MiSTer FPGA Forum

johns123 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 15, 2023 8:42 am

Am i being a complete nonce here when it comes to updating the pack? I've edited the .ini file to cover my path for ao486 VHD file and i'm still getting this:

My ini file is edited though to remove the games part and still not being recognised

you have a0486 twice in your path

It should be /games/a0486 not a0486/games/a0486

Here is my. ini file I have altered it for my path still same thing. Do I need to alter a path in the script file?

What if you change your folders and paths from a0486 to ao486?

I've updated the ini (I put it in the scripts folder) still saying not found UNLESS I need to alter the path to the VHD name too?

the ini you uploaded doesnt have a /games at the front of the A0486. You need to show us exactly where your stuff is, as screenshot of an explorer of the USB drive

Sorry been unwell so not responded. Let's see (see if this works)

I'm wondering how to add my own dos games and have them show up on the menu. I've found messages in this thread, and seen on some youtube videos, that there is supposed to be a menu option "use the top item in the menu that says --Manually Added Games.". When I boot into A0486 and load the necessary images however, I only see this:

There's no option for manually added games, or to add them. I've been able to do this by busting out the command prompt, but it would be nice to have them on the core menu that boots up and I'm not sure how to achieve that. Any tips would be appreciated!

For some reason, The Dig will not work for me.

It freezes on the Pause menu when loading it up. I am using the latest pack. Just ran the update script.

Maybe I have the wrong memory setting?

I notice lots of games are working now.

I should have the latest core too. I ran the update all script.

I installed MidiLink and Munt is not working.

Hi. What's the current status of this project. All i've been reading about in this thread (skimmed a lot granted), is problems loading games. I read about the ISOs not working, then getting fixed in the core. Is this correct? How many games are included in this "top 300" that still don't work today? Why were they included if they don't work? Is the pack easily customised? Can we work together to remove all the broken games and add a bunch that people miss? I'm sure everyone has some obscure favourites that maybe aren't included yet?

I'm a big fan of ExoDOS, recently acquired the latest v6 (.2) and would love to tryit out on MiSTer, but its huge, so this "Top 300" best of is ideal. But only if it works! Enquiring minds need to know Thanks.

Also, does it require 256mb ram? When i built my MiSTer the choices were 32,64 and 128mb and only a tiny number of NeoGeo games needed 128mb, so i went with 64. Am i stuffed? Ta.

nymous wrote: ↑Sat May 06, 2023 6:13 pm

I got same problems with some games as other folks on this thread. For example, System Shock used to work before, but after recent update it just says file doesn't exists and exits. I guess something isn't properly changed in my layout, should I redownload the pack?

I found that there's a weird quirk in DOSLFN for mounted CD images, and it breaks games that launch from the CD. It appears that DOSLFN treats paths starting with

D:\

and

d:\

differently. For example

dir D:

appears to show the DOS-truncated cue image name, while

dir d:\

actually shows the contents as expected. Because the commands to launch games like System Shock uses full path commands using the capital D drive name, we get "Bad command or file name" when launching from MyMenu.

So to workaround launch System Shock, I exit out of my menu and execute the following:

cd SYSTEM~1
doslfn /d
autorun

Is this the case for everyone else who's updated their Top300 pack with MyMenu? Is there a universal fix for this DOSLFN quirk rather than my workaround?

michael.despault wrote: ↑Sat Nov 11, 2023 1:26 am

I'm wondering how to add my own dos games and have them show up on the menu. I've found messages in this thread, and seen on some youtube videos, that there is supposed to be a menu option "use the top item in the menu that says --Manually Added Games.". When I boot into A0486 and load the necessary images however, I only see this:

qeme84X.jpeg

There's no option for manually added games, or to add them. I've been able to do this by busting out the command prompt, but it would be nice to have them on the core menu that boots up and I'm not sure how to achieve that. Any tips would be appreciated!

