TI-994a How-To

[FoxbatStargazer]

Awesome, this finally worked for me!

Now if only I could find the proc'd button! (Is there a keyboard map somewhere for all the special TI keys?)

[GreyRogue]

Awesome, this finally worked for me!

Now if only I could find the proc'd button! (Is there a keyboard map somewhere for all the special TI keys?)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... urfeld.jpg
https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scuzzb ... 819_02.jpg

FCTN key activates the alternate keys. (Left-Alt = FCTN)
https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/TI-99_4 ... 4a.sv#L501

e.g.
FCTN-6 = PROC'D
FCTN-S = Cursor Left

[tmop]

Since there is interest with Tunnels oF Doom and other TI99 games, you can find some manuals (including ToD) in this site:
https://pixelpedant.com/

Suggested games to try:
Parsec, Munch Man, Big Foot, Demon Attack, the various AtariSoft Games (Donkey Kong, Dig Dug, etc), Popeye, Q*Bert, Frogger, Star Trek.

Remember to activate the Speech Synthesizer (select the 5200 version) for the best experience.

[mnielsenau]

What's the best video mode anyone's found for 1080p display with scanlines? I'm currently using video_mode=10, which is OK-ish (but the scanlines aren't completely even)...the bigger annoyance is the aspect ratio is noticeably too wide.

@rhester72 I agree that I am also seeing that the aspect ratio appears to be too wide and I am seeing some of the text has double wide pixels which messes up the text somewhat. I have tried a lot of resolutions and aspect ratio options and cannot get rid of this effect. Not sure if there is anythig that I am missing but any help would be appreciated.

Cheers,

mnielsenau

[Flandango]

Here is another test version of the core.
It should now format/initialize Single and Double sided Single Density floppies.
The USER LED will light up when the virtual drive motor is spinning.
First attempt at NTSC/PAL switching.
I still have issues with the Old Dark Caves 2 game.
I can get it to load most of the time if I have Speech enabled (5200), Attach the Disk first, then load the system rom that contains Extended Basic. I couldn't get it to work much with RXB.

Let me know if I broke anything.

Ti994a_20210607.zip

(1.03 MiB) Downloaded 164 times

[tmop]

Here is another test version of the core.
It should now format/initialize Single and Double sided Single Density floppies.
The USER LED will light up when the virtual drive motor is spinning.
First attempt at NTSC/PAL switching.
I still have issues with the Old Dark Caves 2 game.
I can get it to load most of the time if I have Speech enabled (5200), Attach the Disk first, then load the system rom that contains Extended Basic. I couldn't get it to work much with RXB.

Let me know if I broke anything.
Ti994a_20210607.zip

Hi Flandango, many thanks for the updated versions!

I've run some tests for this new version. In particular:

- it seems now to format correctly the disks Tested with a DSSD disk with Disk Manager 2;

- the Infocom adventures seems to boot correctly. Tested two different boot loaders: one for Zork 1, Deadline and one for Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy;

- BA Writer 1.1 loads correctly (should have its own custom loader) from XB;

- Page Pro 99 boots correctly from XB;

- Plato cart can load the data disks (tested with Fraction Practice);

- PR Base 2 boots fine from XB. Formatted a disk on drive 2 with the internal utility and created a simple db;

- TI Base V1.02 and V3.01 boots correctly from XB;

- Disk Manager 1000 V3.5 and V6.1 boot correctly. It can format disks.

- TI-Artist v2.01 from Inscebots boots correctly from XB;

- the GPL simulator from some game collections seems to work correctly (tested with Othello and VideoChess);

- various assembler loaders from XB seems to work correctly (tested with Computer War, Freddy, Superfly, Midnite Mason, Pinball Construction set, Spy Adventure);

- the EA3 Atari games loader seems to work correctly (teste with Donkey Kong);

- TI-Runner can load correctly the data levels (tested with Editor/assembler);

- Display Master (Inscebots, 1986) from XB is not working: I/O error 26 also for this title. Please note that TI-Artist from Inscebots boot fine;

- Old Dark Caves 2 has the same I/O error 26 for me, also following your instructions: speech, mount disk first, etc.


