SDrive-MAX ATX support

[darwinmac]

Since you are using an Sdrive Max, make sure you have the built-in screensaver on the touchscreen turned OFF. This topic came up about 6-9 months ago. I think mytek was the one doing the research. 
 

He and I were able to get time out errors if you tried to access the Sdrive Max after the touchscreen screensaver kicked in. 
 

If you have the screensaver turned off, I’d be surprised if you see timeout errors. 
 

Bob C

[JagChris]

58 minutes ago, darwinmac said:

Since you are using an Sdrive Max, make sure you have the built-in screensaver on the touchscreen turned OFF. This topic came up about 6-9 months ago. I think mytek was the one doing the research. 
 

He and I were able to get time out errors if you tried to access the Sdrive Max after the touchscreen screensaver kicked in. 
 

If you have the screensaver turned off, I’d be surprised if you see timeout errors. 
 

Bob C

 

Screensaver is active but I've yet to experience a timeout while playing Phantasie at least. Ill keep an eye on it and try to figure out how to disable screensaver if I need to.

 

Are you guys using external power? 

[darwinmac]

2 hours ago, JagChris said:

 

Screensaver is active but I've yet to experience a timeout while playing Phantasie at least. Ill keep an eye on it and try to figure out how to disable screensaver if I need to.

 

Are you guys using external power? 

I don't remember if Phantasie accesses the disk after the game has initially loaded. The problems we saw were if you tried to access a disk after the screensaver had kicked in. There was a delay before the Sdrive Max would react. If the game allows you to try multiple times, you may not have a problem.

 

I can't speak for Mytek, but I used SIO power on my stock XEGS when I used the Sdrive Max. Currently, on my 800XL, I'm using a Fujinet but I still have my Sdrive Max around. I'm hoping to set it up, along with the Sdrive Max, when we move.

 

Bob C

[JagChris]

Can you give me an example of games you know access the disk in a way that causes this problem?

 

I can then test for myself see what's happening.

 

But thank God at least its not happening with Phantasie. 

[darwinmac]

3 minutes ago, JagChris said:

Can you give me an example of games you know access the disk in a way that causes this problem?

 

I can then test for myself see what's happening.

 

But thank God at least its not happening with Phantasie. 

Honestly, I don't remember what games were used. However, I think the problem could be triggered simply by waiting for the screensaver to kick in and try to read a disk's directory. You'd get an error when doing it. However, if you tried again, I think it worked since the first attempt seemed to wake up the Sdrive Max.

 

I think the option to turn off the screensaver is in the CFG menu on the touchscreen. I don't have the Sdrive Max in front of me right now. I decided I'd rather worry about potential "burn-in" on the touchscreen than worry about timeout errors. Therefore, I just turned off the screensaver option.

 

Bob C

[JagChris]

13 minutes ago, darwinmac said:

I don't remember if Phantasie accesses the disk after the game has initially loaded. The problems we saw were if you tried to access a disk after the screensaver had kicked in. There was a delay before the Sdrive Max would react. If the game allows you to try multiple times, you may not have a problem.

 

I can't speak for Mytek, but I used SIO power on my stock XEGS when I used the Sdrive Max. Currently, on my 800XL, I'm using a Fujinet but I still have my Sdrive Max around. I'm hoping to set it up, along with the Sdrive Max, when we move.

 

Bob C

I think I understand what you're talking about. With multiple disks like Phantasie I have to break the screensaver to refocus on the new disk in a disk swap. But I think games like Conan, Goonies etc may do what you're describing if I'm understanding right.

[darwinmac]

2 minutes ago, JagChris said:

I think I understand what you're talking about. With multiple disks like Phantasie I have to break the screensaver to refocus on the new disk in a disk swap. But I think games like Conan, Goonies etc may do what you're describing if I'm understanding right.

If Phantasie only accesses the disk when you have to insert a new disk, that would explain why you haven't seen the problem since you have to stop the screensaver to insert another disk if Phantasie won't automatically look in D2 or D3 for additional disks. If Conan or Goonies accesses the disk during the game (I think you only have to wait 2-3 minutes), then you should see the problem.

[JagChris]

4 minutes ago, darwinmac said:

If Phantasie only accesses the disk when you have to insert a new disk, that would explain why you haven't seen the problem since you have to stop the screensaver to insert another disk if Phantasie won't automatically look in D2 or D3 for additional disks. If Conan or Goonies accesses the disk during the game (I think you only have to wait 2-3 minutes), then you should see the problem.

I'm going to play in a bit and pay attention to when Phantasie accesses the disc and whether its only during complete disk swaps or not. 

 

I think not but not sure.

 

Then ill try both Conan and Goonies.

[JagChris]

Starting out I let it go to screensaver before even turning system on while it was focused on disk 1. No problems.

 

Phantasie seems to access the disc in all sorts of situations. Even disc swaps are done after an initial disc access which my SD max cones out of sceeensaver on its own and my 600XL has no issue with.

 

Game saves, monster encounters etc all seem to access the disc without a disc swap. No issues.

 

An hour and something went by in a blink. I had a lot of fun testing this.

 

Anyone remember if this temple becomes significant later in the game?

 

 

 

Edited February 12, 2023 by JagChris

[JagChris]

OK I just tested my SD Max with CONAN. Milled around on each screen until the SDMax screensaver kicked in then went through to the next level/screen and SDMax came out of screensaver mode without any issues.

 

For those having trouble with timeouts on their SD max try it with external power hooked up if you don't already have it hooked up. And see if that makes any difference on your end.

