Dragnerok X

After a recent (fairly successful) switch to Ubuntu on my iBook, I decided I should download Stella. So, I fired up the Synaptic Package Manager as usual, and located it with ease. Everything ran great, however, the release I downloaded was only version 2.2 and I wanted the latest release, 2.4.2 (partly due to the new interface color-scheme, the other half due to that feeling of being ¨up to date¨) . So, I took my hand at compiling it using the Build-Essential tools. It appeared just as the older release had in the Games menu, but when I ran it, the screen resolution went absolutely out-of-whack, which ironically, didn´t happen with the older release. Have I just compiled something wrong? Any help would be appreciated.

I´m not sure about *just as wide*, but then again you are using a high-res playfield, so... Try pasting this code to the top of your program. set kernel_options no_blank_lines Take note that if you already have a set kernel_options line in your program you should just paste the no_blank_lines part into it. Additionally, you will have to give up missile 0 to use this feature.

Just a slight correction. For bit operations, you would use s{0} = 1 instead of s[0] = 1. More information on this can be found here.

One correction: #4 - The Player will be player 0, while the Pick Axe, Key and any other objects (player 1) should be placed so there is only one of a given object per "level" of the playfield to avoid any needless flicker.

I concur. 16 pixels high should work fine.

http://www.atariage.com/controller_page.ht...ControllerID=11 Good deal, though; @ $9.99.

Yes, that's fine. Just realize you are limited to two 8 pixel-wide sprites per scanline (without flicker or duplication), so without flicker, you could only have one movable 16-pixel wide sprite per scanline and looking at your screenshot; you'd probably be better off with two smaller sprites. This is assuming you mean 11 or 12 pixels wide. The 2600 allows you to make sprites as tall as you'd like. If you are sure using that won't hurt the gameplay, go for it (heck, one of my bB homebrew projects, Atari OS, used a missile for a mouse pointer and it worked much better than a sprite ever would). Otherwise, I'd suggest you just keep your sprite count down. The screen border(s) is/are part of the "background". The background color encompasses the entire screen, so I don't think you can create an artificial screen border in bB (at least without inline assembly). However, unless you are aiming for complete O2 accuracy, most 2600 players would probably be fine without one. Also, the playfield ladder color idea seems fine to me. No problem.

A few suggestions: 1. You'll either need to use a custom score routine for the 8-digit score, or somehow convert it into 6-digit format. 2. Your sprites (assuming 8x16 isn't a typo) will either need to be 8x8 to have 4 per line or with 8x16, only have two of them (unless they are similar, stationary, objects; which you could make copies of across the screen). 3. Currently, bB limits you to 5 sprites anywhere on the screen, period, so you might have to reduce your sprite count. 4. From my experience, 30hz flicker is tolerable, if it's controlled. 5. The vertical bars seem fine, I just don't think they will be as close (I'm referring to the right one, here) to the edges of the screen as you hope them to be. 6. I don't think you can (currently) change the color of the playfield mid-scanline like that, so the borders (which are located on the same scanline as the color change) would most likely be the same color as your "Boulder Throwers". Other than that, you should be fine; good luck!

Thanks for the update. Combat DX Online is updated and couldn't be much better.

If you alternate between displaying the fish and the octopus every other frame, you will get a little bit of flicker, but you can display both. Collision detection is also easier this way. (see my suggestion above)

I could be wrong here, but IIRC, doesn't bB 1.0 come with superchip bankswitching built-in?

Got it. It took me about an hour to re-document the controls but I'd say the feature was well worth it. Edit: I hate to give you more features to add; but is there any way someone could "preset" a difficulty switch setting for a particular game? I say this because with the way my (not yet existant) AI works, it might confuse people.

Good to know. I'll gladly update whenever you have the .jar ready.

I've just updated Combat DX Online to use this, and so far, everything runs fine; if that means anything.

I can support that conclusion. I realize that things like that don't come around every day. However, if are to open the cartridge, nagn2, I would suggest you practice on a few of your other cartridges first. Even if it's just a simple Combat cart, you can still get the feel for how it's done.

I concur. For that matter, opening cartridges is a relatively easy thing to do. I've done it hundreds of times, with various varieties and have yet to break a thing. I don't really see a reason everyone is so worried about nagn2 opening the cart. A video was posted explaining how do it, and with the community's answers behind him, sending it to CPUWIZ just to open it sounds rediculous. Just as long you are careful, nagn2, you should be fine. (i.e. Calm down people! )

Yes, that's what I was referring to. My suggestion is.... Player 1: Arrow keys, space bar. Player 2: (W, S, A, D), left control

It's almost done, actually. SeaGtGruff and I just need to add AI and Sound. The red tank moves, if you press F5 as I documented with "press F5 to activate manual tank control", in that once AI is added it would technically be "manual" tank control. Maybe I need to re-word that. Oh, BTW, Is there a way allow 2-player support over the applet?

It's not that I think you've handled anything wrong, it's just that if we are to continue with this (if, of course, it exists) we have to do some planning and reach a consensus. I just think your move to immediatly go after things without having planned out with the community how you were to do it was kind of risky, though reasonably well handled, I guess. I second that. Let's just leave things as they are and if anything plays out, so be it.

I don't mean to bring anything up here, but weren't Albert and nagn2 the only people who were to handle this? Still, I personally, believe it. The evidence is almost completely pointing towards real. Take for example, that if said game were a fake, "Steve" wouldn't have so gracefully pointed out that he had a few hundred lying around in storage, thus keeping the price of the cart high. Either that or this hoax had some terrible planning in the story department.

Here you are. Combat_DX___Commented_Source.bas -------------------------------------------------------------------- Changes: -------------------------------------------------------------------- * Changed all of my number labels to more descriptive text labels, while at the same time getting everything to work. * Added a "Label Translation Guide" to help you better understand the abbreviations I used in my labels. * Added Bank Summaries to help you better understand where things are and the purpose of specific banks. * Added Sound comments in the form of a "sound code slot". Updated my AI code slot to account for the AI example I've added. This should give you an idea as to how to handle AI and sound. * Misc. outdated information and typos corrected. -------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------

The page is up.

Must be a browser problem or old version of Java on your end, since the game comes up just fine on my computer when I click the link. Good to hear. I'll finish this as soon as I can (it will probably be up tomorrow), and will take a look at my computer... EDIT: Just discovered what it was, the applet doesn't load properly when I access it from the "preview" mode of my webpage. Almost done setting it up, though.

If anything, here's a link to the page where I'm working on it. Perhaps someone else may have better luck.

Yes, I just named the .75 release jstella.jar for convenience sake.