+SmittyB Posted September 21, 2018 Author Share Posted September 21, 2018 Duplicating topscreen worked so it's the first thing in every non-permanent bank so that's good. It appears that my compilation issues are due to what's happening when I add even a single line of code to bank 1. If I do it will only let me use the first of the 2 'graphics banks' and fail if anything goes into the second. That means I can't even add a line to immediately jump to bank 2 to start the game when it's reporting 8K free in main area of bank 1. Really what I want to happen is for a sliver of code to go at the start, and for the graphics to fill the rest of the 16K. I'm not even worried about the code being displayed because the first thing I'm importing is my text which is never shifted vertically. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SmittyB Posted September 22, 2018 Author Share Posted September 22, 2018 So in another moment of bankswitched revelation I realised that not being able to use all of the first bank for graphics is a non-issue, because like the topscreen routine I can simply stick the leftover graphics into the other banks so they're always accessible. That also means I can stick the tracker song data in there too. Everything's coming up Milhouse! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DracIsBack Posted September 23, 2018 Share Posted September 23, 2018 Things are starting to click in place and I'm already learning so much, such as 'don't put data before your code if you're not going to jump over it', and 'make sure your topscreen routine is in bank 8 so it's always there when the game jumps to it'. I will take your advice RevEng and use a 144k ROM size for the extra permanent bank. I might have been able to get away with 128k if I built this around bankswitching to begin with. This is still technically my first 7800 game so I guess I can cut myself some slack. I definitely won't go larger than 144k because that would mean losing the ability to play it on my Mateos cart (and I still want to claim a smaller cartridge size than Wizardry on the NES). Are there any technical reasons to not use larger cartridges these days? Now I just need to figure out why I'm not getting my titlescreen on 144k but do on 128k. (It's because the first thing I need to do in bank 1 is jump to bank 2, and both 'goto bank2TitleScreen bank2' and 'goto bank2TitleScreen bank 2' are accepted by 7800BASIC but the latter doesn't work properly.) 128K and 144K should work on Cuttle Cart 2 as well, provided no POKEY on 144K Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DracIsBack Posted September 23, 2018 Share Posted September 23, 2018 Fascinating to read this progress Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SmittyB Posted September 24, 2018 Author Share Posted September 24, 2018 I've got most of my code moved over from the 48k build to the 144k build but I still need to link it all together. I've been commenting out bits and compiling as I go. I've run into a couple of minor issues. Firstly, I hit a weird compilation bug where it was duplicating my code in assembly and thus duplicating labels and throwing up a load of errors. Changing the name of one of the labels, compiling, and changing it back seemed to have gotten rid of that. Secondly, plotbanner doesn't work as it can't find the height constant. Using plotsprite works and I've already got a couple of places where I've rewritten multiple calls to plotbanner in assembly to speed up drawing so I can just do that for the rest. One of the things I wanted to do from the start but couldn't because of a lack of graphics and ROM space was a pseudo 3d textured floor on the title screen, because in my opinion the flashier the titlescreen the better. It's at a stage where I'm going to leave it as it is for a while but it's still a work in progress, I'll just come back to it when everything else is in order. It's a bit jumpy and I need to rewrite it in assembly so that it doesn't drop the framerate in NTSC but you get the idea. SotA 144k Titlescreen WIP.a78 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevEng Posted September 24, 2018 Share Posted September 24, 2018 Looks pretty! Secondly, plotbanner doesn't work as it can't find the height constant. Yeah, an incbanner has to happen before a plotbanner, which dictates structure to your bank setup. I haven't figured out a clean way around that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DracIsBack Posted September 25, 2018 Share Posted September 25, 2018 (edited) Sweet. If you add a BIN, I can test it on Cuttle Cart 2 hardware. That texture mapped floor looks cool! Mark Edited September 25, 2018 by DracIsBack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlidellMan Posted September 25, 2018 Share Posted September 25, 2018 Just fired it up on A7800 and your game has the potential to be its Wizardry. As I said before, I do know a couple of people on Newgrounds who can provide you with creature designs and additional sprite work if needed. Oh, and sorry for the snide comment earlier. