Jump to content
IGNORED

Monty On The Run - new game


Philsan

Recommended Posts

  • 1 month later...

CONGRATULATIONS to Monty on the Run for being nominated in the 2019 Atari Homebrew Awards!

 

Be sure to vote for your favourite homebrew games of 2019 with the links below and watch the awards LIVE on February 1, 2020!

 

Awards Show: February 1, 2020 @ 12:00PM PT | 3PM ET | 8PM GMT LIVE on the ZeroPage Homebrew Twitch Channel!

 

Atari Homebrew Awards Categories (VOTE IN ALL!!):

182367249_2019AtariHomebrewAwardsLaurel-Nominated-BestHomebrewAtari8bit5200.jpg.ff22233fe103eae05bd22228c4500a6c.jpg

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Strange,

 

I played the XEX and the ATR (180k) of this game via emulation (Altirra, Atari 800 Win plus) and both worked fine. Today I copied the XEX onto a real diskette (90k) and tried playing it on my Atari 800XL - it loaded the title screen and when I pressed a key it simply made a humming sound and hanged. So I tried various bootloaders, gamedos versions and DOS 2.5, but all with the same result - the program does not continue loading after the title screen...

 

Hmmm, maybe I had an older or defective version - nope, all downloads I found today (atarionline.pl, pouet, demozoo) do have the same XEX that I have. My Atari 800XL (PAL) has a) an stereo-enhancement but is switched to mono, it has b) XL-OS and Old-OS (Rev. B) but is switched to XL-OS Rev. 2 and it has c) a 512k RAM enhancement (no switches, 576k RAM always available). So what could be the cause that the game does not continue loading after the title-screen ? Does it rely on DD/180k and its 256byte-sectors or is it something else (my 800XL computer, timing issue with my Speedy 1050 enhancement, my XEX-loader, etc.) ??

 

Atm. my only solution was to remove the title screen, so I could at least load&play the game on my real A8 (and this works). Besides, the game was already packed (means, it was not me who did this). Find attached my 90k ATR image that does not continue loading after the title-screen with real floppy and real Atari (it uses a bootloader, but gamedos and DOS 2.5 gave the same results)... maybe someone can examine why ?

 

P.S.: In the title-screen ESC and Spacebar activate the loading process (T activates the trainer options-menu), but the Return key displays garbage (or strange colours) for a tenth of a second on my real Atari; luckily nothing else happens and my Atari XL computer does not crash... but alas, it does not continue loading...

 

MOTRnogo.ATR

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Admittedly, we did not test the game with the real disk drive. Don't know yet what the reason is. We'll look into it.

 

The program does not rely on specific sector configuration.

 

The visual glitches are the outcome of IRQ hadler interference with raster program. Should have switched IRQ completely off. Minor deficiency. Return is no special case, other keys would result with the same side-effects.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Has anyone tested the ATR on a real 180K floppy yet? I can eventually, but atm, I'm having issue with my equipment, except my 48K 800 and 90K 810 drive. Haven't had time to do maintenance on the other stuff yet...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Was there ever an official tape release made be available?

I'm trying to play the game on the real hardware (PAL 800XL and 1010) and copied the xex file to tape, using different boot tape loaders, but all attempts are failing! :(

Like Charlie Chaplin I'm facing the issue that the game crahes after the title screen has loaded and then trying to continue loading.

The strange thing is that the cas image on PC is running fine, but the same image on real hw is failing!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/19/2020 at 10:39 AM, Mr.Bacardi said:

Was there ever an official tape release made be available?

I'm trying to play the game on the real hardware (PAL 800XL and 1010) and copied the xex file to tape, using different boot tape loaders, but all attempts are failing! :(

Like Charlie Chaplin I'm facing the issue that the game crahes after the title screen has loaded and then trying to continue loading.

The strange thing is that the cas image on PC is running fine, but the same image on real hw is failing!

What copiers did you use? A copier to tape should support INIT vectors and elongate IRGs after blocks that hold INIT vectors. Important when waiting for a key to be pressed. The emulators do not support motor inertia (AFAIK), I think that's why it works with Altirra, for example.  But I guess that's what you already taken into account. 

 

Edited by baktra
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Jacques for posting cas file but unfortunately trying on real tape seems is also not successful... :( Loading screen is shown and tape continues loading, but is not starting. Will try again...

 

@Baktra: Thanks for pointing out possible issues with copy program! What copier do you recommend for doing this job?

So far I only used "normal" tape to disk copier like "C-D-T Copierer v1.0 by A.Fuchs" or "Copy C/D 54K by M.Thiel"

 

I had successful transfer to real tape with Homesoft's version of "Monty on the run", btw. But this version shows loading screen only after complete game has been loaded into memory...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nope. Tried MOTR several times with disabled Basic (by holding down the Option key while switching computer on and with Basic off routine) and the game still hanged after the title screen and did not continue loading. It produced a strange sound/noise and showed a black/blank screen, that was all. Tested this on five 800XL PAL computers, 1x original without any enhancements and standard XL-OS Rev. 2, 2x with 512k memory enhancement by tf_hh and 2x with 512k memory enhancement by mega-hz (enhanced computers were switched to mono and XL-OS Rev. 2) and the result was always the same blank screen...

