[Solved] MiST Hardware Revisions? MSX-Core-Problem

[ManuFerHi]

And just tested the MSX core... gettint the "This core does not support SDHC cards." message. Was this not supposed to have been corrected on the previous version? (I may have my facts wrong )

MSX don´t support SDHC cards, only SD and 2Gb max.
The core of Archimedes I have not spent much time, I tried 3 or 4 games and they worked fine at 140mhz without flickering, to solve those problems the creator of the core should do it, I do not have time to study in the core, I just tried to do fix for the boot in mist that did not work.

[DrOG]

Archimedes games have often extraordinary video resolutions, i.e. 720x400, which is perhaps not so widely supported by modern monitors/TVs.

[nightshadowpt]

MSX don´t support SDHC cards, only SD and 2Gb max.

Crystal Clear... I'll have to get one then. Thanks

The core of Archimedes I have not spent much time, I tried 3 or 4 games and they worked fine at 140mhz without flickering, to solve those problems the creator of the core should do it, I do not have time to study in the core, I just tried to do fix for the boot in mist that did not work.

And I am hugely grateful for what you have done. At least your version of the core boots in my MiST. Did not want to come out as ungrateful for your support.

Archimedes games have often extraordinary video resolutions, i.e. 720x400, which is perhaps not so widely supported by modern monitors/TVs.

This does not seem to be the problem. Even during boot the screen flickers (and sometimes it does not, so screen compatibility does not seem to be the issue).

There seems to be a stability issue with the core, because each time I reboot the MiST, I sometimes have flicker and other times not. weird.

[seastalker]

Maybe this is working TOO well now: anyone have trouble getting the MSX to 'let go' of a game?? I got it to boot to the MSX3 screen, and in the blue DOS (?) screen I type "dir" and then "cd \roms" and then "romload frogger". If I hit f12 to the menu and select 'save and reset' then it loads Frogger... all the time though. Even if I power off the MiST and restart the MSX core. Seems if in the options I mess with Slot 1 and 2 ("Sl1:" and "Sl2:"), I can get back to the blue DOS screen. Still, if I toggle back the MSX plays the same game as if I 'burned' it into a virtual eprom cart represented by one of the toggle selections below.

SLOT 1 toggle options:
NONE
ESE-SCC 1MB/SCC-I
MegaRAM


SLOT 2 toggle options:

NONE
ESE-SCC 1MB/SCC-I
ESE-RAM 1MB/ASCII8
ESE-RAM 1MB/ASCII16

I did homework on the MSX and see that SCC means 'Sound Creative Chip" (with SCC-1 just being a revised chip) so when trying to load a title and get a no sound device found error, select "ESE-SCC 1MB/SCC-I" in one of your two slots.

Megaram, the MSX expansion, made in Brazil gives computers with only 64kb to read games with 128kb, 256kb, 512kb, of size.... I selected this before knowing it was SMALLER than the other two 1MB options found in Slot 2 options.

So can anyone familiar with the MSX suggest or elaborate on these Sl1/2 settings? Does the SCC add 1MB of ram along with sound? What is ASCII8 vs ASCII16 and why choose one over the other?

[seastalker]

Sorry for the double reply but this just in:
https://www.msx.org/news/en/nishi-is-wo ... ration-msx

"Kazuhiko Nishi posted on his personal website (post #143) that they are developing the next generation MSX. According to him, the CPUs are ARM and R800. He made it the same size as Raspberry Pi, with hardware that can be programmed to anything on the FPGA. He likes to announce it this year. The machine name is still undecided."

The original creator of the platform is making a new version? How cool! Why not call it the MSX3? I never understood why the bios screen shows MSX3 when there is only a MSX and MSX2 and a turbo version of MSX2 (Maybe the + sign in MSX2+ means the Turbo?). If the OneChipMSX counts as the "3" somehow, then who knows. I'll be glad to see it.

[hyperterminal]

seastalker your problem has nothing to do with the MSX core but with the romloader. The behaviour you described even happens on a real 1ChipMSX.

You need to user a better romloader like mglocm.com (included in the OneChipMsx OCM-PLD Pack: https://gnogni.altervista.org/).

[DanyPPC]

The ESE-SCC Ram and MegaRam are expansions for original MSX, emulated on the MSX OCM Core.
One of the use of these expansion is the possibility to load software/games in their memory, as the main memory of the system may not be sufficient.

To load games you have various tool available:

- ROMLOAD
- EXECROM
- MGLOAD
- LOADROM

or use a software with a gui like SOFIA.

Roms are of various kind and some work with a specific tool, some need a MegaFlashRom which is not emulated on OCM Core for the MiST.

Really this CORE needs a big update. Nobody has done an update anymore.
That's a pity because the MiST hardware is good for this core.

[seastalker]

Thanks hyperterminal. I will try that. Like many of us, we likely had one major computer we grew up with (Atari 8 bit for me), so I hope my documentation of problems will help other noobs who are getting used to the other computers they never had.

So of the slot 1 and slot 2 settings, anyone suggest a "set it and forget it" combo or do you change things out a lot? Thanks on the tool list as well. I will research them. So if I use mglocm.com, would I then use MGLOAD to access the romloader instead of ROMLOAD? Will look up SOFIA gui as well. It sounds like with that I may have WHDLoad equivalent of loading software.

