thegamezmaster Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 Has anyone ever converted this to a 5200 bin? Would love this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_ Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 I currently have my 130xe plugged in... I'll have to try this. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegamezmaster Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share Posted January 3, 2014 At least it's better than the 2600 version IMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jblenkle Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 I love this game, but I've never seen a 5200 version, just the computer one. It would be nice to spread the love though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegamezmaster Posted January 4, 2014 Author Share Posted January 4, 2014 I love this game, but I've never seen a 5200 version, just the computer one. It would be nice to spread the love though. Love this game too! Would love to see a 5200 version too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctorclu Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 I'll pitch in that I thought it was worse than the 2600 version. Just saying this for completeness. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 (edited) Came out in 1984, so it's probably convertible. Have to defer to Aking or Paul Lay on whether they can do it easily. Edited March 25, 2014 by Greg2600 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochman Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 I enjoyed the 8bit version. I actually enjoyed the 2600 version to some extent. Its not a bad game, just not a blockbuster to match the movie. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegamezmaster Posted March 25, 2014 Author Share Posted March 25, 2014 (edited) Would love to see this converted to the 5200! Anyone? Just love the game and for the nostalgia. Edited March 25, 2014 by thegamezmaster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+playsoft Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Came out in 1984, so it's probably convertible. Have to defer to Aking or Paul Lay on whether they can do it easily. I tried to port this about 6 weeks ago but gave up after struggling with some insane copy protection code. However I had one last go tonight and managed to crack it. I have a rough port running on my 5200 which I need to tidy up before releasing. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 I tried to port this about 6 weeks ago but gave up after struggling with some insane copy protection code. However I had one last go tonight and managed to crack it. I have a rough port running on my 5200 which I need to tidy up before releasing. Woah, awesome! Must have been Spielberg requiring the copy protection. Ha ha ha. Strange since it only came out on cartridge. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegamezmaster Posted March 26, 2014 Author Share Posted March 26, 2014 I tried to port this about 6 weeks ago but gave up after struggling with some insane copy protection code. However I had one last go tonight and managed to crack it. I have a rough port running on my 5200 which I need to tidy up before releasing. Thank you for your hard work! I really appreciate it and look forward to it! Thanks again and your work is awesome! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochman Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 Paul if you get a moment would you mind explaining what the copy protection was for this game? Not like this was going to be a huge seller. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+playsoft Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 I ended up doing two versions as Aking sent me a nice splash screen. They are identical except for that splash screen which the 32K image doesn't have. The 64K image uses M.U.L.E. bank switching which is supported by the Atarimax Ultimate SD and Altirra. The controls are mapped: START = start PAUSE = pause/resume RESET = reset * = difficulty select And at the splash screen press the fire button to launch the game. There are instructions here: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-et-phone-home_1881.html et32.bin et64.bin et32_source.zip et64_source.zip 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+playsoft Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 Woah, awesome! Must have been Spielberg requiring the copy protection. Ha ha ha. Strange since it only came out on cartridge. Spielberg... The copy protection is there to stop it being run off disk. Paul if you get a moment would you mind explaining what the copy protection was for this game? Not like this was going to be a huge seller. I guess they'd spent a lot of money on the rights and thought it was going to sell well on the back of the movie... I've not looked in full at the protection, just the bits which were affecting the 5200 port. In general is checking that it is currently booting a cart. If you look at the disassembly towards the end of et.012 you can see various routines which are writing code to RAM at $Axx. Look at this one for example: LBEBC: lda VCOUNT eor (L0086),Y sta L0A36,Y sta WSYNC dey bne LBEBC The code has been encoded such that you use the screen's vertical line counter to decode it. Because the 5200 port is still in cart form most of the copy protection did not affect it. However in one of these $Axx routines it made an operating system call - jsr SIOV - which I needed to remove. I was able to modify the encoded data turning it into lda SIOV which should have done the trick. However when the routine returned