Atari_Ace Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Shoot! was a game by John Palevich (of Dandy fame) published in the September 1981 COMPUTE! (#16) magazine with full source code. As published, it was an OS-A only game, as there was a direct call into the system vblank. The next issue of COMPUTE! published a fix to allow it to work on both A and B roms by calling into SYSVBV instead, and issue 18 republished the BASIC hex listing again in larger type to further address problems people were having getting the game working. The ANTIC podcast has an interview with the author where he recounts how dozens of people called him directly to complain about the game not working and how he got quite adept at giving out the two byte patch over the phone. This game was likely the first full source code game published for the Atari. Even though the game is very simple (it's only a little over 1KB) it's historically interesting. The six pages of source code is about half Atari system equates, which at the time were probably not yet well known. The game has problems on XL/XE machines because it uses the ATASCII->internal character lookup table in the ROMs at address $FEF6 (ATAINT: .BYTE $40,$00,$20,$60), which doesn't appear in the later ROMs. I've taken the atr from AtariMania and patched the 4-byte table into the image, which I believe addresses the XL/XE issues. I've also included the source code listing as a bonus. shoot.zip 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari_Ace Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 Personal Software, best known for VisiCalc, also produced at least two early games for the Atari 8-bit. MicroChess and Checker King were announced in COMPUTE! #10, from March 1981, and were possibly available earlier. Checker King is credited to Michael Marks and Brad Templeton. MicroChess is credited to Brad Templeton on AtariMania, but is likely a port of the original KIM-1 product by Peter R. Jennings. Both of these programs directly use the keyboard table from the OS ROM at $FEFE. Since the table moved in the XL/XE roms, the programs can't properly decode keyboard input and thus only work on the 800 roms (OS-B in fact wasn't out when these were available). They only use 64 bytes of the full 192 byte table, so to make these XL/XE compatible, I patched the table into the program image directly. There may be other issues, but I was able to run these and make a move using AltirraOS for the XL to verify the are at least minimally functional now. CheckerKing-fix.xex Microchess-fix.xex 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fres Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 I'm surprised MASH never got converted. I don't know if it's any good because I never spent much time playing it, but it's such a recognizable brand name, I guess. My sister received Fastgammon on tape for Christmas one year. It was ok. Also, not XL/XE compatible. It sort of looked like a basic program, but I believe it was ML. Note: The same year my sister got Fastgammon, I received Rally Speedway. I think I won that round of gifts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobody Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 have a look here... http://www.mushca.com/f/atari/index.php?idx=M#132|M_A__S_H 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fres Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 Yep, that's MASH. Thanks for the tip. Sorry if this has already been asked. I know Gremlins, Mario Bros., and Moon Patrol (5200 versions) have all been fixed (sound issues). Was Space Invaders (filed a8 cart version) ever fixed? The sound is wrong when the saucer appears. If you run it with a translator, it's correct. It's kind of funny because Atari criticized 3rd party developers for violating programming "rules" yet this was their own release. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobody Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 have a look here? http://www.mushca.com/f/atari/index.php?idx=S#016|SPACDERS 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DrVenkman Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 Interesting topic ... I just did a quick search of the thread but got no hits. Has Gorf ever been fixed? I have a bunch of .xex and hackced .atr versions but they're all OS/B only. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 As the file says.. Gorf For XL.XEX 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DrVenkman Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 As the file says.. Ah, thank you! Works a treat! Now I don't have to "waste" an OS slot on my U1MB with OSb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 My pleasure.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CharlieChaplin Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 Interesting topic ... I just did a quick search of the thread but got no hits. Has Gorf ever been fixed? I have a bunch of .xex and hackced .atr versions but they're all OS/B only. Hmm, at least in one topic at AA someone released an ATR version of Gorf that saves highscores and works fine on XL/XE... Gorf_Hi.zip 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+therealbountybob Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 Hmm, at least in one topic at AA someone released an ATR version of Gorf that saves highscores and works fine on XL/XE... That was me I created an ATR from the XEX and it worked: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/169969-atari-gaming-goodies-ixion-pole-position-race-designer-x/?hl=%2Bixion&do=findComment&comment=2119988 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DrVenkman Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 Thanks, gentlemen! Appreciate the info and the files. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Philsan Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 I checked my list of preferred games. The only ones not XL friendly are: Crush Crumble and Chomp Eggnapper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobody Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 I'm not sure, if someone is being interested in...I have finished removing the OS-B requirement of the games around with that "issue" (at least i think so) - see list in post #25.If i'm wrong let me know...you can find the fixed ones here: http://www.mushca.com/f/atari/index.php 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 Gorf on cartridge was not compatible but but Gorf on disk was compatible... and if memory serves Wizard of War on cartridge was compatible but Wizard of War on disk was not Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACML Posted September 27, 2023 Author Share Posted September 27, 2023 (edited) Found a XL friendly version of Ghost Hunter 1. The newer one was fixed and provided earlier in the thread. for completeness, here are both. Ghost Hunter 1.xexGhost Hunter 1.xexGhost Hunter 2.xex Edited September 27, 2023 by ACML 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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