Fmsx Port Updated Back In March


macgyver61

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Nov 22, 2005
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Apologies in advance if everyone already knows about this, but since fMSX came to the GP2X I've been checking back at the gp2x archive regularly in case it had been updated to be a little more usable -

It seems like it was updated back at the end of March but not many people noticed. www.gp32spain.com has a version which comes ready-to-run with the disk/rom selector pre-configured and diagonal support (which apparently was lacking in the original version). Still no virtual keyboard unfortunately, but any game which only needed the joystick to start and play should now be within your grasp.

Incidentally, if you're not just using ROMs and are instead using the "msx 1 mania" disk images, you'll be irritated to note that even if the game itself doesn't require keyboard input, you still need to enter a number on the start-up menu. The following is a workaround if you really, really want to play those games. It's easy, but not exactly fast -

1. Get hold of Ricardo Bittencourt's DSKTOOL utility (DOS only I believe). It's available at various sites if you search including - http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/875...xdownother.html
2. At the dos prompt run DSKTOOL D <disk image name here> AUTOEXEC.* to remove the menu program.
3. Run DSKTOOL L <disk image name here> to list the contents of the image file and make a note of the relevant filename for the game you're interested in (if there is more than one, there will probably be a loader program ending in .bas - that's the one you need)
4. Open the disk image in your preferred MSX emulator (I used blueMSX).
5. If the filename for your game ended in .bin, enter :
10 BLOAD "<filename here>",R

If the filename for your game ended in .bas, enter :
10 RUN "<filename here>"
6. Type:
save "AUTOEXEC.BAS"
7. Copy the disk image to the FMSX ROMs folder on your GP2X's SD card and run the rom/disk selector (hit Y before choosing disk images)

You'll now be wasting 720k for what's probably a 64k or less game, but if all is well your game should now run without the need to go through the MSX Mania menu system.

A long-winded workaround, but it got me playing Eric And The Floaters (the game upon which bomberman was based as far as I'm aware) and Lazy Jones, so I'm happy....

Again, sorry if everyone who cares already knew about the update, but it seems like it was missed along the way (I tried searching the forums, but only found references to the original release).
 
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