Aha! Now I get it!

[Brad2600]

I can't for the life of me, make sense of Random Terrain's help page or anything. My mind is kind of overwhelmed now but I'd like to come back to Batari Basic and try to see if I can teach myself how to program in it.

 

Any advice or way to make it even more clearer so I can understand? Something like a step by step tutorial would be nice, especially if it came with a file that's ready to be edited and compiled and all. That is how I learned to program in java, using step by step and building sample programs.

 

Any help would be appreciated. I have a week ahead of me to find something to do and I want to play around with this.

Edited August 10, 2005 by Kepone

[s0c7]

Don't try to take too much in at one time. Trust me, if you taught yourself Java you can do this too. My suggestion would be to look at Batari's sample program that comes with the compiler. Look at it and try to see what's going on. Once you feel you understand it (even if only a little), make a few minor changes to it and see if you can get them to work. Then just go from there.

 

Also, keep in mind there are other docs too. The help file that comes with the compiler and potatohead's User's Guide. The User's Guide in particular might make more sense to you.

 

Good luck!

Edited August 8, 2005 by s0c7

[Brad2600]

I'll take a look at the user guide sometime. Thanks for mentioning it.

[Brad2600]

I downloaded what I thought was just plain Stella and it turned out to be StellaX. How come Stella is the emulator that it has to use? I can't figure with versions of Stella are which as well.

 

Any advice?

[+Random Terrain]

I downloaded what I thought was just plain Stella and it turned out to be StellaX. How come Stella is the emulator that it has to use? I can't figure with versions of Stella are which as well.

 

Any advice?

907643[/snapback]

Did you go to this web site?

 

http://stella.sourceforge.net/

 

I downloaded this:

 

Download stella-1.4.2-win32.zip

 

I got stella and StellaX in the same package.

Edited August 9, 2005 by Random Terrain

[SeaGtGruff]

I can't for the life of me, make sense of Random Terrain's help page or anything. My mind is kind of overwhelmed now but I'd like to come back to Batari Basic and try to see if I can teach myself how to program in it.

 

Any advice or way to make it even more clearer so I can understand? Something like a step by step tutorial would be nice, especially if it came with a file that's ready to be edited and compiled and all. That is how I learned to program in java, using step by step and building sample programs.

 

Any help would be appreciated. I have a week ahead of me to find something to do and I want to play around with this.

906858[/snapback]

 

I agree with s0c7 that you should take it slow. Pick just a few commands at a time, and play around with them until you get the hang of how to use them. Obviously, DRAWSCREEN and GOTO will be two essential commands, because you need to draw the screen, and then keep looping back to redraw it. You don't need to try for anything fancy, just do simple little programs at first. For example, play with the PFHLINE, PFVLINE, and PFPIXEL commands to see how they work, and then you'll be able to design different playfields. Then try adding a player to see how that works. (Note that player shapes must be defined upside-down.) And once you can draw a player and position it wherever you want on the playfield, try moving the player around with the joystick commands, as in the sample program that comes with Batari BASIC.

 

Maybe we should do a tutorial series for Batari BASIC, as was done in the past for programming the 2600 in assembly? I'd be willing to contribute to such a series. In fact, I've started working on a simple adventure game, so maybe I could turn that into a tutorial, if anyone is interested?

 

Also, I'm curious how everyone is using Batari BASIC-- that is, on what kinds of computers, compiling manually or with a batch file, etc. For example, I'm using Windows, and the 2600IDE program.

 

Michael Rideout

[+Random Terrain]

Also, I'm curious how everyone is using Batari BASIC-- that is, on what kinds of computers, compiling manually or with a batch file, etc. For example, I'm using Windows, and the 2600IDE program.

908109[/snapback]

Windows XP and the 2600IDE program for me. I don't do DOS. If it doesn't have a front end, they can stick it up their back end.

[Brad2600]

A tutorial series would be awesome! I kind of have to follow along to simple instructions just to learn new things.

[s0c7]

Also, I'm curious how everyone is using Batari BASIC-- that is, on what kinds of computers, compiling manually or with a batch file, etc. For example, I'm using Windows, and the 2600IDE program.

 

 

This might need to go in a seperate thread.......

 

I'm using Win2k and doing everything from the command line. I do all my testing with z26.

[potatohead]

Also, I'm curious how everyone is using Batari BASIC-- that is, on what kinds of computers, compiling manually or with a batch file, etc. For example, I'm using Windows, and the 2600IDE program.

 

 

This might need to go in a seperate thread.......

 

I'm using Win2k and doing everything from the command line. I do all my testing with z26.

908215[/snapback]

 

Running Linux right now. (Mandrake 10.1 i586) No ide, just basic program in kwrite window (because it shows whitespace), open command shell and run script. I'll keep another kwrite window or two open to cut 'n paste code chunks. Using Random Terrain's help file in another window.

 

Will have IRIX up this weekend. (SGI)

 

For controls, I've got a PS2 dual shock connected through one of those little USB thingys.

[Brad2600]

I finally sat down and read through Random Terrain's tutorial while working alongside with Batari Basic and the 2600ide.

