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Moon Patrol Graphical Improvements in Mind


EnderDude

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Not sure what version(s) of moon patrol you've looked at. I have several versions on my computer from various hacks(I think) There is a big difference with the music between some of them.

Not sure if you are aware of this. I've attached a couple.

 

Bob

 

 

 

I think what that is was the 5200 conversion with sound not being fixed correctly, Gremlins and Mario Bros were like that too.

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I hated the original Atari buggy sprite, but I loved the tank like tracks (instead of wheels).. at least they looked like tank tracks to me :)

So.. how about a combination of your great buggy with the old tracks/wheels ??

post-65-0-39680700-1535992061.jpg

Edited by TIX
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LOL. That is a cartridge version of Moon Patrol. It doesn't set AUDCTL correctly, as the 1.79Mhz is default for SIO after loading it from disk.

OMG is THAT why I have always thought MPs music was way off key ??

.....one other TERRINLE sounding game was Mario Brothers ....does this have the same flaw and if so, is there a fixed version ???

 

 

By the way, I totally agree that the game mechanics shouldnt be touched....it is a fine port gameplay-wise. I remember the DK version done here that changed the collision detection which totally screwed up the game for me...please dont go that route.

Edited by Level42
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I hated the original Atari buggy sprite, but I loved the tank like tracks (instead of wheels).. at least they looked like tank tracks to me :)

So.. how about a combination of your great buggy with the old tracks/wheels ??

Nah...they looked like 4 wheels to me and the arcade original has 6....well three that we can see)....I vote stick to try to be as close to arcade as possible.

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So, why didn't they use software sprites?

 

Hardware sprites are easier to handle as you don't have to take care of redrawing the background and get to use the built-in collision detection.

I'd appreciate a graphical upgrade, neither the buggy nor the aliens are real beauties.

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i am a big fan of Arcade Moon Patrol, played even the 2600 one to death and later the A8 version...

 

the Car sprite always annoyed me but enemy sprites should be like in arcade...

 

maybe simple hack would be to alter the sprite like it is at the moment ingame.

 

another thing I personally would like to changed... Atari Font to the Arcade font... then switch playfield area to widescreen if possible (needs to be checked if it scrolls by copy data etc) as I hate DLI color bands and sprites going into border while playfield is reduced...

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EnderDude have you ever done software for the Atari?

 

 

Erm.. no?

No, I've never done software for the Atari. Is it difficult to program software sprites? I've seen many games use interrupts of the 9 color registers to get several colors by changing the registers per scan line.

Edited by EnderDude
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No, I've never done software for the Atari. Is it difficult to program software sprites? I've seen many games use interrupts of the 9 color registers to get several colors by changing the registers per scan line.

The game uses parallax scrolling. This will give you hard times to solve it with pure software sprites.

Also, if you move objects vertically, you had to adjust the colors vertically, too.

 

OK. If you manage to show a parallax scrolling, using the PM instead of background graphics, things get closer.

 

Yes, there is a slight possibility to have better visuals in the game, without losing the great arcade feeling there.

But, your aimed solution will not work, I promise ;)

Edited by emkay
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Okay. Looking at the area that the enemies fly in, they are also in these scan lines not using parallax scrolling, so they can still be software. The enemy missiles can be hardware pm's, just not so large. Player missiles going vertically can also be hardware, but the horizontal ones can be software, because of it being in that 16 scan line area on the bottom that doesn't use parallax scrolling. Can the wheels of the buggy still be software sprites, being in that non-changing area of 16 scan lines?

 

For the uphill parts, that buggy has to use hardware pm's. Maybe the boulders can be software, since they're going down with the slope.

Edited by EnderDude
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