JST Kickstart 1.3

[Lastic]

Originally Posted by jotd

yeah, when memory is low JST has a tendency to lock up... Beyond the ice palace is really small.

whdload would need youto softkick to at least 2.04, losing 512k in the process. And then you could (maybe) run Beast demo (without PRELOAD and some flashing probably). I don't know the size of the files.

I have to improve the way JST handles OS swaps. It seems to be a bit dodgy. Maybe not a big issue, but definitely a regression because it used to run well years ago.

Thanks for your prompt reply.

The bizarre thing is that it works with the same specs on FS-UAE just using JST.

Reason I'm using JST is because of the 1.3 Kickstart and my low memory specs/requirements, but haven't found anything booting on my real A500 besides BeyondTheIcePalace.
I was under the impression that other users have been able to boot Games with only 2MB and Kickstart 1.3 or were they referring to 2MB Chip RAM ?

[Retro1234]

iirc I did tests under Winuae with the old version of JST 1.4 and booted various JST installs and old WHDload slaves, with the old version of JST - HDload and Lowmem didn't work under Kick 1.3.

I've not extensively tested the new JST.

are you trying old JST installs or WHDload slaves? there is a large number of old JST installs on the EAB file server and these in my experience quite often work on lower memory specs.

[jotd]

1.4 isn't kick 1.3 compatible IIRC.. I made a special effort to make it compatible in 6.x

Oh, you have to use the latest JST version. Previous ones required fastmem / weren't able to emulate MEMF_REVERSE. Latest JST version (on my github page) is able to run on 1MB CDTV unexpanded for some games.

There's also a bug: to be able to use LOWMEM/HDLOAD you HAVE to set PRELOAD... I fixed it but didn't release the fix.

I don't have a lot of time right now (work gets in the way). Will check that in a few weeks. Working on JST needs a lot of focus.

[Retro1234]

yeah as you can see when I started the thread I was using JST JST 0.9c and then 1.4 on kick1.3.

Wow 11 years ago.

[jotd]

you're right... I wasn't using 2.0 calls because I just didn't need them. But when you discover dos.ReadArgs you just upgrade to 2.0.... (fortunately Toni provided a code example to use an early version of something like ReadArgs on 1.3)
Well, this version is 20+ years old.. time flies. Damn. Anyway, versions 6.x are way more capable than old ones. And if some bugs/limitations are identified,at least I have the source and I can fix them.

[Retro1234]

hehe come on I can't tell you what version is what

good memories for me getting JST installs from AmigaFormat.

[Lastic]

Thanks both for your input and your time.

I spend the remainder of the evening trying to get MKick to work in order to softkick to 2.04 but obviously I'm missing the knowhow since it seems to create a boot floppy but then when I boot it , it states that there is no relocatable Kickstart ROM.

I'm using the latest JST 6.x and the WHDLOAD images from the grandis.nu FTP server but will use the PRELOAD option now also to see if it differs.

Maybe I better create a seperate thread in order not to pollute this one ?

[jotd]

no, it's perfectly on topic.

Test small games (size & memory wise) like Silkworm for instance. Those should work.

sovox used the latest version of JST to create CDTV compilation with a lot of games that run on CD on 1MB (on 1.3!!)

https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?p=1434609

I suggest you grab it and try the games that use JST. A copy of JST is also on the CD. You need v6.5 (02.11.2020), else it won't work properly.

official distro of JST: https://github.com/jotd666/jst

[Lastic]

Originally Posted by jotd

no, it's perfectly on topic.

Test small games (size & memory wise) like Silkworm for instance. Those should work.

sovox used the latest version of JST to create CDTV compilation with a lot of games that run on CD on 1MB (on 1.3!!)

https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?p=1434609

I suggest you grab it and try the games that use JST. A copy of JST is also on the CD. You need v6.5 (02.11.2020), else it won't work properly.

official distro of JST: https://github.com/jotd666/jst

So it appears I was using JST 6.3 from here
https://jotd.pagesperso-orange.fr/misc/jst_6.3.zip

I copied JST 6.5 from the ISO and tadaah
the grandis.nu WHDLOAD version ShadowOfTheBeastDemo.Slave now works

I did try a WHDLOAD Silkworm.slave using JST 6.3 and that also works.
I am using no options at all so pretty impressive.

On to testing more WHDLOAD Slaves today !
And softkicking to Workbench 2.0 using MKick well that's for another topic/day

[jotd]

yeah, I have to update... or link to the github page..

Glad it's useful for more and more people with 1.3 configs.

Softkicking is something that you won't be needing if you stick to JST. 512kb is precious on your setup. If you had 8MB fast, softkicking would be a must have and you could use whdload all the time.

webpage & github updated. v6.6, fixed the "PRELOAD" bug: note if you were using PRELOAD so HDLOAD/LOWMEM had a chance to work, you have to stop using it

[Lastic]

Originally Posted by jotd

yeah, I have to update... or link to the github page..

Glad it's useful for more and more people with 1.3 configs.

Softkicking is something that you won't be needing if you stick to JST. 512kb is precious on your setup. If you had 8MB fast, softkicking would be a must have and you could use whdload all the time.

webpage & github updated. v6.6, fixed the "PRELOAD" bug: note if you were using PRELOAD so HDLOAD/LOWMEM had a chance to work, you have to stop using it

Thanks a lot for your time on this Easter Monday.
6.5 truncated the Slave names so Gods.slave became Gods
6.6 seems to truncate even further, Object name from Gods to G

On the bright side tested so far and working (all WHDLOAD slaves)

Baal
Vixen
WizNLiz
Silkworm
BeyondTheIcePalace
GodsDemo
ShadowOfTheBeastDemo

There is a paypal donation arriving any second

[jotd]

this slave name truncation is a random bug i am hunting for ages... Going to find it. thanks for the donation!

[jotd]

BTW someone asked me if it was possible to run Pinball Dreams on a low mem config (KS1.3, 512k chip, 1MB fast)

I think it's possible but right now the slave crashes, even with a lot of memory. Maybe a JST issue...

But I could run supercars II with 512kb chip and 1MB ram (using LOWMEM). Only quit crashes with guru, got to investigate (memory free issue, no biggie).

[RoC]

I am one of those who have been starting using jst 6.x in a WB 1.3.

Currently I am setting up through WinUAE but eventually this will go to a couple of real miggies. I aim to create a (very) small subset of my favourites OCS games.

So far it is working great. Like others, I am following the path of creating a project icon that launch a small CLI script.

Kudos to JOTD for making this possible and keep up the great work!

[jotd]

found several huge bugs in 1.3 argument parsing. Got to work a bit on that... but all random command line errors are now gone

edit: fixed a lot of stuff. got Pinball Dreams running with 512k chip & 1.5 Mb fast on kick 1.3 with LOWMEM! release soon.

[jotd]

update: version 7.0 is now out.

After one whole week-end hunting loading bugs & various crashes / lack of memory checks, this new version is working pretty well on kick 1.3 (and on higher kicks too), even with LOWMEM (that was completely borked on previous versions)

https://jotd.pagesperso-orange.fr/amiga.html

[malko]

Thank you
Looks like it's time to check again some games

[Retro1234]

I remember some games worked absolutely perfect on 2mb with HDload and lowmen like Gods with no screen flashing.

anyway good work and nice for people with Kick 1.3

[jotd]

not sure Universe will work, though... Didn't work to improve the saving. But the OS swaps have improved a lot, that's for sure.

[malko]

Originally Posted by jotd

not sure Universe will work, though... Didn't work to improve the saving. But the OS swaps have improved a lot, that's for sure.

mehhhh
(ok, maybe with next update then )