The Last Squadron

[darwinmac]

2 hours ago, darwinmac said:

I have an Ultimate Cart. I am confident it will work unless this is a rare banking scheme. 
 

Bob C

Unfortunately, the Ultimate Cart does not support the XEGS 512K cartridge image that @Sikor sent to me. The Ultimate Cart manual states it supports standard and switchable XEGS cartridge types up to 1024K. Both Atari800MacX and Altirra prompt me whether the cartridge is a 512K XEGS, MegaCart, 512K Switchable XEGS, or SIC! cart so I think the emulator cannot be sure what type of cartridge image it is. I am wondering if the cartridge header can be changed so the Ultimate Cart knows it is a 512K switchable XEGS cartridge.

[darwinmac]

10 minutes ago, darwinmac said:

Unfortunately, the Ultimate Cart does not support the XEGS 512K cartridge image that @Sikor sent to me. The Ultimate Cart manual states it supports standard and switchable XEGS cartridge types up to 1024K. Both Atari800MacX and Altirra prompt me whether the cartridge is a 512K XEGS, MegaCart, 512K Switchable XEGS, or SIC! cart so I think the emulator cannot be sure what type of cartridge image it is. I am wondering if the cartridge header can be changed so the Ultimate Cart knows it is a 512K switchable XEGS cartridge.

The prompt in both emulators gave me a clue. I told Altirra that it was a 512k switchable cartridge image and saved that image. 
 

At that point, the game loaded perfectly on the Ultimate Cart. Shortly thereafter, the game beat me badly. ?

[_The Doctor__]

Those two fix ups should be provided to SIKOR and he can include them in digital emails...

[Beeblebrox]

I am getting an error "not the correct size for a binary image of this cart type" in Maxflash studio when trying to flash an LS BIN file to an 8Mb Maxflash cart. (BIN created in Altirra from the LS CAR).

 

Basically I want to create my own standalone cart version of the game just so I can save my scores.

 

Since I only have LS XEX or CAR and no ATR, I need to make an LS BIN for Maxflash studio initially.

 

So I load up the CAR file in Altirra to use Altirra's save firmware function to save it as a BIN. (When loading into Altirra as a CAR I have tried creating a BIN from both 512k XEGS cart or 512K XEGS switchable cart options as these are the only options that run the CAR successfully in Altirra. (All other cart type options crash Altirra).

 

Then from Altirra I save firmware-->save cartridge, where I save as a raw BIN file (512k). This I understood gives me a BIN I can use in Maxflash, which I undestand should allow me to flash to a blank 8Mb Maxflash cart here:

 

 

I then try to flash the 8Mb Maxflash cart in Maxflash studio with the BIN file and get the error, whether the BIN file is either an 512k XEGS cart BIN or 512K XEGS switchable car BIN:

 

 

 

Any ideas?

 

 

 

Edited December 20, 2021 by Beeblebrox

[darwinmac]

1 hour ago, _The Doctor__ said:

Those two fix ups should be provided to SIKOR and he can include them in digital emails...

I assume it will be easier for him ( @Sikor) to do it himself. If he wants the image that I fixed with Altirra, I will obviously share it with him. 
 

Bob C

[MichaG]

Thanks for the digital copy

[marauder666]

12 hours ago, shanti77 said:

@marauder666 in HexEditor you need to change 3 byte from the end of the image, currently there is a value of 5, you should change it to 4. Then there will be no problem with the SIO.

It already is 4.

 

0000A6A1 000479B7

 

[shanti77]

@marauder666   So this is the latest version of the image and there should be no problem with the SIO.

Cartridge from The Last Squadron does not have an option to save the results.
Ready game cartridge can be purchased from Sikor.

 

 

Edited December 21, 2021 by shanti77

[marauder666]

Probably something else causing the AVG issue then.

 

Computer is a PAL 600XL with U1MB and Simple Stereo.

 

AVG cart is firmware 0021, with SIO cable, with a permanent link to activate SIO soldered on the pads on the cartridge board.  Doesnt have the cable now supplied, I made my own.

 

 

 

[shanti77]

@marauder666    Maybe try it like @darwinmac:

Load cartridges in Altirra, select "(24) *512 XEGS" or "(37) 512K Switchable XEGS". Now choose File-> Save Firmware-> Save Cartridge    and save as "TLS.car." Now try to load such a file from AVG.

 

The .bin file is a cartridge image without any additional data, and the .car file contains information about the banking type.

Edited December 21, 2021 by shanti77

[Beeblebrox]

50 minutes ago, shanti77 said:

@marauder666    Maybe try it like @darwinmac:

Load cartridges in Altirra, select "(24) *512 XEGS" or "(37) 512K Switchable XEGS". Now choose File-> Save Firmware-> Save Cartridge    and save as "TLS.car." Now try to load such a file from AVG.

 

The .bin file is a cartridge image without any additional data, and the .car file contains information about the banking type.

@shanti77  Great game btw - gonna be playing this one a lot over the Christmas hols. 

