www.fishsta.co.uk

[sometimes99er]

Thought you should have the link/a copy from the mighty 99er.net. Hope it's alright with Fishsta.

 

http://www.99er.net/99erbb/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11

 

Before anyone jumps on the "It's a spammer" bandwagon, no I'm not!

 

I'm currently working on a TI project, which is going to pretty much take over my existing website (which is, ironically, www.fishsta.co.uk)

 

But before I do, I wonder if anyone can answer a couple of questions for me...

 

I have a working TI99/4A. Cartridges still work, but I'm REALLY struggling to play tapes.

 

In the interest of preserving my collection of TI BASIC games, I'm attempting to transfer as much TI BASIC software as possible to emulator-compatible format. However, so far I'm struggling.

 

To this end, I see the following possible solutions:

 

1) I manage to get things working on the original hardware, and type in the listings line-by-line into Classic99 and save them to disc images.

 

2) I manage to get a CS1 WAV to Disc convertor running successfully. So far, had no success with this.

 

3) I attempt to re-create the old games manually. Trial, error and hazy memories notwithstanding, I think this option is the least viable.

 

4) I find a resource that already has all these games available for download.

 

Here's a pic of my TI collection (Click image for a bigger, more detailed image)

 

Besides obvious things like the TI itself, the command modules, the WHSmith cassette recorder (professional opinion, it's knackered), and several mail-order tapes, there's also tapes that consist of typed-in games, and lots of photocopies of listings from issues of Personal Computing Weekly and also the TI Home Computer Users Club.

 

Already, I have reviewed a few TI99/4A games on my Retro Blog:

Parsec

TI Invaders (The best version of Space Invaders EVER)

Munch Man

 

I've also just started a set of Video reviews of some of my favourite TI games:

 

As you can see, my love and passion for retro and the TI is strong, so if I DO begin this project, it will be a labour of love and not be taken lightly, the idea being to get those games of yesteryear that I used to enjoy available for others to share and enjoy (I'm a regular poster on the forums of Retro Gamer magazine as well as my website, and response there is reasonably positive).

 

So, to my questions, then:

 

1) IS there a resource for Basic Games? I've found one that has a small number of games (including Winging It), however the games I'm really after are Lantern Software's Troll King, Runner on Triton & Daddies Hot Rod; Apex Trading's Adventure Island, Goblin Caves & Anagram, Markat Software's Pelmanism, anything by Steven Shaw, Titan Software's Mission 99, Time Travels Inc's Squadron Leader, but above all others a game called "Ancient Kingdom" that I haven't seen or played since approx 1990 at best.

 

2) Does anybody already have such a project on the go?

 

3) Can anyone offer me advice on software such as CS1er, and help as to where I might be going wrong at converting taped data?

 

4) Would anyone be interested in the type-in listings being made available, as well as every listing from the User's Guide?

 

Answers to the above, or any feedback on the other above links or my retro blog would be very much appreciated.

 

Many thanks in advance!

 

Fishsta

 

[+Vorticon]

Never heard of any of these games except for of course Winging It... There are so many games out there that are still undocumented! One thing I have learned however about TI games is that they frequently have interesting and attractive names that give you visions of fantastic play, only to be sorely disappointed by the actual game. This is especially relevant to TI Basic and Extended Basic games which were put out by the dozen by very short lived "publishers" based in the bedrooms of teenage programmers... This is a dilemma I frequently face in selecting games for the TI Gameshelf site, and I have come to the "executive" decision of only posting games that have at least a modicum of playability and entertainment. Granted this is likely a highly subjective process, but it's better than clogging the site with junk...

[matthew180]

As you can see, my love and passion for retro and the TI is strong, so if I DO begin this project, it will be a labour of love and not be taken lightly, the idea being to get those games of yesteryear that I used to enjoy available for others to share and enjoy (I'm a regular poster on the forums of Retro Gamer magazine as well as my website, and response there is reasonably positive).

 

Yup. Everyone here has the same passion, and personally I consider this my "TI home". Welcome! It would be great to have you around!

 

So, to my questions, then:

 

1) IS there a resource for Basic Games?

 

This forum! Oh and Owen.

 

3) Can anyone offer me advice on software such as CS1er, and help as to where I might be going wrong at converting taped data?

