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KCS Power Cartridge Issue - Real or emulated

Open Marc91360 opened this issue 5 years ago • 8 comments

Good morning all !

I have problems with a real "KCS Power cartridge" when I use it with my U64. Under Basic, the cartridge works, and I can call its menu by pressing the physical Key of the Cartridge. When I'm in a game, however (Gyruss, Boulderdash for example), I can't activate the cartridge menu - the button doesn't work, and does nothing.

Same kind of problem with the emulated cartridge: Under Basic, it works, but in game, the combination RESTORE + Power Button causes a general freeze most of the time.

Best regards,

Marc91360 avatar Feb 05 '20 12:02 Marc91360

  • Please provide the version number of the firmware you are using.
  • Please verify the behavior of the KCS cartridge on a real C64, under the same conditions.
  • The correct sequence to freeze is not RESTORE + Powerbutton, but Powerbutton + RESTORE.

GideonZ avatar Feb 06 '20 06:02 GideonZ

version number of the firmware : Oups, you're right ! I use a U64 Elite with the latest firmware -V1.26 / 3.6a

verify the behavior of the KCS cartridge on a real C64 : Alas, I no longer have a real C64 ...

The correct sequence to freeze is Powerbutton + RESTORE : OK, bad wording on my part ... I have just tried, in KCS power cartridge emulation mode, to switch from a game (H.E.R.O.) to the menu of the Power Cartridge (power + RESTORE) : I get a general freeze of the screen - see the attachment below. KCS

Marc91360 avatar Feb 07 '20 07:02 Marc91360

On an U64 rev1.2 V1.28/3.7 the freeze function of the emulated KCS Power Cartridge works. (this cartridge is pretty cool indeed) @Marc91360 does this problem still exists? Otherwise we could close this issue.

Jumpman64 avatar Jun 03 '20 20:06 Jumpman64

Hello, Not updated my firmware yet :) Need to do it and try

Marc91360 avatar Jun 04 '20 06:06 Marc91360

Hello, Just tried with a real KCS with the latest firmware: cannot call the KCS menu using the physical button of the cartridge. The cartridge seems to work (I have the logo on screen), but the physical button is useless.

Work well on a real C64, so the cartridge is not the cause

Best regards

Marc91360 avatar Jun 25 '20 13:06 Marc91360

Did you turn on "Writes" in the bus mode?

GideonZ avatar Jun 25 '20 14:06 GideonZ

Correct ! So everything is OK with a real KCS. With the emulated one, I still have trouble. I can call the menu, backup game, but when I try to BLOAD the saved game, the game does work. Just tried with the game HERO : With the real KCS, I can backup and load back the game, With the emulated KCS, I can backup, but when I load back, I got a "ready." cursor, and the KCS seems gone from the memory.

Still need more test - for example can I load with a real KCS a BACKUP made with the emulated one ?

Marc91360 avatar Jun 25 '20 15:06 Marc91360

I don't own a real KCS cart so i used the latest VICE and KCS Power Cartridge ROM v1. Looks like Freeze Backups made with the emulated KCS cart on the U64 are bad.

  • A Freeze made with emulated KCS on VICE loads back on the U64 with BLOAD and runs fine.
  • A Freeze made with emulated KCS on the U64 loads back on U64 and VICE but crashes. U64 quits out to READY and VICE quits with "Main CPU: JAM at $9999"

kcs-test-freezes.zip

Jumpman64 avatar Jun 26 '20 11:06 Jumpman64