Ideas to do the ultimate legal CD32 comp

Rochabian · 01 May 2007, 01:51

I am using some tricks to use all whdload games or non-whdload games that needs 2MB RAM to be run on a CD32
Of course, agreed to Wepl, you need to be registered to play all games
Does someone know how to reduce a RAD drive to the max because it just need to have a startup-sequence wich is 1K .......
My better settings are:

device:ramdrive.device
Unit=0
Flags=0
Sufaces=1
BlocksPerTrack=4
Reserved=0
Interleave=0
LowCyl=0
HighCYl=0
Buffers=1
BuffMemtype=1
Prority=99

Does someone has a new idea to free more RAM at startup because this RAD is a non volatile RAM & boot at reboot

Thanks

TikTok · 01 May 2007, 09:35

Don't remember how, though I'm sure I have done it before.

An alternative might be to use a resizeable RAD disk - one that expands and decreases just like the RAM disk. It seems Statman might do the trick (readme).

Doc Mindie · 01 May 2007, 11:25

:blink

Why are Lowcyl and Highcyl the same? I thought they should be different values?

Wepl · 01 May 2007, 17:14

I'm currently doing some research and wrote a tool to start whdload games from cd32 (because Fisken Uno tried to rewok the CD-444 for whdloadcd32).

The approach using RAD and reboot is suboptimal IMO.

Better would be the following:

StartTool is located in startup-sequence
provides a buffer and starts the menu-system
menu-system fills the buffer with program to start and ends
StartTool starts the game
if the game returns (for games with exit like whdload) it starts the menu-system again

the menu-system must properly free all memory and ressources

advantages:

only some hundred bytes for the StartTool will stay resident in memory instead the RAD
no reboots required

I could write the StartTool, that is not much code, but the menu-system must be compatible too.

MethodGit · 01 May 2007, 22:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rochabian

Of course, agreed to Wepl, you need to be registered to play all games

Do you mean EVERY game in the compilation, or just those ones with slaves that required a keyfile in the first place? And I thought WHDLoadCD32 eliminated that requirement problem anyhow?

Wepl · 01 May 2007, 23:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by MethodGit

Do you mean EVERY game in the compilation, or just those ones with slaves that required a keyfile in the first place? And I thought WHDLoadCD32 eliminated that requirement problem anyhow?

WHDLoadCD32 does not need any keyfile and will also run all Slaves which require a registered WHDLoad.

Rochabian · 01 May 2007, 23:58

@Wepl:

Great idea!!
A small resident program can be used instead of RAD
I will load games faster and could uses less RAM
The startup will be more easy to do with that system

I think your tool can be compatible with AGS as it is the most used menu-system and the most simple to use IMHO

@MethodGit
Of course it will use WHDLOADCD32 but the problem now is not here, its about
to free as much ram as possible for games
The best will be to have quite a blank RAM, to be able to use all games as you do inserting a disk in your A500........

nnever2000 · 02 May 2007, 13:10

Are you speaking about a *real* cd32? Because I have booted an iso cd with whdload games without any problem in WINUAE 1.4.2 (just copying whdload file in c directory and inserted in startup-sequence "whdload nomegame.slave".

killergorilla · 02 May 2007, 13:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rochabian

I think your tool can be compatible with AGS as it is the most used menu-system and the most simple to use IMHO

Just thought I'd say... I've been writing a replacement for AGS as I found AGS too much of an effort to configure properly. It's not ready for release yet but it is coming along nicely.

Is there anything you can think of (or anyone else) that you don't like about AGS and would like changed?

Toni Wilen · 02 May 2007, 13:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by nnever2000

Are you speaking about a *real* cd32? Because I have booted an iso cd with whdload games without any problem in WINUAE 1.4.2 (just copying whdload file in c directory and inserted in startup-sequence "whdload nomegame.slave".

You didn't emulate cd32 but ~"A1200 with read-only HD" if it booted

Rochabian · 02 May 2007, 14:32

@KG:
The nombers of games displayed in AGS in a page is limited to 28 entries, no scroll down is possible, or not working good.
You have to create 3 file for each game to run it ( .start .txt .iff)
That for me the things that could be done better

The interface is quite good IMO : A description, the title, and a thumbnail for each game

nnever2000 · 02 May 2007, 15:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

You didn't emulate cd32 but ~"A1200 with read-only HD" if it booted

Oh! No!

