SxSI-SCSI HDD Image v3.00

[neko68k]

Starting the game V'Ball, with the fix on the HDD image of Eidis the game is normal, but when I copy the game into the HDD image of incrediblehark, it gets corrupted showing abnormal colors and graphic defects.

The other games that have received a fix work without problems, after the transfer.

I use editd169e, which previously always worked well.

I'll take a look tomorrow evening maybe unless someone beats me to it. Still, I strongly recommend using windrv to access host drives from inside the emulator rather than DiskEditor. Similarly I would just copy from hdd to hdd if it was convenient. I can set you up with a boot disk with windrv if you want then you just have to point the emulator at some host folders and they'll appear as drive letters.

[BlackVega]

I'll take a look tomorrow evening maybe unless someone beats me to it. Still, I strongly recommend using windrv to access host drives from inside the emulator rather than DiskEditor. Similarly I would just copy from hdd to hdd if it was convenient. I can set you up with a boot disk with windrv if you want then you just have to point the emulator at some host folders and they'll appear as drive letters.

Describe what windrv is and how to use it because I have absolutely no idea

[spectreman]

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

The part where it says to copy the WINDRV.SYS file, is not necessary because it is already present in this HDD image.

In the guide there is only one step missing, you need to add inside CONFIG.SYS, a new line: DEVICE = ¥SYS¥WINDVR.SYS

Use the virtual keyboard included in the emulator for the Yen symbol ( Tools / Software Keyboards ).

[incrediblehark]

Thanks again! All of those games now work perfectly on SCSI. Would it be possible to take a look at bb.x for bonanza bros? Not sure if it does anything odd at boot like the others that's keeping it from running on a SASI machine with henkan bancho. I can confirm working with SCSI and on SASI with bluescsi.

[neko68k]

Thanks again! All of those games now work perfectly on SCSI. Would it be possible to take a look at bb.x for bonanza bros? Not sure if it does anything odd at boot like the others that's keeping it from running on a SASI machine with henkan bancho. I can confirm working with SCSI and on SASI with bluescsi.

I don't have a henkan bancho to test with, sorry. Can you provide a description of what happens? I might be able to work from that.

[incrediblehark]

No worries, I appreciate all of your help. The game will boot using 2hdsim - normal boot operation is it displays the Bonanza Bros. Sharp/SPS etc message on screen in Human68k. it then should clear the screen and go to the graphic loading screen and then demo for Bonanza Bros. For some reason, on the Henkan Bancho, after displaying the copyright message at the Human68k prompt, the system then hangs indefinitely. screen never transitions to the graphic and game doesn't start. There are LEDs on the Henkan Bancho that flash when the disk is being accessed, the led stays lit with no other signs of activity.

I think this may only occur on SASI/SxSI systems with the Henkan Bancho, as spectreman has tested on an XVI with Henkan Bancho and had the game start fine. Seems weird to me, and probably points to an issue with Henkan Bancho, but would be interested to know if anything happens at that startup sequence.

[spectreman]

To be clear, on the XVI Knight Arms and Bonanza Bros., they boot perfectly at 16MHz, but crash during boot at 10MHz.

However, if the games are started on the main partition, creating the Games folder, they also start at 10MHz.

A very curious situation.

[neko68k]

yeah thats pretty weird.

nothing really stands out to me immediately just looking at the disassembly.

does it print any messages on the screen or does it just hang? if no messages I'd probably need to run it in the debugger to get an idea whats going on. An awful lot of stuff happens between the copyright message and graphics being on screen.

[incrediblehark]

Nothing on screen unfortunately other than the copyright info. This happens with all versions I've tried other than the one on shoometsu's 030 image. That one gives an address error but I think it's due to being patched to run on 030 machines.

[spectreman]

It just freezes, it won't continue loading.

I think the fact that they boot correctly on the main partition in the Games folder, like the old HDD images released before, indicates that the files are configured to see this partition as native.

If this is just a Henkan Bancho issue, it should happen with other titles as well.

Crazy stuff.

[spectreman]

I remember the same thing happening with Super Hang-On, it would complete the countdown but not launch.

When I copied it to the main partition in the Games folder, it would even complete loading long before the countdown was finished.

[spectreman]

The key to the problem, may lie in the way 2hdsim booting works.

Its ideal boot environment so to speak.

