Minimig AGA Issue

[insanityprawnboy]

Hello.

I got my MiSTer yesterday, and I've been playing Arcade roms on it, as well as Intellivision, Atari 8-bit, NES, SNES, Genisis, and ZX Spectrum roms. So it's all working great.

The issue I'm having is that I can't get the Amiga running on it. I've looked at videos on YouTube, and when I hit F12, some of the options don't appear to be on mine that are on the videos.

When it starts up, it says "No Kickstarted loaded". I'm guessing this is the problem?

If anyone could help out, that'd be great.

Thank you.

[jca]

You need a Kickstart rom (BIOS). There are many but they differ by their version and the model of Amiga for which they are designed. You also have to setup the Amiga the way you want.
The easiest way to start, in particular for games is to use the MegaAGS "pack" which boots in a menu where you can play a multitude of games.. Look for MegaAGS-v2022.11.11, read carefully the instructions MegaAGS-ReadMe.txt. It is a big download.

[insanityprawnboy]

You need a Kickstart rom (BIOS). There are many but they differ by their version and the model of Amiga for which they are designed. You also have to setup the Amiga the way you want.
The easiest way to start, in particular for games is to use the MegaAGS "pack" which boots in a menu where you can play a multitude of games.. Look for MegaAGS-v2022.11.11, read carefully the instructions MegaAGS-ReadMe.txt. It is a big download.

Once again, thank you for your help. I shall get to it!

[jca]

Don't forget what I said earlier in another thread:

When you know it is easy but when you start it is difficult to find the right information or even to ask the right question. The forum is a good place to ask and get answers.
For consoles and computers you are on your own to find the ROMs. There is some help for BIOSes, there is a setting somewhere in the script setup but I did not use it, I look for these BIOSes myself. You also have to read the Wiki for these cores and set them up like how to name the BIOS, ...
Good luck and have fun.

[limi]

And if you prefer it in video form, this is a pretty recent setup tutorial:

[kolla]

You need a Kickstart rom (BIOS).

This really makes me cringe - only x86 PCs have (had) BIOS.

[Malor]

BIOS means Basic Input/Output System, and is early PC-only, but it IS a system ROM. Calling a Kickstart a BIOS is technically incorrect, but it gets at the gist of the underlying truth... it's the ROM that the system needs to start.

insanityprawnboy: the Amiga was a sophisticated computer, arguably the first modern operating system on a mass market machine. The MegaAGS system will ease you past most of the complexity, but read its instructions very carefully. It's putting numerous files in specific places, including two hard drive images, the system ROM it wants, several different versions of the configuration files (so you can emulate an A500 or an A1200 easily), and some video-mode adjustment data. If you get everything put into the right place, running games becomes dead simple.

If you want to actually understand the system, expect to spend a substantial amount of time learning it. There's a lot going on, for a machine that early. Real Amiga users often took a couple years to truly get good at it.

[jca]

..
When it starts up, it says "No Kickstarted loaded". I'm guessing this is the problem?
...

He visibly did not know what a KickStart is which is a reason I said "You need a Kickstart rom (BIOS)". Everyone knows what a BIOS is and although incorrect in this case I hope it got him kickstarted.

This really makes me cringe - only x86 PCs have (had) BIOS.

Instead of making a totally useless post you could have explained him in detail what a KickStart is.

[Chris23235]

You need a Kickstart rom (BIOS).

This really makes me cringe - only x86 PCs have (had) BIOS.

Nonsense. The concept of a BIOS predates the x86 PCs. It was created in 1976 by Gary Kildall for CP/M. At this point x86 processors didn't even exist (the 8086 were released in 1978 and the 8088 the CPU in the first IBM PCs was released even a year later in 1979).

Since CP/M the term BIOS is used, whenever a hardware specific very basic kernel is used to run a more standardized software OS. Under this definition the term BIOS is very fitting for the Kickstart ROM of the Amiga.

https://livingcomputers.org/Blog/Profil ... ldall.aspx

[insanityprawnboy]

I have to get a larger SD card. The 8gb one isn't enough to get the Amiga stuff on it. I downloaded what was recommended to me here, and it's waiting in a folder on my PC. I'll be doing that later this week as soon as I have a bigger SD card.

In the meantime, I was happily changing parts of the video processing functions... adaptive scanlines... CRT simulation... Shadow Mask etc, and the games I did looked great. Everything was going really well. Except, one arcade game won't load since then. Burger Time. It just bleeps once and the part of the screen that should be the game goes white. That's it.