it was going off into oblivion. This was the point at which I originally gave up. When I came back to it I recorded the history leading up to this routine on both the original 8-bit cart and the 5200 port. Comparing them I'd missed that there wasn't a jsr to this routine - it was a direct jump with the return address manually pushed onto the stack. And that return address was encoded such that you decode it with a checksum calculated over routine's code. So where I'd changed jsr SIOV to lda SIOV I had changed the resulting checksum and hence was getting the wrong return address pushed on the stack. So I changed the low byte of the address in that instruction too, so that it resulted in the same checksum. As Aking pointed out to me, I should have gone to atarionline.pl where they have 4 different versions of ET available in XEX/ATR format which presumably have the copy protection already removed. All the copy protection is still in the 5200 port since I was able to work around it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aking Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 (edited) I ended up doing two versions as Aking sent me a nice splash screen. They are identical except for that splash screen which the 32K image doesn't have. The 64K image uses M.U.L.E. bank switching which is supported by the Atarimax Ultimate SD and Altirra. The controls are mapped: START = start PAUSE = pause/resume RESET = reset * = difficulty select And at the splash screen press the fire button to launch the game. There are instructions here: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-et-phone-home_1881.html always thought that if the 2600 had that amazing ET splash screen the 5200 port should have an even better one ... Edited March 27, 2014 by Aking 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_ Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 Thank you! The game is growing on me... at higher difficulties it can be a lot of fun. Excellent splash screen too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walter_J64bit Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 (edited) LOL, Now I want to play ET on the Super System! Edited March 28, 2014 by walter_J64bit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegamezmaster Posted March 28, 2014 Author Share Posted March 28, 2014 (edited) Pardon my questions but I'm confused as to which one to download. What's a splash screen? I have an Atarimax 128 in 1 cart. Thanks for any help! Update: Downloaded both and tried to load on cart and the 32k loaded and plays fine. Great conversion and great game! Thank you Paul Lay for a fantastic job on this! You are the man, can't say thanks enuff! Keep up the great work! Edited March 28, 2014 by thegamezmaster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Master Phruby Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Wow! That was pretty fun. Thanks for the conversion Paul. I haven't played that game in over 25 years. I always thought this version was better than the 2600 even though it was easier. it's kind of a video game version of Hot and Cold. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 The instructions weren't much help, how the heck do you play this game? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jblenkle Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 I'm just going from memory...you got to wander around the town looking for parts to build ET's phone. When you find a piece, you have to take it back to the house. Along the way you have FBI agents hunting for you and they will take the part from you if you don't evade them. When you get all the parts, you have to make a mad dash for the center of the woods where ET's ship will come down and rescue you. I totally learned this game by trial and error, although I haven't played it in quite some time. It's one of the few Atari 8-bit carts that I actually own and one of my favorites. The instructions weren't much help, how the heck do you play this game? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegamezmaster Posted March 29, 2014 Author Share Posted March 29, 2014 The instructions weren't much help, how the heck do you play this game? To pick up a piece, there's 4 of them. You stand over the piece and press one of the fire buttons and it should show you have the piece. Then you need to get back home. If you run into one of the bad guys, you lose the piece and have to get it again and head home. You can't run with a piece. After you get all four, an ET screen shows. Then you become ET and have to make it to his ship or mothership while avoiding all the bad guys. Then the next level starts IIRC. Hope this helps and that's what you do. Also read the link on how to play from the manual. Good luck. Great conversion and I love it! Great work Paul, thanks a million! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7800 Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Another fine addition to the 5200 roms on my AtariMax. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+playsoft Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Pardon my questions but I'm confused as to which one to download. What's a splash screen? I have an Atarimax 128 in 1 cart. Thanks for any help! Update: Downloaded both and tried to load on cart and the 32k loaded and plays fine. Great conversion and great game! Thank you Paul Lay for a fantastic job on this! You are the man, can't say thanks enuff! Keep up the great work! The splash screen (is like a loading screen and) looks like this: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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