Jump to content
IGNORED

Mess updates thread


TheMole

Recommended Posts

The Carttest was done by Tursi using one of his tools. He gave us (the hardware team for the boards) a set of output test files that matched every single possible cart size, in both Inverted and Non-Inverted mode to use when testing new boards before sending them to customers (or to find possible issues with the starting banks of the bank-switching components). As there are quite a few folks building bare boards of their own now, I figured it would be a good thing to provide builders with those files, so I released the ones necessary to test the two board types other people have been building.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The cart test program was just a simple program - all the various sizes were made with a big batch file that used COPY to make the different sizes and a little patch tool to update the headers and the like. ;)

 

My video playback code as released never stops, yeah, so after the first playback completes the actual effect is somewhat random. Spaceballs tends to loop (possibly with corruption between the playbacks) until the page flip variable counts past the end of cartridge space and starts messing around with scratchpad and I/O space, then it crashes. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello Michael.

 

I've changed one of the ROMs in the TI MESS emulation (the EVPC ROM) to suit my liking.

Obviously I now get an error message upon startup to move the joystick right and left.

Is there a way to suppress this warning in the Windows batch file that I use to start MESS?

 

Thanks,

 

Gazoo

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello Michael.

 

I've changed one of the ROMs in the TI MESS emulation (the EVPC ROM) to suit my liking.

Obviously I now get an error message upon startup to move the joystick right and left.

Is there a way to suppress this warning in the Windows batch file that I use to start MESS?

 

Thanks,

 

Gazoo

 

Never mind, I figured it out for myself.

 

You can do it by editing the executable file, in my case 'messui.exe'.

Make a note of the CRC-32 and SHA1 values of the original ROM file.

Make the changes you want to the ROM file.

Compute the CRC-32 and SHA1 values for the new file. I used HEX WORKSHOP for this.

Do a text search of the executable file for the original CRC-32 and SHA1 strings.

Replace those strings with the new ones, and save the executable file.

No more warning message.

 

Gazoo

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it really makes sense to call it "paged378" in MESS as well ...

 

BTW, you may want to listen to my latest achievements in MESS:

 

http://www.mizapf.eu/files/messflop2.mp4

 

http://www.mizapf.eu/files/messflop3.mp4

 

Well, yes, listen. :) This is only the first step; it will need a lot of further refinements. It's not committed to Github yet.

 

Damn it. You know, I really like using Firefox, but I really hate how they just keep changing shyt. I do not WANT to use an internal media player, I want to be able to download videos and sound. But the developers seem to think that when I make a deliberate setting that I must be some kind of knuckle-dragging moron and they put in some kind of over-ride to my settings so, instead of enjoying my user experience, I have to waste my time finding out how to get back the functionality I want.

 

Other than that rant, cool videos :) Though, I am not certain I like the drive motor sound... it seems too... Apple. hehehe

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've just tried version 165, but I couldn't get the floppy drive sound effect to work (tested by cataloging a disk with Disk Manager). My "Slider Controls" show speech, sound, and two cassette tapes, but no floppies?! Where do I activate the drive effects?

 

I also noticed new config options for the floppy controller. My normal command line setup

SETUP="-peb:slot2 32kmem -peb:slot3 speech -peb:slot6 tirs232 -peb:slot8 hfdc -peb:slot8:hfdc:f1 525dd -peb:slot8:hfdc:f2 525dd -peb:slot8:hfdc:f3 525dd"

is getting quite lengthy now. Is there a way to put the PEB config into mess.ini? (It's hidden in a startup script, but still ...)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

hmmm, maybe the Mess-Starter-Batch can help a bit ? I also could do some specials for you in the batch, if needed.

(identified by your windows-computername) I hope you have windows, otherwise: forget about :)

 

But normally, if you use only ONE config all the time, the only need is a proper batch or startup-command.

And there you can store HD-names, Floppy-Names and all needed stuff (as explicit parameters)

This is what I do in my Starter-batch, giving all the commands through the Batch to the Mess, but with the possibility to override by OSD.

I think what you do/did once is/was just starting the MAME, and then changing the drives a.s.o. via the OSD-Menu ?

 

So, it depends on your readconfig/writeconfig-settings in the MAME.INI

 

#
# CORE CONFIGURATION OPTIONS
#
readconfig 1
writeconfig 0

What are your setting here at the moment (@read/writeconig) ?

