CPC Plus cartridge replacement : one more

[dragon]

OK I got my Eprom version out and tested it in my 6128 plus... All games work.


checked the C4CPC in the same machine... Only a few work.


Checked the size of my classics eprom, it's a M27C4001 (512kb) so much larger than either image in this thread so far.
> on inspection the fill 512kb is not full, a lot of the end is filled with FF, but the data section is longer than 256kb. I guess the other dumps were truncated at some point in the past.


Dumped it from the eprom to BIN then BIN->CPR


tested that one in the C4CPC


All Games works perfectly in both the 464plus and 6128plus


Attached here is the 513kb CPR file

I tested it in gx4000 All games boot except donkey kong lol .

PD: Yes arnold the glitches you described are my defects.

[TFM]

Agreed, I did not even know about .crt file (cathode ray tube  ). If it's raw binary, lets call it .bin !

Good idea. Too much extensions confuse anyway. [nb]Do we have .lcd file support yet? [/nb]

[arnoldemu]

OK I got my Eprom version out and tested it in my 6128 plus... All games work.


checked the C4CPC in the same machine... Only a few work.


Checked the size of my classics eprom, it's a M27C4001 (512kb) so much larger than either image in this thread so far.
> on inspection the fill 512kb is not full, a lot of the end is filled with FF, but the data section is longer than 256kb. I guess the other dumps were truncated at some point in the past.


Dumped it from the eprom to BIN then BIN->CPR


tested that one in the C4CPC


All Games works perfectly in both the 464plus and 6128plus


Attached here is the 513kb CPR file

I will fix donkey Kong on this dump too.

[CraigsBar]

I will fix donkey Kong on this dump too.

cheers kev

[arnoldemu]

cheers kev

Attached.

(Craigs dump with Donkey Kong start fix for gx4000).

[arnoldemu]

I tested it in gx4000 All games boot except donkey kong lol .

PD: Yes arnold the glitches you described are my defects.

I didn't look into the glitch in a lot of detail. There is nothing unusual in the code, it is using standard firmware functions to change the mode. It may be down to the difference in cpu timing on the gx4000. I will investigate further it's worth looking at.

[CraigsBar]

I didn't look into the glitch in a lot of detail. There is nothing unusual in the code, it is using standard firmware functions to change the mode. It may be down to the difference in cpu timing on the gx4000. I will investigate further it's worth looking at.

the plus machines also have this mode change glitch, I guess it is possibly a global asic timing thing.

[arnoldemu]

the plus machines also have this mode change glitch, I guess it is possibly a global asic timing thing.

Is it ever seen on the normal CPC?

I've seen similar stuff happen before and the way the mode is changed is not the most accurate, I came up with a much more accurate method a few years ago.

Normal method can move by 8 lines, my more accurate method never had the same problem.

[CraigsBar]

Is it ever seen on the normal CPC?

I've seen similar stuff happen before and the way the mode is changed is not the most accurate, I came up with a much more accurate method a few years ago.

Normal method can move by 8 lines, my more accurate method never had the same problem.

I'll grab the dsk from CPC power tonight and test it in my pluses, and cpcs and let you know.

[arnoldemu]

http://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=8838(well only curiosity of course)

The CSD cart is working correctly. Of course it needs a modified 464/6128+ with CSD hardware and more than 1 cart to work correctly.

[CraigsBar]

The CSD cart is working correctly. Of course it needs a modified 464/6128+ with CSD hardware and more than 1 cart to work correctly.

hmmm I wonder if it could be modified to use the 16 slots of a C4CPC? That would be a cool default slot 0 cart.

[dragon]

It's just a bin file with a  "crt" extension.
Change to .bin and try in c4cpc.

Shame you can't control it via joystick.

EDIT: Tried it. Yes works on gx4000 - but no joystick so I can't play it.
I can skip the nice scroller and title screen however.

Can be fixed?. I mean you don't not need construct the entire joystick system for the menu. Only insert manually The two numbers/ calls to select joystick and start game, and jump the menu in gx4000.

I'll grab the dsk from CPC power tonight and test it in my pluses, and cpcs and let you know.

Test it in the cost-down. If I was amstrad engineer,  I probably copy design circuit for old generatión from the pre-asic chip.

