Video Gram Kracker in MESS/QMC2 and TI-99/4A and questions to load GK files

[globeron]

Video: MESS+QMC2+TI-99/4A and Gram Kracker loading GK formatted files - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBaD-EhA0QY

 

Question:

It is a bit cumbersome everytime to use the "switches" method.

 

 

1. Are there any other methods to load Gram Kracker type of files on a real TI-99/4A ?

(without having a Gram Kracker device).

 

- Can the XB27 Extended Basic Suite load Gram Kracker files in an easy setup?

 

is this possible with a separate loader?

 

- (I have some loaders for XB, which can load Assembler games, but not GK format)

 

 

2. Are there other emulators which can load GK files easily ?

( I have not explored all of them V9T9, Classic99, JS99ers, etc.)

[+mizapf]

The switches are similarly painful in MESS as in real life. However, once there is a better UI, I hope that those switches can be used more easily.

[+arcadeshopper]

Video: MESS+QMC2+TI-99/4A and Gram Kracker loading GK formatted files - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBaD-EhA0QY

 

Question:

It is a bit cumbersome everytime to use the "switches" method.

 

 

1. Are there any other methods to load Gram Kracker type of files on a real TI-99/4A ?

(without having a Gram Kracker device).

 

- Can the XB27 Extended Basic Suite load Gram Kracker files in an easy setup?

 

is this possible with a separate loader?

 

- (I have some loaders for XB, which can load Assembler games, but not GK format)

 

 

2. Are there other emulators which can load GK files easily ?

( I have not explored all of them V9T9, Classic99, JS99ers, etc.)

 

 

The GK hardware has not been emulated in any other emulator. The files are memory images that can be converted/loaded with some massaging.. Classic99/v9t9/js99er can probably load them if they are converted to pc binary and headers removed.

 

also anything the gk saves do we can load in a ubergrom on a real TI

 

Greg

[Gazoo]

Video: MESS+QMC2+TI-99/4A and Gram Kracker loading GK formatted files - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBaD-EhA0QY

 

Question:

It is a bit cumbersome everytime to use the "switches" method.

 

 

1. Are there any other methods to load Gram Kracker type of files on a real TI-99/4A ?

(without having a Gram Kracker device).

 

- Can the XB27 Extended Basic Suite load Gram Kracker files in an easy setup?

 

is this possible with a separate loader?

 

- (I have some loaders for XB, which can load Assembler games, but not GK format)

 

 

2. Are there other emulators which can load GK files easily ?

( I have not explored all of them V9T9, Classic99, JS99ers, etc.)

 

Use the HSGPL emulation in MESS instead of the GramKracker emulation. No switches.

 

Gazoo

[Shift838]

I second the HSGPL emulation in Mess. It's pretty easy to get going.

 

Chris

[Tursi]

Classic99/v9t9/js99er can probably load them if they are converted to pc binary and headers removed.

 

You don't need to remove GRAMKracker headers in Classic99. Classic99 checks for them and skips over them (it ignores the contents, so you still need to load to the right place by hand ). Note that won't work if you load to a different address than the header says:

 

// Check for 6 byte header - our simple check is if

// byte 0 is 0x00 or 0xff, and bytes 4/5 contain the

// load address, then strip the first six bytes

 

A debug is emitted in the log if this happens:

 

debug_write("Removing header from %s", pImg->szFileName);

Edited May 30, 2015 by Tursi

[globeron]

Hi Michael, Gazoo, Cschneider.

...geee that took me 4 hours+ to get it sorted out how to get HSGPL-card to work for a single grom gram gracker file

 

I made a video and reduced it in 27 steps for people who have a HSGPL card and how to get it running

 

but I also noticed the "Please respect the copyright of the SNUG. Usage of the ROMs is only allowed for owners of a real HSGPL card.

 

I hope I am not doing something wrong here (as I do not have the card itself, I had never heard of it before actually).

In the description I have linked again to this message above (conditions to use the ROMS):

 

 

I managed to get the Gram Kracker file to work (for a single type of file, GK files with multiple files for GROM / ROM

I did not got that working, but Tursi mentioned in another post (XB27 Suite ?) that mapping need to be done. I have

not read all the ins/outs of the HSGPL card.

 

 

PS.

I went through all the GramKracker disks I have, but most if not all I have it already in another format which loads

perfectly in Classic99, V9T9, JS99er, MESS/QMC2 and other emulators (no switching required !)

 

But it is good to know how to handle the Gram Kracker files (as in the past I only had the "GramKarte" from Germany.

I found a disk with all the formats described by Eric Paul Rebel which is handy and also I found a Gram-system disk

with all kind of different loaders, for Modulator, Gramulator and variants.

 

 

Next step (as this requires both EVPC and HSGPL working) as I am now trying to see if the SGCPU card can

work as well in MESS/QMC2 (next challenge is...there is no Cartridge port to load the EA module, so need to

load it from disk, but I am back at the "black screen" again).

[globeron]

SGCPU setup luckily did not take too long as Michael already indicated.

 

Copy only the hsgpl files from the nvram directory

(but note there are 2 nvram directories for TI99_4p !)

 

See the video for more details:

[+mizapf]

Setting up the SGCPU in MESS is considered an Advanced Skill, and one time I'll probably have to design a certificate for that!

 

(Honestly, it takes a lot of time and concentrated work to reach that point.)

[globeron]

Setting up the SGCPU in MESS is considered an Advanced Skill, and one time I'll probably have to design a certificate for that!

 

(Honestly, it takes a lot of time and concentrated work to reach that point.)

 

It was not easy, luckily you had the "scroll-lock" item mentioned for the dip-switches for the MESS.

 

Now I also got all the P-code card emulations to work

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7jwHlQfNTAKQ9WdKORAnpA

 

* Still some issue with TI-99/8 and the diskdrive (I noticed that in other systems as well in MESS)

it is not always stable of it looses it configs.

[Gazoo]

 

 

* Still some issue with TI-99/8 and the diskdrive (I noticed that in other systems as well in MESS)

it is not always stable of it looses it configs.

 

You can't have a disk image open in another program, like TIimagetool, while you are using it in MESS. If you have a disk image open in another program and start up MESS, MESS will remove the disk image from the mounted images configuration (and most likely self-terminate).

 

Gazoo

[globeron]

 

You can't have a disk image open in another program, like TIimagetool, while you are using it in MESS. If you have a disk image open in another program and start up MESS, MESS will remove the disk image from the mounted images configuration (and most likely self-terminate).

 

Gazoo

 

thank you! that is probably the reason as I have most of the time TIDIR open to see what is on the disk!

[+mizapf]

You should keep in mind that when you insert a disk in MESS, its contents will be read into memory, and when the emulated floppy motor stops, the changes are synced back to the image file. There is no way to invalidate the cached image, so when you change something in the meantime outside of MESS, you will lose those changes. For that reason, you should never open that same image file in another program (TIDIR or TIImageTool).