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youxia

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  1. I'm preparing a long overdue update to this collection, but it will be a mainly cosmetic one - just rearranging the structure and cleaning up stuff a bit. I'm sure there have been some new games discovered since the last release but I don't have time atm to do a proper search and comparison. One thing I'd really like to sort out though would be turning the .wav-only software present in the collection into disk versions so more people can access it easily. This is what we have been discussing here previously in 2022. Thanks again to @Newsdeeand other folks for help with getting me started but frankly my Apple II skills are just too low to handle this stuff and I was also too busy with other, higher priority projects, to have made any real progress bar converting a handful of programs. No I'd like to try again and I wonder: -can anybody advise how to turn Binary programs into working ones? When I use CiderPress with methods described above ITT they just fail to boot. -I've been in touch with Antoine from Brutal Deluxe (host to all these wonderful cassette files) asking about this and he said that "BASIC programs load at $801. Binary files are loaded in the range set by the R command: 200.2000R will load from $20 to $2000 800.8FFFR will load from $800 to $8FFF" I don't know how to put it in use though. -he shared a collection with some of these wavs already converted to .po disk format. I don;t know how to run them though in an emulator (AppleWin shows something about Prodos missing) and not sure how to extract them via CiderPress into individual bootable disks -are there any volunteers willing to help converting BASIC programs? This can be done according to the template made by @Newsdeeabove and is pretty straightforward, but rather time consuming. (also, am not sure what to do about programs with multiple files - some seem to convert and work fine but maybe later on crash?)
  2. That would be indeed interesting to see, but I suspect it contains not only singular titles but many with multiple disks/sides (and also possible duplicates on compilations). Most Apple collections are like that, and I went through all the well-known ones (ie 4am and entire Asimov).
  3. So I eventually did build this collection: While it's not been "finished" (mission impossible), I think the core target of collecting most available Apple II games under one roof, in a 1G1R format, has been accomplished. The resulting number of singular games is 2461. I think it includes most of the commercial ones (though also all other sorts of games like PD or type-ins), and you can add god-knows-what number of missing PD games on top of that (some of which might not be actually missing but hiding on the zillion of as-yet-unsorted compilation disks) I kept educational software separate. The number of single archives here is 2891 - though I didn't sort them as well as the games proper, so there are some duplicates (mostly MECC) and also a lot of separate disks which belong to one edu package but have different subjects.
  4. Seriously? Do you really believe that a corporate sponsorship - or shall we say ownership - makes no difference in such situations? Do you really think that a harsh critique of Atari products, such as the Taco Thread, would be even remotely possible? Tbh this is just an extreme example, off top of my head, because I'm a little bit shocked - I only learned about it right now, as I don't frequent this site as often as before, and when I saw a thread about it yesterday I really thought it's a joke. So I didn't really have time to think about thoroughly, but I'm pretty sure there will be plenty of other downsides (haven't there already been roms/creators withdrawn?) I'm sorry, I did read Albert's statement on the matter and while it is full of reassurances - and its author is a respectable and believable person - I've been around for too long to not know that in the long run this will not turn out well. It's a pity, because AA is (was?) the biggest and best still existing independent forum dedicated to old computers and consoles. This is why I ended up being a poster here, not because I'm a nostalgic Atari fan. I simply cannot fathom how it being taken over by a corporate operator, especially one of such terrible pedigree, doesn't ring more alarm bells in people.
  5. Note to buyer: it's 70$, not 700 - so just eat it up: sell it on as is, buy new one elsewhere. Buying old machines is a bit of a lottery, and you did not lose much here, in fact it's really cheap. Damn, you even got 30$ back! Note to seller: it's 70$, not 700 - so (next time) just eat it up: take it back and save yourself a lot of grief. Though judging by this buyer's attitude he'd probably ask you to pay shipping too 😁
  6. 🥰 As for your problem, try to manually update your mister.ini. Copy/paste the one from this page: https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Main_MiSTer/blob/master/MiSTer.ini (back up your old one first of course) Just make sure you don't get HTML code or some other funny stuff in there. I don't know about HDMI but some stuff has changed regarding analogue VGA output (vga_mode=) and update_all doesn't touch the mister.ini, so maybe you're a bit behind.
  7. It doesn't, it turned out to be a wild goose chase. The game in question has been removed from the Nerdly Pleasures doc. And thanks to the input of the author of that list, I was able to whittle down my "problem games" to just 4 entries: Transylvania - Tandy version (executable NOVELT1K.EXE) hangs in emulators, even though it's been reported to work ok, so probably user (me) error World Tour Golf - can get CGA only. Manual says to start the game with "GOLF /T" for 16 colours, or "GOLF /T4" for 4 colours but even when trying that it still is CGA Charlie Brown's ABC's and Peanuts Picture Puzzlers - "PCjr. only, require Cartridge BASIC to be inserted, are intended to be booted off floppy (DOS program) and system memory should be strictly limited to 128KiB." Have to try this yet myself (not sure how to limit RAM to 128 kb in Dosbox?) A few games (eg Ghostbusters or Bruce Lee) still cause problems, but I was able to get them running properly on at least one emu in either PCjr or Tandy mode so that'll have to do for now. I've released v1.0 of my Tandy / PCjr exclusive pack. Its content should be ~97% compatible with at least one emu out there, so that's not too bad I think. Alas, this thread is always open for input: new ideas on how to run some of these games, or if anybody knows where to find titles from my MIA list (these need to be specific Tandy/PCjr versions, and are to my best knowledge currently unavailabe in the most well known sources). : Big Bird's Special Delivery Bouncy Bee Learns Words Digger Ernie's Magic Shapes Football (subLogic) GATO Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing! (v1.31T) Solitaire/Poker (Deskmate) Trivia 102 Ultima II: Revenge of the Enchantress (PCjr) US History: Western Settlement to Modern Day
  8. I've released a new update for the Tandy / PCjr collection (search archive.org for "tandy play it by year"). It's been re-tested and reorganised and while still far from perfect, it's probably best I can do with this rather complicated subject. Thanks to @Great Hierophant for hints on how to run some of the more troublesome games. Please note that while I started it with MiSTer in mind, the final result is probably best experienced in Dosbox-x, because of its largest compatibility. It'd be interesting to hear what other people's success rate in running these games on different emus/platforms is.
