Alltynex (Self-booting disc image for Marty)

[ateam]

Using the same idea from PepAlacant that I used in my recent update to the English translation patch of Metal & Lace, I've built a custom ISO of Alltynex bootable on the Marty.

This ISO leverages files from a TOWNS OS V2.1 L40 boot disk to launch that old self-booting Alltynex image that's floating around.  The existing image didn't work on Marty due to its use of an unsupported version of TOWNS OS.  It's also worth noting scores cannot be saved with this non-HDD version.

It goes without saying that this game suffers from poor performance on the Marty, and so far I've even seen graphical glitching in the options menu.  I'm not sure if bottleneck here is CPU or RAM.  When I receive Caius' new 4MB RAM expansion board, I'll test this game again to see if there are any notable performance differences.

Alltynex (Self-Booting Marty Version).iso
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1raKh_QWrxm_QhS5o8Cf38MLiew8dsGn1/view?usp=share_link

EDIT 2023-05-27: Performance bottleneck is CPU, not RAM! The Marty's 386 will only take this game so far.

[3rdman01]

Just popping in to say thank you! Played through it last night...good game but yeah, it crawls. Thanks again!

[ateam]

EDIT 2024-04-03: The patch has been updated to v1.1, fixing some text formatting issues.

Well, I decided to turn this into a tiny little low-budget English translation patch...

Download Patch
https://github.com/DerekPascarella/Alltynex-EnglishPatchFMTowns

Download Pre-Patched Disc Image
https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1MlAKeQ9PokDfiowGt40oTFUoctHBJpPi

What's Changed

• TOWNS OS V2.1 L40 and its libraries used so that disc image can be booted on Marty.
• Note that there is significant slowdown on any 386 FM Towns (including the Marty), as well as graphical corruption in the options menu.
• Opening and closing scene text has been translated into English.
• Staff credits have been translated into English.
• Menu text has been altered from original "Engrish" spellings and grammar.
• Stage opening and closing text has been altered from original "Engrish" spellings and grammar.

[BabaJeanmel]

Excellent job, congrats! Just finished a run

Is there a way to improve performance a bit on Tugaru? Some specific model to emulate, FPU settings perhaps?... The game suffers from some heavy slowdown and graphical glitches on it. It's even worse on MAME unfortunately.

[ateam]

Excellent job, congrats! Just finished a run

Is there a way to improve performance a bit on Tugaru? Some specific model to emulate, FPU settings perhaps?... The game suffers from some heavy slowdown and graphical glitches on it. It's even worse on MAME unfortunately.

Thanks! By the way, I just pushed a v1.1 update to fix some text issues with the pre/post stage messages.

Regarding Tsugaru, it appears to be running full speed for me with CPU Speed set to 16 MHz. I have Model set to Marty, and using the Marty ROM files too. Lastly, CPU Fidelity is set to MEDIUM_FIDELITY and RAM is set to 4 MB.

I'm sure this isn't optimal (or correct?), but it doesn't appear to suffer from slowdown.

[NFG]

You've made me want to restore my Marty and try this.  The poor thing was underwater in the 2011 floods, and has been in a box ever since. 

But this looks like a good reason to see if it can be fixed.  ^__^

[BabaJeanmel]

Turns out the BIOS (from MAME) I was using somehow forced the processor to be seen as a 386. Changed it and now everything run really smoothly. Thanks again for the patch!

[RobIvy64]

Nice work! I have an FMT Marty with 486 CPU and Doc Brown disc drive emulator. I'll give this a try!

[RobIvy64]

Played it a bit tonight and it's still slow, not surprised. I'm planning to isolate the 486SLC clock signal so I can increase it without altering the FM synthesizer pitch. If I can get it to 20MHz I'll be happy.

[ateam]

Played it a bit tonight and it's still slow, not surprised. I'm planning to isolate the 486SLC clock signal so I can increase it without altering the FM synthesizer pitch. If I can get it to 20MHz I'll be happy.

Very interesting! Let me know how you make out.

Are there any other side effects from such modifications?

[RobIvy64]

We'll find out! I swapped the crystal next to the CPU to try 18MHz and it ran great, but the FM synthesizer shares the same clock signal so the pitch was higher than normal. I'll need to isolate the CPU clock signal.

[Jehuty]

Could you explain how to create a bootable image ?
I´m trying to get ZakMcKracken in German to work.
I patched the files and burnt them with CDDA back.
It won´t boot, but works when i boot up from HDD.
But it can´t save and i don´t know why.