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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Software Issues and Discussion => Topic started by: foleyjo on April 04, 2011, 08:50:55 AM

Title: A few issues
Post by: foleyjo on April 04, 2011, 08:50:55 AM
So I'm almost there. Got a good speed on my 1200 now and just trying some software from aminet to see what else I can squeeze out of it.
Just having a couple of issues and questions though and wondering if any one can help.

1 -I have the game Genesis on CD and thought I would give it a go. I have more than the min requirements in terms of memory however when I start it I get the message
Chip Ram = Not Contiguous

and then it fails to load.  What exactly does this mean and how do I change it.

2 -I have tried a few packages to put things into fast ram rather than chip however when I do this I get graphic corruptions. I also get lines across the screen when using fblit+wbctrl. Is this likely to be faulty ram or can using some patches together cause this problem?

3 - Is there a decent working BBC emulator? I would like to play the repton games but don't want to setup the BBC.

4 - Is virtual memory useful on an Amiga?

5 - I have the CD32 emulator that came with the squirrel but it doesn't play Microcosm and a few other games. Is there anyway to get this working without using the CD32?

6- If an app on aminet states it uses SDL.library does this mean it won't work on an A1200 without a videocard.

7- Is there a way to see discs on a SD HxC Floppy Emulator in workbench? I just get a uninitialized error

I think thats all the questions I have for now and look forward to some entertaining answers
Title: Re: A few issues
Post by: foleyjo on April 04, 2011, 06:27:59 PM
Anyone?
Title: Re: A few issues
Post by: Damiga on April 04, 2011, 06:31:29 PM
Sorry, wish I could help. Have you tried any other Amiga forums? Must be someone who could at least give some pointers...
Title: Re: A few issues
Post by: redrumloa on April 04, 2011, 06:42:49 PM
1 -I have the game Genesis on CD and thought I would give it a go. I have more than the min requirements in terms of memory however when I start it I get the message
Chip Ram = Not Contiguous

and then it fails to load. What exactly does this mean and how do I change it.
 
Not sure if I can help here, but is it an 1200/4000 version or CD32 version?
 
2 -I have tried a few packages to put things into fast ram rather than chip however when I do this I get graphic corruptions. I also get lines across the screen when using fblit+wbctrl. Is this likely to be faulty ram or can using some patches together cause this problem?
 
Not enough information but IIRC there are memory test programs on Aminet.
 
3 - Is there a decent working BBC emulator? I would like to play the repton games but don't want to setup the BBC.
 
I doubt it, no iirc.
 
4 - Is virtual memory useful on an Amiga?
 
In general, no.
 
5 - I have the CD32 emulator that came with the squirrel but it doesn't play Microcosm and a few other games. Is there anyway to get this working without using the CD32?
 
Is the game NTSC or PAL? What about your computer?
 
6- If an app on aminet states it uses SDL.library does this mean it won't work on an A1200 without a videocard.

Yes. I can't imagine trying to use SDL on AGA.
 
7- Is there a way to see discs on a SD HxC Floppy Emulator in workbench? I just get a uninitialized error
 
No clue.
Title: Re: A few issues
Post by: Khephren on April 04, 2011, 06:50:42 PM
1)   you may want to set up a small workbench partition with a minimum install. Resource hungry games/demo's can be ran from that partition.

Problem is the chip ram tools you use 'give it back' from whats taken that RAM after boot, so it ends up in seperate chunks (not one contiguous one). E.G: you have 1700K +100K, rather than the 1800k you think you have.

run 'avail' from a shell, and look in the 'largest' column to see how much contigous chip you have. Try to free up more ram by typing 'avail flush' from a shell window.

2)disable each patch in turn in your startup-sequence by placing a ';' in front of it's line. this will pinpoint the problem. Only install patch's one at a tine with each boot. Always read the docs to make sure they work with each other!

3) don't know mate, check on aminet, or search the old magazines http://amr.abime.net/
*edit* maybe this one: http://aminet.net/package/misc/emu/ABeeb
also,check this article you can also use mac classic emulators (you will need a beefy amiga for Beeb emulation):http://www.simon.mooli.org.uk/AF/6.html

4)only if you start to run out :) I did on 3d rendering so used it. VMM was the program I think.

5) can't help there.

6) SDL requires a graphics card, as far as I know.

7)out of my depth here ;)
Title: Re: A few issues
Post by: rvo_nl on April 04, 2011, 06:52:53 PM
well, you need to tell us a bit more about your machine. what are its specs? a standard a1200 without any extra memory it will not run Land of Genesis (I assume thats what you meant). Then again, virtual memory IMHO is not very useful, though I did play around with it once. Theres not a lot of software that supports it. I did manage to run Microcosm on my a1200 but I dont know how I did it, I believe using the AsimCDFS package. Cant help you with the rest, sorry.
Title: Re: A few issues
Post by: foleyjo on April 04, 2011, 07:10:16 PM
Thanks all for the answers.

