I just got myself an 1Mb external mapper... was very happy that I could finally play Metal Gear 2, but it didnt work at all

The problem is that I'm trying on a turbo-R A1ST, which already has 256kb of internal mapper, and every thing I tried, only detects this internal mapper.

I have tried the disk english translation (only recognizes the internal mapper and plays without any sound); I have tried both LoadROM and Megamu (both hangs after loading and only finds the internal mapper). I heard about TRLoad, but couldn't find it, and I'm not very hopefull it will find the external mapper...

All tests were done all win Z80/R800 ROM and R800 DRAM modes, with the mapper on both slots 1 and 2, all the same results.

I have tested the Mapper cartridge with TestRAM, and it's ok. Also the same things I tried on openMSX (emulating A1ST with external mapper) and all programs behave the same.

Is there any hope for me? Any program that finds a secondary mapper that could load Metal Gear2? Any other game that uses the extra memory?

Something I just found out, thanks to Marcelo Silveira on MSXBR-L:

If I boot on plain DOS1, exit to BASIC and type

OUT &HA8,&B11010000

then when I go back to DOS, LoadROM finds the mapper, but still crashes after loading Metal Gear 2

The same trick worked with R-Type... but also only without DOS2/IDE.
What happens with DOS2/IDE that prevents this from working?

on MSX2 the principal mapper is the bigest found in a slot
on Turbo-R the principal mapper is always then internal memory
upgrade your ST with 512K in internal is the only best choice

I feel that you need to alter the code of your rom loader and recompile it...
If you cannot select the mapper via command line parameters, maybe we should submit a request to the author of the tool ?
On Daewoo MSX machines the mapper is placed in non-standard slot, so their owners will be pleased too to have such an option.

Slotman, I think you could use bigmem tool by Ramones (Armando Perez). I think it was only for DOS1 but it activated the external mapper (if it is bigger than the internal one) as the first mapper. Would it maybe work for you? Maybe LOADROM would work for you, but in DOS1.

No luck finding this "bigmem" program (not even trying googling for Armando Perez) - I did found TRLOAD, wich didnt work either

As I said, with that OUT I posted earlier, I got LoadROM to find the mapper, but when trying to load metal gear 2, it crashed

The ideal solution would be to have a command option to choose the mapper slot/subslot... but does LoadRom works with 512k ROMs? is there any ROM-loader (for mapper, I know ExecROM works, but only with MegaRAM) that does load 512k or bigger files?

Ah... found the program, as "Mem tR" on HansO website... OMG, it was hosted on funet....

Sorry, this is the util I talked about, memtr... it seems like I forgot the real name. I think I have the sources of it and it has a routine called "bigmem". I can't get it for you right now, sorry, but sure other MSX users got it when it was online (maybe even HansO had a backup of his website??).

I think that loadrom should handle 512KB ROMsized games. TRLOAD by Okei and M.Pazos can't handle it? Strange... how about MEGAMU (MEGarom EMUlator)?

Anyway... good luck with it!

Ok, this code is uggly as hell, but it may do just what you want. (DOS1 only)

10 'TEMP.BAS
20 SL=1 'SLOT
30 IF PEEK(&HF677)=&H80 THEN POKE&HF677,&HC0:POKE &HC000,0:RUN"TEMP.BAS"
40 FOR I=0 TO 11:READT:POKE &HD000+I,T:NEXTI
50 OUT &HA8,192+SL*16:OUT &HFE,0
60 DEFUSR=&HD000:A=USR(0):OUT&HA8,SL*80:POKE &HFE,1
70 FOR I=0 TO 3:POKE &HF341+I,SL:NEXT I
80 DATA &H21,0,&HC0,&H11,0,&H80,1,0,&H40,&HED,&HB0,201

I'm getting concerned over here... just tried LoadROM, TRLoad, Megamu on openmsx emulating a A1GT, with or without external mapper... all frozen

Hi Slotman.

MemTr works fine in Panasonic 2+ machines and Turbo R. But only works in DOS1.


http://www.kurarizeku.net/ftp/MEMTR.LZH

(Snout can upload this to MRC Downloads Database)

About Solid Snake ... hmm. .. Try use DSK version... Is very good with 512k and works with MemTR.

Another thing ... MG2, checks Rams in boot of Game. Is very possible that this has problems with Rom emulators in Ram.

I guess Martos DSK version is the best option for play this game. And, of course, flashrom.

Unfortunaly Martos DSK does not recognize my external mapper, just the internal one (as I posted on the first message) and it plays without any sound

I'll try MemTr (thanks!) but since the DSK runs from bootsector, I don't know what can be done

Yeah! It worked!! Just went to basic and gave it a "call system", and Martos DSK version found the external mapper!

Thanks!!!