Weirdness with 1088xel & SIDE Loader

[+S.D.W.]

Hello,

 

I am using version 3.10 firmware on my 1088xel. I have set BASIC to disabled in the SIDE loader but I can't load any cartridge-based XEX games. When I select them, either I get a blue screen with the cursor in the upper left corner on some games and garbage on others. Other non-cartridge games load and run fine. I have tried disabling basic in the firmware, tried with and without 8k cart rom enabled, with and without SpartaDOS enabled. It seems almost like the basic cartridge is still enabled even though it is disabled in both setup menus. I have had this issue before and somehow got it to work but now it isn't working again. Any ideas?

 

Thanks 

[flashjazzcat]

Is BASIC disabled in the loader Options? This setting overrides what's in the firmware setup menu.

[+S.D.W.]

Yes, I have it disabled in both places. 

[flashjazzcat]

Yes that was clear from your initial post now I read it again. You mention the 'SIDE loader'; are you using a SIDE cartridge or an XEL-CF adapter? I would expect to see the 'XEL Loader' installed on a 1088XEL in the latter case.

[+S.D.W.]

Yes, I am using a XEL-CF adapter. I have Basic disabled in the loader but also disabled PBI and SpartDOS in the firmware and it is indeed booting into Basic. It is also a little strange to me that when I disabled PBI, it disabled the Basic state toggle in firmware and will only allow Default. I have attached an image to show this.

Edited January 19, 2021 by 917k

[+DrVenkman]

24 minutes ago, 917k said:

but also disabled PBI and SpartDOS in the firmware and it is indeed booting into Basic. It is also a little strange to me that when I disabled PBI, it disabled the Basic state toggle in firmware and will only allow Default.

That's in the firmware documentation. Leave PBI BIOS enabled in order to control the state of BASIC (enabled or disabled).

[+S.D.W.]

When PBI is enabled, it just shows boot error. When disabled I was able to see that it is apparently ignoring the Loader setting for Basic which is disabled and still booting Basic. FJC said the loader setting should override the firmware setting anyway. I was just making a note of the toggle behavior by disabling PBI but that's really not the main issue I am having.

[flashjazzcat]

23 minutes ago, DrVenkman said:

Leave PBI BIOS enabled in order to control the state of BASIC (enabled or disabled).

This is true of bootable ATRs, but the loader can disable BASIC independently of the PBI BIOS when launching an XEX (no reboot takes place).

 

Regardless, all we needed to know is that BASIC is off in the loader, which it is. Therefore the loader is turning off BASIC before loading the XEX, so if it crashes or BASIC is not disabled, I have no idea why.

[flashjazzcat]

One question: what is a 'cartridge based XEX'? You have an XEL-CF, so which cartridge are we talking about? If there's one present, disabling BASIC won't help much.

[+S.D.W.]

There is no physical cartridge plugged in. I am defining a cartridge based XEX as a game that was originally a cartridge such as Berzerk, Defender, Donkey Kong, Centipede, Missile Command, Star Raiders, etc. I haven't tested everything but those don't work for sure.

Some other XEXs do work fine that were not originally cartridges such as Canyon Climber, Salmon Run, Pacific Coast Highway, etc.

 

[flashjazzcat]

I see. Thanks.