Goonies for S-XEGS Cartridges

[+JAC!]

I was asked if I could make a Goonies version that runs from an 128K Switchable XEGS cartridge instead of disk.

Here it is, in case somebody else is interested. I'd also be interested in test results on (other) real S-XEGS cartridges.

- Peter/JAC

 

EDIT: Updated on 2019-12-23, now boots correctly also if OPTION is not held down

Goonies-ROM.rom Goonies.atr

[+Stephen]

Loved this game BITD.  I'd love to see a big graphical update to this.

[xrbrevin]

nice work!

altho, what is the difference between switchable and non-switchable types?

[mono]

Thanks a lot Peter!

[+slx]

nice work!
altho, what is the difference between switchable and non-switchable types?

The Atari cartridge slot has a maximum of 16K address space from $8000 to $BFFF, larger cartridges need internal bank-switching to ‚show’ different parts of their code at the same address depending on the state of the game. That is usually done by writing to a specific address on the cart and needs extra hardware on the cart that decodes such writes and activates the switching circuit.

So the main game code might reside in one half while the other half might contain level data and gets selected depending on which level you‘re currently playing.

This makes the cart even more expensive to build but bitd was a good copy protection as well as you couldn‘t simply dump it.

Action! and iirc BASIC XL/XE used this as well and could even bank out part of themselves totally to run a part of DOS XL from the underlying RAM to leave more RAM for code.


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[xrbrevin]

thanks for the reply, but my question should have been more specific.

when loading the ROM in altirra, i noticed there are 2x similar cartridge types:

 

128K XEGS

128K Switchable XEGS

 

surely both use bank-switching due to the size of the 128K ROM so why have 2x types?

for the above Goonies ROM i tried both, but only the switchable option works. so it got me wondering there must be a difference?

cheers

[+slx]

28 minutes ago, xrbrevin said:

thanks for the reply, but my question should have been more specific.

when loading the ROM in altirra, i noticed there are 2x similar cartridge types:

 

128K XEGS

128K Switchable XEGS

 

surely both use bank-switching due to the size of the 128K ROM so why have 2x types?

for the above Goonies ROM i tried both, but only the switchable option works. so it got me wondering there must be a difference?

cheers

I suppose there are different hardware setups, I.e. different bank select addresses and/or bank sizes. As there was no Atari standard for this stuff, every game producer could invent his own setup and I‘d imagine some would deliberately use ‚weird‘ setups to discourage copying. 

[xrbrevin]

ah, so one variant is an official atari method and the other is by a 3rd party

the similarity in the name was what confused me

thanks!

[Marius]

Didn't we already have an atarimax 1mbit conversion which also runs on 64k? (EDIT: Ah you meant 128k rom) Or are we now talking about something different? By the way the tape version had one other musical theme... which I actually prefer. Great game The Goonies. cool to play in co-version.

Edited December 7, 2019 by Marius
Misunderstanding about 128k

[Mclaneinc]

I always found Goonies and Conan hard to play, very precise movements needed.....Ron obviously loved us to have a challenge..

[+CharlieChaplin]

Afaik,

 

switchable here means: It can be switched off! Normally, if you plug in a cart, then $8000-BFFF is ROM and therefore not available as RAM; but some programs (e.g. disks or disks converted into cart.) require the RAM in that area, so the cart must be switched off. IOW: I guess, this ROM/CAR version more or less copies the data to RAM and then switches itself off...

 

[tajvdz]

On my Atari 800 XL I have this game on a tape cassette. I didn't play it recently but I can remember that I had to load for each level / stage. Is this the same game? I also know there are some other variations that looks a lot diferent, same name but different game. Maybe someone can post a screenshot of this version. I see the difference...

 

 

[Wrathchild]

I thought @ndary had done this a long time ago?

Edited December 7, 2019 by Wrathchild

[+JAC!]

23 minutes ago, Wrathchild said:

I thought @ndary had done this a long time ago?

Yes, he did. I didn't know and he saw this AA post after the party last night - and this morning we sat together here at SillyVenture.
10 years and hundreds of miles after he originally did it - Crazy world ?
He also did some other conversions. I'll make sure they are available somewhere centrally later.
 

1 hour ago, CharlieChaplin said:

Afaik,

 

switchable here means: It can be switched off! Normally, if you plug in a cart, then $8000-BFFF is ROM and therefore not available as RAM; but some programs (e.g. disks or disks converted into cart.) require the RAM in that area, so the cart must be switched off. IOW: I guess, this ROM/CAR version more or less copies the data to RAM and then switches itself off...

 

It is a bit different/more difficult. Most of these games are multi-part boot loaders or have their own loader.
So my code actually simulates the real OS boot process and the disk sector access. And where required it patches the loaded sectors so the next phase of the loader is also patched.

And it uses SXEGS to ensure also the RAM area $8000-$BFFF is available because basically every program requires it. 
 

