Loading games into my MSX2

Master (156)

30-03-2021, 15:37

Good morning,
waiting to buy the MegaFlashRom i am trying to load programs and games for MSX 1 and 2 into my Philips NMS8280.
I am loading with the program in android MSXcas games for MSX1, unfortunately not all of them load correctly, but I managed with many by downloading the .cas files from the planetemu.net site
Then I tried with floppy disks:
1 I took floppies, I plugged the free hole in order to recognize them as 720kb floppies.
2 I inserted the floppies in my MSX2 and with the CALL FORMAT command in basic I formatted the floppies in both ati.
3 I downloaded the .dsk files from download.file-hunter.com or planetemu.net
4 I loaded the .dsk files into the Manages disk-images for use by PC- and MSX- emulations program
5 I clicked write to disk in the Disk-Manager program, selecting the PC floppy drive as the destination.

I must say that some have worked, while many others unfortunately did not, for example Bubble Bubble in the BlueMSX emulator the .dsk file is loaded while if I write it on floppy the MSX2 reads the floppy at the start but nothing happens ..!?!?
While other .dsk files do not give any boot in the MSX2 nor in the Blue MSX emulator.
Do you have any information to give me?
Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks

بواسطة wyrdwad

Paladin (934)

30-03-2021, 16:11

I think the problem is that games like Bubble Bobble, for example, were distributed on rom cartridge, not on disk. So while there exist DSK files of them, they're basically just rom cartridges being forced to load from a floppy instead of a cartridge.

And that's fine... as long as your MSX system has enough memory to manage it. Because when a rom cartridge is being loaded off of a floppy disk, the entire game is loaded into RAM, and basically held there -- the MSX will treat a portion of your system's memory as if it were a static rom page, and read the game from there, while also using the rest of your system's memory to process the game as it normally would when playing it off of a cartridge.

Looking at Bubble Bobble, the game was distributed on a 128kB ROM cartridge, and unless you upgraded it, your Philips NMS8280... has 128kB RAM. So after simply reading the game from the disk, your computer's memory is already full -- there's no RAM left to actually process and play the game.

In short, until you get your Megaflashrom, you're going to be limited as to what games you're able to play. Anything that was distributed on a floppy disk should be fair game, but if you're trying to play anything that was distributed on a rom cartridge, you're going to be limited by the size of the rom cartridge. Honestly, even with 128kB RAM, I'd say there's a risk that any rom over 32kB in size may give you some problems, and is not guaranteed to run smoothly on your system.

-Tom

بواسطة andallaco

Master (156)

30-03-2021, 21:07

thanks Tom, so many .dsk files may not work. But the bubble bubble .dsk file loaded in bluemsx works .. ?? the strange thing is that with many games loaded in floppy they do not even try to load with msx2, as well as the initial check of the floppy drive does nothing else .. ??

بواسطة Briqunullus

Paladin (771)

30-03-2021, 21:17

The default MSX2 configuration of BlueMSX has 512kB RAM. The rule of thumb is that cracked megaroms need twice the amount of RAM compared to their original size.

بواسطة andallaco

Master (156)

30-03-2021, 21:30

OK thanks. the strange thing is that it doesn't even try to load the contents of some floppies. For example the Zanac Ex .dsk file works!

بواسطة Briqunullus

Paladin (771)

30-03-2021, 21:35

What happens when you insert the disk after boot and type FILES? Does it list the files on disk or is there some error message?

بواسطة tfh

Prophet (3430)

30-03-2021, 21:36

There is also a big chance that some of the disks you have downloaded have a poke like poke 0,170 or poke -1.255 in their autoexec.bas (or loader) which can effectively make your machine freeze up/reboot instantly.
You can wait with putting the disk into the drive when it's already in BASIC and then give the FILES command to see if the computer can read the disk. With the command LOAD"AUTOEXEC.BAS" you can load the loader and take a look at it with the LIST command.

بواسطة andallaco

Master (156)

31-03-2021, 12:01

on the floppy where I loaded the bubble bubble .dsk file after the load command "AUTOEXEC.BAS" and after the message OK appears, then, at the LIST command and the message 10 LOAD "bubble.bas" appears, r at my RUN command l appears Disk I / O error in 3. At least now there is an attempt to load the file! thanks

بواسطة andallaco

Master (156)

31-03-2021, 12:51

Is it possible to load the Salamander game in a floppy disks?

بواسطة tfh

Prophet (3430)

31-03-2021, 12:52

andallaco wrote:

Is it possible to load the Salamander game in a floppy disks?

Not with only 128KByte of RAM. The cracked version that runs from disk will need at least double.

بواسطة andallaco

Master (156)

31-03-2021, 13:13

so i need the megaflashrom with memory expansion