Jump to content
Have You Played Atari Today?
2600|5200|7800|Lynx|Jaguar|Forums|Store  

courtesi96

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content Count

    91

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by courtesi96

  1. Posted

    I did a search for 6809 Disassemblers and a whole bunch (5-6?) popped up. Can anyone vouch for one of them?

     

    I have a BIN of a 32k CoCo game (Time Bandit) that I want to disassemble to not only figure out how it works but also pick up some 6809 along the way.

     

    In a perfect world the disassembly would easily be reassembled; but more important than that is examining all the object/map data.

     

    If possible this would be compatible with Windows 10.

  2. Posted · Edited by courtesi96

    I tried CoCoDisk-0.7 and after installing the requisite fdraw it still didn't work.

     

    Also, I tried wimgtool but was told it couldn't recognize the DSK format.

     

    I don't know if Windows 10 is the culprit but that's what I'm using.

     

    Thanks for the link. I think it's working great now!

     

    I think I may need to build a Linux box as most of these open source projects are written for that.

    • Like 1

  5. Posted

    I watched the whole video and I'm not seeing much that is particularly challenging. Things like scrolling the screen already exist in TF.

     

    I'm seeing what looks like an 8x8 man, 8x16 ghosts/monsters, minimal animation (can be done by redefining colours or characters - very fast in TF).

     

    The only programing "problem" you would have to solve (and this is nothing to do with Forth) is the map is very large, with quite a lot of rooms. So you'll need some sort of tokenisation system in order to represent each room as some sort of structure.

     

    There's also the AI for moving the monsters intelligently. Again, not a problem that is specific to Forth. You'd have to solve it in any language. My approach in Forth would be to use DOES> and have a common set of routines for all monsters. Kind of like a class with multiple instances and common methods.

     

     

    I think as a first project I'm going to try and convert this over to TF. First obviously I need to learn TF which I am currently doing. But also, I'm going to put this game through a disassembler to get the 6809 code and comment it up a bit to figure out how it crams all those screens into 32k. Probably too aggressive to finish this year but may be ready to show off in 2018.

  6. Posted

    I downloaded Classic99 last night and started messing with Forth. Very interesting! Although I agree using a PC Editor to enter code and then copy/paste is probably a good way to go - I think in the beginning it's better to stick to interactive mode to get a feel for the language.

     

    I suppose the hardest part of Forth for someone like myself with no experience is how you create a full application with it. I understand the need to "pay your dues" with learning how the stack works; but taking all of that and building an application that uses words, takes input, etc. is the baffling part to me right now. I'm sure in time it will come.

  8. Posted

    I don't know how many people out there are like me but I'm interested in getting involved with the TI/99/4A but have no idea what hardware to buy or what to look for when buying hardware. In the Developer sub-forum there is a pinned topic for languages but I've seen nothing (yet) for hardware.

     

    So can someone help me out? I'm looking at this purely for Turbo Forth development but may include some assembly language if needed.

     

    So here is what I "think" I need:

     

    A TV/Monitor capable of taking Composite.

    TI/99/4A computer w/ Composite and Power cables.

    32K "side upgrade" - I think it's a card that sits on the side.

    A TurboForth cartridge.

     

    Things I need help with:

     

    Monitor: Any recommendations on something thin and around 17-19" (not too big.)

     

    Data storage: What is the best medium for saving the programs? And how could I get those on the PC to pass on the Internet?

     

    Joysticks: I hear the originals are not ... that good. Are there options for connecting Atari or Sega ones?

     

    External keyboard: Blasphemy? Is there a way to connect an external PS/2 keyboard or such?

     

    I see pictures of a big box which I guess is for expansion I would really like to avoid that if possible and keep the setup as lean as possible.

     

    Anything to look out for when buying things from ebay?

  9. Posted · Edited by courtesi96

    I am from the US.

     

    I'm less hesitant to buy TI hardware as the prices are lower, systems are more plentiful, and they seem to be more reliable than say a Commodore 64.

     

    Do you have any favorite Forth books for getting started?

     

    Do you have a favorite emulator / editor?

  11. Posted

    I would like to see a video on the basics of making a video game. It doesn't need to be very complex - even something like Pong would do. But basically how you build the sprites and then the basic engine of moving the ball and taking inputs.

     

    So I can give a little context for my situation I had grown up with the TRS-80 Color Computer and recently decided to get back into it; however for that system because of the high prices of everything I'm thinking of sticking with Emulators for that and purchasing the physical TI/99/4A hardware instead since (currently) it seems more reasonable.

     

    I just need time to figure out all of what I need to buy. I've been keeping an eye on Ebay for TurboForth cartridges but haven't seen any recently.

     

    My primary motivation would be for learning Forth and developing games for personal enrichment - not necessarily to use the TI as a game playing device if that makes any sense.

  13. Posted · Edited by courtesi96

    I just had a thought this morning. The prices for Retro stuff is getting out of hand (for me.) But can you imagine for a moment if emulation didn't exist at all - and the only way to play this stuff is through owning the physical items?

     

    Suddenly everything would become bars of gold!

    • Like 1

  18. Posted

    I looked at the CP/M emulator videos and my thoughts are:

     

    Some percentage of slow down could be due to it running under NitrOS9. I don't know the percentage but obviously this would probably run faster under RS-DOS.

     

    Because it's under NitrOS9 and the fact that writing emulators in 100% Assembly Language would be a pain I'd be curious to find out if the emulator itself is written in Assembler or more likely C - which wouldn't be as fast.

     

    I've never written an emulator but the way I was imagining it is behind the scenes there would be much more complexity with CP/M due to how complex it is vs. the O^2. Yes the O^2 has unique chips but these should be (in theory) a fraction of the complexity than an operating system.

  23. Posted

    I think I'm slowly figuring out this little by little.

     

    The one thing I am having a hard time figuring out is once a factory is set to produce a certain necessity how you can tell the factory to make something else after you have plenty of tanks/etc. Currently it suggests that once you make your initial choice you are stuck with it until you take over another factory.

     

    Also it is very difficult to play a game with high difficulty (assigning the computer a higher production yield) without everything coming to a screeching halt. Sometimes I've witnessed the CoCo "thinking" for around 30 seconds.

     

    An earlier statement by the author suggests they weren't entirely happy with the AI algorithms used - not to say it's slower but not as effective.

     

    The DistantSystems site is down so I don't know how to get a hold of the author. It would be interesting if this game could have the AI routine improved, with Cartridge/6309 support thrown in to help speed it up.

AtariAge
Forums
Store
General
Follow AtariAge

Copyright ©1998-2021 AtariAge

×
×
  • Create New...