Mr SQL
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Posts posted by Mr SQL
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47 minutes ago, roots.genoa said:No, Altered Beast is classic antiquity; I think the main character is supposed to be a dead centurion. A lot of Japanese games were inspired by Greek mythology (Kid Icarus, Legendary Wings, Rygar, Heroic Episode, Argus, etc.), especially in 1986 (maybe because of Saint Seiya) so Altered Beast was a little late to the party in 1988.
Yes you're right the character starts out as Roman or Greek but then the power pellets cause a series of character regressions - the first regression is a caveman, then an earlier caveman and then on to primordial Beasts.
Regression is the progression in Altered Beast; the game was designed so you actually want to regress to become the more powerful cavemen characters and then from there you want to regress to more powerful primordial beasts.
3 minutes ago, jgkspsx said:Ooh, neat! I learned to program (well, type in programs from magazines) on the CoCo. I really need to dust mine off and get them going again.
Very cool type-ins on the CoCo are tremendous fun!
DinoWar was one of my favorite carts bitd.
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Did I break the RIOT Chip or pop a Cap in my Sixer?
Left controller port Trigger line has stopped registering, but everything else on the Heavy Sixer works fine -
I just watched this Atari RIOT chip replacement video and have some questions -
Atari 2600 "RIOT" chip replacement - YouTube
With the Heavy Sixer I see there is a Daughterboard with round caps and resistors between the Controller ports and the RIOT chip - this is missing on the Vader model in the video or integrated into the mainboard.
I suspect the high potentials may have fried one of these round caps and possibly not the RIOT Chip since the Heavy Sixer is otherwise working fine.
Section 4-27 of the Field Agent Service manual appears to suggest the Controller daughterboard and replacing these components -
ATARI 2600/2600A VCS Domestic Field Service Manual; FD100133, Rev.02 (robotsandcomputers.com)
Details on what caused the hardware fault: The left controller plug fell out of the Heavy Sixer and when I plugged it back in a large Spark jumped between my hand and the pins on the port while the Atari was powered on (freezing it) so I think the high potential overloaded a Cap or fried something in the RIOT (hopefully not, Best Electronics is fresh out).
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Dino Wars on the TRS-80 Color Computer was caveman era with early captivating 3D. Altered Beast featured a caveman character evolving into a Beast.
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Chopstick C64 keyboard fix
If you like Sushi chances are you've got an extra Chopsticks lying around or if you like Chinese food or Thai.
If not, you can search outside for a stick of similar dimensions -
Light one end of the Chopstick on fire and let it burn for about 30 seconds to create charcoal on a stick!
Instead of 8 hours to take the keyboard apart and fix it this process will only take about 8 minutes, mostly removing tiny screws:
1. Three screws come out of the bottom front of the C64 and the case swings open, remove the power LED plug.
2. The screws holding the keyboard to the case must be removed as well to free the keyboard, do not bother unplugging the keyboard cable from the bottom of the case.
3. Now remove the tiny screws from 1/2 of the back of the keyboard - you can then lift it 1/2 inch and under a powerful light you will see the target contacts of whatever key you depress -
they look like two prongs, clean them with the burnt end of the chopstick and the circuit board contacts above them as well. Repeat for all nonworking keys. Restore tiny screws and do the other side.
Note that It is not necessary to cut any leads with this process, there is enough leeway to reach both sides with a Chopstick! 😎
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Chess
in Atari 2600
16 hours ago, Andrew Davie said:I completed the pieces (and sundries) for the test CDFJ display engine.
Here's a video of it in action...
Here is a still-shot showing 1 of the 3 colour-rolling frames (if you look closely, you'll see the alternating Red/Green/Blue lines. These lines "roll" over 3 frames so that every line has red 1/3 frames, blue 1/3 frames, green 1/3 frames). It creates a slight shimmer/flicker depending on your CRT's phosphor.
Interesting effects! I'd have to try the ROM on my CRT but I think from your description the eye is left color blending at 20 Hz to "assemble" the shimmer Fx.
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1 minute ago, Al_Nafuur said:Maybe you it fried your TIA input port. Can you check with a different Cartridge, whether your joystick and button works?
Does that mean I will have to replace the TIA to fix it?
