NuLA demos

[simonm]

hmmmmmmmmm. still seems to hang at the Nula screen

Gah! Working somewhat in the dark here. Ok....

[sbadger]

it's like shaving yaks getting this working, I just tried to load MMFS into swram and *unplugged my smartspi rom, it just gives me 'Card?'

Most likely you have loaded the wrong build of MMFS for your system.

Which file did you load?

What model of BBC are you using?

Dave

It's a BBC Master
I used the zip

Code: Select all

mmfs_1_36_20170422_1801.zip

from https://github.com/hoglet67/MMFS/releases
and the file from the M folder

Code: Select all

MAMMFS.rom

[hoglet]

It's a BBC Master
I used the zip

Code: Select all

mmfs_1_36_20170422_1801.zip

from https://github.com/hoglet67/MMFS/releases
and the file from the M folder

Code: Select all

MAMMFS.rom

Ah, you want U/MAMMFS.rom (U is for User Port).

More details on the various builds here.

Dave

[sbadger]

It's a BBC Master
I used the zip

Code: Select all

mmfs_1_36_20170422_1801.zip

from https://github.com/hoglet67/MMFS/releases
and the file from the M folder

Code: Select all

MAMMFS.rom

Ah, you want U/MAMMFS.rom (U is for User Port).

More details on the various builds here.

Dave

thanks mate, just tried that one, i can't even get that to appear in the *roms list after an *srload and a crtl_brk

[sirbod]

Has anyone managed to modify any existing games to use this?

[sydney]

You don't actually need to change any code in a game to get it to work. All you do is program the palette before loading the game and the colours will be changed. Rob supplies a few sample palettes to get us started.
The hard part will be deciding what to change the colours to.

[sirbod]

You don't actually need to change any code in a game to get it to work. All you do is program the palette before loading the game and the colours will be changed.

I was thinking more of modifying an existing game to make use of NuLA as it transitions levels, or making use of the extra palette entries gained by redefining the flashing colours. Just setting the palette before loading the game doesn't really add much.

[sbadger]

You don't actually need to change any code in a game to get it to work. All you do is program the palette before loading the game and the colours will be changed.

I was thinking more of modifying an existing game to make use of NuLA as it transitions levels, or making use of the extra palette entries gained by redefining the flashing colours. Just setting the palette before loading the game doesn't really add much.

Yeah, without giving too much away i'm working on a native 16 colour version of Galaforce as we speak....

[hoglet]

thanks mate, just tried that one, i can't even get that to appear in the *roms list after an *srload and a crtl_brk

I'm sorry you are still having problems with this.

The U/MAMMFS.rom image is definitely the correct one, and I've just check it loads OK into BeebEm.

All I can think is it's somehow got corrupted on your SD card, or that for some reason SmartSPI is failing to load it correctly.

Do you have any way to program it onto an EPROM?

Dave

[sbadger]

thanks mate, just tried that one, i can't even get that to appear in the *roms list after an *srload and a crtl_brk

I'm sorry you are still having problems with this.

The U/MAMMFS.rom image is definitely the correct one, and I've just check it loads OK into BeebEm.

All I can think is it's somehow got corrupted on your SD card, or that for some reason SmartSPI is failing to load it correctly.

Do you have any way to program it onto an EPROM?

Dave

Thanks Dave,
Later today I'll try a different SD card first, then i'll do a new beeb.mmb just to make sure i've got the right file. Sadly I don't have an EPROM programmer any more.
stew

[Rich Talbot-Watkins]

Yeah, without giving too much away i'm working on a native 16 colour version of Galaforce as we speak....

I think you just gave everything away!

[martinw]

Yeah, without giving too much away i'm working on a native 16 colour version of Galaforce as we speak....

I think you just gave everything away!

[martinw]

You don't actually need to change any code in a game to get it to work. All you do is program the palette before loading the game and the colours will be changed.

I was thinking more of modifying an existing game to make use of NuLA as it transitions levels, or making use of the extra palette entries gained by redefining the flashing colours. Just setting the palette before loading the game doesn't really add much.

Excellent, and I completely agree about the palette change (it's interesting but doesn't add that much), could this be the dawn of a new era for 8 bit gaming, re-writing "all" the old games to take advantage of the extra colours

Martin

[sbadger]

Yeah, without giving too much away i'm working on a native 16 colour version of Galaforce as we speak....

I think you just gave everything away!

doh!

it's pretty close. will show it soon...

[martinw]

Yeah, without giving too much away i'm working on a native 16 colour version of Galaforce as we speak....

I think you just gave everything away!

doh!

it's pretty close. will show it soon...

Can't wait

[sbadger]

Can't wait

here's a taster...

[martinw]

Excited, excited

[sbadger]

I'm sorry you are still having problems with this.

The U/MAMMFS.rom image is definitely the correct one, and I've just check it loads OK into BeebEm.

All I can think is it's somehow got corrupted on your SD card, or that for some reason SmartSPI is failing to load it correctly.

Do you have any way to program it onto an EPROM?

Dave

The plot thickens... it seems I cant get any SWRAM to work at the moment. Exile doesn't even ask me if it can use it.
It certainly worked before I installed the NULA, but now apparently not. Anyone know where I should even start!?

[hoglet]

Didn't you eariler in this thread manage to load M/MAMMFS.rom into sideways RAM?