Regarding the NTSC/PAL switch. I'm using a FullHD PC Monitor. The core is set in 4:3, so with black bands. The scanlines are at 25%. The PAL images seems stretched if compared to NTSC. Sometimes if you reset the core (CTRL+ALT+ALTG) it's blurring and needs a switch to NTSC and back to PAL to clean.

In attachment some photos of the MiSTer core in PAL and NTSC and two of a real PAL TI99 on LCD TV and CRT monitor to compare (with SCART RGB modulator). Not sure if something is needed to be configured on MiSTer .INI file.

I'll do some other tests and report the results. Please, just let me know if you need some of the disks/carts used in the tests.

Again, many thanks for your work on this core.

[Texemosis]

where exactly are the files I need to make the bios? they don't exist in the github.

[tmop]

where exactly are the files I need to make the bios? they don't exist in the github.

You can download the BIOS+SPEECH ROM+DISK ROM .bin file from https://atariage.com/forums/topic/31265 ... nt=4832549 (post #19). There is also a full image with the Extended Basic.

If you search on previous posts you can also find other links for carts and disks. I'm also preparing my new mega-pack for this core.

[Texemosis]

thanks.

[rhester72]

If you search on previous posts you can also find other links for carts and disks. I'm also preparing my new mega-pack for this core.

I've actually been working on same, but it's "interesting" given the number of hack variations out there (people having removed the menu bypass code from Scott Foresman titles, for example) and multiple language releases (TI was famous for that). It's been a bit slow going actually putting together an 'official' cart set as a result. (I also finally acquired The Cyc, and was rather disappointed to see all of this "blessed by TI" carts are just hacked-up GRAM Kracker dumps.) I'm metlculously evaluating EVERY dump from every major source (TOSEC, Ti99Sim, modern MAME/MESS, the last RPK set, Timrad, etc.) and doing detailed byte-level comparisons to see what's different and have converged on at least 80% of all known dumps being verified at this point. Happy to join forces with you if you like. =)

I was at least able to confirm the PLATO disk set is actually good and complete, which has been a goal of mine for...wow. I'll just say 'too long' so as not to entirely reveal my age and leave it at that. LMFAO

[akeley]

Would love to see one solid, up to date pack, preferably with as much redundant stuff filtered out as possible.

Also, if somebody could write up short step-by-step instruction on how to run disks it'd be much appreciated.

[tmop]

Would love to see one solid, up to date pack, preferably with as much redundant stuff filtered out as possible.

Also, if somebody could write up short step-by-step instruction on how to run disks it'd be much appreciated.

It's quite easy to load from disks:

- if there is a LOAD file in a disk it is loaded in autoboot with Extended Basic. Just mount it and select Extended BASIC cart. There are various loaders for compilation of assembler games;

- the assembler files can be loaded using the Editor/Assembler cart. There are two kind of files: EA5 and EA3. These can be loaded from Editor/Assembler menu, option "5 RUN PROGRAM FILE" or option "3 LOAD AND RUN". To understand if it's a EA5 or EA3 you need to check the file type (from Disk Manager). A "PROGRAM" type is EA5, a "DIS/FIX" is EA3.

An EA5 game has usually multiple files. E.g. the game BigFoot has 3 files: BIGFOOT, BIGFOOU, BIGFOOV. To load it just select from Editor/Assembler the menu "5 RUN PROGRAM FILE". At the promp "FILE NAME?" just type DSK1.BIGFOOT (the name of the first file) and it will automatically load all the 3 files and run the game.

For an EA3 game select menu "3 LOAD AND RUN". You need to first load the game (as for EA5), then run it. To run it you need to know the starting label (it's the equivalent of the SYSxxxx on the C64). For example, to load Sargon Chess type firsr DSK1.SARGON. When you see the prompt "PROGRAM NAME?" just type SARGON.
A common starting label is the word START, so just try this or the game name.

