r5/r6 expansion port problems - some cartridges don't work

[lydon42]

A lot of standard stuff does not work anymore in the r6/r5 mega65 core, which did run before and which do work in the r5/r6 c64 core.

So we obviously need some more fixes for the port in the new core.

[gardners]

Possibly relevant:
michael says: I can have a look tomorrow. One thing to remember is to pull EXP_SLOT_EN (FPGA pin T21) high. Not sure if that is already done.

[paich64]

Here are my tests with the last Mega65 core (Megaflash release number 65)

• Avengers - Ultimax : Boots but plays slowly
  [boots with C64 core V5.1A5 on R5 and plays nicely]

• Pinball spectacular - Ultimax : Boots and plays nicely (even with the pads)
  [boots with C64 core V5.1A5 on R5 and plays nicely]

• Seawolves - Ultimax : Boots but pads do not work correctly (either i can move when in port 1 but can't fire, when in port 2, can fire but can't move)
  [boots with C64 core V5.1A5 on R5 and plays nicely]

• Grid Runner - Hessware: Boots and plays nicely
  [boots with C64 core V5.1A5 on R5 and plays nicely]

• EasyFlash 1 - Won't boot (black screen or screen with garbage)
  [boots "A pig Quest" with C64 core V5.1A5 on R5 and plays nicely]
  [boots "Eye of the Beyholder" with C64 core V5.1A5 on R5 and plays nicely]

• EasyFlash 3 - won't boot (black screen)
  [boots with C64 core V5.1A5 on R5 and plays nicely]

• Kung Fu flash - won't boot (screen with garbage)
  [boots with C64 core V5.1A5 on R5 and plays nicely]

• Sam's Journey (protovision) - won't boot (black screen)
  [boots with C64 core V5.1A5 on R5 and plays nicely]

• SoulForce (protovision) - won't boot (fixed grey screen)
  [boots with C64 core V5.1A5 on R5 and plays nicely]

• Zetawings (Bitmap soft) - won't boot (text screen with garbbage)
  [won't boot with C64 core V5.1A5 on R5...... screen text with garbage] <----------------- Not relevant, cartridge identified as faulty

• Galencia (protovision) - boots but only the introduction sequence works, then black screen
  [boots with C64 core V5.1A5 on R5 and plays nicely]

• Robot jet Action - won't boot (black screen)
  [boots with C64 core V5.1A5 on R5 and plays nicely]

• Tiny quest (Bitmap Soft) - Boots but we only get the introduction text screen then nothing happens
  [boots with C64 core V5.1A5 on R5 and plays nicely]

[dansanderson]

Modern carts with issues on R5 + C64 core:

• Ultimate II+ : black screen

Vintage carts with issues on R5 + C64 core:

• Lazarian: screen goes black, or stuck on blue background light blue border
  • Works on R3.
• Q-Bert: player select works, then screen goes black
  • Same behavior on R3, might be a bad cart.

---

Modern carts working with R5 + C64 core:

• MSSIAH : boots all apps, receives MIDI messages
• Super Snapshot : boots, freezer button opens utilities, utilities work
• Epyx Fastload Reloaded : Fastload works, reset button works
• EasyFlash 3 : Menu loads, passes "torture test" (have not tested flashing yet)

Vintage carts working fine with R5 + C64 core:

• Epyx Fastload ("FASTLOAD" displays, I can load games from disk)
• Gorf
• Star Wars: The Arcade Game
• Choplifter
• Gateway to Aphsai
• HES Turtle Graphics II
• HES 64 Forth
• Spinnaker titles:
  • Story Machine
  • Alphabet Zoo
  • Facemaker
  • Delta Drawing
  • Adventure Creator

I spot checked the working ones with the M65 core in GO64 mode. The ones I checked load up to their title screens just fine, but I can't tell if misbehavior is due to expected GO64 mode incompatibility.

[gardners]

ok, so I have a Sam's Journey cart here, which is listed as not working on R5, so that's probably a good one for me to focus on initially.

[paich64]

As opposed to issue 781 where there is a work around which is about power cycling with NOSCROLL and select the C64 core manually, here there's obviously no workaround :

With latest MegaFlash in slot 0 and core 0.96 in slot 1, no C64 core installed, power cycling without NOSCROLL won't start Sam's Journey (black screen) and power cycling with NOSCROLL and selecting slot 1 (core 0.96) will result in the exact same black screen.

Doing the exact same test with R3A and Sam's Journey (using the exact same cores in slot 0 and slot 1) results in Sam's Journey starting, whatever the method used to start core 0.96 is.

[gardners]

Handling #778 and #781 together on 781-c64-carts branch

[gardners]

The above commit almost certainly fixes this issue.

[paich64]

I confirm that on R5, with no C64 core installed, pushing the fixed bitscreen now results in :

• Sam's Journey (Protovision) booting and working fine (a few expected glitches) as it did on R3A
• Soulforce (Protovision) booting and working fine (a few expected glitches) as it did on R3A
• Galencia (Protovision) booting and working fine (a few expected glitches) as it did on R3A
• "Robot Jet Action" booting and working fine (a few expected glitches) as it did on R3A

[dansanderson]

My ProtoVision cart that was having the issue appears to be a gmod2 cart. I wonder if the issue is general to gmod2 carts. http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/GMod2

[lydon42]

My ProtoVision cart that was having the issue appears to be a gmod2 cart. I wonder if the issue is general to gmod2 carts. http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/GMod2

@dansanderson is this still a problem?