1st playable senso 7800 dx version online

[Heaven/TQA]

http://www.s-direktnet.de/homepages/k_nadj/a7800.html

 

turn sound off! play it visibile ;=)

 

the one player easy mode & highscore check is implemented.

 

in the main screen press (a little longer) a direction of your joystick to start game...

 

comments & 1st highscores welcome... of course critics as well... ;=)

 

heaven

[+Mitch]

Great it's playable now!

A couple things I noticed. The garbage is still there on the opening screen. Also, the score doesn't reset when you start a new game, it just adds to the previous games score. You can get a high score real easy.

 

Speaking of high scores, are you planning on adding support for The High Score cartridge? I think that would be a good extra feature.

 

Mitch

http://atari7800.atari.org

[Heaven/TQA]

oh my god... i forgot to reset the score... hahahaa... funny... this would be a nice "commercial" product with this bug...

 

i fix it now...

[Heaven/TQA]

fixed... you can go now for your highscore rally...

 

but it seems that i forgot a "GAME OVER" sign... ;=)

 

i love coding games...

[Eckhard Stolberg]

In the PAL mode the garbage is gone in both screens now. But you are still asking for the START button in the title screen, while you are actually checking the SELECT button. Traditionally the button labeled RESET is used for starting a game, if you don't have a game oprions menu in the title, like most of the later 7800 games.

 

On my system it's pretty difficult to change the game modes. Maybe you should have another look at the code that is checking the SELECT button. Also the colours are still too dark. It looks like an all black screen with an occasionally appearing white square. And I don't really like the delay that the GO! logo causes. I find it easier to play, if I can start right after the last tone has appeared. After all the game is relyinf on the short term menory, and mine seems to be very short.

 

Not beeing able to see any colours and forgetting most of the sequence during the display of the GO! logo, my highscore is probably not worth mentioning here.

 

 

Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg

[Heaven/TQA]

thanks for the critics...

 

eckhard, colors will be changed in next update, the select code is still crap that is because no interrupt routine is implemented...i dont like it either. but can you remember asking you about the VBL routine? it is still not implemented (the DLI trick) but will be... so the game mode changing will be right more faster...

 

and unfortunatly the "GO!" sprite will not be removed... like it or not...

 

because in other game modes you will have a so called "attack timer" which gives you not a lot of amount of time to lite a base... but in this mode there is no attack timer...

 

stay tuned...

 

and thanks for your feedback guys...

[+Mitch]

OK, the garbage is gone now on the first screen for NTSC as well.

I score 19 on my first game. But when I tried to play another game the colored blocks just went wacko on the screen and the game wouldn't start.

Also, as Eckhard mentioned, in the game, the screen appears all black with white blocks that light up. No colors.

 

Mitch

http://atari7800.atari.org

[Heaven/TQA]

it is unbelievable because both emulators show excellent colors (v7800 & mess)

 

(as my screenshots proove)...

 

mitch: 19? oh my god...

 

eckhard:

 

show me exactly how to test the fire buttons than i can implement them. it is hard to guess 255 possible numbers without any debugger...same with the RESET key. yesterday i was in my flat and had a look onto my 7800... you are right... the console keys are "select" & "reset"... so i will rename them in the game...

 

the colors makes me nervous because...maybe i am in black & white mode??? but the taquart logo is in right colors? and the sprites should have a "golden" 3 color touch?

[Eckhard Stolberg]

It might really be that you accidentally disabled the colours. The text at the top and the bottom of the screen is only in various shades of grey too. Maybe you ahould check the highest bit of the CTRL register. This controls the generation of the colour signal. If it is turned off, you can get a clearer picture in black & white, which can be useful for text.

 

As for the joystick buttons, you should really download a copy of the "Stella programmers guide". It describes the programming of the VCS 2600. The sound and controller part of it are still used in the 7800 in 7800 mode.

 

If you don't want to seperate between button A and B on the same controller, you can read the buttons from INPT4 (left joystick - address $000C) and INPT5 (right joystick - address $000D). The state of the buttons can be seen on the highest bit. All other bits in these bytes are undefined, so you shouldn't assume any state for them.

 

And if you can solder (or know someone who can), you can turn your 7800 console and a surplus 7800 game cartridge into a development system. Then you can see for yourself how your game works on a real PAL console.

 

 

Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg

[Heaven/TQA]

i use $40+$43 in the CTRL register... but no of the emulators shows me a black&white picture... so i should use instead $c0+$c3?

 

for the fire buttons... this is enough at the moment... so a simple "BMI" is enough to check, cool...

 

cheers

[Eckhard Stolberg]

No, setting bit 7 high would turn off the colours, so your values should be fine. The problem must be somewhere else. Maybe there is something wrong with the way how you switch between the display modes? If the colour changes were off by one line because of the way how the line interrupt works, maybe changing CTRL too early can cause problems like this?

 

 

Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg

[+Mitch]

quote

Does anyone know how this would be accomplished? I was under the impression that the code was just "found" and the hardware was finalized. Is there an understanding of what the requirements are in order to use the device?

 

Good question. Curt might have the needed documentation. But I'm not sure. You could probably look at the disassembly of one of the 7800 games that is compatible with it. I think Dan Boris was working on disassembling Robotron. I haven't checked to see if he got to the section with the High Score code yet though.

 

Mitch

http://atari7800.atari.org

[+Propane13]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mitch:

Speaking of high scores, are you planning on adding support for

The High Score cartridge

? I think that would be a good extra feature.

---

 

Does anyone know how this would be accomplished? I was under the impression that the code was just "found" and the hardware was finalized. Is there an understanding of what the requirements are in order to use the device?

 

-John K. Harvey

[+Propane13]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Heaven/TQA:

i use $40+$43 in the CTRL register... but no of the emulators shows me a black&white picture... so i should use instead $c0+$c3?

---

 

As far as I know, the v7800 emulator does not support black and white mode. I don't know about Mess, but I'd assume it's that way as well. Try inverting the color/B&W bit in your code, re-compile, and then test it on the emulator, and you'll probably see the exact same thing (i.e. color).

 

Also, I know the 7800 programming spec is incorrect as far as some of its bit values in the CTRL register-- they are backwards. I'm not certain if this was one of them, but it may be worthwhile to make a version with it '1' and one with the bit a '0', send them to someone who can run it on a real TV, and then maybe you'll find your problem. Does this problem happen on both PAL and NTSC TV's/systems?

 

I don't know of any games that used black and white mode specifically. The only reason I could figure it was for was black&white TV's, but that sort of support was probably unnecessary in the late 80s, hence the removal of the Color/B&W switch from the 7800 unit. As far as I know, using color 0 with all different luminosities will give you the full available range of black and white colors.

 

I suppose that it's a way to "cheat" and get another palette that's grey instead of using the color one associated with it, but it seems kind of a moot point-- since it's controlled by CTRL, you'll end up with a whole screen that's drawn in black and white unless you use a DLI to change it in the middle.

 

-John K. Harvey