Sheddy

January 5, 2019

Oh, I see now. Thanks

January 5, 2019

.align N[,fill_value]

how it works:

  if N > 0 then
   i := (CURRENT_ADDRESS div N)* N
  else
   i := CURRENT_ADDRESS;

  if i <> CURRENT_ADDRESS then inc(i, N);

  CURRENT_ADDRESS := i;

	opt h- f+
	
	org $2000
	
	.byte 1,2,3
	
	.align $7f,0
	
	.byte $ff

01 02 03 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 FF

only 64?

change to ".align $7e,0"

01 02 03 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 FF

?

January 5, 2019

Not really, does same as

.cb "Hello"

no good for screen display unless custom charset

January 4, 2019

Yep, thanks. looks like I'll have to be doing that.

On another note, is .align supposed to work to exact bytes rather than just pages? Not that it turns out to be that useful for padding out to 128 byte sectors, but when I was experimenting it seems to behave peculiarity with things like ".align $7f"?

January 3, 2019

Use "Text" or d'Text' to encode strings as INTERNAL instead of ATASCII.

Thanks, that does work for "dta" but not ".cb" unfortunately

January 2, 2019

Just wondering how do people handle strings of text to be put on screen with MADS?

.sb 'Text'

converts to ATASCII codes, which is great, but

.cb 'Text'

does EOR $80 to the last character which is perfect to denote the end, except it is only ASCII and not ATASCII?

IE the capitals don't work.

Is there a simple trick I'm missing to have it do the EOR for ATASCII codes, or am I just approaching things the wrong way?

Thanks!

December 14, 2018

Minor error in documentation:

A ':' specifies the number of times to repeat the line (in the case of a macro, this specifies a macro parameter by number if it is in decimal). The repeat count should be in the range <0..2147483647>. When repeating a line with ':repeat', it is possible to use the loop counter in the repeated line using a hash sign ('#') or the parameter :1.

repeat count is only 16-bit using ":" <0..65535>

but it's true for .rept (thankfully!)

December 4, 2018

Is there a xex version for computers with RAM expansion?

Not this version. It would take a lot of work to make a 1024K xex. I'm not sure if Fandel managed it with the 2011 version in the end.

How long does it take to load a 1024K program even with a high speed loader?

I just don't like the idea of that.

I would want to rewite it to use less RAM, which would be much, much more work.

December 4, 2018

Yes it is part of the arcade, but the chances of it happening in the arcade seem to have been less... maybe a 1 in 6 chance or whatever number that works best in the engine would be useful..

It's hard to compare as it's easier to hit the scenery in the Atari version. (I honestly don't know how the bullets miss the scenery so often in the arcade one. They seem to have some pretty funky logic). But if you want to see what 1 in 6 chance is like, please find attached.

space-harrier-1in6-black(64k).bin

December 2, 2018

Hi Prowizard,

Ah, I see what you're referring to now. Yes, there is a new big explosion for things on the ground. It seems to be working as expected from your video. There is a 1 in 4 random chance of it happening as long as things are not very close and in the distance. Yes, it can sometimes get in the way of seeing things, but it is in the arcade game.

November 5, 2018

I hope Atarimania will pick it up at some point. I edited the 1st post with the final versions (at same time they were posted in the thread):

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/284026-space-harrier-update-2018/

November 5, 2018

Hello Sheddy

Is this the finale version (for now)?

Sincerely

Mathy

Yep, things seem OK now, so yes, these are the final versions (I kinda like the black version best).

November 4, 2018

Video of new title screen and attract mode.

https://youtu.be/5GYyB_evG0I

Thanks to my brother Nick for figuring out that the only way to get any reasonable quality from YouTube now is to upscale to 4K...

Altirra blend mode on to show in-game colors correctly in the video.

October 27, 2018

I think the problem is you guys are too imaginative!

make the shape of an "H" with the joystick, starting at the top left:

left+up

left

left+down

left

centre

right

right+up

right

right+down

End symbol will appear and all stages accessible

October 26, 2018

OK, this might be a total spoiler but...

yep, all with the joystick

Holding it in place only shows you've got the sequence right so far. Once it's gone you need to start the combo again

The H itself is a clue for how to move the joystick

October 26, 2018

Played the 2018 upgrade today. It is fabulous to see this game, which is actually one of my favorites, is updated in 2018.

I noticed a few things though on my PAL machine. The black-shadows are slightly distracting me. Am I the only one that experiences this? I can't remember I had this with the previous version.

Sometimes when a tree is set on fire and explodes the explosion is showing when the tree was already out of screen. This also distracted me a bit, which I did not notice this much in the previous version.