Usually the disks have some information on how to load then in the suffix. If you look at some of mine:

- "[TI DISK] Flappy Bird (20xx)(Rasmus)[XB+32K Autoload].dsk" this is an assembler game that runs in autoload with Extended BASIC (suffix "[XB+32K Autoload]");

- "[TI DISK] Rock Runner (19xx)(Eric LaFortune)[EA5 ROCK].dsk" this is an EA5 games. Type: DSK1.ROCK to load and run it;

- "[TI DISK] Monaco Race (1984)(Ulisoft)[EA3 MONACORACE - MONACO].dsk" this ia an EA3 game. Load with DSK1.MONACORACE, then run with MONACO;



Finally, for BASIC games, select the TI Extended BASIC, at prompt type (use upper case only): OLD DSK1.NAMEOFGAME

Note that some TI BASIC games cannot be run in Extended BASIC, you need to use TI BASIC. Finally, sometimes you need to free some disk buffers to load larger BASIC files with the CALL FILES(1) command.

[akeley]

It's quite easy to load from disks

Lord Almighty...it's anything but easy At least compared to the likes of CPC, C64, etc... I think only MSX beats TI on convolutedness in this regard. It's still fun though, messing with carts and commands...true old school. And thankfully your files have the loading hints in them, I have another set which is clue-less...so it's some work to figure the magic word.

Anyway, many thanks for the write-up. It's all somewhat clearer now. I did manage to load some games, but only with the Extended Basic. The E/A ones throw up "I/O ERROR CODE 0". Not sure why. I have your "tiroms.bin" from AtariAge (28th May), load it first as Full.bin, then load E/A as G, then mount disk and follow the hints from its name (using capital letters), but always get that error unfortunately.

[tmop]

The E/A ones throw up "I/O ERROR CODE 0". Not sure why. I have your "tiroms.bin" from AtariAge (28th May), load it first as Full.bin, then load E/A as G, then mount disk and follow the hints from its name (using capital letters), but always get that error unfortunately.

Just send me this disk and I'll try to check what is wrong.

[akeley]

I was only testing disks from your big SSS pack, and the MESS one, so I assume they are ok. Think I figured it out anyway: I was using a FULL-ROM E/A version, so I suppose loading it was clearing the previously loaded disk drivers (tiroms.bin). Today I've tried another E/A version (by Winfried Winkler), which is a G rom, and now it works. Sometimes, that is, still did not manage to load games which use START or other words.

Which E/A version do you recommend to use?

(also, is it possible to do a cold boot, which gets rid of the loaded roms?)

[rhester72]

Probably best to just get a full-rom E/A version with disk and speech support tbh

[Flandango]

- Display Master (Inscebots, 1986) from XB is not working: I/O error 26 also for this title. Please note that TI-Artist from Inscebots boot fine;

- Old Dark Caves 2 has the same I/O error 26 for me, also following your instructions: speech, mount disk first, etc.

If you can get me a copy or point me in the right direction for Display Master so I can test with it, I would greatly appreciate it.

In the mean while, can you test this version to see if the PAL version is anywhere near correct?
I don't have a VGA monitor so all I can test is over HDMI.

[tmop]

- Display Master (Inscebots, 1986) from XB is not working: I/O error 26 also for this title. Please note that TI-Artist from Inscebots boot fine;

- Old Dark Caves 2 has the same I/O error 26 for me, also following your instructions: speech, mount disk first, etc.

If you can get me a copy or point me in the right direction for Display Master so I can test with it, I would greatly appreciate it.

In the mean while, can you test this version to see if the PAL version is anywhere near correct?
I don't have a VGA monitor so all I can test is over HDMI.

ok, I've tested this new version and it seems that the PAL is now correct and no more stretched.

Unfortunately, it seems that the disk support is now broken in this build. The XB cannot boot anymore and also from EA you cannot load any file.
I've tested the same disks with your previous version and they are working fine.

Another thing that I've noticed is that the menu "CART TYPE MBX" is disappeared from the last official build. This also in your previous build.

In attachment a disk with a simple XB program (load with OLD DSK1.PALTEST) that should report if the machine is PAL or NTSC. Unfortunately it was not possible to test with your last build due to disk problem.

Waiting for a correct build to start the tests.

