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Best Plain Old TI BASIC Games (w/MP3)


ballyalley

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TOMPUTER Cassette Software

Tested - they load fine

 

The LIGHTHOUSE WITH SAVE CS1 mp3 should be loaded first if you want to save a game to CS1.

I don't know why the LIGHTHOUSE1 doesn't have this feature.

 

 

CASTLE OF DEATH.mp3 CHICKEN.mp3 LIGHTHOUSE1.mp3 LIGHTHOUSE2.mp3 LIGHTHOUSE WITH SAVE CS1.mp3 MONKEY KONG.mp3 SHOOT IT.mp3 THIEF.mp3

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Amazon has an amplifier...

 

Do not know if it would be fit for function here or not, but it does have a nifty knob.  Put a standard Stereo->Mono plug on, and maybe bob's your uncle?

 

 

The bigger issue would be the whole "The TI's cassette grounding situation leaves an open ground loop that introduces god awful buzzing" problem.  Basically, the ground line leading off the microphone is not properly connected to the audio circuitry of the TI.  I found that you need to bridge the tips of the speaker and microphone leads to use the TI's grounding, and get agreement, to silence the buzzing.

 

Maybe that stereo->Mono breakout plug would be sufficient, if it connects the tips of the channels?  Then you could connect speaker and microphone of the cassette cable, and then route that into the amp, then use a patch cable to the phone?

 

 

Edited by wierd_w
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1 hour ago, arcadeshopper said:

Maybe but you will probably say it costs too much

 

I dunno until I get a quote.  I understand the components are the cheapest part, the time it takes to assemble them is not free... and then there is shipping.  But yeah, considering it's more for the novelty "toy aspect" and is not really needed, I probably wouldn't want to go over $15.00 shipped, especially since I'm not even sure my phone will work.

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Revisiting this, I see that I only connected one channel to the white "speaker in" line (nasty twist tie affair) and then just completely grounded out the red "mic out" line to the composite video output of the phone.

 

I later built this contraption.

 

 

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4 hours ago, sparkdrummer said:

Yeah, I figured. It’s too bad, very simple device and it works good to check the MP3’s. 

 

I know that all of the talk here about loading this "media" is about amplifying the signal and using MP3 players, but keep in mind-- it's not as simple or portable-- but it works in my case without any problems: I just use the straight audio-out from my laptop without trouble.  Alternatively, I guess that there must be a TI tape archiving program that will allow conversion of these mp3 files to perfect WAV files that can be loaded without any issues at all.

 

Adam

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@ballyalley You should have no problems with MP3s versus WAVs unless you are talking about the capabilities of playback devices.  But anymore everything can play MP3s.  MP3 compression does not cause any degradation in signal so far as the TI is concerned; nor d AAC, AMR, or 8SVX, for that matter.  WAV is fine for, say, archival purposes or for essentially unadulterated recording, but unnecessary.

 

As for "a TI tape archiving program that will allow conversion of these mp3 files to perfect WAV files":

ffmpeg -i game.mp3 -c:a pcm_s16le game.wav

or if your installation of SoX supports MP3:

sox game.mp3 game.wav

 

The problem we usually face is the signal level from the device, and maybe equalization.  The TI expects the input to be speaker-level, which is fine for most devices for use with headphones.  However, since we humans love loud stuff, devices and most sound cards limit the headphone output to help prevent hearing damage.  Some devices work better than others.  For example, cheap $.99 USB audio devices I bought to use with my Amigas will put out a better signal than the built-in audio in my laptop. YMMV.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-21294537

https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/Workshops-and-Seminars/safelistening/Documents/Standards_for_safe_listening_devices_situation_analysis_report.pdf

 

I have thrown the idea on my roundtuit stack to get a good sample of what exactly these audio devices do to our audio to be compliant, or to just suck.

 

2 hours ago, GDMike said:

Yay.. more China crap...ok I'm out

But a good idea

I would be more apt to buy from the Boostaroo site directly to at least be certain I get some kind of warranty or guarantee.

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COSMI Cassette Software

GENERAL MASTERS CORPORATION Cassette Software

Tested - they load fine

SLINKY is Console Basic

I thought MONSOON was a COSMI title, but the opening screen states GENERAL MASTERS CORPORATION

AZTEC CHALLENGE.mp3 MONSOON.mp3 SLINKY.mp3 SPIDER.mp3

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I have a quick question...

I remember someone had an online program that would take a TI-99/4A program and turn it into a sound file.  For the life of me I cannot remember who or where it is.  Anyway, the question is:  Is there an ONLINE site that will take a WAV or MP3 file and output it in TIFILES format?

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4 minutes ago, Omega-TI said:

For the life of me I cannot remember who or where it is.

http://nivelleringslikaren.eu/ti994a_basic/

 

I incorporate some of the site's functionality into tidbit99.com.

 

4 minutes ago, Omega-TI said:

Is there an ONLINE site that will take a WAV or MP3 file and output it in TIFILES format?

Never seen one that I can recall, but you can use Tape994a or CS1er locally.

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On 9/17/2020 at 4:16 PM, pixelpedant said:

If you've only got cassette and Console BASIC, TI-Trek is a classic in the tradition of the Star Trek games of its era. 

 

image.png.d03de46e8548d924bc3391e764a9dc41.png

 

And here's a WAV of it:

 

TI-TREK.wav 5.21 MB · 19 downloads

 

I've converted this to a FIAD file with CS1er, (great program BTW) but when I went to run it and chose YES for Speech, it crashed and said it needs the TREKSAY file.  I have to leave for an appointment now, so I'll go on the hunt for TREKSAY when I get back home tonight.  Thanks!

 

600641899_NEEDIT.thumb.JPG.3ed184001f5b2b7967a9f43cd6aea047.JPG

 

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1 hour ago, ballyalley said:

Do anyone have any ads for this tape or instructions?

Ads ...I Dunno.:P

 

Most of the games, except for chicken, can be found on the GAMEBASE. There's also a cover shot of Thief.

 

Whtech has all the games. Not sure about separate instructions though. Takes some digging. I can post the rest is desired.

 

Chicken's on this disk...BOX7057.DSK

 

Edited by HOME AUTOMATION
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I've finished and uploaded my latest video to YouTube.  It's called "TI-99/4a Collection Overview (Part 6) - Escape, Bouncing Babies, Daddie's Hot Rod, Mini Frogger."  It features some games mentioned in this thread.  Also, I talk about this thread (and some contributors to it) in the video:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bmMaUqyYfI

 

(Sometimes putting the link without a URL will give a video preview... let's give it a try:)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bmMaUqyYfI

 

(If this video preview didn't work, then please fill me in on how to link to a YouTube video that will bring-up a preview of the video.)

 

In this episode, I play two TI BASIC and two Extended BASIC games on a real TI-99/4a computer.  Rather than loading the games from "tape" using tape images (mp3 files), I load the games from disk images using my NanoPEB.

 

I play these four games:

 

  1. Escape, by Bleepbit.  2019.
  2. Bouncing Babies, by John Chase, 2010.
  3. Daddie's Hot Rod, Lantern Software, 1983.
  4. Mini Frogger, by Roland Schlasser, 1984.  (This game is German.)

 

Oh, and I know "Daddie's" should be spelled "Daddy's," but I didn't name the game; talk to Lantern software about it.

 

My next couple of videos will cover the Atari 8-bit computer, but then I'll be back covering some TI software, probably the games in the Compute! book on writing arcade games.

 

Have fun watching the video; please, leave comments if you find it interesting... or even if it's boring to you.  Feedback is always welcome.

 

Adam

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