LJP 1.0rc7

[metaview]

Find more here:
metaviewsoft.de/wordpress/?p=15

[semi]

Problems from previous versions (I skipped RC5 and 6) for me on my SONY Clie PEG-NX80V is:

LJP versions that I've used before are 0.9, 1.0RC3 (Because RC2 doesn't run for me), 1.0RC4

1 - Number problem (Wasn't there in RC3 and RC4)
2 - Beltbar still cause fatal error when turned on (From RC3)
3 - Show FPS still won't work (From RC3)

I don't test new LJP very much because my Clie's currently having a problem where it will keep poping out errors with fatal exception on any kind of reset, sometimes I need to reset it 10 or more times before it acts normal again, going to send it to a one man company again for repair soon.

Sorry, off topic a little, in any case, I am happy to say that LJP launcher is better than RC3 and RC4 now for me, as it will not give me a fatal error (which I have to do a reset) when there's not enough memory to run SNES games, it will actually tell me out of memory, and I can go back to launcher, good job metaview!

[needhelp]

I just wanna say what a fantastic job you've been doing metaview. I am gonna try LJP 1.0RC7 now and I'll report back any errors. Happy you got the IR keyboard integrated into LJP ;D
Thanks

[semi]

Another problem that I've found in this version is the GB save, it's messed up, it won't detect my old saves anymore even though it's there, it seems to be saving the new saves as something like: filename.ss17525331 instead of the old filename.ss1 (or 2, 3 etc..)

[needhelp]

Just wondering, did you decide to remove the numbers in this version, because I can see the 02:rom name, everyone was talking about. I do like the idea of the RAM and DB at the top. This way I know when to reset. The panic exit button was also a nice add-on, although, I haven't tried it.

[metaview]

semi: you're right, will be fixed.
needhelp: well the numbers are still there :-)

[tgwaste]

help -> about still crashes my phone.

[needhelp]

I have a couple of problems on my palm tungsten E2.
- First, the IR keyboard is fantastic. It works great, better than I thought, although I will have to get used to it. One thing I found though is that you CAN'T press 2 buttons at the same time. Other than that, the IR keyboard works great
- Second, I tried loading NES games and they all seemed fine. The save/load also seemed fine. I could save and then load a slot from this version. I could also load a game from a slot from a previous version. So, NES is all fine
- Third, I tried only 2 GB games, but they seemed to work fine. However, the save/load seems to be only able to save once. When I saved once, then all the slots became full. If I save over one of the other slot in the same game(different slot from previous save), it overwrites all the slots(including the other save) . You also can't load a game from a previous version.
- Fourth, for genesis, I was able to load any game and it seems a lot faster, which was good if you have sound on so it will still be decent. I loaded a game from a previous version of LJP and it loaded fine, so ,I am assuming that saving and loading from this version will be fine.
- Lastly, for SNES, this is where we have the biggest problem. I reset my palm, entered into LJP and tried to run ANY game and I always get the same message.
"cannot sys_alloc262144 Bytes"
ok
"cannot sys_alloc131072 Bytes"
ok
"cannot sys_alloc65536 Bytes" <-----This is # in UDMH (65536K)
ok
"cannot sys_alloc122880 Bytes"
ok
"cannot sys_alloc61440 Bytes"
ok
"cannot sys_alloc131072 Bytes"
ok
Then "Out of memory...[]" error, clicking ok will lead me back to the launcher. Back in RC2, I would get a couple of error messages, a "Can't load a rom" error and then when I get back to the launcher and I re-click that same game or another one, I get more error messages and then the game works 100% of the time. Now I can't even go into a single game .
To end, LJP is a LOT more stable, since, an "out of memory" error doesn't cause me to soft reset it anymore. This fact applies to other error messages. So, the save/load in GB, the SNES problem and the 2 button are the major problems. Hope that helps
Thanks again

[metaview]