I wanted to use this trick in order to launch Amiga games in mame using the next emulation of the cube cd32 into mame! So it will not work! Argh!

killergorilla · 02 May 2007, 15:57

Rochabian, thanks for the feedback.

My list scrolls round with no problems, the list itself is read in from a file rather than scanning the directory. (I'll create a tool to build the list from a directory later).

I've not changed much from the interface, just made the screenshot smaller and made the list itself wider so the game names can be a lot longer.

At the moment it runs from a one button joystick but it is VERY simple to add in functions for the other CD32 buttons, I'll have to think what these are but maybe the blue button could be used to go back to a previous menu for example.

Screenshots are supported from the screenshot directory, unfortunately they still need to be in iff mode, maybe one day I'll add datatype support for jpg/png.

As with AGS the menu kills itself before loading the game, but the difference here is that you can reload the menu with the same item showing as AGS remembers the item you last loaded.

The menu grabs all of it's information from a flatfile database (aka a text file) which contains the name of the game, the dir the game is in, some info about the game, the loading options for the game etc.
As it's a text file you'll be able to edit it manually if needs be.

Toni Wilen · 02 May 2007, 16:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by nnever2000

Oh! No!

I wanted to use this trick in order to launch Amiga games in mame using the next emulation of the cube cd32 into mame! So it will not work! Argh!

I replied to "just copying whdload file in c directory and inserted in startup-sequence "whdload nomegame.slave".

I didn't say you can't create real bootable cd32 cds

Rochabian · 02 May 2007, 20:01

Ok KG, it will surely be a great app

The idea of using others CD32 buttons is great too
Just have to find their uses
BW/FWD is a great idea instead of browsing the game list to find the "previous menu" line
Assigning shortcut to them seems to be the best idea

Does you loader free the ram it has used before loading game????

killergorilla · 02 May 2007, 20:57

Yeah it kills itself before loading, all RAM is freed apart from possibly...

I will have the option of storing a single file in RAM (a couple of bytes max) that will store the index of which menu item you were on.

Rochabian · 03 May 2007, 23:45

I think the KG-Wepl team could be the best team to release a gem
Good luck in your projects

killergorilla · 03 May 2007, 23:47

Cheers mate, I'll hopefully have at least some screenies soon once I've packed up this month's whdload pack

Rochabian · 03 May 2007, 23:53

@KG :
Really good news!! Can't wait for screenies.....
Is you menu a modified source code of AGS or is it a totally new one???

Edit: Nice work for your packages indeed

killergorilla · 04 May 2007, 00:25

It's completely new code but I did take a look at AGS to see how to use the ilbm methods. There is so little documentation on AmigaE on the net!

01 May 2007, 01:51	#1
Rochabian The Big White Cat Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: France Age: 44 Posts: 828	Ideas to do the ultimate legal CD32 comp I am using some tricks to use all whdload games or non-whdload games that needs 2MB RAM to be run on a CD32 Of course, agreed to Wepl, you need to be registered to play all games Does someone know how to reduce a RAD drive to the max because it just need to have a startup-sequence wich is 1K ....... My better settings are: device:ramdrive.device Unit=0 Flags=0 Sufaces=1 BlocksPerTrack=4 Reserved=0 Interleave=0 LowCyl=0 HighCYl=0 Buffers=1 BuffMemtype=1 Prority=99 Does someone has a new idea to free more RAM at startup because this RAD is a non volatile RAM & boot at reboot Thanks

01 May 2007, 17:14	#4
Wepl Moderator Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Germany Posts: 866	I'm currently doing some research and wrote a tool to start whdload games from cd32 (because Fisken Uno tried to rewok the CD-444 for whdloadcd32). The approach using RAD and reboot is suboptimal IMO. Better would be the following: StartTool is located in startup-sequence provides a buffer and starts the menu-system menu-system fills the buffer with program to start and ends StartTool starts the game if the game returns (for games with exit like whdload) it starts the menu-system again the menu-system must properly free all memory and ressources advantages: only some hundred bytes for the StartTool will stay resident in memory instead the RAD no reboots required I could write the StartTool, that is not much code, but the menu-system must be compatible too.

