FFS, PFS3 and The Settlers (1993)

[Gilloo]

Hello, I encountering a strange issue with the Settlers (the game version 1, dating of 1993) The game is installed in a directory "Blue byte", with the intro demo.


1GB partition FFS
The game can save game states, and reload them.



1GB partition PFS3 (pfs3aio 19.2, but I thing all versions have this issue)

"Read Error" on loading "Write Error" on saving

In both cases the game loads correctly and is working well (except load/save).

I thought it was my implementation of usbscsi.device the wrongdoer, but it is not the case, the issue is the same with WINUAE.
How to investigate in more detail ? (which tools ?)

[dlfrsilver]

use PFS3AIO, FFS is the shit.

[daxb]

Does the same happens with the WHDLoad version? Here it works with SFS.

[Toni Wilen]

Try something like 100M partition to guarantee game does not do some weird size checks that rely on block size..

[daxb]

You can also mount a RAD: and then format it with FFS or PFS. Then copy your Settlers to RAD: and start it from there.

[Gilloo]

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

use PFS3AIO, FFS is the shit.

In this case FFS rocks well... (reread my fluent english pliz )

[dlfrsilver]

Originally Posted by Gilloo

In this case FFS rocks well... (reread my fluent english pliz )

FFS is giving troubles when PFS3AIO does not.

You don't need 1gb for worbench partition.

for PFS3AIO, if you have such error message, It's because you forgot to do something when preping your CF.....

[Zack]

I remember having the same problems with PFS, Settlers and savegames. I think I worked around the problem by mounting a large enough ADF file formatted with FFS, and started the game from that image.

Now I use the WHDLoad version that works fine

[Gilloo]

@all
I forgot to mention that my goal is not to play with the game "The Settlers" but to understand why it refuses to load/save with PFS3.

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

Try something like 100M partition to guarantee game does not do some weird size checks that rely on block size..

when it succeed one time, it succeed always.
when it fails, it will succeed after 5 or 6 attempts... (but it is better with a 100MB PFS3 partition, I will re-try with the 1GB partition)

I got something to explore with SnoopDOS 3.8 (May 2003)


Count Process Name Action Target Name Options Res. ----- ------------ ------ ----------- ------- ----
1 WBL ChangeDir Vide:Games/BLUEBYTE/The Set
2 WBL Load iconx OK 3 WBL ChangeDir SYS:
4 WBL ChangeDir Vide:Games/BLUEBYTE/The Set
5 WBL Open iconx.info Read Fail 6 WBL ChangeDir SYS:
7 iconx ChangeDir Vide:Games/BLUEBYTE/The Set
8 iconx Open NIL: Read OK
9 iconx ChangeDir Vide:Games/BLUEBYTE/The Set
10 iconx Open The Settlers.info Read OK
11 iconx ToolType WINDOW OK
12 iconx Open NIL: Read OK
13 iconx ToolType DELAY Fail
14 iconx Open The Settlers Read OK
15 iconx Execute cd "Vide:Games/BLUEBYTE/The Batch OK
16 [1] TheSettlers Open gfxfast Read OK
17 [1] TheSettlers Open gfxheader Read OK
18 [1] TheSettlers Open sounds Read OK
19 [1] TheSettlers Open gfxchip Read OK
20 [1] TheSettlers Open music Read OK
21 [1] TheSettlers Open SettlerArchive Read OK
22 [1] TheSettlers Open SettlerSave6 Read OK


Open Read OK, but a packet ACTION_READ fails on a odd size...
I've done a little C program to check, but this program always work, reads the file SettlerSave6 correctly with the same slicing and the same packet trace under SnoopDos.

How to check the game priority ?
(the game kills a lot of apps, the WB, but not SnoopDos and devices... )
Any other idea is welcome, Thanks

[daxb]

Scout, XOpa, OMon, ... can print task priority. But if it switch off multitasking. But you can write a small C program that get the task priority and run it in the background.

As already mentioned you can try to run the game from RAM:, RAD: (with FFS and PFS) and see how it behaves. It may differ from running it from hard disk. PFS needs some time to write a file finally. But you said problem with reading is the same.

[Toni Wilen]

Use snoopdos to capture exact same steps using PFS3 and FFS partitions, using exact same game data.

[Gilloo]

I think I have found a workaround: access the saved file with an external program (the same successful read pattern shown by SnoopDos) just before launch the game.
Then the game always load it.
Would it be linked to the cache ? (PFS3aio, buffers = 30)

[daxb]

If you have enough RAM then set it to a much higher value. At least 100 and up to 300 if I remember right (see docs).