Forgot to post my system details thanks for the reminder  rvo_nl . I have A1200 with Viper 060 and 64mb ram

going to post in list form again to keep a better track of which question/answer is being refered to

1 - It's the A1200 CD version. I tried running from a boot with no startup and thats where I get the message. I'll try the flush and avail commands

2 - The graphic corruptions I get are just a mesh of different coloured pixels. Seems to only happen if I put icons into fast ram using wbctrl or MCP. I will check to see if it is a conflict with one of the other patches I'm using though

3 - I found some on Aminet but couldn't get them working. Will have another play around with them and see what I was doing wrong.

4 - I'll skip Virtual Mem then. I don't do enough to really benefit.

5 - Both PAL. I'll check out AsimCDfS. On quick look it appears not to be freeware/pd is that right?

6 - Well that explains why some of the emulators I looked at didn't run.

7 - OK thanks I'll look elsewhere. Actually I was stupid with this one as I realised the developer has his own support forum
Title: Re: A few issues
Post by: nicholas on April 04, 2011, 07:24:19 PM
Which OS are you running?
Title: Re: A few issues
Post by: Khephren on April 04, 2011, 07:24:57 PM
You won't need VMM with 64mb, I only had 8 ;)

Hmm, OS 3.0 does not have a cd file system built into rom. I dunno about later roms. So if you skip the startup-sequence, your skipping your ability to use a cd-rom.

I think MCP and wbctrl can conflict with the likes of FBlit and Ftext. Best check the docs.

The magazine racks and simon mooli links will let you know what can be emulated. An 060 should be able to do plenty. Off the top of my head:

MAC classic up to system 8.
Gameboy.
Master System.
BBC
Speccy
c64
MSX 1 and 2
nes
atari lynx.
Title: Re: A few issues
Post by: foleyjo on April 04, 2011, 07:27:27 PM
Quote from: nicholas;627872
Which OS are you running?


3.9 with boings 1 and 2 and amiga sys on top (this includes MCP but I've turned off all the patches except for the no drive click)
Title: Re: A few issues
Post by: foleyjo on April 04, 2011, 07:33:23 PM
Khephren

Hmm, OS 3.0 does not have a cd file system built into rom. I dunno about later roms. So if you skip the startup-sequence, your skipping your ability to use a cd-rom.
---I remembered to mount CD0 and assigned ENV and T to Ram before running the game

I think MCP and wbctrl can conflict with the likes of FBlit and Ftext. Best check the docs.
---I think the things I use on MCP are all available seperate so if your right I'll just stop using it. wbctrl needs fblit to work. I spent ages trying to get it working and then I realised it was because I had commented out Fblit from startup

MAC classic up to system 8.
Gameboy.
Master System.
BBC
Speccy
c64
MSX 1 and 2
nes
atari lynx.[/QUOTE]
---Ahhh BBC is on your list. That gives me hope. I'm sure I was just doing it wrong when I was trying it out. I did manage to get the MegaDrive/genesis emulator running. Too slow to do anything though but I expected as much.
Title: Re: A few issues
Post by: redrumloa on April 04, 2011, 08:18:42 PM
Quote from: foleyjo;627865
I have A1200 with Viper 060 and 64mb ram
 

For certain games you may need to fall back to the 020. I don't know if the Viper has a switch for 020/060 or not?
Title: Re: A few issues
Post by: rvo_nl on April 04, 2011, 08:37:30 PM
Quote from: foleyjo;627865
1 - It's the A1200 CD version. I tried running from a boot with no startup and thats where I get the message. I'll try the flush and avail commands

strange. could be something else though. Try with different setpatch, disabling caching etc. also run snoopdos when you start the game to see if you're missing something.

Quote from: foleyjo;627865
5 - Both PAL. I'll check out AsimCDfS. On quick look it appears not to be freeware/pd is that right?

hmm it seems so. Well, I guess its okay to try it before you buy it, so Google around.
Title: Re: A few issues
Post by: rvo_nl on April 04, 2011, 08:38:53 PM
Quote from: redrumloa;627907
For certain games you may need to fall back to the 020. I don't know if the Viper has a switch for 020/060 or not?

note that its a fairly new game that has a 040 as recommended cpu.
Title: Re: A few issues
Post by: nicholas on April 04, 2011, 08:55:32 PM
Quote from: foleyjo;627880
3.9 with boings 1 and 2 and amiga sys on top (this includes MCP but I've turned off all the patches except for the no drive click)

Format a fresh bootable partition and install 3.9 + BB1, BB2, BB3 and BB4.

http://lilliput.amiga-projects.net/bbag3isdone.htm
http://lilliput.amiga-projects.net/bbag4.htm

Half the patches you have currently installed won't be needed after that.

