As I wasn't too content with Doc Bacardi writing the coolest MMC64 plugin, I resumed my work on D64 plugin which allows mounting disk images as drives

You can find current version here. (@RaveGuru: don't bother putting it into Uploads yet, it's changing without warning. Thanks.)

Directory display in entry screen doesn't work, but that's low priority.

Load "$" works, as well as program loading. Open/get/close works as well, at least for me. Some multiloads works, some others don't.

If you have Silversurfer, start terminal program with 8N1@115200 and you get plenty of debug data.

@Doc: I'm not going to try latest DFI version, I fear it might work too well and I would lose my motivation

Edit: It should now work with Silversurfer even when it's not connected to PC. If your RS232 cable connects DSR at both ends you need to disconnect it at C64 end to avoid infinite loop.

Edit2: Last sector was always completely loaded, resulting in overwriting memory. Jumpman now works . There is also preliminary support for command channel, you get power-on message and "00, ok, 00,00" message after that.

Cool!
I like the concept of a market economy style competition without involving money.

Hmm.. maybe I better watch my tail...

Hmm, should I buy RR-Net...

Btw, feel free to rename the plugin as D71PLGIN.BIN to test IDE fixed games which don't fit into D64.

New version uploaded, the most important change is than bankswitching is hopefully more compatible with problematic C64s.

Edit: directory disaply & device number change work in the entry screen.

Great work!

Pretty much every game I try loads at least a cracktro, and sometimes then to the main game screen.

The Goonies works properly though!

Ed

I'm hoping that someone creates D64/D71 files of IDE64 fixed games and tests them (Hi ebster, want a non-paid job? ) as many of them should work.

Meanwhile I've uploaded the edwardar edition, which does CRC checking when loading.

With all the buffering I do (21 blocks for track buffer, 2 blocks for CRC table, 684 bytes for cluster table, 1 block for cross-bank copy routines), there is only 28 bytes left for code in the second RR RAM bank. I need to re-think my strategy it seems.

Edit: removed debug from getin/chrin routine, that makes byte-by-byte loaders bearable.

Edit2: something fun to try:

I fixed a rather embarrasing bug which meant the plugin had very hard time working on anything but selected card sizes...

Edit: another bug gone, this time caused by command channel implementation and triggered by buggy IDE fixes.

Talking to myself here

Ultima III loads intro sequence - and crashes afterwards. This is still quite an achievement considering that only "U1" command is implemented, and even it not fully! Status channel also has bugs which cause multiple retries for no reason, making load take way too long.

I had to change all $ffab (untlk) and $ffae (unlsn) calls into $ffcc (clrchn), but no other changes to disk image was made. Archive includes patched D64. Next thing is to transfer it to real disk and see if it works there after the intro.

Edit: some more work and it loads completely, asking for scenario disk. That sight was worth staying up until 2 AM local time

Edit2: Infocom adventures work too, regardless of them using "B-P" command which isn't implemented

Edit3: Winter Games works with the latest version. Racing Destruction Set needs one-byte patch, after that it works until it asks for second disk. It may be possible to circumvent that by using D71.

hi tnt!

sorry, haven´t tried what you told me to do with flashutil lately concerning your bin-plugin...

after several bad tries with some games i can announce that championship wrestling ide64 fix in d71 format works great with your plugin... yee haw!!

only screen flashing while loading is quite aggressive at the moment.

i will definately not convert everything from ide64 warez but i will do the non working dfi´s i did. is there a d71-packer for total commander or do i have to stick to c64copy?

best regards!

Good, that means I can concentrate my efforts on D64 plugin.


Yes, I wanted to see where it reads from MMC64 and where it fills file buffer. There will be less of it later.


I'm old-fashined guy and have used Star Commander. I have tested some games which work with DFI just to know where the competition stands (Doc you b***ard, did you patch Creatures 2 to *not* use fastloader when there is no IDE64? ). I can upload them in large packs like you did, but that means I have to convert large number of them first

(It's possible to add IDE64 identification bytes and extended READ/WRITE routines, but I'm reluctant to use 15 (or 9, but that requires evil code aligning) bytes of $dexx area for that.)

tried some d64 games single file games works fine
muti loads are still a pain thro.
ive tested
robocop 2
rainbow island
outrun
but still don't work

rainbow island
ive converted an d64 version to dfi but only got 1 level working and then is got stuck on loading level 2 please wait
but when i used your mount disk plugin it said the format was invalid image ?

Better stick to IDE64 fixed games only, as I don't have time to patch games. Reports of fixed games which don't work are welcome as long as they are accurate enough.

D64 plugin only accepts 174848 or 349696 bytes long files. That's standard D64 / D71.

BTW: The well-known cbmconvert can also create D71 files.

CU
Kratznagel

what is ark arkive is that an other type of image ? just wondered. my brain has crashed need to reboot now lol ok i think i know what ark is now is it a format that compresses d64 images ?

Got disk swapping to work last night . Only two sides for now, I need to move code around so I can fit full 10-image support in. I had no time to test Racing Destruction Set yet, and as Ultima III needs write support to create characters I couldn't really test it either. Besides, it was getting late.

Swapping works as follows:

• you get "insert disk [whatever]" prompt
• press freeze button, keep it down
• press key to contine from prompt
• still keeping freeze button down press key from "1" to "0"
• release freeze button

As BIOS doesn't tell plugins which directory selected file belongs in, you need to join D64 images to create one bigger file.

I will make the new version available later today together with some test image.