Tengai Makyou: Ziria translation

[keithcourage]

Jan 3, 2024 20:47:48 GMT supper said:

Jan 3, 2024 3:40:39 GMT keithcourage said:

Just a report that both the 1.0 and 1.1 versions of the patch have random crashing issues on real hardware(CDR). Works great though via emulation or ODE options like the everdrive pro or Super SD system 3.

The game will just crash in between loading screens from time to time. Never in the same spot or dependent on how long the game has been played. It could happen in 15 minutes or after 1 hour. It's been tested on multiple systems with different brand of CDRs and CD burners. 

Thanks again for all your work on this. It's great to able to play this even if I have to use an emulator to do so. 

Yeah, I've had several people mention this to me, and I've been working on fixing it for the last several days. After a lot of searching, I've found one issue that involved the backup data track still being used when it wasn't supposed to, but I'm not sure that it's actually the root problem here. I'm quite puzzled by this, because while the fact that the game works fine on flashcards greatly limits the number of things that could potentially be causing the issue, I can't find anything that I can really believe would cause the "random" crashes that have been reported...

Anyway, sorry for the problems. I'm currently working with someone who reported the issue to try to figure out exactly what's going on and see if fixing the one other problem I've found improves things, so hopefully, I'll be able to get this resolved soon.

No worries, I just didn't know if anyone else was reporting issues which is why I posted something here. Take your time as I'm sure you have real life things to do. I always appreciate any translation work done for any PCE game. So just to be able to play it one way or another is good enough for me. 

[supper]

Okay, it took quite a bit of detective work, but mystery solved! I believe I've fixed the crashing issue, and I'm currently having an updated version tested to make sure everything really is shipshape now. Unless some surprise issues crop up, I'll probably put out a v1.2 update in a day or two.

The real problem turned out not to be with any of my code, but a previously undocumented (at least within the modern PCE dev community) bug in the BIOS itself. It's actually a pretty significant issue, so I'll put an explanation here in the hopes that posterity won't have to repeat my frustrations.

When the BIOS's CD_READ routine is called using the "MPR window" mode (_DH set to 0x02 through 0x06), it is intended to do the following:

1. Save the current value of the MPR indicated by _DH (e.g. MPR2 for a _DH of 2), then set it to the user-provided destination page given in _BL.
2. Transfer data from the CD to the destination page using that MPR, switching it to the next page whenever the current one is filled.
3. Restore the MPR to its original value.

The problem occurs if the read in step 2 fails and the BIOS decides to retry it. In this case, after completing step 2, it will immediately restart at step 1...without resetting the MPR to its original value first. Step 1 then saves the "current" value of the MPR, which is actually now set to whatever page the read routine last accessed. It will keep that value when the routine returns.

Because of this, the MPR that's used for the read may (or may not) have a different value after the call to CD_READ, and any code that uses this mode of it has to assume it's been trashed. It's a particularly insidious issue for modern developers, since emulators and such generally aren't going to simulate disc read errors and so will never cause a problem. Real hardware is, of course, not so perfect.

[deubeul]

Thanks Supper for adressing the issue so quickly.

I'm playing the game on an analogue Duo and I came across the same issue several times, I thought it was on the console side so it's reassuring to know it's a software thing and not something to add to the Analogue Duo's imperfections list.

Question: Will the saves made with the first patch be usable with the new patch?

[elmer]

Jan 5, 2024 10:32:59 GMT deubeul said:

I'm playing the game on an analogue Duo and I came across the same issue several times, I thought it was on the console side so it's reassuring to know it's a software thing and not something to add to the Analogue Duo's imperfections list.

Errrmmm ... why is the Analogue Duo failing to read your modern burned-CD? That's the only time that this particular System Card bug would be triggered.

I can understand original hardware having trouble reading burned-CDs, but the Analogue Duo?

[elmer]

Jan 5, 2024 7:04:51 GMT supper said:

Okay, it took quite a bit of detective work, but mystery solved! I believe I've fixed the crashing issue, and I'm currently having an updated version tested to make sure everything really is shipshape now. Unless some surprise issues crop up, I'll probably put out a v1.2 update in a day or two.

Excellent detective work finding the bug in the System Card's code!

[supper]

Okay, the v1.2 update is now out and can be downloaded from the page linked in the first post. The game should now play without issue on burned discs; if anyone encounters a problem, please let me know. Sorry again for all the trouble (but I'd like it to be noted that some of it was Hudson's fault, not mine!). Major thanks to rg111 for helping diagnose the problem and test the fixed version -- otherwise, I'd probably still be driving myself crazy trying to figure out this "impossible" crash.

Jan 5, 2024 10:32:59 GMT deubeul said:

Thanks Supper for adressing the issue so quickly.

I'm playing the game on an analogue Duo and I came across the same issue several times, I thought it was on the console side so it's reassuring to know it's a software thing and not something to add to the Analogue Duo's imperfections list.

Question: Will the saves made with the first patch be usable with the new patch?

While I must echo elmer's doubts about the actual cause of whatever issues you encountered, I can assure you that save files are compatible between versions. In fact, they're even compatible with the original Japanese game, with the sole exception of the extra "Turbo" text speed added in the translation -- it'll cause long, erratic delays if a file that has it activated is loaded in the Japanese version, but that's easily fixed by changing the text speed in the settings menu.

[dshadoff]

I’ve been hearing that the Analogue Duo is having issues on many games during the “load next sequence from CD” areas, so it sounds likely that issues noticed on that console may be an unrelated, Analogue-specific issue.

[deubeul]

Yes sorry, I misunderstood and thought it was the same issue.

On a side note, I can report that the save files made with a 1.0 patched CD are not recognized by a 1.2 patched CD, on the same Analogue Duo console.

The 1.0 comes from a prepatched iso I found on the net because I wasn't able to patch any iso I had, even the redump ones. The 1.2 I managed to patch it myself.

[dshadoff]

It seems that Analogue uses some kind of computed value to be part of the savegame’s filename; when the game’s program changes, the filename changes. If you can locate which filename is used for each version, all you need to do is rename the file, since the file’s data contents will be fine (as mentioned above).

[Escaeva]

Another much needed translation of a classic, thanks so much for your effort.

Great writing as well, this is amazing, THANK YOU!