SofaRun v2.0 released

A new version of SofaRun, a game loader for ROM and DSK files on MSX computers, has been released. Version 2.0 features a with a more comfy greenish sofa, and lots of new things. Main changes are:

Support for disk images using new SofaRunIt tool (based on NearDark original RunIt).
Support for non-SD MegaFlashROM SCC+ flash device.
Integrated PSG to SCC settings.
SRAM auto-save.

Users are encouraged to report any bugs they might find in this thread on our MSX Forum

Relevant link: Loutrax's MSX game room

Comments (23)

By meits

Scribe (6542)

04-09-2015, 20:43

Great you could integrate our little thingy and adapt it to your wishes

By bigjaac

Expert (95)

05-09-2015, 12:40

Thanks, thanks .............

By Louthrax

Prophet (2465)

05-09-2015, 18:47

Version 2.1 (bug fix) is online !

Changelog:

Fixed BASIC disk images bug oon Sunrise IDE.
Fixed memory corruption when no MegaFlashRom was detected.

By Louthrax

Prophet (2465)

06-09-2015, 23:19

Meits wrote:

Great you could integrate our little thingy and adapt it to your wishes

Thanks again for your help on this! Other ways of launching disks images were not SofaRun compliant (MSX-DOS commands, need to press keys to disable .DSK boot...), even if they should remain more reliable, because in real ROM slot.

About that, an interesting option would be to flash the RunIt "virtual driver" in real ROM (SofaRun already has everything needed for that). No more slot emulation / memory mapper read back tricks: clean & simple But of course you'll need one of the SofaRun supported flash device (only MFR SCC+ & MFR SCC+ SD for now). Maybe another free RAM slot could do the job too. I might implement this if there's a need, depending on the compatibility rate of SRI.

By Jipe

Paragon (1614)

07-09-2015, 18:15

i testing Sofarunit with Mega-Scsi and CD-ROM and works
detail : the keys for change disk is not the numeric key !!
testing with 8280 mod 2+ , 4Mo ram , DOS 2.30

By Louthrax

Prophet (2465)

07-09-2015, 18:24

Ah, good news ! I still have my MegaSCSI interface but no more SCSI drives to play with (and I think there's no SCSI connectors on my PC anyway :/).

(and yes, numpad keys are not supported).

By olliraa

Champion (325)

09-09-2015, 21:56

What display "mode" does the Sofarun use? I'm asking, because in the splash and the actual file view all of my lcd:s go nuts, but for example Gryzor (rom) works just fine? I've changed the display setting in Sofarun menu to both 50Hz and 60Hz, but the problem is the same :/

Otherwise the Sofarun works great

Philips VG-8235 (256 Kb ram) and Megaflash SCC+

By Louthrax

Prophet (2465)

09-09-2015, 23:33

It's pure MSX 1 screen 2 for the splash screen and screen 0 / 40 columns for the file browser.

It might be that your LCD monitor does not like the black background color of SofaRun. You can change the browser background & text colors in SR.INI (try to set it to MSX defaults : blue for bg & white for text).

I'm not sure if the background color of the splash screen can be changed, you can always skip it with the /S option.

Just curious : what is the brand/model of your LCD ?

By olliraa

Champion (325)

10-09-2015, 07:41

Louthrax wrote:

It's pure MSX 1 screen 2 for the splash screen and screen 0 / 40 columns for the file browser.

I'm not sure if the background color of the splash screen can be changed, you can always skip it with the /S option.

Just curious : what is the brand/model of your LCD ?

Hi, thanks for the reply I've tried with a 32" Philips led TV (hooked directly via Scart) and also with an lcd projector Sanyo PLV-Z700 via Framemeister (which shiuld be a very good analog-to-digital -converter), but it also struggles with the SR (image jumps, looses sync etc.).

I'll try to change the colors, when I get home

By Louthrax

Prophet (2465)

10-09-2015, 17:10

Hi olliraa,

Before trying to change the text / background colors, could you try to launch SofaRun without the splash screen (SR /S). Let me know if the browser is displayed correctly then. If yes, I might have a fix for that (I'm planning to release a 2.2 version with some more bug fixes, I could include this fix too).

By olliraa

Champion (325)

11-09-2015, 07:15

Sorry for the delay, I was really busy yesterday. Trying SR without the Splash tonight I'll report here

By Jupp3

Resident (41)

11-09-2015, 16:51

Thanks for the update.

