MultiMente_LFN

MM_LFN — long file names for Multi Mente (MSX)

An unofficial patcher for Multi Mente (MM.COM, by MOGU). It makes Multi Mente show long file names (VFAT, the ones you see in Windows) instead of METALG~1.ROM, and, if your MM.COM lacks it, it adds the Nextor fix. It fits two builds: 2.07_A and the community build 2.07A+ RC5 (FAT16 and Y2K fixes). Versión en castellano.

before:   ALESTE~1.ROM    FRAY2-~5.ROM    GOLVEL~5.ROM    KING'S~9.ROM    METALG~5.ROM
after:    Aleste 1 - E>   Fray 2 - Ver>   Golvellius 3>   King's Valle>   Metal Gear 3>

• In the list, each slot shows the first 12 characters of the long name (a > marks that it goes on).
• In File info, the Name: field shows the whole long name (up to 31 characters).
• Files without a long name show their 8.3 name as always.

Apply it

You need your own copy of MM.COM. It is not included here. These are the versions it recognises (the reference build of each one):

Version	MM.COM	sha1	Result
2.07_A	23,539 bytes	db7316e2b8f17deb1c34df909e2b8da8133e1601	25,673 bytes, 479dade9e4d01e6477d9f07e29a0e7d5aa0e6911
2.07A+ RC5	23,552 bytes	09c4a6b4f6fa4db19e94fa08fdcba0da2a3c29d0	25,673 bytes, 5b97f818fc2496069c4aeef4e9cfcf2688dfe2bd

The RC5 is the “MultiMente v2.07A+ RC5” build published on the MSX Resource Center downloads. In its zip, the English MM.COM is the one in the root of the inner MMv2.07Aplus-RC5.zip (not the one in Japanese\). Use the MM.EXE that comes with your MM.COM; the patcher does not touch it.

The patcher adds only what is missing:

• Long file names, always.
• The Nextor fix, if your MM.COM does not have it. It is the one-byte change described on the MSX.org wiki (3A E1 5F CB 4F CA → C3; it avoids “Not MSX-DOS Disk” under Nextor). Both reference builds above already have it, and the long-name patch needs it: it reuses code that the fix makes unreachable.
• What you changed with CS (the table of programs by extension, etc.) is kept: the version is recognised with that zone ignored, and the patch writes nothing inside it.
• Any other MM.COM that has the Nextor fix missing gets only the fix, saved as MM_NEXTOR.COM (the fix is the wiki’s; we have not tried it on those builds). Anything else is refused.

Pick any of these:

1. Web page, nothing to install: open the online patcher (or the downloaded aplicar.html) in a browser and drop your MM.COM on it. It runs in your browser; the file is not uploaded anywhere.
2. Python 3: python aplicar.py MM.COM → writes MM_LFN.COM next to it.
3. Any IPS patcher (Floating IPS, Lunar IPS…): apply MM_LFN.ips (2.07_A) or MM_LFN_RC5.ips (RC5) to MM.COM. IPS patchers do not check the source file and the .ips does not add the Nextor fix, so check first that your file is one of the two above (sha1, or at least the size) and that it has the fix; if it does not, use the web page or aplicar.py.

Then copy the result to the card as MM.COM, in the Multi Mente folder (next to MM.EXE and MM.CFG). aplicar.py and aplicar.html check the result before giving it to you.

Requirements and limits

• Nextor 2.1 or 3.0, FAT16 or FAT12 (Nextor does not read FAT32). With another DOS, or if anything fails, you just see the 8.3 names.
• View only. Copy, move, rename and delete work as before, on the 8.3 name; what MM copies or creates gets no long name. Sorting sorts by the 8.3 name.
• ASCII only: accented Latin letters show without the accent, anything else as ?.
• Needs a free mapper segment (a 256 KB mapper or bigger) and room at the top of the TPA (≥ D3EBh; Nextor 2.1.4 leaves D806h, Nextor 3.0 D706h). If either is missing, the list stays in 8.3 and only File info shows the long name.
• Entering a folder takes a little longer (about +0.9 s for 200 files with long names in openMSX); moving the cursor does not read the disk.
• Multi Mente’s own limits stay: the 2.07A+ RC5 manual says not to use Sort or the Filer on FAT16 and that “wr[Y]ting” is ignored there.
• Tested only in openMSX (Philips NMS 8245, 4 MB, Sunrise IDE, FAT16 image): 2.07_A with Nextor 2.1.1, 2.1.4 and 3.0.0 beta 2; RC5 with Nextor 2.1.1 and 2.1.4 (not tried with Nextor 3.0 yet). Both builds: list, File info, sort, mark, enter folders, come back from [X]ecom programs, delete, copy, and CS MM (the patched file is about 2.1 KB longer, and CS edits only the settings block). Not tried on real hardware. The details, with the list of what was tried, are in docs/TECNICO.md (Spanish).

Rebuild and test

The patch is hand-written Z80 (src/mmlfn.asm) over the disassembly of the binary. With pasmo (or WSL on Windows) and the originals in original/ (MM.COM for 2.07_A, MM_RC5.COM for the RC5):

python tools/hacer_parche.py     # builds the .ips files, aplicar.py and aplicar.html
python tests/probar.py           # checks the three ways of applying it (node is optional)

tests/openmsx/probar_mm.py runs a patched MM.COM inside openMSX (Nextor on a Sunrise IDE, an FAT16 image with long-name files) and takes screenshots of the list and File info; see its header for the options. It needs openMSX, the system ROMs and your own MSX-DOS 2 files, none of which are in this repository.

About Multi Mente and this patch

Multi Mente is the work of MOGU. This repository is an unofficial add-on and is not endorsed by the author. It contains none of Multi Mente’s code: the .ips files hold only the new bytes (about 2.4 KB each) and the tools check that every byte of the patch differs from the original at its place. You must supply your own MM.COM. If the author or any rights holder objects, tell us and it will be taken down.

The code in this repository (the patch source and the tools) is under the GNU GPL v3, see LICENSE.

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