SofaRun v5.0 released

Prophet (2465)

02-06-2019, 23:40

Ah, OK, so if you want to benefit from the MegaRAM in order to flash MegaROMs, you only have 1 segment of memory available. That's not enough for the Sofa tools to work, but there's a way to have 1 more segment available by switching back to an old version of MSX-DOS 2.

You can get it here:
https://www.louthrax.net/mgr/downloads/DOS231.ZIP

Unzip and copy it to the root of your SD card (erasing existing files). Configure your cartridge as MegaRAM and try again. You should see "Segments: 2" in the Memory menu.

But that still does not explain why SofaRun does not work in Mapper mode. Could you try to type "memory > memory.txt" from MSX-DOS command prompt and paste the memory.txt file here ? Warning: do that before reverting to DOS231 like described above, that command is not available anymore.

EDIT: I guess the detection process of SofaROM messes with the Mapper / MegaRAM configuration when in Mapper mode. Maybe that could be fixed, but anyway, the best way to use your cartridge is in MegaRAM mode. To confirm that the problem comes from the detection step in SofaROM, you can just force the "Pref. device" to "Memory mapper" in the game or default settings (in the "ROM settings" part). That way, SofaROM does not look for another device (including MegaRAM), and should not mess things.

Por _EF_

Supporter (15)

03-06-2019, 00:04

Megaram mode:

   131 072 bytes total RAM in Slot 3-2
    16 384 bytes free
   114 688 bytes used by system
         0 bytes used by user

    54 790 bytes total TPA memory

     1 024 bytes total history buffer
     1 003 bytes free

    10 240 bytes total alias memory
    10 240 bytes free

     5 105 bytes total variable swap memory
     5 105 bytes free

Mapper mode:

   524 288 bytes total RAM in Slot 1-3
   409 600 bytes free
   114 688 bytes used by system
         0 bytes used by user

   131 072 bytes total RAM in Slot 3-2
   131 072 bytes free
         0 bytes used by system
         0 bytes used by user

    54 790 bytes total TPA memory

     1 024 bytes total history buffer
     1 004 bytes free

    10 240 bytes total alias memory
    10 240 bytes free

     5 105 bytes total variable swap memory
     5 105 bytes free

And thank you so much for your answers.

Por _EF_

Supporter (15)

03-06-2019, 00:32

Unfortunately it still does not run with your files.
In Mapper mode it now shows:

TPA memory: 20168
Segments: 25

in megarom:

TPA memory: 20424
Segments: 1

Setting Pref Device Memory Mapper does not change anything.
Maybe my msx machine is unlucky one

Por Louthrax

Prophet (2465)

03-06-2019, 00:36

_EF_ wrote:

Unfortunately it still does not run with your files.
TPA memory: 20424
Segments: 1
That's weird, MSX-DOS 2.31 should use less memory... You have put the files at the root of the SDCard right ? (replacing the existing COMMAND2.COM and NEXTOR.SYS files) Can you confirm that the "A:>" prompt has been replaced by "A>" ?

Por _EF_

Supporter (15)

03-06-2019, 00:49

Louthrax wrote:

That's weird, MSX-DOS 2.31 should use less memory... You have put the files at the root of the SDCard right ? (replacing the existing COMMAND2.COM and NEXTOR.SYS files) Can you confirm that the "A:>" prompt has been replaced by "A>" ?

oh.. you were right - my bad.
Now it shows in mapper mode:

TPA memory: 19912
Segments: 26

in megaram:

TPA memory: 19912
Segments: 2

but it still freezes on the SofaROM screen, as before.
in addition it says wrong version of msx-dos, but i used the spell against it - set expert=on...

Por Louthrax

Prophet (2465)

03-06-2019, 01:08

I tried here in openMSX using the Yamaha_YIS-503IIIR machine plus MegaFlashROM and everything works. Problem seems definitvely related to the Mapper / MegaRAM, but I do not think this device is emulated in openMSX (or is it ?).

Have you tried to check your memory with a tool like TESTRAM.COM or TESTMAP.COM (I doubt that's the cause of the problem but you never know...).

Could you check a last thing: launching a .DSK image in MegaRAM mode and MSX-DOS 2.31 ?

Por _EF_

Supporter (15)

03-06-2019, 06:25

Thank you for your time, i really appreciate it. I will continue having sex with my crazy mapper by myself. I just wanted to ask, is it possible, to add some verbose debug mode to the screen that freezes for me, just to see step by step when and why it fails?
Also i will play with settings... If i succeed i will write to you.

Por OeiOeiVogeltje

Paragon (1433)

04-06-2019, 00:13

maybe a virus???

Por djh1697

Paragon (1702)

04-06-2019, 00:45

_EF_ wrote:

I will continue having sex with my crazy mapper by myself.

I would not recommend that? You might create permanent damage
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semen

Por _EF_

Supporter (15)

08-06-2019, 09:09

Thank you for wikipedia link, never knew that it exists.

I have used MSXDiskImage.exe tool to extract *.com files from my DISKET-1.DSK and wrote AROID.COM and PASKHA.COM to SD card directly. From MSX-DOS prompt i am able to successfully launch both games without any problem.
Thus, i would still blame SofaRun for freezing.
Do you keep sources confidential? If i were you i would try to put printf between each lines of code to see after which it freezes. I would suspect it freezes most likely on some malloc, isn't it?..