IIRC, there are some jumpers (LK18 and LK19) on the Master that select between sideways RAM and spare EPROM sockets for slots 4,5,6 and 7. They should be in the west position to enable sideways RAM.

Maybe these changed, or fell off, or are making a poor connection???

Dave

[sbadger]

Didn't you eariler in this thread manage to load M/MAMMFS.rom into sideways RAM?

IIRC, there are some jumpers (LK18 and LK19) on the Master that select between sideways RAM and spare EPROM sockets for slots 4,5,6 and 7. They should be in the west position to enable sideways RAM.

Maybe these changed, or fell off???

Dave

yes, it did. and the second time I tried it does nothing, somthing is intermittent/flaky. just checked links, 18 & 19 in the west position

[sbadger]

its certainly odd, I just put my original ula back in and SW works again, replace the nula, SW works. couple of reboots later and SW doesn't work.
could it be something where a component is warming up? (also wonder I should start a new thread instead of hijacking this with HW problem)

check links making good connection, lk18 possibly wasn't but cleaned it up and checked with a meter for continuity and all good.

[hoglet]

When it stops working next, check if all four slots (4, 5, 6 and 7) have vanished.

Dave

[Rich Talbot-Watkins]

here's a taster...

Looks lovely! This is what the Video NuLA was made for!

[sbadger]

here's a taster...

Looks lovely! This is what the Video NuLA was made for!

It's posted! Over on 8bit/Software: Games Classic (link)

[RobC]

its certainly odd, I just put my original ula back in and SW works again, replace the nula, SW works. couple of reboots later and SW doesn't work.
could it be something where a component is warming up? (also wonder I should start a new thread instead of hijacking this with HW problem)

check links making good connection, lk18 possibly wasn't but cleaned it up and checked with a meter for continuity and all good.

Sorry for not responding sooner but I've been at Legoland all day!

Just to be clear, this is using the SWRAM on a Master 128?

Also, how does it fail? As hoglet suggests, could you check if all banks are unavailable?

I have a couple of Masters with VideoNuLA boards fitted but haven't seen this sort of issue. It might be worth checking the connections between the ULA socket and the PCB (particulary pins 4-7 and 28 as these output the various clocks). Happy to discuss in a separate thread or by e-mail.

The 16-colour Galaforce graphics look excellent

[sbadger]

its certainly odd, I just put my original ula back in and SW works again, replace the nula, SW works. couple of reboots later and SW doesn't work.
could it be something where a component is warming up? (also wonder I should start a new thread instead of hijacking this with HW problem)

check links making good connection, lk18 possibly wasn't but cleaned it up and checked with a meter for continuity and all good.

Sorry for not responding sooner but I've been at Legoland all day!

Just to be clear, this is using the SWRAM on a Master 128?

Also, how does it fail? As hoglet suggests, could you check if all banks are unavailable?

I have a couple of Masters with VideoNuLA boards fitted but haven't seen this sort of issue. It might be worth checking the connections between the ULA socket and the PCB (particulary pins 4-7 and 28 as these output the various clocks). Happy to discuss in a separate thread or by e-mail.

The 16-colour Galaforce graphics look excellent

It's really strange.. I think the machine is unhappy....
I picked my little one up from school came back and tried it again. Turning on gave me VIEW as the default lang.... err.?
so think there are cmos probs. I've put in fresh cells and done a 'R' cmos reset. Filled in the defaults and the sideways ram seemed to be working fine.
Exile politely asks as expected, *SRLOAD also worked.. I'm going to leave it overnight and see what I get in the morning [afternoon ] (hint: as in other thread early Oktober fest tonight!)

[marcusjambler]

Impressive

[sbadger]

Didn't you eariler in this thread manage to load M/MAMMFS.rom into sideways RAM?

IIRC, there are some jumpers (LK18 and LK19) on the Master that select between sideways RAM and spare EPROM sockets for slots 4,5,6 and 7. They should be in the west position to enable sideways RAM.

Maybe these changed, or fell off???

Dave

yes, it did. and the second time I tried it does nothing, somthing is intermittent/flaky. just checked links, 18 & 19 in the west position

I *think* I've sorted this. I looks like it was the jumper on LK18 just decided to stop conducting every now and again. Even giving it a clean didn't make it work. (thrown out the garage door in disgust) a new one fitted and new cells for the cmos. It seems, touch wood, fine.

(I still get Card? though )

[hoglet]

I still get Card? though )

Can you do *HELP and *ROMS and report back with the exact output? (a photo would be ideal).

Dave

[trixster]

Here's a version of my "Shadow of the Beast" demo that uses one bank of sideways RAM rather than relying on shadow RAM in the Master.

I'm struggling to get the sotb demo to work unfortunately. The nula slideshow and the galaforce16 game work fine!

I'm using a BBC b with ifel rom/ram board, a videonula, a turbommc and a WE shadowram board.

I've first mounted the sotb ssd onto drive 0

I've copied the sotbrom into sideways ram using the following command:

*/HIWB :0.sotbrom 4 R

However if I then *ROMS I get the following

From there I also cannot now access the turbommc. I've tried sideways ram 0 too and that gives the same result.

If I load the rom into swram but don't reset afterwards (or ctrl-break) and then ch."runme" then the demo loads but immediately crashes with this: