Shannon Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 Blue Max was the third Atari game I actually owned with Missile Command being the first (I was a big missile command fan), Jumpman 2nd and Blue Max third. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gurubob Posted January 15, 2019 Share Posted January 15, 2019 (edited) Hey DanBoris, thanks for your work decoding the ATR files. I have copied these to Gitlab at https://gitlab.com/atari/bluemax. I discovered the code thanks to my podcast partner in crime who did some research on Blue Max, which we discuss on the latest episode of the XLXE Podcast at https://player.fm/series/xlxe Initial thoughts about the files - your hint about the binary files is bang on - it looks like these are saved onto disk "to file" (.TF "D:MAX.1") from memory from an origin (set via the .OR command). My guess is that they are maps but that is pure speculation. Absence of comments makes it tricky. Also thanks Kevin for your time with Bob, that's a great interview to have on file Edited January 15, 2019 by gurubob 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ggn Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 Hi, First of all, thanks a lot to Bob Polin and Kevin Savetz for providing the source code! That said, anyone managed to run this yet? So far I managed to load the "asm" file into synasm, then mount the two disks so that it can find the files, then typed "asm" at the prompt. That gave me 4 files, "max.1", "max.2", "max.3" and "max.4". From what I understand so far, files 2 to 4 are simply data files (graphics by the looks of it). I made some experiments with dos 2.0s that source code disk 1 comes with. Running "max.1" from dos freezes the machine. "max.2" to "max.4" seem to load and not run anything, so I tried loading them before "max.1" but I still get a freeze. Altirra debugger says it's stopping at a KIL instruction at 102c. Ideas, anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanny Posted March 8, 2019 Share Posted March 8, 2019 Six months goes by and I look at that code and wonder what I was up to. I guess comment everything isn't a bad thing. +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfred Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 So I thought I'd have a look, just to see. First off, EXXON.18 is still loaded with bogus characters in the zip file. I haven't tried loading synassembler to try and fix it. Looking through the code, yes MAX.1 is the game, and 2 and 3 are just data. I don't see where 4 comes from, there's no TF for it in any of the files that I can see. Maybe there's something missing ? Now the game code says it starts at $0C00, but in UNPROT it loads the game at $4400 for 170 sectors off the disk, and then jumps to $5000. I haven't looked much at COPYPROT, but I think we're missing the code that writes MAX.1 to the disk. So without further work, I would guess that booting the disk loads COPYPROT at $0580, which then loads UNPROT which loads the 170 sectors. So the question is, how does the code get moved from $4400 to $0C00. I looked for any .OR statements to see if the $5000 entry point was marked and it isn't. So I guess someone will have to read through the whole thing and see if they can find the entry point. iI just browsed, and there's a START label in EXXON.0 but there's nothing there that moves the code to $0C00. So I'm thinking there's still a piece missing, along with whatever generates MAX.4. Just wow. This guy doesn't use labels hardly anywhere, it's all STA $687 and INC $0640. I have to believe he had a notebook or something that was the xref for these addresses, there's just way too many of them for anyone to remember. Anyway, those are my thoughts after looking at this for about a half-hour. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ggn Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 I've been also taking some peeks at the source, first instruction is "jsr XXXX" where XXXX=$900. So my guess was that $900 contains something about protection. A quick search revealed two snippets of code within COPYPROT that assembles to $900, which allegedly goes to sector 717 and $b0. The first one contains a bunch of hex strings while the other contains some code. So it seems there's a bit more work involved until we understand what's happening! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfred Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 oh yeah, one other thing. That Synassembler source code on AtariWiki isn't source code. It's a disassembly listing, so it's not very helpful at all trying to work out how the assembler works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckybuck Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 (edited) Alfred, we are glad, to have even this! Feel free to get the original one. Btw, you know, that the SynAssembler is adapted from the S-C Assembler II Vers. 4.0? Anyway, have exported all the MAC/65 source files into TXT files, please see attachment. Major parts are documented, so you just have to hybridize the code with the comments from the S-C Assembler II... We would be glad to see... Else, why don't ask Steve himself? Else 2 on github? Please understand, that the IMF team has no intention to retire, but 3 major projects have to be finished: a) Pascal (Artari version, Kyan, CNSL etc.) in the way ACTION! already is b) PLATO c) finishing this: https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=Atari%20Learning%20System%20Software Years or work before us... SynAssembler_Source_Code.zip Edited March 9, 2019 by luckybuck 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfred Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 No, I have no idea what the S.C. Assembler is. The only Apple assembler I have any knowledge of is the Orca one, and that's only because it's mentioned in the Eye and Lichty book. I already exported the code from Mac/65, that's why I made the comment about EXXON.18 was still messed up. I went looking at the Synassembler code to see how he implemented the symbol table, but since it's just a disassembly it will take some work to figure out what he did, as opposed to just reading what he did, hence my disappointment. It's no big deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckybuck Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 You can contact our hero Steve here: https://github.com/heyigor You and he belong to the Unreplaceables! And I didn't use these ' symbols... If you have problems, let me know, will contact Steve and send you a pm. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnPolka Posted March 29, 2019 Share Posted March 29, 2019 I've not looked at it but is there any special comments or stuff relating to corrupted screen when you bomb your own runway? Didn't the Commodore 64 version also have the same behavior? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted March 29, 2019 Share Posted March 29, 2019 (edited) S-C Assembler was a somewhat early (1978) assembler for the Apple II, with version 4.0 coming out in 1980. Was actually pretty capable. Here's a manual: https://www.apple.asimov.net/documentation/programming/6502assembly/S-C%20Assembler%20II_v4.0.pdf -Thom Edited March 29, 2019 by tschak909 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max_Chatsworth Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 So has anyone successfully built and run the game from this source? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max_Chatsworth Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 On 3/9/2016 at 12:28 AM, Shannon said: Blue Max was the third Atari game I actually owned with Missile Command being the first (I was a big missile command fan), Jumpman 2nd and Blue Max third. Jumpman and Blue Max...both on my top 10 list of Atari 800/XL games of all time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted June 24, 2020 Share Posted June 24, 2020 2 hours ago, Max_Chatsworth said: So has anyone successfully built and run the game from this source? More importantly (for me anyhow) - has anybody determined why the display list gets messed up when bombing the hangar? I used to love doing that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted June 24, 2020 Share Posted June 24, 2020 I think it's been covered before - a deliberate act? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max_Chatsworth Posted November 25, 2020 Share Posted November 25, 2020 On 3/5/2016 at 5:03 PM, DanBoris said: Here are the disks extracted as ASCII files. Most of the files are Syn Assembler files, but the files called MAX on the second disk might be binary. BlueMax.zip 64.88 kB · 604 downloads So how can I compile this. Can it be loaded and compiled/run in WUDSN? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctorclu Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 I would like to see what is compiled at some point. Just wanted to say, it's 2020 and I still got it!! (I've been playing the cartridge version, anyone know what the pause key is? Space bar is not it.) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctorclu Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 On 6/23/2020 at 7:34 PM, Stephen said: More importantly (for me anyhow) - has anybody determined why the display list gets messed up when bombing the hangar? I used to love doing that. Hahah, that was fun. I used to try to fly under the bridges. Also, think it would be cool if you could land in the enemy air strip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 (edited) I was just playing Blue max the other day again, as well as BM 2001, which I'm getting the hang of the controls (sort of like Panther, but the isometric view is mirrored}. BM is also one of my all-time Atari favorites and among the first few games I had for my first Atari 130XE, I recall Blue Max, BC's quest for tires, Temple of Apshai and Forbidden Forest among my first cartridge and cassette games before I had a drive. I was working as a cashier in a Sears Outlet at the time and purchased all these titles from clearance software they had there. I got my first 800 there (after owning a 130XE) for about $25, IIRC. Edited December 21, 2020 by Gunstar 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctorclu Posted December 23, 2020 Share Posted December 23, 2020 On 12/21/2020 at 8:48 AM, doctorclu said: ...anyone know what the pause key is? For anyone else curious, it's the "select" key. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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