 

I managed to edit the sample.bas file enough to create a little demo, complete with modified sprites that I made using the sprite editor. It looks cool to me so far.

 

My next step is figuring out how I can implement a missile and all that. Would be nice to have a sample program with missiles implemented that I can "borrow" code from to add into what I have just to understand how it works.

 

So far, I'm getting the hang of things!

 

I've attached the file for reference.

demo2.bin

[s0c7]

My next step is figuring out how I can implement a missile and all that. Would be nice to have a sample program with missiles implemented that I can "borrow" code from to add into what I have just to understand how it works.

 

 

My source (included with the bin) uses a missile. I think if you look through the original bB thread there are some samples of missile use also.

 

I will warn you, I maintain old RPG programs (some written as far back as the 70's) in real life. RPG has it's own bizzare logic and it carries over into my other programs. My source may blow your mind, so if you look at it and it makes no sense - stop and look at something else.

Edited August 10, 2005 by s0c7

[+stephena]

I downloaded what I thought was just plain Stella and it turned out to be StellaX. How come Stella is the emulator that it has to use? I can't figure with versions of Stella are which as well.

 

Any advice?

907643[/snapback]

As Random Terrain said in a previous message, go to http://stella.sf.net. If you're confused about which one to get, always get the newest one (which as of right now is 1.4.2). Both Stella and StellaX are included in the same package.

 

Just a little FYI. Stella is the actual emulator, but it's commandline only. StellaX is a Win32 frontend that launches Stella. When Stella 2.0 is released in about a month, it will no longer contain StellaX. The new codebase contains a built-in GUI, frontend and debugger, so no external frontends will be needed any more.

 

Also, please only use http://stella.sf.net. Other sites have older 1.1-1.3 releases, and they neither work with Batari Basic nor are supported by the Stella team.

 

Long story short, always get the one with the highest version number and with 'win32' in the name (assuming you want the one for Windows, of course), and always get it from the main Stella website.

 

Steve

[+Random Terrain]

When Stella 2.0 is released in about a month, it will no longer contain StellaX.  The new codebase contains a built-in GUI, frontend and debugger, so no external frontends will be needed any more.

908509[/snapback]

Ahhhh . . . that's nice. Welcome to the 21st century.

 

I love a built-in GUI, although external front ends are OK too as long as they work right.

Edited August 10, 2005 by Random Terrain

[JLsoft]

Also, I'm curious how everyone is using Batari BASIC-- that is, on what kinds of computers, compiling manually or with a batch file, etc. For example, I'm using Windows, and the 2600IDE program.

908109[/snapback]

 

I'm using Notepad/DOS' Edit/2600IDE here under XP, along with alienbill's javascript PlayerPal 2 for sprite editing.

 

 

I just as often use it in pure DOS 7.1 on my older DOS/WinXP laptop because Z26's sound works better, and the laptop is also my only choice during recent monsoon-induced power outages here

 

For DOS, I just had to rename some of the .asm files around (and hex-edit the 2600basic.exe to match one of them), edit the .bat file (because LFN/long filename support for DOS doesn't like "longfilename.ext.ext"), and replace the included DASM version with the newest DOS compile I could find: ftp://ftp.profzone.ch/vantage/members/kil...sm22007-dos.zip (linked to from http://www.biglist.com/lists/stella/archiv...7/msg00053.html)

[Dan Iacovelli]

I'm using 2600IDE as well with help from a ti-extended basic book and a graph of the playfield I did in MS word.(windows xp)

Edited August 11, 2005 by Dan Iacovelli

[+batari]

Also, I'm curious how everyone is using Batari BASIC-- that is, on what kinds of computers, compiling manually or with a batch file, etc. For example, I'm using Windows, and the 2600IDE program.

908109[/snapback]

 

I'm using Notepad/DOS' Edit/2600IDE here under XP, along with alienbill's javascript PlayerPal 2 for sprite editing.

 

 

I just as often use it in pure DOS 7.1 on my older DOS/WinXP laptop because Z26's sound works better, and the laptop is also my only choice during recent monsoon-induced power outages here

 

For DOS, I just had to rename some of the .asm files around (and hex-edit the 2600basic.exe to match one of them), edit the .bat file (because LFN/long filename support for DOS doesn't like "longfilename.ext.ext"), and replace the included DASM version with the newest DOS compile I could find: ftp://ftp.profzone.ch/vantage/members/kil...sm22007-dos.zip (linked to from http://www.biglist.com/lists/stella/archiv...7/msg00053.html)

908606[/snapback]

In the upcoming Alpha 0.3, you can use a command-line option to use an alternate variable alias file if you wish to use plain DOS. You'll still need to edit the batch file, rename the asm files and make your own includes file to match the renamed asm files, but you will no longer need to hex-edit the .exe.

[+stephena]

Ahhhh . . . that's nice. Welcome to the 21st century.  

 

I love a built-in GUI, although external front ends are OK too as long as they work right.

908536[/snapback]

Just a note that this is a custom GUI, much like the interface in ScummVM. So it won't look like a Win32 app in Windows or a Cocoa app in OSX.

 

I expect to get some flack for this, but the one big advantage is that it will work everywhere, which has always been the #1 goal of Stella.