Everything goes black after Boot Floppy

So today has been interesting!

I’ve never used a Raspberry Pi before but this evening Ive got one, formatted the card, installed NOOBs, Installed RISCOS.

Then followed – https://blog.dxmtechsupport.com.au/playing-badass-acorn-archimedes-games-on-a-raspberry-pi/ to install Sparks, then ADFFS, Anymode and added the mode script.

I can download zips, and then convert them to floppys.

When I Middle Click on the Drive and Say Boot FLoppy, everything just goes black and my TV believes its no longer receiving any signal.

Any ideas guys? Thanks!

The most likely issue is that your TV doesn’t support the old low-resolution modes that old games use. Fortunately there’s a workaround.

Open up the SD card from the icon bar, then open the !Boot app (hold Shift and double-click it), and then finally open the Loader directory. There will be a few files in here like BOOTCODE/BIN, START/ELF etc.

Start the Edit app (it’s under the Apps icon on the icon bar) and type the following line:
disable_mode_changes

Press F3 to save the file. In the box enter CMDLINE/TXT then drag the icon to the Loader window that you opened earlier. This should create a file named CMDLINE/TXT in Loader.

Restart the system (Ctrl-Shift-F12) and hopefully your game will work.

Edit: I just looked more closely at the linked article and noticed that this was already covered. However, it’s still the most likely cause of the problem so please double-check that you created CMDLINE/TXT in the right place (Loader) and that you spelled “disable_mode_changes” correctly.

Then followed – https://blog.dxmtechsupport.com.au/playing-badass-acorn-archimedes-games-on-a-raspberry-pi/

That’s a very thorough blog post, although it’s now far easier to grab ADFFS and the games via PackMan by adding the following source URL:

http://www.jaspp.org.uk/packages/release

AnyMode is also no longer a requirement as ADFFS implements its own video driver, which takes over from the OS as soon as ADFFS is loaded.

everything just goes black and my TV believes its no longer receiving any signal

That sounds like you’ve not added disable_mode_changes to CMDLINE/TXT as mentioned by Chris.

Hey guys thanks for the reply. I thought I had done, as I’d followed that tutorial.

But I’ll check later when I get a chance! Thanks!

Sorry, what do you mean by Adding the source URL? Adding to what? (sorry this is literally all brand new to me as of yesterday evening!)

what do you mean by Adding the source URL?

1. Run PackMan, which I believe is on the desktop of a NOOBS install
2. Right click on the PackMan icon down the bottom right and select Advanced/Sources
3. Click Add and enter the URL above, then Save, which will pull down the app list
4. Select the game(s) you want and install
5. Load ADFFS (it will be installed as a dependency)
6. Launch the game via the icon, which can be found in $.Apps.Games

Awesome, thank you :)

So I’ve managed to fix that problem (yay)

Everything was installed and spelt right… except I’d not put /TXT in the name of the file (doh)

Now I can get some games to load.

Thundermonk – Loads, but I’ve got 2 copied on screen that are really small.
Mad Profressor – Ive got 4 copies on screen, 2 of which are flickering.

Populus – Seems to loads, mouse disappears but I remain on the desktop.
Same with gods.

I’m not sure what would be causing this? I’ve tried adjusting graphics resolutions etc, but not sure what would be causing this ghosting?

I had a multiscreen issue a while back. Might be worth reading https://forums.jaspp.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=160&start=30

Do you have an MDF selected?

What version of ADFFS are you using?

Thundermonk – Loads, but I’ve got 2 copied on screen that are really small.
Mad Profressor – Ive got 4 copies on screen, 2 of which are flickering.
Populus – Seems to loads, mouse disappears but I remain on the desktop.
Same with gods.

Are these being run from floppy images, or the packages via PackMan? At a guess its going to be one of the following:

1. You have a Monitor specified in Configure, but aren’t running AnyMode
2. Your Pi firmware and/or RISC OS need updating to a newer build

Although ADFFS no longer depends on AnyMode, I believe specifying a specific monitor type locks RISCOS to the resolutions defined in the MDF. Generally speaking, a Pi should be left on Auto monitor type as it has a hardware scaler and supports any mode a game would specify – including overscan etc.

Officially ADFFS 2.70 requires RISC OS 5.27 Nov 16th 2018 or newer, due to changes in the way RISCOS handles mode changes. That said, it might work on earlier builds of RISC OS but I’ve not tested them as its a moving target.

If it’s not point 1, then by complete coincidence I recorded three videos this morning showing how to update the Pi firmware, update RISCOS to a daily build and install ADFFS via PackMan. They’re on the JASPP YouTube Channel if you’re not sure how to do it.

