Bouncing Babies

[Opry99er]

Hey John---

 

I'll be able to test it out tomorrow on my CF7 unit, in case you don't get it worked put by then. . Bringing the CF7 console home--- wife can't get on me for a bare console with a tiny little sideport peripheral. . Man I can't wait.... Tired of having to drive to Louisville to have TI fun!!!

[+retroclouds]

Retroclouds I added baby6 file in the baby5 zip DL. SO redownload it and give it a try.

 

Just tried it, works like a charm.

According to the file size its roundabout 14K.

So it shouldn't be too hard to make a ROM image of two 8K banks containing your game and some wrapper code for copying to high memory.

 

I'll give it a spin and let you know (might take a few days though, limited TI time this week)

[jchase1970]

Retroclouds I added baby6 file in the baby5 zip DL. SO redownload it and give it a try.

 

Just tried it, works like a charm.

According to the file size its roundabout 14K.

So it shouldn't be too hard to make a ROM image of two 8K banks containing your game and some wrapper code for copying to high memory.

 

I'll give it a spin and let you know (might take a few days though, limited TI time this week)

 

 

if you do it, please write something up on how you make the wrapper code, as I would like to understand more about that. I understand what it does, but have no clue about how to go about doing it.

 

My time just got alot more limited to, going back to work tomorrow.

Edited July 13, 2010 by jchase1970

[Tursi]

This thread kind of kept running at top speed after asking me to look at something, so my question is perhaps a bit late, but I don't follow what you think is wrong with Classic99.

 

I can tell you that Classic99 has more free VDP RAM in BASIC and XB than a real system with a floppy drive, and perhaps most emulators, because it doesn't use a TI, Corcomp, or Myarc disk controller system. So if your file is right at the threshold, it may be using a PROGRAM image that is too large to load on such a system. That's my best guess based on what I'm reading here.

 

But I'm not really sure if it's resolved or still stuck, which files I should be looking at, and what the incompatibility is against.

[jchase1970]

This thread kind of kept running at top speed after asking me to look at something, so my question is perhaps a bit late, but I don't follow what you think is wrong with Classic99.

 

I can tell you that Classic99 has more free VDP RAM in BASIC and XB than a real system with a floppy drive, and perhaps most emulators, because it doesn't use a TI, Corcomp, or Myarc disk controller system. So if your file is right at the threshold, it may be using a PROGRAM image that is too large to load on such a system. That's my best guess based on what I'm reading here.

 

But I'm not really sure if it's resolved or still stuck, which files I should be looking at, and what the incompatibility is against.

 

 

there is something odd going on with 1 file type. that is the XB autoload files that classic99 creates. ones with machine code and basic code together.

 

I don't have a ti system I can send files to to test onthe real machine, but I can duplicate the results with win994a.

 

If I create a xb autoload file with c99 it wont load in win994a, but if I create a auto load file in win994a it will load in c99.

[Charlie_]

Could someone make a DSSD (180K) Disk image , XB autoload of this game? I want to make the disk with TI99PC and play it on my TI99.

[jchase1970]

Mad Hatter and chazbeenhad, here is a 180k disk with a new file on it that runs, on win994a using 32k.

 

Please let me know if it works for you,

John

 

BOUNCING BABY.zip

[jchase1970]

OK, got confirmation that the EA5 version WILL work on a TI computer run BABY5 - EA option 5

So anyone looking to play Bouncing Babies on a TI you need EA cart and DL the game from the 1st post.

 

Thanks John.

 

Sorry if you only have XB cart, I can't trouble shoot why it is not working with autoload. I have compiled 2 versions 1 on C99 and 1 on WIN994a. Both work on emulators but neither will work on a real TI. I have no disk system to compile it on a real TI. I think most people who have a disk system probably have the EA cart anyway.

 

John

[Opry99er]

Congrats man!!! Your presence here is very inspiring! I should try this for a mini-RPG... Just to see how it compiles. Thanks for your contributions John

[Charlie_]

Mad Hatter and chazbeenhad, here is a 180k disk with a new file on it that runs, on win994a using 32k.

 

Please let me know if it works for you,

John

 

BOUNCING BABY.zip

 

Thanks. It worked great. The game is very fun!

[jchase1970]

Congrats man!!! Your presence here is very inspiring! I should try this for a mini-RPG... Just to see how it compiles. Thanks for your contributions John

 

Thank you Owen,

John

[Charlie_]

Sorry if you only have XB cart, I can't trouble shoot why it is not working with autoload. I have compiled 2 versions 1 on C99 and 1 on WIN994a. Both work on emulators but neither will work on a real TI. I have no disk system to compile it on a real TI. I think most people who have a disk system probably have the EA cart anyway.

