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TwentySixHundred

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Posts posted by TwentySixHundred

  1. Posted

    Thanks i had been using A7800 for awhile now. However i have heard/read alot of good things about Bup and noticed it has recent updates. From what i hear it's fairly on par with A7800 in terms of accuracy 👍 Works great with my homebrew and is nice that pokey is supported especially with bankswitched ROMs (helps motivation with testing one my older projects). Thanks for the continues development of Bup and im looking forward to future releases 👍

  2. Posted

    11 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

     

    In a way, it's a machine that I'm glad that I came to later in life as opposed to when it was still current.  Being able to compare it objectively to its then-competition without getting caught up in platform wars really makes it possible to see how well it stacked up (and still stacks up) against other machines of the time.

     

    It's a pity that Atari handled it the way that they did.  Truly a squandered opportunity.

    It's a strange comparison between machines of the time. Reason i say is because the system was technically 3 years old by the time of official release (almost completed it's hardware lifespan). I used to compare the system to NES and SMS however i hardly think it's fair to go by release dates alone. I mean the hardware was intended to compete against the colecovision in 83. Having said that the system still gives the NES and SMS a run for their money for the sheer fact of the number of sprites Maria can handle (it's a beast).

     

    If only the system had a few further tweaks and the pokey chip at the minimum when they decided to re-release the system. Anyway it is what it is and i agree looking back nowadays after the dust has settled, all the bullshit can be put aside. I can now appreciate the system for what it is rather then comparing.

     

    Homebrew scene shows the system was hardly pushed to its full potential with the original titles - plus or minus a few.

    • Like 3

  5. Posted

    3 minutes ago, Trebor said:

    Ah...I think you are referring to the bilinear video filtering.

     

    From the A7800 folder, open the A7800.ini file under notepad (Or any other simple text editor).

     

    Change this:

    image.png.96afd609608f064e519f8ccd161d56ae.png

     

    To this:

    image.png.c4e9af07b6bda44bfd086de3b5b47ae0.png 

    Cheers mate yeah it was the bilinear filter, i knew it was looking like some sort of filter was being used. Alot of the time with SNES/GEN emulators i switch this option on or off depending on the game. Personally i prefer no filtering with NES and Atari emulators and/or 8bit gaming in general. I can see how filtering could make some 7800 games look alot nicer so i guess it's personal preference. Im assuming Matt has the feature turned off with ADS hence the reason im used to no filtering 👍

    • Like 1

  6. Posted

    11 minutes ago, Trebor said:

    The 1KB larger is normal and expected for the *.a78 file compared to their *.bin file counterparts.  Header configuration details are placed at the beginning of the *.a78 file, which is the actual difference between the two formats.

     

    The *.bin file will not run under A7800.  It needs the *.a78 file with the header detail which informs the emulator how the data is laid out.

     

    What is meant by the quality looking drastically bad compared to A7800 with ADS?  Could you please elaborate?  It appears fine when I ran it.

     

    Unsure why the forum shows the file size the way it does (512.13), but viewed from the hard drive the *.bin file is 512KB, and the *.a78 file is 513KB.

     

     

    Thanks for the explanation mate, yeah it's hard to explain but graphics quality seems to drop. Just looks sharper and brighter, where when running the ROM from a7800 itself it's more blurry/fuzzy and darker. Same 4.0 versions and the graphics settings all seem the same. Even the Fuji logo on boot seems to be degraded. Here is an example

     

    ADS

    ads.thumb.png.7797cc8f55c7ac16c1687a47970164dc.png

     

    a7800

    a7800.thumb.png.2bfc9181e31473082bb85da880d75cec.png

     

    As you can see the a7800 image looks like it's running a filter.

     

    Maybe @mksmith has made some tweaks to the built-in ADS emulator?

    • Like 1

  7. Posted

    On 9/27/2020 at 1:53 AM, Karl G said:

    Could you make a .a78 version available as well?

    Cheers Karl, yeah for some reason the file is 1kb larger?