Edited February 13, 2023 by JagChris

[JagChris]

Is there a program I can use to error check my SD card on my PC? One small corner of the first Dungeon of Phantasie seemed like it went a little wonky.

 

I'm wondering if something like that might possibly help head off any future occurrences like this.

[TZJB]

On 2/14/2023 at 8:55 AM, JagChris said:

Is there a program I can use to error check my SD card on my PC? One small corner of the first Dungeon of Phantasie seemed like it went a little wonky.

 

I'm wondering if something like that might possibly help head off any future occurrences like this.

I have used Rufus from https://rufus.ie/en/# to test SD cards and USB sticks recently and it works well. Select non-bootable and tick the check for bad blocks options. Be aware that it does wipe the data and can take a while, but at least you will know the reliability of the media.

Edited February 15, 2023 by TZJB

[JagChris]

Thanks though it appears I can just use checkdisk but I thought it wasn't giving me that option before.

 

I was remembering wrong. Its not letting me defrag it.

 

But I don't think I care about that.

[TZJB]

1 hour ago, JagChris said:

Thanks though it appears I can just use checkdisk but I thought it wasn't giving me that option before.

 

I was remembering wrong. Its not letting me defrag it.

 

But I don't think I care about that.

Yes CHKDSK will work for error checking and is normally non-destructive but would not be as effective as Rufus at indicating bad sectors. Copying the data from an SD card and putting it back after running a Rufus test does not take that long and will give you confidence in the media.

[JagChris]

Thanks. These are pretty new SD cards. Not a lot of use.

 

I'm working my way through the game Phantasie again. I'll get some corruption I think it's maybe a transmission error because I'll leave the dungeon go to town shut down come back later. Then the dungeon area/room that had little bit of corruption and made my computer freeze will not be there the next time.

[JagChris]

While playing the four disk Phantasie on my SD max which has 4 slots the SD max only ever thinks it has drive 1. Every slot that I have to focus it on for the next disk then becomes drive 1 again. It never thinks it has drive 1-4 that it can peruse through to find what's there.

 

Is there some functionality that I'm implementing wrong or overlooking or is this just how it is for the SD max?

A side note. As I am going through Phantasie I decided to watch a video long play of it. This man has a C64 emulator that he's going through it with.

 

I go through an area and then watch the next section of his video to see him go through pretty much the same area. My observation is that the Commodore 64 version seems to be on some kind of candy ass difficulty level. 

 

For instance in the 3rd dungeon with the lizard man and the 2 fire elementals I was watching him play through after I had just done it. I kept thinking wait till he hits all the baby dragons that'll blow fire on him for up to 15 or more damage points to each party member. He went through the entire dungeon a couple of times and didn't run into a single baby dragon..

 

I believe I run into at least twice as many random encounters on the A8 version compared to the C64 along with greater frequency of tougher monsters. 

 

Just an observation.

[+DjayBee]

4 hours ago, JagChris said:

While playing the four disk Phantasie on my SD max which has 4 slots the SD max only ever thinks it has drive 1. Every slot that I have to focus it on for the next disk then becomes drive 1 again. It never thinks it has drive 1-4 that it can peruse through to find what's there.

I believe that there is a misunderstanding on your side.

 

If you want to use D1 to D4 as viewed from the Atari (assumed fantasy supports this), you just load your images to the four slots.

 

Giving "focus" to any slot is intended to make that slot become D1. It is for titles which consist of more than one disk but expect the user to switch theses disk in D1.

[JagChris]

I will give it a try again but I don't think Phantasie supports multiple drives. Even the C64 emulator guy has to do something similar.

 

Thank you.

Edited February 24, 2023 by JagChris

[JagChris]

Ok I guess Phantasie does not support multi-drive setups.

[Ricky Spanish]

What does the FastSIO do ? Speed increase/decrease ? Like say stock 1050 vs speedy 1050 ? Cause it really doesn't seem to change anything. 

Edited May 9, 2023 by Ricky Spanish

[JagChris]

Eureka! I think I have found the cause of my Atari planetarium freeze up problem. This one does seems to be having problems when the SDMax goes into screensaver mode. Even with external power.

[Ricky Spanish]

15 hours ago, JagChris said:

This one does seems to be having problems when the SDMax goes into screensaver mode.

Really ? Cause it shouldn't matter. At least with mine it doesn't.

[_The Doctor__]

SD Max Screen saver issues and long file name issues have been covered to death. The horse gets drug around and the glue never seems to stick, so we cover it some more. I suspect it'll get fixed when enough people make noise about it. OR somebody with the skill up and does it.

Edited May 12, 2023 by _The Doctor__

[JagChris]

2 hours ago, Ricky Spanish said:

Really ? Cause it shouldn't matter. At least with mine it doesn't.

Yeah it doesn't matter on some games like Phantasie and some others I've tried.

 

But I was testing hashes and all this other stuff trying to figure out what copies were doing what with Planetarium not working for me. And the same copy would start freezing up.at different times. I was like wtf so random. Then I seen the screensaver on and remembered. And thought omg is that it? 

 

Yeah it seems to be from my testing. This program seems to not tolerate any delays in response. 

 

If you are not having issues with Atari Planetarium on the SDMax in this fashion it is possible your SDMax responds quicker from screensaver mode than mine. Perhaps a newer hardware revision.

 

However I was only able to give it a few run throughs last night. Need more testing before a final verdict.

Edited May 13, 2023 by JagChris

[ascrnet]

I don't know if you found out the final version 1.3 "2022-12-04" is out, but here I share the recently compiled version 1.4 beta😆

 

v14b_2023_05_12.zip

Edited May 13, 2023 by ascrnet
file