MSX Core : How to swap disks? [Solved]

[TheMrAwesomeness]

I've set up my MSX core and it works great with the newest Sofarun, but I can't for the life of me to figure out how to swap disks. I'm trying to play New Devil Golvellius, which, to save, asks you to swap to the data disk. However, I don't see any options in the menu for swapping disks, like in the Famicom Disk System in the NES core. I know a lot of people using the MSX core have been playing the Snatcher RPG (which I also plan to get to), which has 3 disks, so I'm guessing someone might have an idea as to how to do it? MSX core information on the web is pretty scarce, since it's not a popular core, I guess, so I haven't been able to find any advice.

[kathleen]

Not tested yet, but maybe this video will help you : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC7uPqucrcs
See also the description below the video

[TheMrAwesomeness]

Interesting, I'm a bit confused as to what he did, but I found a copy of EP.COM. I'll have to learn more how to use it. Doesn't look like something I can use with Sofarun, I'll probably have to use the file manager.

[akeley]

Haven't tried it myself yet but that's what I read elsewhere:

- Switch disks using the number keys on a keyboard when prompted and then press spacebar
> Example: hold 2 followed by space to load disk two. You may have to press and hold "enter" and then type the disk # for some titles https://louthrax.net/mgr/sofarunit_usage.html

[TheMrAwesomeness]

OK, that makes sense. Still am not sure how to create the .BAT file he made, though. Hmm, I'll see if I can figure it out.

[TheMrAwesomeness]

Well, I think I created the necessary .BAT, but I have no idea where to put EP.COM.

[TheMrAwesomeness]

Figured it out!! OK, I'm gonna explain this to everyone, because I had no idea what I was doing and had to do a bunch of guesswork and fiddling around, since the instructions I found weren't that clear and were a bit misleading. Here's a proper guide, so you all don't have to suffer like I did trying to get this to work. And yes, it's perfectly compatible with Sofarun, so you don't need to launch the game from the file manager.

Step 1: (only if you don't already have EP.COM) Download this zip file: http://msxbanzai.tni.nl/computers/ese3.zip
Unzip it and go to TOOLS\DiskImage\EP.COM. Congratulations, you've found EP.COM. If you have one of those VHD's that Pezz 82 linked in his MSX video (That's what I'm using), then you already have an EP.COM file and don't need to worry about this first step.
Step 2: Create a batch file. All you have to do is go into Notepad and save the file with the extension .bat. NML32, the guy who made the YouTube video, said in the description to type something like this in the .bat file:
ep disk1.dsk /b
ep disk2.dsk
ep disk3.dsk
ep disk4.dsk /r
The "/b" is on the first disk, and the "/r" is on the last disk. "Disk1," etc. are just example names, make sure your names for these disk files match exactly the names for the disk files you're going to use. Also, make sure the "Disk 1" lets you start the game. For example, the game I'm playing, the English translation of New Devil Golvellius, only has the intro, title screen, and save feature on the first disk (GOV2ENA.DSK), and to start the game, I have to start with the second disk (GOV2ENB.DSK). So, what I did, was list GOV2ENB.DSK first and GOV2ENA.DSK second, so I can start from the disk that lets me start the game.
Step 3: Get your VHD and mount it with ImDisk. Make sure to register it as a floppy. Put the EP.COM file in your Utils folder, or wherever you normally put your command files. Then, put your batch file you just created, and all of your disk files to the folder you would normally put your game in. Finish the process by right clicking on the drive for your VHD and unmount it. One extra thing to note: EP.COM doesn't seem to like it when you put your game files in a zipped folder (when I tried it, it said it couldn't find the files), so make sure that you put your files in a regular, unzipped folder.

OK, we now have everything set up, so start up the MSX core and select the batch file in Sofarun. To swap disks, hold the F7 key, press the space bar, and then let go of the F7 key. If your keyboard has a caps lock light, it will probably blink when you do this. Then all you have to do is press the number for the disk you want to use, but subtract 1. So, let's say I want to bring up Disk 2, I hold F7, press the space bar, let go of F7, and then press 1. IMPORTANT NOTE: This only works when the game prompts you to swap disks. If you do it any other time, the disks wont swap and your graphics and possibly sound will get all messed up. So, make sure to ONLY do this when prompted to do so. Everything worked fine for me, both when switching to the first disk, and back to the second disk.
There. Probably the internet's first properly explained guide to how to do this. I'm not the most tech savvy, so if anyone is more knowledgeable about this stuff and knows how to do this more efficiently, please feel free to add to this. I wasn't sure what I was doing for the most part, so if I was able to do this, you can too. Have fun!!

[kathleen]

Thank you so much @TheMrAwesomeness for your feedback and for having taken the time to well explain how you did proceed. This is very useful.

[TheMrAwesomeness]

No problem. I'm glad I could add to this. Thanks for sending me the link, there isn't much info out there on the MSX core, and it seems that's one of the only places on the internet that shows you how to swap disks.

[wark91]

For YS 1 game, you need to use a user disk to make a save.
During the process to save, you need to select "F4" and there is a menu proposed in game to put user floppy on disk drive and click return to launch the save or click space to cancel the save.
So when I tried to hold "F7" and click space, the menu to save disappear, in this case i don't if it is possible to save for this game and the swapping is not possible.
Is there another way to make the save ? Is it possible to change "space key" by "windows key" for swapping floppies ?

Thanks,

[fraggore@sky.com]

Well tried everthing and still cant swap disks is there any other keyboard comands.

[fraggore@sky.com]

Right i have worked it out on aleste 2 how to swap disks hold down control and the disk number you want and press space works on a few others i have tried so if you want disk 2 hold control and number 2 and press space and so on hope that helps.

[Yim]

I was really struggling to get disk swapping working following the methods above in this thread. In the end I think the problem was my bad wireless keyboard dropping in and out while I was trying to do the button combos. In the meantime, I found a slightly different method to the one from Awesomeness above. I used SofaRunIt. I made a .bat file with the following:

SRI disk1.dsk disk2.dsk <further disks as needed>

Which I could then select and run in sofarun. When I needed to change disks, I could either hold the number of the disk (which for this program starts from one, so for disk1 press 1, disk2 press 2) and press space, or it lets you hold one of the joystick buttons and then tap the other button once for disk 1, twice for disk 2 and so on. The advantage of this is that if I’m playing on a controller I don’t need to get a keyboard to switch disks. I’ve also added “sr” to the end of my autoexec.bat to go straight into sofarun, so now I can game on the MSX entirely with a controller, no need for a keyboard unless the game actually uses one (or I want to set up another .bat or something).

[Skeeter]

...or it lets you hold one of the joystick buttons and then tap the other button once for disk 1, twice for disk 2 and so on...

This is awesome, works great, thanks for the tip.