Perhaps it is closer to the original, so I have to get used to it, but for some reason it felt less smooth.

Tested on real 130XE, PAL on a CRT Television.

Perhaps it is just me, if so, leave it this way! I love the update. The digitized sound is awesome and the title screen is really amazing.

Thanks!

Yeah, the shadows are more subtle on the arcade machine. The transparent effect was too noticably flickery on the Atari unfortunately. I guess the idea was to help judge the distance, but it is not particularly helpful or necessary.

You mean a tree going off the sides that has just been shot? The big explosions are bigger than the tree so it is possible the edges will show.

Frame rates are the same - quite low! I suppose you might see slow down more often in a busy situation because of the shadows.

October 25, 2018

I've found the letter H, but I'm not sure if I triggered it...didn't notice anything...still trying...

Well done, you found the H. Stick with it

You will know when you have fully unlocked

October 20, 2018

I think it's pretty discoverable, so for now I'm just going to say you need to focus on the title screen.

October 19, 2018

Since the "likes" don't show up unless using desktop site, just wanted to say thanks for the compliments and feedback from everyone. Much appreciated.

@R0ger

It's not much different than the original, there's some source code floating about here somewhere. But basically, it's 2 joined channels at 1.79Mhz so the IRQ can be timed exactly to the scanlines, rather than all channels in 15khz.

As it's Antic D IRQs can interleave with the DLIs without much affect.

October 18, 2018

other issues...

thank you screen with Space Harrier Logo scroll up sometimes occurs before title screen...sometimes it doesn't...you can't read it unless you are speed reader. could it be a timer difference between 50/60 for duration...

sometimes title screen animations do not occur or are frozen, pressing reset clears the condition as it comes up again..

I've seen this animation freezing. Do you recall if it was after pressing Reset, maybe in quick succession?

It's not ideal but I can live with that if that's the only time it can happen.

The credits splash screen at power-on only is deliberate. I figured people can start up again if they really want to have a good read, rather than shoving it down their throats every time!

October 17, 2018

Absolutely!... But here's the catch:

Monitor's black-point itself MUST be calibrated for standard NTSC signal:

You need colorimeter, or SMPTE pattern displayed from a source via SAME video interface of Atari (either Y/C or Composite), and then adjust Brig/Contr., to make sure your blacks are as black as they can be, without killing dynamic range.

This requires understanding how the Contrast function is applied by your monitor, as well as the Brightness:

Do you see highlights AND shadows boosted up?

Do you see brighter highlights and darker shadows?

Row #0 of (Atari) ColorMap utility shows a 16-shade gray-scale, starting with #0 as being "black".

A preliminary step (not mentioned on my previous related post) is about Atari's own BLACK-POINT calibration:

Patch #0 of Row #0 is set to match Monitor's BLACK-level (e.g. patch # 0 should NOT be visible ABOVE the monitor's own black, as set in step #1, or at least, should be VERY close).

This is VERY important to naturally maximize contrast and potentially improve gamma response, too.

It turns out that I had already done the above, and STILL see Space Harrier's "black-levels" not being true to calibrated levels. In other words, anything else I do at this point will corrupt the (correct) black-level derived from above adjustment.

In any case, I would still like to see Space Harrier's set to Atari's true (or nominal) black-level, as shown on Patch #0 , Row #0, in ColorMap matrix. I wonder how bothersome the flicker would be, as I can't see ANY flicker through DVDO iScan HD engine, except when displaying the Dragon's segmented body.

Special for you

space-harrier-black(64K).zip

October 17, 2018

More orange Mammoth version in NTSC. Looks a bit sunburnt in PAL though.

space-harrier(64K).zip

October 17, 2018

Beautiful!!! Now console-keys work as pause!

Not sure if you have noticed, but the rendering of black-point throughout the intro, game, etc. is NOT Atari's true black... it is about one or two shades above it.

Could you try setting background color to real / true zero? This will provide a very welcome boost of perceived contrast, without touching anything else on the game...

This was deliberate to try and reduce flicker between the black and brighter colours

October 17, 2018

I thought I also noticed an additional, taller explosion graphic added?

Oh yeah, forgot to mention the giant nuke explosions

October 17, 2018

Changes since 2011 release, in no particular order:

-RastaConverter based title screen

-Object shadows

-5-bit samples with higher sample rate

-More continues allowed

-Boss names show on stage 18

-Fix crash/corruption that can happen if a bullet homing onto a ground robot bounces down off hitting indestructible scenery

-Updated WiWi Jumbo end boss graphics

-Saves Stage unlocking back to Cart

-Start key works as start(!)

-Cheat Easter egg

-The big "nuke" explosions

-More attract/demo stages

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