Developers News 1.9a

1.9a

Nintendo 64 Developers Newsletters will be published periodically, as needed. These feature software and hardware system anomalies, which have been discovered, and their solutions and/or work-arounds. Development tips will also be included.

osPfsInitPak() Function Specification changes

1. Patch_4 (and earlier) Issues

With the previous (Patch_4 / 8/28/98) osPfsInitPak() function and osPfsRepairId() function, a PFS_ERR_ID_FATAL error would be returned when:

a RumblePak or other peripheral device was inserted into the Controller, or
when the contents of the ID area of the Controller Pak were overwritten.

Because the error value was returned under various conditions, it was difficult to determine the real cause of the error, making the programming procedure extremely complicated. This also led to a confusing series of messages being displayed to the game player.

2. Patch_5 Corrections

With Patch_5, the osPfsInitPak() function and the osPfsRepairId() function now returns a PFS_ERR_DEVICE error rather than a PFS_ERR_ID_FATAL error, when a peripheral device other than the Controller Pak (i.e., Rumble Pak or 64 Game Boy Pak) is inserted.

Internally, a read/write test is performed using a safe area in the Controller Pak RAM . If there is a failure during the read/write test, then it is assumed that there is no RAM and a PFS_ERR_DEVICE error is returned.

3. Procedure for Identifying Multiple Types of Peripheral Devices

With the above noted changes, the procedure for identifying a specific peripheral device when multiple devices are used, (for example, when an application uses a Controller Pak and a Rumble Pak) is as follows.

                osMotorInit()
                        |
                        |
        +-----------+
        | ret=0 | ret=PFS_ERR_DEVICE
        |               |
        (               (
  RumblePak   osPfsInitPak()
                        |
                        |
        +-----------+-----------------------+
        | ret=0 | ret=PFS_ERR_DEVICE    | ret=PFS_ERR_ID_FATAL
        |               |                               |
        (               (                               (
  Controller  Other Device              Since ID area has been destroyed,
     Pak         (64GB Pak, etc.)               after user confirmation, repair
                                                with osPfsRepairId()

4. Precautions

When using multiple peripheral devices, please be sure to call the osPfsRepairId() function immediately after executing osPfsInitPak(). Please note that even if osPfsInitPak() was called initially, the ID cannot be repaired once the initialization function for another peripheral device, such as the osMotorInit() function, has been called.

This is true not only for the osPfsRepairId() function, but for other pfs functions as well. A PFS_ERR_INVALID error will be generated when this kind of call is performed. This happens because the contents of the osPfs structure is overwritten with Rumble Pak information when osMotorInit()is called. To avoid this error, call the osPfsInitPak() function again if a pfs function is to be called after osMotorInit has been called.

Note: Initialization can be completed without initializing each device separately by having an osPfs structure for each type of device and using one for each of the various device functions. However, this method should not be used because there may be situations in which unexpected operations are performed. Please be sure to call the corresponding initialization function each time a device is changed.