02 May 2007, 20:01	#15
Rochabian The Big White Cat Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: France Age: 44 Posts: 828	Ok KG, it will surely be a great app The idea of using others CD32 buttons is great too Just have to find their uses BW/FWD is a great idea instead of browsing the game list to find the "previous menu" line Assigning shortcut to them seems to be the best idea Does you loader free the ram it has used before loading game???? Last edited by Rochabian; 02 May 2007 at 20:09.

03 May 2007, 23:53	#19
Rochabian The Big White Cat Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: France Age: 44 Posts: 828	@KG : Really good news!! Can't wait for screenies..... Is you menu a modified source code of AGS or is it a totally new one??? Edit: Nice work for your packages indeed Last edited by Rochabian; 03 May 2007 at 23:59.

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01 May 2007, 09:35	#2
TikTok Registered User Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Malayasia Age: 43 Posts: 657	Don't remember how, though I'm sure I have done it before. An alternative might be to use a resizeable RAD disk - one that expands and decreases just like the RAM disk. It seems Statman might do the trick (readme).

01 May 2007, 11:25	#3
Doc Mindie In deep Trouble Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Manchester, Made in Norway Age: 51 Posts: 841	:blink Why are Lowcyl and Highcyl the same? I thought they should be different values?

01 May 2007, 23:58	#7
Rochabian The Big White Cat Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: France Age: 44 Posts: 828	@Wepl: Great idea!! A small resident program can be used instead of RAD I will load games faster and could uses less RAM The startup will be more easy to do with that system I think your tool can be compatible with AGS as it is the most used menu-system and the most simple to use IMHO @MethodGit Of course it will use WHDLOADCD32 but the problem now is not here, its about to free as much ram as possible for games The best will be to have quite a blank RAM, to be able to use all games as you do inserting a disk in your A500........

02 May 2007, 13:10	#8
nnever2000 Registered User Join Date: May 2002 Location: italy Posts: 138	Are you speaking about a real cd32? Because I have booted an iso cd with whdload games without any problem in WINUAE 1.4.2 (just copying whdload file in c directory and inserted in startup-sequence "whdload nomegame.slave".

02 May 2007, 14:32	#11
Rochabian The Big White Cat Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: France Age: 44 Posts: 828	@KG: The nombers of games displayed in AGS in a page is limited to 28 entries, no scroll down is possible, or not working good. You have to create 3 file for each game to run it ( .start .txt .iff) That for me the things that could be done better The interface is quite good IMO : A description, the title, and a thumbnail for each game

02 May 2007, 15:57	#13
killergorilla Lesser Talent Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: UK Age: 42 Posts: 7,957	Rochabian, thanks for the feedback. My list scrolls round with no problems, the list itself is read in from a file rather than scanning the directory. (I'll create a tool to build the list from a directory later). I've not changed much from the interface, just made the screenshot smaller and made the list itself wider so the game names can be a lot longer. At the moment it runs from a one button joystick but it is VERY simple to add in functions for the other CD32 buttons, I'll have to think what these are but maybe the blue button could be used to go back to a previous menu for example. Screenshots are supported from the screenshot directory, unfortunately they still need to be in iff mode, maybe one day I'll add datatype support for jpg/png. As with AGS the menu kills itself before loading the game, but the difference here is that you can reload the menu with the same item showing as AGS remembers the item you last loaded. The menu grabs all of it's information from a flatfile database (aka a text file) which contains the name of the game, the dir the game is in, some info about the game, the loading options for the game etc. As it's a text file you'll be able to edit it manually if needs be.

02 May 2007, 20:57	#16
killergorilla Lesser Talent Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: UK Age: 42 Posts: 7,957	Yeah it kills itself before loading, all RAM is freed apart from possibly... I will have the option of storing a single file in RAM (a couple of bytes max) that will store the index of which menu item you were on.

03 May 2007, 23:45	#17
Rochabian The Big White Cat Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: France Age: 44 Posts: 828	I think the KG-Wepl team could be the best team to release a gem Good luck in your projects

03 May 2007, 23:47	#18
killergorilla Lesser Talent Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: UK Age: 42 Posts: 7,957	Cheers mate, I'll hopefully have at least some screenies soon once I've packed up this month's whdload pack

04 May 2007, 00:25	#20
killergorilla Lesser Talent Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: UK Age: 42 Posts: 7,957	It's completely new code but I did take a look at AGS to see how to use the ilbm methods. There is so little documentation on AmigaE on the net!

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