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  2. Here are a couple of general suggestions: I always put the WAIT statement at the top of the game loop. The WAIT statement induces the program to wait idly for the next frame interrupt. When the next frame arrives all graphics and sprite updates will be applied automatically by the IntyBASIC run-time. After which, your game loop should start processing the next next frame. If you put the WAIT statement at the bottom of the game loop, you are unnecessarily delaying your frame processing, because instead of starting your loop iteration immediately after the WAIT processing ends, it has to waste time jumping back to the top -- or in your case, waste even more time returning from a sub procedure before jumping back to the top. If you put the WAIT statement at the top, all that extra jumping around happens at the end of your previous frame, subsumed by the idle waiting the WAIT statement was going to do anyway. If you were to update the BACKTAB (which you do not appear to do in this program, at least not yet, but it is something to keep in mind in any case), you may want to do it as close to the WAIT statement as possible, at the top of the iteration frame. After the interrupt arrives, there is a very brief window in which the CPU has access to GRAM (graphics memory) and the STIC (video processor). This is he point at which IntyBASIC posts all changes to those resources automatically. After this brief period (called VBLANK for Vertical Blanking), the STIC will start copying the BACKTAB data, row by row, into its internal buffer to compose the next TV video frame. This means that there is a small window of time at which you can update the BACKTAB and still make it to the same video frame as your sprite and graphic updates. Making changes to the BACKTAB early after the WAIT statement ensures they are all included together. (The worst case scenario is when only part of your updates make it, which means that your screen changes are split across video frames. Depending on the complexity of the scene, this could result in "tearing" or "shearing," which is noticeable by players.) This is mostly significant when BACKTAB changes are important to game-play, like scrolling, or animating interactive elements, which ideally you would want to reflect in coordination with sprite and other graphical changes within the same video frame. Read and decode the hand-controller input as close to the WAIT statement as possible, usually right after it, at the top of the loop. Game logic is typically driven by user input, so it would make sense to try to get that as soon as possible right when your next iteration frame starts. The idea being that, once you have user input, you can spend the rest of the frame updating your game state to react to it. Update sprites using the SPRITE statement after you have update your state variables. This follows the sequence suggested above: you WAIT for a new frame and start your loop iteration, read user input, update game state, and then update sprite records to reflect their new positions or attributes. Remember that the SPRITE and DEFINE statements only store the updates in a buffer, which will then be applied automatically when the next frame interrupt arrives (typically induced by WAIT). Therefore, there is no point or rush to call the SPRITE statements early, since they won't be reflected until the next frame. Anyway, these are some recommendations based on my experience. A lot of programmers (especially when starting) do not pay much attention to the order of processes or how the sausage of graphics handling in the Intellivision is made, as it were. However, if you are not careful, it could result in some weird visual glitches, which ultimately could be avoidable. dZ.
  3. Seems like we have a "Chicken or the Egg" issue here I stumbled across the music from @First Spear while researching if Giana Sisters has been done for the Intellivision. So it's no coincidence he posted this here now. The music is also Chris Hülsbeck approved (the original composer): https://circuit-board.de/forum/index.php/Thread/13427-Der-Intellivision-Homebrew-Thread/?postID=726923&highlight=giana%2Bintellivision#post726923
  4. First Beta of EA 70's Arcade Classics for the Colecovision. All three games are merged with a menu selection screen and are working. Just needs a little bit of playtesting, some cover art, a manual etc and it will be ready for release. Gearcoleco 1.1.0 - EA70sArcade-Coleco-240326B.ROM 2024-03-26 20-25-55_1.mp4
  5. Clearly Nintendo's success has corrupted them to thwart any effort at a PS2 conversation. Just the other day I decided dust off my system and try out my favorite game #REDACTED#. Wow let me tell you, it was like #COPYRIGHT VIOLATION# and #EVIL CORPORATION TACTICS#. What a great #CEASE AND DESIST#
  6. This may get me to dumpster dive and try to find a crap PC to upgrade (before returning to the dumpster) 👍. Of course I’ll have to find one with USB ports that deliver power as well as connectivity - no doubt one of dozens of repair shops will have a broke-ass laptop without a screen I can use.
  7. After half a day using the 400 mini there are two aspects that I like the most in comparison to my C64 mini: 1. The option to configure the controller or joystick inside the ui is awesome. For my C64 mini this is so much trial & error via PC. 2. The 400 mini is instantly off when connected to power. So I can let it be connected to my tv usb. If I do this with my C64 mini the device would boot every time I power on my tv. Atgames later had a better solution for the C64 maxi. This device has a power switch, not a power button. And another important improvement: The 400 mini is really off. The connected usb stick stays cold. On my C64 mini the usb stick is heated even in status off.
  8. I like them for classic arcade games, probably because I was standing close enough to the screen to see them clearly. Agreed that for Atari 8-bit graphics it’s really not necessary due to how low-res the images are already (and likely because I played on a small B&W TV where they weren’t very obvious.
  9. I would also totally buy these - far more appealing than a set of World Book encyclopaedias and no doubt easier to read than the mixed bag of PDFs I have stapled together in a folder.
  10. Yes, I know this is a 2600+ forum. I am just wondering what the crossover is with the two machines. Who's getting one? Mine will arrive today and it's a voyage of discovery for me, I have no prior experience or nostalgia for the Atari 8 bit computers or the 5200. I had a 2600 then a ZX Spectrum BITD, my bro had a C64 which I also played on and later became mine too. There will be some crossover of games from those other systems, but it will be good to play new versions and more so games that are new to me. The first game I will play? I'm going for familiarity, Lee, I played it as Bruce Lee so much on the Spectrum and C64. A real top 10 game from my childhood. I see that a 2600 verison is in development, and I should download the 7800 version, which is best? Hmmm. Does anyone have any must plays for the Mini 400?
  11. If I understand you correctly, SAMS is accessed via a window, into which you map whichever physical memory page you like in the SAMS device. That window may be a memory expansion part, like 2000-3FFFH or it could be the DSR page, 4000-5FFFH. Now I may have misunderstood the details (I've not worked with SAMS at all), but hopefully I have the core idea correct here. If so, then it's not any different than my home-made RAM-disk, which consists of the 64 K RAM i have "sleeping" in my internal memory expansion plus the 56 K (16 K RAM and 40 K GRAM) in my Maximem module. Now I conveniently have a card with RAM at 4000-47FFH, enabled by a CRU bit just like any DSR, where I can put the DSR for using this 120 K RAM as a RAM-disk with the p-system. My RAM-disk even uses the RAM at 4000-5FFFH, but then it has to disable itself, so first it must move code into other RAM and thus save what's there before returning. This complicates it a bit, but I took that effort just to be able to use the whole RAM available. With the much larger space available in SAMS, there's no point in such trickery. That process would be significantly more straight forward. You will also gain the advantage of compiling at twice the speed on the real machine, with the compiler on the RAM-disk. Even faster if source and code are on the RAM-disk too. For the purpose of the game, I agree, you are (and should be) happy with what you have. Being an industrial developer for 40 years, I look around the corner already before being there, out of habit...
  12. Hi John, I watched your video review and your concerns regarding the CX40. My 400 mini came yesterday and I played some hours on it. And yes, I noticed problems especially in games that have many diagonal movements: Bruce Lee and Fort Apocalypse for example. On my joystick the diagonal movements to the left were the problem. On the right side it was better. In Miner 2049 I was moving from right to left - no diagonal push on the CX40 - and surprisingly my miner took the first ladder down. That is awful. But on the other side I didn't notice problems in approximated 90 percent of my tested games. After a while I had the impression that the problem is the way I push the joystick. If I concentrated on doing it softly the problems were less noticable. This way I made it through Fort Apocalypse with - or despite - this news CX40. As you mentioned most of us have other controller options. I like the old PS2 controller (via adapter) as an alternative. But to be honest I was so looking forward to finally having an usb CX40. I want to play most of these old games with a joystick. It's not only nostalgia but also the best option for so many games. That's why I hope that atgames will fix the problems in future manufacturing or that there will be other usb joysticks from other manufacturers.
  13. It looks like its possible our orders could arrive today. Just been on Amazon to see if it was available or sold out. Still in stock and available for delivery by 10pm today.
  14. Today
  15. Whatever happened to Matthew Lesko? I never actually understood what the product or service was that was "free", I just remember that it didn't cost anything and I was supposed to be very excited about that. as a kid, he always reminded me of the Riddler