 

John

 

I know I already replied that it worked, but I want to be clear so others can play cause its a really fun game.

 

Using the 180K attachment in post #57 I was able to make a disk using ti99-pc and it works with XB autoload on my real TI99/4A with PEB disk system.

 

Thanks again for the game.

[+retroclouds]

Retroclouds I added baby6 file in the baby5 zip DL. SO redownload it and give it a try.

 

Just tried it, works like a charm.

According to the file size its roundabout 14K.

So it shouldn't be too hard to make a ROM image of two 8K banks containing your game and some wrapper code for copying to high memory.

 

I'll give it a spin and let you know (might take a few days though, limited TI time this week)

 

I just tested the #EA5 version on the TI-99/4A: it works great.

Have to say that I'm impressed with the quality of your game.

 

Also didn't think that there are basic compilers around that work that well. Very slick.

[Tursi]

there is something odd going on with 1 file type. that is the XB autoload files that classic99 creates. ones with machine code and basic code together.

 

I don't have a ti system I can send files to to test onthe real machine, but I can duplicate the results with win994a.

 

If I create a xb autoload file with c99 it wont load in win994a, but if I create a auto load file in win994a it will load in c99.

 

Okay, yeah.. it's very likely the file type - this is not a bug in Classic99, more of an incompatibility. The same thing would happen on real hardware if my virtual disk device existed in real life.

 

This is still theory, I haven't confirmed it, but what happens is this.

 

Extended BASIC, like TI BASIC, can run programs from VDP RAM. When a program fits in VDP RAM, XB saves it as a PROGRAM type file, so that it can be directly loaded into VRAM.

 

However, when a program is larger than available VDP RAM, XB saves it as an Internal/Fixed/254 (IIRC, might be DF...) set of records, so that the loader can do it in pieces.

 

The problem comes along when you introduce the Disk system -- the TI Disk Controller reserves some memory at the top of VDP RAM, making the available size of VDP smaller. For example, it's possible in XB (and TI BASIC) to have programs that load on cassette (which doesn't use these buffers) but not on disk. Usually a CALL FILES(1) would free up enough memory. Corcomp and Myarc copied TI's disk system, so do the same thing.

 

Classic99 doesn't use VDP buffers at all for its disk system, meaning the same RAM is available as on the raw cassette system. This is not normally a problem, but if you save a file from XB that is right near the edge, it may save as a PROGRAM image rather than an IF254. In that case, the system that loads it needs to have enough free VDP RAM to bring it in as a single chunk.

 

Technically, IMO, this should be an advantage, but I've lamented everyone copying the floppy controller so many times before.

 

There are probably some CALL LOADs you could do to fix it, we'd have to find the pointers that set the top of VDP RAM... unfortunately CALL FILES() does nothing in the current release, so you can't use that to fake it. My ultimate solution was to add support for the real disk controller, but I haven't done that yet. If it's going to cause people problems, though, I could implement the buffer space updates just to make it easier to transfer to a real machine (since that was always an important goal of the emulator).

 

You may be able to verify this with TI99DIR - just check the file type of the version saved by Classic99 against the version saved in Win994A and see if it's PROGRAM versus (something else ).

[Charlie_]

I've been playing the game a lot and I'm really enjoying it.

 

The only thing I would like to see changed is when the sound is made of a baby bouncing, the baby isnt displayed on the screen until after the sound is done. Its like the baby goes away and it throws me off.

[jchase1970]

I've been playing the game a lot and I'm really enjoying it.

 

The only thing I would like to see changed is when the sound is made of a baby bouncing, the baby isnt displayed on the screen until after the sound is done. Its like the baby goes away and it throws me off.

 

 

that's not something I noticed on the emulators, but is something I can fix. I am almost done with Worm Wars, will be done with it this week then I can revisit Babies. I really appreciate the feed back. There are a few things I want to optimize any way and see if I can get it down to 8k. I ordered a PEB with disk so hopefully I can start testing on a real machine and know excatly what is going on.

 

Thanks again,

John

[jchase1970]

there is something odd going on with 1 file type. that is the XB autoload files that classic99 creates. ones with machine code and basic code together.

 

I don't have a ti system I can send files to to test onthe real machine, but I can duplicate the results with win994a.

