RedBeard

Does he keep up with "The Atari Scene" at all any more? In particular, has he seen some of the amazing VCS demo-scene stuff?

Re-howdy, all. Wow! 71 pages! This is fantastic. Saturday morning. Reading page after page of this, getting my geek on. Love it. You-all are fantastic. Keep it up. It is nice to have Atari back in the news in some way. Shame that (as discussed earlier) the news is distorted or slanted, but, hey "any publicity is good publicity" as they say. :wq!

An excellent tip! Thanks again, Jeff. I really appreciate the help.

SOLVED! Remember how I always say, "Never underestimate Operator Error?" Apparently, my files were saving into Atari_OLD folder that I created when I started over. Yay! They aren't gone after all! Alas, my program really stinks - but I can work on it... :wq!

Thanks, Jeff. I will look again when I get home. It was very strange, KNOWING that I had saved several times, then not finding the file. But computers acting strangely doesn't surprise me any more. I gave up that illusion a long time ago. I guess I was hoping that someone would say, "Oh, yeah. You just need to go to the C:\Temp\Whatever directory and Show-Hidden-Files, then look for the file that starts with 'vbb'..." or something. Either way, I'll survive. I remember, many years ago, a computer professor saying to us, "There are two kinds of computer users: Those who have lost data and those who will lose data." :wq!

OK. I'm about to have a heart attack. *staggers, raises left arm to the sky, right hand clutching chest* "Elizabeth, you hear that, Honey? I'm coming to join you!" As many of you know, I had troubles getting Visual bB up and going, but was finally able to get it going late yesterday. So, Hooray! Life-long dream accomplished, right? I worked on it more this afternoon and again tonight. Change this color, save, compile, run. Change that x/y position, save, compile, run. You know, very "trial and error", 'cause that's the way I code roll. Well, I freely admit it wasn't much, but slap a cool picture on the box and I could have sold me some bargain-bin, play-em-once, lousy, market-about-to-crash-from-crap-oversupply cartridges back in the day. You know what I'm talking about. Well about 10:00 pm (translation: 22:00 hours) or so, something burped and it is all gone! I think I hit the X (Close Window) button, but I'm not too sure about that, even. All I know is that when I reopened VbB, all I had was sample code with "[ TITLE ]" in it and one of my sprites, basically. I was able to get my screenshots out of the desktop garbage can, but I cannot find the .BAS file, nor a working .BIN of it. You can see by the screenshot, that there are very few ".BAS.BIN" files from tonight. Believe me, I check all the ones that looked promising. I guess I was wondering if there is another way of getting back some of those files... does VbB keep a ".BAK" file somewhere, for example? Or, maybe a Temp/Working file open like InDesign does, just in case of a crash? I don't know, just some idea? I'm crushed... :wq!

Post Scriptum: I used the Game Wizard to begin my game and kept working on it last night. I need to put some more work into it today, though I had church earlier and a couple other things later this evening. If it turns out to be any good, I'll share it here. Otherwise, at least, I know that I did, indeed, create an Atari game this weekend! Many thanks to y'all here at Atari Age. A pair of screenshots, just for fun... :wq!

I like the new version. Level 1 has a good amount of piggies and enough time to complete it. Level 2 has new pretzels -yes!- and I like the tune. As a (sometimes) musician, if I may offer a bit of musical "constructive" criticism: don't be afraid of including "rests" in your tune. A slight pause in the melody, like where a singer would take a breath. For example the slight pause between "...gently down the stream" and "merrily, merrily, merrily..." Regarding Level 1, is it too late to add clouds or something? (The sky seems a bit plain as you concentrate on the platform, I think.) As I said, though, I think you did well on the music for Level 2. The bats are a tad challenging, too. So, overall, I like where you have this going. :wq!

You all rule! ISSUE SOLVED! Basically, I started over. A fresh download of bB into a brand new C:\AtariVCS\bB folder, used the above steps to put it into the Windows System Variables, fresh download/unzip of Visual bB into the same (new) folder... I have since successfully compiled from the Command Line, Crimson Editor and Visual bB! OK. So now I must do the actual work of making a game...setup/goof-off time is over. I think I can still do it within this four day weekend, too - nothing fancy, just a little project to prove that I can... :wq!