Hey I noticed something interesting with the Vader - I have some floating dots at the top of the menu that were not on the Heavy Sixer, will post a pic presently
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1 minute ago, Al_Nafuur said:The update from v0.16.6 DEV to v016.7 DEV was successful, but since that there are only alternate requests for the root menu and "My ROMs" in the logs. Seems like the firebutton is constantly pressed..
Can you test the PlusCart on an other 2600 (or 7800) and maybe use a different joystick too?
Yes I was just testing on another system and PlusCart is fine! Here is what happened -
Somehow I broke my Heavy Sixer console with the spark plugging in the Joystick controller -
Now with the PlusCart I get the endless loop and menu for a split second, the Harmony Cart works to navigate the menu but the button does not select anything.
Anyone have an idea on how I broke my six switch with the static electricity or a simple fix? I prefer the six switch over the Vader!
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On 1/13/2021 at 4:39 AM, Al_Nafuur said:New draft version v0.16.7 DEV
For draft User @Prizrak, @Thomas Jentzsch, @marauder666, @Andrew Davie and @Mr SQL
- rearranged "Setup" menu
- moved "WiFi" and "Display Preferences" to sub menus
- Fixes for DPC (Pitfall II) exit function and sound
I got stuck in an endless loop, I see the plus animation and then the menu appears for an instant and then it just repeats.
I think I may have triggered this, I didn't click update however the Joystick plug had fallen out so I plugged it back in and there was a spark of static and then another as I tried to seat it - screen went to vertical stripes.
When I powered back on, that's when the endless loop appeared. I'm guessing one of the sparks possibly registered a button press and started the process as I fried PlusCart?
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On 1/8/2021 at 2:48 PM, FartholomewTVG said:Hey there, I'm trying my hand at getting into homebrewing 2600 games in my spare time for fun with no previous background knowledge in programing. Random Terrain's site has been a godsend for all aggregated info and I've been having a wonderful time reading through Atari Basic as a way to understand Basic and hopefully apply that foundational knowledge to learning bB.
Today I decided to jump into the tinkernut tutorial and ran into an issue where I am following the tutorial exactly but I cannot compile the code after I position my player and enemy sprites on the playfield using and as such cannot continue the tutorial.
Any help would be appreciated as well as any other tutorials I could potentially follow if possible.
Thanks!
Very cool!
SuperCharger BASIC is another option that is closer to Atari BASIC and vintage BASIC's from the 80's -
It can be learned with simple one line programs and used to compete in the international 10 line BASIC Programming contest!
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17 hours ago, CPUWIZ said:Hoff needs moola.
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/95041485_davids-personal-kitt-knight-rider-car
Baywatch 2600?
Yes Baywatch X2, and a new Journey Escape ROM, Metal Hoff II:
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On 1/4/2021 at 9:10 PM, stephena said:I get that all the time at the University where I work (in the CS field). These types are usually quite arrogant, and full of 'piss and vinegar'. They have big ideas about how they will develop these huge games, and think they're experts just because they play games. Then they complain that the projects we give them are too hard; projects that are probably 100 lines of code at most. Usually by the end of the year they've washed out and transferred to Business or some related field. I guess it's the academic version of 'Eternal September'.
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My favorite method is when my programmer friends send me their new C64 games and demos to play
Closest thing would be really cool, if there were something like a Plus Cart version of the UIEC-SD!
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4 hours ago, Al_Nafuur said:The backend search responded with 1.5 MiB of error messages..
backend search is done with regular expression, special chars for reg_ex are now escaped.
Very cool! I was actually wondering about regular expression also being a possibility in lieu of SQL (RegEx Injection!) with your code in mind when I posted that
I bet the backend is faster responding for all the PlusCarts without the errors queueing up. The RegEx Attack (unintentional) could be responsible for some timeouts or slowdowns we saw users experience on the Plus network.
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4 hours ago, Random Terrain said:Of course, most people will no longer care about the game after cures to diseases...
X2 I Love those Cup Cakes Cousin!
Crazy Cupcakes: One Easy Cupcake Recipe with Endless Flavor Variations! - YouTube
Love that accent too!
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This is a cool thread!
Maybe Hardcastle finished this ROM decades ago and he hasn't decided to share it yet?
I'd be having way to much fun with this game program thread to release the game program to fans yet.
