ADFFS 2.73

[Vanfanel]

-Wavelength: System locks up when trying to exit the game via MENU option, or via CTRL+SHIFT+F12.

I've not managed to reproduce this. It is a Wimp game though, so avoid CTRL+SHIFT+F12 and ensure you've closed all other Wimp apps before you load it.

Wimp support is flacky at best as RISC OS doesn't yet provide a programmatical way of task switching, which can cause the Wimp to lock when switching between 26bit and 32bit apps.

Could it be because I'm running Risc OS 5.29 BETA now (because of Pi 400 compatibility)?
Apart from Wimp compatibility, of course.

[JonAbbott]

Could it be because I'm running Risc OS 5.29 BETA now (because of Pi 400 compatibility)?
Apart from Wimp compatibility, of course.

I tested with a fairly recent OS build on my Pi 3. If you're running on a Pi 400, there could possibly be some CPU core differences at play, but it's more likely to be the Wimp switching tasks without notifying them - which is the bug/feature that breaks ADFFS in most cases.

[Vanfanel]

Could it be because I'm running Risc OS 5.29 BETA now (because of Pi 400 compatibility)?
Apart from Wimp compatibility, of course.

I tested with a fairly recent OS build on my Pi 3. If you're running on a Pi 400, there could possibly be some CPU core differences at play, but it's more likely to be the Wimp switching tasks without notifying them - which is the bug/feature that breaks ADFFS in most cases.

It may be as you say, because other than those small quitting problems, the games perform exactly the same on a Pi3 or a Pi 400

[Vanfanel]

@Jon

I have detected that Hamsters seems to run at 30FPS in-game, and it does not have sound effects (you know, these animal noises, etc).
I am *almost* sure I had it installed previusly and it ran at full framerate and with both sound FX and music in game.
Are there different versions to install or something like that?

[JonAbbott]

Are there different versions to install or something like that?

There’s two versions, the stand-alone, which came from Acorn Arcade and has both music and effects, and the Zodiac - Aries version which doesn’t.

[Vanfanel]

Are there different versions to install or something like that?

There’s two versions, the stand-alone, which came from Acorn Arcade and has both music and effects, and the Zodiac - Aries version which doesn’t.

I have just re-installed Hamsters from !PackMan, and the installed version doesn't have SFX+Music in-game. Would it be possible to make the "enhanced" version installable via PackMan! instead?

[JonAbbott]

I have just re-installed Hamsters from !PackMan, and the installed version doesn't have SFX+Music in-game. Would it be possible to make the "enhanced" version installable via PackMan! instead?

It's not "enhanced" but bug fixed. It seems I forgot to update the !Run in Hamsters. If you refresh the package now, it should have SFX+Music.

[Vanfanel]

I have just re-installed Hamsters from !PackMan, and the installed version doesn't have SFX+Music in-game. Would it be possible to make the "enhanced" version installable via PackMan! instead?

It's not "enhanced" but bug fixed. It seems I forgot to update the !Run in Hamsters. If you refresh the package now, it should have SFX+Music.

Yay! I updated and indeed we are back in 60FPS-land with SFX + MUSIC!

Thanks a lot for the work you put into this wonder called ADFFS!!!!

[Vanfanel]

@Jon: I have just reinstalled the game packages and ADFFS from !PackMan and Zarch is failing with an illegible error (something like "zarch file not found").

I suspect the Zarch packate (it's NOT the native version, but the ADFFS version).
Can you please take a look?

EDIT: Now it works, strange... I will leave it here just it fails again and I can find out the reason.

EDIT2: Elite works only sometimes. When it doesn't work, I have to QUIT ADFFS, re-load ADFFS, and then it works.

I have found a way to break Elite on purpose:

-Run !Hooper, the Frogger clone in Diversions that comes with Risc OS Pi.
-Quit Hopper and quit it from the iconbar, too, so it dissapears from there.
-Load ADFFS, then try to run Elite: You will see an error along the lines of "Internal error, no stack for trap handler. Abort data transfer at &2037B5E8, pc = 00000000: registers at 00065B1C"
-From that point on, NOTHING will work with ADFFS until system reboot.

EDIT3: Elite breaks ADFFS sometimes without running anything else before it too..
Seems to be generally unstable on launch.

EDIT4:
These games lock the machine on quit via CTRL+SHIFT+F12:
"Simon The Sorcerer"
"The Cobalt Seed"
"The Dungeon"

[JonAbbott]

Zarch is failing with an illegible error (something like "zarch file not found").

I don't have it to hand to check, but I believe the Zarch package just boots the floppy image. From your description it sounds like it failed to change to ADFS:0 before it runs "Zarch"

Elite works only sometimes. When it doesn't work, I have to QUIT ADFFS, re-load ADFFS, and then it works.

Sounds like the JIT or Abort handler are getting into a state where they can't cleanly shutdown.

I have found a way to break Elite on purpose:

-Run !Hooper, the Frogger clone in Diversions that comes with Risc OS Pi.
-Quit Hopper and quit it from the iconbar, too, so it dissapears from there.
-Load ADFFS, then try to run Elite: You will see an error along the lines of "Internal error, no stack for trap handler. Abort data transfer at &2037B5E8, pc = 00000000: registers at 00065B1C"

I'll try this when possible. In the meantime could you please do a *SHOWREGS and *WHERE to see where Abort is occurring.

These games lock the machine on quit via CTRL+SHIFT+F12:
"Simon The Sorcerer"
"The Cobalt Seed"
"The Dungeon"

Noted