TI-994a How-To

[Flandango]

If you are not seeing the OSD come up, you may need to temporarily use a display connected via HDMI to do the initial configuration (system rom/groms).

That is correct, though I did see it once, even on the CRT.

How many times must I do this rom/grom thing? Every time I power on the MiSTer? Or is the config saved in non volatile memory?

Unfortunately I don't have a CRT nor the adapter to do testing myself to see if there is another workaround.

Could I be of any assistance in troubleshooting? We could do a Zoom or Teams meeting. As I said, I did get the OSD to appear once. Maybe it is a timing thing?

The rom/groms configuration is a one time thing.
It's going to be difficult to try to find a work around since I usually have the mister hooked up to the console port to see what else is going on behind the scenes and of course the video display.
If you don't have an hdmi capable display, I could come up with some temporary configuration and instructions for you to download, drop them into the right folders and bring it up for you to finish the rest of the configuration.

[edburns]

Thanks for being willing to continue to work on it. I do have an HDMI display, but it's in a different room. Now that I know the config is a one time thing, I can tolerate moving the MiSTer for the purposes of configuration.

[Malor]

Just remember, after you do the config, to save the settings.

[edburns]

Thanks for being willing to continue to work on it. I do have an HDMI display, but it's in a different room. Now that I know the config is a one time thing, I can tolerate moving the MiSTer for the purposes of configuration.

Hello @flandango and @tmop. I have applied the knowledge from these recent posts and updated my instructions at https://www.ridingthecrest.com/edburns/ ... ister.html .

As for your question about the top level landing page...I don't think I understand what you mean. Do you mean what it should look like when you first start the core? If so, then if it's setup with at least the System groms/roms, then you should see the normal TI-99/4A screen (blue screen/colorful bars...), otherwise it will be just a black screen as you are experiencing.

What I mean by landing page is: a the top-level web page that a user would land on when they search for "How do I play TI-99/4a on MiSTer?" Right now, that query returns the following.

w59fslZ.png (189.97 KiB) Viewed 11935 times

Not very helpful. I am asking if there was one place that would be at the top of that list, what would it be?

[Flandango]

The only webpage I could think of would be the TI-99/4A main repo.
It doesn't have a wiki page or anything fancy, but of course, if somebody is willing to write one up and submit it, I don't see why it can't be added.

[retrodroid]

Thanks for being willing to continue to work on it. I do have an HDMI display, but it's in a different room. Now that I know the config is a one time thing, I can tolerate moving the MiSTer for the purposes of configuration.

Adding this configuration entry to the main Mister.ini file allowed me to see the screen long enough to configure the Hardware ROMs while connected to my VGA arcade monitor (31khz). Once this is done, you can remove this setting if you want it to use native analog output frequencies.

Code: Select all

[TI-99_4A]
video_mode=6  ;(VGA, do not use if your monitor only does 15khz low-res arcade frequencies).
vga_scaler=1 ;(routes the HDMI output scaler to the analog board output).

[edburns]

Hello,

I am trying to play Rasmus's ZQX ONE, but when I load it up in the v220221 core it looks funny.

QVztIRf.jpeg (728.63 KiB) Viewed 11304 times

Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks

Ed

[Flandango]

If you are using the official release of the core (via update_all or what not), ZQX One won't work on it and most likely will crash.
ZQX requires the F18A video chip update. There is a build of the core on Page 9 of this thread that uses the F18A video instead of the stock TMS9918A.
One day I will try again to squeeze both video chips onto one core and make it part of the official release, if not, due to timing and fpga resources available, may have to release it as a separate core.

[Malor]

edit: nevermind, you won't have those files. I thought update_all added them, but I forgot that I did that.

[CartoonDonkey]

Hrm. F18A core on page 9 just black screens my entire mister, and I have to switch it on /off again...

[Flandango]

Are you by any chance using a CRT? Does the standard TI-994/a core work for you?

[CartoonDonkey]

@flandango -I am. RGB out to a Commodore 1084S.
The standard does work.

[Flandango]

I could be wrong, but I believe the 1084S can't handle 640x480 @60hz which is what the F18A outputs.

[rhester72]

I could be wrong, but I believe the 1084S can't handle 640x480 @60hz which is what the F18A outputs.

That's correct - it can do 480i but not 480p.

[CartoonDonkey]

Could I force it with the scaler as people have done with the 486 core?
It can do 60hz, just not the 480p bit.
Does the F18A have a different name / tagline in the mister.ini?

[Flandango]

I honestly don't know, you can try if you have the equipment, but I myself, don't have the ability to check.
The F18A core doesn't have a different name (it uses the same as the original core) so it can keep the same configuration and GAMES folder as the original non-F18A core.

[CartoonDonkey]

But regardless, like I said the F18A core locks up my MiSTer entirely. It isn't that it's the wrong resolution. It fails to load and I can't reset the system until I power it off/on again completely.

[Flandango]

I can't replicate it so it's hard to troubleshoot it.
Have you tried using an HDMI monitor/TV and see if it loads up that way?

[pgimeno]

@CartoonDonkey I've only seen that kind of problem when I've tried to install a corrupted RBF. Maybe try re-downloading it again, and making sure it has the right length (3,709,856 bytes).

[CartoonDonkey]

@pgimeno Yep that was it. I don't know why I hadn't considered that. Probably because I'm using Directory Opus on Windows as my FTP out of laziness. Back to WinSCP or Filezilla...