Well, not here. What do you need about for? It's a fancy starfield, but that's it :-)

[needhelp]

I have to admit though that the panic button seemed to work fine and the starfield was really nice to look at

EDIT: I just noticed one last thing with the keyboard. I had the save slot button mapped as let's say k. When I changed it and then I clicked k in a game, it still asked to save slot. The same went with the other buttons. Also, I set my A and B button to O and P and somehow I,U,Y,T and other buttons do what the A button does??? Is there something wrong here? It seemed really odd, since, I never mapped those buttons

[metaview]

tgwaste: Do you by any chance use a different screen depth than 16 bit for your launcher? Which device do you have?

needhelp: Memory in SNES, I guess there was something changed between rc2 and rc3. I will chec k it. The issue with 2 buttons: I don't know yet, but will have a look. About the other keys on the keyboard also working: the reason is I'm too lazy to set the unused fields in my mapping array to zero. At the end it shouldn't harm anything...

[tgwaste]

metaview said:

Well, not here. What do you need about for? It's a fancy starfield, but that's it :-)

I dont need it.. just reporting what I see

Panic button works great (love this feature although I wish there was one that did the same thing without exiting the application.)

Mario Kart is still broke (Meta, I sent this rom to you in that one email incase you need it to test).

In SNES I have: zelda3.zip.. yet when I hit the 'z' key it doesnt take me to it. Honestly dont care about this but again, just reporting what I see.

Meta, thanks for all the work, im sure I speak for everyone when I say its all very much appreciated.

metaview said:

tgwaste: Do you by any chance use a different screen depth than 16 bit for your launcher? Which device do you have?

Treo 680.. so screen parameters are always the same AFAIK.

P.S. this has worked since RC3.. broke in RC4.

[metaview]

Must be something with the device, I have a 680 too and can play MarioKart (here were the problem with the memory trash in former releases) just fine. Also z brings me to the first ROM starting with z. That's very strange...

[needhelp]

- I agree, I think there might be something wrong with the memory for the SNES, however, I have no clue what it would be.
- As for the 2 button issue, that's only noticable in games where you have to press the 2 buttons at the same time, so, that can be passed (it's not a major thing, just wanted to point it out).
- About "the other keys for the keyboard working", yes, you're right, it shouldn't harm anything, but when I remap Frameskip for example, it remains in the same place(same button) and gets remaped to another button. This could be a problem if you remap a crucial button and then you accidently press it's original mapped button and you turn off LJP(Panic button thing) or maybe exit the game or reset. For "set the unused fields in my mapping array to zero", can't you just use some loop(for loop) and then tell it to go through mapping array and any unused field = 0 or something. I don't know much about programming wireless keyboards, but that's what it sounds like to me.
If you can get the SNES working, since, I wanted the IR for mostly SNES, because of the buttons and if you can get this whole mapping problem sorted out, then everything is good. The 2 buttons problem can be ignored and as for the save/load in GB, you can always use the save in the actual game, since, that seems to work fine.
Thanks again though, great work

[semi]

metaview: Any chance of fixing the GB memory problem? it seems to be using DB memory instead of Dynamic memory, so everytime when I play a GB game, my DB memory decreases, and it will not free them up unless I do a reset, quite annoying =\

[metaview]

Well, I don't know why, but the freeing of the storage used for the ROM in GB is disabled. I will reenable it.

[angel]

I'm in holidays, but i'll test the IR keyboard asap ! Thanks for this update

[countbuggula]

Ok I did some preliminary testing with RC7 and haven't run into any problems with NES, SNES, GB, or Genesis yet. The sound message in Genesis is working properly now, as well. I'll test some more after work today and see what I can find.

