Expansion board for the CD32

[plasmab]

Originally Posted by th4t1guy

I can verify that FASTMEM at least breaks Chaos Engine (NTSC version).
But if you have that and IDE, there's not much point in loading games from CD anymore.

How does the error manifest itself and has anyone tried WinUAE with this and some Z2 RAM?

[Amigajay]

Originally Posted by plasmab

Its easier to do a fast mem disable in software. Cant someone add it to a startup sequence


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You could redo any cd32 game Iso of any offending games with a line of code sure, of course the official disc still wouldn't load for those that want that too.

[plasmab]

I am not going to believe there is a problem until I try it myself. So few people have fastmem cards for the CD32 that it may have been a different issue from straight "the presence of fastmem"


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[spudje]

I guess there are also WHDLoad slaves from some CD32 specific games, such as Chaos Engine. I guess that's the compromise people have to take when installing your card. Use the slave, not the original CDROM. http://www.whdload.de/games/ChaosEngine.html

You lose CD audio then, that's true. If only CD32Load got developed further to also support ripped audio tracks....

[Amigajay]

Originally Posted by plasmab

I am not going to believe there is a problem until I try it myself. So few people have fastmem cards for the CD32 that it may have been a different issue from straight "the presence of fastmem"


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When i had a SX-1, i owned around 30 CD32 games and only 1...maybe 2 didn't work with it enabled, but worked with the disable switch on the SX-1, from the manual it says;

"Disable Switch. This switch allows you to disable most of the functionality of
the SX-1 board just in case you find any CD-based software that does not
work. Only the RGB port, memory and clock functions are left active when
this switch is set toward the parallel port. Normally you will leave it set
toward the External IDE connector. You will have to reset the machine each
time you change this switch"

Notice it still says memory is still active?

[plasmab]

Originally Posted by Amigajay

When i had a SX-1, i owned around 30 CD32 games and only 1...maybe 2 didn't work with it enabled, but worked with the disable switch on the SX-1, from the manual it says;



"Disable Switch. This switch allows you to disable most of the functionality of

the SX-1 board just in case you find any CD-based software that does not

work. Only the RGB port, memory and clock functions are left active when

this switch is set toward the parallel port. Normally you will leave it set

toward the External IDE connector. You will have to reset the machine each

time you change this switch"



Notice it still says memory is still active?

Let's try this on some games and see before adding disable switches for the wrong stuff.


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[alexh]

FYI anyone thinking of using one of these with an fWSI will need a replacement Kickstart EEPROM to patch lowlevel.library.

The CPLD's on the fWSI which "emulate" the missing CIA's have a bug in them meaning they don't support the CD32 pads extra buttons via the normal CIA address.

The onboard partial CIA (built into one of the CD32's custom chips) is accessible via another address so it is possible to patch lowlevel.library

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=43319

[plasmab]

Thanks. There a CD32 button test app that can be used to verify all the buttons are working. Happy to run for workbench


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[Amigajay]

Originally Posted by plasmab

Let's try this on some games and see before adding disable switches for the wrong stuff.

Exactly, which is why i posted that, might not just be 'fastram'

[FOL]

How does squirrel CD32 emu do it? as I have all my CD32 games running fine with FastRAM on my A1200. It makes Microcosm very smooth.

If I recall, on my SX1, Microcosm would give "internal error" message with 8MB Ram.

[plasmab]

Originally Posted by FOL

How does squirrel CD32 emu do it? as I have all my CD32 games running fine with FastRAM on my A1200. It makes Microcosm very smooth.

If I recall, on my SX1, Microcosm would give "internal error" message with 8MB Ram.

Does the issue occur with the PAL version? If so I'll try it later with my card


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[Amiga1992]

There aren't that many CD32 games. I'm willing to test all I can.

[th4t1guy]

Originally Posted by plasmab

How does the error manifest itself and has anyone tried WinUAE with this and some Z2 RAM?

I tested this last night. With FASTMEM enabled, you get no video at all. Sounds play fine, so you can start the game and hear it playing, you just can't see anything. It works perfectly when I set the jumper to disable memory (booted into Workbench to verify no FASTMEM).

Regarding the disable switch on the SX-1, I've never had it make a game work for me; I've always had to set the jumper to disable FASTMEM. However, I'm on an NTSC machine, so that may cause some differences. I also don't have a whole lot of games for this (maybe 15 CD32 + 5 CDTV).

[plasmab]

Originally Posted by th4t1guy

I tested this last night. With FASTMEM enabled, you get no video at all. Sounds play fine, so you can start the game and hear it playing, you just can't see anything. It works perfectly when I set the jumper to disable memory (booted into Workbench to verify no FASTMEM).



Regarding the disable switch on the SX-1, I've never had it make a game work for me; I've always had to set the jumper to disable FASTMEM. However, I'm on an NTSC machine, so that may cause some differences. I also don't have a whole lot of games for this (maybe 15 CD32 + 5 CDTV).

The PAL machines can be switched to NTSC in the early startup menu?


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[th4t1guy]

Originally Posted by plasmab

The PAL machines can be switched to NTSC in the early startup menu?

Yes, this is how I get most CD32 games to work (switching to PAL).

The version of Chaos Engine I have is from the Spectacular Voyage pack.

[plasmab]

Ok i confirmed that the game has a bug where it allocates screen ram in fast mem on the spectacular voyage edition. Piss poor programming IMHO.

In happier news here is the TF328 rev 1. Sources to be released imminently.

[Amiga1992]

So as you said, we can just flick that JP1 and the whole board would be disabled?

[plasmab]

Originally Posted by Akira

So as you said, we can just flick that JP1 and the whole board would be disabled?

Yeah. It would be best not to use a long lead to switch it as the clock is running through it.


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[plasmab]

I've also added support for A JMP NMI so this board can be used with HRTMon


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[cpiac64]

i want one pcb for me