Path: chuka.playstation.co.uk!scea!greg_labrec@interactive.sony.com
From: Spellweaver <spelwevr@ix.netcom.com>
Newsgroups: scea.yaroze.programming.codewarrior
Subject: Loading and Running woes....  HELP!
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 23:35:50 -0500
Organization: The Implementor
Lines: 61
Message-ID: <336034A6.73C2@ix.netcom.com>
Reply-To: spelwevr@ix.netcom.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: aus-tx8-02.ix.netcom.com
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01 (Win95; I)

I converted the library, etc., and ran the demo program (with the
bouncing balls), and all worked well.  However....

Today I downloaded several of the demos from the web site, and
proceeded to try to use them.  I was able to create a project
file for each one, and it built well enough (though I must point
out that it gave me lots of warnings, some of them clearly
incorrect, such as the 'variable used before initialization'
warning which it gave quite often, even when the first use of
the variable was to initialize it).  After I built the file (by
the way, is this incredibly slow on anyone else's system?), I
went to the debugger and loaded the executable.  It transferred
it to the PSX properly, but when I ran it the PSX locked up.
Anyway, after a bit of thought (and looking at the files
again) I realized that the programs all needed additional
data files.  I tried to find a way to load data files from the
debugger, but I could find no way to do so (and the help file
is useless here).  So, I went to the PSComUtil program to load
them (after shutting down the Debugger & resetting the PSX, since
it wouldn't work otherwise).  However, although PSComUtil loads
the executables fine, whenever I try to load a data file, the
output window always says "Download failed!  Status -39" (although
the information window always reports a successful operation).
What is this mysterious Status -39?  It acts like it is sending
the data, but this pops up at the end of the transmission.
Presumably, it really does fail (despite the information window's
claims to the contrary), because when I run the program, it either
locks up (usually with a black screen, probably because the graphics
data files didn't transfer), or else the output window reports
something to the effect of Unexpected Operation (with an address).
Again, I know my setup works, but only when I have a single
executable with no data files (i.e., the first demo).

So, my most important question is:

   * How do I load data files from the debugger?

Also:
   * How do I do so from PSComUtil?
   * What is PSComUtil's Status -39?

Hopefully someone can help me here....


Also, the CodeWarrior tools have some problems (this is in Windows)....
   * All of the dialogs have context help buttons but no context help!
   * Settings such as tab size, highlighting, etc. are not saved
   * Screen updates are incredibly slow (I thought it locked up once)
   * Scroll bars very rarely draw properly
   * What help files exist are befouled -- the index keyword list is
     totally messed up (most begin with 'K ' for instance).
   * The system slows down badly when running any CodeWarrior app (on
     a 586-120 with 16 Megs of RAM).  It isn't swapping memory, but
     rather something is somehow dragging the CPU down.  Given the
     display problems and general update slowness, I would guess that
     the display routines for the programs (IDE, debugger, PSComUtil)
     are the cause (probably not well ported from their Mac origins).

Hopefully there will be some patches soon.  I could probably live with
these problems (for a while) if I could just get the debugger to work
properly....