Messages

1

Turbo EverDrive / Re: Game sorting problem on TED2

« on: January 28, 2021, 09:17 PM »

I did run into a strange problem.
My game list is no more sorted alphabetical and I have no idea how to restore that.
Any idea?

Neither TED2 OS sorts directory lists alphabetically ... that would be rather slow with a large directory!

If you want a sorted list, you have to go "Old Skool" and find a FAT32 directory-sorting program.

Or just put your TED2's SD card in your PC, delete all of the files, and then copy them over again fresh.  That usually creates a sorted list of the files copied, as well as defragmenting all of the files, which will make loading them on your PCE a fraction faster.

BTW, TEOS does have a limit on how fragmented a file can be before it will fail to load it.  This shouldn't cause a problem in practical use, especially since PCs try to write defragmented files as much as possible, but it *could* conceivably cause a failure to load a file at some point.

2

Turbo EverDrive / Re: TEOS replacement OS for the TurboEverDrive v2

« on: January 27, 2021, 09:37 PM »

I have a question. Why didn't these games work on the original OS? I thought most games (not counting Street Fighter II', Populous, System Cards etc) worked the same way as far as flashcarts like the TED are concerned?

All of the games listed above (except for "Tower of Druaga") fail to reset the VCE clock-speed register when they start up, and they just assume that it is "0" (i.e. a 5MHz pixel clock for the VDC).

In earlier versions of TEOS, I did not reset that register to "0" before starting up the HuCard, and so those games display 4-screens-in-one ... which is obviously wrong.

Now I do reset all VDC values to "safe" settings before starting a HuCard.

KRIKzz's OS doesn't have this problem with those games, so it is pretty obvious that he is reseting the VCE speed before running a HuCard ... which it turns out is actually important for some games.


It is just like the problem with "Populous" on KRIKzz's OS ... I must be setting/clearing some hardware register that he isn't, which is why the game runs fine on TEOS, but has graphical glitches on KRIKss's OS.


The issue with "Tower of Druaga" is that when it is started, it will crash if it gets to a certain point in the game code before it gets its first VBLANK interrupt.  This is a horrible bug in the game code, and it *seems* as though KRIKzz's OS *may* have just been lucky in that his startup condition is such that the game gets the interrupt that it needs in time.

Earlier versions of TEOS start the HuCard image just a few scanlines after a VBLANK ... which allows this game bug to occur, and so the game crashes.

TEOS has been changed to wait until the screen has actually begun to display before starting the HuCard image, which is enough difference in time to avoid triggering that bug, and so "Tower of Druaga" now works on TEOS. :-)


So "yes", all games on the TED2 basically run with the same startup conditions, but they aren't *exactly* the same startup conditions that you get when you turn on your PCE's power, because either KRIKzz's OS or TEOS is run first.

It turns out that some games are just a little more sensitive to the exact startup conditions than others. ;-)

3

Turbo EverDrive / Re: TEOS replacement OS for the TurboEverDrive v2

« on: January 27, 2021, 03:29 PM »

Fixed link

Whoops, thanks! :-)

I've fixed the link in the top message now.

4

Turbo EverDrive / TEOS replacement OS for the TurboEverDrive v2

« on: January 27, 2021, 04:44 AM »

Here is the latest public beta of TEOS.

It fixes problems with the following games ...

* Tower of Druaga
* Space Harrier
* Shiryou Sensen
* Out Live
* Benkei Gaiden
* Gekisha Boy
* Night Creatures


TEOS Beta5

Just extract the archive, and copy the files to the root of your Turbo EverDrive's SD card.

In particular ... the contents of the /TBED/ directory *must* go in that directory.

If you have already got some of those files in your /TBED/ directory, then you must have been running an earlier beta version ... please do NOT overwrite those files, or you will lose your BRAM saves.

While you *can* theoretically rename teos.pce to OS.PCE and put it in your /TBED/ directory, and it should work, I do NOT recommend doing that at this point. This is a beta test version of TEOS, and it is far safer to just run it like a normal cart from Krikzz's OS ... you have been warned!

If you find any problems, then it would be better to report them in the "Homebrew Development" section of the "PC Engine Software Bible forum", rather than cluttering up KRIKzz's forum here.

