judd@snoopy.Colorado.EDU (Steve Judd) (07/31/90)
This has undoubtably been asked before, BUT...
Can somebody please tell me how to make a switch to enable/disable
FastRAM? The system is: A500, old Agnus, SupraRAM 512K (a501 clone).
The only reason I ask is that I found a copy of Archon (You know...
a REAL computer game, like MULE, BeachHead, and Lazarian) at a software sale
a while back, and it can't deal with the expansion memory - The bobs won't
work (the playing pieces are invisible. This makes for very interesting
combat, because the computer can't detect any object collisions, so the two
guys never hit each other!) The software is very much protected with a
custom boot block and an unreadable (empty) directory.
So, basically I am looking for three things:
1) Has an updated version of Archon been released that can handle
expansion memory?
2) Does anybody have a software patch for Archon?
3) Can somebody explain to me how to build an external switch for my
RAM card?
My current solution is to remove the card; a little too risky for
my tastes. I'm somewhat partial to #3 above, because I hate modifying
somebody else's code when they asked me not to, and I doubt that EA bothered
with #1.
-Steve
--
judd@sgt-york.lanl.gov // "With language like that, how dids't thou
tramp.colorado.edu // become an Avatar?"
snoopy.colorado.edu \X/ - Lord Britishspierce@pnet01.cts.com (Stuart Pierce) (08/01/90)
Electronic Arts has no plans to update Archon, Archon 2, 7 Cities of Gold,
etc. I don't believe that Archon runs under Kickstart 1.2 no matter how much
memory is present. I have tried patching Archon with a program that modifies
the boot track on early EA games so that fast memory is turned off, but it
didn't help. There is also a program called NoFast that reboots your Amiga
with all fast RAM turned off.
If you had a MMU in your machine, you might be able to put Kickstart 1.1 into
memory and boot your machine with that, but who knows whether Archon is
compatible with 68020/68030 processors? I have a half-dozen games that no
longer work with my 3 MB RAM, Super Agnus, Kickstart 1.3-equipped Amiga 2000,
and I anticipate more dying after I upgrade to AmigaDOS 2.0.
I wish someone would come up with an Amiga board with memory to load alternate
Kickstart versions. Upon power up, it would check to see if a Kickstart disk
is in either floppy drive. If not, it would use the ROMs and auto-configure
the memory on the board as Fast RAM. If so, it would load Kickstart from the
disk and write-protect it. It should be able to preserve the Kickstart
through any number or warm boots. It should have 256K RAM and be expandable
to at least 512K RAM.
Stuart W. Pierceaaronf@hpfcbig.SDE.HP.COM (Aaron Friesen) (08/01/90)
From: judd@snoopy.Colorado.EDU (Steve Judd) > Can somebody please tell me how to make a switch to enable/disable > FastRAM? The system is: A500, old Agnus, SupraRAM 512K (a501 clone). You probably have tried this, but just in case, did you try running NOFASTMEM? It has been a while since I've come across anything that will only run in the first 512K of ChipRAM, but this works for many (most?). Aaron
judd@snoopy.Colorado.EDU (JUDD STEPHEN L) (08/02/90)
In article <3774@crash.cts.com> spierce@pnet01.cts.com (Stuart Pierce) writes: >Electronic Arts has no plans to update Archon, Archon 2, 7 Cities of Gold, >etc. I don't believe that Archon runs under Kickstart 1.2 no matter how much Archon runs fine under 1.2 - Like I said earlier, removing the memory board works, but is far too dangerous. In just two days I have been sent three programs, offers for several more, Dan Barrett pointed out a program on new- xanth that will do it, people have offered custom programs, etc. Thanks a lot, guys! (Now all I have to do is try them all out tonight) (ps to Chris Hames (ins778@vax4.monash.edu.au): Thanks! (mail bounces)) >If you had a MMU in your machine, you might be able to put Kickstart 1.1 into >memory and boot your machine with that, but who knows whether Archon is >compatible with 68020/68030 processors? I have a half-dozen games that no >longer work with my 3 MB RAM, Super Agnus, Kickstart 1.3-equipped Amiga 2000, >and I anticipate more dying after I upgrade to AmigaDOS 2.0. >I wish someone would come up with an Amiga board with memory to load alternate >Kickstart versions. Upon power up, it would check to see if a Kickstart disk Sounds good to me. Actually, the games I could probably forget about, but I would miss all my nifty demos. So, I think I'll wait another year, then buy into 3000 awesomeness after a bunch more new and nifty(er) demos have been written for it (not to mention software). I might miss Archon a little, though ;-(. > Stuart W. Pierce -Steve
barrett@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Dan Barrett) (08/02/90)