Detailed info can be found here. Funny, I didn't know that the "standard" was created by Nir himself.

https://github.com/atari800/atari800/blob/master/DOC/cart.txt

| 33 | 800/XL/XE |   32 | Switchable XEGS 32 KB cartridge
| 34 | 800/XL/XE |   64 | Switchable XEGS 64 KB cartridge
| 35 | 800/XL/XE |  128 | Switchable XEGS 128 KB cartridge
| 36 | 800/XL/XE |  256 | Switchable XEGS 256 KB cartridge
| 37 | 800/XL/XE |  512 | Switchable XEGS 512 KB cartridge
| 38 | 800/XL/XE | 1024 | Switchable XEGS 1 MB cartridge

 

and

https://www.retrogames.cl/xecarts.php

[Wrathchild]

39 minutes ago, JAC! said:

we sat together here at SillyVenture

Greetings to the SillyVenture attendees  Have fun!

[Jetboot Jack]

1 hour ago, Mclaneinc said:

I always found Goonies and Conan hard to play, very precise movements needed.....Ron obviously loved us to have a challenge..

 

Ron converted Conan, the Apple 2 original is equally precise (just less flickery), so I guess he was re-producing the original design.

 

Goonies was written by Scott Spanburg not Ron Fortier - although graphics in both games were done by Kelly Day.

 

Kelly and Scott continued to work together as they both joined Microprose.

 

        sTeVE

[Justin Payne]

9 hours ago, Mclaneinc said:

I always found Goonies and Conan hard to play, very precise movements needed.....Ron obviously loved us to have a challenge..

Conan, yes. That game sometimes frustrated me to no end. Goonies, on the other hand, I blew threw like in no time back in the day. Although the game was done very well, since it didn't take long for me to finish and didn't have much playability since it was just a puzzle solving game, I'm surprised someone wanted THIS game on a cart. Still, it's nice that Peter did this for someone.

[Mclaneinc]

I think it was wanted on cart because its got multiple good memories, its fun game, its from a very well liked film and you had Cyndi Lauper in your head afterwards

[Wilheim]

Good job, Jac!

 

i remember that in 2004 I made a cartridge version also. I made an atrax, sxegs and Turbosoft 128k version. The good part on the rom is that only needed 48k ram, so it could work on 400/800 machines. I will search on an old backup to share it.

[tajvdz]

Are we talking about this Goonies game? I know there is also another one. It is one of my favourtes and I played it a lot. I have it on a tape but it doesn't work anymore. I remeber that you have to load each level seperately. But I tried it yesterday but can't even load the first level anymore...

 

I'm a bit new here. But what does this cartridge mean? What do I need to use it? And does it work on my Atari 800 XL which is still in it's original state. So far I only have the original Atari 1010 tape recorder but I want to buy a more modern device like an ultimate cartidge or SIO / SD card device. What do I need to play Goonies for example?

 

 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2019 by tajvdz

[Lynxpro]

Does this version require 64K RAM or will the aggressive bankswitching allow for systems with much less RAM to run it?

[jefffulton]

On 12/6/2019 at 4:27 PM, JAC! said:

I was asked if I could make a Goonies version that runs from an 128K Switchable XEGS cartridge instead of disk.

Here it is, in case somebody else is interested. I'd also be interested in test results on (other) real S-XEGS cartridges.

- Peter/JAC!

Goonies.car 128.02 kB · 42 downloads Goonies-ROM.rom 128 kB · 38 downloads

wow! Nice! Great work! 

[+JAC!]

On 12/10/2019 at 1:31 PM, tajvdz said:

Are we talking about this Goonies game? I know there is also another one. It is one of my favourtes and I played it a lot. I have it on a tape but it doesn't work anymore. I remeber that you have to load each level seperately. But I tried it yesterday but can't even load the first level anymore...

> Yes, it is this game. The cassette version is a little different than the disk version, but it is the same game.

 

I'm a bit new here. But what does this cartridge mean? What do I need to use it? And does it work on my Atari 800 XL which is still in it's original state. So far I only have the original Atari 1010 tape recorder but I want to buy a more modern device like an ultimate cartidge or SIO / SD card device. What do I need to play Goonies for example?

> This version is for special self-made EPROM cardridges that some people have/like to build. If you buy any kind of modern SIO device, you are just fine with the regular disk version.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On 12/10/2019 at 3:39 PM, Lynxpro said:

Does this version require 64K RAM or will the aggressive bankswitching allow for systems with much less RAM to run it?

Only ROM bank switching during loading. Runs fine on Atari 800 with 48K.

[JagChris]

I was showing my friend The Goonies game for our computer. They love Goonies and they love that silhouette of the Goonies on the title screen. Having lived in Oregon all their life and even went and saw some of the movie being filmed back in the day they cannot remember ever seeing that silhouette used on a poster etc.

 

I became a little obsessed and when I did some digging I could not find the silhouette on any posters or trailers for the movie of that time. I can Google Goonies silhouette and you can find shirts with that on there etc but no promotional material that's official for the movie. At least I couldn't.

 

Were the games the first use of that iconic silhouette? They couldn't have been but I can find no earlier use of that image.