Game autorun.bat files are all in E:\GAMES\MYMENU now and are folders with a readme and a batch file to run the actual game, like this: https://github.com/flynnsbit/Top300_upd ... mes/MYMENU . 300 ish examples you can browse through there to see how that is setup.

If you add a folder on your own image in that E:\GAMES\MYMENU directory and create an autorun file then it will automatically show up in mymenu. You could also just install the game there, but it might be a bit messy. You can also create your own folder structure like E:\MICHAEL and then add it to the ###### DRIVES AND FOLDERS ###### list in the MYMENU.INI, example here for reference: https://github.com/flynnsbit/Top300_upd ... MYMENU.INI

Good luck!

BigDanG wrote: ↑Mon Nov 20, 2023 5:47 am

nymous wrote: ↑Sat May 06, 2023 6:13 pm

I got same problems with some games as other folks on this thread. For example, System Shock used to work before, but after recent update it just says file doesn't exists and exits. I guess something isn't properly changed in my layout, should I redownload the pack?

I found that there's a weird quirk in DOSLFN for mounted CD images, and it breaks games that launch from the CD. It appears that DOSLFN treats paths starting with

Code: Select all

D:\

and

Code: Select all

d:\

differently. For example

Code: Select all

dir D:

appears to show the DOS-truncated cue image name, while

Code: Select all

dir d:\

actually shows the contents as expected. Because the commands to launch games like System Shock uses full path commands using the capital D drive name, we get "Bad command or file name" when launching from MyMenu.

So to workaround launch System Shock, I exit out of my menu and execute the following:

Code: Select all

cd SYSTEM~1
doslfn /d
autorun

Is this the case for everyone else who's updated their Top300 pack with MyMenu? Is there a universal fix for this DOSLFN quirk rather than my workaround?

Do what you did but just change the autorun.bat file in that game directory to automatically unload doslfn and then reload it at the very end of the autorun after the game exits. It looks like I need to look into CD-Support again, probably the changes for CD-Audio made this case sensitive. Looks like doslfn says " SHSUCDX for CD-ROM support." which I know I am not using in the pack for the cd driver.

Is it just me or does the Soundblaster sound off? I was playing Discworld and it sounded really off.

Beyond Castle Wolfenstein is not working for me anymore... anyone else?

Krathoon wrote: ↑Sat Nov 25, 2023 6:26 pm

Is it just me or does the Soundblaster sound off? I was playing Discworld and it sounded really off.

Discworld does not even start for me. It says "error reading drive G:"!?!

flynnsbit wrote: ↑Mon Nov 20, 2023 10:52 pm

michael.despault wrote: ↑Sat Nov 11, 2023 1:26 am

I'm wondering how to add my own dos games and have them show up on the menu. I've found messages in this thread, and seen on some youtube videos, that there is supposed to be a menu option "use the top item in the menu that says --Manually Added Games.". When I boot into A0486 and load the necessary images however, I only see this:

qeme84X.jpeg

There's no option for manually added games, or to add them. I've been able to do this by busting out the command prompt, but it would be nice to have them on the core menu that boots up and I'm not sure how to achieve that. Any tips would be appreciated!

Game autorun.bat files are all in E:\GAMES\MYMENU now and are folders with a readme and a batch file to run the actual game, like this: https://github.com/flynnsbit/Top300_upd ... mes/MYMENU . 300 ish examples you can browse through there to see how that is setup.

If you add a folder on your own image in that E:\GAMES\MYMENU directory and create an autorun file then it will automatically show up in mymenu. You could also just install the game there, but it might be a bit messy. You can also create your own folder structure like E:\MICHAEL and then add it to the ###### DRIVES AND FOLDERS ###### list in the MYMENU.INI, example here for reference: https://github.com/flynnsbit/Top300_upd ... MYMENU.INI

Good luck!