Developers ... please note that TEOS does not currently support uploading HuCard images through the Turbo EverDrive's USB connection!

5

Turbo EverDrive / Re: Any chance on Krikzz version of Terraonion Super SD System 3 ?

« on: October 11, 2020, 09:01 PM »

EDIT I found the message in another topic. So it fully replaces the Ten no Koe 2, I don't need it anymore ?

No, the replacement OS does not run on the version 1 TurboEverdrive, sorry.

And no, it doesn't replace the Ten no Koe 2, it supports backing up the memory of the Ten no Koe 2 to SD card so that you can have more game saves, and so that buggy games (there are a few) don't wipe out the only copy of your other saved games.

It replaces the functionality of the Ten no Koe Bank HuCard so that you don't need it anymore (except that it can also run the Ten no Koe Bank software and create another 4 banks of saves).

If you imagine how these devices physically work, then it makes sense.

Yes! ;-)

6

Turbo EverDrive / Re: Any way to back up BRAM to TED v1?

« on: August 11, 2020, 08:14 PM »

The TEDv1 doesn't have any RAM at all, and so the Tennokoe Bank rom is unlikely to be patchable to run on it.

The BRAM backup tool that is in my TEOS replacement OS for the TEDv2 could possibly be broken out into a standalone HuCard for the TEDv1 ... but it wouldn't be trivial (because the TEDv1 and TEDv2 access the SD card a little differently), and it's not something that I'm likely to ever do myself.

The source code for the critical parts of the TEDv2 SD card reading and writing routines are on my github if someone else has a TEDv1 and wishes to take on the task.

7

Turbo EverDrive / Re: Turbo Duo backup saves from Internal to Turbo Everdrive

« on: May 14, 2020, 08:51 PM »

I don't think it's possible to make the TED simulate a backup accessory either.

You're right, it's not possible on a TED/TED2.

The regular 2KB of backup-RAM is in bank $F7, and the TED2 only maps banks $00-$7F (which is the full range of HuCard banks).

8

Turbo EverDrive / Re: Issues with TED V2.5 and CD Unit

« on: May 14, 2020, 08:43 PM »

Ok but as far as I can tell all Super CD-ROM games I chuck at it are working fine without crashing and I also found this little nugget of info on this post from elmer the author of the patch: https://krikzz.com/forum/index.php?topic=3640.msg34306#msg34306

"As a side-effect, it also means that translation teams and homebrew programmers have a full 512KB of RAM to use.

The other side-effect is that it means that Turbo Grafx CDROM and PCE Briefcase owners can use the TED2 instead of buying/using a Super System Card"

Yep, that's correct, the TED2 will happily act as the extra 192KB of Super System Card RAM ... in fact you need to run the patched BIOS that was released years ago so that the TED2 doesn't cause problems on a DUO/SuperCD.

Or if you run my TEOS replacement for the TED2, then you can run an un-patched BIOS, and TEOS will automatically patch it to work safely.

There is still the fact that you're best off running the Japanese version of the Super System Card BIOS on your TED2, because some games aren't compatible with the US version of the BIOS.

Both Gate of Thunder and Dragon Slayer 2 have issues when running with the BIOS in RAM on the TED2, but both games can be patched to fix this.

The patched BIOS that I released includes the fix for Gate of Thunder, but not for Dragon Slayer 2.

The patching that TEOS does automatically includes the fix for both games.
 

9

Turbo EverDrive / Re: Turbo Duo backup saves from Internal to Turbo Everdrive

« on: December 04, 2019, 10:51 PM »

Tennokoe Bank support, built-in BRAM backup tool and fixing Populous?

It also supports patching the System Card 3 (both Japanese and American) at runtime in order to avoid the potentially-damaging bus-fighting on the TED2 that was reported years ago.

That means that you no longer need to run my patched copy of those on your TED2, and you can go back to using the original verified-correct dumps of those HuCards, which is nice for purists.

The latest System Card 3 patch in TEOS also fixes the crash that was found in "DRAGON SLAYER - THE LEGEND OF HEROES II" when it is run with the TED2 operating as the Super CD RAM.

