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Propane13

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Posts posted by Propane13

  2. Posted

    Well, now I'm more lost than a mime in the woods without a compass.

     

    What the hell is he supposed to do? Scream for help? Ask for directions?

     

    No. He can't. He's a freakin' mime.

     

    -John

  6. Posted

    Actual source code for these things seems to be a real pain to find-- All I've ever heard about being found are ST object files (like Pitfighther).

     

    There's a way to pull some truncated variable names for them in the disassembly of such things, but that's about all.

     

    -John

  8. Posted

    Oh my brain is kinda hurting,

    And it feels like it's beef stew--

    Cuz I'm stuck on number one,

    And I want to try part two.

     

    And guess what? I'm getting sleepy

    Putting all these numbers in

    And they don't make sense in English

    So, I'm reaching for the gin.

     

    If anyone would help me,

    (Which indeed would be quite cool)

    I'd get past the number 1 quiz

    And stop looking like a fool.

     

    -John

  9. Posted

    Stuck on 1 too. :|

     

    Should the end thing spell something (like, in English)?

    Mine's like FHQWHGADS; I'm not really sure what that means, but if I drink a little more, maybe it'll mean something. Is drinking a requirement for this contest?

     

    Seems like #2, 3, and 4 must be easy, b/c everyone here is either stuck on 1 or 5...

     

    -John

  10. Posted

    Wow! Could you elaborate a little more on this story? Were you able to actually see the working title in action?

     

    I knew someone who was guaranteed to have a copy of the Atari ST source code (I'll keep him anonymous, but let's say it was a very reliable source). He had it sitting in a shoebox in his basement-- it was sitting there for the last 10 years. I asked him if he could copy the disk for me, so that I could try to recompile it for him. And, so, he checked, found the shoebox, and opened it. And, when he looked inside.... nothing. I think his wife may have thrown it out when reorganizing the basement... :|

     

    So, it's one of those "this close" stories. I only wish I would have contacted him sooner.

     

    -John

  11. Posted

    Electrocop was done. And, had I been a little more lucky a few years ago, it would now be in the community's hands. But, when the place where the ROM was last seen was searched, it had mysteriously "vanished". So, no Electrocop. This is why I don't play the lottery. :)

     

    -John

  13. Posted

    Hey guys,

     

    I should have distributed this a lot earlier. So, without any more time-wasting (I mean, I had this done 2.5 years ago), the "Possible Mission" ROM awaits you. It's a hack that I did to make the game finishable.

     

    Note: Please ignore the "z78" file comment. It's actually an a78 file (but I was having problems logging into that server at the beginning of this week, so now I just say "the heck with it-- it's a brilliant typo").

     

    It can be found here:

    http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~harvey/7800/

     

    I have some spreadsheets of what exactly changed.

    For those curious, it was taking a diff of the PAL (working) version and the NTSC (broken) version. Then, I isolated these pieces of code, and changed any scanline-related or color-related code in the PAL game to its corresponding NTSC values. I've got some old data that I could share, but I doubt that it's of any interest anymore.

     

    As far as guaranteeing beat-ability of the game, well that's a toughie. I can say that I was able to beat it completely on this configuration, and someone else independently confirmed that as well. And, we both had 2 different startup configurations (I believe that the initial startup configuration is chosen from inside the onboard-RAM chip with the cart). So, that's 2 out of 2 for all possible combos. Good luck.

     

    Happy gaming!

    -John

  15. Posted

    Hey Mitch--

     

    Actually, I think it went the other way. :) No one ever contacted me for sales of "Possible Mission". And, I was concerned over copyright concerns back in the day. I had wanted to make this a saleable product (since it took a few weeks of hacking code to get it to work-- I'd say it was a significant effort). But, now I really don't care-- I'd rather have it in the hands of those who want to play it.

     

    Since I'm not really too involved in the community anymore, I'd consider publically releasing my hack for free. Is it still of any value?

     

    Regards,

    -John

  17. Posted

    For more fun, do the same thing to Joust and Asteroids.:)

     

    I did this a coupla years ago-- there are some interesting things to be found (like programmer names embedded in graphics). Never figured out how to unlock them in the games themselves tho.

     

    Regards,

    -John

  18. Posted

    Hi everyone,

     

    Long time no post. Anyway, I decided that If I don't post this now, I

    never will.

     

    My 7800 programmer's hat has been hung up for well over a year. I had

    some very good projects that I was working on (which some of you knew

    about) that I should probably share.

     

    One of them was the partial disassembly of the diagnostic cart. The

    weird screens and everything-- no longer a mystery.

     

    Enjoy. :)

     

    Found here:

    http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~harvey/7800/diag.html

     

    Thanks,

    -John

  21. Posted

    Hello,

     

    I had originally done the "rainbow cart". It was called "2600-Post-It-Note" (1 message w/ up to 990 chars), or "Alphanumeric Madness" (2 messages, 500 chars each, switch on Fire button") depending on your choice. You could choose the scroll speed (0=slow, 255= real fast), and the color of the text (1-255 in the Atari pallete).

     

    I can still make a customizable bin for you if you wish, but I'd need to dig through some old tools to be able to do it. Might take me a few days.

     

    Send me a Private Message with the details if you're interested.

     

    Regards,

    -John

  24. Posted

    Isn't Pitfall 2 just one chip with the graphics and code ROMs included with the DPC logic?  (At least that's what the patent seemed to suggest.)  If so, then it would be impossible to hack Pitfall 2 without creating a DPC clone.

     

    If I remember right, I think there are 2 chips in the cart-- one is the 8K ROM for the game logic, and the other is the DPC-- it includes 2K of ROM (game graphic data) plus all the bells and whistles that the DPC includes (music multiplexer, oscillators, etc). So, someone would have to re-invent the DPC if they wanted to hack Pitfall 2 graphics. But other game logic would be up for grabs.

     

    I don't remember too well tho; it's been awhile since I cracked open a P2 cart-- so, anyone, is it one chip or 2?

     

    -John K. Harvey

  25. Posted

    Hi there,

     

    P2plus was probably scrapped for many reasons:

    1) The native Pitfall 2 code is complicated-- just changing map items does not remove collision detection. Actual game code needs to be changed to do this, which is nontrivial

    2) There is no saleable market for it. No one could reproduce these carts because you would need to create boards that support a DPC, and you'd need to have DPC's. You can cannibalize Pitfall 2 carts for this, or try to find a place that sells them (good luck).

    3) Even if you did manage to get a bunch of DPC's and etched boards that supported them, you'd never be able to change any of the graphic colors or sprites. They're all encoded in the DPC. Essentially, you'd need to be a hardware wizard and create your own DPC clone out of a PIC or some sort of hardware. Lots of effort here.

     

    So, this means you would only be able to play it on an emulator after a lot of investment of work.

     

    In my opinion, Pitfall 2 is the best 2600 game ever created. Why would anyone want to try to recreate or re-map perfection? If you wanted to make your own carts, you may end up cannibalizing Pitfall 2 carts, which is a terrible thing to do to such a great game. Seems like a wasted effort to me. I think the best way to appreciate the game isn't to hack it, but to play it. :)

     

    Just my 2cents.

     

    Thanks,

    -John K. Harvey

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