In article <3774@crash.cts.com> spierce@pnet01.cts.com (Stuart Pierce) writes: >Electronic Arts has no plans to update Archon, Archon 2, 7 Cities of Gold, >etc. Sad, but true. >I don't believe that Archon runs under Kickstart 1.2 no matter how much >memory is present. Archon ran fine on my Amiga 1000 under 1.2. As soon as I added expansion memory (Fast RAM), it would not run anymore. >I have tried patching Archon with a program that modifies the boot track on >early EA games so that fast memory is turned off, but it didn't help. The "fixarchon" program on abcfd20.larc.nasa.gov (the replacement machine for xanth.cs.odu.edu; 128.155.23.64) allows Archon to run fine on my A1000 under KS 1.3, with expansion memory. Dan //////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ | Dan Barrett, Department of Computer Science Johns Hopkins University | | INTERNET: barrett@cs.jhu.edu | | | COMPUSERVE: >internet:barrett@cs.jhu.edu | UUCP: barrett@jhunix.UUCP | \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/////////////////////////////////////
barrett@meridn.enet.dec.com (Keith Barrett) (08/02/90)
> > The "fixarchon" program on abcfd20.larc.nasa.gov (the replacement >machine for xanth.cs.odu.edu; 128.155.23.64) allows Archon to run fine on >my A1000 under KS 1.3, with expansion memory. > Could someone post this patch (in shar format if necessary)? I would like to have it very much but do not have ftp access to anything. Thanks! Keith P.S. If possible, please email it to me. Thanks again. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I'm Bart Simpson - who the hell are you?" Keith G. Barrett - Software Specialist Internet: barrett@meridn.enet.dec.com Digital Equipment Corp. "DEC has it now" UUCP: decwrl!meridn.enet!barrett // "Wait'll they get a load of me" - Joker \X/ "The Amiga is really a picoVAX" "You won't get it!" - the Prisoner ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
phorgan@cup.portal.com (Patrick John Horgan) (08/03/90)
I'd also love to have a copy of this patch:) Patrick Horgan phorgan@cup.portal.com
jms@tardis.Tymnet.COM (Joe Smith) (08/23/90)
In article <24127@boulder.Colorado.EDU> judd@snoopy.Colorado.EDU writes: > Can somebody please tell me how to make a switch to enable/disable >FastRAM? The system is: A500, old Agnus, SupraRAM 512K (a501 clone). > The only reason I ask is that I found a copy of Archon (You know... >a REAL computer game, like MULE, BeachHead, and Lazarian) at a software sale >a while back, and it can't deal with the expansion memory - the bobs don't >work (the playing pieces are invisible). The software is very much protected >with a custom boot block and an unreadable (empty) directory. There was a message from Thad Floryan a while back that included a program resets the Amiga in such a way that it comes up with no fast ram configured. Just run NoFast (from RAM:) and put the bootable game disk in DF0:. ---------------------------------------- If anyone's interested, the NoFast program is included below; it does permit most troublesome software to function on an expanded system. Being only 3 lines of code, this shouldn't exceed network bandwidth requirements! :-) Original author of NoFast is "Anonymous"; no name appeared on any docs. ; ; Introducing -- 'NoFast'! ; ============================================================ ; NoFast is a simple system reboot program with an added kick! ; If your system has any external FAST ram, it will not be ; included in the system memory list, thus giving you a 512K ; machine at the WORKBENCH PROMPT!!!! ; ; To use this utility just type in 'NOFAST' at a CLI prompt. ; The Amiga will begin going through its reboot procedure. At ; this time, remove your disk and insert the disk you want to ; run with only CHIP ram. ; ; ps. I have not tried this with $C00000 type memory yet. I ; hope it works. ; ; NOTICE: I am placing this in the Public Domain. The object ; and source are freely redistributable. ; ; ------------------------------------------------------------ ; I assembled this with the Amiga Assembler (Metacomco) and ; linked with BLINK using the amiga.lib library file. ; ; ============================================================ ; ==== NoFast - SourceCode =================================== ; ============================================================ ; XREF _AbsExecBase * ptr to ptr to ExecBase XREF _LVOSuperState * offset for SuperState() movea.l _AbsExecBase,a6 * get ptr to ExecBase jsr _LVOSuperState(a6) * do SuperState(); jmp $F80000 * jump to Amiga ROM start END begin 777 NoFast M```#\P`````````!``````````!````$0``#Z0````0L>0````1.KO]J3OD`` '^``````#\@``M `` end -- Joe Smith (408)922-6220 | SMTP: jms@tardis.tymnet.com or jms@gemini.tymnet.com BT Tymnet Tech Services | UUCP: ...!{ames,pyramid}!oliveb!tymix!tardis!jms PO Box 49019, MS-C51 | BIX: smithjoe | 12 PDP-10s still running! "POPJ P," San Jose, CA 95161-9019 | humorous dislaimer: "My Amiga speaks for me."