Custom score problem

[+atari2600land]

What do I need to put at the top to indicate to use a custom score digit set with a 8k Superchip game (in this case score_graphics_kc.asm) ? I tried putting an "includesfile bankswitch.inc" at the top, but when I went to Stella and opened it up and told it to use 8k Superchip, the screen went blank, where as if I didn't put that line in there, it worked, but the score was messed up because I put the score in hexadecimal numbers.

[SeaGtGruff]

What do I need to put at the top to indicate to use a custom score digit set with a 8k Superchip game (in this case score_graphics_kc.asm) ? I tried putting an "includesfile bankswitch.inc" at the top, but when I went to Stella and opened it up and told it to use 8k Superchip, the screen went blank, where as if I didn't put that line in there, it worked, but the score was messed up because I put the score in hexadecimal numbers.

First of all, if you're using the Superchip with the standard kernel, then you don't need to use the "includesfile" statement-- the way you currently do (in v1.0) when using bankswitching with the multisprite kernel-- unless you specifically want to use a modified includes file. In this case, you *will* want to use a modified includes file, since you want to use a different score graphics file than usual.

 

Second, you should *not* use the bankswitch.inc includes file if you want to use the Superchip, because the bankswitch.inc includes file is the one that's used for non-Superchip bankswitching with the standard kernel. What you want to do is use a modified version of the superchip.inc includes file.

 

Go to the directory where the include files are kept, and copy the score_graphics.asm include file to some new name. Then edit the new file as desired, and save it.

 

Next, copy the superchip.inc includes file to some new name. Then edit the new file, change the score_graphics.asm file to whatever the new file is named, and save it.

 

Finally, in your bB program, use the "includesfile" statement to specify the new includes file. For example:

 

score_graphics_gosub.asm -- copy of score_graphics.asm, with graphics modified for Gosub! game.

 

superchip_gosub.inc -- copy of superchip.inc, changed to use score_graphics_gosub.asm.

 

In the program:

   includesfile superchip_gosub.inc
  set romsize 8kSC

Michael

 

Edit: Or, to use the name you indicated, it might be as follows:

 

score_graphics_kc.asm -- copy of score_graphics.asm, but with modified graphics.

 

superchip_kc.inc -- copy of superchip.inc, changed to use score_graphics_kc.asm.

 

In the program:

   includesfile superchip_kc.inc
  set romsize 8kSC

Edited October 7, 2007 by SeaGtGruff

[+stephena]

What do I need to put at the top to indicate to use a custom score digit set with a 8k Superchip game (in this case score_graphics_kc.asm) ? I tried putting an "includesfile bankswitch.inc" at the top, but when I went to Stella and opened it up and told it to use 8k Superchip, the screen went blank, where as if I didn't put that line in there, it worked, but the score was messed up because I put the score in hexadecimal numbers.

In addition to what Michael said above, you also shouldn't need to specify the ROM type in Stella for the Superchip. If the bin has been compiled correctly, Stella should auto-detect it as such.

[+atari2600land]

Thanks again, Mike. You rock!

[SeaGtGruff]

What do I need to put at the top to indicate to use a custom score digit set with a 8k Superchip game (in this case score_graphics_kc.asm) ? I tried putting an "includesfile bankswitch.inc" at the top, but when I went to Stella and opened it up and told it to use 8k Superchip, the screen went blank, where as if I didn't put that line in there, it worked, but the score was messed up because I put the score in hexadecimal numbers.

In addition to what Michael said above, you also shouldn't need to specify the ROM type in Stella for the Superchip. If the bin has been compiled correctly, Stella should auto-detect it as such.

That's right, unless he's still using an older version.

 

The reason the game didn't work as expected, even when manually selecting the Superchip option in Stella, is because the "includesfile bankswitch.inc" statement overrode bB's process of automatically selecting the appropriate includes file, which caused the game to be compiled for *non*-Superchip bankswitching.

 

Omitting that "includesfile" statement allowed the game to correctly compile for Superchip bankswitching, except the score was using the standard graphics, so it looked garbled for the hex digit values.

 

Michael

[SeaGtGruff]

Thanks again, Mike.

You're welcome.

 

You rock!

Well I used to, but I no longer have a rocking chair.

 

Michael

[+atari2600land]

I'm using Stella version 2.2, although I have 2.3.5 on my computer. I don't know how to set it to my default Stella emulator though. I have it set up that when I click on the icon, Stella 2.2 automatically opens up.

[SeaGtGruff]

I'm using Stella version 2.2, although I have 2.3.5 on my computer. I don't know how to set it to my default Stella emulator though. I have it set up that when I click on the icon, Stella 2.2 automatically opens up.

Are you running the ROMs through 2600IDE? Or do you have a desktop icon for Stella? Or both?

 

If you're using 2600IDE, there's a menu option that lets you locate (browse for) your emulator of choice, so just click on that menu option, browse to wherever the latest version of Stella is, and select it.

 

To update a desktop shortcut, the easiest thing to do might be to just delete the existing shortcut. Then open up your "My Computer," browse to wherever the latest version of Stella is, right-click on the stella.exe file, and select the "send to desktop" option, which will create a shortcut on the desktop.

 

Or, you can right-click on an existing shortcut, select "properties," and browse to the newer version.

 

By the way, 2.3.5 isn't the latest version anymore, so you might want to download 2.4.1.

 

Michael

[+stephena]

I'm using Stella version 2.2, although I have 2.3.5 on my computer. I don't know how to set it to my default Stella emulator though. I have it set up that when I click on the icon, Stella 2.2 automatically opens up.

By the way, 2.3.5 isn't the latest version anymore, so you might want to download 2.4.1.

 

Michael

Actually, 2.4.2, which fixes an OpenGL bug on many systems.