copying an mdv image from pc to QL vdrive

[AndyRed64]

I have downloaded the Quill.mdv file from a link I have and it works brilliantly on the Qemulator on my PC but I cannot figure out how to transfer it from my pc to a vdrive formatted sd card.

This is what I have tried
-----
On the QL:
Sdinit
Mkdir’Quill’
Cd ‘Quill’
Mkimg ‘Quill’
Ld 3,’Quill’
Format mdv3_Quill
This put a file called quill.mdv into a directory called quill on the sd card

On the PC:
I then took the card from the ql and put it in my pc and I could clearly see the directory and mdv file I had made. I thought that if I just replaced the file called quill.mdv on the sd card with quill.mdv file I got from the ql website, it would work ok, but having made the change, when I put the sd card back into the qdrive it would not dir mdv3_
-----

Does anyone have advice on how I could do this properly please?

Thanks

Andrew

[t0nyt]

You need to load the vDrive tools
Cd ‘quill’
Ld 3,’quill’
Then dir mdv3 should work

[AndyRed64]

Thanks for getting back to me. In my original post you will see I have tried those commands.
It is good to hear it should work.
It certainly does work with the quill.mdv image that the QL creates but as soon as I swap the ql created mdv file for the one I have on my pc, returning the modified sd card to the ql seems to confuse it or something - not at all sure - but for some reason it can't read the mdv file any more
AJ

[t0nyt]

Sorry, I thought you were only talking about when you created an image on the QL

[AndyRed64]

I got quill working on the vdrive and I now understand what I was doing wrong.
-----------------------------------------
What I tried first and did not work:
-----------------------------------------
MKDIR 'QUILL'
CD 'QUILL'
MKIMG 'QUILL'
LD 3,'QUILL'
FORMAT MDV3_QUILL
This created a blank quill.mdv file on the sd card so I put the sd card into my pc and replaced the quill.mdv file with the one from pc.
Back in the QL I got the message 'bad or changed medium'.
-----------------------------------------
This is the process that works
-----------------------------------------
MKDIR 'QUILL'
Now put the SD card in my PC and copy the quill.mdv file from pc to sd card, in the QUILL directory I have made
Return the SD card to the QL
Make sure you are in the QUILL directory
LD 3,'QUILL'
No need to format!
-----------------------------------------
Huge thanks to everyone who helped me figure this out.
AJ

[bwinkel67]

So there is an easier way to create workable mdv image banks for vDrive and you can do this all on the PC (Windows assumed).

On your SD card:

• create directories for all of your different stuff: GAMES, MISC, PSION, etc...
• copy the appropriate mdv images into those directories
• create a text file (Notepad in Windows) named: VDRIVEQL.CFG
• edit that config file in Notepad (again assuming Windows)
• the format of that file is pretty straight forward (example shown below) with max 6 entries per bank, with first for mdv3_ and sixth for mdv8_ (i don't have vMap)

When putting modified SD card back into vDrive, be sure to do a reset on QL for it to see updated changes.

Code: Select all

[SETUP]
Game1


[Game1]
GAMES\Assault.MDV  ;
GAMES\Cavern.mdv   ;
GAMES\MCosmic.MDV  ;
GAMES\MCrunch.MDV  ;
GAMES\Metropol.MDV ;
GAMES\MTreasur.MDV ;


[Game2]
GAMES\Qbert.MDV    ;
GAMES\QLGames.mdv  ;
GAMES\Speed.MDV    ;
GAMES\Spook.MDV    ;
GAMES\3DOXO.MDV    ;
GAMES\ATTACK.MDV   ;


[Game3]
GAMES\BUGSBOMB.MDV ;
GAMES\CHESS.MDV    ;
GAMES\FROGGY.MDV   ;
GAMES\GUNNER.MDV   ;
GAMES\PACMAN.MDV   ;
GAMES\PALADIN.MDV  ;


[Game4]
GAMES\PUDGE.MDV    ;
GAMES\QBALL.MDV    ;
GAMES\Qbert2.MDV   ;
GAMES\QGAMES.MDV   ;
GAMES\SPACEINV.MDV ;
GAMES\SPACEPOD.MDV ;


[Game5]
GAMES\SPACERAI.MDV ;
GAMES\STARBURS.MDV ;
GAMES\STARPORT.MDV ;
GAMES\WIPEOUT.MDV  ;
GAMES\ZAPMAN.MDV   ;
GAMES\LITTLSAM.MDV ;


[Stuff]
MISC\OTHER.MDV     ;
MISC\SOURCE.MDV    ;
MISC\DIGIC.MDV     ;


[Temp]
TEMP\AI.MDV        ;
TEMP\UNZIP.MDV     ;
TEMP\BLANK.MDV     ;
PSION\QUILL.MDV    ;
PSION\ABACUS.MDV   ;
STUFF\DEMO.MDV     ;

Note that if you look at you SD card, this is likely what you'll see after using the vDrive tools, since that's what they create. I think I activated the vDrive tools maybe once the first time and have been doing this since then.

[AndyRed64]

That is really helpful. Thank you
AJ

[martyn_hill]

Hi bwinkel!

When putting modified SD card back into vDrive, be sure to do a reset on QL for it to see updated changes.

This instruction is particularly important and, as it happens, applies equally to swapping in/out real MDV cartridges (and possibly even FLP diskettes) and is due to QDOS caching the medium 'map' and directory of the recently accessed cartridge.

As there is no hardware 'Changed Medium' detection on the QL, QDOS simply checks the sector header of the next MDV block to pass the tape-head and compares the medium-name and 'random ID' of that sector against what it read before ejecting/re-inserting the cartridge.

If those details are the same, QDOS assumes its cached copy of the cartridge directory/map hasn't changed and so anything since added/deleted will not be reflected in a DIR or other file operation. If there have been changes (e.g., saving a new file to the cartridge on a different QL, or as in this case, to the SD Card), merry-hell can break lose!

Hence, it is necessary to convince QDOS to re-read the cartridge directory/sector map after re-inserting the changed medium - in this case, the SD Card.

Clearly, rebooting QDOS achieves this, but, if TK2 is available, the command 'DEL_DEFB' (DELete DEFinition Blocks) can be used instead to force QDOS to purge any and all cached medium data and thus trigger a re-reading of the medium directory on next access - without the bother of a complete reboot...

It was probably this step that was needed in your original procedure to allow the changed files to be recognised in your SD Card...

Good luck!