So I "updated all" again, but that didn't make it work either.

I don't want to bug anyone too much, I've tried reading around on this forum to find out what it might be, but I'm worried I might make matters worse. Does that issue - the way I described it, a beep and a white screen after changing the video process features - then the arcade game not loading - sound familiar to anyone here?

Edit: I just discovered that when I go reset settings, then it comes on again. But I can't get it to run without doing that. I mean, it's not the end of the world, but it's not quite right. I can live with it though.

[Malor]

You need a Kickstart rom (BIOS).

This really makes me cringe - only x86 PCs have (had) BIOS.

Nonsense. The concept of a BIOS predates the x86 PCs. It was created in 1976 by Gary Kildall for CP/M. At this point x86 processors didn't even exist (the 8086 were released in 1978 and the 8088 the CPU in the first IBM PCs was released even a year later in 1979).

Since CP/M the term BIOS is used, whenever a hardware specific very basic kernel is used to run a more standardized software OS. Under this definition the term BIOS is very fitting for the Kickstart ROM of the Amiga.

https://livingcomputers.org/Blog/Profil ... ldall.aspx

BIOS has a specific meaning: Basic Input/Output System. DOS comes from the CP/M lineage, it was more or less a reimplementation, so the two systems doing the same thing with their ROM makes perfect sense. The BIOS in pre-2000 PCs is extremely simple; it just provides a standard interface to a standard list of hardware types, and that's all.

Kickstart is not a BIOS. Calling it one is like pointing at an F18 in flight, and shouting about the Cessna.

[Malor]

Edit: I just discovered that when I go reset settings, then it comes on again. But I can't get it to run without doing that. I mean, it's not the end of the world, but it's not quite right. I can live with it though.

Try resetting the Burger Time settings, and then saving them. That might fix it permanently.

edit: it's also not that unusual for cores to interfere with one another. I generally do a warm reboot between cores, and if anything acts funny, I'll do a cold reboot. And I've even seen a couple of times, after the main Mister binary was updated, that I had to physically power-cycle the machine to get things working right again.

[insanityprawnboy]

Edit: I just discovered that when I go reset settings, then it comes on again. But I can't get it to run without doing that. I mean, it's not the end of the world, but it's not quite right. I can live with it though.

Try resetting the Burger Time settings, and then saving them. That might fix it permanently.

edit: it's also not that unusual for cores to interfere with one another. I generally do a warm reboot between cores, and if anything acts funny, I'll do a cold reboot. And I've even seen a couple of times, after the main Mister binary was updated, that I had to physically power-cycle the machine to get things working right again.

I did all you recommended there, including powering off and starting up again. I even tried deleting the files and replacing them (I'd backed up all the files on the PC), but it's still the same. Very strange.

[jca]

You could try to delete /media/fat/config/btime.CFG and see if it helps.

[Malor]

Do that deletion while you're at the main menu, not in Burger Time, and then reboot again before you restart that core, just in case.

(The reboot probably isn't necessary, but it takes like ten seconds, so what the heck.)

[insanityprawnboy]

You could try to delete /media/fat/config/btime.CFG and see if it helps.

I don't know where to go to do that. I've tried finding out on YouTube as I haven't wanted to ask as I don't want to be a pain, but unfortunately I'm still none the wiser.

I've noticed two other arcade roms acting in the same way since I altered the Video processing. The vast majority of those I altered are fine. But Golden Axe has the same issue as Burger Time, and also Galaga (except I can't get this one to work).

[jca]

First you have to go to the Linux console by pressing F9.
Linux is case sensitive so you have to type the following by respecting the case.
The user name is root and the password is 1.
You will get a prompt and will have to type the following 2 commands:
cd /media/fat/config
rm btime.CFG
Press F9 again to go back to the menu.
Note: Although ExtFAT is case insensitive under MISTer it is a go idea to always respect the case of directories/files.

If it works it is likely because when you started trying Arcades you had no ROMs, got an error plus a black screen, may be rebooted and left the config file messed up. It may be the same for your other arcades with problems. You can also delete the config files for those:
After deleting btime.CFG you can type
ls
this will list all the files and you should be able to figure out which ones to delete.
If there are too many files to see in one screen you can type
ls|more
This will display one screen at a time and pressing a key will go to the next.

