SxSI-SCSI HDD Image v2.20

[incrediblehark]

Thanks to all for reporting these issues, I will do the best I can to try and resolve these problems for a small update. Working on getting a SASI machine to do further testing on real hardware.

[HIggy]

@spectreman Hand-On loads and plays on Expert 2 with BlueSCSI V1

Knight Arms also loads and plays

[spectreman]

@spectreman Hand-On loads and plays on Expert 2 with BlueSCSI V1

Knight Arms also loads and plays

As I thought, the problem arises from an incompatibility with the different Hitachi HD68HC000 10 MHz CPU for the first models, and the Motorola 68000 16 MHz CPU of the XVI and subsequent models.

I don't think the problem is due to the difference between the use of HENKAN BANCHO PRO or BlueSCSI V1, considering that on the Expert II system, you report correct operation.

I'm curious to know from those who have a Super type model, whether they have problems with Knight Arms or Super Hang-On, to understand whether the SCSI and SASI difference also matters, considering that they have a Hitachi HD68HC000 10 MHz CPU, but connected with SCSI .

Regarding the Aquales game, does anyone start the second level?

[incrediblehark]

@spectreman Hand-On loads and plays on Expert 2 with BlueSCSI V1

Knight Arms also loads and plays

As I thought, the problem arises from an incompatibility with the different Hitachi HD68HC000 10 MHz CPU for the first models, and the Motorola 68000 16 MHz CPU of the XVI and subsequent models.

I don't think the problem is due to the difference between the use of HENKAN BANCHO PRO or BlueSCSI V1, considering that on the Expert II system, you report correct operation.

I'm curious to know from those who have a Super type model, whether they have problems with Knight Arms or Super Hang-On, to understand whether the SCSI and SASI difference also matters, considering that they have a Hitachi HD68HC000 10 MHz CPU, but connected with SCSI .

Regarding the Aquales game, does anyone start the second level?

I just had a chance to test out Knight Arms and Hang On ... I had no trouble playing Knight Arms in 10mhz or 16mhz mode using my XVI and SCSI2SD. Super Hang On also worked fine on my system at both speeds and resolutions using the same hardware. However, the game did crash when i attempted to start it within LHES. Just want to confirm that you are trying Super Hang On by pressing Q then Q again within its folder to quit LHES and run the !Start.Bat automatically?

This is using 12MB ram and a scsi2sd using a Sandisk 4GB SD card, so maybe there's a difference with the Henkan Bancho?

[ateam]

However, the game did crash when i attempted to start it within LHES. Just want to confirm that you are trying Super Hang On by pressing Q then Q again within its folder to quit LHES and run the !Start.Bat automatically?

This is using 12MB ram and a scsi2sd using a Sandisk 4GB SD card, so maybe there's a difference with the Henkan Bancho?

Yes, QQ is how I launch everything.

A curious case indeed!

[incrediblehark]

I don't know the Henkan Bancho Pro and only just started looking at the manual, are there any settings that can be adjusted? I saw something about file naming conventions for hdd images and was wondering if manually labeling sectors, etc would help.

[ateam]

I don't know the Henkan Bancho Pro and only just started looking at the manual, are there any settings that can be adjusted? I saw something about file naming conventions for hdd images and was wondering if manually labeling sectors, etc would help.

Honestly, I don't know. I'm looking at the translated manual, and I don't see any indication of that, only disk ID and LUN.

I use the following filename for your HDD image: SxSI-SCSI_v220[SCSI3].hds

[spectreman]

First of all, thank you for helping us incrediblehark.
I've tried many of the games included in the HDD image, haven't finished them, but they work fine.

Regarding Aquales, the game saves each completed level to physical disk, this feature makes its emulation much more complicated.

Knight Arms and Super Hang-On are performed by pressing the Q key and Q again.
Even starting them directly from the !Start.Bat file doesn't change anything, they get stuck on loading.

HENKAN BANCHO PRO (widely used in Japan) unlike SCSI2SD, does not emulate HDD but is similar to a real hardware type HDD.
Regarding the settings, it is not possible to change anything.