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I've got a solid understanding of the menu system now, and its been a lot of fun busting out my long forgotten ms-dos command-line skills and pulling up the "edit" program to make some changes I've been installing my games on "z:" and things are working great now. Thanks again for all the work that went into this, its greatly appreciated!

M.Walrus wrote: ↑Thu Jun 08, 2023 4:30 pm

If you're like me and using an SD Card for your MiSTer, you can save a lot of room by deleting games that are broken in this pack, as it seems they likely won't have fixes any time soon. You can save 12GB+ by removing the CD images, and if you want to clear up some room on the .vhd for custom game installations, removing some of the larger disk games that aren't working may help also.

I made a list of them here & included CD directory names for ones that aren't as easily identifiable:

--CD
Constructor
Death Rally
Discworld 2 (dw2)
Flight Unlimited
Gobliiins (gob1)
Gobliins 2 (gob2)
Heroes of Might & Magic 2
Lands of Lore - Guardians of Destiny (LLGD)
Mortal Kombat Trilogy (Del other Mortal Kombats also- handled better by other cores)
NASCAR Racing 2
Oddworld
Pro Pinball - Big Race USA (PPBigRac)
Rayman
Rayman Forever
Scorched Planet (ScoPlan)
Star Trek Judgement Rites Collectors Edition (stjudgec)
The Incredible Machine 2 (TIncM2)
WipEout

--Disk
King's Quest 2 Fan Remake
Railroad Tycoon Deluxe
Shadowgate
Troddlers
The Chessmaster 3000
The Oregon Trail Deluxe
Ultima 2
Wizardry 6
Wizardry 7

If/when any of these are fixed it should be pretty easy to just replace them at a later date from the original pack.

How do you remove the Disk ones from the VHD?

neogeo81 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 01, 2024 1:11 pm

How do you remove the Disk ones from the VHD?

Just by navigating to the install directories and removing everything. You can see what directory the games are in through the normal launcher interface, by choosing one of the options that shows when you select a game. I don't remember exactly which option shows that.

Also keep in mind that removing these might not be beneficial/necessary anymore, now that CD audio has been added to the MiSTer & the 486 core. I haven't tested any of these out since that addition was made though.

nevermind delete pls

hitm4n wrote: ↑Sat Nov 18, 2023 7:28 pm

Hi. What's the current status of this project. All i've been reading about in this thread (skimmed a lot granted), is problems loading games. I read about the ISOs not working, then getting fixed in the core. Is this correct? How many games are included in this "top 300" that still don't work today? Why were they included if they don't work? Is the pack easily customised? Can we work together to remove all the broken games and add a bunch that people miss?

I think you are better off starting from scratch or using doscontainer or the new 0Mhz project. The top300 pack is pretty bad, configurations are missing, lots of games are broken or badly configured, the chosen menu system is a disaster etc etc. Paradoxically, running the update made it worse than it used to be after the initial install straight from archive.org. I think the amigavision folks are better positioned to succeed in creating a curated pack that's tested and actually works.

As the author of DOSContainer I'm flattered by the mention but the criticism of the top300 feels a bit harsh. There's a lot of groundwork in there. Also my script only takes care of generating a VHD. The packing of the game itself is still very manual toil.

We are huge fans of the Top 300 collection, for the record! When people ask me what the difference is between the two, I usually say that the Top 300 collections is the best if you grew up on that platform, you want that DOS feeling on everything including the launcher with its metadata etc.

0MHz DOS collection is for people like myself, who only played a few DOS games back in the day, and now just want a simple, easy, space-efficient way of putting those 5-15 games on a MiSTer.

They both have their place, and the Top 300 collection is what I used before we started 0MHz, so I’m certainly a fan

limi wrote: ↑Fri Mar 22, 2024 7:55 am

0MHz DOS collection is for people like myself, who only played a few DOS games back in the day

Agreed. For me it's the same, in reverse, with AmigaVision. While I used to have an A500 back in the day, I used it like a game console, didn't knew much about the OS, so thanks to AmigaVision, I can now play those games easily, because I wouldn't want to mess with a full setup of a large HDD with many things to do, and meddle with the OS.

