My 2008 Christmas Demo (in progress)

[Rybags]

Well, a rush job here.

 

KJmann (Sal) very kindly did a song for me, it plays equally well in stereo or mono.

 

I was hoping to have my enhanced software mode up and running properly but it's still got a bit of work to go. So, instead I've done a quick picture in an older mode I was working on (interlaced GTIA colour with 6 available luminences with some restrictions).

 

Sounds best on NTSC, probably looks best on PAL. Looks a bit ordinary (pic) in the emulator but shows up nicely on a real machine on a TV.

48K or more RAM required.

 

XMAS2.zip

 

NOTE: Press SPACE to toggle between a static or "interlaced" look to the picture.

Edited December 24, 2008 by Rybags

[emkay]

It crashes in the emulation at 50Hz speed. In 60Hz it works ok.

[Heaven/TQA]

here it crashes in both modes?

[Rybags]

It should work in NTSC mode if you Load Executable.

 

I took out the part that delays 1 frame at the start, don't know if that broke it.

 

Works fine on my real PAL machine. For some reason I can't load it without running in DOS 2.5 in the emulator to fix it (crashes irrespectively).

[Heaven/TQA]

after trying your demo my atari800win will not even load my one and crashes...

[Heaven/TQA]

i don't know what happened but it was definitly starting after running several times your demo...

 

I have reinstalled atari800win but with no success... My christmas intro will not run anymore and crashes my atari800win... any ideas what happened?

[Rybags]

No idea. Sometimes the emulator gets it's Registry settings screwed up and you need to clear them then start from scratch.

 

It's just a normal Binary file.

 

Load segment at $600-6FF, a quick Init routine just switches BASIC off.

Then loads the RMT stuff around $3100-46FF, then the picture stuff from $5600-9BFF and A000-BEFF. Then runs at $5700.

 

Getting late here so I can't really do any more work on it.

 

Seems to load and run fine on the real machine in DOS 2.5.

[ClausB]

Very nice! It runs OK here in Atari++ 1.30 in both NTSC and PAL modes.

 

Merry Christmas!

[dwhyte]

works fine on atari800 2.1.3 (<--- i just called it that version number due to the xep80, black box, and 1450xl additions to the emulator, among others... there has been no official release...)

[Rybags]

Here's a bit more development on the picture. No music on this one.

 

If it loads and you get a blank display, hit Reset, then from DOS, Run At Address 56F0.

 

XMAS4.zip

 

Here's the original pic:

 

Edited December 24, 2008 by Rybags

[Goochman]

Rybags,

 

I can see the image under Atari800win - however it does crash almost immediately.

[pps]

Your last version works on emulation and PAL mode. In NTSC mode it crashes after showing some frames.

 

Hope to check on real machine tomorrow morning (about 8 or 9 hours from now) - even Heaven´s intro too.

[Heaven/TQA]

yup. interesting that we both have difficulties with Atari800win emu....

[+bf2k+]

yup. interesting that we both have difficulties with Atari800win emu....

 

True that! You are not alone... DCB($300) has some issues too!

[pps]

Ok, I have a good message... and a bad one:

 

On my 130XE (PAL) the XMAS2.XEX works fine!

 

The XMAS4 does not

[miker]

I've loaded both version from QMEG loader and XMAS2 works for a second then GTIA is gone, and XMAS4 displays the pic very well. Tested on PAL 800XE with 320k of RAM.

[pps]

Hmm... don´t know why, but the XMAS2 now didn´t work, like miker wrote.

 

First try gave me the picture plus the music.

 

I think you have a liottle to much done in DLI. Try to shorten the picture for some lines, the ATARI rolls, as if the there is not enough time to do the last commands of the DLI/VBI.

[Rybags]

The RMT routine probably goes a bit long. Wouldn't be surprised if we're getting stack overflow.

 

I could try calling it from the DLI instead of having the main program in a wait loop.

[emkay]

Hmm... don´t know why, but the XMAS2 now didn´t work, like miker wrote.

 

First try gave me the picture plus the music.

 

I think you have a liottle to much done in DLI. Try to shorten the picture for some lines, the ATARI rolls, as if the there is not enough time to do the last commands of the DLI/VBI.

 

Probably a simple bug? As we might know that the last line (scanline 240) that is shown on the TV set is hires (as is with GTIA Mode) , the screen rolls.

[Rybags]

Not in the emulator though.

 

I think I've got the problem with mine sniffed out. The program and pic overwrite whatever Display List is active at the time. Problem is, it's "garbage" so far as Antic's concerned and causes lots of DLIs to trigger.

 

What that means is that DLIs are happening way too much, and the Stage 2 VBlank gets skipped which means that the new DList pointer doesn't get plugged into Antic. Stack overflows and crashes the machine.

 

I'll try and get a fixed one going soon - I want to put this away so I can work on the New Years stuff. I'm not really happy with the picture but will try and improve it a bit then just leave it at that.

Edited December 26, 2008 by Rybags

[Kjmann]

xmas2 and xmas4 both work great as long as I'm using the 800 OS-B. It Crashes a lot using the XL os.

[Rybags]

OK, fixed problems, enhanced the pic a bit and added a sound meter.

 

This will likely be as far as I go with it, unless some sort of nasty bug reports surface.

 

Set emulator to stereo before loading for better music. Pressing SPACE toggles the "interlace" effect.

 

XMAS5.zip

 

 

Once again, big thankyou to Sal (kjmann) who specifically did the music for me.

Edited December 29, 2008 by Rybags

[+Philsan]

In Australia it's 2009, isn't it?

Happy New Year!