To start an image, simply prepare the CF memory formatted in FAT32. I set the clusters to 32kb, a higher value makes reading slower.
Then I directly copy the HDD image (copy and paste) naming it SxSI-SCSI_v220[SCSI0][512].HDS or without the value [512], which will set the default value automatically.

The CF used are SanDisk (very slow), Transcend, and an unknown Chinese brand LEMIWEI, but well-selling and fast, all 4GB.

[spectreman]

Starting Knight Arms and Super Hang-On by copying the games into the X68000_V4.HDS HDD image works fine, but they don't work when booting from SxSI-SCSI_v220.

Tests carried out on the X68000 XVI, 12MB RAM (TSR brand) on HENKAN BANCHO PRO.

[incrediblehark]

Thank you @spectreman for the testing! I'm beginning to wonder if the henkan bancho has problems with the 3gb size of the hds image, as it's really pushing our limits. I'm wondering if you would be able to test the same games on a 2gb partition and see if the results are the same? Maybe try shoometsu's 030 image and copy the files over? If this is the case it will motivate me even more to get my v3.0 finished.

One other possibility could be the patched version of Human.sys in my image. So another potential test could be to copy my human.sys to the v4 image and retest the games.

[spectreman]

Thank you @spectreman for the testing! I'm beginning to wonder if the henkan bancho has problems with the 3gb size of the hds image, as it's really pushing our limits. I'm wondering if you would be able to test the same games on a 2gb partition and see if the results are the same? Maybe try shoometsu's 030 image and copy the files over? If this is the case it will motivate me even more to get my v3.0 finished.

One other possibility could be the patched version of Human.sys in my image. So another potential test could be to copy my human.sys to the v4 image and retest the games.

I followed your directions, with the following results:
I copied your Human.sys file into X68000_V4.HDS and the Knight Arms and Super Hang-On games, I got a black screen.

I was unable to test with the shoometsu HDD image, because it is no longer available.

I copied the games and modified the !Start.bat file, in the C: partition and deleted those present in the Racing folder and
  Shooting, Super Hang-On finally starts correctly, even if the startup wait goes beyond the 000 count.

Unfortunately Knight Arms starts randomly, very unstable.
I noticed that it is also unstable on the emulator. Searching the Web I noticed that there are several XDF images of the game.
Could a faulty image of the game of poor quality be the reason for its instability?

Finally I added more games from the MiniV2 to your HDD image, and they all run perfectly.

Tests carried out on the X68000 XVI, 12MB RAM (TSR brand) on HENKAN BANCHO PRO.

[naturd]

Some games like salamander, space harrier, super hang on don't boot.  I tested in an emulator and no matter how much ram I add, they still don't work

[UD2]

FYI Knight Arms is very picky about drivers. It will frequently hang on loading when SUSIE.X is installed at startup.

[incrediblehark]

Some games like salamander, space harrier, super hang on don't boot.  I tested in an emulator and no matter how much ram I add, they still don't work

How are you running these games in the emulator? Are you using the recommended Q,Q method? What emulator are you using?


Also just want to note that I am making progress on v3.00 with expanded hdd space. I have another X68000 on the way for testing a SASI setup. Could someone link me to a SCSI device I can use with my new system? I'd like to use whatever is most common nowadays for running hdd images on x68000.

[HIggy]

@incrediblehark I would say the BlueSCSI devices are the cheapest ones out there. Available from all around the world depending on your location:
https://bluescsi.com/

[incrediblehark]

@incrediblehark I would say the BlueSCSI devices are the cheapest ones out there. Available from all around the world depending on your location:
https://bluescsi.com/

Thanks! This is going to be internal, so I was looking at the BlueSCSI (v2) 50-Pin Desktop. Would that work fine? Any reason why I would need the WiFi for this?

[Hissa]

Regarding the problem of crashing when clearing a scene in Aquares.
EXACT PERFECT COLLECTION-1990~1994-for X68000, which was sold by BEEP last year, seems to have the protections removed and does not cause this problem.
I have looked for it, but it is difficult to obtain now.