I believe that the one I tried was an early version, like 2 or 3. I did not realize that so many things like title screens wouldn't be within the source code itself. But anyhow, I will be more careful. Rereading the READ-ME file did help, however, thanks. (Funny thing, Notepad came up with some garbage characters, but Crimson editor they came out fine...crazy.) So now I am testing zombie_chase.bas, which is the official, known-to-work test file from bB. I got the command line command from the READ-ME file and now I get different errors. I typed in "2600bas zombie_chase.bas" and I got this error (at least it is telling me that it errored-out. That's better than before when it was telling me everything was fine...) - <87>: Error: Unknown keyword: player1color Compilation failed So, I have decided to rename my C:AtariVCS folder to C:Atari_OLD and start over. First, grab the bB version 1.0 from the bB website. Then grab the Visual bB from the post here at Atari Age. I have already checked that my .NET framework is up to date, so I'm just afraid that one of my files is missing or corrupt. Then again, I never underestimate Operator Error! :wq!

Hey, thanks. Those are both great resources. Truth is, debuggers scare me, though. Most of it I don't understand (yet...), and the other parts I am afraid that I'll break something. :wq!

Yes. I went to bataribasic.com and double-checked that I have ALL of those files in my folder. I also checked that I have ALL of the VbB files in there. I am really considering deleting the folder and starting over, but it seems like such a waste... :wq!

OK. Update. I decided to start over, sort of... I went to the bB web site and downloaded the files over again, making sure everything is in my bB folder. I then set up Crimson Editor as the tutorial explains. I figured that I could use Visual bB, with the sprite editor, etc. to make up the source, then copy/paste into Crimson for final compilation. I used the zombie.bas test file as instructed but it errors out as follows: ---------- Capture Output ---------- > "C:\AtariVCS\bB\2600bas.bat" C:\AtariVCS\bB\zombie_chase.bas bB environment variable not set. Compilation failed. > Terminated with exit code 0. I am down to three more things to try: FIRST) If you will tell me how to compile it with the command line, I will give that a try. B) I will try that "other" 2600bas.bat file again. 3) I could trash the folder and start over from scratch as there isn't really anything I cannot replace. Thanks, all, I really do appreciate your help. :wq!

It looks like you meant "2600bas.bat" file...I have tried it and now the compiler gives me this Compile started at 11/26/2011 8:58:27 AM Compiling C:\AtariVCS\bB\Projects\GAME3\GAME3.bas and then just sits there. What it the "ALT Batch File" for? Should I put something in there? Oh, and thanks Philsan. I'll remember that. But it seems to give up no matter what code I put in. Also: the binary that it produces (when working) should be 4k, right? If I see another 0k file, I know it's bad, correct? :wq!

Howdy, SeaGtGruff. Long time, no chat. Well, I checked the indentation of the REM lines, deleted them altogether. Still No Go. I even downloaded the code for L.E.M. and 50 Foot Celery which we know work, but I still end up with a "Error creating console (check ROM file)". Makes me wonder if local setting are OK. As I said: I think that my paths are set correctly. It appears to find DASM and SED and STELLA and Z26 just fine. I'm running WinXP, so I needed to check the .NET Framework. It said my version was newer, so did not install over top, maybe that is something? Does it make any sense to go back to an older version of bB? I don't NEED all the bells and whistles of Visual bB, I suppose. So isn't there an older version (without the word "Visual", IIRC) that might be worth checking out? :wq!

Hey all. I was wondering if there is a place that I can find information on how certain games were made. For example, Pac Man uses a reflecting playfield, but has more than two sprites. If I recall correctly, multiple ghosts were accomplished by reusing the sprite (hence all the flicker), but how were all of the dots done? Ball? Missile? Playfield trickery? I'm not good enough at reading code to figure out such details so I was hoping to find a more general description of such things... I feel awkward posting a giant list of such items, but a few that I have been thinking about lately are: Enduro - the road and mountains move a lot. Assymetrical playfield? or tricks with player1, missile, ball, etc? Mario Bros - no baddie falls down to the next level if that lower level already has a baddie on it... Is this because they are reused sprites? And cannot be drawn twice on the same line? Pitfall - it looks to me like many of the "obstacles" are playfield issues, including the pits and vines and maybe even the alligators? Or the gators are "tripled" sprites, probably? Obviously, there are tons of others. If there is a "best" place to find such intricate details, please enlighten me. Thanks. :wq!

