Just bought the new game Soul Force from Protovision as a digital download and it's not working on TC64 V2

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Don't Panic. Please wash hands.
  • So I was looking forward to trying this game. The digital download was just released. It comes with both an ocean CRT image and a gmod2 folder with two bin files in it. It did not come as D64 or anything else.


    So I select the crt file (ocean crt. Called SoulForce_ocean.crt. It's 514KB in size) and load it from slot 4. The crt image loads and protovision logo comes up. Then I hit fire and some memorial text comes up about the devs father that has passed away. Then after that I just get a black screen and nothing happens.


    I tired this CRT in Vice and there the game loaded up just fine. Is there anything I can do to try and load the gmod2 version? There are two bin files in that folder. SoulForce_eeprom.bin and SoulForce_flash.bin


    Oh, and I'm using the latest firmware for TC64 V2

  • gmod2 .crt will not work on Chameleon - the Ocean .crt should work though. A bit hard to tell whats wrong when i dont have that .crt file for testing :) Did you try resetting settings before you load it? Perhaps you had REU active or something like that?


    edit: another guess... the game apparently supports saving progress to disk in the ocean version - perhaps it requires a drive being enabled

  • OK, i figured it out... apparently that game, unlike the only other "real" 512k Ocean cartridge (Terminator2), actually requires 8k mode and does not work with a generic "ocean" implementation that uses 16k mode for all sizes (Terminator 2 works with that)


    will see if this can be fixed

  • Hi! In the csdb.dk is Excess-program, with which you can convert Soul Force gmod to easyflash. Tried it and converted crt works with TC64mk1, probably works with TC64mk2 too.

  • gmod2 .crt will not work on Chameleon - the Ocean .crt should work though. A bit hard to tell whats wrong when i dont have that .crt file for testing :) Did you try resetting settings before you load it? Perhaps you had REU active or something like that?


    edit: another guess... the game apparently supports saving progress to disk in the ocean version - perhaps it requires a drive being enabled

    I had aldready done what el_pasi said. Someone in the TC64 facebook group pointed me to the excess program. I converted the gmod2 to easyflash with the excess program. And the game works after I converted it. When I try to save in-game progress I just get an error message. Do I need to put a blank D64 in drive 8 or something?


    Would be nice to have the original ocean CRT work aswell.

  • I cant comment on the excess patch - ask them :) generally saving to EF is emulated and should work (you will still have to save the image manually after doing so)

  • I cant comment on the excess patch - ask them :) generally saving to EF is emulated and should work (you will still have to save the image manually after doing so)

    When you say saving to EF you refer to using a blank D64 in the emulated drive 8? As far as I understood TC64 cannot save to the CRT itself? In the excess version it says 'save to disk' so I assume that means a disk (D64). Will have to try it.

  • So I did make a blank D64 and mounted it to emulated drive 8. And at least the excess verison of the game can save to disk. So both high scores and game progress can be saved to a blank D64. Very nice. Of course saving to cart does not work as the TC64 does not support this.


    btw, the other protovision game 'Outrage' comes in both CRT and D64. When trying the CRT I just get a message that the image is not supported. However, when converting it to easyflash using excess' program the easyflash version of the CRT will work just fine.


    Edit: Might I add how great of a game Soul Force is. One of the best games I've played on the C64. Highly recommended!

  • Quote

    Of course saving to cart does not work as the TC64 does not support this.

    It does. However the saving will only happen in RAM, so to actually save a new image, you have to go to the file browser and use the ROM saver.

  • It does. However the saving will only happen in RAM, so to actually save a new image, you have to go to the file browser and use the ROM saver.

    It indeed seemed to work. I had to load the cart then load the saved ROM image for it to work.


    How do I make the freeze function work? Let's say I play a game with no save features and want to freeze it, save an image and continue the game where I left off? I know the middle button is the freeze button. I tried reading the TC64 V2 manual but couldn't find any info on how I would use this function

  • Apparently they are now making a C64GS cartridge version of that game too... could someone who bought it download it and tell if that one works on Chameleon, please?

  • Yes EF works fine but doesn't seem to offer saving on cartridge, disk works though.

    The GS Ocean Image starts, but hangs after the Protovision intro and the "In loving Memory" message with a silent black screen. What I noticed, I cant even access the TC freezer menu with the black button, I have first to reset with red and then I can access the menu again.

    I did my testing with default settings an the latest core.

  • Hmm.. I just tested GS-image with standalone TC64mk1 and game works. Saving/loading to attached D64-diskimage works too. Text before running image = Name : SOULFORCE , CRT ID 15 , Config : 8k Game.

  • Protovision answered me today. And sure enough, as you guys have discussed here they are now including both an easyflash and GS CRTs in the download. At game release they only included the ocean and the gmod2 images.


    Not tested the new images yet, but based on what you guys have discussed here they seem to work. Except the ocean crt of course. I was looking at Sarah Avory's twitter and she mentioned the ocean crt didn't work on The C64 either.

  • The last reply was more than 365 days ago, this thread is most likely obsolete. It is recommended to create a new thread instead.