Posted By
Csabo
on 2024-07-29
08:29:26
|  After tackling such games as Lykia...
After tackling such games as Lykia and Alpharay, BSZ has created an SD2IEC loader for Promised Land!
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Posted By
Lavina
on 2024-07-30
08:29:26
 | Re: After tackling such games as Lykia...
Thanks for the effort  I'm not sure why anyone would like to rewatch it, though
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Posted By
BSZ
on 2024-07-30
15:40:31
| Re: After tackling such games as Lykia...
Viewing is complicated by hardware requirements. But I've always liked to watch them on real hardware, not in an emulator. I have now viewed from start to finish to see if it works properly... 
This is a nice demo.
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Posted By
Haegar
on 2024-09-03
04:48:02
| Re: After tackling such games as Lykia...
Is there a way to adapt the loader for the new tcbm2sd card? It would be awesome to use the speed of 1551.
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Posted By
gerliczer
on 2024-09-03
06:04:20
| Re: After tackling such games as Lykia...
It would be awesome to use the speed of 1551.
Do you think it could compete with Bitfire+4?
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Posted By
Haegar
on 2024-09-03
12:37:41
| Re: After tackling such games as Lykia...
I don't know how fast Bitfire is, I can't really say. I think what I've tested so far is pretty fast. It would definitely be great to be able to run games like Alpharay on the tcbm2sd if you could adapt the Bitfire loader to it.
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Posted By
BSZ
on 2024-09-03
14:43:01
| Re: After tackling such games as Lykia...
@Haegar: A significant part of the BF loader's program runs in the drive. If the device does not support it, in which case the operation will not work.
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Posted By
MMS
on 2024-09-04
01:36:44
 | Re: After tackling such games as Lykia...
Well, as far as I read, the distributors are not able to provide games on real 5.25" discs due to missing fresh production.
Sooner or later it will reach us too, maybe in 20-30 years (yeah, I still have some 20-30 almost brand new discs not to mention my NOS box os Verbatim QD disc, those could be sacrificed in an 1541 or 1551 if desperately needed )
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Posted By
MMS
on 2024-09-04
01:52:34
| Re: After tackling such games as Lykia...
Well, as far as I read, the distributors are not able to provide games on real 5.25" discs due to missing fresh production.
Sooner or later it will reach us too, and we need to switch to SD drives
Maybe in 20-30 years (yeah, I still have some 20-30 almost brand new discs not to mention my NOS box os Verbatim QD disc, those could be sacrificed in an 1541 or 1551 if desperately needed )
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Posted By
Haegar
on 2024-09-04
02:35:29
| Re: After tackling such games as Lykia...
@bsz: From what I've seen of the BF-Loader so far, it seems he scan first the device and then load the corresponding part into the device. When I tried with the Alpharay .D64 file, it recognized the tcbm2sd itself, but said that it didn't recognize the type and stop.
If it helps, I could send you a photo of the screen via PM.
Unfortunately, I don't know anything about fast loaders or loader programming in general. What I've done so far is mostly very simple codes based on the kernal routines.
@MMS: Copying to a diskette is definitely a good idea, I asked a question a few weeks ago about a good backup program that copies from device 8 to 9 or vice versa. Unfortunately, there is nothing useful on the Plus/4 to copy from a PI1541 to a diskette.
I tried to copy the Alpharay .d64 with CBMx-transfer but it didn't work because the file is a bit different to normal .D64 files.
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Posted By
BSZ
on 2024-09-04
15:55:06
| Re: After tackling such games as Lykia...
@Haegar: Sorry, I don't think I was precise enough. With tcbm2sd the loader will not work.
(It would need to fully emulate either a 1551, but as far as I know, it doesn't have the resources to do that. If it supported direct programming, it might be possible to make a loader for it, but I'm not interested in that for now.)
The only extra feature of Alpharay is that it has to be written on a 40 track disk. The program you use to format/write the disc must be specified to be a 40 track disk!
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Posted By
gerliczer
on 2024-09-05
04:12:27
| Re: After tackling such games as Lykia...
@BSZ: You wrote If it supported direct programming, it might be possible to make a loader for it. Well, not necessarily. I seem to remember reading in its documentation that it has a built-in specialised fast-loader. If that's actually true, you "only" need to import and adapt the computer side loader code to Bitfire+4.
@Haegar: You wrote there is nothing useful on the Plus/4 to copy from a PI1541 to a diskette. So, you actually tried Double Hack'em. Out of sheer curiosity, how did it fail?
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Posted By
ytm
on 2024-09-05
05:42:27
| Re: After tackling such games as Lykia...
All that is required is to recognize 'TCBM2SD' string in 'UJ' command response and then use Kernal to open the file for loading (on channel 0). Fast load protocol is enabled when (after sending the file name) the following TALK command sends code $70 (channel 16) rather than $60 (channel 0).
Fastload protocol is is similar to native fastloaders for 1551 like Warpload1551, with efficient handshaking. The github repository contains ready to use code for detection and loader.
Low hanging fruit is just to drop any special code and use plain Kernal LOAD - it's already as fast as JiffyDOS this way.
I suppose eventually I will release some of the disk games available here on plus4world with tcbm2sd compatibility.
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Posted By
Haegar
on 2024-09-05
10:31:28
| Re: After tackling such games as Lykia...
@gerliczer: I have to admit that I haven't tried Double Hack'em yet because my PI1541 is currently in the club (insert Coins). Since I'm always lugging it back and forth, that was also a reason to get the tcbm2sd as an alternative. I'll try Double Hack'em next week.
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