[spectreman]

@incrediblehark I would say the BlueSCSI devices are the cheapest ones out there. Available from all around the world depending on your location:
https://bluescsi.com/

Thanks! This is going to be internal, so I was looking at the BlueSCSI (v2) 50-Pin Desktop. Would that work fine? Any reason why I would need the WiFi for this?

It uses Raspberry Pico which gives it a good emulation, but creating HDS images with a system of this type will make compatibility with other devices more complicated, considering the variations due to firmware updates, the choice of SASI cable also makes a difference.
The WIFI function is only for DaynaPORT support on other retro computers.

Further information:
https://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=7198.0

https://tinkerdifferent.com/threads/bluescsi-v2-daynaport-wifi.2857/

[spectreman]

Regarding the problem of crashing when clearing a scene in Aquares.
EXACT PERFECT COLLECTION-1990~1994-for X68000, which was sold by BEEP last year, seems to have the protections removed and does not cause this problem.
I have looked for it, but it is difficult to obtain now.

Aquales does not have a security problem, and there are no different versions.
Its function is to read and write to the disk.
Each level that is completed by the player is saved to the floppy.

On emulators like XM6 TypeG, it uses XDF formats and everything works perfectly.

To play on real hardware: Copy the XDF files into the HDD image, and with the command mkimg -ra: game.xdf create your Floppy Disks.

[spectreman]

I noticed that Super Hang-On has a problem, when you select Europe and Winning Run mode, it crashes during the race.

I solved it by exchanging the version inside SxSI-SCSI HDD Image v2.20, with the version inside the baller_v2 HDD image, without making any changes to the folder.

Tests carried out on the X68000 XVI, 12MB RAM (TSR brand) on HENKAN BANCHO PRO.

[incrediblehark]

Thanks, in the latest release I changed to a different version of Super Hang On in hopes that it would solve the boot issues. Sounds like it introduced different ones. Will change versions.

[spectreman]

Thanks, in the latest release I changed to a different version of Super Hang On in hopes that it would solve the boot issues. Sounds like it introduced different ones. Will change versions.

I thank you for the passion you put into creating this beautiful HDD image, and donating it to all of us enthusiasts.

Thanks incrediblehark.

[Hissa]

Regarding the problem of crashing when clearing a scene in Aquares.
EXACT PERFECT COLLECTION-1990~1994-for X68000, which was sold by BEEP last year, seems to have the protections removed and does not cause this problem.
I have looked for it, but it is difficult to obtain now.

Aquales does not have a security problem, and there are no different versions.
Its function is to read and write to the disk.
Each level that is completed by the player is saved to the floppy.

On emulators like XM6 TypeG, it uses XDF formats and everything works perfectly.

To play on real hardware: Copy the XDF files into the HDD image, and with the command mkimg -ra: game.xdf create your Floppy Disks.

Yes, I have confirmed that I can play it all the way through on XM6 and my XVI using XDF files.
However, Aquares becomes very difficult to install on a HDD.
See @huye_4589 and @afxw's comments on X for more details.

[soviet]

Don't know why but updated to the last HDD image and my phantom drives problem went away the drive swap that i was adding to the autoexec was not necessary.

[spectreman]

Sorry, I got confused with the baller version, I stand corrected, the most stable version of Super Hang-On belongs to Eidis contained in its first released version:

https://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:sxsi_disk_image_with_games_and_lots_of_mdx_files

I've tried too many versions...
A little slow to load but this works well copied in the incrediblehark image.

Tests carried out on the X68000 XVI, 12MB RAM (TSR brand) on HENKAN BANCHO PRO.

[spectreman]

Knight Arms, it drove me crazy, in all the HDD images I tried it runs without problems, except in this one unfortunately.
The only solution was to copy the XDF images to floppy disk.

I noticed when using the Cyber Stick that when switching modes from digital to analog, it causes the game menu to freeze.
I think this game had problems of its own.

The good news is that all the other games I've tried work fine.

Tests carried out on the X68000 XVI, 12MB RAM (TSR brand) on HENKAN BANCHO PRO.

[neko68k]

Knight Arms, it drove me crazy, in all the HDD images I tried it runs without problems, except in this one unfortunately.
The only solution was to copy the XDF images to floppy disk.

