Super Weird Issue on Knight 'n' Grail (C64)

[angelotax]

I'm experiencing a super annoying loading issue on Mister FPGA when transitioning to wyvern caves. I even tried changing storage media, but nothing helps. Not only that, but I cannot progress in the game, if I press space it keeps displaying the same error. Any suggestions ? I have the Download version bought from https://psytronik.itch.io/kng, even tried redownloading, tried other "online versions" but no dice. Below the error screen :

It turned out that dolphin dos was - in fact - the culprit; I switched back to the standard C64 kernel, and the game now loads properly. So yay ! Fixed ! Thanks guys for your replies; so far I'm enjoying the game quite a lot.

[Yim]

This isn’t very helpful, but I was able to play through the whole game on MiSTer without this problem in February 2021. Maybe you could try the version of the core from back then and see if it works?

[ReadyPlayerTwo]

Are you using the standard c64 kernel or Speeddos??

I would try again using the standard c64 kernel

[angelotax]

Are you using the standard c64 kernel or Speeddos??

I would try again using the standard c64 kernel

That's a nice suggestion, thanks, in fact I always used dolphin lately.
Will try that out.

[ReadyPlayerTwo]

Pretty sure another game won't save unless you use a 'standard' C64 set up with the normal kernel, just can't remember which game off top of my head. Hence the suggestion

[Malor]

Yeah, if you're getting disk errors like that, reverting to the standard ROM is an excellent idea. Fastloaders in general tended to fail with the copy protection on many games.

[Armakuni]

If you want a alternative fast loader I always use the Action Replay cartridge rom for the fast loader.

Seems more compatible and it's faster than Jiffy or Dolphin. Still has the similar keystroke shortcuts.

If you save your settings with the cart loaded it's always there when you start the core

[Retro-Nerd]

Not really. Multi function cartriges like Action Replay are good enough for single part games/single PRGs. But a multi-part game (like this one) can break/hang any second. Dolphin DOS is a traditional hardware speeder (the Roms has to be built-in in the C64 and Floppy, together with a parallel cable) and much more compatible, nearly 100% for all non-fastload/kernal load only games. But even hardware speeder can hang, especially when a game uses a custom software-based fastloader.

[Armakuni]

Not really. Multi function cartriges like Action Replay are good enough for single part games/single PRGs. But a multi-part game (like this one) can break/hang any second. Dolphin DOS is a traditional hardware speeder (the Roms has to be built-in in the C64 and Floppy, together with a parallel cable) and much more compatible, nearly 100% for all non-fastload/kernal load only games. But even hardware speeder can hang, especially when a game uses a custom software-based fastloader.

I've been using a Action Replay cart fast loader since the late 80s with very few issues including multi part disk based games
The fast load is superb hence why I still use the .CRT with MiSTer

It doesn't interfere with built in fast Loaders either

[Retro-Nerd]

I've been using a Action Replay cart fast loader since the late 80s with very few issues including multi part disk based games.

Me too, and i've tested hundreds of games over the years. A hardware based speeder is much more compatible.

For Action Replay and multipart games: the cartridge only speeds the first part, the following parts uses always the speed of the coded game/demo. If it works though after the first part. As i said in my experience, it hangs then often enough.

[Armakuni]

I've been using a Action Replay cart fast loader since the late 80s with very few issues including multi part disk based games.

Me too, and i've tested hundreds of games over the years. A hardware based speeder is much more compatible.

For Action Replay and multipart games: the cartridge only speeds the first part, the following parts uses always the speed of the coded game/demo.

That's all you need as most built in speed loaders work well and it reduces compatibility issues

[Malor]

I'm not a big 64 guy or anything, but in my own uses, I've always had pretty bad luck with fastloaders. Things just... break. And they often do so in extra annoying ways, like failing after you've invested a bunch of time into a game.

Of course, I was always using software versions, often ones that loaded custom firmware onto the drive, not the Action Replay.

[Retro-Nerd]

Best version of Knight'n'Grail is the EasyFlash CRT from Onslaught. Yes, the MiSTer C64 core doesn't support saving into flash yet. But if you have an EasyFlash capable cart/system then go for that.

[angelotax]

Yeah, easyflash format would have been the better choice, I really hope someone could make it work on Mister someday.
By the way, it turned out that dolphin dos was - in fact - the culprit; I switched back to the standard C64 kernel, and the game now loads properly. So yay ! Fixed ! Thanks guys for your replies; so far I'm enjoying the game quite a lot.

[angelotax]

If you want a alternative fast loader I always use the Action Replay cartridge rom for the fast loader.

Seems more compatible and it's faster than Jiffy or Dolphin. Still has the similar keystroke shortcuts.

If you save your settings with the cart loaded it's always there when you start the core

The legend himself !
So you are running an action replay .crt file, and then you load the games from there ?
I've got to try this out. Never had such magic items on my real C64 back then.
Not really sure how it works

[lroby74]

Action Replay is twice speed on JiffyDos on first file loading, then get disabled on following loading of other parts of the game or program and loading time become slower that JiffyDos.

[Armakuni]

If you want a alternative fast loader I always use the Action Replay cartridge rom for the fast loader.

Seems more compatible and it's faster than Jiffy or Dolphin. Still has the similar keystroke shortcuts.

If you save your settings with the cart loaded it's always there when you start the core

The legend himself !
So you are running an action replay .crt file, and then you load the games from there ?
I've got to try this out. Never had such magic items on my real C64 back then.
Not really sure how it works

Yeah you can grab the Action Replay .CRT images from CSDB then just mount it in the OSD it reboots to the Action Replay menu

Press F7 to enable fast load, mount the disk in the OSD

F5 is shortcut for the load command, F3 for Run