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Parsec Remake


Toucan

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Got this in my e-mail today, thought I would share it here:

 

Hi,

I'm working on a Parsec remake for the iPhone and iPad. I saw your site about Parsec and read with interest!

 

I've done a lot of research and used original hardware as part of the project.

 

See my YouTube videos of it so far: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgsd0ynw4r_FI_FZY3L2uNQ

 

Let me know if you'd like to beta test!

 

Thanks,

Yesung.

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Got this in my e-mail today, thought I would share it here:

 

Hi,

I'm working on a Parsec remake for the iPhone and iPad. I saw your site about Parsec and read with interest!

 

I've done a lot of research and used original hardware as part of the project.

 

See my YouTube videos of it so far: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgsd0ynw4r_FI_FZY3L2uNQ

 

Let me know if you'd like to beta test!

 

Thanks,

Yesung.

 

I would be game to beta test for you. it looks good so far..

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Hi,

 

Let me know if you'd like to beta test Parsec on iPhone or iPad.

 

All feedback is of course very welcome and even if you just want a sneak peek at it!

 

Thanks!

Welcome to AtariAge.

 

Very nice. :thumbsup:

 

I also began a remake (of Parsec) at one points with the intent to replicate details, but also to expand the universe gradually after the first level. In 2006 target was the TI and in 2013 it was PC (to begin with). There was a change here at AtariAge with the option of embedding media content. It has since been fixed somewhat, and I haven't had time to tune most of what I have posted. So you can't see anything, which wasn't much anyway.

 

At some point someone came along and announced a remake of Parsec for Windows Phone 8. I'm guessing it didn't happen as he asked TI for permission. And at the time one reason why I focused a bit on other TI projects.

 

I see a few deviations in your videos. Maybe intentionally in technical playability (like your laser seem to fire more often and without overheating), and change of graphics. ;)

 

What tools / programming language are you using ?

 

:)

Edited by sometimes99er
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Yes I think that at least some of the videos are prior to me implementing laser overheating.

 

Permission from TI is a tricky one. I contacted the author of Classic99 who informed me that some 10 years ago he badgered TI until they found someone who even knew what the TI99 was and game him permission to distribute Parsec and other roms.

 

Sadly that TI contact is no longer available as I tried to email him but got an undeliverable... At present I'm going maverick and just doing it. I've remove the TI logo from the landscape though.

 

It's written completely in Swift using Apple's SpriteKit library.

 

I never knew about that Windows Phone remake. Interesting to see a similar-ish approach for the controls. I'm supporting bluetooth controllers too which is a lot more comfortable to play with. I wonder if he'd be interested in reviving it...

 

I noticed he mentioned redoing all the sounds and speech. I used TI hardware to sample all the sounds and dismantled a speech synthesiser to capture the speech before it mixed with other game sounds. I'm very pleased with the results.

 

Glad to have you as a tester, let me know your Apple ID email address and I'll add you in!

Edited by SoftTango
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I'm supporting bluetooth controllers too which is a lot more comfortable to play with.

 

Always nice to have the option.

 

I used TI hardware to sample all the sounds and dismantled a speech synthesiser to capture the speech before it mixed with other game sounds.

Nice. I was considering having to do that too, or at least sample from MAME/MESS emulation.

 

Glad to have you as a tester, let me know your Apple ID email address and I'll add you in!

PM sent.

 

Would have to borrow an iPad occasionally for this. They're uncertain if they can create a private ID for me. I'll watch your videos instead. Sorry.

 

;)

Edited by sometimes99er
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Always nice to have the option.

 

Nice. I was considering having to do that too, or at least sample from MAME/MESS emulation.

 

PM sent.

 

Would have to borrow an iPad occasionally for this. They're uncertain if they can create a private ID for me. I'll watch your videos instead. Sorry.

 

;)

 

The emulation just didn't give clean enough speech, even using the speech DLL from Classic99. I also noticed that the speech sounded a bit different on different emulators, so I opted for good old fashioned TI hardware.