Sure, sorry about that. As I said, no errors at compile time, output as follows C:\AtariVCS\bB\Projects\GAME3>dasm "GAME3.bas".asm -f3 -o"GAME3.bas".bin DASM V2.20.10, Macro Assembler (C)1988-2004 Compilation completed at 11/25/2011 6:01:34 PM view output file:///C:/AtariVCS/bB/Projects/GAME3/bin I will try downloading some more known/working code to test, but meanwhile-- The code (all generated by the New Project Wizard) is here: rem ************************************************************************** rem generated 11/25/2011 5:59:15 PM by Visualdb Project Wizard Version 1.0.0.3 rem ************************************************************************** set tv ntsc set romsize 4k playfield: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X..............................X X...XXXXX.XXX.XXXXX.X....XXXX..X X.....X....X....X...X....X.....X X.....X....X....X...X....X.....X X.....X....X....X...X....XXX...X X.....X....X....X...X....X.....X X.....X....X....X...X....X.....X X.....X...XXX...X...XXXX.XXXX..X X..............................X XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX end title COLUBK = $D0 COLUPF = $1C drawscreen if joy0fire || joy1fire then goto skiptitle goto title skiptitle playfield: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X.............................X X.............................X X.............................X X.............................X X.............................X X.............................X X.............................X X.............................X X.............................X XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX end COLUBK = $D0 missile0height = 4 : missile0y = 255 NUSIZ0 = $00 score = 10000 : scorecolor = $08 m = 0 main COLUP1 = $80 COLUP0 = $40 COLUPF = $1C if f=00 then f=0 if g=00 then g=0 checkfire if missile0y>240 then goto skip missile0y = missile0y - 2 : goto draw skip if joy0fire then missile0y=player0y-2:missile0x=player0x+4 draw drawscreen if collision(missile0,player1) then score=score+1:player1x=rand/2:player1y=0:missile0y=255 if collision(player0,player1) then score=score-1 if m = 1 && collision(player0,playfield) then player0y = player0y + 1 : goto skipmove if m = 2 && collision(player0,playfield) then player0x = player0x + 1 : goto skipmove if m = 3 && collision(player0,playfield) then player0y = player0y - 1 : goto skipmove if m = 4 && collision(player0,playfield) then player0x = player0x - 1: goto skipmove if joy0up && !collision(player0,playfield) then player0y = player0y - 1 : m = 1 : goto skipmove if joy0left && !collision(player0,playfield) then player0x = player0x - 1 : REFP0 = 8 : m = 2 : goto skipmove if joy0down && !collision(player0,playfield) then player0y = player0y + 1 : m = 3 : goto skipmove if joy0right && !collision(player0,playfield) then player0x = player0x + 1 : m = 4 : REFP0 = 0 : goto skipmove skipmove goto main

Hey, all. I've decided to try again to program a VCS game. I wanted to use Assembly, but I decided that maybe I could use bB for a couple of small projects until I feel more comfortable. Maybe I could even do a complete (but small) project in this four day weekend... So, I set up Visual Batari Basic as best I could using some of the tutorials around to guide me. (I don't remember exactly which... Fred Quimby, Random Terrain, KIsrael...) Then I found a video which walks through VBB and followed along with it. I even downloaded the code from his website, to be sure that I hadn't mistyped anything. ("OK, RedBeard, you're rambling...") Long Story Short: the code appears to compile properly, but will not run in the emulator. When compiled, VBB says, Compilation completed at 11/25/2011 4:49:58 PM view output file:///C:/AtariVCS/bB/Projects/GAME1/bin If I hit the RUN button and choose Stella, I get nothing. If I choose z26, it (z26) appears to launch a default binary with vertical blue lines, a series of rising tones and ends with "Starpath @ 5253"... but not the binary that I just created. (I have double-checked the paths in the prefs tab, too.) If I navigate to it from Stella, I get "Not a valid ROM file" and it refueses to load. I would even be willing to use VBB as a first step, then take the .asm file it would create and manually run it through DASM. Would that work? Honestly, I just want to make a couple of small projects, it shouldn't be too difficult... any help is appreciated. :wq! UPDATE: I just used the Create New Project Wizard and compiled it. It created a 0kb file. Shouldn't that be 4k no matter what is inside there? When I went to Stella and tried to launch it, I got: "Error creating console (check ROM file)"

