CD32Load

[Whitesnake]

Originally Posted by jotd

Official rnc cds never contained more than 3 games. We reach the limit with 50 games on a cd, which means a lot more files than any commercial release.

@earok: good work again! I m too tired to code something now...

I probably should have said on a compilation I made which has over 550+ games on one CD the official CD32 RNC Loader games on it still work.

[ Show youtube player ] < That is 5 years ago I have since updated the menu system and other things. It has been an evolving thing for over 10 years.

[earok]

@jayminer Regarding Mega Typhoon, were you planning to play/release it for CD32 or were you trying it with CD32Load for testing purposes? We've looked into doing our own release of it and while we've found it won't run from Disc, it can be copied to RAM: and run from there.

@joyd Can you please zone the Turrican 1.3 slave? I can't find it


Also - please bear with me on this, I admit to being a total newbie to ASM stuff - I don't know why my virtual keyboard sometimes crashes but I presume it could be because the big table of keycodes is static (and doesn't get relocated?)

[jayminer]

I'm trying as many games as possible, for testing purposes!

And as I think I mentioned here before, I'm working on a compilation CD with a friend, trying to collect as many "good" games as possible that works on the CD32 with as few problems as possible.

So thanks for the tip on running it from RAM, gonna try that. I really like Mega Typhoon so it would be great if it could be included!

[Psygore]

This rn loader was not designed to be used for CD compilations.
The "files bug" problem is not how many files there are on the CD but how many directories.
All directories on the CD can be found by reading TypeMPathTable value and his size (depends of the dirnames) is stored at PathTableSize.
But the loader only reads 1 sector (2kb), so if there are too many dirs on the CD, some can not be found.
For a workaround, remove unused dirs and/or try to rename dirnames with a shorter name.

Btw, when creating iso with ISOCD, CDFS options have not effect with this loader because it didn't use it. Same for all progs which double the CD speed.

[jotd]

@whitesnake: official RN loaders only read from CD0: or a subdir. You can merge all files together hoping there are no name collisions and create a compilation, right (result is messy but it works)
But what CD32Load does is that it allows to put files anywhere on a CD (no mixup) in separate dirs, rename dirs, ... it's fully dynamic.

But as stated Psygore, abusing of this method creates errors.

@Psygore: please share CDloader source!! I only have a resourced RN CDloader from James Pond, figured some commands but I don't know where you got the TypeMPathTable and PathSize symbol from! If possible could you share the sources for Aladdin/Putty Squad custom loaders & also the recent slave updates you made (looking for SWIV & SlamTilt in particular)

@psygore (again): can the RN load limit be upped? do you know how to do it.
@psygore (again): I suppose there is no direct way of partial file read (hence the file conversion you had to do on Aladdin)? Which kills the possibility of AGA games using diskimages on 2MB.

@earok: your code works, and is not so bad. It's the ideas and the testing, work & dedication that count.

[Retro1234]

any chance of these features for us poor non CD32 guys?

[jotd]

you mean CD32 button mapping? The best way I see it would be through whdload itself.

[Retro1234]

Could the loading method work for HardDrive or is only possible for CD - could be good for low spec Amigas say with only 2mb chip?

But for me very interested in the button mapping.

anyway cool stuff

[jotd]

Yeah I think that it is possible to use the code for vanilla A1200s. I'll test that.

[earok]

I may have mentioned this before - I *think* Tin Toy Adventure has an RNC HD loader, though as per the notes on WHDLoad it doesn't work on every hard drive drive. I don't know if it's worth taking a closer look at.

Just to let you know what I'm doing
- I don't think I can enhance the current virtual mouse in any way, while it might be possible to get it to work on the second gamepad port it'd only support left mouse button (unless you can think of any clever way to prevent the program from writing to the POTGO..?)
- Changed the FWDBWD handling to a Macro (similar to HANDLE_BUTTON) that handles both the keydown and keyup events (I was having some issues with Zeewolf using that feature)
- Fixed the occasional crashing on the virtual keyboard by shifting the keycode array to the struct system, also ensuring that the address register I use is stored/restored. I'm having some issues using it with Lemmings however so I'll insert some longer delays between the keydown and keyup events to see if that resolves it.

[jotd]

RN loader has CD, floppy, and basic IDE HD support (like HRTMon). I think it avoided the developper the hassle of burning a CD when developping their game...

[earok]

Ah, that makes sense! If you can get it working it'll be great news for the A1200 crowd too

[Amiga1992]

Since I am having so many issues with WHDLoad and my turbocard, this would be a very welcome thing on my A1200!

[earok]

Just zoned my latest set of contributions:

- Virtual Keyboard is a lot more reliable, it shouldn't crash the game any more, it's far less likely to "stick" and it's also quicker to cycle through characters.
- FWD+BWD is handled differently (so key down and key up events are processed)
- Minor tweak to virtual mouse, even when you've configured it on the CLI it remains off until you've pressed a CD32 only button (any button but red or blue). This is to allow the player to still use a regular mouse if they prefer.


That's all I really wanted to contribute for now! Please let me know if I've broken anything..

Also, I realised there's a major issue with using the virtual keyboard with games like Lemmings. On Lemmings soon as you enter the last character, it immediately checks to see if the password is valid - but the virtual keyboard relies on being able to enter a character and then delete it, so it immediately quits rather than letting you cycle through to select the right character. Is there any existing functionality in CD32LOAD where, say, a debug string can be printed to the screen?

Edit: Whoops, of course there is in Stingray's code. Is there any reason why I shouldn't be able to use PRINTTEXT during the game?

[jotd]

@all: I'll try to follow Toni instructions, create a basic IDE partition, boot from there and try CD32LOAD from there (adding HD option).

@earok: too bad for Lemmings. The problem with displaying something over the game display is that it's very difficult not to destroy game copperlists, and you cannot know where the game copperlist is since copper regs are write only (only emulators & special hardware such as Action Replay can intercept the write and read the value)

The slave would have to be modified to either need RETURN or accept the password you entered minus the last letter.
But there are a lot of versions to support (say 9 versions at least!)

[earok]

Ah, I see, cheers. I'll keep thinking of a way to support games like lemmings that end the password screen as soon as the last character is hit.

[jotd]

I've zoned a version with IDEHD flag. Works with vanilla A1200!! and maybe even A600 with 2MB chip.
just set IDEHD flag and it will load from DH0: (must be IDE/A600/A1200 internal controller, no CF card, and 2MB of straight chipmem ATM)
(no time to merge earok changes but will do soon, just wanted to share that with you all ASAP)

[Retro1234]

Holly f*ck I just booted turrican 3 on my expanded A1200 68030 and paused the game with my CD32 pad


Toki - pause! from pad!
Agony - but couldnt Pause or use blue - maybe my imagination in someway seems smoother.
Lotus 2
Loopz - paused ok from pad
BluesBrothers - Turned music off with shoulder button
CoolSpot - paused game but blue not working - joyapd/blue for jump
BubbleDizzy - Paused
Swiv
SmashTv
AddamsFamily

I have alot of JST installs on my HD but basicly every whdload game im trying boots and pauses if P is pause.

CD32load IDEHD game.slave

need to do some more testing.

[jotd]

Glad it works on real hardware. Should work too on an unexpanded A1200, that's the point.

Sometimes pause is SPACE.
Agony: use JOY1BLUE=$00 because slave already supports 2nd button and this conflicts. Pause should work though.

Let's hope that Bert will implement something similar on WHDLoad.

[earok]

Well done! I presume the games load without OS flashes from HDD too..?