Tempest is possible

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CunningFellow
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Re: Tempest is possible

Post by CunningFellow »

@jubatian

Ah - Yes - T2K now requires the 5.X.X bootloader.

It was intentionally done that way to save on flash. If it does not detect the bootloader it just fails and says "No Bootloader"

I was actually going to suggest compile time flags for your library to allow it to only work with >=5.X.X for flash constrained games.

For T2K SDSC support seems totally irrelevant as no one can now find SDSC cards that are fast enough.

@Uzer2000

CUzebox emulates the bootloader resident in flash with a file called coderom.bin that is in the same directory as cuzebox.exe

CUzebox automagially creates this file the first time you run the bootloader HEX and execute a UZE file with it

You can download the bootloader HEX file here

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9405

Run that hex file in the emulator. Then use the emulators menu to select T2K (or any other game). A file called coderom.bin should appear in the directory.

From then on you can directly run the T2K.UZE file without having to run the bootloader HEX file first.
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Artcfox
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Re: Tempest is possible

Post by Artcfox »

I can confirm that none of my SDSC cards will run T2K, and I can't even buy any SDSC cards.
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Jubatian
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Re: Tempest is possible

Post by Jubatian »

CunningFellow wrote: Fri Sep 04, 2020 10:41 pmCUzebox emulates the bootloader resident in flash with a file called coderom.bin that is in the same directory as cuzebox.exe
Wow, nice catch, a bit out-of-the-box thinking as this functionality got into the emulator to make it capable to provide a proper environment for the Bootloader as well (which the original Uzem emulator is incapable to do so).

However if T2K works in the emulator that way, then with the presence of the 5.x.xx Bootloader, it should run fine on sufficiently fast SDSC.
Artcfox wrote: Fri Sep 04, 2020 11:16 pmI can confirm that none of my SDSC cards will run T2K, and I can't even buy any SDSC cards.
Huh, so I don't quite understand how this can happen. The emulator emulates an SDSC. If you add the 5.x.xx Bootloader, it is still an SDSC.

You can buy SDSC, the catch is that SDSC is never labelled, and SDHC is often not labelled, so when you pick up a card in the capacity range of an SDSC (up to 2GB), you can't be sure what it is until trying (I have even a 256MB unlabelled card which is SDHC). That was about the main drive to get the Bootloader working with SDHC, MMCs are no longer available, and it is impossible to reliably source SDSC.

Could someone try an SDXC though? For me it seems like even the SDXC should work if you screw the standard binding it with Microsoft and format it with FAT32 (Pfff... If you are standards compliant with SDXC, you are paying royalties to Microsoft. Just how screwed things can get)
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Artcfox
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Re: Tempest is possible

Post by Artcfox »

Jubatian wrote: Sat Sep 05, 2020 11:33 am
CunningFellow wrote: Fri Sep 04, 2020 10:41 pmCUzebox emulates the bootloader resident in flash with a file called coderom.bin that is in the same directory as cuzebox.exe
Wow, nice catch, a bit out-of-the-box thinking as this functionality got into the emulator to make it capable to provide a proper environment for the Bootloader as well (which the original Uzem emulator is incapable to do so).

However if T2K works in the emulator that way, then with the presence of the 5.x.xx Bootloader, it should run fine on sufficiently fast SDSC.
Artcfox wrote: Fri Sep 04, 2020 11:16 pmI can confirm that none of my SDSC cards will run T2K, and I can't even buy any SDSC cards.
Huh, so I don't quite understand how this can happen. The emulator emulates an SDSC. If you add the 5.x.xx Bootloader, it is still an SDSC.

You can buy SDSC, the catch is that SDSC is never labelled, and SDHC is often not labelled, so when you pick up a card in the capacity range of an SDSC (up to 2GB), you can't be sure what it is until trying (I have even a 256MB unlabelled card which is SDHC). That was about the main drive to get the Bootloader working with SDHC, MMCs are no longer available, and it is impossible to reliably source SDSC.

Could someone try an SDXC though? For me it seems like even the SDXC should work if you screw the standard binding it with Microsoft and format it with FAT32 (Pfff... If you are standards compliant with SDXC, you are paying royalties to Microsoft. Just how screwed things can get)
Locally, or from reputable manufacturers I can't buy SDSC. I won't even buy Sandisk from Amazon, because of problems with counterfeits. I end up going straight to the manufacturer's website and ordering to ensure I am getting what I ordered is real (and even then not all SDHC cards from the same order are fast enough to run T2K. One is just a bit too slow at power-on, but works after it has been up for a bit as if it needs to have some data cached).