 

 

 

Do you have DSK1 2 and 3 alle the same ? Because of this "525dd"-entries after the HFDC-parameters.....

Or did you change them once, in former times via the OSD-Menu, and the command you use here is wrong or not effective (greift nicht) ?

 

smithee :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

hmmm, maybe the Mess/Mame-Starter-Batch can help a bit ? I also could do some specials for you in the batch, if needed.

(identified by your windows-computername) I hope you have windows, otherwise: forget about :)

 

Thanks, I have my own flexible startup script, but for a proper OS. :-D

 

What are your setting here at the moment (@read/writeconig) ?

 

Ah, thanks, writeconfig was set to 0. And of course the configuration goes into ti99_4ae.cfg, not into mess.ini -- my bad.

 

Alas, the most important question is still open: How to get those awesome floppy drive noises? :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've just tried version 165, but I couldn't get the floppy drive sound effect to work (tested by cataloging a disk with Disk Manager).

 

Hmm, I thought I had a brilliant idea, realizing that those sounds are probably samples that need to be downloaded first, e.g., from here.

 

But sadly still no go. In fact:

 

tiger ~ > mess64 ti99_4a -listsamples
tiger ~ > mess64 ti99_4a -verifysamples
sampleset "ti99_4a" not required!

Anyone? Anyone? Michael?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would like to see some sort of compromise to get the keyboard working correctly.

 

If I use the 'natural' keyboard, the function keys work correctly, but the control key doesn't work. I often do a ctrl-w to write a sector with Disk Utilities and have to switch keyboard type just to do this particular job.

 

If I use the 'emulated' keyboard, the control key works, but the function keys don't. I have to press 'alt' and the corresponding number for the function key I want.

 

There should be a keyboard setting in MESS in which both the function and control keys work at the same time.

 

Gazoo

Edited by Gazoo
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anyone? Anyone? Michael?

 

I guess it's Michael's Day Off.

 

But anyway, I'm just stupid :| -- after putting the sounds into samples/floppy/, like the source says, instead of samples/, it's working like a charm!

 

Awesome effect, although it currently lacks that "ploink" when the drive starts up.

 

Great work, Michael! :thumbsup:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi guys,

 

I've just returned from my trip to the US west coast. I'll need some sleep first before I can start to catch up with all those messages of the last 12 days.

 

Just for a short summary, this was my itinerary of the last 12 days:

 

- Los Angeles (City tour)

- Palm Springs (Route 66)

- Williams (Joshua Tree National Park, Grant Canyon)

- Page (Monument Valley)

- Bryce Canyon

- Las Vegas (City tour, Zion NP)

- Mammoth Lakes (Death Valley)

- Salida (Just stopover for SF)

- San Francisco (City tour)

- Santa Maria (17 Mile Drive)

- back to LA (via S.Barbara, Malibu, S.Monica)

 

And now I'll have to get some sl...

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

the only thing I would like to know is how to switch nerving sounds OFF :) This would drive me crazy.

 

Well, that seems to be a matter of taste (and you know, de gustibus non est disputandum). Good news for you: When you set the samples variable to some other value, you won't hear anything, and you can also change volume in the slider menu on the OSD menu.

 

Personally, I love those sounds, and I think they are so *obviously helpful* that I won't turn them off ever. Unlike with the real iron, you don't see floppy activity in the emulation, and you want to know whether things are still going, or whether something locked up. Also, it makes waiting time feel much shorter (e.g. when doing a multi-file copy, formatting, assembling and so on).

 

I can imagine that there may be a perceived difference to the Lotharek drive emulator: This is a piece of hardware that outputs some sounds which are not actually generated by its operation. In the emulation, we want to get an illusion of a real floppy drive, so you actually expect those sounds.

 

 

But anyway, I'm just stupid :| -- after putting the sounds into samples/floppy/, like the source says, instead of samples/, it's working like a charm!

 

You are right, this should be documented better. The source code was written before I knew where the samples should be kept.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Michael, I tried mess 0.165, but it won't load my paged378 type 512k cartridge image (I get "FATALERROR: Device TI-99 cartridge load failed: Invalid image")? Could you tell me what mess is looking for when validating cart images. The image works fine in js99er, but there might be something wrong on my side as well. If you want, I can send you the rpk via pm.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...