[CraigsBar]

Test it in the cost-down. If I was amstrad engineer,  I probably copy design circuit for old generatión from the pre-asic chip.

I don't have a cost down. I have a revision 1 Schneider CPC 6128, a revision 2 Amstrad CPC 6128, and 3 plusses (2 x 6128+ and 1 x 464+)

So I cannot test in cost down, but I can output the dsk to my HxC and test it in the machines I do have.

[arnoldemu]

Can be fixed?. I mean you don't not need construct the entire joystick system for the menu. Only insert manually The two numbers/ calls to select joystick and start game, and jump the menu in gx4000.

If it's compressed then it's best for Cesar to fix it.

If it's uncompressed, then possibly, but as with other carts it's extra work.

[CraigsBar]

I don't have a cost down. I have a revision 1 Schneider CPC 6128, a revision 2 Amstrad CPC 6128, and 3 plusses (2 x 6128+ and 1 x 464+)

So I cannot test in cost down, but I can output the dsk to my HxC and test it in the machines I do have.

okay....

Grabbed the original dsk and the 16k EPROM from cpc-power.

The disk has no issues with the modesplit on any machine.
The ROM however always has the mode split corruption. I guess this was used as the source for the cart release on Amstrad classics.

[CraigsBar]

OK Since this seems like a reasonable place to share.. Here are some quick and dirty conversions to CPR I have made, either a long time ago to test my Eprom Swap cart, or since getting my c4cpc.


None are extended to use the plus features - I am not that skilled


None are tested on the GX4000 - They are to all intents and purposes No$cart conversions.

[arnoldemu]

OK Since this seems like a reasonable place to share.. Here are some quick and dirty conversions to CPR I have made, either a long time ago to test my Eprom Swap cart, or since getting my c4cpc.


None are extended to use the plus features - I am not that skilled


None are tested on the GX4000 - They are to all intents and purposes No$cart conversions.

They will not work on gx4000 because you used no$cart.

When I fix no$cart would you remake them?

[CraigsBar]

They will not work on gx4000 because you used no$cart.

When I fix no$cart would you remake them?

sure i will

The only change I made to no$cart was to remove the broken logo from the top left   if it had been a working accurate logo I'd have left it lol.

[TFM]

Really no need for advertisements, which just disturb the gaming experience. So, yes, please get rid of logos[nb]icons and windows and all that crap  [/nb]

[CraigsBar]

Really no need for advertisements, which just disturb the gaming experience. So, yes, please get rid of logos[nb]icons and windows and all that crap  [/nb]

well I did re image the logo and make a loader screen that provided credit to no$cart. But with the crack intro and trainer selection screen it got a bit silly loading the games so I removed it.

[fgbrain]

This awesome cart can also serve as an additional way to transfer files from / to PC - CPC!!

Provided we get proper software, we can read from SD card and save to disk and vice versa..

Correct?? 

[gerald]

This awesome cart can also serve as an additional way to transfer files from / to PC - CPC!!

Provided we get proper software, we can read from SD card and save to disk and vice versa..

Correct?? 

Yes, and no 
PM 

[TFM]

In principle you are right. But it's probably as telling I can use my toaster to heat the house.     
Since the Cartridge ROM is READ ONLY and writing is done by reading from specific addresses it's not as using I/O ports for data transfer or even memory mapped would be. 


Just add an X-MASS and you'll be lucky! 

[fgbrain]

I'm happy enough if I can only import files from SD ! Nowadays I use more my tablet and smartphone for downloads than my PC.. Therefore C4CPC connects CPC to mobile hw!

[arnoldemu]

Attached is a fixed ik+ -  no$cart version modified to work on gx4000.

First I will make a c program that will take a no$cart generated cpr and patch it. Then I will look to make a replacement for no$cart eventually.

I modified:
* any access to df07 becomes df83
* do not send specify command to fdc - causes hang
* only scan roms on cart; this stops roms in a rom-board from clashing (e..g if you had parados in a romboard it would override the cart I think and stop it working).
* firmware thinks it's accessing 0-15 but 7 is mapped to &83, others to &81, so the firmware on the cart thinks it's a cpc6128 with disc rom.

I will publish more details soon....