The compatibility of the M4 card...

[Mr. DVG]

Reloaded, Enhanced, Bullshitted, ...    But no link with the good name + year.

R-TYPE (2012)? 

[Mr. DVG]

Hello everyone!
I open this thread because I am exhaustively trying out many titles for the M4 and I am finding that some of them are unfortunately not compatible. I do this to entice the production of dedicated versions (for mass storage) that can work with this card and thus decrease the incompatibility list. These are some of the incompatible titles, but the list will certainly grow over time! Maybe let's update it together if you want! 

GAMES:

   
• Baby Jo - Going Home
• Bob Winner
• Double Dragon "good version" (run, but small graphic bugs at the top and bottom of the screen)
• Eagle's Rider
• Fiendish Freddy's Big Top O' Fun
• Fres Fighter II Turbo
• Exterminator
• Galaxy Force
• Imperial Majong
• Little Computer People Discovery Kit
• Mega Twins (Demo)
• Megablasters
• Megablasters: Escape from Castle in the Cloud
• Mystical
• Orion Prime
• Targhan
• The Bard's Tale
• The Shadows of Sergoth
• Wonder Boy (Tried all the dumps. They work, but there is a random bug that corrupts the soundtrack. It happens only on the M4.)
• Xyphoes Fantasy

DEMO:

   
• 30 Years Amstrad Megademo
• Batman Forever
• Pheelone
• Phortem
• Phreaks

In the first post you will find the updated list of non-functioning games on the M4.

At the moment I stop here, having tried hundreds and hundreds of titles for Amstrad CPC! Attached to this post I insert a downloadable .zip file where I have collected more than 1300 titles tested and working on the M4.

Inside the file you will also find the list of titles and other useful files such as various configurations, the SymbOS and the "famous front-end" of rafa 32. 

Thank you all for your cooperation! 

Download file:
http://www.filedropper.com/m4backup

[Duke]

At the moment I stop here, having tried hundreds and hundreds of titles for Amstrad CPC! Attached to this post I insert a downloadable .zip file where I have collected more than 1300 titles tested and working on the M4.

Thanks for your dedication, that is an impressive amount you have tested.

I will probably go through some of the games in your first post when I find time.

Download file:
http://www.filedropper.com/m4backup

And thanks for sharing, I will put the link in the M4 documentation!

[Mr. DVG]

Thanks for your dedication, that is an impressive amount you have tested.

I will probably go through some of the games in your first post when I find time.

And thanks for sharing, I will put the link in the M4 documentation!

Thank you for creating the M4 board!

[Ast]

Hi !


Can some people tell me if it is possible to send files into mail from m4 ?


Thanks.

[robcfg]

You'll need a mail client on the CPC for that.


Time for iMPMail? 

[XeNoMoRPH]

Hi !


Can some people tell me if it is possible to send files into mail from m4 ?


Thanks.

There is a mail tool WIP for Symbos, I don't know if this is what you are looking for?

[Duke]

Download file:
http://www.filedropper.com/m4backup

backup since link is not working anymore.
https://www.spinpoint.org/M4backup.zip

[Mr. DVG]

backup since link is not working anymore.
https://www.spinpoint.org/M4backup.zip

Thanks for reporting Duke, I will continue to report non-functioning games with the M4 in the first post of the topic (my work continues and in a month I will post a new update). 
Also in the first post I changed the link to download, this time on MEGA, which seems much more reliable! 

[dimdim80]

Ok, here is a modified lowerrom installer I just made. It is for CPC 6128 and it is the English lowerrom it installs.

Just copy the file to your microSD card and from Basic:
RUN"M4LOW-EN.BIN"

It will ask you to press M4 reset (or power cycle) when it's installed.

If anything goes wrong, put the microSD card into a PC and delete from folder M4 the files ROMCONFIG.BIN and ROMSLOTS.BIN to set it back to default settings.

If everything goes as planned it should have installed the modified lowerrom into romslot 31 and you can run all the games (almost) \o/

I did as you explain,installed with no errors and still cannot get after the initial screen.Tested Roland in time,Roland in space,Rick dangerous,Rick Dangerous 128+ Remake,Rick dangerous 2.

[Duke]

I did as you explain,installed with no errors and still cannot get after the initial screen.Tested Roland in time,Roland in space,Rick dangerous,Rick Dangerous 128+ Remake,Rick dangerous 2.

Try the versions from here, they are almost guaranteed to work:
http://cngsoft.no-ip.org/cpc_lzx.htm

But tbh. it sounds like you may have some other issue, have you tried connecting ONLY the M4 board and not other peripherals?

[dimdim80]

Try the versions from here, they are almost guaranteed to work:
http://cngsoft.no-ip.org/cpc_lzx.htm

But tbh. it sounds like you may have some other issue, have you tried connecting ONLY the M4 board and not other peripherals?

yes i have installed only M4board.And again refuse to play.But from the site link you gave me  works ok.So i guess it is the dsk file problem?

[SOS]

And again refuse to play.But from the site link you gave me  works ok.So i guess it is the dsk file problem?