[neko68k]

I think that might be right. I'm contemplating making a patch to let it load from directories instead but I haven't thought hard about it.

Super Hang-On is an interesting one. I actually have a pretty ok understanding of how that game works. Basically SHIPL.X checks for the presence of disks in appropriate drives then executes SH.X. SH.X has a fairly involved loader at the start that uses standard DOSCALL stuff to open, read, and close the files it wants and does things with them after that. Generally it doesn't do anything interesting or special in regards to files themselves and if you get the splash screen with the countdown it's already made it to running SH.X and has loaded at least one file off the disk so I'm kind of at a loss there too.

[BlackVega]

Not sure if this is the correct place but is there a way to navigate the filer with MSX controller 1? Would help me out tremendously when keyboard is not connected

[amazin]

Not sure if this is the correct place but is there a way to navigate the filer with MSX controller 1? Would help me out tremendously when keyboard is not connected

LHES does not support joystick navigation, but perhaps there is a software to map keyboard inputs to joystick?

[incrediblehark]

There's a Joystick enabled "patch" for the old V4 image here:

https://nfggames.com/X68000/Games/V4%20Patches/HDD_V4_SP1_frontend.zip

I have not used it but can try and see if it will work with my new image. Looks like it uses MISHELL.X which I don't have experience with. I'm at work but can look into it more later.

Keep in mind, some games may still require keyboard and/or mouse input even if you can launch them via joystick in LHES.

EDIT - Ok, after testing this out looks like some configuration will be needed to utilize MISHELL with my image (It's a shell replacement to LHES)

[ateam]

Hey incredibleshark, here's a new one for you!

https://romhackplaza.org/translations/silk-road-2-english-translation-x68000/

[incrediblehark]

Thanks!

[incrediblehark]

Sorry for the delay! v3.00 is now online. Please check original post in this thread for download links. There have been some changes and new card requirements (8GB) so please be sure to read the revised install guide if you need any assistance.

Fingers crossed I worked out all issues with this release, as I plan to step away from this to focus on some other projects in 2025. Next major update is to work on reintroducing X68030 support but I have no current timeframe for that right now, need to check some other things off my list before diving back into this.

Enjoy, and Happy New Year!

[aotta]

Thank you @incrediblehark , that's a great XMas gift!! i'll try the v3.00 in next days on my X68Ks!

[rezb1t]

Amazing work! Thanks incrediblehark!

[ateam]

Wow, what an incredible update! Great work, incrediblehark. Thank you so much for the TLC you've put into this HDD image project.

Here on the Henkan, so far, so good!

[X-Col]

Great update for those who are able to mount multiple discs, well done and thanks for all your hard work incrediblehark!

Both of my systems are limited to one disc image only unfortunately, but I'll try this in an emulator and stick with the previous image on my real machines.

[incrediblehark]

Wow, what an incredible update! Great work, incrediblehark. Thank you so much for the TLC you've put into this HDD image project.

Here on the Henkan, so far, so good!

Thank you for the kind words, and happy to hear it's working well for you. In the end I couldn't get bonanza bros to work with the henkan but everything else should be fine.

Great update for those who are able to mount multiple discs, well done and thanks for all your hard work incrediblehark!

Both of my systems are limited to one disc image only unfortunately, but I'll try this in an emulator and stick with the previous image on my real machines.

Is it a matter of you already have multiple disk images set up on your hardware? That was one issue with going this route. I was hoping to include as much as possible so that this setup going forward would be
a viable complete replacement for users. One loose end I should tie up is repairing the issues from the v2.20 image and releasing a v2.3 for people in similar situations as you.

[X-Col]

@incrediblehark

I have an AZTECMONSTER in my Compact which only allows one HD image and the SCSI ID is set with jumpers. In my ACE I have an old Yamaha SCSI to IDE with the same limitation.

I know the newer adapters have the option to set multiple images at different ID's, but I set my systems up about 15 years ago. Maybe I need to update :-)

[kanjiology]

Thank you very much for the update!

[3rdman01]

What an amazing Xmas and New Years gift to enjoy! Thank you for the hard work! You are saint amongst men.

I cannot wait to get home to try this out but from the description alone...


EDIT: Just noticed the PDF manual to assist everyone in their installations...this is really amazing! Can I buy you a cup of coffee? It's the least I can do. Thank you again!