As a mainly PC Ms-Dos users, I was quite accustomed with fiddling with config.sys and autoexec.bat, so using the Top 300 collection is not a problem, even if there are some games that are not configured correctly, and it's a bit of a problem if you change the game configuration (for example, change Doom to use modern style WASD keys + mouse), it gets reset again when you update it. And the new menu system is a bit of an overhead too, and a bit annoying with all that ascii-art effects.

The main reason I like the idea of individual .VHDs, is to use them together with TapTo, so I can make by own NFC cards that look like tiny PC game boxes, that's another hobby in itself. I just bought an 1.5 TB SD card for the Mister which I don't even know how to fill right now, so it's not a problem having two completely separate Dos games collections...

I'm kinda in the middle i guess. Although no expert, i know Amiga OS to some degree, playing with libs and datatypes, startup-sequences etc. and i also played around with DOS configs, autexecs, IRQs, DMAs yada yada. But i've "been there, done that"... I can't be bothered to get my hands dirty and go through that pain any more. On my MiSTer, i just want to install, sit back and play all those games i once thought were great through my rose tinted specs only to be truly awakened to how awful some of them were/are. Then i can move on and play Day Of The Tentacle for the 70th time instead or Mean Arenas (or Ruff N Tumble) on the Amiga.

Collections are very personal, theres always something missing for everyone, and by the time you add in what everyone wants, you've got a "total collection". So i always want these things to be complete. I like the thought of being able to play anything i recall from my youth, anything others might be talking about AND then finding new great games at random too. Working on AmigaVision demo screenshots lately has allowed me to sit and enjoy so many great Amiga demos that i missed back in the day.

Obvs, my question about this pack was before the new 0mhz collection. I'm on to that now, once my current projects are done, and will have suggestions of my own to fatten the set up, like many people

salsasnack wrote: ↑Mon Aug 01, 2022 5:38 am

Hi all,

I just wanted to give an update for anyone else in a similar situation. So I ended up having to extend the "IDE 0-1 Top 300 DOS Games" VHD by building it from scratch, adding about 5GB to it (a bit much, but to be safe), and then copying all contents over to it.

Next, I had to manually download the "update.zip" file and copy and paste the files to C: & E: respectively (C: & E: will be labeled differently depending on your machine).

The automatic update script would always fail, regardless of whether or not I was targeting my NAS share or a share from the SD Card. This was unfortunately the only way I could get the updates working.

Thanks.

Thanks you, that's what i did now, too. It's actually quite easy to do.

I understand that @flynnsbit has taken the archive files and the GitHub repository offline because there were too many complaints. I am new to the MiSTer community and think that this really is a pity. I would love to be able to use the update script, even if there would be problems. Please think about at least reinstating the GitHub repository, and thanks for all your great work.

Let's hope it makes a reappearence one day.

Whether it's this, 0mhz, or releases have made themselves, the more the merrier.

Actually, just looked on Flynn git page, and this was released a few weeks ago - https://github.com/flynnsbit/Top300_upd ... ter/update

So fingers crossed!

Thanks.

Or if the boot VHD and the games VHD just magically appeared somehow, that also would be appreciated. Thanks.

limi wrote: ↑Fri Mar 22, 2024 7:55 am

We are huge fans of the Top 300 collection, for the record! When people ask me what the difference is between the two, I usually say that the Top 300 collections is the best if you grew up on that platform, you want that DOS feeling on everything including the launcher with its metadata etc.

0MHz DOS collection is for people like myself, who only played a few DOS games back in the day, and now just want a simple, easy, space-efficient way of putting those 5-15 games on a MiSTer.

They both have their place, and the Top 300 collection is what I used before we started 0MHz, so I’m certainly a fan

so if i have the latest top300 files it is ok to use that or why exactly was it removed?