Cannot run SD Snatcher, MSX2 [SOLVED]

Zering

@AdamBeGood Space Manbow is amazing, I think it's my favourite shooter on the system. Hard as hell though.

Edit : You'll need to set your input to Joystick + Emulated Keyboard for games with a complex control scheme like the two Metal Gears. They work fine in lr-fmsx.

AdamBeGood

@Zering said in Cannot run SD Snatcher, MSX2 [SOLVED]:

@AdamBeGood It seems .ROM games run fine in lr-bluemsx and lr-fmsx. My preference is lr-fmsx as mapping the controls is as simple as setting your input to Joystick + Emulated Keyboard, although some games, like Xanadu, do require a keyboard to get into the inventory and save menus.
I tested Illusion City on the Turbo R this morning and it runs fine in lr-bluemsx. Openmsx requires a Boosted Turbo R, I don't have the courage as of yet to repeat the process of getting that to work.

Hahaha I think we should just play some stuff for a while... Space Manbow is really good! My controller seems to map okay in Blue and Open without me having to do anything.

Zering

Weird - while trying to respond to your last post I seem to have edited my previous one ^^

AdamBeGood

@Zering said in Cannot run SD Snatcher, MSX2 [SOLVED]:

Weird - while trying to respond to your last post I seem to have edited my previous one ^^

Spooky!

Metal Gear works fine for me without any messing about on BlueMSX. I can use a controller and operate my "transceiver"!

Was Illusion City on Mega CD translated? Looks a good game.

Zering

@AdamBeGood Metal Gear is a mess for me on bluemsx. I can't use the transceiver or get into any of the menus.

Edit : Illusion City wasn't translated on Mega CD, but there's a translation for the Turbo R. It's incomplete, however. Only six out of eight discs were translated. Fifteen years ago or something like that...

AdamBeGood

@Zering said in Cannot run SD Snatcher, MSX2 [SOLVED]:

@AdamBeGood Metal Gear is a mess for me on bluemsx. I can't use the transceiver or get into any of the menus.

How weird...

Zering

@AdamBeGood Are you perhaps using a driver like xboxdrv?

AdamBeGood

@AdamBeGood said in Cannot run SD Snatcher, MSX2 [SOLVED]:

@Zering said in Cannot run SD Snatcher, MSX2 [SOLVED]:

@AdamBeGood It seems .ROM games run fine in lr-bluemsx and lr-fmsx. My preference is lr-fmsx as mapping the controls is as simple as setting your input to Joystick + Emulated Keyboard, although some games, like Xanadu, do require a keyboard to get into the inventory and save menus.
I tested Illusion City on the Turbo R this morning and it runs fine in lr-bluemsx. Openmsx requires a Boosted Turbo R, I don't have the courage as of yet to repeat the process of getting that to work.

Hahaha I think we should just play some stuff for a while... Space Manbow is really good! My controller seems to map okay in Blue and Open without me having to do anything.

With Illusion City, do you get a message that says about it requiring a Turbo machine, but that you may continue? If I change the machine type to Turbo R and restart in Blue MSX, I still get this.

Now, I've come out and gone back in again on the new Turbo R setting and I am just getting a blank screen...Arg.

AdamBeGood

@Zering I am using that! (xboxdrv)

Zering

@AdamBeGood That's probably it then. I'm thinking of installing it but I'm not sure how it works, and as I'm using a dozen different controllers to fit different systems I want to make sure it wouldn't impact my current setup.

I did get the same message on openmsx, hence what I said about hunting down the BIOS files. The game works fine on bluemsx, which, unlike fmsx, has a disk control option.
However I didn't get any problems starting it on bluemsx, so maybe you're missing a BIOS that I have and don't know about?
Also, the games does start and play at full speed on openMSX with a Boosted Eng MSX2 but I'm not sure if the performance holds up later in the game.

Edit : The translation is hilarious by the way, it obviously wasn't done by native english speakers. It's like watching one of those Hong Kong-subtitled kung fu films ^^

AdamBeGood

This post is deleted!

AdamBeGood

@Zering said in Cannot run SD Snatcher, MSX2 [SOLVED]:

@AdamBeGood That's probably it then. I'm thinking of installing it but I'm not sure how it works, and as I'm using a dozen different controllers to fit different systems I want to make sure it wouldn't impact my current setup.

I did get the same message on openmsx, hence what I said about hunting down the BIOS files. The game works fine on bluemsx, which, unlike fmsx, has a disk control option.
However I didn't get any problems starting it on bluemsx, so maybe you're missing a BIOS that I have and don't know about?
Also, the games does start and play at full speed on openMSX with a Boosted Eng MSX2 but I'm not sure if the performance holds up later in the game.

Edit : The translation is hilarious by the way, it obviously wasn't done by native english speakers. It's like watching one of those Hong Kong-subtitled kung fu films ^^

I just got blank screen on OpenMSX as well - I wonder if the file got corrupted on the BlueMSX crash.... I really don't need Illusion City in my life, I've got enough games and RPGs take so long. Especially if the translation isn't spot on - even if there is some fun to be had in that!

Just back up first and then give xboxdrv a go, it's never caused me any trouble and I use other controllers (8bitdo, PSClassic controller, Capcom Home Arcade) without any bother.

Zering

I'm very interested in Illusion City, even if the translation is shoddy and unfinished. It seems like it's one of those MSX RPGs that was ages ahead of most other 8-bit RPGs. I find most JRPGs from this era (Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Phantasy Star...) to be difficult to get into, and Illusion City and SD Snatcher feel like they might be excellent entry points into that era of the genre.
I think I will give xboxdrv a spin. Hopefully I can get the same sort of results you're getting with MSX emulation.

