Let's get e-type working!

Discuss the project, or ask a general question
Post Reply
Qjimbo
Posts: 38
Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2014
Location: Vancouver, Canada

Let's get e-type working!

Post by Qjimbo »

Hi Jon,

I am trying to get !E-TYPE working on my Raspberry Pi with !ADFFS.

I have the ADF files named Game1 and Game2

I have tried mounting the disk and choosing Boot Floppy from the ADFFS menu, but that brings up a "Module 'BLIP' is not 32-bit compatible"

I also tried creating an Obey file that has the following code, based on the code list:

Code: Select all

ADFMount <Obey$Dir>.Game1
ADFBootFloppy F1014001
But that complains a file called SCN in the same folder as the Obey file doesn't exist.

My final idea was mounting Game2 and the running !E-TYPE from a folder, with the following added to the top of the !Run file:

Code: Select all

GOARM3JIT 0
ADFEmulateRISCOS 3.11
ADFRemapVideoMemory 22 160K
ADFReserveMemory 160K
Which works further, it prompts for the second disk if it's not mounted, however if it is mounted I get this error:
Image

This last option is ideal, no needing the swap disks using hotkeys, but looks like it will be harder to setup.

I appreciate any help you can give!
JonAbbott
Posts: 3319
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2013
Location: Essex
Contact:

Re: Let's get e-type working!

Post by JonAbbott »

That error will the protection failing as it will want to check disc 1 before prompting for disc 2. You won't require ADFReserveMemory - that's only needed on legacy machines to reserve memory for the flopping images.

I don't know what version of E-Type you have as all the versions I've seen, SCN is the loader.
Qjimbo
Posts: 38
Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2014
Location: Vancouver, Canada

Re: Let's get e-type working!

Post by Qjimbo »

JonAbbott wrote: Tue Oct 22, 2024 That error will the protection failing as it will want to check disc 1 before prompting for disc 2. You won't require ADFReserveMemory - that's only needed on legacy machines to reserve memory for the flopping images.

I don't know what version of E-Type you have as all the versions I've seen, SCN is the loader.
SCN is supposed to be a file on the disk? Mine doesn't have it. Just !Boot (Obey), !E-TYPE (App) and !README (Text file).

Your suggestion about the copy protection was right though! I loaded Game1 (adf) and then used CTRL+SHIFT+F2 to switch it to Game2 at the tracks disk prompt, and it worked! However:
1) The game runs too fast, how can I slow it down?
2) Is there a way to auto-switch to disk 2 after say, 5 seconds? The hotkey is kind of cumbersome (especially as I am using a small keyboard so it is actually CTRL+SHIFT+FN2+F2 !), it would be nice to make it easier.

You were also right about the unncessary commands, right now I have just

Code: Select all

GOARM3JIT 0
ADFEmulateRISCOS 3.11
In the !Run file, and that works, but too fast as mentioned.
JonAbbott
Posts: 3319
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2013
Location: Essex
Contact:

Re: Let's get e-type working!

Post by JonAbbott »

Qjimbo wrote: Wed Oct 23, 2024 SCN is supposed to be a file on the disk? Mine doesn't have it. Just !Boot (Obey), !E-TYPE (App) and !README (Text file).
It should be in the !E-Type folder.
Qjimbo wrote: Wed Oct 23, 2024 Your suggestion about the copy protection was right though! I loaded Game1 (adf) and then used CTRL+SHIFT+F2 to switch it to Game2 at the tracks disk prompt, and it worked!
It does sound like the original floppy release from that description, but modified if SCN doesn't exist.
Qjimbo wrote: Wed Oct 23, 2024 1) The game runs too fast, how can I slow it down?
If you look in the !ADFFS Help it describes all the commands and their use. You'll want "ADFForceVSync 4" - to force it to 25fps, use CTRL-SHIFT-PgUp/PgDn to adjust while in-game.
Qjimbo wrote: Wed Oct 23, 2024 2) Is there a way to auto-switch to disk 2 after say, 5 seconds?
No, there's so few games that can't be HD installed that I never bothered implementing auto-disc swap detection.

I might be wrong or getting confused with another game, but I think in the packaged version of this game I just modified SCN to either swap to disc 2 or QUIT back, so !Run then ran the next BASIC file in the chain...hence avoiding the floppy prompt.
Qjimbo
Posts: 38
Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2014
Location: Vancouver, Canada

Re: Let's get e-type working!

Post by Qjimbo »

Interesting, I got it working too fast by putting in the first disk and running my modified !E-TYPE, but then after a reboot nothing works! All I can think of is I had the old !ADFFS 2.83 and updated it to the new 2.84 one and maybe there was something still in memory from the old.

The closest I have now is I put a BootGame Obey file inside !E-TYPE directory with the “ADFBootFloppy F1014001” command, which does start the game (has to be in the same directory as the SCN file?) but then when I press CTRL+SHIFT+F2 for some reason it overwrites Game2 ADF with Game1 ADF and then complains it’s not a valid tracks disk. It’s so strange. If I set Game2 to write protect it freezes when changing disk. I am at a complete loss.

UPDATE: So it looks like it’s something to do with running !ADFFS at boot-up, if I run it after startup, it does work properly. I also made sure I made a fresh copy of !ADFFS. Sometimes it does still freeze during gameplay or at the disk swapping step though. Is there a way to do ADFBootFloppy from another location, how can I change it so it always looks for the SCN file on the disk inside the !E-TYPE application ? Or is there a way to make it completely self contained without any disk swapping required? (as this seems to be the troublesome part of it)
JonAbbott
Posts: 3319
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2013
Location: Essex
Contact:

Re: Let's get e-type working!

Post by JonAbbott »

Qjimbo wrote: Fri Oct 25, 2024 So it looks like it’s something to do with running !ADFFS at boot-up, if I run it after startup, it does work properly.
That sounds like your boot sequence might be loading an older version of a Module after ADFFS has loaded one...CLib for example
Qjimbo wrote: Fri Oct 25, 2024 Is there a way to do ADFBootFloppy from another location
You just need to follow the instructions in F1014001:

Code: Select all

To install to HD:
1. Copy !E-Type from disc 1 to HD
2. Copy HIGH and TRACKS from disc 2 into !E-Type
3. Copy the disc 1 image file as !E-Type.F1014001
4. Replace the contents of !E-Type.!Run with:
ADFBootFloppy F1014001
Qjimbo
Posts: 38
Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2014
Location: Vancouver, Canada

Re: Let's get e-type working!

Post by Qjimbo »

Ah sorry I didn’t see those directions! That sounds perfect, will give it a go! Will also see if I can figure out the boot sequence issue as well. Thank you for your help 😊

Where can I find the scripting instructions for each BootFloppy code? Just for future reference, thank you!
JonAbbott
Posts: 3319
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2013
Location: Essex
Contact:

Re: Let's get e-type working!

Post by JonAbbott »

Qjimbo wrote: Sun Oct 27, 2024 Where can I find the scripting instructions for each BootFloppy code?
Refer to the Boot scripts post.
Post Reply