MagicEngine

[Yaaj]

When I goto start a new game of Might and Magic 3 I get a message stating that the file cabinet is full or hasn't been initialized. After doing a search here I found a post about having to press the select button at the BIOS screen, then either deleting the same or initializing the cabinet. I've tried both and when I goto start a new game I still get the error about the cabinet being full.

I've tried using yame to initialize to cabinet and it works with that emulator, but when I try to use the same system card with Magic Engine I still get this same problem.

I'm new to PCE emulation so I have no idea what to do. And I've put off buying a key until I can get a fix for this seeing how Might and Magic 3 and Loom are the only PCE games I still own.

[Tru]

Well... I am not xure how much room is available for ME or YAME in the file cabinet, or if it is related to how much room is on your hard-drive...

But when M&MIII is played no a REAL Duo system, you need an empty file cabinet, as the game uses all the available save space on the duo. SO if ME is based the same way the system is, you will need to make sure there are no save files in the cabinet.

One other thing that may solve your problem though, is the save feature that is built into ME. You can save your game at anytime, by pressing the ESC key and going to the main menu of ME, and the going to save state and choose where to save the game to. This may be much easier than working around with the file cabinet. Then to load your game, just press esc again, and choose load game. Thisd feature works on ALL PCE/Duo games ether the game itself has a save feature or not.

Good Luck!

Trû
_________________
There are only 2 races on this planet... the Intelligent and the Stupid...

[Yaaj]

Good idea about using save states, thanks. Now how do I format the file cabinet so I can start a new game? Everytime I try to format it the cabinet doesn't format.

[Jabberwok]

Did you check ( under # misc. settings in the PCE.INI file ) that backup ram is on the default setting?


;
; backup ram format
; --
; 0 -> old format (backup.ram)
; 1 -> new format (backup.dat, backup.idx) [default]
;

backup_ram=1

Or maybe, just maybe you could always try the old format to see if it works better for you? (who knows?)

Acrasy idea I have : show us the contents of your PCE.INI file, this will help...
_________________
If you translate Pole Position in French with babelfish you get 'Position de Polonais'... I think it's hilarious... from a French point of view.

[Yaaj]

Okay here's my *.ini.


# ----
# emulation settings
# ----

[emulation]

;
; soft reset (RUN + SELECT)
; --
; y -> enabled [default]
; n -> disabled
;

soft_reset=y

;
; frame delay
; --
; adjust video frame delay (15000-18000 µs)
;
; 16393 -> 61 Hz
; 16667 -> 60 Hz [default]
; 16949 -> 59 Hz
;

frame_delay=16667


# ----
# sound settings
# ----
#

[sound]

;
; sound
; --
; y -> enabled [default]
; n -> disabled
;

sound=y

;
; frequency
; --
; set sound frequency (8000 - 48000)
;

frequency=48000

;
; 16-bit
; --
; y -> enabled [16-bit]
; n -> disabled [ 8-bit]
;

16bit=y

;
; stereo
; --
; y -> enabled [stereo]
; n -> disabled [mono]
;

stereo=y

;
; interpolation
; --
; y -> enabled
; n -> disabled [default]
;

interpolation=y

;
; interpolation level
; --
; 1 -> light interpolation
; ..
; 15 -> full interpolation
;

interpolation_level=1

;
; delay
; --
; adjust sound buffer delay (2 - 30), in 1/60th of second
; (best delay is auto detected by default)
;

delay=

;
; CD-ROM audio input line
; --
; 0 -> first audio input line
; 1 -> second audio input line
; ...
;
; (see the log.txt file to find out what are the line numbers)
;

cd_audio_input_line=

;
; master audio volume
; --
; 0-100
;

master_audio_volume=

;
; fx audio volume
; --
; 0-100
;

fx_audio_volume=

;
; cd audio volume
; --
; 0-100
;

cd_audio_volume=


# ----
# video settings
# ----
#

[video]

;
; windowed mode
; --
; select windowed mode at startup
;
; y -> windowed
; n -> fullscreen [default]
;

windowed=n

;
; fullscreen stretch
; --
;
; y -> enable
; n -> disable [default]
;

fullscreen=

;
; fullscreen stretch mode
; --
;
; 0 -> always
; 1 -> only for 1x1 display size
; 2 -> only for 2x2 display size [default]
;

fullscreen_mode=2

;
; bilinear filtering
; --
;
; y -> enable
; n -> disable [default]
;
; (this option doesn't work with all the video card)
;

filtering=y

;
; display size
; --
: select display size at startup
;
; 0 -> 1x1 zoom
; 1 -> 2x2 zoom [default]
;

size=1

;
; display zoom
; --
; 0 -> software [default]
; 1 -> hardware
;

zoom=1

;
; auto frame skip
; --
; y -> enabled
; n -> disabled [default]
;

auto_frame_skip=n

;
; video sync
; --
; y -> enabled
; n -> disabled [default]
;

vsync=y

;
; fullscreen screen resolutions
; --
; custom screen resolutions to be used for the different
; PC-Engine video modes (256x224, 320x224, and 352x224)
;
; (by default a resolution of 640x480 is used for all the
; video modes)
;

res_256=640,480
res_320=640,480
res_352=640,480

;
; windowed screen resolutions
; --
; custom screen resolutions to be used for the different
; PC-Engine video modes (256x224, 320x224, and 352x224)
; in windowed mode
;

win_res_256=256,224
win_res_320=320,224
win_res_352=352,224

;
; auto screen resolution lock
; --
; enable/disable auto screen resolution locking
; for games that change resolution often like
; Military Madness
;
; y -> auto lock [default]
; n -> no resolution lock
;

res_lock=y


# ----
# TV mode settings
# ----

[tv_mode]