[needhelp]

countbuggula: What device do you have?
metaview: I also noticed that if you open LJP and change from NES to SNES for example, your db goes down with every change, so, you could start at ~100 db more than needed and you'll be done to ~5 db more. Also, before, I could rotate between NES, GENS and GB as many times as I want and play TONS of different games from all of them without having to reset, now, if I play a game or two on either NES or GB and try to use GENS, it says out of memory PNO, etc... so, as I result I will have to soft reset. So, I was wondering if there is something wrong with the memory there .
Thanks

[_Em]

Maybe the launcher lists aren't being released?

[countbuggula]

Needhelp: I'm using a Treo 700p.

Wow...just in case anyone was wondering, this is why Tinnus gave up on LJP entirely and decided to make an entirely new launcher. I think there's only so much band-aid style patching we can do here until Tinnus releases LJX. Metaview, you're doing an outstanding job trying to make everyone happy. Just don't get yourself burned out on the project.

[needhelp]

_Em: That could very well be it.
countbuggula: No wonder SNES ran, because you have, I am sure a TON of memory , compared to ~7.5mb db ram on my E2. I am still happy with my tungsten E2 though. I agree, I think metaview has done an excellent job with LJP and has fixed it up best as he could and the addition of the IR keyboard made it better. I still kinda wish that SNES was still working with the IR keyboard, since, that's my major problem, but keep up the good work . Make sure to take some time to relax as well. You should always put your health first, then worry about LJP.
Just wondering, do any of you guys know how the launcher for LJX is gonna look or if Tinnus has already finished it?
Thanks ;D

[Tinnus]

The LJX launcher will probably look different in the PalmOS and not-PalmOS versions since what I have in mind is not much Palm-esque. To be honest I don't have a good idea of what the Palm launcher will look like ;D

I don't care much though, I'm more interested in speed and stability first, then cosmetics.

[countbuggula]

tinnus said:

I don't care much though, I'm more interested in speed and stability first, then cosmetics.

I would happily put up with a command-line interface if it meant more speed and stability. I certainly won't complain about any extra pretty GUIs that you decide to add after that functionality though

[needhelp]

same here, I just wanted to know if you completed the design yet, that's all . However, I fully agree, I would be willing to sacrifice cosmetics for speed and stability as well ;D.

[countbuggula]

Ok I have good news and bad news. The good news is the SNES module now loads old quicksaves from previous versions of LJP correctly.

The bad news is GB now doesn't. If you try to load from the launcher it gives an error "Cannot open 02:/PALM/Pr..." and if you try to quickload in game nothing happens.

[needhelp]

On mine, when I loaded a previous game from a previous version for GB, it loaded fine, but when I tried to save a game, it saves it in all the slots, whether empty or full I think it's some bug in the code. Maybe in the code it says to save in all instead of the one the user clicked on.

[tgwaste]

tinnus said:

The LJX launcher will probably look different in the PalmOS and not-PalmOS versions since what I have in mind is not much Palm-esque. To be honest I don't have a good idea of what the Palm launcher will look like ;D

I don't care much though, I'm more interested in speed and stability first, then cosmetics.

So recently I started learning how to code Palm Apps. In the last week I have learned how to do a basic UI. After a few months I will probably be adept enough to code a more complex interface. I would love to lend my coding to this project if Tinnus would like.

Im more of a coder than a visual artist, so if some of you more creative types want to start making some .jpgs of how you want the interface to look I can probably start coding around that.

Let me know if there is any interest.


Tinnus: weren't you talking about a Palm-POC you have done already?

[_Em]

I just thought of an idea to solve the 2-button issue:
Most devices having the 2-button issue have an abundance of keys to be mapped, yes?
Why not enable multi-button assigning (S key on keyboard is left & up, D is right & up, etc.)?

[metaview]

Well, it will always and in a rather complex interface especially when adding such a bunch of things as in LJP. Complex things, complex errors and bugs. About the error in GB: please read some posts ago, it's fixed but not released yet. The memory lost when switching modules: I will have a look. About the multiple key presses, it should work, I'll check it. Anyway, I guess LJP will still survive some time