 

If I create a xb autoload file with c99 it wont load in win994a, but if I create a auto load file in win994a it will load in c99.

 

Okay, yeah.. it's very likely the file type - this is not a bug in Classic99, more of an incompatibility. The same thing would happen on real hardware if my virtual disk device existed in real life.

 

This is still theory, I haven't confirmed it, but what happens is this.

 

Extended BASIC, like TI BASIC, can run programs from VDP RAM. When a program fits in VDP RAM, XB saves it as a PROGRAM type file, so that it can be directly loaded into VRAM.

 

However, when a program is larger than available VDP RAM, XB saves it as an Internal/Fixed/254 (IIRC, might be DF...) set of records, so that the loader can do it in pieces.

 

The problem comes along when you introduce the Disk system -- the TI Disk Controller reserves some memory at the top of VDP RAM, making the available size of VDP smaller. For example, it's possible in XB (and TI BASIC) to have programs that load on cassette (which doesn't use these buffers) but not on disk. Usually a CALL FILES(1) would free up enough memory. Corcomp and Myarc copied TI's disk system, so do the same thing.

 

Classic99 doesn't use VDP buffers at all for its disk system, meaning the same RAM is available as on the raw cassette system. This is not normally a problem, but if you save a file from XB that is right near the edge, it may save as a PROGRAM image rather than an IF254. In that case, the system that loads it needs to have enough free VDP RAM to bring it in as a single chunk.

 

Technically, IMO, this should be an advantage, but I've lamented everyone copying the floppy controller so many times before.

 

There are probably some CALL LOADs you could do to fix it, we'd have to find the pointers that set the top of VDP RAM... unfortunately CALL FILES() does nothing in the current release, so you can't use that to fake it. My ultimate solution was to add support for the real disk controller, but I haven't done that yet. If it's going to cause people problems, though, I could implement the buffer space updates just to make it easier to transfer to a real machine (since that was always an important goal of the emulator).

 

You may be able to verify this with TI99DIR - just check the file type of the version saved by Classic99 against the version saved in Win994A and see if it's PROGRAM versus (something else ).

 

 

Thanks for the reply, as it stands right now I can compile the xb autoload files on win99 and the EA5 files on classic99 so it's no hurry on a fix, (I just wish win99 had a turbo option like classic99, that is so handy.) I will have my system to test on in a few days and I can do more testing then with better results.

 

John

[Mad Hatter]

Are you referring to the XB or E/A version? I think you were talking about the XB one in your previous post. How did you get it to work?? I tried several times on the actual TI and kept getting I/O Error 02 messages. The EA version works great though!

 

I've been playing the game a lot and I'm really enjoying it.

 

The only thing I would like to see changed is when the sound is made of a baby bouncing, the baby isnt displayed on the screen until after the sound is done. Its like the baby goes away and it throws me off.

[Charlie_]

Are you referring to the XB or E/A version? I think you were talking about the XB one in your previous post. How did you get it to work?? I tried several times on the actual TI and kept getting I/O Error 02 messages. The EA version works great though!

 

I've been playing the game a lot and I'm really enjoying it.

 

The only thing I would like to see changed is when the sound is made of a baby bouncing, the baby isnt displayed on the screen until after the sound is done. Its like the baby goes away and it throws me off.

 

I just made the disk using TI-99pc on an old windows98 machine. It worked fine when I put the disk in the PEB and it auto started in XB.

How are you creating the disk for your TI99?

[Charlie_]

I've been playing the game a lot and I'm really enjoying it.

 

The only thing I would like to see changed is when the sound is made of a baby bouncing, the baby isnt displayed on the screen until after the sound is done. Its like the baby goes away and it throws me off.

 

 

that's not something I noticed on the emulators, but is something I can fix. I am almost done with Worm Wars, will be done with it this week then I can revisit Babies. I really appreciate the feed back. There are a few things I want to optimize any way and see if I can get it down to 8k. I ordered a PEB with disk so hopefully I can start testing on a real machine and know excatly what is going on.

 

Thanks again,

John

 

Sounds good! You can clearly see what I'm talking about in the youtube videos in the 1st post in this thread.

 

When a baby lands on the trampoline a sound is made but the baby is not shown on the screen until the sound ends and the baby moves along on his bounce.

[Mad Hatter]

I extracted the "LOAD" file from the image and transfered it to floppy via serial connection.

 

 

I just made the disk using TI-99pc on an old windows98 machine. It worked fine when I put the disk in the PEB and it auto started in XB.

How are you creating the disk for your TI99?