[vebxenon]

Really this CORE needs a big update. Nobody has done an update anymore.
That's a pity because the MiST hardware is good for this core.

That's the point...

[rittwage]

Does the MSX core work for anyone anymore?

I can get it to boot, but F12 results in no menu items displayed except "exit".

[DrOG]

Press F12 again! This core has it's own menu structure (just like the PCE and the earlier Genesis cores), accessible with a second 'menu' pushing.

[slingshot]

Took a break from fpgagen development, so written a MiST top-level for KdL's OneChipMSX release (the same Sorgelig used for MiSTer):

https://github.com/gyurco/MSX_MiST

Need an SD-card with FAT16 formatting, and the first file must be the OCM-BIOS.DAT file. I found the BIOS loader very picky about the formatting, I could use only a card formatted in Win7 successfully. Here's the original website with sdcreate and MSX-DOS:

https://gnogni.altervista.org/

After you created and tested the SD-Card, you can copy it to a msx.vhd file, and put on your regular MiST SD-Card.

[hyperterminal]

Thank you slingshot!

O just tried your core and it works on my MiST on VGA. However, I hat do use the option swap joysticks and could only use a single button.

This is my mister.ini:
joystick_remap=0583,2060,1,2,4,8,10,10,20,20,400,800,40,80
joystick0_prefer_db9=0

I tested the game Castlevania, which is a patch for Vampire Killer and was unable to jump.

[DanyPPC]

After you created and tested the SD-Card, you can copy it to a msx.vhd file, and put on your regular MiST SD-Card.

Thank you so much for this awaited update, only a question:

How can I create a MSX VHD file and with which program do I manage it ?
Thanks

[DanyPPC]

Ok, i found the instructions on how to create and manage a VHD file in Windows.

So I have to test.

[DanyPPC]

I find it easier to create directly a 1GB VHD (FAT formatted) file and copy first OCM-BIOS.DAT, then MSX-DOS and utils and games.

This Core is a bit fussy, it is as if I continuously pressed the 6 key on my keyboard, but it is not true.
Sometimes it is the 2 key.
The screen (VGA) is a bit dark, 2nd button not supported. I have to test a DB9 joypad (CD32 type or 2 button).

I did not understand what is MegaSCC, i have a MegaFlashRom SCC+ 512 on my MSX2.
But MegaSCC works like the ESE-SCC with the old core. Is it right ?

As first MSX MiSTer port is good

[Xtro]

I succesfully created the SD card and MSX core boots sometimes autoexec.bat (with mm for executing multimente, etc) and sometimes no, don't know why. I created a blank vhd using linux but winimage doesn't open it, so I don't know how to inject software on this vhd file.
Can you upload your vhd, with the basic msxdos? Once zipped it should't weight too much.

Slingshot, thanks for this core update, MSX needed some love on MiST.

[DanyPPC]

No problem, i will upload a basic vhd for the new core.

In the meanwhile i tested the standard 2 button joystick on DB9 ports and i confirm there is no support for the secondo button in this core.

I don't know why there is this bug with some ghost keys, even if i don't connect the keyboard.

here the MSXVHD file

Sometimes you need to reset the core.
A long press of the Reset Button (first from the right) acts as a cold reboot. Useful to discard roms from the memory.

[Xtro]

Thanks for the VHD file, it works very well and I can mount it in WinImage (don't know what I did wrong with my image).
I can confirm that to get all directions on the joystick controller I have to use the swap joysticks option. I also confirm the second joystick button doesn't work.

[DanyPPC]

Set the Swap function for the joystick and in the meanwhile set MegaSCC for the first slot and MegaRam 2MB for the second.
Now go to save preferences, it makes a "MSX.CFG" on the SD-Card.

[hyperterminal]

I recommend using MGLOCM.COM from the KdL archive (https://gnogni.altervista.org/). This is a special rom loader that configures the slots on the fly to match the rom you want to load. No manual adjustments are necessary.

This is my autoexec.bat:

Code: Select all

SET ECHO=OFF
SET EXPERT=ON
ALIAS .ROM=A:\UTILS\MGLOCM.COM
CD ROMS

On startup, the rom folder with the rom images is selected and I can cycle through the rom files with tab and start a game with enter.

When I want to play another game, I press F12 and perform a reset from the MiST menu.

[slingshot]

What's joystick 1 is in the OSD, seems to reach the core as the secondary joystick, I wonder nobody noticed this in another cores? Need to check the firmware. The missing secondary button will fixed soon.

[DanyPPC]

Yes Slingshot, may you check the colors ? They are dark. Thanks

[slingshot]

Yes Slingshot, may you check the colors ? They are dark. Thanks

Is it dark on VGA or 15kHZ? I actually just changed minimal things in the upstream core, to be more compatible with the MiST framework, the video signal is unchanged. So it should be the same as with the OCM (maybe it has a different DAC at the end).

PS: uploaded a new core with fixed joystick buttons (found joytest.com in the utils, shows both buttons).

[Xtro]

Testing new core and two button mode works now. Don't notice here darker screen, using 15khz.

At first boot MSX shows only 2048kb of ram thus not loading autoexec.bat. It needs a first reset to show 4096kb and run autoexec.bas