     

    I usually just compile and run straight from ADS so i hadn't really taken notice of the compiled files.

     

    So now my findings is that i can't manually run the .bin file i posted in A7800 as it's just returning an error.

    Further more i can run the .A78 however the quality looks drastically bad compared to the built in A7800 with ADS.

     

    I have no idea why i can't run the files properly in the same quality as the built in emulator of ADS. Anyway here is the .A78 file 👍

     

     

     

    Having said that it's showing 512kb when uploaded here... Strange lol

    • Like 1

  8. Posted

    Well i think it's time to give a playable demo now that i have level 1 complete. Rather then showing a demo video and spoiling, i thought those who are interested in the progress can have a play around.

     

    The game is far from complete and i work on it in dribs and drabs when i have time. So progress is happening but obviously with 7800 things take a little longer the 2600. Anyway enemy AI needs some attention and i really should start focusing on some sound effects to add some atmosphere.

     

    It's a little easy at the moment however, it's only level 1 and i will be making the game harder when it matures.

     

    Im happy with the progress so far, cheers 👍

     

     

    • Like 3

  10. Posted

    Thanks Mike, yeah im guessing the later explanation is probably the case. I am plotting a string of text, two scores along with three sprites and "maptiles" within that one zone. I guessing im hitting a sprite limitation per zone of Maria's?

     

    Having said that the first to be plotted is the screendata "restorescreen" function followed by the lives "helmet" sprites and text/numeric strings followed by the players sprite.

     

    I guess i could always try plotting those sprites after the players srite and see what happens. Either or as it's only the status bar it's not a major issue, however i was a bit confused as to why the maptiles were taking priority on that one row alone 👍

     

    dadsssdeewww.thumb.png.0a8da9ab03e6f4ea09eb1e48e18700ab.png

  11. Posted

    Hi guys back again with another question. For some reason or another im finding the top row my maptiles (alphadata) are taking priority over certain sprites. So the player sprite is actually going behind the displayed tiles and only on the top row? Im a little confused because i haven't changed anything other then creating a pattern for those tiles as a status bar

  12. Posted

    Ok so i went back and reused the xpos and ypos variables which literally took about 2 min to alter the code. Works flawless, saved 7 variables and halved the amount of code from before... It's staring at me clear as day as to why i never thought of this earlier. So simple and elegant im feeling like such a boofhead for even asking the question lol.

     

    Anyway atleast i learnt something tonight 👍

    • Like 2

  13. Posted

    22 minutes ago, RevEng said:

    Yeah, you can't use complex statements (math in brackets) as statement arguments in 7800basic, which is why you're getting the error.

     

    You need to redo the pixel-to-tile division for each point anyway, unless your points are exactly [TILE WIDTH] pixels away from your center point. Adding N to your center point only looks exactly N tiles to the right of the tile your center point occupies, but if your character's toe is located [NON TILE WIDTH] pixels away from the center point, your method can't reliably detect when your character's toe is actually over a tile or not.

     

    Honestly this isn't a large number of cycles in the grand scheme of things, and it's premature to worry about it. No reason to waste memory - you can reuse your tileunderx and tileundery variables between the peekchar statements, and just maintain unique tile ID variables. That way you can also use the fact that you have pairs of points on the same Y coordinate to reuse some of the Y pixel-to-tile calculations.

    Thanks for the explanation about complex statements mike 👍

     

    Yeah im always trying to save RAM and save cycles to take as much load off the main game engine as possible. Probably not really worth worrying too much about saving a few cycles here and there at this point until the game matures.

     

    Never thought to reuse the tileunder x and y variables then just maintain the tile ID variables. Makes sense though as they only really need to be temps once i have stored the ID values. Move onto the next then rinse and repeat :)

     

    Might go have a play around with reusing those variables, once again cheers 👍

  14. Posted

    Ok guys so im using peekchar to determine walkable maptiles and was thinking the other night there has to be a way to optimize my code a little. Im using 5 points of reference around the player to calculate the surrounding maptiles. That's 3x5 (15) variables at work, well 14 because i reuse 1 of them as the return value would be the same. All 14 are making calculations every frame in the mainloop (feels wasteful).

