Problems With Colecovision Emulation

[Greenchili]

I can't seem to get this thing to list the roms. The file manager shows nothing and when I press the A button it just quits out. It loads the colecovision BIOS rom just fine.

I'm using the version that just added Tandy emulation.

The Atari 7800 file manager works just dandy!

Any ideas? My colecovision files have a .rom extensions and I've tried placing them in various places.

 

[TelcoLou]

M.E.S.S., right? Try a different colecovison BIOS; I saw there were a few different ones.

And what's all this about Tandy support??

 

[telengard]

M.E.S.S., right? Try a different colecovison BIOS; I saw there were a few different ones.

And what's all this about Tandy support??

​

Hehe, someone is a mind reader. I haven't released a version w/ Tandy emulation but I have enabled it in the current build. So the next release will have Coco 1, 2, and 3 support as well as clock speed changing and a virtual keyboard.

What I'd like to know is how Greenchili knew that?

Maybe he meant TI emulation?

If you do not see the Coleco "boot screen" chances are it's the BIOS. Make sure it is named coleco.zip, zipped, and works w/ regular mess (if possible). As things change in xmess/mess they make changes to the supported roms. This is seen a lot in mame w/ the renmaing of roms and shuffling they do. It's all in the name of accuracy I guess.

Post back your findings if you get it working... So far every issue that has come up has been the BIOS stuff and it's the one thing I don't have control over since it is illegal to distribute the BIOS roms. I have tried to the best of my ability, except for the BIOS roms, to make gp2xmess as "plug and play" as possible.

take care,
~telengard

 

[TelcoLou]

Virtual keyboard!!

(yay)

 

[telengard]

I can't seem to get this thing to list the roms. The file manager shows nothing and when I press the A button it just quits out. It loads the colecovision BIOS rom just fine.

I'm using the version that just added Tandy emulation.

The Atari 7800 file manager works just dandy!

Any ideas? My colecovision files have a .rom extensions and I've tried placing them in various places.

​

Now, that I've actually read the post carefully it seems that the BIOS is OK. To get at the file manger within gp2xmess, just press the left shoulder button. The file manager that comes up for the Atari 7800 is needed only because of the fact that xmess requires a cart inserted into this system before any of the emulation can start. That meant I had to write a "pre launch" file selector. Once inside gp2xmess, all file management is done through the menu that comes up when hitting the left shoulder button.

Hope that helps you out.

~telengard

 

[remowilliams]

So the next release will have Coco 1, 2, and 3 support as well as clock speed changing and a virtual keyboard.

~telengard

​

Nice!!

 

[Greenchili]

Now, that I've actually read the post carefully it seems that the BIOS is OK. To get at the file manger within gp2xmess, just press the left shoulder button. The file manager that comes up for the Atari 7800 is needed only because of the fact that xmess requires a cart inserted into this system before any of the emulation can start. That meant I had to write a "pre launch" file selector. Once inside gp2xmess, all file management is done through the menu that comes up when hitting the left shoulder button.

Hope that helps you out.

~telengard

​

Sorry. I typed it up kinda quick cause I had to rush out to see King Kong.

And yes I meant Texas Instruments, not Tandy.. :lol: It was the first company that began with "T" that came to mind.

I use the file selector it shows only "Cartridge--->" and "Return to main menu" if I highlight "Cartridge" and press A, it exits out back to the GP2X menu system.

Thanks

 

[telengard]

Now, that I've actually read the post carefully it seems that the BIOS is OK. To get at the file manger within gp2xmess, just press the left shoulder button. The file manager that comes up for the Atari 7800 is needed only because of the fact that xmess requires a cart inserted into this system before any of the emulation can start. That meant I had to write a "pre launch" file selector. Once inside gp2xmess, all file management is done through the menu that comes up when hitting the left shoulder button.

Hope that helps you out.

~telengard

​

Sorry. I typed it up kinda quick cause I had to rush out to see King Kong.

And yes I meant Texas Instruments, not Tandy.. :lol: It was the first company that began with "T" that came to mind.

I use the file selector it shows only "Cartridge--->" and "Return to main menu" if I highlight "Cartridge" and press A, it exits out back to the GP2X menu system.

Thanks

​

Hmm, my guess is that the emulator doesn't like the image you are trying to load. It's not very graceful about that unfortunately. I've sent you a PM...

~telengard

 

[Greenchili]

Just a side note. Could this have anything to do with GPL libraries not being loaded properly? Or will it not function at all without GPL?

I only ask because I attempted to install GPL after I set the NAND for RO. But I also ran the "unlock NAND" script and reran the install just to be safe. Thing is I do not know how to confirm they are actually installed.

I'm replying to your PM right now.

 

[telengard]

Just a side note. Could this have anything to do with GPL libraries not being loaded properly? Or will it not function at all without GPL?

I only ask because I attempted to install GPL after I set the NAND for RO. But I also ran the "unlock NAND" script and reran the install just to be safe. Thing is I do not know how to confirm they are actually installed.

I'm replying to your PM right now.

​

Shouldn't matter. I statically link everything so as not to rely on what's on the system. It makes the binary slightly larger but means that I don't get emails about SDL not working, I bricked my gp2x playing Colecovision, etc, etc.

I'll get back to you in a little bit about the coleco issue, wrapping up some work on gp2xmess ATM.
~telengard

 

[telengard]

Just a side note. Could this have anything to do with GPL libraries not being loaded properly? Or will it not function at all without GPL?

