ABBUC Software Contest 2012 - Status

[+skr]

The magazine was delivered to most Germans today, so I publish the ATR with the software contest contributions:

 

http://skriegel.de/atari/SMAG.zip

 

This is open for everybody, not only members. Feedback appreciated, I´ll publish a vote-sheet for non-members too, because I am interested in how those results might differ.

[Tezz]

Many great new productions in there Will need to spend some time looking at them at length after the weekend.

Ridiculous Reality is excellent, how do you pick up the keys?

[+Adam+]

@Tezz You don't pick them, you just touch them

[Tezz]

ah, cool ok Will have a break from coding and play RR for a while.

[+Stephen]

Can't wait to try the Asteremu. I have to break out my PAL machine for most of this stuff though.

[Heaven/TQA]

is only me or is side a corrupted? do not boot and crashes Atari800mac emu.

[+Adam+]

@Stephen

The NTSC-friendly version of Ridiculous Reality is almost finished.

[+skr]

is only me or is side a corrupted? do not boot and crashes Atari800mac emu.

 

I'll check that. The used only AtariMac800X (as I only have a MBP at home) when we produced the Disks and it worked fine. The images I linked to are made from the original floppies by HIAS.

What exactly doesn't work?

Sometimes there was the problem that the GameDos didn't load. But you can still access the files using any other OS or DOS, for example QMEG OS or in AtariMac800X just load SpartaDOS as Cartridge.

[matosimi]

I'll check that. The used only AtariMac800X (as I only have a MBP at home) when we produced the Disks and it worked fine. The images I linked to are made from the original floppies by HIAS.

What exactly doesn't work?

Sometimes there was the problem that the GameDos didn't load. But you can still access the files using any other OS or DOS, for example QMEG OS or in AtariMac800X just load SpartaDOS as Cartridge.

 

Well, side A just crashes during boot on Atari800winplus, but it works ok on Altirra.

 

btw, since all games are published here... could we (authors) publish them also on our websites?

Edited October 11, 2012 by matosimi

[+skr]

btw, since all games are published here... could we (authors) publish them also on our websites?

 

The magazine is published and so the games are. So you are free to publish them on your websites of course.

For the magazine I translated all english documentation to German. I will also translate the German documentations to English and publish them, but this won't happen before next week, as I am travelling a lot at the moment. Next stop: Belgium. Tasty Wafers and chocolate. Yum yum.

[+JAC!]

Tigerduck an I had a great time trying out all the new stuff. Nice to see so many different styles and ideas. I love the Callisto sprites, background but the game misses additional elements (enemy shots/ground attacks/things to collect). All theses things are there in HAR'em, but the game is only beta with a single level. I really hope we'll see improved versions of both - your all deserve :thumbsup: !

[Rybags]

Both sides worked OK here - there's 2 Atr files in the zip that are only a couple of hundred bytes, so don't mount them.

 

Playing Ridiculous Reality now, great presentation and a challenging game.

[HiassofT]

is only me or is side a corrupted? do not boot and crashes Atari800mac emu.

The DOS on this disk seems to be somewhat strange. I had to use the "-nopatch" option in Atari800 2.2.0 (to disable the SIO patch) to get it running.

 

so long,

 

Hias

Edited October 11, 2012 by HiassofT

[Heaven/TQA]

ah, Thanks. will try "no sio patch".

[Heaven/TQA]

yup. no-sio patch works... have thought that the game dos from side b is put on side a, too. strange to switch the loader.

 

and I have to admit, I like the softsprites of HARem more than the 2600 styled enemies of Calisto (... ok... awaiting TMR smash on my face )

[Rybags]

Side A has the pic viewer and Asteroids emu which both need a Dos, so I guess that's the reasoning.

 

Just finished Ridiculous Reality (I guess) - it returns to Dos after about 4 of the cactus levels.

[matosimi]

Just finished Ridiculous Reality (I guess) - it returns to Dos after about 4 of the cactus levels.

Hmm... thats not correct ending... there are more levels. Maybe something went wrong with particular DOS used by ABBUC.

Also you cannot use savestates on emulator, it would corrupt loader...

 

I tested game on classic dos2.5 and it worked ok, but I recommend to use binary XEX.

[drac030]

I am not sure if these ATRs contain a 100% correct file system. MyDOS VTOCFIX complains on file collisions here.

[+CharlieChaplin]

Well,

 

I created the masterdisks of the ASC 2012 programs and I am very surprised that they are officially available to the public. So here are some comments and descriptions:

 

Disable the SIO patch in the emu for image 1 (diskside A) or (alternatively) exchange the DOS+DUP with DOS 2.5 or DOS II+D or your favourite DOS that does NOT use RAM under the OS (because image 1 / diskside A uses TB XL). The Autorun.SYS is TB XL with a title in front of it, thats why its 146 sectors in length. The used DOS is for stupid A8 floppy drives - it will always check the density first before doing anything else (good for XF551 and other stupid drives without density detection)... not so good for emulators it seems. On image / diskside 2 you will find the gamedos MyPicoDOS 4.05, the barebone version without any speeders.

