Update on next release

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JonAbbott
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Re: Update on next release

Post by JonAbbott »

Vanfanel wrote:Is 26 bit module support very hard to add? I'd say most games failing now are because of this...
There are 21 games left that I have images for, that I believe don't require 26 bit Modules, so two thirds are now working on the Pi that can (over 50 the last time I counted). Of the 21 remaining, three have issues I need to look into and the others I've not tested:
Arc/A3000 Christmas Box, The: PON! in Winterland (crashes during loading)
Blitz!
Cobalt Seed, The
COPS
Empire Soccer 94
Galactic Dan
Kaptain Konflict
Karma - The Flight Trainer
Memory Magic
MiG-29 Fulcrum (crashes during loading)
Minotaur
Morph
Oh, No! More Lemmings (disc 2 needs re-imaging)
Overload (Paradise)
Tower of Babel
Trivial Pursuit
Warlocks
Wonderland
WorldScape [pre-release v0.91]
Zodiac - Aries: Quizmaster
Zodiac - Aries: Square Route
Adding 26bit Module support isn't particularity difficult on paper, but if I add it now I won't be able to add WIMP support later, as RISCOS needs Hypervisor extensions to implement it correctly. I've been holding out hoping that the memory and CPU Op extensions I've suggested will get implemented - but that's looking unlikely.

If we forget about ever adding WIMP support and I can lock the Task Switcher out - yes 26 bit Module support could be added. I'll start fleshing out how to implement in the relevant thread.
richw
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Re: Update on next release

Post by richw »

Wow. Lots of good stuff posted today!

I have been meaning to ask, what exactly is meant by 'wimp support'? Those games which have wimp front ends for config?
JonAbbott
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Re: Update on next release

Post by JonAbbott »

richw wrote:I have been meaning to ask, what exactly is meant by 'wimp support'? Those games which have wimp front ends for config?
Any app that uses Wimp_* SWI calls, generally that's front ends, although there's also a lot of games that use the Wimp that aren't obvious - some of today's releases for example.
richw
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Re: Update on next release

Post by richw »

Ah, I was wondering if there was more to it.

If you don't mind explaining (and please point me elsewhere if it has already been written!), what makes the Wimp SWIs a special case?
JonAbbott
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Re: Update on next release

Post by JonAbbott »

richw wrote:what makes the Wimp SWIs a special case?
They can cause the current task to switch out of memory, which would cause an immediate system crash if a 26bit Module is called - to comply with 26bit memory space it would be within Application space. I've detailed how the JIT works elsewhere, however for the purposes of this topic everything running under the JIT is within Application space.

The intention is to put a stub Module into the actual RMA which triggers the Hypervisor, however there's currently no public RISCOS extensions to allow applications to be paged in/out, so it doesn't really help matters. There's currently no legal way to implement 26bit Modules in a Wimp environment.

In addition to this problem, many 26bit tasks could be running under the Wimp and need tracking, potentially with their own isolated JIT environment.
Vanfanel
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Re: Update on next release

Post by Vanfanel »

I have been testing some of the untested games in Jon's list to save him time. These are the results:
-Galactic Dan: Undefined instruction &000000024
-Kaptain Konflict: shows a grey promp with the message "window manager is currently active". The game doesn't start.
-Memory Magic: it's not launched by ADFFS.
-Minotaur: prompt with message "Bad program"
-Oh no! More lemmings: protection seems to fail. Prompt with message "insert your original Lemmings game in any drive". Maybe it refers to Lemmings original?
-Overload: it's not launched by ADFFS.

I don't know what the JFD number is for Cobalt Seed, so I can't test it. Where should I look? It's not in the xls catalog that I can see. The number I mean.
JonAbbott
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Re: Update on next release

Post by JonAbbott »

Memory Magic / Overload don't have Boot scripts, so currently won't boot - I need to write them.

Oh no! More lemmings - switch to disc 2 when prompted for the original, then switch back to disc 1 when it prompts again. I do need to reimage disc 2 however - a workaround is to replace disc 2 with the full Lemmings JFD.

Kaptain Konflict - sounds like its using Wimp SWI's

The Cobalt Seed is in the xls, you can also find the ID list in the ADFFS Help file (right click on the !ADFFS application and select Help from the menu), to save you looking however, it's 10083 - there's no Boot script currently though, so you won't be able to boot it currently.

I'll knock up some Boot scripts for the three mentioned here and let you know when the obey.zip is on the dev site.
JonAbbott
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Re: Update on next release

Post by JonAbbott »

Update obey.zip on the dev site. I've created or modified Boot scripts for Galactic Dan, Kaptain Konflict, Memory Magic, Overload and Cobalt Seed

Overload uses 26bit Modules, so no further testing needed. Kaptain Konflict has various bugs, I've fixed two, but it's still crashing. I haven't tested the others.

EDIT: Forget about testing The Cobalt Seed - the protection on it is very poorly coded, it jumps directly into the FileCore Module and to make matters worse the code is in a Heap block that moves around depending on the OS version. Ignoring all that - it still doesn't work under the JIT, so is probably doing more dodgy things later on in the code.

Galactic Dan appears to work okay as does Memory Magic. Minotaur may need reimaging.
caveman
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Re: Update on next release

Post by caveman »

It's very simple to get a Oh No! More Lemmings Standalone on 1 Disc, without Protection.

Do you want the description?
JonAbbott
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Re: Update on next release

Post by JonAbbott »

caveman wrote:It's very simple to get a Oh No! More Lemmings Standalone on 1 Disc, without Protection.

Do you want the description?
So long as it doesn't involve cracking or bypassing the protection.
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