[Flandango]

Ok this is weird. Everything works on my end.
As for the Cart Type, the menu option was ignored from when I brought over the changes from the Mist core and only just recently removed it from the OSD to clean up a bit.
I just started reviewing the original Mist code and I don't see the logic of disabling it especially when MBX banking was implemented in the same commit.
I will look into re-implementing it and hopefully have something by this afternoon.

[rhester72]

@Flandango MBX support would be great!

[tmop]

Ok this is weird. Everything works on my end.
As for the Cart Type, the menu option was ignored from when I brought over the changes from the Mist core and only just recently removed it from the OSD to clean up a bit.
I just started reviewing the original Mist code and I don't see the logic of disabling it especially when MBX banking was implemented in the same commit.
I will look into re-implementing it and hopefully have something by this afternoon.

I've tested again, updating to last MiSter core and Menu and replacing also the TI99 core and now seems to load correctly the disks. Not sure what was wrong before with my setup.

I've run the PALTEST program and it's reporting PAL system for both NTSC and PAL menu. I've reset the core after switching from the two settings.
I've typed the PALTEST program on the last official core and it's reporting a PAL system! I was supposed it was a NTSC.

The code is reliable, since is from Mizapf, that is the official mantainer of TI99 core on MAME. Moreover, I've tested with "Indiana" a game in XB that is working correctly only on PAL machines and it's working fine when in NTSC (you can download Indiana from here: https://www.ti99iuc.it/web/index.php?pa ... MjRsvJxeUk Note that for the test you need to use the original XB version, not the compiled one that I patched to work on both).
So, more stuff for you to investigate.

Regarding the Standard/MBX cart menu I don't know if there is code associated to the MBX entry or is just a placeholder. This could be checked with @greyrogue that worked on the MiSTer version of the core.

In the meanwhile, I've recreated all the carts that need to use the disk and I'll recheck all of them before publishing a new pack for this core (I hope in very short time). Of course, I'll report eventual problems.

[tmop]

@Flandango MBX support would be great!

Well, you can already play MBX system games (except the Baseball game) on the TI99 core. However, the ROMs that work are not the "clean" dumps from original carts, due to the special bank scheme used on these carts, but some generated from hacked disk versions. So, this is the reason for the special MBX entry in the menu.
From a gamer perspective nothing changes using the original or hacked version of the game.

Instead, I would like to have some extra hw supported, eg. SAMS (SuperAMS) memory expansion, the tape (although 99% of stuff can run from disk, except some MiniMemory games) and the F18A.

The F18A is an interesting hw in FPGA that replaces the VDP chip on TI99 (but also on Colecovision).
Here is an article with more details and the link on the author's site (https://www.eetimes.com/creating-the-f1 ... 9918a-vdp/#) and here some code/vhd files (https://github.com/CollectorVision/Phoenix-Colecovision).

Hoping that @Flandango is having fun with FPGA development and maybe could be interested in adding some more stuff...

[Flandango]

Ok figured out what happened with the previous release and the broken disk system. I had updated to the latest framework and since there were some major changes to how sd card access works, it broke the disk system...mostly for the 2nd disk. Anyway, I found a version that works with the current disk system as it is and also allows the changes for the video system.

[rhester72]

Did we ever get to the bottom of why (mostly Atarisoft "MAME paged16k"-style cartridges) fail as part of a pyTIrom image but work when loaded separately? I've been looking at this with debuggers on various systems (MAME, Classic99, and to a limited degree ti99sim) and I just can't figure out for the life of me what's wrong. *Some* paged16k cartridges _do_ work normally, which completely blows my mind.

By the way, I've successfully converted the very latest MAME cartridge set (which is as fully validated as a set can be, given the lack of redumps and true physical evidence) and added a few missing items, so I'm pretty close to having an 'authoritative' pyTIrom cartridge set with disk and speech support. It's fascinating how many of the TOSEC and old rpk dumps were severely overdumped (and/or just flat-out wrong!).

[Flandango]

Did we ever get to the bottom of why (mostly Atarisoft "MAME paged16k"-style cartridges) fail as part of a pyTIrom image but work when loaded separately? I've been looking at this with debuggers on various systems (MAME, Classic99, and to a limited degree ti99sim) and I just can't figure out for the life of me what's wrong. *Some* paged16k cartridges _do_ work normally, which completely blows my mind.

