Help a newbie please!

[Tinman]

Hi all,

 

I'm looking for a bit of help getting bB to work. I just installed it, and Visual bB today, and was trying to get my first little program to compile. Unfortunately, when I try to compile or run it, I'm getting the following error message:

 

[12/21/2011 5:50:36 PM] saving C:\batari_BASIC\SampleProject\default.bas succeeded.

System path does not include C:\batari_BASIC\bB

Precompilation failed, aborted at 12/21/2011 5:50:37 PM

 

I have checked my environment variables, and I do indeed have the bB folder in my PATH. I searched this forum for others who may have had the same problem and I found a couple of messages, but no definite solution other than to make sure that the path to bB has no spaces in it (which I did).

 

I admit that I'm new to this and have probably missed something obvious. I'm not a very experienced programmer. I used to do some coding for work, but that was a very long time ago. I appreciate any help I can get! Thanks!

[+TwentySixHundred]

I dont know if its any help but the is a You Tube clip "How to make a Atari 2600 game" At the start he shows how to set it up. I just followed it word for word and had no problems with it. Only problems i have is with my code itself, just thought i would share it as there maybe something you missed on installation. I do know there is a few things you need to install but on the video there is a link with everything in a single executable setup file

[jwierer]

I suggest walking throug the instructions in the readme first and try compiling one of the samples from the command-line. Everything assumes bB is installed correctly first. If you type path from the commandline you can see if it's correct or not.

 

-Jeff

[SeaGtGruff]

I have checked my environment variables, and I do indeed have the bB folder in my PATH.

There's also a new environment variable that needs to be defined, called "bB," which needs to be set to your main bB directory (i.e., the one that contains the compile batch file and bB compiler executable). If you know how to add environment variables to your computer, you can add the bB variable that way-- but I like to add it at the start of the compiler batch, since that lets me have different versions of bB installed, with each version's batch file setting the bB variable to its own directory path. If you know how to edit a batch file, just open it up and add the following two lines after the "@echo off" line:

 

set bB=mybBdirectory
set Path=%Path%;%bB%

where "mybBdirectory" is replaced by your main bB directory. For example, my batch file says

 

set bB=C:\Atari2600\bB_1.1

since that's the directory where I installed version 1.1 of bB.

[+Random Terrain]

This link helps some people:

 

http://www.randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-batari-basic-vbb.html#install_vbb

 

 

So does this one:

 

http://www.randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-batari-basic-vbb.html#troubleshooting

[Tinman]

THANK YOU everyone who has responded! I'm making good progress. I still cannot compile or run my program from within vbB, however I can compile it using the command line and I can run my .bin file in Stella directly. I'm now learning about collision detection...

[SeaGtGruff]

I still cannot compile or run my program from within vbB, however I can compile it using the command line and I can run my .bin file in Stella directly.

When you say you can compile your program using the command line, what command are you typing to compile it? I don't use vbB myself-- nothing to do with liking it or not liking it, I'm just used to Crimson Editor and haven't taken the time to learn vbB and transition to it-- so I can't help with getting vbB to work for your setup. But it seems like it must be something "simple" that you missed, and there are several people here who should be able to help you with that.

[jwierer]

THANK YOU everyone who has responded! I'm making good progress. I still cannot compile or run my program from within vbB, however I can compile it using the command line and I can run my .bin file in Stella directly. I'm now learning about collision detection...

Send a screenshot of your vbb settings tab. The other thing I recommend is replacing the default .bat file that comes with bB. That usually causes problems.

 

-Jeff

[Tinman]

Thanks again, guys for the help. I'm attaching a couple of screenshots. One of my vbB settings page and the other of the error I get when I try to run my program from within vbB. As I said before, I can compile it using the bB command-line and run it directly in Stella, just not from vbB.

 

[jwierer]

Try replacing the default batch file with this one. It's not successfully compiling either because of the batch file or you moved the compiler after configuring the location.

 

-Jeff

[SeaGtGruff]

That looks like the batch file I posted on 02/21/2009. It fixes all the stuff that was causing problems in some versions of Windows, adds a few things to the sed message filtering, and even adds the command switch to save the assembly listing as a text file with an .LST extension, all of which is good.

 

BUT-- and it's a very big but-- it also sets the bB variable inside the batch file, which I find useful to do if you have different versions of bB installed on your computer. If you want to use this tweaked version of the batch file, it is essential that you check the third line (second non-blank line) and, if necessary, change the specified directory to match your bB installation. Based on the screenshots you posted, I'm guessing you need to change it to be as follows:

 

set bB=C:\batari_BASIC\bB

[jwierer]

That looks like the batch file I posted on 02/21/2009. It fixes all the stuff that was causing problems in some versions of Windows, adds a few things to the sed message filtering, and even adds the command switch to save the assembly listing as a text file with an .LST extension, all of which is good.

 

BUT-- and it's a very big but-- it also sets the bB variable inside the batch file, which I find useful to do if you have different versions of bB installed on your computer. If you want to use this tweaked version of the batch file, it is essential that you check the third line (second non-blank line) and, if necessary, change the specified directory to match your bB installation. Based on the screenshots you posted, I'm guessing you need to change it to be as follows:

 

set bB=C:\batari_BASIC\bB

If you have vbB setting bB variable and path then you can rem those out. I'll add a new batch file to post one that has this done as it isn't necessary from the IDE.

 

rem set bB=C:\Atari2600\bB
rem set Path=%Path%;%bB%

 

-Jeff

[Tinman]

Thanks again, guys, for the help! I finally did find a solution, but it's an odd one. I moved vBB (and bB) from the c:\batari_BASIC folder to c:\Atari, edited the new .bat file to match, and re-ran the config wizard.

 

Weird! But it did it.