I noticed when using the Cyber Stick that when switching modes from digital to analog, it causes the game menu to freeze.
I think this game had problems of its own.

The good news is that all the other games I've tried work fine.

Tests carried out on the X68000 XVI, 12MB RAM (TSR brand) on HENKAN BANCHO PRO.

Knight Arms for sure has problems of its own. It doesn't run at a locked framerate and behaves differently with >10mhz . It polls the CyberStick/XE-1AP as fast as possible to the point that its ridiculous. I made a XE-1AP emulator board some years back and Knight Arms was probably the worst to get working. My board performs better than the real thing and this dumb game is still barely playable lol.

[Gravedigger]

Hello, first of all I would like to thank you for this great project

here is my little personal feedback:

The hardware used is an X68000 XVI with 2mb + midori/10mb card (for a total of 12)

Bios setting


I've tried a few games so far and only one gave me problems: Die bahnwelt. This one crashes (bus error) as soon as we enter the military base. I tried in 10hz and 16hz and in all midi modes. The error is still the same.


ERROR SCREEN

I also have another more... exotic problem...
Since I put the v2.20 image on my SD card and configured the boot in switch.x on STD, my original game on disk castlevania gives me a bus error at startup (just after selecting the audio mode).  Everything worked perfectly before.  I would also like to point out that Castlevania on image 2.20 also works really well.  Does anyone have an idea of ��the problem?

CASTLEVANIA ERROR




EDIT : I think I understood why Castlevania crashes with the floppy version: I think it's because of the presence of the game folder on hdd.


in the list of concerns I will add NEURALGEAR: the game launches but there are no keys that work, we get stuck on the menu (tested in 10mz and 16mz)

[incrediblehark]

Hello, first of all I would like to thank you for this great project

here is my little personal feedback:

The hardware used is an X68000 XVI with 2mb + midori/10mb card (for a total of 12)

Bios setting


I've tried a few games so far and only one gave me problems: Die bahnwelt. This one crashes (bus error) as soon as we enter the military base. I tried in 10hz and 16hz and in all midi modes. The error is still the same.


ERROR SCREEN

I also have another more... exotic problem...
Since I put the v2.20 image on my SD card and configured the boot in switch.x on STD, my original game on disk castlevania gives me a bus error at startup (just after selecting the audio mode).  Everything worked perfectly before.  I would also like to point out that Castlevania on image 2.20 also works really well.  Does anyone have an idea of ��the problem?

CASTLEVANIA ERROR




EDIT : I think I understood why Castlevania crashes with the floppy version: I think it's because of the presence of the game folder on hdd.


in the list of concerns I will add NEURALGEAR: the game launches but there are no keys that work, we get stuck on the menu (tested in 10mz and 16mz)

Thank you for the feedback! I'm working on a v3.00 right now and will see if I can resolve any of the errors you mention - but I am also curious of whether or not your problems occur with the Midiori+10M card. I recently acquired an X68000 Pro to do testing with the SxSI drivers, and own a BEEP XM-6BE10+Midiori card. I have the 1MB expansion in the Pro to put the total at 2MB plus the 10MB for a max of 12. However, when I set the ram to 10M on the board, I get some errors. I ended up reconfiguring it and editing my switch.x for a total of 10MB overall in my system. I'm curious if anyone else has this issue with the board, and I'm wondering if your bus issues are related to it? I would try reconfiguring the card on your end and seeing if the bus errors go away.

[neko68k]

Hello, first of all I would like to thank you for this great project

here is my little personal feedback:

The hardware used is an X68000 XVI with 2mb + midori/10mb card (for a total of 12)

Bios setting


I've tried a few games so far and only one gave me problems: Die bahnwelt. This one crashes (bus error) as soon as we enter the military base. I tried in 10hz and 16hz and in all midi modes. The error is still the same.


ERROR SCREEN

I also have another more... exotic problem...
Since I put the v2.20 image on my SD card and configured the boot in switch.x on STD, my original game on disk castlevania gives me a bus error at startup (just after selecting the audio mode).  Everything worked perfectly before.  I would also like to point out that Castlevania on image 2.20 also works really well.  Does anyone have an idea of ��the problem?