 

The Homesoft version works on all five computers, it shows the title after the game has completely loaded into memory (no problem with that!) - but the strange sound/noise is still there during the whole game and cannot be switched off, except with TV mute button.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi there,

 

Monty on the Run, runs without problems from a real floppy disk.
I have the file from the link, from the seventh post (pouet.net).
The xex file is 28585 bytes in size and has 3 segments. Charly your data from your attached link is 28707 bytes in size.
And this file has 5 segments. The first two segments charge after $ 0400. If I remove these two segments, the file is the same size as that of pouet.

 

I wrote the game on an Enhanced Formatted Disk and installed the NDos Converter.
It runs flawlessly on my Atari's (various configurations), from a normal 1050, Happy 1050, Speedy 1050 and XF551.
The program loads up to the cover picture with the music. If Space is pressed, the program continues to load and the game starts.

The program consists of 3 segments. On the ATR is MotR (see link above) and the old NDos Converter.

 

Since I have a SV Original Cassette, I once wrote the files of the tape version on the ATR.
The tape version has 4 files (segments). Monty.cas, the boot loader. Which actually "only" loads the MotR.xex.
Monty2, Monty3 and Monty4 are actually "only" the xex, but broken down into 3 segments so that tape can be reloaded.

The tape boots, a screen appears with Loading ... Monty ...
Then the tape loads up to the title screen with the music. If you press Space, the game continues from Tape and then starts.

 

I didn't write the game back on tape and I don't know if it works. The segments 2 and 3 have no end of file marking on the tape (copy protection?)

 

MotR_YM.zip

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@YellowMan: @tf_hh

Aha, one more program found, that does not work with tf_hh 512k internal upgrade! (The one without switches or the one that switches modes via software.)

 

Tested your NanoDOS version with: Atari 800XL, PAL, XL-OS-Rev. 2, 512k XRAM by tf_hh, mono-Pokey and Speedy 1050 in normal (non-ultraspeed) mode. When I boot it with Option key held down, the typical NanoDOS screen appears: A) Monty on the Run, b) NanoDOS, select program. I press A and MOTR begins to load, after depacking the titlescreen appears. When I press the spacebar, the NanoDOS screen appears again and a loud humming noise can be heard - but it does NOT continue loading!

 

Thought that I also tested this program with 512k RAM upgrade by mega-hz, but as it seems, I did not. Today I tested it with the RAM upgrade by mega-hz and to my surprise, there it works without any problems! After the titlescreen the main program is loaded, just like it should...

 

Damn it, this makes the list of non-working programs on tf_hh (internal) 512k upgrades a little longer:

1) Tapper (tape and disk versions by Sega/US-Gold) *

2) Up N'Down (tape and disk versions by Sega/US-Gold; afair, cart-version is fine) *

3) Asteroids (tape version by Atari UK; have not tested the cart. version) *

4) GACCRR (tape version by Activision, have not tested the disk version) *

5) GACCRR (tape version by Firebird) *

* this of course includes tape-2-disk versions as well (made with C-Simulator, Howfen T2D, CasDis, etc.)

6) MOTR (original tape and disk versions by Marek Konopka, et al.; the Homesoft version works, but makes a very loud humming sound that cannot be switched off, except with the tv mute button!)

 

Oh well...  ?

 

P.S.: The difference in my fileversion is nothing essential: 1) $0400-0447 = Basic off routine, clear RAM under Basic, clear zeropage; 2) $0244-0244 = Reset does a coldstart; 3) $0400-041E = black screen; the page 4 segments are programmed in such a way, that one can use page 4 again after they have initialized their code... so they even work with programs that make use of page 4.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And now for something very strange...  I remember that I once tested MOTR on all five Ataris and it did not work. But today it suddenly worked on an Atari with mega-hz upgrade. Time to do the tests with all five Ataris again!

 

Moved all my five Atari 800XL computers to my small Atari + PC home office and connected them (one after the other) to the floppy drive (which is also connected to the data recorder). Result: MOTR never worked, it always hanged after the titlescreen and made a loud humming noise.

Next I moved all my five Ataris to the living room and connected them (one after the other) to the floppy drive. Result: MOTR always worked and continued loading after the titlescreen, like it should.

 

Hmmm, strange. What's the big difference - home office vs. living room ? No, it's much more likely floppy drive + data recorder vs. floppy drive only. So I moved one of the Ataris to the home office again, booted MOTR and when it made the loud humming noise, I had an idea - see the following movie...

 

 

As you can see, dis-connecting the SIO-cable and therefore dis-connecting the data-recorder was the solution! Suddenly the humming noise disappeared and MOTR continued loading. But why ? If the SIO-cable were defect it would not boot from floppy at all ? Why does dis-connecting the data recorder make such a big difference ? Why is the loud humming sound (most likely produced by the data recorder) only there after the titlescreen and not all the time ? Why does the data recorder make it impossible to (continue) load(ing) MOTR only after the titlescreen ? And why do dozens of other games work fine, when both floppy + data recorder are connected to the same A8, but MOTR does not work if my data recorder is connected ? And MOTR originally came on tape...?!?

 

I really have no clue. But it seems, the tf_hh 512k RAM upgrade was/is not the cause for MOTR not working...

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...