AdamBeGood

@Zering said in Cannot run SD Snatcher, MSX2 [SOLVED]:

I'm very interested in Illusion City, even if the translation is shoddy and unfinished. It seems like it's one of those MSX RPGs that was ages ahead of most other 8-bit RPGs. I find most JRPGs from this era (Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Phantasy Star...) to be difficult to get into, and Illusion City and SD Snatcher feel like they might be excellent entry points into that era of the genre.
I think I will give xboxdrv a spin. Hopefully I can get the same sort of results you're getting with MSX emulation.

It's a fair shout and I do feel the same way about getting into RPGs. I will see how I get on with SD Snatcher, and hope someone refines the translation of Illusion in the mean-time.

Good luck with xboxdrv!

Folly

@Zering @AdamBeGood

Nice to hear it is all working for you both.
MSX is such a joy !!!
It was my first computer in 1985. I still have this MSX2 (SONY HB-F700P).
With friends trying to play, mostly Konami games, to the end in the weekends.
It's true that back in the day's we used the keyboard often in a game. We spend months on Metal Gear trying to play it to the end. I can remember that when you wanted to save a point in Metal Gear you had to do that on cassette. A friend of mine didn't have a cassette player. So he kept his computer on for weeks. And when he was almost at the end, his sister turned of his computer. Just imagine how angry he was :)

Read somewhere in the post that the keyboard of lr-bluemsx can't be used. The solution is to put this :
input_enable_hotkey = "tab"
in /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg
So then the hotkey's of retroarch only work when the "tab" is pressed. So now you can use the keyboard. (also with other cores)

Well openMSX is really good. I suggest you all try to find the right BIOS pack. Then you all can also play with, for example, PIONEER PALCOM LASERDISC.

Zering

@Folly I didn't realize the MSX was popular outside of Japan at any time! Thanks for this bit of history. I find myself fascinated by all those old computers ; I'm growing to love the Sharp X68000 too (I should start an X68000 appreciation thread!)
Your friend's experience with Metal Gear is fairly similar to mine ; when I played through it earlier this year I had no clue about save disks and whatnot. I played through a good chunk of the game, then had to stop, only to realize I couldn't save (I can't remember why). Thankfully lr-fmsx supports save states! ^^ (I then proceeded to save and load states every time the game began to be a little frustrating, which happens a LOT towards the end ^^)

What on earth is a Pioneer Palcom Laserdisc??

Edit : Does anybody know if there's a keyboard shortcut to bring up the openmsx menu in game? I'd like to dispense with the mouse.

mitu

@Zering said in Cannot run SD Snatcher, MSX2 [SOLVED]:

Edit : Does anybody know if there's a keyboard shortcut to bring up the openmsx menu in game? I'd like to dispense with the mouse.

Out-of-the-box, there isn't. But you can bind it to a gamepad button. I'd recommend to bind both the menu and the OSD keyboard:

bind_default "joy1 button9 down" "main_menu_open"
bind_default "joy1 button8 down" "toggle_osd_keyboard"

Press F10 to toggle the command console and then enter those commands (you'll have to find the button numbers with jstest). Make sure you save your configuration afterwards - I think by default openMSX will save your config, but you can just save the configuration to be sure.

I'm growing to love the Sharp X68000 too (I should start an X68000 appreciation thread!)

The X68000 is a great system, unfortunately the emulators present in RetroPie are not 100% 'there' - px68k-libretro has no save states and MIDI support and mame is too slow even for a Pi4.

Zering

@mitu That's excellent. By the same logic would I be able to map the F1-F3 buttons and spacebar to my controller?
Will I know how to save the configuration manually? Will it be obvious?

And yes, px68k has a few problems (lack of MIDI support is the worst offender, but I can live without save states), but it emulates the games beautifully, and it's easy to set up and convenient to use.
Do you know if the core is still being maintained?

Folly

@Zering said in Cannot run SD Snatcher, MSX2 [SOLVED]:

@Folly I didn't realize the MSX was popular outside of Japan at any time! Thanks for this bit of history.

Well it was very social, buying cartridges together (quite expensive these days (75 guilders). Swapping disks with each other. Building switches on konami cartridges to use the SCC with our "backups".

What on earth is a Pioneer Palcom Laserdisc??

It's an MSX1 with a laserdisk. (sort of DVD player). These games are MSX1 with a video background. (Just like Daphne games)

Edit : Does anybody know if there's a keyboard shortcut to bring up the openmsx menu in game? I'd like to dispense with the mouse.

If you have a windows keyboard, it's the "menu key" between R-alt and R-ctrl.

mitu

@Zering said in Cannot run SD Snatcher, MSX2 [SOLVED]:

@mitu That's excellent. By the same logic would I be able to map the F1-F3 buttons and spacebar to my controller?

Yes, that can be done, though the syntax is not so simple - see

There's a PR to enhance openMSX and create a gamepad auto-configuration automatically, but it's not merged yet.

Will I know how to save the configuration manually? Will it be obvious?

I think it's in the openMSX menu.

And yes, px68k has a few problems (lack of MIDI support is the worst offender, but I can live without save states), but it emulates the games beautifully, and it's easy to set up and convenient to use.
Do you know if the core is still being maintained?

It receives enhancements for the libretro integration, but that's about it. It's based on a standalone emulator (WinX68 I think?) that is no longer developed.