 

I'm sure the people here can help get you sorted. You should really look in to getting a PEB or CF7 expansion. That would make your 99/4A life a lot better and help get those tapes converted. Personally I have never tried the cassette-to-WAV option, but then again I don't have any old tapes (I guess I lost them a long time ago.)

 

4) Would anyone be interested in the type-in listings being made available, as well as every listing from the User's Guide?

 

Absolutely! We were just talking about old programs from Compute! magazines a few days ago.

Edited January 28, 2011 by matthew180

[GratedTopping]

I know I've transferred a few of my old cassettes to the PC using a program to read the TI data tapes. I only did that a little -- with pretty good success -- until I discover just transferring files right from the TI to the PC laptop 3.5 disk and then taking that disk to the 3.5 on the old PC tower.

 

Any, as far as I recall, "CS1er" didn't work as well for me as "Tape994a". I can be certain, but I know that I had first-time coversion using at least one of them! It definitely has to do with volume controls on the tape player, too, and a TI recorder or one similar (with volume + tone knobs are recommended).

 

I can't find a working link of the "Tape994a", so I have attached that. I also found my transfer of the "Daddie's Hot Rod", read yo run in "Classi99" Try and see if you can get a copy from the tape and if maybe you can share?

Tape994a v3.1 final.ZIP

[chris36]

Attached is an account of my experience with recording tape to PC via sound card and then getting an image from CS1er. I had posted this over TI yahoo group. Hopefully this will help.

 

Regards,

Chris

LBLA_WAV.rtf

[+OLD CS1]

Any, as far as I recall, "CS1er" didn't work as well for me as "Tape994a". I can be certain, but I know that I had first-time coversion using at least one of them! It definitely has to do with volume controls on the tape player, too, and a TI recorder or one similar (with volume + tone knobs are recommended).

 

Seconded. Tape994a worked *better* for me, although I was able to use CS1er for at least one conversion. And, yes, you have to play with the tone and volume for the sample, just like with a regular TI and an unknown tape player.

 

Good luck. It is pretty hit-and-miss, and will be frustrating as hell, but it can be successful.

[Fishsta]

Good evening, folks. First off, thanks to sometimes99er for copying and pasting my post over here. This forum looks a little more lively, and without me even posting I've got some feedback already! You guys are very efficient!

 

To respond as quickly and succintly as ever I can... Vorticon... your website was the closest to the sort of thing I've been looking for. Am I right in thinking the resources available for the TI in terms of ever achieving a "TOSEC" set of games/programmes are, at best, extremely limited? Could it be that I have games in my possession that may never see the light of day again if I ensure their preservation myself? If that is the case, I am more keen than ever to get this project underway. The only worry I have is one of copyright, but I would hope that any (surviving) copyright holder from "the day" would be glad to see their software enjoyed by a whole new generation without fee rather than disappear into the ether forever! BTW, I've got a scanned-in copy of the Winging It instructions... to be online soon!

 

Matthew180, Thanks for your answers there, to give you a quick idea, here's a closer view of the listings I've got (click the image for a larger image):

 

 

GratedTopping (great name), Chris36 and OLD CS1, thanks for the information on those programmes. I'll give them another try shortly. I have just found another tape deck, but it's untested with the TI in the last 15 years or so, so fingers will have to remain very crossed on that one.

 

Thanks again for the feedback, guys, look forward to providing the TI community, however large or small it may be, with something excitingly fresh and "new" (old).

[+retroclouds]

Attached is an account of my experience with recording tape to PC via sound card and then getting an image from CS1er. I had posted this over TI yahoo group. Hopefully this will help.

 

Regards,

Chris

 

Excellent stuff. I'd like to add the document to the "Development Resources" thread if you don't mind

[Fishsta]

Well, it's updated a little...

 

There's a few scans available on there now, including a complete set of this:

 

[chris36]

Attached is an account of my experience with recording tape to PC via sound card and then getting an image from CS1er. I had posted this over TI yahoo group. Hopefully this will help.

 

Regards,

Chris

 

Excellent stuff. I'd like to add the document to the "Development Resources" thread if you don't mind

 

I would be honoured if you posted.

[ti99iuc]

Fishsta,

if for you it can be intersting on my site: www.ti99iuc.it and in 'download' section (it's need to be registered to enter) i started some months ago a similar project ... a lot of material you can find already scanned...

