OK, so I'm progressing.
Before grabbing any hardware, I'm still trying to validate the setup through an emulator.
So I added a 2 Mb MegaRAM chip :
and suddenly SofaRun begins to load things :
The game itself doesn't run though (gives black screen, hangs).
Ideas ? Might be tied to the RAM slot (2-1) ? I tried changing it to 2-0 by removing the former PAC SRAM, with no effect.
Hey folks -Louthrax especially, I would like to declare my unconditional love for SofaRun. It changed my life to a point I can't envision doing without it. I love it in a non-erotic, geeky kind of way.
Thanks, first time I heard that one 
About the problems you mentionned: yes, SofaROM tries to patch the games the best it can to make it work on the "best available" device plugged on your MSX (but you can also force a device in SofaROM / SofaRun). SofaROM favors the device with the lower patching impact. That device of course has to be big enough for the ROM (except in Memory Mapper mode, where the memory is used like a cache).
When SofaROM has to patch games, it uses Artificial Intelligence code detection created by NYYRIKKI to patch only code, and not false positive data. This works well in most of the cases, but it can't be 100% accurate. For "Barbarian the Duel", just put the "A.I. level" in the "ROM settings" to 0, and this should slove the problem.
Super Mario World does not like to be patched at all, so you need a device that supports Konami SCC mapper in a hardware way like MegaFlashROM, Carnivore 2, GR8Net, ESE-SCC, OCM, etc... Each have their pros and cons, extra features, and different prices. MegaRAM should also support Konami and Konami SCC ROMs without patching, but I'm not sure the openMSX emulation for MegaRAM is 100% working (I only know SofaROM works with my unofficial FPGA-based MegaRAM, but does not in openMSX...).
Wow,
The Master is finally showing ^^.
For "Barbarian the Duel", just put the "A.I. level" in the "ROM settings" to 0
It effectively allowed it to start ; thanks a lot !
Well, it still hangs -emulated MSX reboots- after the character selection screen ; but I guess there is only one setting left to guess now 
. (I'll try on openMSX, just in case)
you need a device that supports Konami SCC mapper
OK, so that explains it !
I effectively found 5 eligible devices :
- ProjetOS MegaRAM 2 Mega - SOLD OUT ;
- Tecnobytes Double RAM - SOLD OUT ;
- Carnivore 2 - NON-EMULABLE, LOTS OF ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONS ;
- MegaFlashROM SCC+ SD - EMULABLE, NEEDS TO BE CHECKED IN OPENMSX ;
- "my unofficial FPGA-based MegaRAM" ;)
my unofficial FPGA-based MegaRAM
So this one supports SMW on real HW without patching ? Interesting !
@Louthrax: I am experiencing some issues with external SCC feature. This was working fine for me before but it is not anymore. I did some testing with current and older releases, here is my setup:
Yamaha CX7 - MFR in slot 1 - SD Snatcher in slot 2
Nextor 2.1 alpha 2 - SofaRun 3.2/SofaROM 2.6 - working
Nextor 2.1 alpha 2 - SofaRun 4.1/SofaROM 2.7 - not working
Nextor 2.1 beta 1 - SofaRun 3.2/SofaROM 2.6 - not working
Nextor 2.1 beta 1 - SofaRun 4.1/SofaROM 2.7 - not working
Last setup also tested on Carnivore2 in slot 1 and also not working...
I changed only the game setting to use External SCC. SCC is detected correctly in slot 2 but the game does not start (for the not working cases 
) I went back to Nextor alpha 2 when 3.2 was also not working (where I was sure it was in the past)