  9. I had another go at it, but still no joy. Tandy Basic seems difficult to locate, and when using the copy I found (images on archive.org) the program hangs as well. This really is above my pay grade. Would appreciate if somebody could confirm/deny that this game actually works. Thank you, but I've already been using Dosbox-x for its composite output (mentioned it in the initial list). Whether I'm using it the right or wrong way is another matter, but that's why I'd like others to try these games out.
  10. Not exactly sure this is the way to read it here, seeing as most - if not all - other games from the list (that I recall) which have the "E" also have some sort of >CGA gfx (and/or additional comments). In any case, I still can't hear any special sounds which the "Y" delineates.
  11. The list entry for Abrams has "E" in gfx, meaning (I think) it should display EGA when ran on Tandy, and also "Y(es)" for sfx, meaning it has some unique music or sounds. I couldn't detect any of that trying to run my copy on various Tandy emus (with 640Kb RAM), it just boots into CGA. I also installed it from floppies but the result is the same. What I meant more was the sort of in-between games - neither "normal" PC games nor the Tandy/PCjr exclusive-content ones. There's a huge number of games which have some sort of Tandy/PCjr designation but don't count into either of these groups. Eg if you search Moby by attribute Tandy, the sfx group has nearly 900 entries (as for Moby itself I've used it for years in my assorted other projects, comparing it vs other sources, and I must say it's fairly reliable, at least when it comes to large scale queries). To be honest I'm not 100% sure what it actually means though. Eg, Cruise For The Corpse is not in the Nerdly Pleasures' exclusive list, and it has Tandy tag on Moby. The gfx look EGA-like.
  12. Sure, but all the games in question have been already thoroughly researched by the aforementioned @Great Hierophant in a series of articles on his Nerdly Pleasures blog. It's really a recommended reading (you can also search for "pcjr" or "tandy" keywords there). So it's already been established that these games have specific exclusive features. I'm merely trying to get them to run, and the purpose of this thread is to compare notes with others, seeing as my DOS-emu skills are pretty basic. So, in short, if anybody has a moment to spare, please try to run some of the games from my list, and see if they work at all. And if yes, then if the extra features are present. Which is not always the case, because they might not be the specific version or some other steps have to be taken in order to activate the special fx.
  13. No, it was just some random basica file. Thanks for the suggestion. I've just tried it in PC-BASIC emulator, with pcjr preset, and the game starts (can see credits screen) and then hangs. I have little experience with these systems so not sure, maybe I'm doing something wrong? You're welcome, just bear in mind this list regards only games with exclusive fx features. The number of games which can actually run on Tandy is much bigger (you can check Moby for that). The game pack I'm working on is trying to collect the working versions for these games. Its next release will also include standalone files, at the moment it's just a vhd (though you can still mount it in Windows and transfer files to your Tandy, assuming you're using some SD card solution. There are also floppy image files).
  14. I'm trying to research Tandy and PCjr games with exclusive fx for one of my archival projects. I've tried to run every game from the excellent list compiled by @Great Hierophant and some of them cause problems. I'd appreciate if you could your their experiences running these games and help me out straighten them out whenever possible. I have mainly used PCem & DosBox, and sometimes PCXT core (Tandy mode) on MiSTer for testing. All the games come from either the latest Total DOS Collection or Gruby's Floppy Images pack. Abrams Battle Tank - can't get EGA on Tandy, displays only CGA Arcticfox - gfx glitches in PCem, works in DosBox Bruce Lee - floppy glitches on all emulators. DC works in Dosbox Pcjr Ghostbusters - problem with every combination on floppy and hdd (from crashes to small glitches) Lode Runner - can't locate Tandy version, not sure if existing are any different from CGA Peanuts Picture Puzzlers - The game needs Cartridge Basic, I've tried with a BASICA but I can't get it to work. Pinball Construction Set - DC only shows CGA in Tandy, Pcjr crashes, booter ditto Sea Hunt - DC, Pcjr composite works in Dosbox but not sure if it's correct (no vertical lines) Sea Speller - DC, Pcjr composite works in Dosbox but not sure if it's correct - colours different than Moby's scr$ (using Dosbox-x) Styx - DC is CGA version? sounds the same Stuart Smith's Adventure Construction Set - not sure if Tandy version Trains - hdd version: sound is Tandy but looks like CGA Transylvania - hdd versions shows only CGA gfx World Tour Golf 1986 TDC hdd version in Dosbox looks to be Tandy 4 colour one
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