 

my project will be to create a global situation of ti99... another site is whtech, but a lot of scanned document are not in good quality so i looking for rescan that documents... the same for software... in the same section i upload all software from cassette and disks i have, them are in a .rar file with into a .dsk of the game and two .jpg of the screens...

 

if you think it's can be good for you i will happy ...

 

bye

[Fishsta]

Thanks ti99userclub, I'll take a good look through that later.

 

After a quick search, I can't find a UK version of the "Read This First" manual. So I've scanned it. Hopefully add it to the site tonight.

 

For now, here's a quick taster. Games hopefully to start appearing this weekend. HOPEFULLY.

[Fishsta]

www.fishsta.co.uk updated, UK version of the "Read This First" manual added. Hopefully the first games will be available by Sunday.

[Fishsta]

First tapped in listing, it's the "Game of Chase".

 

Load into Classic99 by copying into the DSK1 folder, and in TI Basic typing

 

OLD DSK1.GMECHASE

 

Typing that listing in brought some memories back.

 

Still no luck with getting a tape lead to work with my real TI, so I'm going to have to get CS1ER or TAPE994A to save the day... and the tapes.

GMECHASE.zip

Edited February 6, 2011 by Fishsta

[sometimes99er]

Nice game. Thanks for effort.

[Fishsta]

Sorry for the slow updates. However, I've had a couple of things to deal with.

 

I AM going to start flooding some games this weekend.

 

In the meantime, how's this for the game download page?

 

The actual Download link should be working in about half an hour or so.

[Opry99er]

Dude, this website is awesome... I really like the layout and the content (so far as I've read). Great job, and thanks for the game! I've saved it to my archives. =) If you'd like, you can upload the attached file as well... It's my "Lemonade Stand" game which runs as a Windows .exe file. Tursi was able to wrap Classic99 into an exe and now you can play the game without actually running an emulator. =) The zip also contains a bad copy of my manual as well... The game is much better if you read the manual first. =)

Lemonade--complete.zip

Edited February 15, 2011 by Opry99er

[sometimes99er]

If you'd like, you can upload the attached file as well... It's my "Lemonade Stand" game which runs as a Windows .exe file. Tursi was able to wrap Classic99 into an exe and now you can play the game without actually running an emulator. =) The zip also contains a bad copy of my manual as well... The game is much better if you read the manual first. =)

Looks as if the zip only contains pdf and txt. No exe.

 

On the matter of this exe thing. Now a "Lemonade Stand" somewhere else on the net could actually be a malicious exe instead. Even though this wrapping is nice, I would generally have to warn against it.

 

[Opry99er]

Apologies..... here's the ACTUAL one

Lemonade--complete.zip

[Fishsta]

Another new game added, "Slalom Run"

 

 

 

Anyone want to post their high scores?

 

Download available on the TI Games page.

 

 

Opry99er, are you submitting that game for inclusion on www.fishsta.co.uk? By all means, I'll add it, but the original idea was to resurrect games from back in the day.

 

Not complaining about new material, far from it, I think it's marvellous that old computers are STILL having new software developed for them (I mean, look at how well Prince of Persia ended up being ported to the Spectrum, and who would EVER have thought it was capable of it?), just being honest that it wasn't what I planned, but part of me says any new TI99/4A resource (which is what I'm trying to be) should provide as much as it can to help keep the scene alive. So what I'd do is split the TI Games section up, into a section for games from the "heyday" and a section for games made since.

 

As long as you'd be alright with that, I'd be more than happy to help promote any game submitted.

 

Again, in the spirit of honesty, I'm discovering that work expands to fill time available. I hoped to get 2 or 3 games on this weekend, and due to various commitments only been able to get 1 up. Better than nothing, but less than I want to give.

[Opry99er]

All preservation efforts are to be commended! Thanks for your work.

I thought you could add this as a novelty--- the game was programmed and released for the TI computer, and this file makes it possible for people who visit you site to play a TI game without having to DL and learn an emulator. Kind of a little promo game--- "Hey, play a TI-99 game on your PC" kind of thing. If you want to use it, that's cool. Just wanted to make it available.

[sometimes99er]

Nice going.

 

The game plays alright, unfortunately I haven't got the patience to try and do a high score.

 

I've got a very similar game on my to-do-list.