Problems loading games over the cassette port

Resident (47)

28-11-2021, 13:30

Hello,
Some time ago when I had no SD card solution for the cartridge port I have tried to load some games via the cassette port of my MSX. I have used my laptop to play a soundfile of a game. This soundfile I have created using a software to convert a tape file to a sound file.
The game seemed to load fine at first. However, it appeared that the computer just could not finalise loading the game and starting the game, although the sound file was already played completely. When I pushed the reset button the game would finally start.
Does anyone have an explanation for this behaviour our any tip how to overcome his ?
Thank you very much.

By Grauw

Ascended (10820)

28-11-2021, 14:06

With which game(s) did you have this behaviour, and what machine are you using?

If the game boots when resetting, it sounds like it was a ROM to CAS conversion, because normal CAS games wouldn’t be able to start after a reset. So it seems that the ROM loader didn’t auto-start the game and instead relied on a manual reset. Whether this is intentional or an issue in the loader’s code, it could be either. There is no real good way to boot straight into a ROM game after the computer has already booted past the point where ROMs normally start, so a reset is the most logical way to start it. But it would be nice if the loader did the reset automatically.

Either way, normal CAS games should not exhibit this behaviour, it’s a peculiarity of this (“cracked”) ROM to CAS conversion it seems. In my experience with cracks generally all bets are off on whether it will work properly on your machine. But if a manual reset starts the game I’d say: it’s playable, so all good!

By CASDuino

Champion (357)

28-11-2021, 17:58

You might need to type POKE -1,170 before the BLOAD"CAS:",R command but as Grauw said that is usually what happens if you try a ROM to CAS or WAV file.

By retro69

Resident (47)

29-11-2021, 19:35

Thank you.
I vaguely remember that saving and loading basic programs that way just worked fine. This would fit to the bad cartridge to cassette port theory. I will have to verify this. I will try this again when I have my MSX computer set up again.