in the list).

Cruise for a Corpse:
c:jst61c CruiseForACorpse.slave PRELOAD
c:jst61c CruiseForACorpse.slave
-> black screen

Edit: **It's not the emulator that freezes. It's the game/slave.

[malko]

I have also faced another issue with the latest JST 6.1?. Really often the slave name is truncated .
See example screenshot (with latest JST, 3 times the name of the slave is truncated and as soon as I use another version of JST the slave name is fully taken...)

Edit: The name can be truncated anywhere (after fist letter, 5th, before last, etc.). Sometimes the QUITKEY value is appended to the slave name (ex: Universe.slave0x59)

[malko]

Reading another thread, I have seen that you wrote this comment :

Originally Posted by jotd

CD32load works on IDE HDDs with FFS or OFS (not PFS, SFS...). I hadn't any success with CF cards even if they're IDE, though, neither on the emulator or real HW.

Is JST also requiring FFS or OFS ?

[malko]

Another re-tested with the latest JST 6.1β (I named it 'c').

Faery Tale Adventure:
c:jst61c FaeryTaleAdventure.slave PRELOAD VERBOSE
c:jst61c FaeryTaleAdventure.slave PRELOAD
-> Game loads, can play it, can restore a saved game
-> Save -> black screen (waited 1 minute then rebooted the emulator)

c:jst61c FaeryTaleAdventure.slave
-> Game loads, can play it, can restore a saved game

-> Save (1st attempt - save "A") -> black screen BUT screen blinks after 16* seconds, 22, 26, 30, 35 (game screen displayed for 0.25 second), 39. After 43 seconds can play again.
-> I then moved a bit on the screen and tried to restore the game. Working

-> Save (2nd attempt - save "B") -> black screen BUT screen blinks after 7 seconds, 12, 18 (game screen displayed for 0.25 second), 23, 28, 33, 39 (game screen displayed for 0.25 second), 44 . After 50 seconds can play again.
-> I then moved a bit on the screen and tried to restore the game. Working

- Have then quitted (menu), reloaded the slave and restored both saved game. Working.
Also have rebooted the computer (not the emulator), reloaded the slave and restored both saved game. Working

Even if not perfect, with the latest beta release, WITHOUT any options on the command line (only the slave name), it is now possible to save the game in Faery Tale Adventure.
This is a great improvement over the previous beta release .

*All the times are estimated. I don't use a chronometer, just count the seconds .

[malko]

On another (old) tread I have seen this :

Originally Posted by lukassid

How to get back to workbench from WHDLoad game without resetting the machine?

@JOTD, does this apply to JST 6.1β under AOS1.3 ?

(yes, still searching a clue for the QUITKEY on my config )

[malko]

Originally Posted by malko

@JOTD, does this apply to JST 6.1β under AOS1.3 ?

I had the time to give a try and now have the answer .

It does apply to JST 6.1β under AOS1.3 !

What a surprise indeed... With CPU=68010 in the config file QUITKEY is working (and not with CPU=68000) !
It's also sad at the same time as it means that the QUITKEY option will not work on a real Amiga having only a 68000.

Just to be sure it was not working by chance, I have tested several keys :
- Future Wars (0x59)
- Universe (0x32)
- Operation Stealth (0x60)
- Faery Tale Adventure (0x66)
All of these worked like a charm on first keypress !

I also tested the key (0x00) but without success .
(because I was suspicious, I tested it with Faery Tale Adventure that has an in-game Quit option )

I thought a bit about it and was wondering if it is really an "issue" with JST or with the slaves ? (as the tip was given in an answer related to WHDLoad)
But as I don't know JST code, I will wait your assessment.

Hope it helps you in improving JST .

[jotd]

If the quitkey isn't working on 68000 but on higher cpus it's because

- the game slave doesn't have a hardcoded quitkey
- there's no VBR on 68000, so JST/Whdload cannot intercept keypresses before the game does and act accordingly.

Also, 0 is seen as a non key by JST. But I'll change that.

So you can make a list of the slaves you want updated, and I can try to do my best (better use mantis.whdload.de to file a bug report if I'm not the author of the install)

but be careful: you may just need to update your slaves. Example with Faery Tale on whdload page (http://www.whdload.de/games/FaeryTaleAdventure.html):

version 1.1 (14.06.2016):
- reassembled with latest kickemu, adds quitkey on 68000 (issue #0003363)

I'm pretty sure Op. Stealth and FW have been updated. All new kickemu slaves have a 68000 quitkey.

About savegames, Faery Tale is an annoying example. WHDload handles this nicely. It only writes the modified file to disk when quitting. JST doesn't do that: it writes the full file when ordered to. So if the file is big (a diskfile, 901k), the file is written entirely each time, then re-read, which isn't optimal like AT ALL!!

It's usually okay (ex: universe) when the saves are on files, not disks. That would be a nice enhancement. Maybe not so difficult to do.