 

As per my post above regarding trying to create a BIN via Altirra from the CAR file to then use in Maxflash studio to create a Maxflash 8Mb cart for my own personal use. (Mainly to save scores). Any reason you know of why the BIN file isn't liked by Maxflash studio? I've tried creating BIN files from both the 512XEGS and 512K Switchable XEGS versions in Altirra to then use. Maxflash just doesn't recognise them as viable BIN files in that respect. Detials in my earlier post.

Edited December 21, 2021 by Beeblebrox

[marauder666]

Even easier, rename as .bin and the AVG figures out what it is.

Archive received had a .car and .xex.   No .bin file.

 

Saving in Altirra also worked.

[Beeblebrox]

@marauder666 Cool re AVG.  

 

Pity it doesn't solve my particular problem. (Just tried it just in case but no luck). Doh!

Edited December 21, 2021 by Beeblebrox

[tmp]

12 hours ago, marauder666 said:

Even easier, rename as .bin and the AVG figures out what it is.

Archive received had a .car and .xex.   No .bin file.

if that works for you, cool, but actually it shouldn't (unless that CAR file is a misnamed BIN without header)

[ascrnet]

It works perfect with the ultimate cart ?, but the image provided is a .car without its header so the emulators do not recognize the type of cartridge. ?

[darwinmac]

13 minutes ago, ascrnet said:

It works perfect with the ultimate cart ?, but the image provided is a .car without its header so the emulators do not recognize the type of cartridge. ?

If it worked without you having to add the cartridge header, I wonder how you did it. 
 

On my Ultimate Cart, it immediately told me it was an incompatible cartridge type until I added the header. 
 

Bob C

[_The Doctor__]

maybe update your ultimate to latest firmware fixes... I have two am about to use the altera usb blaster on.

[slx]

Any chance to get a mailed digital copy for the box buyers who want to keep their box sealed?

[Sikor]

Ok, just rename .car to .bin in some cases. I add 256KB type cartridge to digital version - i will send it today evening (and resend package to person, who just got it).

[Mr Robot]

Will the people with physical copies be able to download the digital release?  

 

From the last comment it looks like the car is just a bin that has been renamed, and it doesn't actually contain a car header. That would explain all the loading oddness with the various multicarts. 

 

The digital release should include both a CAR and a BIN, one for multicarts and emulators the other for people wanting to flash their own carts. I know its trivial to convert between them but there is a lot of confusion about these file types and I think most people would like someone to do the trivial bit for them. I know that every time I post a car of a recent bin file I get a lot of people thanking me 

 

 

 

 

 

[Wrathchild]

On 12/20/2021 at 11:25 PM, Beeblebrox said:

the BIN file is either an 512k XEGS cart BIN or 512K XEGS switchable car

The AtariMax bank-switching and XEGS/SW-XEGS aren't compatible so this is not possible.

[Beeblebrox]

1 minute ago, Wrathchild said:

The AtariMax bank-switching and XEGS/SW-XEGS aren't compatible so this is not possible.

@Wrathchild  Thanks. So is there any way to get a workable digital format from my purchased LS digital copy that Atarimax can use to create a bootable standalone cart just out of curiosity? With Flob I have made a cart version on an Atarimax 8Mb cart which I can use to save my progress, achievements and scores, etc. Ideally I'd like to be able to do the same for TLS. 

[Wrathchild]

Flob has code specific to saving back to an cartridge, so with TLS, no, the authors don't appear to cater for that. With an XEGS model there is a fixed 8K bank at $A000 and then other banks are swapped in at $8000.

So with an AtariMax you only have an 8K window at $A000. I should think compiling the code to relocate the fixed bank to $8000 and then use $A000 for the swapped banks isn't a great deal of work.

But that still won't give you saving unless added to an AtariMax build.

[Beeblebrox]

1 minute ago, Wrathchild said:

Flob has code specific to saving back to an cartridge, so with TLS, no, the authors don't appear to cater for that. With an XEGS model there is a fixed 8K bank at $A000 and then other banks are swapped in at $8000.

So with an AtariMax you only have an 8K window at $A000. I should think compiling the code to relocate the fixed bank to $8000 and then use $A000 for the swapped banks isn't a great deal of work.

But that still won't give you saving unless added to an AtariMax build.

@Wrathchild  Ok, thanks for explaining.  I think a lot of this is beyond my skillset. I'll just make do with playing the CAR and XEXs on my A8s. Gonna have some fun with this one. Played a level with the Zipstick joystick instead of the CX40 and it's so much ealier on the hands.

 

[ascrnet]

13 hours ago, darwinmac said:

If it worked without you having to add the cartridge header, I wonder how you did it.

If you add the header to the .CAR file, this is necessary in Ultimate cart for accurate detection. I remember that on 8K cartridges it is not necessary as it reads it as .ROM as well.

13 hours ago, _The Doctor__ said:

maybe update your ultimate to latest firmware fixes... I have two am about to use the altera usb blaster on.

is not necessary as this format is supported by the firmware that comes with the Ultimate cart. ?