    1. GoldLeader

      GoldLeader

      Guy in the suit covered in question marks?   Haha,  Something about getting Government grants I think.

  16. Yup, as above. Defo get rid of mtram. Socket and pop in some other brand. Hopefully that will be the only issue. Can be other things but ram is the first fix here. Edit in a rush but have a look here for ref to equivalent drams to use :
  17. Once again, unless Atari specifically protected the side arts on Crystal Castle's cabinet (which is a possibility, but I doubt it), there's no IP to protect, here.
  18. Thus it becomes your duty to up the level of violence. Fire up some Commando, shoot everything and anything that moves, blast them with grenades, and walk right by all your desperate comrades, imprisoned in the secret areas, leaving them there to rot and die.
  19. That's my assumption as well since it's not an Evercade branded product, but I'm very puzzled by FOUR new hardware options. Maybe some of them will be accessories, or maybe they will release new models of the EXP with Taito games instead of Capcom or something, but it's still very intriguing. It seems too soon to me to release a brand new handheld for instance; I'd love an EXP with better battery life but there's no way I will buy a new one and it would be simpler to just release a new battery for it.
  20. @Giles N PS Do you have that saying in Norway? Which starts out, "You gotta get up pretty early in the morning..." (I worried that one might throw ya)...
  21. Actually an inside joke, but when have I let that stop me? There are a few lodges, clubs, and charitable, fraternal organizations around here...the Moose, the Elks, the Eagles (Which is right across from work and I know plenty of members, They asked me to join and I will later maybe)...Anyway, other than having delivered there, I don't know anything about them. I only know the Eagles, Shriners, and have family ties to the Masonic Temple etc....They just became one of many punchlines for one of my friend's jokes...Which some days are nonstop.
  22. …oh, that one - the official Atari-Leather-Wear Belt, comes together with the Atari speakerpants, the Atari SteamPunk Gasmask and Boots. Comes of course in ‘Family Packs’
  23. Now I became really curious about this Moose Lodge - funniest ‘Inn’, ‘Tavern in Town’… or just some place out of Twin Peaks where nothing are what they seems…
  24. Not to mention that belt buckle...(For people re-using their old controllers in interesting ways)
  25. …talk about wierdness, I’ve struggled with insomnia in the past, and now it’d more settled to ‘just’ my sleeping-time be off-sync many times… (which is a small tradeoff for getting enough sleep every day). Hence my posts being - well, posted -, at so many different times during a day.
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