Hello to everyone, I just registered to this forum and I hope someone will be able to lend a hand with my MMC64 as I'm going crazy...

I got the unit from Protovision at the beginning of this year. The card is working fine (starting programs, playing sids...) but when I decided to experiment with plugins I found out I cannot run most of them.

The MMC64 is a 1.1 REV.B red board unit upgraded to 1.01 BIOS.
The SD card is a 128MB SimpleTech, FAT-16 formatted under Win98 SE.
The plugins are stored in the SYSTEM64 dir as it should be.

Symptoms:

-D64 Writer Plugin - Selecting a D64 file just starts the default (slow) writer
-F5 for BIOS upgrade - nothing happens (system continues normally)
-Starting an .upd file - 1 sec pause (as if loading) then nothing happens (system continues normally)
-Dreamload - Starting a DFI file, same as above.
-TNT Browser - working fine

All of the above under the TNT browser:

-Selecting an .upd file - flashing procedure starts (actually the only way I have to flash the MMC64)
-Selecting a DFI - nothing happens
-Selecting a D64 - Browser enters the D64 (of course), can't test writer

Using BIOS 0.96

-F5 and flashing works
-DFIs are started, but only the first file loads & runs, then system locks. I tried random games from the three packages, is this how it's supposed to behave?
-D64 writer not tested yet

I was thinking about some issues due to long/short filenames incompatibility. I deleted the system 64 dir and made it again with MD SYSTEM64 in a dos shell under Win98, tried to rename plugins to uppercase... nothing changes...

Thanks to anyone who can bring some light... even a match!

See this. It really *is* something wrong with long file names - can you format the card and create SYSTEM64 under Win 2K or XP?

I had similar problems under Win98SE.

When copying plugin files under Win2000 instead, everything is working fine.

CU
Kratznagel

I tried WinXP Professional and here's what happened...

Reformatted the card with FAT-16 under XP and copied everything back on it

-DFIs are now started (but not under TNT browser) but I can't get past the first file. Tried with Jumpman, Mule and Summergames 2. They load & run fine but can't load subsequent parts. Is this behaviour normal ?
-F5 for flashing now works, directly selecting .upd files don't.
-D64 Writer 0.91 now starts when I select a D64 but it locks when I answer "Y" to first question...

A slight improvement, still I don't understand what's wrong... would you suggest a special procedure to create dirs and copy files or are you just using a simple drag-and-drop ?

Release version of my browser doesn't support plugins, so that's normal,

Selecting .upd only works in my browser, as it tries to determine if program is loadable or not. BIOS browser only runs programs ending with ".prg". "Intelligence" in my browser means that it tries to load "*.sid" files too as executables (which is guaranteed to fail).

Thanks, at least I know this behaviour is normal. I still have problems with DL and D64writer though... I hope the authors may come up with some suggestion, living without the DL is painful but without the D64writer is unbearable!

Did you press "K" for kernal emulation (only works with RR)?



What hardware did you use (1541, 1541-II, 1541C, 1571...)? Do you have any hardware speeder installed, like JiffyDos?
I recommend using another floppy device and try again.

BTW: Version 0.92 of my D64 Writer is available on csdb: http://noname.c64.org/csdb/release/?id=21729

CU
Kratznagel

I press "D" since I don't have a RR... ehrm... is there something I didn't understand about DL & the DFIs ?

Tests have been made with the following configurations:

Brown C64 "Breadbox" + brown 1541 drive
Brown C64 "Breadbox" + 1541-II drive
C64c (C64-II) + brown 1541 drive

no speeder or other fancy hw, just an ordinary C64 and its drive.

same result ever: d64writer starts but locks when pressing "Y". I can't tell if it fails to read the D64 (due to the long filenames issue) or it fails to send the commands to the drive...

I'm sorry to say "Yes".
All DFI releases uploaded by Ebster *NEED* kernal emulation (K) and also a retro replay.
The only game that works without it (D) ist Sly Spy (uploaded somewhere here in uploads section).

About D64 Writer:
I forgot to ask you what video mode (PAL/NTSC) your C64 operates at. My plugin only works on PAL machines.
But whatever: Someday there will be a "more compatible" version of my plugin.

CU
Kratznagel

My mistake then. Sad truth but at least now I know it
BTW I tried Sly Spy and it works fine. I have an Action Replay MK VI though, perhaps sooner or later someone will release a patch to use this cart in place of a RR...

My machines are all PAL ones. I got the D64 Reader plugin to work too, only your plugin misses now, but I will patiently wait for a new release. At least until the 1541-III is made available