In the F18A core I'm getting the same corruption in Rasmus's ZQX ONE as you are @edburns

[CartoonDonkey]

Ok, I've managed to get it displaying flawlessly at 15khz using the following mister.ini settings:

[TI-99_4A]
video_mode=640,8,58,78,240,1,3,18,12324
vga_scaler=1
vscale_mode=0
vga_scaler=1

Then -important- in core settings make cart type: paged378
Enjoy! Man Rasmus' Zaxxon port is absolutely fantastic on the Ti-99 F18A core! Thank you devs!

[Flandango]

In the F18A core I'm getting the same corruption in Rasmus's ZQX ONE as you are @edburns

Load the rom/bin with Load Rom Cart *.BIN (unless you are using a M99 version, in that case use the first option)
Make sure Cart Type: is Paged378

[shift838]

I have follwed the creation technique and get the appropriate MD5 Checksum but when I load up the tiroms.bin file on the mister I see the progress bar of it loading but the screen remains black.

[Flandango]

I have follwed the creation technique and get the appropriate MD5 Checksum but when I load up the tiroms.bin file on the mister I see the progress bar of it loading but the screen remains black.

You don't need to combine the roms into the tiroms.bin file anymore. Just select/load the appropriate roms under the Hardware submenu.
The README has more details on which roms are required and which ones are optional.

[spiderx]

I can't seem to get this working. I have the MegaPack 4.1, loaded that in the sd card, selected system grom, system rom, but no video, and a lot of static on audio. I have the antonio db9 mister, I am using hdmi out. I should expect to see the TI logo and press enter screen, right?

[EeDee]

I can't seem to get this working. I have the MegaPack 4.1, loaded that in the sd card, selected system grom, system rom, but no video, and a lot of static on audio. I have the antonio db9 mister, I am using hdmi out. I should expect to see the TI logo and press enter screen, right?

Are you loading the ROMS from the same set (directory)? Try using ROMs from an "Originals BIOS" folder

[spiderx]

yes, I'm loading from the same set. I tried many different sets in that MegaPack, but none seemed to work.

[spiderx]

ok, I am new to mister, so I'll document here what it was. I was able to fix it.
Go into utilities, select sdram test, and what you will see is # of minutes, frequency of ram, on the top line, next line is memory capacity in cyan, 3 being 128mb. green is the # of passed 32mb cycles - so for 128mb, you should wait until it does at least 4. red number is # of failures.
if you get failures, try decreasing the speed of the ram.
In my case, it was failing to detect the ram. I had to re-seat the ram module.

So, if you get symptoms like mine, it could be due to undetected or failed ram module. Try re-seating the ram module and run the sdram test again.

[edburns]

Subject: Tunnels of Doom FILE ERROR 6 DEVICE ERROR on restore or save

Set up

• MiSTer v230526
• TI-99_4A v220220
• Games reside on external, powered, USB HDD.
• Cores reside on microSD card directly on MiSTer board.

Problem

• Sat down for some ToD after a rough day.
• Looked up my instructions because it’s always so long between when I make time to do this. https://www.ridingthecrest.com/edburns/ ... ister.html
• Load the M99 format Quest of the King.
• Try to restore my saved game with filename 20221006.
• Observe FILE ERROR 6 DEVICE ERROR.
• Create a new party and try to save.
• Observe FILE ERROR 6 DEVICE ERROR.

Mitigation steps before authoring this post

• Ran update_all.sh. I had a relatively recent MiSTer version before running update_all.sh, and observed the same behavior.

This used to work. Any ideas why it does not work now?

• 

  20230616_210725.jpg (2.22 MiB) Viewed 10432 times

• 

  20230616_203410.jpg (2.28 MiB) Viewed 10432 times

P.S. Can we please get a top level entry under Computer Cores MiSTer FPGA Forum - Computer Cores for our beloved TI-99_4A core?

[Flandango]

Subject: Tunnels of Doom FILE ERROR 6 DEVICE ERROR on restore or save

Set up

• MiSTer v230526
• TI-99_4A v220220
• Games reside on external, powered, USB HDD.
• Cores reside on microSD card directly on MiSTer board.

Problem

• Sat down for some ToD after a rough day.
• Looked up my instructions because it’s always so long between when I make time to do this. https://www.ridingthecrest.com/edburns/ ... ister.html
• Load the M99 format Quest of the King.
• Try to restore my saved game with filename 20221006.
• Observe FILE ERROR 6 DEVICE ERROR.
• Create a new party and try to save.
• Observe FILE ERROR 6 DEVICE ERROR.

Mitigation steps before authoring this post

• Ran update_all.sh. I had a relatively recent MiSTer version before running update_all.sh, and observed the same behavior.

This used to work. Any ideas why it does not work now?

I just followed the steps you have on your website to create a new save then restore and it all worked.
I used a 360K 80T-DSSD disk image for the test.

Now with that said....there could be a couple of things to check.
First, is what DSR are you using for the Floppy Disk Controller? Standard TI, MyArc 40Track or MyArc 80Track?
Next, what size is the Floppy Image (if you don't remember format i.e. 5 1/4 - 40 Track or 3 1/2....then in byte size such as 360k....)
Then, if you are using a MyArc controller/dsr, what do you have set for Drive 1's Dip Switches.
The Floppy image image must be compatible with the drive (ex 3-1/2"-80T won't work on TI-FDC nor on MyArc-40T fdc).
Last but not least, if you are still having trouble with it, is there somewhere I can download your save disk image so I can test it?

P.S. Can we please get a top level entry under Computer Cores MiSTer FPGA Forum - Computer Cores for our beloved TI-99_4A core?

That is above my abilities.
I guess if there was enough traffic, Xbytez may create one.