How to get Sofarun on Carnivore 2?

Supporter (10)

10-03-2022, 22:59

Hi all. After months of waiting I've finally received the last bit of my MSX setup in the mail and I'm beyond excited! Or rather I was until I immediately hit a wall. I'm attempting to run a Carnivore 2 on an FS-A1GT and... I'm completely fucking lost. My only previous experience with the MSX was via Sofarun on the MiSTer FPGA. Now that I have real hardware, I naively assumed that I could just put all my games on the Carnivore 2 like a regular console flash cart and it would just work.

I already have a working Sofarun setup on the MiSTer with all the roms laid out like I want them, so I'm hoping to just duplicate that. Luckily, it appears that the Carnivore 2 cart I have is already fully configured - it has been updated to version 2.40 and boots directly to the boot menu with some roms already flashed to memory.

Here are the questions I have about what to do next:
1. I'm using a 2gb SD card with a CF card converter (one of the ones confirmed working with the Carnivore 2). Do I need to format the sd card in some way?
2. How do I view the files I put on the SD card on the MSX?
3. Assuming I have the latest sofarun.zip file, how do I actually install Sofarun?
4. How do I add/ remove roms once Sofarun has been installed?

I tried looking up the user guide but it appears to pre-suppose some level of existing MSX/ command line experience and kinda glosses over the parts I'm confused about.

Appreciate any help!
(Humble-brag setup picture)

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By Manuel

Ascended (19677)

10-03-2022, 23:16

If you choose the default option, you should go to BASIC, where you can type _FDISK. There you can format the SD card and create parititions. If that doesn't work, you shouldn't use an sd-card-with-CF-adapter, but you should just get a CF card. It's not hard.

By jepmsx

Champion (281)

11-03-2022, 09:44

Carnivore2 is very sensible to the CF type. There is a list of compatibility https://sysadminmosaic.ru/en/msx/carnivore2/qvl_list

I used a SD card converter and didn't work.

Once you've done the _FDISK to format the CF card, then you can take it to your PC and store files there. You can download the utilities that are described in the manual here https://github.com/RBSC/Carnivore2/tree/master/Util

To use sofarun, you have to unzip the file from https://www.louthrax.net/mgr/sofarun.html. I have sofarun files in a directory and then you call SR when you are in DOS/Nextor. There is a way to do an autoexec.bat to run it when the computer boots.

By the way, very nice setting and nice machines B-)

By djh1697

Paragon (1734)

12-03-2022, 20:58

I have my Sony MSX2+ in my parlour, with both a MFRSCC+SD and a Carnivore2, I do like your set up though! It all works well together! I also have a Playsoniqs Supersonics cartridge, with gives me amazing RAM on my MSX, sadly I cannot get the Sega master system games to work natively using Sofarun, at least not yet. I really don't have the time for MSX at the moment, although I thought someone had robbed my on eBay, since they claimed to have never received a MSXVR I sent them, I was relieved to have it returned to me, some 6 months after the event!

I am doing two part time courses at the moment. I have only level 1 computing so I am working on Level 3, and an English language class, because the UK government has deemed it necessary for you to have a minimum standard in both English & Maths before proceeding to a further or higher education course. Life goes on! I have some disabilities that limit what I can do!

By vraskin

Supporter (10)

19-03-2022, 14:41

Thanks for the explanation everyone! Ended up getting a proper CF card per Manuel's suggestion and got everything working properly.
Last question - Is there an official compatibility list for SOFARUN or the Carnivore 2? I've been having random issues with some games and I'm not sure if it's due to me not picking the right settings or if it's just not possible to get them running properly. For example War of the Dead 2 has weird graphical glitches (the same .dsk image works fine in an emulator), some games run too fast, some (mostly .dsk) games crash to BASIC, etc. It's not a huge deal but it would be good to have some kind of starting point for troubleshooting.

By zadokallen

Resident (45)

19-03-2022, 19:43

vraskin wrote:

I've been having random issues with some games and I'm not sure if it's due to me not picking the right settings or if it's just not possible to get them running properly.

Welcome to the club. I've been having similar problems.

At the moment I'm stuck on Arsene Lupin 3rd (Babiron no Ougon), tried a lot of things but can't make it work. Could you check if it works on your setup please?

By djh1697

Paragon (1734)

19-03-2022, 21:38

vraskin wrote:

Is there an official compatibility list for SOFARUN or the Carnivore 2? I've been having random issues with some games and I'm not sure if it's due to me not picking the right settings or if it's just not possible to get them running properly. For example War of the Dead 2 has weird graphical glitches (the same .dsk image works fine in an emulator), some games run too fast, some (mostly .dsk) games crash to BASIC, etc. It's not a huge deal but it would be good to have some kind of starting point for troubleshooting.

I have found that downloading another copy of the ROM or DSK file might help, I had some games freeze and crash, but I downloaded another copy which worked without issues.

Sofarun works without any adjustments on my C2, the games running too fast may be that you are operating in 60hz mode as opposed to the 50hz mode.

By vraskin

Supporter (10)

21-03-2022, 04:07

引用:

At the moment I'm stuck on Arsene Lupin 3rd (Babiron no Ougon), tried a lot of things but can't make it work. Could you check if it works on your setup please?

Was not able to get that game working on my initial attempt, but I'm still wrapping my head around all the SOFARUN settings so I'm sure there's something I haven't tried yet. It's shaping up to be a bit of a busy week but I'm hoping to set aside an afternoon at some point to tinker with the setup and get everything as close to fully functional as possible. Arsene Lupin seems as good a game as any to use as a test case. From that thread you linked it looks like you got it running after flashing to the C2. I ran into an issue like that with Penguin Wars 2 where it worked after being flashed but would crash when launched from Sofarun. The reason ended up being that Sofarun incorrectly identified the mapper that it was trying to use. That might be the case for this one as well but i haven't had time to test it properly - i'm sure there's a way to manually set the mapper on a game by game basis

By sdsnatcher73

Enlighted (4287)

21-03-2022, 07:04

Yes you can set the mapper type manually for a specific game and SofaRun will remember it. Also for some games specifying a different device type (which defaults to C2 RAM) can help, try C2 Flash, turbo R mapper (if you have a turbo R) or memory mapper (even on a turbo R). Some games don’t like running in a subslot or having a disk drive enabled, you can play with those settings as well. Again SofaRun will save the settings so the next time you run the game the settings will be the same.

If you find a setting that works for a game it may be good to share it here. I have gotten some games that need settings and I will post those here as well

By vraskin

Supporter (10)

17-04-2022, 03:39

引用:

At the moment I'm stuck on Arsene Lupin 3rd (Babiron no Ougon), tried a lot of things but can't make it work. Could you check if it works on your setup please?

Well, it took way longer than expected, but I finally got back to playing around with my MSX setup. If you're still interested I was actually able to get Arsene Lupin 3rd Babiron no Ougon working (both the English translation and the OG Japanese version). For me it just came down to using a different version of the .dsk image. Not sure what the exact rules are for discussing downloads on this forum, but if it's allowed I could point you in the right direction.

By Manuel

Ascended (19677)

17-04-2022, 20:28

This is a ROM game. Use the ROM image to play it.