     

    Anyway for example this part of the code is two reference points for each leg a of walkable maptiles. Im reusing the ypos as it never cahnges to save the variable however have two separate variables for the two xpos locations. This had me thinking for all 5 points i dont see why i couldn't use 2 variables in total for calculating the neutral central point of the player then adjust accordingly when checking the ID using peekchar. Stripped down example below. 

     dim tileunderLx = var12
 dim tileunderRx = var13
 dim tileundery = var14
 dim tileunderL_ID = var15
 dim tileunderR_ID = var16

mainloop
 blah
 blah
 blah

 tileunderLx=(playerx+4)/8 ; left foot
 tileunderRx=(playerx+12)/8 ; right foot
 tileundery=(playery+32)/16 ; ypos

 tileunderL_ID=peekchar(screendata,tileunderLx,tileundery,20,12) ; tile under left foot
 tileunderR_ID=peekchar(screendata,tileunderRx,tileundery,20,12) ; tile under right foot

 blah
 blah
 blah
 goto mailoop

     

    That's all well and good however when i try something like this to eliminate the need of two separate xpos variables i get a bad argument error. For example 

     dim tileunderx = var13
 dim tileundery = var14
 dim tileunderL_ID = var15
 dim tileunderR_ID = var16

mainloop
 blah
 blah
 blah

 tileunderx=(playerx+8)/8 ; central location of both 
 tileundery=(playery+32)/16 ; ypos

 tileunderL_ID=peekchar(screendata,(tileunderx-4),tileundery,20,12) ; tile under left foot - offset minus 4
 tileunderR_ID=peekchar(screendata,(tileunderx+4),tileundery,20,12) ; tile under right foot - offset plus 4

 blah
 blah
 blah
 goto mailoop

     

    In my head it would make sense to save a boat load of variables and just calculating the central point of the player sprite. Then from here just add or subtract the offset locations when using peekchar to find a tiles ID location. I just feel like im making alot of calculations and wasting resources when the offset value never changes.

     

    Cheers -Anthony

     

    col_detect.png.e4bedecc697f1cf379c134a3e005a4b6.png

  16. Posted

    On 9/19/2019 at 2:52 AM, TwentySixHundred said:

    Ford Fairmont AUII 2000

    My daily driver, completely stock standard and nothing too special but a good family car (priorities these days) 🤣. Anyway yeah ill post a pic when i get out there with the camera and give her a clean lol

    • 4.0L SOHC NA inline six
    • 4speed BTR M93LE
    • Lux pack
    • Stock
    • Stock
    • Stock

    Well as i never uploaded the Fairmont picture i thought i would :)

    ccc.thumb.jpg.35ef257dc5d89e516ae1dad126274246.jpg

     

    Now for my new pride and joy that i picked up today at the right price

    Ford Fairlane BF 2006

    aaa.thumb.jpg.d8b9b0a3349587487a5a26476d189af4.jpg

    bbb.thumb.jpg.d0b074181e86b3e1b048117b184f7572.jpg

     

    • Like 2

  17. Posted

    Great stuff! I guess sometimes it pays off to take a chance, as it could always be a simple fix. Happy to hear you got it working and saved yourself some euros. It shows the solid build quality of Atari products, they just keep going flawlessly. I have been given a connection to what seems like a reputable source so once i get a chance i will try making contact with them

     

    No envy on my part just glad to hear you landed a great deal 👍

  18. Posted

    7 minutes ago, nads said:

    Final note from me to those guys who wrote these games

     

    MASSIVE CONGRATS!!

     

    I can just imagine how many hours you spent making your vision come to reality

    The testing, the hurdles, the frustration but then the JOY when it all comes together!

     

    It is great to see the 2600 still alive and kicking in 2020 with these NEW games on the horizon

     

    Keep it up!