This DSK is copy-protected (no BC77 use), so it cant be run from M4-Card (/MassStorage's)
Please use another DSK

[XeNoMoRPH]

@dimdim80 hi !!

ftp://amstrad.serveftp.com/incoming/Epidemiom%20M4-HFE%20v900.rar     [ user: amstrad , pass: amstrad ]

Here is a lot of games compatible with M4 too 

[GUNHED]

Hi there,

The M4 card used this ports:
DATAPORT is 0xFE00
ACKPORT  is 0xFC00

Are they fully decoded?

Does it use other ports too?

[Duke]

Hi there,

The M4 card used this ports:
DATAPORT is 0xFE00
ACKPORT  is 0xFC00

Are they fully decoded?

Does it use other ports too?

They are fully decoded, no other ports are used at this time.

[GUNHED]

They are fully decoded, no other ports are used at this time.

Thanks Duke.

However, sad news are there.

When using the M4 with the 6128plus, there is a bug. It does crash FutureOS.

What's the problem?
On the 6128plus the ASIC needs to be fed with 17 bytes to activate its features. After that the command:
ld bc,&7f8b:out (c),c
will activate the memory mapped I/O between &4000-&7FFF.

On the M4 card this OUT does in addition switch off the upper ROM! Which causes a crash in some cases (FutureOS f.e.). But this OUT is NOT supposed to alter the ROM/RAM status.

How to fix the problem?
I'm not a hardware person, but with other ROM expansions there are not problems.
An idea would be that the M4 card shall ignore commands like: OUT &7Fxx,&B8 and OUT &7Fxx,&A0 (they are used on 6128plus for switching memory mapped I/O on and off).

@Duke : Hope you can help with this issue. It would be greatly appreciated. 

[Duke]

On the 6128plus the ASIC needs to be fed with 17 bytes to activate its features. After that the command:
ld bc,&7f8b:out (c),c
will activate the memory mapped I/O between &4000-&7FFF.

On the M4 card this OUT does in addition switch off the upper ROM! Which causes a crash in some cases (FutureOS f.e.). But this OUT is NOT supposed to alter the ROM/RAM status.

How to fix the problem?
I'm not a hardware person, but with other ROM expansions there are not problems.
An idea would be that the M4 card shall ignore commands like: OUT &7Fxx,&B8 and OUT &7Fxx,&A0 (they are used on 6128plus for switching memory mapped I/O on and off).

The problem is on a non plus they are mapped as ghost register of RMR (1).
So not treating them as RMR may break compatiblity with some demo or game that use the ghost register.

M4 board has two core handlers one for CPC and one for CPC+, it does change the handler when using |CTR, so if you put Future OS into a .cpr image it should work already.
Best solution would of course be that I listen to the unlock/lock sequence and switch the handler accordingly... I was implementating that sometime ago, but didnt really find a reason for it, before now I guess

[GUNHED]

Yes, it would be great if you can implement it now. And it may be beneficial to all other ROMs too - in case they use features of the 6128plus. Thinking about iMPdraw for example.


Using a .CPR is not really a perfect solution, because it would disable the native OS environment.

[tjohnson]

This looks great, is there an English language front end available?

[Duke]

This looks great, is there an English language front end available?

There is quite a few:
https://cpcrulez.fr/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6426
https://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/amstrad-cpc-hardware/front-end-for-m4-board-in-rom/
http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/applications/filelauncher-(acmedosm4dos)
http://amstrad.esy.es/    Not sure where @rafa32gr front-end has moved to?

[jaimebueno]

Hi Duke, please, when I use the romup464.bin I get basic 1.1 and lowrom in english, how can i get the spanish layout?, if I use the m4low-sp.bin I get spanish but romnumber changes to 6 and I lose compatibility with games, If I change rom number to 7 the m4 board don't work.


¿?¿?


Thnaks

[GUNHED]

Back to topic...

@Duke : I investigates lot's of demos/games/etc. Looks like, that only programs for the Plus are using the special out commands.

Therefore it would be great (and most easy) that the wonderful M4 card just ignores the two out commands (OUT &7Fxx,&A0 or &B8) regarding RAM/ROM banking.

This would render the M4 card fully 6128plus compatible. 

[Duke]

Hi Duke, please, when I use the romup464.bin I get basic 1.1 and lowrom in english, how can i get the spanish layout?, if I use the m4low-sp.bin I get spanish but romnumber changes to 6 and I lose compatibility with games, If I change rom number to 7 the m4 board don't work.

I only made an english build for CPC basic 1.1, the other installers are meant for CPC6128 and using the modified lowerrom which needs M4 rom in slot 6.
You can manually upload the Basic 1.1 and Lowerrom from a Spanish CPC 6128 instead.
If I find some time later, I will compile a spanish version aswell.

Back to topic... @Duke : I investigates lot's of demos/games/etc. Looks like, that only programs for the Plus are using the special out commands. Therefore it would be great (and most easy) that the wonderful M4 card just ignores the two out commands (OUT &7Fxx,&A0 or &B8) regarding RAM/ROM banking. This would render the M4 card fully 6128plus compatible. 

That sounds good, then this build of M4 firmware should be just fine to use:
https://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/applications/impdraw-v2-0/msg180479/#msg180479

[roudoudou]

Therefore it would be great (and most easy) that the wonderful M4 card just ignores the two out commands (OUT &7Fxx,&A0 or &B8) regarding RAM/ROM banking.
This would render the M4 card fully 6128plus compatible. 

there is more ways to connect/disconnect Asic => #7F00+%101xxxxx