Gaming on the TT, or not!

[tjlazer]

I have got some games working by booting from disk, pressing ALT to disable the HD.   Karateka is one of them.

[Randy]

15 hours ago, tjlazer said:

I have got some games working by booting from disk, pressing ALT to disable the HD.   Karateka is one of them.

Thanks lazer, I will give that a try on some of the games I have on disk, would prefer to have the top 10 (TB, DM, CSB, Breach 1 & 2, Sundog, Elite 1 & 2 (although I think I am done with Elite, took on the second mission and all it is now is running from thargoids and no fun), Captive, and Ishar being my top.  Many other games I would like to get running on the TT, preferably on the US and with the TT memory installed would include civilization, populous, mega-lo-mania, ishar 2 & 3, Wall of Illusion, and other dungeon crawlers that are good.  I will update my list of what I am getting to run and what settings are needed to make them work.  Most of the PP games won't run as there seems to be conflicts with the TT memory install, without the memory there seems to be a much better chance of them running properly.

[+DarkLord]

Did you try setting the TT RAM flags on the games,

as I posted earlier?

 

I've got TT RAM in one Mega ST4 here, I could try

some of PP's adapted games there to see if they

work with it.

 

HTH's.

 

[Randy]

23 minutes ago, DarkLord said:

Did you try setting the TT RAM flags on the games,

as I posted earlier?

 

I've got TT RAM in one Mega ST4 here, I could try

some of PP's adapted games there to see if they

work with it.

 

HTH's.

 

Thanks Darklord, how do I set the flags for the TT ram?  Not sure how to do that, is it in the control panel or something like that?

[+DarkLord]

16 minutes ago, Randy said:

Thanks Darklord, how do I set the flags for the TT ram?  Not sure how to do that, is it in the control panel or something like that?

 

Yes, the easiest way is to use one of the CPX's. If you don't have it, I'm attaching it here as a zipped file.

 

Just put it in your CPX folder and reload the CPX's. When you have it installed, just dbl-click it and it will

look like a file selector (sort of). In the empty space where it says file (IIRC), click on it and it will open

up the actual file selector - use it to navigate to the file you want to look at. When it loads that file,

there were be a column on the right side with check-boxes that say:

 

Fastload

 

TT (RAM)

 

TT (PRG).

 

If they aren't already set, try these. Remember, sometimes it takes certain combinations. Try all 3

at first and if it still doesn't work, start experimenting with various combinations.

 

All of this may not make a bit of difference but it's worth a shot. 

 

FILEINFO.zip

 

 

Edited July 16, 2021 by DarkLord
Correction...

[Randy]

4 minutes ago, DarkLord said:

 

Yes, the easiest way is to use one of the CPX's. If you don't have it, I'm attaching it here as a zipped file.

 

Just put it in your CPX folder and reload the CPX's. When you have it installed, just dbl-click it and it will

look like a file selector (sort of). In the empty space where it says file (IIRC), click on it and it will open

up the actual file selector - use it to navigate to the file you want to look at. When it loads that file,

there were be a column on the right side with check-boxes that say:

 

Fastload

 

TT (RAM)

 

TT (PRG).

 

If they aren't already set, try these. Remember, sometimes it takes certain combinations. Try all 3

at first and if it still doesn't work, start experimenting with various combinations.

 

All of this may not make a bit of difference but it's worth a shot. 

 

FILEINFO.zip 5.01 kB · 1 download

 

 

Oh boy, can't wait to get home from work and try this, if it works it will be awesome!  Thanks!

[Randy]

On 7/16/2021 at 11:42 AM, DarkLord said:

 

Yes, the easiest way is to use one of the CPX's. If you don't have it, I'm attaching it here as a zipped file.

 

Just put it in your CPX folder and reload the CPX's. When you have it installed, just dbl-click it and it will

look like a file selector (sort of). In the empty space where it says file (IIRC), click on it and it will open

up the actual file selector - use it to navigate to the file you want to look at. When it loads that file,

there were be a column on the right side with check-boxes that say:

 

Fastload

 

TT (RAM)

 

TT (PRG).

 

If they aren't already set, try these. Remember, sometimes it takes certain combinations. Try all 3

at first and if it still doesn't work, start experimenting with various combinations.

 

All of this may not make a bit of difference but it's worth a shot. 

 

FILEINFO.zip 5.01 kB · 2 downloads

 

 

Well, disappointment there, still wouldn't boot PP's games, at least not DM or TB, I am thinking I have to find these games as not having the PP treatment to get something that might work with the TT memory expansion, tried the two I have, the standard Atari 4 meg board and the AIX with 8 megs in it, neither would work.  Pull them out and it seems to work on DM but I noticed some screen tearing...