Hi guys,

Thanks for this.

They are running from the Packages bia PackMan.

Actually thinking about it I’m not sure I’ve got AnyMode running…. I know I did it the first time round but I had to crash and rebuild the system! I did the disable_mode_changes . but not installed AnyMode.

I’ve not gone into Configure to set anything, so as far as I’m aware its still doing it’s own thing.

I’ll take a look tonight to see if I can update, thanks Jon!

I’ve not gone into Configure to set anything, so as far as I’m aware its still doing it’s own thing.

If I recall correctly, the default behaviour is to use an MDF if one exists. It might be best to go into Configure/Screen and see what it’s set to.

Ok, so that bits sorted!

Checked through and installed anymore. Games all load.

Next issue! Mad Prof doesn’t recognise the keyboard to start the game. I can define keys etc, so it’s clearly reading the keyboard but when I press fire it won’t start. He flickers to recognise I’ve pressed a button bit won’t respond.

I’ve installed lastest nightly build and firmware.

Also, populous won’t register mouse clicks on game. I can click tutorial to star, then nowt

Sorry, know I’m being a pain!

Ok, so that bits sorted!

What did you do to fix it, so I can update the ADFFS install requirements if required.

Mad Prof doesn’t recognise the keyboard to start the game.

“RMKill USBJoystick” from the commandline before launching the game. There’s a known issue in the current version of USBJoystick that causes some games to think there’s a Joystick attached. It will be fixed in the next release.

populous won’t register mouse clicks on game

Similar issue, “RMKill USBJoystick”, or if you don’t have a Joystick, edit “!ADFFS.!Run” and comment out the section that loads USBJoystick.

I’ve also just noticed Populous reports an illegal instruction in its Exit handler, so I’ll get that fixed at some point.

Thanks again!

I installed any mode.

I also went through the configure and changed it to auto, it was once(auto Panasonic TV)

I installed any mode.

I also went through the configure and changed it to auto, it was once(auto Panasonic TV)

I’ve either not made it quite so unreliant on AnyMode as I thought, or it was the “Auto Panasonic TV” that was causing the issues.

I don’t suppose you could try removing AnyMode to see if the Auto Monitor setting fixed it?

I’ve seen similar issues in the past (two “copies” of the screen, and flickering). I’ll do some testing later and see whether I can replicate it again.

My Pi is fine without AnyMode, and I let EDID do it’s stuff in terms of loading an MDF. I think I have the mode_changes disabled in the GPU config.

I’ve seen similar issues in the past (two “copies” of the screen, and flickering). I’ll do some testing later and see whether I can replicate it again.

Configure/Screen is set to the relevant MDF on my machine (picked up through EDID). The MDF is supplied in HardDisc4; it’s not a custom one. I have disable_mode_changes set.

Thundermonk works correctly, filling the screen, when AnyMode is loaded. Without AnyMode I get two smaller “windows” stacked vertically.

My Pi is fine without AnyMode, and I let EDID do it’s stuff in terms of loading an MDF

And the games listed above work okay? Leaving EDID enabled or manually setting an MDF that doesn’t contain legacy mode definitions should in theory break most games, as I believe the mode is rejected before my GraphicsV driver can say they’re okay.

I’ve yet to find a programmatical workaround for this that doesn’t involve users manually changing settings.

I have just double-checked…

Pi firmware from 22nd Jan.
RISC OS ROM dated 26th Jan.
I do not have AnyMode installed.
Cmdline/text says disable_mode_changes.
Screen configured with EDID (type is ‘Auto (Samsung)’).
ADFFS 2.71s (beta) [same with release version]

Mad Prof: works fine.

Populous: starts OK in terms of graphics, but I click Tutorial and then no mouse clicks will do anything, so I don’t know what to do next. If I CTRL-ESC, then I get an ADFFS exception. Ah, the mouse problem will be because of the USBJoystick module bundled in ADFFS! If kill it and retry, then the game won’t load. It loops ‘undefined instruction’ when the music starts.

I do not have AnyMode installed.
Cmdline/text says disable_mode_changes.

I did code it correctly then! I could have sworn I tested it on several Pi’s at the time.

Populous: starts OK in terms of graphics, but I click Tutorial and then no mouse clicks will do anything

I refer the honourable gentleman to the answer I gave earlier !!

Ah yes, I think that’s done it. I was also a muppet and realised you can toggle the joystick OFF in Moriati too! haha

Thanks for all your help!