Have you got the latest 060 libs installed too?

http://phase5.a1k.org/files/040_060Libs.zip
Title: Re: A few issues
Post by: nicholas on April 04, 2011, 08:57:50 PM
Quote from: foleyjo;627883
Hmm, OS 3.0 does not have a cd file system built into rom


Do you have 3.1 ROMs installed?
Title: Re: A few issues
Post by: foleyjo on April 04, 2011, 09:10:31 PM
Quote from: nicholas;627924
Format a fresh bootable partition and install 3.9 + BB1, BB2, BB3 and BB4.

http://lilliput.amiga-projects.net/bbag3isdone.htm
http://lilliput.amiga-projects.net/bbag4.htm

Half the patches you have currently installed won't be needed after that.

Have you got the latest 060 libs installed too?

http://phase5.a1k.org/files/040_060Libs.zip



Not going to install BB3 and 4. Not sure if you saw a previous thread I started but one of them causes my OS to freeze when running some CD's

Haven't installed the latest 060 libs. I'll try them
Title: Re: A few issues
Post by: foleyjo on April 04, 2011, 09:11:24 PM
Quote from: nicholas;627926
Do you have 3.1 ROMs installed?


Yes using 3.1 roms
Title: Re: A few issues
Post by: nicholas on April 04, 2011, 09:16:17 PM
Quote from: foleyjo;627937
Haven't installed the latest 060 libs. I'll try them

That's most likely what is causing the problems.
Title: Re: A few issues
Post by: golem on April 04, 2011, 09:43:58 PM
Quote from: foleyjo;627615


2 -I have tried a few packages to put things into fast ram rather than chip however when I do this I get graphic corruptions. I also get lines across the screen when using fblit+wbctrl. Is this likely to be faulty ram or can using some patches together cause this problem?



Take a look at this guys experience http://steve.odyfamily.com/?p=10
I've tried it and so far so good. Thanks Mr Ody - who are you on Amiga.org?

EDIT: Well the page has gone but he said to put FBlit in WBStartup and remove it from startup-sequence.
Title: Re: A few issues
Post by: foleyjo on April 04, 2011, 09:54:43 PM
Thanks for all that info guys.

When I next have an Amiga session I have lots to tinker with now.

I'll let you know the results and also if I find the answers to any of the other questions I'll let you know.

golem - That page is still there.
Title: Re: A few issues
Post by: nicholas on April 04, 2011, 11:20:46 PM
Quote from: golem;627963
Take a look at this guys experience http://steve.odyfamily.com/?p=10
I've tried it and so far so good. Thanks Mr Ody - who are you on Amiga.org?

CSixx I think.
Title: Re: A few issues
Post by: foleyjo on April 07, 2011, 08:46:01 PM
Quote from: nicholas;627924


Have you got the latest 060 libs installed too?

http://phase5.a1k.org/files/040_060Libs.zip


Arggggh heellllpp I just installed this and now I get a ramlib error when it does the setpatch line in startup-sequence
I didn't make a backup of the files before the install because I thought I would get a choice of which files to copy so I would be able to back them up as I went along but there was no expert install option.

Before this happened I played with Fblit and tried without all the other patches but still got the graphical errors. Putting it in WBStartup got rid of them but that's because it wasn't actually working anymore.
I now have it just before the loadwb line and it seems fine. Though I'm not 100% sure if its working with wbctrl (Was going to test but then got the ramlib error)

ABeeb works for BBC emulation but I havent worked out how to get the games on yet. Will do that soon.

Microcosm still not working even with Asimcdfs. I managed to get as far as the psygnosis logo. The problem appears to be the AKIKO chip(or lack of). I keep getting a hardware related error
Title: Re: A few issues
Post by: rvo_nl on April 07, 2011, 09:31:10 PM
as for your last remark, the asimcdfs package comes with AKIKO emulation. apart from that, microcosm didnt really use the akiko chip.. please try booting without startup-sequence and manually doing all the work, coz thats what you'd have on cd32, too.
Title: Re: A few issues
Post by: foleyjo on April 08, 2011, 12:20:34 PM
Quote from: rvo_nl;629718
as for your last remark, the asimcdfs package comes with AKIKO emulation. apart from that, microcosm didnt really use the akiko chip.. please try booting without startup-sequence and manually doing all the work, coz thats what you'd have on cd32, too.


are you sure?  I tried every method I can think of to start it and the most I get is the psygnosis logo and then a grey screen.

Other times I get "Internal Hardware Error" message
Title: Re: A few issues
Post by: rvo_nl on April 08, 2011, 12:34:40 PM
If I find time I will try to run this game myself this weekend and let you know how
Title: Re: A few issues
Post by: foleyjo on April 08, 2011, 12:48:35 PM
thanks.
Title: Re: A few issues
Post by: rvo_nl on April 08, 2011, 05:42:29 PM
well, that wasnt too hard :) I just used Ide-Fix, I didnt know it had cd32 emulation built in. Just had to select the right device name, disabled fastmem, pressed start and voila, there it was. Microcosm, playable and all that. So I suggest you give Ide-Fix a try!
Title: Re: A few issues
Post by: foleyjo on April 09, 2011, 09:38:00 AM
You sir are a genius.
I didn't look at IDE-Fix because I thought it was to do with IDE drives but that is the way to get this game working.

Thanks for the help