[malko]

Thank you for the explanation .

All my tests have been done with the latest installs from 'whdload.de' site.
Maybe there is something with the emulation as, even for Faery Tale that should be working (version 1.1 (14.06.2016)), it is not with CPU=68000.

I think I will try to put my hands back on a real Amiga to give a live try .

Originally Posted by jotd

So you can make a list of the slaves you want updated, and I can try to do my best

Thank you for the proposition. I really appreciate it.
However I will not jump on it right now* as I do believe it is better if you have time improving JST (as all the Amiga scene can benefit it) instead of updating slaved just for me.
Now that I know that I have to reboot after some games, or leave CPU=68010, it's OK.

But don't misinterpret me : I am waiting the update you talked about in a previous reply .

Originally Posted by jotd

(better use mantis.whdload.de to file a bug report if I'm not the author of the install)

Will do it as soon as I will be able to confirm the issue on a real Amiga.

*I keep it for a future request .

[malko]

This time I gave a try to Gobliiins (JST 6.1β & AOS1.3 (CPU=68000)).
As it was impossible to launch the game from shell due to truncated slave name (see post #167), the options were set in the ICON.
This is very strange indeed. I did not had such issue with other commands, only with latest JST beta .

c:jst61c Gobliiins.slave QUITKEY=0x59 CUSTOM2=1

What is not working :
- The screen language selection is not displayed although CUSTOM2=1 is set and thus the game is always in English
- as usual QUITKEY is not working.

What is working :
- The game can be played

[jotd]

holidays are approaching! time for a huge bugfix session in about 2 weeks. thanks for those reports.

[malko]

You are welcome .

Today I gave a try to Fables & démons. Livre 1 : La légende de Kyrandia (Fables & fiends. Book 1: The legend of Kyrandia). JST 6.1β + AOS1.3.

What is working :
- the game can be launched, played and save-games can be restored with
jst61c legendofkyrandia.slave

What is not working :
- when saving the game -> black screen (waited 2 minutes). After a reboot, and relaunching the game, the save-game that failed is not present in the list.
- if the game is launched from the Icon (with original tool types) -> black screen.

I don't know if it is related with JST 6.1β but during the introduction, when Kallak writes the letter, the nib moves really slowly by fits and starts.

[malko]

Hello,

Today I gave a try to The final battle (~FR). JST 6.1β + AOS1.3 (same config as usual except that this time I launched FS-UAE from Windows and not from Amilator).

I encountered a strange behaviour that is visible in the attached thumbnail :

c:jst61c FinalBattle.slave

- The game loads and displays the initial game screen.
- Then the game crash with a GURU 0000000B.002E0850
- Left mouse click
- Another GURU is displayed 00000004.002C7F60
- Left mouse click
- There is no reset ??? but a return to WB and JST display a message :
Run-Time Error : Unsupported game version
Maybe try with NOCACHES set or/and
MMU=NONE or MMU=LAXIST
Last file loaded by ReadFile : amap.spr

I tested it 3 times. Each time, same result.
I do not remember a GURU that did not reset the Amiga. Seems it's my 1st time, and two one after the other...

Do you have any idea ?

Originally Posted by jotd

holidays are approaching! time for a huge bugfix session in about 2 weeks. thanks for those reports.

Hope you managed to find clues with the bugs

[matburton]

My word this is cool so many games work from HD with Kickstart 1.3!
Why is this such a well kept secret!

Is there anything I can do to help? Perhaps on the testing front?

I do have an A500 with Kickstart 1.3 if that helps
(and an ACA500plus, admittedly in storage at the moment)

I found one game that works better under JST than WHDLoad!
Wiz 'n' Liz crashes before it plays the demo under WHDLoad but works perfectly as far as I can see under JST.

[jotd]

It's not a secret, it's just that it's been working for a few years only, and most users with some fastmem can relokick so 1.3 isn't so used those days.

If you have a hard drive and only 2MB RAM, then JST can run 1-disked games from HD (like Magic pockets for instance) without relockicking, saving precious 512K RAM.

That's why I have added the joypad=>keyboard capability adapted from cd32load too.

That's also cool to have alternate slave runners: if you have issues with whdload you can verify the issue on JST or not

I've zoned a new JST 6.1 beta: main fixes (from latest 6.1 beta):

- QUITKEY issue found and fixed
- CUSTOM1=>5 tooltypes are now active
- conditional patchlists now work (trainers whdload v17 style)

- run from WB & savegames issues still here, don't retest, I haven't worked on it

so any tester is welcome, but I would stick to arcade games for now (no big savegames), and running from CLI

[matburton]

Anything that makes it possible to use software in a context (hardware/software) more in-line with its original context makes me fell warmer and fuzzier

Playing A500 games/demos with Kickstart 1.3 from Workbench 1.3 just feels more fitting.

I'll mess around with a few 1-disk games in WinUAE then when I get some free time and report anything that might be of interest