SofaRun 3.2 & SofaROM 2.4 released

Prophet (2465)

13-10-2017, 15:23

Hi all,

I've just released SofaRun 3.2 and SofaROM 2.4, you can download
them from my website.

Please remove any existing SR.SST file from your "settings" directory when installing this new version (I had to change the global settings structure a bit).

Main change for SofaRun is the new "ZIP filter function" (in the "Quit" menu). You can specifiy there a filter used when displaying ZIP files content. That can be specially useful if your ROMs are named based on the TOSEC naming convention. Keyboard input is allowed.

The filter is using a classic wildcard system with "*" and "?":

"?" matches any single character.
"*" matches any sequence of characters.

Here are some examples:

"Z*" display all files starting with letter Z.
"*.ROM" display all ROM files.
"*(KONAMI)*" display all files released by Konami.
"*(199?)*" display all files released in the nineties.

Also, the last launched file in ZIP file is now identified by its CRC32 instead of index.

Main change in SofaROM is the support for Carnivore 2 (both RAM and Flash modes). ROMs up to 720KB are supported in RAM mode, and ROMs up to 4MB are supported in Flash mode.

You have to reserve an entry for SofaROM in the Carnivore 2 flash memory in order to use it (the Carnivore 2 can be flashed in RAM mode without doing that, but the size is limited to 720KB). Here's the procedure for it:

Extract one of the file in CARNIROM.ZIP depending on the space you want to reserve for SofaROM in flash memory. Go to the SofaROM directory, and type:
SUZ E CARNIROM.ZIP SOFAROM1.ROM
SOFAROM1.ROM will reserve 1MB in flash memory, SOFAROM2.ROM will reserve 2MB, etc...
Flash the extracted ROM file in the Carnivore 2 flash memory using C2MAN.COM or C2MAN_40.COM (the same way you flash a normal ROM).
Reset you MSX.

Other changes in SofaROM are:

Added "2x" flash speed for all flash devices except MegaFlashROM
SCC.
Added an error message on flash errors instead of freezing. This
could help to diagnose the flash problem with MFRSCC+(SD) on some
MSX. The current flash operation is mentionned (erasing or
writing). The system is not locked and you can retry flashing at a
different speed, but so far I always had to power off my MSX for a
while in order to make the MFRSCC+(SD) work again. I've seen no
flash errors with the Carnivore 2 yet.

By Louthrax

Prophet (2465)

14-10-2017, 02:23

Small update:

There was a regression on the "SD Snatcher" cartridge device (that device was not flashed at the good offset anymore, causing crashes). That's fixed.
The priority order of the ROM devices has been changed. Devices are sorted by reliability first (the turboR or Memory Mappers are less "reliable" because they need ROM patching for all mapper types, ESE-SCC need patches only for some mappers, etc...). For the same reliability, non-flash devices have priority (in order to spare the flash chips). Here's the new priority order (and /D command line parameters):
```
  /Dx: Select preferred device
     0: Memory mapper
     1: turboR mapper
     2: SD Snatcher
     3: Snatcher
     4: MegaRAM
     5: ESE SCC
     6: MegaFlashROM SCC
     7: MegaFlashROM SCC+
     8: MegaFlashROM SCC+ SD
     9: Carnivore 2 - Flash
    10: GR8NET
    11: Multi-MSXRAM
    12: Carnivore 2 - RAM
```

I've not changed version numbers, just re-download.

By Pippo

Hero (521)