atari2600land, I enjoyed trying out your game this afternoon. It was interesting, too, seeing various changes along the way. If I may be so bold as to add my constructive criticism: the first level is too fast... it seems like you must run the entire time... for those of us who often stop and time our jumps more carefully (or just goof off for a while) the timer runs out. The second level is fun, but not enough reason to stop on the ledges... I only saw one pretzel... give us a reason to want to stop on the ledges, otherwise, why bother?, just keep falling. Also, as the timer reaches 10 seconds or so, make an annoying alarm bell or set the music to double speed or ...something... to let us know that we need to hurry up. /* I am having difficulties making anything in Visual bB. After I gather my thoughts, I'll put up a post and maybe y'all can help me out... */ :wq!

Ah. No, I haven't yet, but perhaps I will. Actually, now that I found out how easy it is, I want to go and get Firefox 3.5! I use it a lot in my Windows world and this one seems kind of old, just knowing that 3.5 is out there and getting pretty good. Also, before I forget: I love your avatar! I jumped out of my chair the first time that thing pounded on my cockpit window! Yikes! -RedBeard P.S. Hey, Wargames is on! There's some old computer hardware to see! Monochrome monitor. Telephone-handset MODEM. Even 8" floppies! (EDIT: messed up my quotes)

NightSprinter, the distro that I am using is "PC/OS Linux" (pc-os). It is Debian based, but comes with lots of Plugins and Codecs. Plus it fits onto one CD, which is good because I don't have a DVD on this old machine. (Not even a CD-R, just plain old CD...) It seems to be a fairly small distro, not too many people on the forums, etc. - but works well on this machine. I did try out "PCLinuxOS" (pclos) and liked it. It was probably my second choice for this laptop, but the wireless wouldn't work. The people on the forums were helpful and nice. But I couldn't ge the wireless network and I preferred Debain based to Mandrake based, so I switched back. Maybe you can just download a .RPM and double click it? Like I did with the .DEB file? Just a thought... -RedBeard

A guy on here (Mayhem) actually bought the Vec code that was used in that movie The Vectrex always seemed like a great little system. I never got to play it much, though. I remember first trying it out at the state fair. I was practically drooling afterward. Then a while later a friend had one that I got to play a few times. Alas, I was too young and too poor to own one. But they have always intrigued me as a neat machine. -RedBeard P.S. Owning some code once used in a movie... Sweet!

found this online about the movie: http://classicgamecreations.com/android.html

Oh, yeah, totally off topic: I saw a movie today from 1982 called Android. Low budget sci-fi flick. Anyways, one of the characters was playing a VECTREX system. He was playing some space shoot-em-up on a vectrex placed inside a no-name cabinet/frame. In the end credits it actually said "Custom Vectrex Programming by ___". (I didn't catch the name.) Sweet.

Great news, Kr0tki & all! I followed your advice and downloaded the newest Atari800 version. To be honest, I didn't want to because I was sure it was going to be difficult to install. I thought that I'd need to go into command line, hack around, get irritated, try not to break everything, etc. Instead it was simple! I just double-clicked the DEB file, entered the SU password, and OK'd that it could overwrite the 'official-supported' version. Then the installer did its thing. (Is this the case for all current Debian based? Or the Ubuntu extensions? Or because this is PC/OS, with it's own upgrades? I don't know, but I couldn't be happier about how easy that was. -hey, even fewer clicks that Windows would have needed!) As the screenshots show, it is working! As a matter of fact, it comes up full screen, so it's like I have an 800xl laptop! YES! The sound appears to be working, the ARROW KEYS are configured as the joystick, etc. SWEET! (-alas, just as before the menu items still aren't there, so I linked it onto the desktop. I'll figure out the menu thing later.) Well, that leaves the VCS emulator to set up. Actually, though, with all the great 800 / 5200 games available, I'm not in a big hurry to do the VCS. One of these days, I still want to write my own VCS game, at that point, I will need the emulator; but until then, I just don't know... So now, I'm off to play some Pole Position, Popeye, Atari Invaders, Donkey Kong, etc! -RedBeard