I remember at some point, T2K have me the "no bootloader" error and I think I solved it the same way as above and just forgot I needed the bootloader workaround, but now that I see it mentioned above, I remember needing to do it at some point during my testing for CunningFellow.

SDXC needs a different initialization sequence, so unless you added that into the bootloader (you told me you didn't have room) it shouldn't work.
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Jubatian
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Re: Tempest is possible

Post by Jubatian »

Eh, yes, with "you can buy SDSC" I meant that you can still get them with some luck, the catch being that you don't know what you buy... (whether it is SDHC). That true that it is very unlikely you came across a source from which you could get cards which are proven SDSC.
Artcfox wrote: Sat Sep 05, 2020 2:23 pmSDXC needs a different initialization sequence, so unless you added that into the bootloader (you told me you didn't have room) it shouldn't work.
By some sources it seems to me that the init sequence might be the same (for example, http://elm-chan.org/docs/mmc/mmc_e.html ), so a FAT32 formatted SDXC might be useable if necessary. Might be useful to try when desperate to get a card fast enough to run Tempest! :D
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Artcfox
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Re: Tempest is possible

Post by Artcfox »

Jubatian wrote: Sat Sep 05, 2020 5:18 pm By some sources it seems to me that the init sequence might be the same (for example, http://elm-chan.org/docs/mmc/mmc_e.html ), so a FAT32 formatted SDXC might be useable if necessary. Might be useful to try when desperate to get a card fast enough to run Tempest! :D
I stand corrected! I checked the official SD Simplified Specifications, and it does not require anything special to initialize SDXC vs SDHC.

I grabbed one of my 64 GB microSDXC cards, and re-formatted just the ExFAT partition (leaving the 17 MB of free space in the beginning) as FAT32 using Linux, and it does indeed work with the new Uzebox bootloader! :D

Unfortunately it was just a tiny bit too slow for the streaming background in T2K to keep up 100% of the time. Maybe if I use the official SD card formatter, it would perform better, but I don't have access to a Windows machine right now, so I'll have to test that later.
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Jubatian
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Re: Tempest is possible

Post by Jubatian »

Artcfox wrote: Sat Sep 05, 2020 10:06 pmI grabbed one of my 64 GB microSDXC cards, and re-formatted just the ExFAT partition (leaving the 17 MB of free space in the beginning) as FAT32 using Linux, and it does indeed work with the new Uzebox bootloader! :D

Unfortunately it was just a tiny bit too slow for the streaming background in T2K to keep up 100% of the time. Maybe if I use the official SD card formatter, it would perform better, but I don't have access to a Windows machine right now, so I'll have to test that later.
Woot! :D

The official formatter might insist on putting exFAT on it no matter what. Maybe you could try dumping the FS of a big SDHC onto it, you will of course lose capacity, but if you want to use a card for Uzebox that doesn't matter (just looking for anything fast enough for Tempest). The layout on a big SDHC might work well with the SDXC as well if the card kept using similarly sized Flash sectors.
Uzer2000
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Re: Tempest is possible

Post by Uzer2000 »

CunningFellow wrote: Fri Sep 04, 2020 10:41 pm @jubatian

Ah - Yes - T2K now requires the 5.X.X bootloader.

It was intentionally done that way to save on flash. If it does not detect the bootloader it just fails and says "No Bootloader"

I was actually going to suggest compile time flags for your library to allow it to only work with >=5.X.X for flash constrained games.

For T2K SDSC support seems totally irrelevant as no one can now find SDSC cards that are fast enough.

@Uzer2000

CUzebox emulates the bootloader resident in flash with a file called coderom.bin that is in the same directory as cuzebox.exe

CUzebox automagially creates this file the first time you run the bootloader HEX and execute a UZE file with it

You can download the bootloader HEX file here

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9405

Run that hex file in the emulator. Then use the emulators menu to select T2K (or any other game). A file called coderom.bin should appear in the directory.

From then on you can directly run the T2K.UZE file without having to run the bootloader HEX file first.
CunningFellow,

Per your instructions, the game now runs, but the webs are not
displayed in-game? Just a flicker every once in awhile.
CunningFellow
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Location: Brisbane, Australia

Re: Tempest is possible

Post by CunningFellow »

Does the title screen display OK and it is just the webs that flicker?

What is the size and CRC of the LVL file you have?
Uzer2000
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Re: Tempest is possible

Post by Uzer2000 »

CunningFellow wrote: Sun Sep 06, 2020 10:07 pm Does the title screen display OK and it is just the webs that flicker?

What is the size and CRC of the LVL file you have?
Name
utempest.lvl

Size
6,815,744

CRC32
22F993D5

Title does not display properly.
title screen.JPG
title screen.JPG (84.13 KiB) Viewed 12547 times
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