You guys must be patient and wait for this game, it could be 33 years again like folks hadda wait for my best seller fortune teller from Princeton New Jersey
Sometimes even the Original Author has to wait to release a game program encrypted against software Pirates, Knight Rider could be super encrypted too 😎
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Maybe wildcard character needs to be escaped for backend db if that query is what is locking up
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Update worked but the red hi-light bar is distracting I decided to try the PAL 60 version - this still rolled on my NTSC Television so I think it may not be PAL 60?
I was able to get back to NTSC land by using my Kodak to take pictures of the rolling screen and figuring out how many times to push down to click for the right entries.
Any way to manually change the color of the red hi-light bar? That much red might give someone a seizure, imo the inverse video effect works better for hi-lighting, easier on the eyes. Maybe it could be an option.
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This is pretty cool it's good to see other programmers being open minded with variable Hz flicker tests, great tests @Dionoid
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1 hour ago, KG7PFS said:If I could live without 80-collum mode I would, and I wouldn't be here whining and irritating you, but the CC3 has it, so some software requires it. I've noticed that late '90's tvs have verry good pictures on the Commodore, Atari, and CC3 except in 80 collum mode.
Gotcha, the reason for that is that TV cannot display 640 pixels horizontally clearly (80 column text), so it looks a little fuzzy at best.
22 minutes ago, potatohead said:What I do with mine, when running composite, is chain in a little monochrome Amber screen.
X2 - I brought Orange and BW monitors to RainbowFest for my company in addition to Color CRT just for that reason, it's a little clearer resolution.
Orange Worked better for text adventures, 80 column mode, and for the PageMaker desktop publishing clone using standard NTSC composite.
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1 hour ago, KG7PFS said:I don't want a modern display. I like the look of the picture tube these computers were meant to use. I have and Apple RGB monitor. A composite sync on green mod should be fairly simple, (I hope) and would solve a lot of peoples problems.
I always liked the larger text modes for that reason,
Using RF and a classic Television is very clear with artifact color support over NTSC.
The CoCo III can also do some really interesting demo's in the older graphics modes:
Impossible TaffyBall and Revolving Balls CoCo Demo - Tandy Computers - AtariAge Forums
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12 minutes ago, Karl G said:Thanks for the mention @Mr SQL, but I'm not sure VCS Dreidel is the best example of a Christmas-themed homebrew.
You're welcome Karl! The thread is Christmas themed with other Holidays too, so I think Dreidel fits well in the list like QB
I hope someone writes a fun game about Kwanzaa - I might do it myself if I get inspired like you!
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Give VCS Driedel by @Karl G a spin!
VCS Dreidel - batari Basic - AtariAge Forums
I love to play Driedel listening to the best Chistmas songs ever! 😎
Adam Sandler: The Hanukkah Song III - SNL - YouTube
Adam Sandler Chanukah Song - YouTube
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I updated and it looks
17 hours ago, Andrew Davie said:Firstly there's a new "Setup/Set Line Spacing" option. This lets you choose dense/regular/sparse spacing between lines, and changes the number of lines per screen accordingly (14/12/10).
I updated and it looks like it worked because I have this option, but the version number is gone from the top of the Setup screen.
Line spacing is great, some feedback on selection bar - the selection bar is now red; I liked the C64esque light blue/white (that's not yellow) on blue color scheme better, red has too much contrast in the menu palette.
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On 9/13/2020 at 6:52 PM, JamesD said:Lately? Not really, it's usually just hard work, and experience.
One time does really stand out.
When I was in my 20s, there was a piece of code I wrote for a project that nobody on the team had the slightest idea how to do.
We had to get some software (network switch simulators) to work together that was exhibiting what everyone thought was random behavior.
After putting off this piece of code as long as I could (2 a.m. a few nights before it was due), I wrote some code based on a complex mathematical relationship that worked.When I showed it to the team they were like... how... the... hell... did you get that from this random data?
There's no way I can describe it other than I just saw it. Divine inspiration maybe?Very cool!
Erlang's algorithm may have been similarly inspired by what other engineers thought was random behavior at the switch -
Erlang was a Danish mathematician who came up with a complex algorithm to optimize throughput in Telephone switches.
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Did I break the RIOT Chip or pop a Cap in my Sixer?
in Hardware
Posted
Thanks Stephen!
I have an analog volt meter and will check the voltage change on pin 36 and I'll check the continuity while the power is off between the port and pins 35 and 36 of the TIA to rule out those other possibilities.