[insanityprawnboy]

First yYou have to go to the Linux console by pressing F9.
Linux is case sensitive so you have to type the following by respecting the case.
The user name is root and the password is 1.
You will get a prompt and will have to type the following 2 commands:
cd /media/fat/config
rm btime.CFG
Press F9 again to go back to the menu.
Note: Although ExtFAT is case insensitive under MISTer it is a go idea to always respect the case of directories/files.

If it works it is likely because when you started trying Arcades you had no ROMs, got an error plus a black screen, may be rebooted and left the config file messed up. It may be the same for your other arcades with problems. You can also delete the config files for those:
After deleting btime.CFG you can type
ls
this will list all the files and you should be able to figure out which ones to delete.
If there are too many files to see in one screen you can type
ls|more
This will display one screen at a time and pressing a key will go to the next.

Thank you for your reply and help.

I did the following what you said...

"You will get a prompt and will have to type the following 2 commands:
cd /media/fat/config
rm btime.CFG"

When I tried to run Burgertime again, it was the same as before, as in the only way I could get it to start was by pressing F12 then resetting it, except this time - unlike before - the Video processing settings I'd altered went back to how they were before I did so.

I still have the same issue with Golden Axe. Except I get that to work by pressing F12 and then turning the Service mode from off to on then to off again. I have tried since to save settings whilst in the game with the service mode set to the on to see if that would make any difference, but it didn't.

It's not the end of the world with either of the games, as I can get them to both work. I just don't understand why they're not working as they did before.

[rhester72]

If you've set vsync_adjust in MiSTer.ini (especially to something other than 1), some arcade cores aren't happy about that...something else to check.

[insanityprawnboy]

If you've set vsync_adjust in MiSTer.ini (especially to something other than 1), some arcade cores aren't happy about that...something else to check.

It was set to 0, I just set it to 1. But unfortunately, it didn't fix the issue with Burger Time and Golden Axe. But I appreciate your suggestion nonetheless.

[jca]

When you say "I just discovered that when I go reset settings, then it comes on again. But I can't get it to run without doing that." do you mean than after resetting the settings and without modifying the settings it does not work the next time?
After doing the reset of the settings did you save the settings?

[jca]

There is something I do not understand: when you deleted btime.CFG you said you lost your settings which is normal as it is the file where your settings are stored. When you start the core after that it should create a default settings file which should work without having to reset the settings.

[insanityprawnboy]

When you say "I just discovered that when I go reset settings, then it comes on again. But I can't get it to run without doing that." do you mean than after resetting the settings and without modifying the settings it does not work the next time?
After doing the reset of the settings did you save the settings?

At first it worked.
Then I altered some settings (after pressing F12 during the game), mostly Video processing settings. I think I did this a few times over a couple of days to get it how I wanted. Plus I was feeling my way around, seeing what did this, what did that etc.
Then a few hours later, or the next day (I can't remember exactly when now), I went to load the game, and it just beeped once, and nothing happened. It's been the same ever since. But if I hit F12, and if I go to Reset (on the first page where it says Time up the left hand side), then that starts the game.
I have gone to the system page and tried resetting settings there, and saving them, but nothing gets it running. The only way I can get the game to run is by hitting the Reset (on the page with Time up the left).

[insanityprawnboy]

There is something I do not understand: when you deleted btime.CFG you said you lost your settings which is normal as it is the file where your settings are stored. When you start the core after that it should create a default settings file which should work without having to reset the settings.

I did what was suggested to me, but although the Video processing settings cleared, and the screen wasn't vertical anymore (I set vertical games to that as I have a screen that spins around), it still wouldn't start without me going to Reset. I tried a few times. I even saved settings again after a few tries, for what it was worth, but... no difference.

[jca]

I got confused with the reset thing: I though you were referring to reset settings but you were referring to the reset of the core.
The funny part is when you first mentioned the problem in another thread I tested it and did not see any problem. I just went back right now and guess what? I have the same exact problem you have.
This is the Amiga sub forum and this is somewhat OT. Open a new thread in the Arcade sub forum and explain your problem there, you may get better help as I am running out of ideas for the time being.

[Malor]

As a thought out of left field: what's your cooling situation like? Is the Mister reasonably cool to the touch? Mine gets really weird if it gets hot; it absolutely requires an active fan blowing on it for many cores.

[insanityprawnboy]

As a thought out of left field: what's your cooling situation like? Is the Mister reasonably cool to the touch? Mine gets really weird if it gets hot; it absolutely requires an active fan blowing on it for many cores.

It's cool. It's not hot in the slightest.