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cdoty

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Posts posted by cdoty

  1. Posted

    Hi! Interesting thread you have going there. It always nice learning about graphic tools one did not know about :)

     

    You might also wanna checkout the Magellan map editor (this one is for the TI-99/4A home computer, wich uses the same VDP as the MSX1 and colecovision).

    Magellan also allows map data to be exported in a binary format (see instructions), so it's easy to write a converter that outputs Z80 byte statements.

     

     

    I did look into Magellan, and designed a simple screen, but couldn't find any support for mode 2 color tables.

     

    I'm using Magellan for my Tutankham homebrew version I'm currently working on. On the TMS9918 VDP you can't "lock" an area for scoreboard purposes.

    So it depends on your software implementation. For my own needs, I wrote an assembly language library (spectra) that also includes a "viewport" functionality

    With that I can scroll part of the screen, as seen in the video below.

     

    I can't believe I didn't think of that; all I would have to do it draw one less row of the map.

     

    For some reason I was thinking the TMS9918 supported smooth scrolling.

  3. Posted · Edited by cdoty

    The example has been updated again to support scrolling through the entire tilemap. The map currently scrolls cell by cell, rather than smooth scrolling, but it looks pretty decent when moving around the map.

    PolkaExample2.png

     

    Download the example, with source, from http://www.rastersof...lkaExample2.zip

     

    The full tilemap takes up 24k of ROM space just for the tilemap. It does make it easy to calculate the scroll position as the Y position is the high byte, and the X position in the low byte, which can be added directly to the tilemap address to get the start of the map.

     

    I'm really liking sjasm (http://home.wanadoo.nl/smastijn/sjasm.html) for the z80 stuff. It make declaring variables in RAM a lot easier than it used to be, and the local label support has made it easier to write input handling without creating a ton of label names.

     

    Now my question is, can an area at the bottom (or top) of screen be locked as a score bar?

  4. Posted · Edited by cdoty

    I've created a tool to convert from Polka's PPR to a pattern and color table for Graphics mode two. I've also include an assembly example that uses the data, along with the stg file exported from the VScreen editor. Mode 2 is setup to share the pattern and color table between each of the screen areas.

     

    PolkaExample.png

     

    It can be downloaded from: http://www.rastersof...olkaExample.zip (The SC4ToPPR tool is now included with the example).

     

    The PPR conversion tool will find the closest palette entry in the ColecoVision palette. This is only needed if the SC4 or PPR file uses a custom palette; which must be something that the MSX2 supports. If you create your tiles in Polka using the default palette, and import them into VScreen editor, the default ColecoVision palette will be used.

  6. Posted · Edited by cdoty

    Anyone checked out the MSX tools for graphics?

     

    Here's two decent ones I've found:

     

    Polka:

    http://www.msx.org/m...q=visit&lid=554

     

    This allows you to make pattern, palette, and color data for a tile map editor. This creates tiles for graphics mode 2.

     

    VScreen Level Editor:

    http://abyssmsx.com/vscreen-editor.htm

     

    This is a tilemap editor. This can use the raw output of Polka to build tilemaps.The tilemap exported is based on the dimensions of the tilemap. For example, a 1x1 tilemap (1 screen wide and tall) is exported to 768 bytes.

     

    There is some work that needs to be done. The raw output of Polka has to be combined. In Windows you could use:

    copy /b Tiles.pal+Tiles.pat+Tiles.col Tiles.sc4

     

    It wouldn't be hard to make a simple program to write the 32 bytes of the palette, the 2048 bytes of the pattern and the 2048 bytes of the color map to a single file.

     

    VScreen can also store additional information, such as sprite positions. I haven't looked into extracting this information. The formats are documented, and available on the VScreen manual page:

     

    http://abyssmsx.com/vscreen-doc.htm

     

    The sprite stuff is useless, as it uses sprite mode 2 of the V9938.

  8. Posted · Edited by cdoty

    Okay, MESS debugger working. So indeed, newer tools are better :cool:

     

    I'm not sure why people overlook the MESS debugger. MESS isn't the most accurate emulator, but the debugger is better than any I've seen in emulators. I typically use a more accurate emulator for testing and MESS for debugging.

  10. Posted

    At CGE they were running the Amiga core demo. It looked pretty good, so it would be nice to see it on their site soon. I also dropped them a line to see if they would consider doing Atari 8-bit machines after they got finished with the Amiga core. That would definitely be nice.

     

    Was the Amiga core able to run games and stuff? How far along did it appear to be?

  11. Posted

    I can trivially add digital downloads to the AtariAge Store.

     

    That would be cool, especially if you supported other systems.

     

    Digital distribution could open up some possibilities. It would be easy to offer achievements/trophies. The achievements could be tracked by uploading a save from an emulator. This could be an incentive to purchase a digital version. The save could have your personal ID inserted into it by a PHP page; the ID could be set based on a purchase order number. The same web page could track your achievements, and allow them to be shared online.