CASTLEVANIA ERROR




EDIT : I think I understood why Castlevania crashes with the floppy version: I think it's because of the presence of the game folder on hdd.


in the list of concerns I will add NEURALGEAR: the game launches but there are no keys that work, we get stuck on the menu (tested in 10mz and 16mz)

Thank you for the feedback! I'm working on a v3.00 right now and will see if I can resolve any of the errors you mention - but I am also curious of whether or not your problems occur with the Midiori+10M card. I recently acquired an X68000 Pro to do testing with the SxSI drivers, and own a BEEP XM-6BE10+Midiori card. I have the 1MB expansion in the Pro to put the total at 2MB plus the 10MB for a max of 12. However, when I set the ram to 10M on the board, I get some errors. I ended up reconfiguring it and editing my switch.x for a total of 10MB overall in my system. I'm curious if anyone else has this issue with the board, and I'm wondering if your bus issues are related to it? I would try reconfiguring the card on your end and seeing if the bus errors go away.

PRO and some of the other early machines (ACE maybe others, I can't remember...) don't support 12MB due to an IPL bug. The advice these days is to use the recent 1.6 IPL that is a part of XEiJ. I think, generally speaking, 1.6 IPL should be put in every machine now.

All that said there's hardly a reason to use 12MB. My PRO has 10MB and I've yet to have issues in years of 'digging in the crates'. I emulate at 12MB and have done a lot of compiling and other hackery and I'm not sure if ever really mattered much. I've had OOM errors assembling very large files (outrageously large, only maniacs do this and that's a very distant edge case.

[incrediblehark]

PRO and some of the other early machines (ACE maybe others, I can't remember...) don't support 12MB due to an IPL bug. The advice these days is to use the recent 1.6 IPL that is a part of XEiJ. I think, generally speaking, 1.6 IPL should be put in every machine now.

All that said there's hardly a reason to use 12MB. My PRO has 10MB and I've yet to have issues in years of 'digging in the crates'. I emulate at 12MB and have done a lot of compiling and other hackery and I'm not sure if ever really mattered much. I've had OOM errors assembling very large files (outrageously large, only maniacs do this and that's a very distant edge case.

Ah! Thank you for the clarification, that explains it for my end then. I haven't seen any need for more than the 10MB so far, but I'll look into the updated IPL.

@Gravedigger disregard my last message, as your XVI doesn't exhibit the same bug as my Pro. While I wouldn't completely rule out some hardware conflict, I'll look into those games more. I used to have Akumajou Dracula working with both the HDD boot methos and with disk on my machine, but with recent updates I may have broken that functionality. I can migrate everything to the D: drive in the next update if I can't resolve it.

[Gravedigger]

Thank you for taking my comments into account ^^

I thought a little about Neuralgear's input issues. I saw that this one was usually configured for the "Cyber-stick". Maybe the source of the problem comes from this side?


On the other hand, for Die bahnwelt, I have no idea...

[ateam]

I wanted to report an issue I discovered with Star Trader (Shooters->Horizontal).

On my XVI, the game seems to run just fine. On my Expert, the game freezes at a particular moment in the opening scene.

I'm using a Henkan Bancho Pro in both. Is anyone able to reproduce?

[spectreman]

SOLUTION:

Create a folder named Games.
Insert the games you want to replace inside, making the necessary changes.
Using the emulator such as XM6 TypeG, immediately before the HDD image starts, select Tools-Software Keyboard from the menu and press the HELP button at the top right.
Select the second partition, (the one in the center) and close the emulator.
Using the Windows program editd169e, delete the defective versions present in the HDD image.
With the emulator do the procedure as indicated previously, and select the first partition (the one at the top).
start editd169e again, you will have to free up space, I recommend deleting the Multimedia folder, or at least some of the demo MIDI files.
Now you can copy the Games folder to the C: partition, as in the previous HDD images (Primary partition).

