I'll just say this bluntly...

[Nateo]

... and not to be insensitive the amount of work it takes to convert a game from MSX, but this game would be awesome to have on the CV.

 

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-1hToQu3sqE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Pixelboy]

Essentially Rogue with pretty graphics and nice music.

[+Gemintronic]

The Japanese just keep the Wizardry and Rouge-likes coming.

[Nateo]

Essentially Rogue with pretty graphics and nice music.

 

I know! I'd love to have some form of Rogue on the CV!

[+opcode]

Actually that is a homebrew, released just a couple of years ago.

[nanochess]

The source code for Deep Dungeon Adventure has been published recently here http://www.msx.org/downloads/deep-dungeon-adventure-source-code.

 

I suppose it would be only a matter of asking for permission.

[+opcode]

How about this:

[Nateo]

How about this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PtieTw1WF8

 

This too, would blow my mind.

[Nateo]

The source code for Deep Dungeon Adventure has been published recently here http://www.msx.org/d...ure-source-code.

 

I suppose it would be only a matter of asking for permission.

 

I think that would be pretty neat; a cross-platform homebrew! Isn't there a game coming out in the next few months that's a conversion of an MSX homebrew?

[Pixelboy]

That version of Gauntlet looks pretty good!

[Manoau2002]

I think that would be pretty neat; a cross-platform homebrew! Isn't there a game coming out in the next few months that's a conversion of an MSX homebrew?

 

Princess Quest, Astrododge ( coleco and msx versions were released at the same time) and the upcoming Mecha -8 are all MSX homebrew ports.

[nanochess]

Yep, Princess Quest is a port from my original for MSX but the Colecovision version includes exclusive features like an extra difficulty level, chests with rewards and in world 3 you should collect crosses before being able to fight boss, otherwise the level repeats seamlessly

 

Mecha-8 was developed both for MSX and Colecovision at same time, now the MSX version is freezed because is being manufactured but I'll keep development to include at least something different in the Colecovision version due in Christmas

[JamesD]

... and not to be insensitive the amount of work it takes to convert a game from MSX, but this game would be awesome to have on the CV.

 

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.c...ed/-1hToQu3sqE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

Hmmm... I've been looking for an Adam project. I might take a look at it. It could certainly run on the SGM,

Adam would require some work as it is but standard CV might be tough depending on how much RAM it needs.

[JamesD]

Hmmm... I've been looking for an Adam project. I might take a look at it. It could certainly run on the SGM,

Adam would require some work as it is but standard CV might be tough depending on how much RAM it needs.

I had a quick glance at the code. Some of it has a decent amount of documentation and some... well... at least I don't have to disassemble it.

It's certainly doable but no promises yet.

[Nateo]

I had a quick glance at the code. Some of it has a decent amount of documentation and some... well... at least I don't have to disassemble it.

It's certainly doable but no promises yet.

 

That's great! Would these potential issues be problems with just converting it to a base CV? Or could there be other problems concerning porting to the ADAM or the SGM?

[JamesD]

That's great! Would these potential issues be problems with just converting it to a base CV? Or could there be other problems concerning porting to the ADAM or the SGM?

I can't really say if there are any serious issues since I didn't spend a lot of time on it.

I just scanned through each source module to get an impression of the code and documentation.

 

Off the top of my head the following things need changed:

Start address of ROM, ROM cart header, address of RAM variables, stack space, interrupt handler changes, address of AY sound chip, joystick input, keyboard input, graphics chip/RAM access, OS calls, etc...

 

The added AY chip and RAM with a SGM makes porting much easier but it's still work.

If the code is well written and doesn't have a huge number of OS or hard coded I/O addresses and is commented where I really need it, an SGM version *could* be running pretty quickly.

 

I don't have an SGM so I'd probably need to hack emulation of the sound chip into an emulator or rely on someone else to test builds.

If I can get MESS to compile and working it's not terribly difficult to add the AY emulation.

[Zenimus]

I love rogue-like games. This would be great to see on Colecovision!

[JamesD]

I've spent some more time looking at the code.

There are a lot of hard coded values and a few heavy MSX dependancies. It might take some time.

[Nateo]

I've spent some more time looking at the code.

There are a lot of hard coded values and a few heavy MSX dependencies. It might take some time.

 

Just so I'm understanding this correctly, but basically what you're saying is that the code is looking for hardware or instructions not present in the Coleco? If so, what sorts of things would these be? I apologize if these questions get annoying, I'm just curious.

[Pixelboy]

Just so I'm understanding this correctly, but basically what you're saying is that the code is looking for hardware or instructions not present in the Coleco? If so, what sorts of things would these be? I apologize if these questions get annoying, I'm just curious.

 

Just like the ColecoVision, the MSX has a BIOS which contains often-used routines (graphic initializations, joystick read, etc.) which programmers can use, and this helps to reduce the code inside the cartridge. But these routines are customized for the MSX hardware, and are therefore different from the routines in the ColecoVision BIOS. So new routines need to be devised in the CV game software to "emulate" some of the MSX BIOS routines.

 

This is why sometimes an MSX game that fits on a 32K MSX cart will require a CV cart larger than 32K, because you need to add equivalents to certain MSX BIOS routines inside the cartridge, in addition to the ported game software.

[JamesD]

Just like the ColecoVision, the MSX has a BIOS which contains often-used routines (graphic initializations, joystick read, etc.) which programmers can use, and this helps to reduce the code inside the cartridge. But these routines are customized for the MSX hardware, and are therefore different from the routines in the ColecoVision BIOS. So new routines need to be devised in the CV game software to "emulate" some of the MSX BIOS routines.

 

This is why sometimes an MSX game that fits on a 32K MSX cart will require a CV cart larger than 32K, because you need to add equivalents to certain MSX BIOS routines inside the cartridge, in addition to the ported game software.

And one of the things the code does is calls a routine that seems to refer to setting RAM to 48K... but I can't be sure yet since it's comments appear to be in Spanish or Portuguese If the game requires 48K RAM to run that might make the game only work on the Adam. Or it could just need that RAM configuration to place a routine in RAM such as an interrupt handler or something, I'm not that well versed on MSX.

<edit>

That routine is mentioned on the web page btw. I'll probably contact the author and ask them some questions.

Edited March 13, 2013 by JamesD

[Nateo]

That amount of RAM isn't accessible through the SGM?

[+opcode]

MSXdev page says 16KB of RAM... Perhaps 48KB is for a version that runs in RAM?

Edited March 13, 2013 by opcode

[JamesD]

That amount of RAM isn't accessible through the SGM?

I thought SGM was 32K

[Nateo]

I thought SGM was 32K

 

Just looked it up - you're right, only 32k RAM. Sorry bout that!