    Thanks mate, much appreciated and im glad you enjoyed City Defence along with the other games. Great scores by the way 👍

    • Like 2
    • Thanks 1

  19. Posted

    2 hours ago, mimo said:

    That's crazy.
    I'm in the UK and have PAL and NTSC consoles , 10-15 years ago this was OK but now with a poor exchange rate and the massive increases in postage I can no longer warrant buying new games for the system. So if you are importing from the USA try and get a lot with a load of games

    Yeah i was interested in PAL but at the same time would rather NTSC mainly for the reason i code my programs predominantly for NTSC. So when the 7800 SD flash carts hit the market i could test my NTSC ROMs on real hardware. As for 2600 titles id just buy a Harmony cart to test and load with NTSC originals.

    28 minutes ago, slx said:

    Living in Europe I have bought a couple of PAL 7800s for 50€ or below quite recently. Even with shipping to Australia that should be well less than 280 bucks. I even got French units with RGB output for below 100$. If you can live with an NTSC TV the US is probably the cheapest source. Best Electronics as a new multi-voltage PSU that will only require a plug adapter but not a step-up transformer for US use. If you use a forwarding service you can consolidate various shipments with games, maybe an Edladdin Seagull, etc. without incurring full postage for each item.

     

    Except for the rusty screws I'd say the system you linked to looks rather average. It's not easy to find a 7800 without scratches on that huge aluminum front plate.

    Yeah as i mentioned above to mimo NTSC is my preferred choice mainly for homebrew testing. The refresh rate isn't much of an issue as i have an LED TV that supports 60Hz and has component-in. Also as you said there is adapters to step-up 50-60Hz for the PSU and i had read somewhere even a 50Hz PSU is fine as long as the output voltage is correct.

     

    I thought the rusty screws was the worst part of the console in that listing. However looking at the RF connector shows more of the true condition of the console. They said it was tested but you can see the oxidation had never been touched (AFAICS). There should be atleast some flaking if tested from the cable and im not even sure a signal would even make it through all that oxidation.

     

    I agree the Alloy face plate would be hard to find without scratches, as with the 2600jrs but $280 for a console in that state seems a bit steep IMO. Would hate to see what the mainboard PCB looked like. Either way it looks rough

     

    aaaaaaaaa.thumb.jpg.a59f7b0b2aaf9ac7280876556980f9f5.jpg

  20. Posted

    Well i have been looking for the past few months to acquire a decent 7800. The prices on ebay here in Australia are a complete joke... Fair enough they're fairly rare however listings like this bring a tear to the eye ;(

     

    Really have no idea how they're expecting $280 for the system when it looks like it's been submerged in a lake for the past 30 years lol. Starting to think im better off buying something decent from the states and paying the shipping fees. Although that wont be cheap. Atleast it will be NTSC rather then PAL which id prefer

    • Like 1

  21. Posted

    On 9/13/2020 at 9:43 PM, nadir said:

    Wow, looking really good!  My memory of Captain Comic is coming back now!  I definitely played it back in the day, just been so long that it took awhile to remember those screens!

    Thanks for the kind words mate, yeah it's not a 1 for 1 of the original but has the aesthetics. Basically will be my take on Captain Comic and there is a high chance the name of the game will change when i get further into it. There will probably be some completely new enemies and somewhat of a hybrid of both CC1 and CC2. Anyway guess we will see how it pans out :)

    5 hours ago, willbilly said:

    Sorry this took so long...

     

    20200904_225458_1600198383013.jpeg

    20200904_225555_1600198420054.jpeg

    20200904_225509_1600198404699.jpeg

    Thanks @willbilly and no stress about the later scans. Not sure which box art i like more, out of the original or the sequel as both look great! Very helpful though, as it helps give some ideas as to what direction it could take 👍

    20200904_225458_1600198383013.thumb.jpeg.e9905d74e9b57abe3d91a8ad7f2b279a.jpeg

    CaptainComicBoxart.jpg

    • Like 3
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