 

No problem on the testing, I understand if it's someone else's iPad.

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Wow - I found an unspoken phrase in the Parsec ROM - "Laser overheated"!

 

Anyone heard this before? Looking at the code it's never used (commented out).

 

I managed to get Classic99 to speak this phrase tonight and record it to an MP3.

 

I found an unused sprite in the Parsec ROM too, but I never expected to find unused speech - but there it was!

 

Listen : http://picosong.com/hHSZ

Edited by SoftTango
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Could you tell me the address in ROM or GROM?

 

Never mind, I found my table again:

7fcc: a000              DATA >a000                  Press fire to begin
7fce: a0ed              DATA >a0ed                  Good shot
7fd0: a17f              DATA >a17f                  Countdown
7fd2: a1f1              DATA >a1f1                  Five
7fd4: a24a              DATA >a24a                  Four
7fd6: a280              DATA >a280                  Three
7fd8: a2b5              DATA >a2b5                  Two
7fda: a2e5              DATA >a2e5                  One
7fdc: a31d              DATA >a31d                  Advanced: the next level
7fde: a426              DATA >a426                  Nice shooting
7fe0: a4d1              DATA >a4d1                  Great shot, pilot
7fe2: a590              DATA >a590                  Enemy destroyed
7fe4: a69b              DATA >a69b                  Laser on target
7fe6: a798              DATA >a798                  Warning: Time to refuel
7fe8: a908              DATA >a908                  Laser overheated
7fea: aa22              DATA >aa22                  Sorry, you are out of fuel
7fec: ab8b              DATA >ab8b                  Extra ship
7fee: ac16              DATA >ac16                  Caution: Asteroid belt
7ff0: ad60              DATA >ad60                  Alert: Alien craft advancing
7ff2: af2e              DATA >af2e                  Alert: Ships attacking
7ff4: b046              DATA >b046                  Congratulations!
7ff6: b146              DATA >b146                  Nice flying
Edited by mizapf
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Wow - ok I got a new mini project :)

 

Update : On looking closer, that other speech data is commented out so maybe isn't in the ROM...

 

However, since we have the source code, it should be possible to re-enter the bytes of LPC data and have the speech generated to hear Aubrée Anderson's dulcet tones speaking long-lost phrases!

Edited by SoftTango
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Update : On looking closer, that other speech data is commented out so maybe isn't in the ROM...

 

However, since we have the source code, it should be possible to re-enter the bytes of LPC data and have the speech generated to hear Aubrée Anderson's dulcet tones speaking long-lost phrases!

 

Yes, it's not in the GROM (as with the others). And yes, you could re-enter it one way or another. I think Willsy has a short assembly program that speaks any length phrase - overrunning the speech queue and halting the CPU until released on real hardware IIRC.

 

:)

 

 

Edit:

 

Source code mentioned above: http://www.planet-99.net/wotw.htm

 

Edited by sometimes99er
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One of my first projects in assembly language back in 1989 was SPEECODER which is a tool to decode and encode LPC data. You can easily dump speech from cartridges when you know the address.

 

This works also nicely in MESS together with the LOAD interrupt switch (which is located on the END key by default). You can load the program in Editor/Assembler option 5 (please press the space bar shortly before loading is complete, or you will run into a nagging copyright screen, and I also included an integrity check in those days which I'd need to understand again to be able to remove that screen ...), then switch cartridges, and press END to re-enter the program (or disable Auto-Reset in the Settings).

 

You can store the LPC code as assembly code lines or as Extended Basic MERGE programs, but only if it fits into a 256 byte string (which is too short for most phrases from Parsec, unfortunately).

speecoder.dsk

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Right, this is what we could not yet figure out completely. Maybe there is some kind of low-pass filter. Apart from that, the fellow devs already did a quite good job, I think.

 

Oh they did an excellent job! But even the best emulation is not *quite* the original hardware :)

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