Just Jeff

\sox-14-4-2>raw_to_dpc shining.raw incbin shining.pds Hmm.. Doesn't like that.. Where does it go?

OK Thanks. I'll work on it. I forgot to mention also.. the switch -u was not recognized so I used -e unsigned-integer

Thanks! I think I got through it all except my computer doesn't recognize pds. Is that Power Director Script? Opening it with JEdit doesn't look like much. shining.zip

Thanks.. I have the sample player pretty much how I want it now but I still need a tool to convert files to 4 bit (high and low nibbles in one byte) Anybody know of anything? The link points to a perl script which I'm trying to figure out, but I'm wondering if there is something better and easier.

How well do you know the TIA? Remember, it automatically holds the last data you sent to it. So if you were to set player zero's speed at 3 (left) then put RESP0 and HMOVE outside of your NextFrame loop (for example, near your ZeroZP) you would have the sprite look just as it is, but it would be to the left a little bit, and it would stay there. Putting HMOVE inside of your NextFrame loop would have your sprite move to the left every frame, and so it will appear to be moving at a pretty good speed, to the left. Putting HMOVE on every scan line would move your sprite to the left on every scan line, giving the sprite a slanted look- a severe rightward slant.

Good Morning, I'm interested in learning a little bit about producing voice. Can anyone please point me in the right direction? I suppose I need to learn how to convert a sound file to Atari readable data, and also need a voice engine? How much memory does say, 1 second of sample use? How many cycles would I have left over for a kernel if I wanted to show something on the screen during speech? Thanks!

Ahh... Thank you.. Yeah RORG is new to me.. I think I have a basic idea of what its doing now.. In this case the macro JUMP_TABLE contains the RORG and I just had the macro in the wrong place: So, I moved it up under ORG $C000 and now the code is working.. Thanks Again!

Alright.. I managed to turn my "framework" code into a 32k bin with the help of the Medieval Mayhem blog. I put all of it in bank 5. Its not working yet though. It looks like its running through the reset routine, then pointing to a RAM address then resetting again. These labels look wrong too, Its adding "Game" to some of them, "InitSystem" Isn't my label for that routine, and labels are missing for SelectBank1 and SelectBank2 in MAC BANKS_AND_VECTORS. Also, my VerticalSync routine isn't there. 32KGame.asm 32KGame.bin

Its executed in the new bank isn't it, because the identical code is there too- right?

Neat.. Trying to grasp it.. The CMPs cause the processor to read from an address at $FFF4 through $FFFC. Value of zero in those locations is irrelevant. The access causes the bank switch somehow. The following jump statement is executed in the new bank or does it execute when it returns?

Thanks again! So F6 looks pretty much the same as F8, but for 4- 4K banks. I think that one looks good. To your earlier post- I'm writing up a routine right now that uses a lot of indirect jumps so that would work nicely here..

Thanks.. Doesn't sound too bad.. Is it limited to 2- 4K banks?

Good Morning, What's the best (and/or easiest) way to make games larger than 4K? Thanks!

You could offload a lot of the work by letting others upload images and let users vote it up or down and then just rank them. Also, that could build a rating of the user who posts them.

RESM0 doesn't need to be in the kernel. In fact, you typically do them outside to free up kernel time- which you can certainly do here. Nonetheless, it looks like placement was your issue. Hacking Kirk Israel's Thin Red Line.. I remember.. Don't be afraid to post your original asm. Someone will tell you exactly what was happening. Have you acquired Stella Programmer's Guide?

Your reasoning seems sound. Try posting your code. Also, horizontal motion is a little buggy. Maybe you violated one of the following: 8.0 Horizontal Motion There are timing constraints for the HMOVE command. The HMOVE command must immediately follow a WSYNC (Wait for SYNC) to insure the HMOVE operation occurs during horizontal blanking. This is to allow sufficient time for the motion registers to do their thing before the electron beam starts drawing the next scan line. Also, for mysterious internal hardware considerations, the motion registers should not be modified for at least 24 machine cycles after an HMOVE command. Also try commenting out the HMOVE. Sounds like you don't need it.

Doing it that way- it sounds like you could take a lot of existing games for other systems and tailor them for TIA and RIOT, etc. I assumed that capability existed already but what do I know. I thought previously that I would write a 6502 game that relied on the co-processor only to store to TIA and work with RIOT- that existing code to do that could be modified and tacked on. Just learn enough C to get through that. Note- I make a lot of assumptions. Spiceware said I should learn C so I'm learning C. That's going on the resume though.

Port of Moon Cresta. What do you think?

OK. I told him something like that too- but with a whole bunch of "I thinks" in there since I didn't know. How would it be harder? btw the the tutorial mentions repeatedly that C was invented to write Unix. I assume that's why I'm seeing some similarities? I know its just the start but between Unix and DASM, this little bit is familiar to me already (but different): printf("Hello, World! \n"); I think it would be helpful to see some code examples that apply to CDF so I can look at them as I go along- to put things in context. Anybody have any? And.. I searched around some more and just made the connection- CDF is the result of the bus stuffing effort. Correct?

OK Thanks.. I'm working on it now. Funny.. it looks a lot like Unix/Linux scripting to me so far.. The guy in the cube next to me knows C and said he'd help me. The guy across from me asked "Why not use C++" I told him I think its because the age of the technology. But then he said it compiles to the same thing, I think. Do you know why it's not another version of C?

Well that's why I couldn't find anything on it. I'm not sure which way to go now.. I'm mainly interested in stuffing more into the kernel, making a game 8K or larger, with a little in tune music. So I need to write in 6502 assembly and C, and somehow CDF "scheme" fits in there? Thanks!

Good Evening, If anyone could steer me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it... I'd like to look into learning ARM Assembly. Does anyone have any commented code and/or tutorial they can suggest? Also, is it better than DPC+ ? Can it make in-tune music? Does the code run mainly on the Melody board, using the Atari mainly for its registers? Which tools do I need? Which compiler, etc. Is ARM assembly much more difficult than 6502? Thanks!

Thanks.. What's ARM assembly?

Looking into this again.. I've been learning Unix and Linux in my job and I have Ubuntu on VirtualBox here at home so that will be a little easier. But the C- its still a requirement? How much would I have to learn? Is there a resource you recommend?

OK Thanks.. It took me a few reads to get this. Its a 96 pixel display- right? I think I'll be able to stick to the small objects at 30Hz, and use it only occasionally.