Problems installing SNASM2 PCI card

Where did you find this setting, in BIOS setup or a dip switch on the board?

Over the weekend I tried messing with every single setting in the PCI/ISA section of the BIOS setup, one change at a time, but no luck

 

It's a shame you live so far away, else I'd buy you all the beer in Manchester!



The magic settings were L1 and L2 cache, hidden away in an "Advanced Settings" menu I hadn't noticed before. Unfortunately disabling them makes the machine dog slow, so Windows 95 is completely out of the question, but I'm very much at home with a command prompt so it'll do for now.

I've had a thorough play around, here's what I've figured out how to do so far:

• View and test both the Main CPU and Sub CPU with SNTEST.EXE
• Upload a new BIOS file with MEGARUN.EXE (seems to have the SCSI IDs hard coded to 5 (main CPU) and 7 (sub CPU) which is annoying)
• View both CPUs in the debugger, start and stop them, and view memory and registers
• Create an empty MegaCD IMG file
• Write content to the IMG, and stick a binary in the header
• Start the SNSERVER and load an IMG into a disc slot
• Build 68k code with SNASM68K.EXE with debug info that the debugger picks up (SOURCE LEVEL DEBUGGING OH MY GOD!)

Unfortunately trying to upload my built ROM file and unpausing the CPU results in "SCSI ERROR" and the system halts. I'll have another play around tonight and see if I can figure out what's wrong. The manual is pretty thick and I skim read it, so it's likely I'm missing some basics steps.

There's some example source code in the SNASM directory which shows how to read from the SNSERVER too! I can't wait to try that out.

One thing I seem to be missing missing which is mentioned a lot in the MegaCD manual - "SEGA.EXE". This apparently loads up a ROM and sets it running completely standalone, amongst other things. I can't find it on any of my disks - do you have it?

Anyway I'm ranting now, I'm too excited. Thank you so much for your help RetroJunkie and the rest! I'll post back when I have my "Hello World" test app running. It's also probably time for another video and blog post to show everything working properly.

 

Hello! Yes! Excellent! :encouragement: Long live the Pentium!
Sorry I didn't reply sooner, I switched all my forum posts to weekly instead of instant as my inbox almost exploded!

Regarding SEGA.EXE I can't say I've come across it yet, I'll triple check all my resources when I get access in a few days.

But more than happy to help as always, and you can thank my 486DX 100MHz for not having enough slots to fit the;
- CD Emulation card,
- Gravis UltraSound MAX,
- VLB IDE Controller card,
- VLB Trident video card.
I was one slot short! All the long cards had to be at the bottom of the machine and they were all VLB slots.
Two of the cards (GUS and CD Emu) had to be at the bottom and neither were VLB.
The IDE and video card were both VLB but could not be arranged to fit in.
Lucky for us I persisted until I had to abandon the 486DX 100MHz for the Pentium board.
You just can't play DOOM without internal cache on apparently - lags so bad! I'd imagine Win95 would be TERRIBLE! :livid:

Hopefully this thread helps others in the future too and I'm looking forward to that blog post on your site! :topsy_turvy:

 

The "SEGA.EXE" file may also take the form of an "EMULATE.EXE" file along with a "SEGAEMU.HEX" file, according to the C-Trac documentation. I've been hunting for this software for quite awhile, and from what I can tell, nobody here has it. I even tracked down the original creators of the C-Trac card, and not even they have it anymore, although I did manage to get the sourcecode for SEGAEMU.HEX from them (program for the on-board microprocessor). The actual PC executable to drive this card is lost to time right now. Since the C-Trac card is made by a different company (ICOM Simulations), you won't find it on any of the SNASM install disks, it would have been supplied on a separate disk, and I've never even seen a picture of that disk.

The most probable source for finding this software now IMO is the Acclaim tape archives that Assembler has. I'm just hoping that project moves forward at some point and we're able to see the contents. Anyone who might have software archives from actual developers machines that worked on MegaCD games might also have a copy bundled in there somewhere. I've contacted a few members on this forum privately however, and I've never found anyone who has this software.