EXAMPLE:

Bonanza Bros (incrediblehark version) and edit the !Start.BAT file like this:
SET GAME_PATH=C:\Games\BonanzaBros

Die Bahnwelt (Eidis version X68000_V4) edit all three .BAT files like this:
set BAHNWELT=C:\GAMES\DIEBAHNWELT\BW

Knight Arms (Eidis version X68000_V4) does not need to be modified.

Neural Gear (Eidis version X68000_V4) edit the !Start.BAT file like this:
SUBST B: C:\GAMES\NEURALGEAR
SUBST TO: C:\GAMES\NEURALGEAR

Super Hang-On (first version released by Eidis: https://nfggames.com/X68000/Music/Eidis/X68000.zip)
There is no need to change it.

In the case of Neural Gear, commands are executed only with the mouse (Trackball mode).

Regarding Aquales, the simple solution is to copy it to floppy disk, as I have already recommended previously.

When you boot your HDD image, move to the C: partition with the L key on your keyboard.

The games listed are DEFECTIVE, so replace them as indicated, or wait for them to be fixed.

I hope I have been useful to you.

Tests carried out on the X68000 XVI, 12MB RAM (TSR brand) on HENKAN BANCHO PRO.

[incrediblehark]

@ateam i can't test with henkan bancho but I can confirm star trader works fine for me on my Pro with scsi2sd

[kanjiology]

Having trouble loading any of the Street Fighters on a PRO using BlueSCSI V2.

[spectreman]

@ateam i can't test with henkan bancho but I can confirm star trader works fine for me on my Pro with scsi2sd

I've noticed that Star Trader crashes when my Cyber Stick is set to analog.
Maybe it could be due to the type of controller he connected to his Expert.

[spectreman]

Having trouble loading any of the Street Fighters on a PRO using BlueSCSI V2.

I hope this can help you.

https://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=7198.0

[spectreman]

I wanted to report an issue I discovered with Star Trader (Shooters->Horizontal).

On my XVI, the game seems to run just fine. On my Expert, the game freezes at a particular moment in the opening scene.

I'm using a Henkan Bancho Pro in both. Is anyone able to reproduce?

Try changing controller.

[Gravedigger]

SOLUTION:

Create a folder named Games.
Insert the games you want to replace inside, making the necessary changes.
Using the emulator such as XM6 TypeG, immediately before the HDD image starts, select Tools-Software Keyboard from the menu and press the HELP button at the top right.
Select the second partition, (the one in the center) and close the emulator.
Using the Windows program editd169e, delete the defective versions present in the HDD image.
With the emulator do the procedure as indicated previously, and select the first partition (the one at the top).
start editd169e again, you will have to free up space, I recommend deleting the Multimedia folder, or at least some of the demo MIDI files.
Now you can copy the Games folder to the C: partition, as in the previous HDD images (Primary partition).

EXAMPLE:

Bonanza Bros (incrediblehark version) and edit the !Strat.BAT file like this:
SET GAME_PATH=C:\Games\BonanzaBros

Die Bahnwelt (Eidis version X68000_V4) edit all three .BAT files like this:
set BAHNWELT=C:\GAMES\DIEBAHNWELT\BW

Knight Arms (Eidis version X68000_V4) does not need to be modified.

Neural Gear (Eidis version X68000_V4) edit the !Start.BAT file like this:
SUBST B: C:\GAMES\NEURALGEAR
SUBST TO: C:\GAMES\NEURALGEAR

Super Hang-On (first version released by Eidis: https://nfggames.com/X68000/Music/Eidis/X68000.zip)
There is no need to change it.

In the case of Neural Gear, commands are executed only with the mouse (Trackball mode).

Regarding Aquales, the simple solution is to copy it to floppy disk, as I have already recommended previously.

When you boot your HDD image, move to the C: partition with the L key on your keyboard.

The games listed are DEFECTIVE, so replace them as indicated, or wait for them to be fixed.

I hope I have been useful to you.

Tests carried out on the X68000 XVI, 12MB RAM (TSR brand) on HENKAN BANCHO PRO.

Thank you so much ! I'm going to try that! On the other hand, I have the "hds" version of the X68000_V4 image (eidis) and I don't know how to extract the games 0_o