[Coco] Sierra games and DW

[Aaron Wolfe]

On Wed, Oct 9, 2013 at 11:08 PM, Charlie Pelosi <chaspelosi at outlook.com> wrote:
> Hi Aaron. I have three 512K coco3's here all act the same. So it can't be
> the computer. And DW works fine if the disk controller is in.
> So it must be something with the ROMPAK and or the ROM I am using. Can
> someone point me at the exactly .rom file I should burn ?

It really should not matter what ROM you are using as long as its a
"standard" one..  any DW3 ROM sold by Cloud 9 or provided on their
website is fine.  You could also use the open source version from the
Toolshed project, but it has to be one of the "hdbdw3ccX" flavors,
*not* the ones labeled "hdbdw4ccX" (assuming the sierra disks are
still using the stock os9 drivers and not the "turbo" flavors, which
should be true).

> I think the versions I've tried where HDB-DOS 1.4 DW3 coco 3 and the same
> 1.2 that I got years ago from Boisy.

As long as the bootup message says "DW3" I think you are fine.  All
the ROM does is load the boot track, after all.  It is not used at all
once OS9 starts booting.

>
> When I soldered in the socket, it was a Football II cart, I simply
> unsoldered the game chip and soldered in the socket.
> Nothing else. I don't think any soldering is bad because I have two of these
> and they both do the same.
>

You're probably right, I can't imagine it being a soldering or socket issue.

One question, are you sure you're using the latest DW4 server?  It
should report "4.3.3p" when you enter 'dw server status' in the
command box at the bottom of the gui.  If it does not, please select
"Check for new version" from the tools menu and update.


>
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Aaron Wolfe" <aawolfe at gmail.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2013 10:01 PM
>
> To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> Subject: Re: [Coco] Sierra games and DW
>
>> On Wed, Oct 9, 2013 at 7:28 PM, Charlie Pelosi <chaspelosi at outlook.com>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> I'm having trouble emailing the list I think because my reply address for
>>> my Microsoft account is a different alias than the primary I have subscribed
>>> to the list...
>>> Hello.
>>>
>>> I am trying to play The King's Quest games with a coco3 and drivewire4.
>>>
>>> I downloaded KingsQuest1_dw.dsk from http://www.nitros9.org/latest/
>>> I have a rompak in a COCO3 that has HDB-DOS 1.4 DW3 COCO 3 (Ive tried 1.2
>>> also)
>>> I am using the very latest DW4 in Windows.
>>>
>>> When I mount the KingsQuest1_dw.dsk in drive 0 and type DOS to start
>>> Nitros9 starts to boot.
>>> When it gets to i2xoC and then the coco just hangs sitting there forever
>>> doing nothing.
>>>
>>> Any ideas on what is wrong or how to get this to work?
>>>
>>> I tried to send the above earlier and it didn't work. But that worked out
>>> because in the meantime I discovered something.
>>>
>>> If I move the rom chip to an actual FD502 controller the boot gets past
>>> i2xoC and the game starts.
>>> So I would guess because Nitros9 is loading a driver or looking for the
>>> disk hardware.
>>> So is there a version that doesn't do that so that people loading from a
>>> simple rompak or even tape can boot these games with DW and enjoy them?
>>>
>>
>> The version you have is not intended to require a disk controller.
>> Last time I played it, it worked here with just a CoCo 3 and DW3 rom
>> in a rompak, no additional hardware.  That was a while back, it is
>> possible some bug has been introduced.  However, Bill is not seeing a
>> problem currently.  I don't have things set up to test at the moment
>> but I think it is possible the need for a disk controller on your
>> system is a side effect of some other problem.  It is definitely not
>> by design.
>>
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