Lynx Multi cart ROM Problems

[SainT]

If you have a ROM image which isn't working with the Lynx, please let me know here. I tested all commercial games I could find with no issues, but there will no doubt be issues with home brew games. Please post which games work / don't work and I can see if I can track down the problem with the ROM.

Version 1.6 of the menu available here.

 

This allows loading of homebrew and all other Lynx ROMs.

Edited October 24, 2019 by SainT

[+Mitch]

I haven't got my card yet but I was wondering if Loderunner was working?

 

Mitch

[Guitari]

As indicated here is my list of homebrew roms, It needs a bit of tidying up and some files unzipping. I don't know what half of these files even are or where I got them from but they've been sitting in my roms folder for Handy. I'll try to make some indication as to which ones don't run on the SD card soon.

 

It would also be really great if anyone knows of anything I don't have in the collection.

 

I'm happy to make these available on dropbox for a while but probably not worth it yet if some need fixing.

[johannesmutlu]

Well i hope i don't have to padding any rom at all whather commercial or homebrew lynx games,as i personaly don't see why just upgrade the os menu to also accept small rom size games,rather then forcing you to padding it into a bigger size.

I,ve never padded any game and i don't how it works,does it add extra zeros to the rom and add jumpers to it to fool the menu into thinking that it is a bigger rom size game or something.

BTW i can accept that some will never work on the lynx sd card since those games uses the audin pin for bankswitching wich the os menu in turn uses for loading a rom!!??,so games like alphine games must be modded to bankswitch via software rather then using the audin in ordert to get them work on the lynx sd card.

But i can accept that because of i own alphines games if i only know where i can download those homebrew games and demos, that would be cool,am hungry to getting that fmv taxi video demo, the mode 7 demo,liuchtenstein demo,a polygon demo and whatsoever demo,because it's so exciting to see what a 16bit color handheld from the 1989, before the last decennium from the 20th century could do things no one ever tout it could do,now that handheld has been made future proof in the second decennium of the 21th century thanks this amezing sd card adaptor,(hahaha)the impossible becomes possible.

Trough i guess i got to wait till christmas before it's my turn,to get one but time will tell.

[Guitari]

Well a quick test of the first few gives this.

 

Return to menu

 

BOING

BRKSKR

BSPACE2

CARTSH

CHECKE

CIRCLE1

CIRCLE2

DUNGEO

 

Turns the lynx off

 

DIGIDE1

 

Goes to coloured screen

 

 

DIGIDE2

 

 

So really most appear to return to the menu, it'd be a real shame if we can't get these going; particularly as I actually own every commercial release! I guess futurebrews are going to be made with the SD card in mind.

 

Gadget, do you want me to send you a dropbox link to these homebrews? would that be useful?

Edited May 28, 2016 by Guitari

[SainT]

I'm sure we'll get a load working -- I'm ever the optimist!

 

Anything you can Dropbox will be great just so we know we're working with the same ROM image as you.

 

I'll get onto debugging next week. I need to find some more hours in the day!!

[SainT]

I haven't got my card yet but I was wondering if Loderunner was working?

 

Mitch

I'll start running through everything I can find next week and post up.

[GadgetUK]

We can definitely get them working, it just needs some time for .o and .com. Basically we need to add the tiny encrypted loader and then form a suitable directory structure and then stick the .o in the right place I think. If it can be done in Handy I am sure it can work from the cart. For one thing I think Lynxmans cart supports .o files doesn't it?

[Guitari]

This is great news gadget. (Saint's been sent the brews from my Dropbox). this makes saint's card a powerful tool for the future. I was thinking about having a to z for commercial releases alongside a homebrew folder itself with an a to z structure and alongside a demos folder itself with an a to z structure. Might need some way of telling what a to z is being used!

[Guitari]

Loderunner currently returns to menu without loading. Push around the world makes the screen flash rapidly on mcwill screen like alpine games does. I have a load of double commercial releases roms some with 1 some with 2 in the title. Generally only 2 will work with 1 going to a random coloured screen.

[Guitari]

Push around the world works beautifully on a regular screen lynx.

[GadgetUK]

Yeah, that screen flickering thing is related to the screen - not the SD card, but Ime sure you already know that! I will have a look at improving ROM support tomorrow if I get some time and energy.

[SainT]

We can definitely get them working, it just needs some time for .o and .com. Basically we need to add the tiny encrypted loader and then form a suitable directory structure and then stick the .o in the right place I think. If it can be done in Handy I am sure it can work from the cart. For one thing I think Lynxmans cart supports .o files doesn't it?

Yeah, if it's just code which should be run from a specific memory location on the Lynx rather than a ROM image, then that's fine. We can just load it in and jump to it! It may need a small loader relocated somewhere in RAM or something, but no big deal. The menu itself is free to launch code in whatever way we like.

[SainT]

Loderunner currently returns to menu without loading. Push around the world makes the screen flash rapidly on mcwill screen like alpine games does. I have a load of double commercial releases roms some with 1 some with 2 in the title. Generally only 2 will work with 1 going to a random coloured screen.