     

    This rewards people for purchasing the game, rather than trying to penalize those that don't.

  12. Posted

    As for Reboot, at the beginning of the year I started digging through the aforementioned sources above, got hopelessly lost (and I didn't and still don't own a JagCD to test stuff!), gave up, and then helped release 2 tools that helped us a bit: A small fix for the encrypter so you can use the Skunkboard to transfer the encrypted key (you still need to waste one CD to produce a final), and ULS, which takes a single load binary file and spits out a .cdi image, ready to be burnt.

     

    ULS sounds like a much better option, especially since it can build an encrypted CD image.

  14. Posted · Edited by cdoty

    Having just completed a tool to sign a 3DO disk, I wonder if the same process could be applied to a Jaguar CD, especially since the keys are known. Has this been tried, or was it just easier to use the Jaguar CD?

  16. Posted · Edited by cdoty

    If this doesn't get things kicking off I don't know what will. NOW GET TO HOMEBREWING! :lust:

     

    How about this?

     

    Invades.jpg

     

    Here's the demo, sources, and Windows tools:

     

    http://www.rastersoft.net/3DO/3DOInvades.rar

     

    And a repackaged set of lib/headers and a disk signing tool:

     

    http://www.rastersoft.net/3DO/HomebrewToolkit.rar

    http://www.rastersoft.net/3DO/3DODev.rar

     

    You still need to find a copy of 'Arm Software Developer Toolkit v2.50', but everything else is there.

     

    The tools use only the standard C library, so they will compile on Linux/Mac OSX without much problem. You would need to remove the windows.h include file and add typedefs for DWORD, WORD, and BYTE.

     

    For all the details check out the 3DO Zero forum post and the signing tool post.

    • Like 1

  19. Posted · Edited by cdoty

    Nice job on the release. What format did you use for the music?

     

    It was interesting to read that you limited yourself to the 68000 and OP. This is probably what a lot of professional Jaguar coders had to do, due to pressures from their companies.

  21. Posted

    4 - Some ColecoVision owners are probably looking at what I've done so far and think that I'm generous with my time, knowledge, documents, tools, source codes, but also think that I'm an asshole who can't maintain a web site and spread remarks like bullets that doesn't match their opinions. My answer is : I'm sorry, you're totally right to think different than me on many subjects, but it's not necessary to insult me to make your point. I may look like a dictator who want to impose his point of view, but what I'm really doing is simply sharing my point of view with you. We know that an opinion is something personal, and we can't discuss rationnaly about what you prefer compared to what I prefer, it's a personal choice. So, if you did feel insulted with this message, please calm down, it was not my intention to do so.

     

    I would say anyone that says that "you are an asshole", has no concept of the effort that goes into releasing a game for a classic platform. It would be nice if they took a few minutes of time to truly understand the time involved.

    • Like 1

  22. Posted · Edited by cdoty

    How about the Eclipse crew? I suppose the suck too? IS was was great but IS 2 even better years later.

    I suppose they were closet lamers? A former member of the team visited us in the forums and told us

    they were considering a 3rd version, fully textured and 30-60 FPS all the time. Now this is many years

    after the fact. I guess they must be complete losers becasue they took so long? :ponder:

     

    Uhm, I think you're actually proving his point. Many developers may have said, at one point, that the Jaguar was difficult to code for. But, once they grasp it, they change their mind.. I think that pretty much sums up programming, in a nutshell. Once you understand it, it's just a matter of finding a working solution. And programmers; it's easier to give an excuse than to actually try to figure it out.

     

    This seems to happen all the time. Take Valve, and their PS3 statement. They quickly changed their statement from "The PS3 is hard to code for" to "it takes a special talent to code for the PS3".

     

    Damn, I'm fresh out of clouds. I adopt Mr Morden's, we all need more cheeks, and clouds, like that. I mean, she is my girlfriend, but I'm willing to share pictures.

  23. Posted

    I finally got around to trying my Skunkboard last week.

     

    I am totally impressed with the quality and ease of use of the product.

     

    Now, if something like this was available on other systems (Genesis, SNES, TG-16, etc.) that would be close to Nirvana.

  25. Posted · Edited by cdoty

    The dimensions are set up so that you can modify an existing Jaguar cart for use as an enclosure. So, people who are mechanically gifted might try that hack.

     

    I really would have liked to do a custom cart shell, but the prices just didn't work out. The tooling is very expensive (minimum $3000), and that assumes the design has no errors. Since injection mold design is sort of a black art, it was hard to find experienced designers that would do that kind of design for under 20 hours @ $100/hr. If I had done it myself, and made a mistake, it could have been $6000 or $9000 in 'lessons learned'. ;)

     

    Kudo's for keeping the price down.

     

    Looking at projects, like the Cuddle Cart, you could've easily raped people, and chose not to.

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