[+DarkLord]

Well, it was worth a shot.

 

Sorry about that... 

 

[Randy]

3 hours ago, DarkLord said:

Well, it was worth a shot.

 

Sorry about that... 

 

It's all good, I will be posting about what I have gotten to work as I do have Breach working, that is not the PP version.  I did get the PP version of Frontier working, sorta, I mean, it does work but 3 of 4 times my ship exploded outside of the dock, so not sure what that is all about.  No luck with DM or Bloodwych, might have to find a different version to get those to work...

[+DarkLord]

Okay, I got around to loading up some PPera adapted games on to my Mega ST4

that uses the STorm ST card for an additional 8 megs of TT style RAM.

 

I only tried 3 random games:

 

Arctic Fox - worked fine.

 

Blood Money - worked fine.

 

Dungeon Master - worked fine.

 

I did the <control> key thing at boot up to only load up a bare minimum desk, then

ran the program that activates the STorm ST card and it's 8 megs of TT style RAM.

 

So I guess we can say it's not just because TT style RAM is present. It's

got to be something to do with the TT as well.

 

BTW, what exactly are the games doing when they crash? Any chance of a screenshot?

 

Only reason I'm asking is because there's a moment after the games start that you

get a screen where it looks like it's crashed, but I think it's syncing video or something.

 

I'm sure Peter can explain that part far better than I can. The point is, you just bash

any key and it goes right on into the game...

 

HTH's.

 

[ParanoidLittleMan]

I still did not get answer from Randy about suggested clean boot - or in other words starting TT without running those AUTO run items, CPX and whatever. That should solve problems with Fast RAM. Adaptations are done to use only ST RAM, what is min 2 MB in case of TT, and that's enough for all them - no such what needs more RAM. If here is 4 MB ST RAM, that's fine, and I tested them with it in most cases.

[Randy]

17 hours ago, ParanoidLittleMan said:

I still did not get answer from Randy about suggested clean boot - or in other words starting TT without running those AUTO run items, CPX and whatever. That should solve problems with Fast RAM. Adaptations are done to use only ST RAM, what is min 2 MB in case of TT, and that's enough for all them - no such what needs more RAM. If here is 4 MB ST RAM, that's fine, and I tested them with it in most cases.

Sorry if you did not see it or if I forgot to post, yes, I have tried a clean boot but not lately, will give that a try for DM right now...OK, just tried clean boot and DM loaded right up, however it crashed trying to load an old save, going to the beginning screen I was able to grab a couple of characters but then stopped, will report more later tonight.  Time Bandit was a no-go from a clean boot. that I all I have tried so far.  One question, can using Xboot to load a clean boot work, or just stay away from everything and load from a partition with no auto folder or cpx?  Thanks!

[Randy]

19 hours ago, DarkLord said:

Okay, I got around to loading up some PPera adapted games on to my Mega ST4

that uses the STorm ST card for an additional 8 megs of TT style RAM.

 

I only tried 3 random games:

 

Arctic Fox - worked fine.

 

Blood Money - worked fine.

 

Dungeon Master - worked fine.

 

I did the <control> key thing at boot up to only load up a bare minimum desk, then

ran the program that activates the STorm ST card and it's 8 megs of TT style RAM.

 

So I guess we can say it's not just because TT style RAM is present. It's

got to be something to do with the TT as well.

 

BTW, what exactly are the games doing when they crash? Any chance of a screenshot?

 

Only reason I'm asking is because there's a moment after the games start that you

get a screen where it looks like it's crashed, but I think it's syncing video or something.

 

I'm sure Peter can explain that part far better than I can. The point is, you just bash

any key and it goes right on into the game...

 

HTH's.

 

Usually I get the 4 bombs, but now I am trying what Peter suggested and will post my results over the next couple of days, thanks!

[Randy]

OK, DM won't run properly, can't get out the first gate, it's locked with my 4 characters unable to open it.  I can hear it click, but no opening.  Also, the front 2 characters have the hit flag set and it doesn't go away.

[ParanoidLittleMan]

Which exact v. of DM (gimme DIR name, ZIP name of DL). And before start is best to turn of cache (Options) .

I don't have experience with Xboot, and no TT here too.

[Randy]

8 hours ago, ParanoidLittleMan said:

Which exact v. of DM (gimme DIR name, ZIP name of DL). And before start is best to turn of cache (Options) .

I don't have experience with Xboot, and no TT here too.

Ah yes, Peter, that makes sense to change the settings when loaded with the "M" key, I'll give that a try tonight!