That's really interesting. I'll have to have a play with Handy / loading those ROMs directly on the Lynx and see what the difference is between them...

[GadgetUK]

Loderunner need converting I think, I've done that ROM already I think. I forget but it was something like a 64KB format and needed changing to 128KB block sizes. Or it might have been 128KB needing conversion to 256KB block sizes.

[GadgetUK]

Yeah, if it's just code which should be run from a specific memory location on the Lynx rather than a ROM image, then that's fine. We can just load it in and jump to it! It may need a small loader relocated somewhere in RAM or something, but no big deal. The menu itself is free to launch code in whatever way we like.

That's a really good point! It doesn't need to be encrypted does it?!? If that's the case it should be really easy just running an .o file. I will have a look tomorrow, unless you beat me too it =D

[Guitari]

Loderunner need converting I think, I've done that ROM already I think. I forget but it was something like a 64KB format and needed changing to 128KB block sizes. Or it might have been 128KB needing conversion to 256KB block sizes.

I remember some talk of Loderunner in recent times. I was worried about a version without sound and the player going left when pressing right but managed to track down a version on cart without these issues.

[GadgetUK]

I've added .LYX support, but it's currently automatically guessing the block size based on file size. Seems to work on all the .LYX files I've tested. I did start to add support in for .O files, but it needs some thought first. I need to work out where the header is which should look like this:-

 

typedef struct
{
UWORD jump;
UWORD load_address;
UWORD size;
UBYTE magic[4];
}HOME_HEADER;

 

Then we can load it to the relevant address and jump to the entry point. I guess that will work since the Lynx is already booted? ie. encrypted loader should not be required?!? The problem is where the code loaded might overlap with the menu loading the code. It might be a case of first relocating the menu loader function to free memory not used by the block in the .o file, and then loading the .o file and then jumping to the jump specified in the header. Just looking back up the post now to see if there's any other LNX files that need checking out. I tested 2 versions of TOKI I have, one has B1 in the filename and that is corrupted (gives a solid colour in Handy, just the same as on the SD card).

 

EDIT: My .LYX copies of Lode Runner work OK now btw.

Edited May 29, 2016 by GadgetUK

[GadgetUK]

I've released an update to the menu on a different thread. One thing to note - some .LNX files are not LNX files and are actually BS93 homebrew files (like .O but just named incorrectly). If you get one of those it will just do nothing and back out, it shouldn't stop anything else from loading afterwards though. The last loaded ROM is working again, I think the PIC was going to sleep too quickly or something since it seems OK now after adding a delay after the write and before the PIC goes into low power mode.

[SainT]

Fantastic stuff! I was looking at the handy source earlier and saw the BS93 file format mentioned. I'll have a look at doing a loader for that very soon. A simple relocatable loader should be tiny...

[GadgetUK]

Yes - I think you are right! Just tidying up the code at the moment and making it a bit faster as I left stuff all over the place earlier =/

[108 Stars]

I tested 2 versions of TOKI I have, one has B1 in the filename and that is corrupted (gives a solid colour in Handy, just the same as on the SD card).

The letters behind ROM names have a meaning.

 

[!]=tested and working

=bad dump

[h]=hack

[f]=fixed

[a]=alternative

 

I bet the b1 in the Toki filename means it is one of at least two known bad dumps. In general I'd avoid these-

[GadgetUK]

I've removed that text option from the bottom of the screen, it's too slow. I tried using a seperate file which only contained the text and it slows navigation down. The only way I can think we could show some additional text easily is to have a preloaded file with a line of text for each ROM etc, and I think that will be messy. I believe its better as it is in this version below:-

 

Binary: https://www.dropbox.com/s/eha7cciore97bms/menu1.5.zip?dl=0

Source: https://www.dropbox.com/s/gsvy3gcafv4pycj/SD%20Menu%201.5src.zip?dl=0

Utility to create .LSD files: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ksnht8ehhiezsff/LSD%20Creator.zip?dl=0

 

I think if we concentrate on .o and the LNX files using BS93 headers next then that should be it - all should work I think.

 

EDIT: Also just done a quick mod (not in the version above) to select the lightest colour and darkest colour for the 'Programming...' message and its background. That way it now always looks very clear. Previously it was sometimes hard to read depending on the game selected.

Edited May 29, 2016 by GadgetUK

[Twoface2]

We can definitely get them working, it just needs some time for .o and .com. Basically we need to add the tiny encrypted loader and then form a suitable directory structure and then stick the .o in the right place I think. If it can be done in Handy I am sure it can work from the cart. For one thing I think Lynxmans cart supports .o files doesn't it?

 

Gadget, would be great if you could update your converter for mateos flashcard too. Lynxmans flashcard supports .o files, but .com files do actually not run on any flashcard.

[GadgetUK]

 

Gadget, would be great if you could update your converter for mateos flashcard too. Lynxmans flashcard supports .o files, but .com files do actually not run on any flashcard.

I will take a look when I can - I've just got too many projects on the go tbh! .com files look to just be the same as the .o / some .lnx (named incorrectly), containing the BS93 header. So I think once .o files work, .com should work, and the few .lnx which are named incorrectly and are actually .o (I think) should work.