I'm going to assume you used the C/G roms from Mame and createImage.py....
If so, did you include the -s option on the command line and verify the final image is 288k?

For example, this is what I used for DigDug and it worked.

Code: Select all

createImage.py -v --Crom digdugc.bin --Drom digdugd.bin -s DigDug.bin

[rhester72]

Dig Dug is one of the few that works.

Ones that don't unless hand-loaded (incomplete list, testing as I go): Computer War, Jumpy, Jungle Hunt

[rhester72]

Having analyzed all the MAME dumps, I've arrived at the following:

paged16k titles that only work if hand-loaded:

Computer War
Jumpy
Jungle Hunt
Ms. Pac-Man
Pac-Man
Picnic Paranoia
Protector II
Robotron:2084
Shamus
Super Storm

paged16k titles that work via pyTIrom:

Alligator Mix (also uses GROMs)
Barrage
Dig Dug
Donkey Kong
E.T. [PHM 3125] (also uses GROMs)
Junkman Junior
Micro Pinball 2
Micro Tennis
Milliken Math Sequences - Measurement Formulas (also uses GROMs)
Moon Patrol
Pole Position
Scholastic Spelling - Level 5 (also uses GROMs)
Scholastic Spelling - Level 6 (also uses GROMs)
Sorgan II
Star Runner
Strike Three!
Tennis

[tmop]

Having analyzed all the MAME dumps, I've arrived at the following:

paged16k titles that only work if hand-loaded:

Computer War
Jumpy
Jungle Hunt
Ms. Pac-Man
Pac-Man
Picnic Paranoia
Protector II
Robotron:2084
Shamus
Super Storm

paged16k titles that work via pyTIrom:

Alligator Mix (also uses GROMs)
Barrage
Dig Dug
Donkey Kong
E.T. [PHM 3125] (also uses GROMs)
Junkman Junior
Micro Pinball 2
Micro Tennis
Milliken Math Sequences - Measurement Formulas (also uses GROMs)
Moon Patrol
Pole Position
Scholastic Spelling - Level 5 (also uses GROMs)
Scholastic Spelling - Level 6 (also uses GROMs)
Sorgan II
Star Runner
Strike Three!
Tennis

If you download my megapack (https://www.ti99iuc.it/web/index.php?pa ... Movp_JxeUk) and remove all the roms that are not a single file and all those with the TI99 BIOS included (with "FULL ROM" suffix") you'll get all the ones that work only if loaded as separate part.

[tmop]

One note: Mancala, Return to Pirate's Island and Tutankham must be loaded with the following sequence:

1) Load System ROM;
2) Load .C file using C Load Menu;
3) Load .G file using G Load Menu;
4) Load .C file using D Load Menu;

[GreyRogue]

Regarding the Standard/MBX cart menu I don't know if there is code associated to the MBX entry or is just a placeholder. This could be checked with @greyrogue that worked on the MiSTer version of the core.

I found conflicting info on MBX carts when working on it. Currently, it treats 0x6C00-0x6FFF as RAM if the MBX OSD option is selected. I don't know if that's accurate/sufficient for MBX support.
https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/TI-99_4 ... a.vhd#L651

Did we ever get to the bottom of why (mostly Atarisoft "MAME paged16k"-style cartridges) fail as part of a pyTIrom image but work when loaded separately? I've been looking at this with debuggers on various systems (MAME, Classic99, and to a limited degree ti99sim) and I just can't figure out for the life of me what's wrong. *Some* paged16k cartridges _do_ work normally, which completely blows my mind.

It looks like that python script is not correctly mirroring the ROM space.
Note that some games require mirroring across the ROM region.
If you only have 1 64KB C file, it should occupy the entire range.
If you only have 1 8KB C file, there should be 8 copies of it occupying the entire range.
If you have 1 8KB C file, and 1 8KB D file, there should be 4 interleaved copies of each (C,D,C,D,C,D,C,D) covering the 64KB range.
https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/TI-99_4 ... om.cmd#L37
https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/TI-99_4 ... a.vhd#L442