Castaway/gp 15.1 Test Build

[skeezix]

(If you want a solid stable build, I'd use the 14 build on the website for now until this one shores up.)

This is a test build; it should mostly work pretty well, but I know theres a couple little knits.

Let me know..
1) Is it faster or slower or the same as previous versions? (should be same I'd think)
2) Any more or less compatible? (should work with a few more games hopefully, but certainly shouldn't break things that have always worked..)

Any any problems or good things you find

Some oddities..
1) The disk picker has a render glitch at the bottom sometimes
2) saving state is broken; loading state is broken

Otherwise, should work great as far as I know. Please let me know..

I'm hoping to go forward with this as the new baseline once I fix the save/load states; then I can add savestates-per-game and other desired features and hacks. If this new build sucks, I'll go back to 14.x and grow from there

http://www.codejedi.com/castaway/binaries/castgp151.zip

jeff

 

[skeezix]

Note that theres a special format of disk called .stt you may find in some rare websites; if you've named your .st disk images to .stt, they should still work mind you, but if you have a real .stt file, it should be supported; .stt files include additional info about the disk, allowing the emu to deal with disk protection better and such. Let me know if it wrks if you find any .stt's.. I've not found any

jeff

 

[Magellan]

I will give it a try Jeff. Thanks

 

[Iorgy77]

Twinworld works in the new version instead of reseting the GP32 like the last version.
RVF Honda now has motorbike sounds, a bit garbled but better than silence.
ChaseHQ seems a bit faster @133mhz than it was in the older version.
Speedball 2 now has title screen music

Will add more as I try them.

Great work Skeezix and please don't cross a gamma correction option off your to-do list.

 

[Steve-O]

gonna try this version and see if Jumpin Jackson works

--EDIT--


Jumpin Jackson Still crashes, but it loads further than 14.1 did

It gets upto the "LEVEL 1" screen then does teh "PLAYER 1" then just goes black, then GP32 Restarts

 

[skeezix]

Jumpin Jackson? Mna, that was cool game.. totally forgot about it

Tried any other cracks of it or the original disk?

jeff

 

[Steve-O]

Jumpin Jackson? Mna, that was cool game.. totally forgot about it

Tried any other cracks of it or the original disk?

jeff

​

Yea, It kicks ass , I remebered playing it on the Amiga then I saw it on the ST List of games

Ill go look for another version

maybe I need to try a different Tos image???

the one Im using is the one on disk - "A_239.ST"

 

[Steve-O]

Just got "JUMPINJA.MSA" from Joe's FTP and still crashes at the same spot (Just after the Level 1 / Player 1 Screen)

 

[skeezix]

I do most testing with TOS 1.02 ("1.2") american or uk, so should be most stable. It was probably cracked onto numerous disks so poke around

jeff

 

[look]

VERY exciting release.

IK+ runs at 100% speed with near perfect sound even after pressing F6 for turbo mode!

Kick Off 2 now has fuzzy sound and runs at about 85% speed

Will test more.


I tried d-bug crack of Jumping Jackson which reboots my GP32. Could be down to memory requirements of the game. It also had some stonking sampled sound too.

 

[skeezix]

Memory reqs shoudlnt' be a factor. ie: A 1MB ST is emulated, and thats all they get (1MB for each floppy drive, plus 1MB for unpacking MSA's, plus some other buffers like screen and audio etc.. but GP32 has plenty for all that.)

But its possible my sampled audio buffers get over-run and blow up, so I'll have to look into that; heck, for GP32, why not use all remaining memory for audio-buf just to be on the safe side?

jeff

What did Kick Off 2 run like on 14.x versions?

 

[skeezix]

Did anyone run into any problems that weren't there before (aside from savestates)? Or is this version wholly superior to previous ones?

jeff

 

[look]

KO2 had no sound whatsoever and ran at 60-70%

I find tos 1.04 to be more compatible.

frinstance exile wont work on 1.02 but does on 1.04 (d-bug version of exile that is)

I'm well pleased with this update Jeff

 

[Steve-O]

Yea, I used Tos 1.02 and 1.04 (UK Version) But Still Jumping Jackson wont run I tried 2 other Images (3 in total) and still nothing

Anyoen else got Jumping Jackson to try??? I realy want to play it hehe

 

[Iorgy77]

Yea, I used Tos 1.02 and 1.04 (UK Version) But Still Jumping Jackson wont run I tried 2 other Images (3 in total) and still nothing

Anyoen else got Jumping Jackson to try??? I realy want to play it hehe

​

I tried Automation disk 239 - Jumping Jackson, it resets the GP32 after it displays the "Level 1" screen.


@skeezix: this version of Castaway has not shown any signs of being inferior to 14.01 so far.

 

[Steve-O]

But its possible my sampled audio buffers get over-run and blow up, so I'll have to look into that; heck, for GP32, why not use all remaining memory for audio-buf just to be on the safe side?

​

hhmm, But shouldnt Turning the Sound off solve that possibility?? I just tried it with no sounds and it still crashed

Jumping Jackson is an Amazing game and would be Extreme fun to be able to play it on the GP32

thanks

 

[skeezix]

I actually doubt theres an issue with sample size, since my buffers are likely larger than a sample an ST would have anyway. Also, Xenon 2: Megablasts sample plays okay, and thats one huge sample

I'll have to take a look however, you never know.. there were some issues along those lines in the past, as unless I sucked out the sample buffer fast enough, it'd fill up, but I think I repaired that and capped it off.

jeff

 

[look]

Just had my smc wiped out while messing with this build.

inserted a disk and it booted to gem rather than auto loader which it had done previously.

I looked at info on A and it said the drive wasn't ready.

Tried opening A and it bombed out.

Just reformating etc and I'll try again after corrie

 

[skeezix]

yeah, GP32 and SMC's do that :/ My SMC got corrupted last night while playing some ADIC entry; I think the GP32 is pretty solid, though I've seen vanilla GP32's wipe out SMCs; certainly though using a PC card writer to modify SMC can bugger thigns up, since the GP32's FAT handlign isn't strictly by the book I think, so when coupled with a device that does follow the rules.. *foosh*

jeff

 

[Tobriand]

Iirc using PC-writers only causes problems when it actually writes the "non-existant" vfat file containing the remainder of the name; so far as I know, no such file is written unless you're using long name wossnames.

Oh, btw. It IS possible to recover most data from a corrupted SMC if you scandisk on windows straight away before reformatting; It'll pick up a lot of files which it'll name filexxx.something but directory structure is preserved as is filesize. Its saved me from trying to find a comparable save several times now...