The problem isn't really because of the TED2, it is because Dragon Slayer still has some development-system code in it that should have been removed before shipping, and that code gets confused when it sees all of the TED2's RAM.

10

Turbo EverDrive / Re: Turbo Duo backup saves from Internal to Turbo Everdrive

« on: December 04, 2019, 09:15 AM »

EDIT: Is the KRIKzz update just for the button swap? I didn't see any save functions, unless I'm just being derpy.

AFAIK the button swap is the only significant change in KRIKzz's latest OS, so nope, no save functions.

When I tested it, I still get the graphical glitches in Populous that lots of folks have reported over the years, too.

That's definitely something caused by his OS, because I don't have the same problem in TEOS.


Anyway ... I've updated the file link in the message above to the latest TEOS beta 4.

11

Turbo EverDrive / Re: Turbo Duo backup saves from Internal to Turbo Everdrive

« on: December 03, 2019, 10:49 PM »

Either support for Tennokoe Bank or adding an option to the Everdrive menu that can copy between the backup RAM and SD card. Or both.

While it's great to see KRIKzz release a new version of his OS yesterday, I was sad to see that there weren't more new features in it.

In strangely coincidental timing, I released a public beta of my replacement OS for the Turbo Everdrive yesterday, too.

While it actually does have support for running the Tennokoe Bank software, it is much easier to use its own built-in BRAM backup functionality.

Anyone that wishes to try it can download it here ... TEOS Beta4.


Just extract the archive, and copy the files to the root of your Turbo EverDrive's SD card.

In particular ... the contents of the /TBED/ directory *must* go in that directory.

If you have already got some of those files in your /TBED/ directory, then you must have been running an earlier beta version ... please do NOT overwrite those specific files, or you will lose your BRAM saves.

While you *can* theoretically rename teos.pce to OS.PCE and put it in your /TBED/ directory, and it should work, I do NOT recommend doing that at this point. This is a beta test version of TEOS, and it is far safer to just run it like a normal cart from KRIKzz's OS ... you have been warned!

If you find any problems, then it would be better to report them in the "Homebrew Development" section of the "PC Engine Software Bible forum", rather than cluttering up KRIKzz's forum here.

Developers ... please note that TEOS does not currently support uploading HuCard images through the Turbo EverDrive's USB connection!

EDIT: Link updated to beta 4 version which fixes the free space display on empty BRAM slots.

12

Turbo EverDrive / Re: out of stock everywhere, why ?

« on: May 15, 2019, 12:49 AM »

Do you have more details on this somewhere? Sounds very interesting

If you're talking about the OS replacement, you can find the development thread on the PC Engine Software Bible forum.

Here's the current beta of the main screen ...

13

Turbo EverDrive / Re: out of stock everywhere, why ?

« on: May 08, 2019, 11:00 PM »

Well, the current Turbo Everdrive v2 design is nearly 4 years old now ... it's certainly possible that KRIKzz is beginning to find that some components are getting harder to source.

It would be hilarious timing ... I'm getting very close to releasing an open-source replacement OS for the TED2.

14

Turbo EverDrive / Re: Running the BIOS for the Super System CD Card

« on: March 22, 2016, 05:41 PM »

So I guess there's still no information about whether or not v1 is affected?

Sorry, I've still not gotten-around to finishing-off the test code, I've been busy with a lot of other stuff.

I need to bump it up on my list of priorities.

15

Turbo EverDrive / Re: Running the BIOS for the Super System CD Card

« on: March 02, 2016, 06:14 PM »

I have to admit I am a little lost.  I have just received the TED 2.4 and have a US Turbo Duo.  How does loading the Super System Card 3.0 "damage" the Turbo Duo?

The information is all detailed in the first few posts in this thread, as is the "solution" in the form of a simple patch to apply to the System Card 3 image.

I'm sorry, but I don't know how to explain it in any simpler terms than it's already been explained ... it's a technical issue, and so it does sort of help to have some understanding of electronics.

BTW ... if you actually the thread, I think that you'll find that I was careful to say "potential damage". Your Turbo Duo isn't going to explode if you don't use the patch, but you're stressing the electronics when there is bus-fighting.

It's totally up to you if you want to risk that just to avoid applying a free patch (that even includes the source code so that you can see exactly what it is doing).