Compiled games acting weird..

[yuppicide]

Was following the tutorial for installing the latest version of bB. I downloaded everything I need I think plus 2600ide. I opened up a sample .bas file and compiled it. Then tried to run it in the latest Stella and all I get is some noise playing over and over and a blue color on the screen. I tried with draw.bas and also the zombie one and neither worked for me.

 

What am I doing wrong? I have Win XP Pro, 1GB ram, 2.4Ghz processor, 80Gig drive, GeForce 6800 GT OC 256mb video, etc.

[Fort Apocalypse]

Was following the tutorial for installing the latest version of bB. I downloaded everything I need I think plus 2600ide. I opened up a sample .bas file and compiled it. Then tried to run it in the latest Stella and all I get is some noise playing over and over and a blue color on the screen. I tried with draw.bas and also the zombie one and neither worked for me.

 

What am I doing wrong? I have Win XP Pro, 1GB ram, 2.4Ghz processor, 80Gig drive, GeForce 6800 GT OC 256mb video, etc.

 

When it makes the awful noise it usually means it didn't compile correctly.

 

I'm no expert, but for the time I have been programming bB so far, I'd recommend Crimson Editor. I don't like the way it handles block selections of code, but other than that, it is pretty good to just be able to ctrl+1 (compile) and ctrl+2 (run). If you follow the instructions on the Batari site, it will get you up and running in no time. Don't worry about the stuff you would miss from 2600ide like the sprite editor and so forth. There are online versions of that with much more functionality. (See this)

 

The main things to remember when starting development are:

 

* Read this and refer to it often

* Make sure you pop as many times as you need to within a subroutine before calling goto from it (two levels deep = pop : pop

* All lines MUST be indented one space EXCEPT tags (or line numbers) and the "end" after defining a playfield/sprite.

* Do what you can to not address things that have range maximums < 255 (for example, sound TIA registers, pfread, pfpixel, ...)

* When the page above refers to a hex with an "x" in it it doesn't mean you should use an "x" (a copy and paste error I made which had wierd results and still compiled)

* Lots of stuff compiles that maybe shouldn't (it is very relaxed), and you won't get nice error stacktraces (ha!)

* If there is no goto or return at the end of some code you are executing it will just keep running to the next stuff and even off the page! (and into the beyond!) (another obvious thing that I missed at one point)

* Be prepared for some pretty crazy stuff

* Don't if within an if if the first if has bit conditionals, and be careful with elses in ifs after ifs (it is an else for the first if not the second one I think)

* You CAN reuse code and subroutines... be inventive! For example if there was a subroutine I wanted to work on x,y and also e,f I would reference m and n in the subroutine and then assign before the gosub like m=x : n=y : gosub sharedsubname for the first scenario and m=e : n=f : gosub sharedsubname for the second scenario. There are also temp variables (see the link above for details).

* Unless you are dividing by a power of 2, you must put include div_mul.asm at the top of the code somewhere

* set kernel_options no_blank_lines gets rid of the blank lines in the playfield, but uses missile0 to do it

* (when using const pfscore=1) pfscorecolor overrides playfield color

* Even if it scares you a little, use bits and remember binary. It is your friend.

* There are only 26 variables (?) a-z (not counting temp vars) I think (check the doc above, but that is all I use)

* By default you only have 4k. It ain't a lot and you can use more, but it is more fun to try to work within it

* If you get past the frustration, it is a heck of a lot of fun to try to develop within the boundaries of the system, even just in bB!

 

Also stuff I learned about posting games to a thread:

* Under manage current attachments click the X next to a file you upload to delete it so you can put another one in the same post, then you can always keep the latest version in the top post of the thread.

* I started saving the file with a version number in the filename, that way people know it is updated.

* It won't let you attach an asm file for some reason

* Use F12 to take screenshots in Stella and then post the pngs to your thread

 

Good luck and have fun!

Edited August 29, 2007 by Fort Apocalypse

[Fort Apocalypse]

If you're interested, this is the game I was working on: Insane Painter. Some say it is a cross between Breakout and Surround. I never played Surround though. I spent many a night on it, and the code still looks like crap. But it was fun!

Edited August 29, 2007 by Fort Apocalypse

[yuppicide]

Thanks for the help. You guessed the only reason I was going to use 2600ide.. the sprite editor. Thanks for the other tips. I'm going to read them as soon as I finish this reply. Although I did realize the one about putting the latest version in the beginning of the thread.

 

The first game I want to tackle is a simple puzzle game. It's some kind of card game that comes with like 40 or 50 cards. Each of them would be a level. I'm not sure how many I'd be able to fit into a 2600 game, but they get harder as you go on. I'd keep the graphics minimal because they don't need to be that spectacular, sounds minimal as well aside from title screen. There is no score in the game. You just keep advancing levels until you complete the last one. Only thing I can think that would be useful is a screen to input a password so you can continue on the level where you left off.

 

I have limited basic skills (I made some text adventures in the past) so that helps a little.

 

I played your game Insane Painter. It was pretty cool. I got up to around 8 or 9000 points.. when the two black things started coming out to get me. I think the idea was pretty unique.

 

If I ever complete a game worthy of putting on a cartridge I'd like to do so with box and manual and all. I want to insert a hidden message to my Dad in the game. I haven't spoken to him in like 14 or 15 years. Maybe more.

[yuppicide]

Alright I followed the instructions for Crimson Editor and setup the two commands to compile and run. When I compile it works fine. I get the Terminated 0 message or whatever. When I run Stella opens to a black screen and just sits there. I have to hit CTRL-Q to exit.

 

UPDATE: I went to this topic:

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=109288

 

.. and did the addplayfield.bas and that worked. It showed me a playfield and a sprite.

Edited August 29, 2007 by yuppicide