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SmittyB Posted September 26, 2018 Author Share Posted September 26, 2018 Firstly, I've attached my current BIN. Secondly, thanks for the compliments. Thirdly, thanks for the offer SlidellMan but (despite all common sense) I'm going to finish this solo. Lastly, I wasn't sure what snide comment you were referring to so I had to go back and check, I took it as good jest so don't worry about it. SotA.bas.bin 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DracIsBack Posted September 28, 2018 Share Posted September 28, 2018 doesn't work on Cuttle Cart. Used the Alien Brigade and Crossbow bankswitch scheme but the Atari logo doesn't boot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevEng Posted September 28, 2018 Share Posted September 28, 2018 doesn't work on Cuttle Cart. Used the Alien Brigade and Crossbow bankswitch scheme but the Atari logo doesn't boot IIRC, the CC2 144k format isn't in the same bank order as the rest of the world. The ROM will probably have to be rearranged to run there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DracIsBack Posted September 28, 2018 Share Posted September 28, 2018 Hmmm ... I thought this game followed the bankswitch schemes of the two commercially released 7800 144k games. My mistake. Didn't realize it was unique. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevEng Posted September 28, 2018 Share Posted September 28, 2018 Hmmm ... I thought this game followed the bankswitch schemes of the two commercially released 7800 144k games. My mistake. Didn't realize it was unique. I could be wrong. If you take the A78 header off one of those commercial 144k games, they run as-is in CC2? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DracIsBack Posted September 28, 2018 Share Posted September 28, 2018 (edited) Crossbow and Alien Brigade have no problem running on Cuttle Cart 2. Edit: Tried switching from the 78BIOS to the 78QUICK boot scheme and still no luck on Cuttle Cart. Suspect it's a different 144K bankswitch scheme than Alien Brigade and Crossbow that Cuttle Cart 2 does not support. Edited September 28, 2018 by DracIsBack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevEng Posted September 28, 2018 Share Posted September 28, 2018 Yes, no doubt. My understanding is those 144k ROMs you have on your MMC card have an "adjusted" bank order specifically for the CC2. I'm far from a CC2 expert, so I'll take your word that your roms are identical to the A78 dumps found elsewhere, less the headers. If Spire of the Ancients runs fine under SmittyB's Mateos cart, then I guess we have some other CC2 incompatibility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DracIsBack Posted September 28, 2018 Share Posted September 28, 2018 They're the straight ROMs yeah. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted September 28, 2018 Share Posted September 28, 2018 The 144K ROMs that run on the CC2 have the last bank swapped from what emus use and what is in the A78 files. You would likely need to swap it for this one as well to get it to run on the CC2, Mitch 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevEng Posted September 28, 2018 Share Posted September 28, 2018 Thanks, Mitch! I'll look at adding support for that to 7800basic. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gambler172 Posted September 29, 2018 Share Posted September 29, 2018 My Concerto,does not take it too.....it crashes after some moves Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SmittyB Posted September 29, 2018 Author Share Posted September 29, 2018 My Concerto,does not take it too.....it crashes after some moves If it crashed after moving over the sword then that's okay. That's an infinite loop bug introduced in the refactoring that I've already fixed. It's still not all there yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gambler172 Posted September 29, 2018 Share Posted September 29, 2018 If it crashed after moving over the sword then that's okay. That's an infinite loop bug introduced in the refactoring that I've already fixed. It's still not all there yet. No i do bot see a sword...i only go forward a few steps...then it crashes greetings Walter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+pboland Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 I said I would make an overlay for this game. Assuming nothing has changed since I last copied the info for the keypad function, Here's the overlay: Here's the print version (be sure to print at 100%): SotA_overlay.pdf 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SmittyB Posted October 9, 2018 Author Share Posted October 9, 2018 That's made my day and I love it. I'll be adding more functions to the keypad eventually for selecting things like keys, a travel lantern, and a potion that will restore some health if held when something would otherwise kill you. In other news I've fixed the 3d effect on the title screen so that it doesn't stutter and has a more accurate perspective. I've recently been given an old Siel MK900 keyboard so I'll hopefully get a few tunes written. I might use a difficulty switch as a music toggle so that you can listen to your own music without losing the sound effects. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SmittyB Posted November 22, 2018 Author Share Posted November 22, 2018 So it's been a while. I've taken a lengthy break from working on this because after getting everything moved over to 144k and compiling I was left with a huge mess of source code that was quite frankly intimidating. This week I've managed to get over a couple of the big hurdles that were preventing me from continuing and in the process have sped things up even more by cutting out a lot of unnecessary graphics code. I'm still in a position where a lot of things are broken where they weren't before but they're all minor bugs that can be ironed out over time. (Also I discovered that while old Italian keyboards are fun to use, having one doesn't mean I know the first thing about music.) 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gambler172 Posted November 24, 2018 Share Posted November 24, 2018 Hi Smitty gla dto hear,you are back....cannot wait to see a playable Level... greetings Walter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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