I only ask because I attempted to install GPL after I set the NAND for RO. But I also ran the "unlock NAND" script and reran the install just to be safe. Thing is I do not know how to confirm they are actually installed.

I'm replying to your PM right now.

​

Hiya Greenchili,

I just got a chance to test and sent you an email.

~telengard

 

[Greenchili]

ok thanks. I replied. On a side note I also tested the ti-99 file selector and it operates just fine. Not that I have games to test on it or anything.

But it does show that the problem only occurs with the coleco emulator, odd... and a big time bummer as well.

 

[telengard]

ok thanks. I replied. On a side note I also tested the ti-99 file selector and it operates just fine. Not that I have games to test on it or anything.

But it does show that the problem only occurs with the coleco emulator, odd... and a big time bummer as well.

​

Yeah that's pretty weird that it only happens with the coleco one. I will do some more testing. I am running firmware 1.10. I'm not sure what others are running that have successfully run the coleco emulation. You are the first report of not being able to run that was something other than the bios stuff. How many coleco roms do you have installed? I have seen a crash occasionally depending on the # of files in a directory. I also know that the built in file-manager tries to cd to directories based on the system name (this is std xmess stuff).

So just so we're on the same page, the other 2 emulators work fine including the in emulator file selector for the ti99/4a? The coleco starts up, but when you go to select a rom via the in emulator file selector it crashes? does nothing?

Don't worry though, we'll figure it out!

~telengard

 

[halo9]

So just so we're on the same page, the other 2 emulators work fine including the in emulator file selector for the ti99/4a? The coleco starts up, but when you go to select a rom via the in emulator file selector it crashes? does nothing?

​

Just to confirm, this is the exact situation I have too. I'm running FW 1.2.0. Thanks for the good work.

 

[Greenchili]

Forgive me for smiling, but it's nice to know I'm not the only one. :lol:

Hopefully we can figure it out.

 

[telengard]

Forgive me for smiling, but it's nice to know I'm not the only one. :lol:

Hopefully we can figure it out.

​

Just out of curiosity do either of you have more than 256 files in the directory you select when it exits? I have found what seems to be a bug in the core xmess file manager code when there are more than 256 files in a directory. I'm debugging and fixing that right now. Someone had found this while using the TI 99/4A driver also.

If not I'll keep poking around.

~telengard

 

[luteijn]

and fixing that right now. Someone had found this while using the TI 99/4A driver

that was me , unfortunately those 'roms' were not all cartridges, but mostly disk images (I don't own _that_ many TI cartridges), and in the wrong format anyway... I'll have to dig up my old TI stuf and make some new dumps of e.g. parsec and hunt the wumpus... I hope I can remember enough about it all

What is the format mess expects the files to be in, anyway?

Pieter

 

[telengard]

and fixing that right now. Someone had found this while using the TI 99/4A driver

that was me , unfortunately those 'roms' were not all cartridges, but mostly disk images (I don't own _that_ many TI cartridges), and in the wrong format anyway... I'll have to dig up my old TI stuf and make some new dumps of e.g. parsec and hunt the wumpus... I hope I can remember enough about it all

What is the format mess expects the files to be in, anyway?

Pieter

​

Oh ok, cool. The bug is a memory overwrite and I'm trying to figure out how to fix it. Anything over 256 entries (or somewhere around there) get overwritten and causes a crash. I think remowilliams saw this also IIRC.

Not sure about the disk types, but maybe this page can be of help? I went here to find out how the PC keyboard was mapped to the TI keyboard in mess:

http://pytheas.club.fr/english/TI99_MESS.html

I'm hoping the crash the colecovision users were experiencing is this same bug. That will make me feel better. I've been offering this code back to the xmess team but haven't heard anything yet so far.

~telengard

 

[telengard]

and fixing that right now. Someone had found this while using the TI 99/4A driver

that was me , unfortunately those 'roms' were not all cartridges, but mostly disk images (I don't own _that_ many TI cartridges), and in the wrong format anyway... I'll have to dig up my old TI stuf and make some new dumps of e.g. parsec and hunt the wumpus... I hope I can remember enough about it all

What is the format mess expects the files to be in, anyway?

Pieter

​

Oh ok, cool. The bug is a memory overwrite and I'm trying to figure out how to fix it. Anything over 256 entries (or somewhere around there) get overwritten and causes a crash. I think remowilliams saw this also IIRC.

Not sure about the disk types, but maybe this page can be of help? I went here to find out how the PC keyboard was mapped to the TI keyboard in mess:

http://pytheas.club.fr/english/TI99_MESS.html

I'm hoping the crash the colecovision users were experiencing is this same bug. That will make me feel better. I've been offering this code back to the xmess team but haven't heard anything yet so far.

~telengard

​

I have found and fixed this bug. If either greenchili or halo9 can confirm that the directory had > 255 or so entries I'd like to have you try out this fix. If that is not the bug you are experiencing I'll have to find a way to get more debugging info from your gp2x's. I'm hoping that on the gp2x I can use ulimit or something to generate a coredump that you can send to me.

~telengard

 

[TelcoLou]

This, folks is why he deserves guru status

* Note: I just recently added all my colecovision roms to my folder and I get a crash as well. I have over 255 for sure It worked just fine when I only had 4 or 5 ...