;
; tv_mode
; --
; y -> start in TV mode
; n -> start in normal mode [default]
;

tv_mode=n

;
; wide screen
; --
; y -> enabled
; n -> disabled [default]
;

wide=n

;
; horizontal interpolation
; --
; y -> enabled [default]
; n -> disabled
;

interpolation=y

;
; scanlines:
; --
; 0 -> 100% (black scanlines)
; 1 -> 75%
; 2 -> 50%
; 3 -> 25% [default]
; 4 -> 0% (no scanlines)
;

scanlines=3

;
; gamma correction:
; --
; adjust gamma level (0 - 5)
;

gamma=1

;
; brightness control:
; --
; adjust brightness (0 -
;

brightness=1


# ----
# gamepad settings
# ----

[gamepad]

;
; gamepad
; --
; y -> enabled [default]
; n -> disabled
;

gamepad=y

;
; auto fire speed
; --
; 1 (fast) to 10 (slow)
;

auto_fire_speed=2

;
; auto calibration control
; --
; 50% (default) to 90%
;

auto_calibration=70


# ----
# keyboard settings
# ----

[keyboard]

;
; type of keyboard
; --
; 0 -> AZERTY
; 1 -> QWERTY [default]
; 2 -> QWERTZ
;

type=1

;
; unlock numeric keypad
; --
; unlock numeric keypad keys 0 to 9, /, *, . and ENTER
;
; y -> unlocked
; n -> locked [default]
;

numpad=n

;
; unlock numeric keys
; --
; unlock keys 0 to 9
;
; y -> unlocked
; n -> locked [default]
;

numkeys=n

;
; unlock ctrl keys
; --
; unlock INS, DEL, HOME, END, PGUP, PGDOWN control keys
;
; y -> unlocked
; n -> locked [default]
;

ctrlkeys=n

;
; ESC key mode
; --
; change ESC key function
;
; 0 -> automatic mode : [default]
; --------------
; when the emulator is started from a shell or from a front-end
; program pressing ESC will exit the emulator, but when
; the emulator is started by double-clicking on its icon
; pressing ESC will open the menu screen
;
; 1 -> GUI mode :
; ---------
; pressing ESC will always open the menu screen
;
; 2 -> exit mode :
; ---------
; pressing ESC will always exit the emulator
;

esc_key_mode=0

;
; auto repeat delay
; --
; 1 (very fast) to 8 (slow)
;

auto_repeat_delay=2

;
; auto repeat rate
; --
; number of time the key is repeated per second (1 - 16)
;

auto_repeat_rate=9


# ----
# load menu settings
# ----

[load]

;
; drive list
; --
; list of disk drives displayed in the load menu
;

drive_list=CDEF

;
; ROM list titles
; --
; enable ROM filenames to be used as title in the load list
;
; y -> enable
; n -> disable [default]
;

use_rom_file_name=n


# ----
# misc. settings
# ----

[misc]

;
; number of state file
; --
; 4 - 8
;

nb_state_file=4

;
; state file compression
; --
; y -> enable [default]
; n -> disable
;

compress_state_file=y

;
; backup ram format
; --
; 0 -> old format (backup.ram)
; 1 -> new format (backup.dat, backup.idx) [default]
;

backup_ram=1

;
; enable debug log file
; --
; y -> enable [default]
; n -> disable
;

debug_log=y


# ----
# CD-ROM settings
# ----

[cdrom]

;
; CD-ROM drive
; --
; 0 -> first CD-ROM drive [default]
; 1 -> second CD-ROM drive
; ...
;

drive=1

;
; CD-ROM drive letter
; --
; (Windows 2000/XP only)
;
; D:
; E:
; ...
;

drive_letter=F:

;
; SCSI driver timeout
; --
; change the delay that the emulator waits when accessing
; the CD-ROM SCSI driver, 0 is infinite delay
;

timeout=0

;
; CD-ROM cache
; --
; y -> enable
; n -> disable [default]
;

cache=n

;
; CD-ROM cache size
; --
; in KB [default is 512KB]
;

cache_size=512


# ----
# path settings
# ----

[path]

;
; system card paths
; --
;

system_card_1=
system_card_2=
system_card_3=D:\Games\PCE\ME\syscard3.pce
system_card_4=

;
; config path
; --
; (pce.cfg,
; backup.dat, backup.idx,
; games.idx,
; time.dat,
; k12x12.fnt, k16x16.fnt)
;

config=

;
; screenshot path
; --
;

screenshots=

;
; saved game path
; --
;

saved_games=