Haven't tried yet (just read some docs), but is there no separate "user disk" concept, as in RunIt? If I understood correctly, all disks are just inserted in order (user / save disk usually being last), however it would be nice, if there was some consistent "insert user disk" hotkey (like it's done with 0 in RunIt), that inserts user disk, no matter how many disks the game has before it.

Going to try this on Sunrise CF-IDE + Playsoniq once I get my MSX back in usable state.

By Louthrax

Prophet (2465)

12-09-2015, 11:46

Jupp3 wrote:

However it would be nice, if there was some consistent "insert user disk" hotkey (like it's done with 0 in RunIt), that inserts user disk, no matter how many disks the game has before it.

I had to get rid of the '0' key because of the "20 disks" and the "joystick disk-change" new features (selecting a disk by pushing buttons 0 times was not possible). The '0' key stands for disk '10' now (shift + '1' is 11, ... shift+'0' 20). So you have to look at the message displayed at SRI launch-time and remember the user-disk number.

There are new features too, like creation of user disk only if accessed (handy if you forgot to set a user disk). SofaRun automatically adds this "virtual disk" for all disk games when invoking SRI. You can also change disk write protection status on the fly by pressing R or W.

By Louthrax

Prophet (2465)

12-09-2015, 11:58

By the way, I released SofaRun 2.2 yesterday. Here's the changelog:

Fixed random crashes on turboR + Padial or Gouda SCSI interfaces in some games (was linked to the R800 CPU mode change enabling interrupts in an unexpected way). CPU change has not been disabled, just fixed. Use DOS2CASH or another tool before launching SofaRun / SofaRunIt if you want to control that. By the way, on HD interfaces, R800 is not switching to Z80 mode on disk access, but to R800 ROM mode (maybe to allow whole RAM access ?).
Removed possibility to select an empty disk. I kept that for test reasons, but for a normal usage it's more dangerous than really useful.
Add "INTERLACED" option in SR.INI. Use that if you want to force display to interlaced mode at SofaRun launch (might help on some LCDs).

By olliraa

Champion (325)

13-09-2015, 21:22

Took too long, but now I've tested v 2.2 I changed the colors to "msx1" and no flickering/loss of sync Awesome!

Thx!

By Louthrax

Prophet (2465)

14-09-2015, 02:17

Great ! Don't know exactly why it works, but well, if it does, that's fine

By olliraa

Champion (325)

14-09-2015, 07:41

Btw, should Rick Dangerous (dsk) work ok? The Paragon intro loads, but then it quits to basic. I also tried With Lpadials floppy sd-interface (have that old version), but at the same point (after the intro) I get "Direct statement in file" -error.

What settings should I use to be able to load that game with SR?

Thanks!

By Louthrax

Prophet (2465)

14-09-2015, 10:54

Rick Dangerous works here using the version with this CRC checksum: 6ea06c53 (google a bit for the CRC).
You need to set "Simulate [CTRL] pressed" to Yes in the settings for this game.

If this does not work, I'll need details on your MSX setup (MSX version, RAM, flash or HD device, extensions used... the more details the better !).

By olliraa

Champion (325)

14-09-2015, 16:37

Louthrax wrote:

Rick Dangerous works here using the version with this CRC checksum: 6ea06c53 (google a bit for the CRC).
You need to set "Simulate [CTRL] pressed" to Yes in the settings for this game.

If this does not work, I'll need details on your MSX setup (MSX version, RAM, flash or HD device, extensions used... the more details the better !).

Thanks again Louthrax, that dsk-file works perfectly

By gdx

Enlighted (6208)

12-12-2015, 10:10

Thank you Louthrax for this amazing tool.

Sofarun will would be perfect if we could choose the ROM loader and other commands according to the file name extension like Multi-mente or M file manager. The integrated is well but everyone does not a flash cartridge. I think a lot of people would appreciate a separate interface.

Sofarun has the advantage of operating in a graphical MSX1.
M file manager allows to set several commands by extension.
Multi-mente has many convenient functions.

Keep the advantage of Sofarun and that of M file manager would be great.

By Louthrax

Prophet (2465)

12-12-2015, 12:59

Yes, that's definitvely something I'll do, but not for this Christmas release I guess (have the MegaRAM support to finish first).

By GUNMA747J

Expert (100)