 

--------------

 

The programs:

 

Caterpillar: a Tron clone, use paddles to play ! 2-4 players are allowed; press START, then adjust your paddles (so that the arrow points "up"); when all players are done press START again to start the game; the game afaik does not require fire button / paddle fire (just paddle movement left/right); program requires TB XL and DOS;

 

Asteroids Emu: The arcade version of Asteroids emulated on the A8, alas with ROMs missing. We do have the required ROMs, due to copyright reasons (Asteroids = Copyright Atari) we are not allowed to publish them on the official Abbuc disk; simply download the ROMs from the MAME site (Asteroid.zip) and rename them from "digit.ROM" to "Rdigit.ROM" (since DOS 2 does not allow filenames to begin with a number/digit); I could post a copy of the Asteroids-Emulator with ROMs here at AA, if Albert is willing to be sued by Atari SA... which I doubt; program requires DOS;

 

Keep on Koastin: the thing that moves should be a rollercoaster (unbelievable but true); it consists of 5 tiles (later 4 or 3 tiles); you are the orange or green thing on the rollercoaster and have to move in the same direction the coaster moves (otherwise you sooner or later fall off the coaster); stay on the coaster as long as possible and while riding the coaster try to catch extras... (this game was originally intended for the atari-age 4k Basic contest); I am kinda happy, that you don`t have to do this on real rollercoasters, allthough I never ride rollercoasters ... ; program requires Atari Basic;

 

MazezaM: a puzzle game, move the tiles until the exit is free; the program (or better the file Xbios.COM) had a bug, which prevented it from running from a real A8 floppy drive (tested with 1050 and XF551, various versions; it did run fine with "emulated" floppy drives, like SIO2PC, SIO2SD, SDrive, etc. but NOT with real floppy drives); after I got gray hair, because my comrades Sascha and Gunnar could run it, while I could not run it, we found out the reason why: They tested with floppy-emulation, I tested with real Atari floppy drives; luckily QMEG-author Stefan Dorndorf patched it, so the released version now runs fine; program runs under DOS and Gamedos (and now also with emulated and real floppy drives);

 

Callisto: great shmup game for a C64 coder programming on the A8, alas it misses some extras (like power-ups, special weapons, etc.); it already came packed with Exomizer; program runs under DOS and Gamedos;

 

HAR`em: Another shooter; the program has only one level; the authors could not do more until the deadline was over (still better than nothing); afair program runs under Gamedos only;

 

OTA-Viewer: a gfx converter for Nokia *.OTA gfx and Portfolio gfx, including some sample gfx in OTA and PGF/PGC format; I added a simple Gr. 0 title (while loading) and a coldstart-option (press Reset to reboot), so one knows what is currently loading and one can reboot without switching off the computer; program requires DOS;

 

Voyager: another Startrek/Outpost based game, where one has to clear the galaxy of all opponents/enemies... (the first games of this genre were released on mainframes in the early 70s afaik; the first A8 version was available in 1980 afaik); program requires TB XL and DOS;

 

Rid.Reality: We first got a copy of this game completely unpacked, length 165kbytes - not nice for a 130k Abbuc magazine. So I packed it with Superpacker and Exomizer and the 3rd or 4th try worked (with very small gfx glitches). Luckily we later got a packed copy from the author himself (smaller than 130k) where none of these glitches were there; program runs under DOs and Gamedos;

 

---------------------

 

All programs were copied by me on two 5,25" disksides (130k, format DOS 2.5) and tested on real 64k and 576k Atari XL computers as well as standard 1050, Speedy 1050, standard XF and Hyper-XF floppy drives and last not least standard Atari XL OS (without any highspeed/ultraspeed patches, etc.) and they worked fine. I have not tested the programs under emulation (except Asteroids emulator - emulated on the A8). Rid. Reality worked fine on my real Atari XL and I solved up to 8 levels without any problems, bugs or crashes (only loaded it on the emulator, but did not playtest it there). Feel free to ask if you have more questions regarding the released programs... -Andreas Koch.

[xxl]

the program (or better the file Xbios.COM) had a bug, which prevented it from running from a real A8 floppy drive (tested with 1050 and XF551, various versions; it did run fine with "emulated" floppy drives, like SIO2PC, SIO2SD, SDrive, etc. but NOT with real floppy drives)

 

 

 

good version I sent to ABBUC two days later :-)

 

download:

EMPTY_SD_XBIOS.ATR

[Roydea6]

Well,

 

I created the masterdisks of the ASC 2012 programs and I am very surprised that they are officially available to the public. So here are some comments and descriptions:

 

Disable the SIO patch in the emu for image 1 (diskside A) or (alternatively) exchange the DOS+DUP with DOS 2.5 or DOS II+D or your favourite DOS that does NOT use RAM under the OS (because image 1 / diskside A uses TB XL). The Autorun.SYS is TB XL with a title in front of it, thats why its 146 sectors in length. The used DOS is for stupid A8 floppy drives - it will always check the density first before doing anything else (good for XF551 and other stupid drives without density detection)... not so good for emulators it seems. On image / diskside 2 you will find the gamedos MyPicoDOS 4.05, the barebone version without any speeders.

 

--------------

 

The programs:

 

Asteroids Emu: The arcade version of Asteroids emulated on the A8, alas with ROMs missing. We do have the required ROMs, due to copyright reasons (Asteroids = Copyright Atari) we are not allowed to publish them on the official Abbuc disk; simply download the ROMs from the MAME site (Asteroid.zip) and rename them from "digit.ROM" to "Rdigit.ROM" (since DOS 2 does not allow filenames to begin with a number/digit); I could post a copy of the Asteroids-Emulator with ROMs here at AA, if Albert is willing to be sued by Atari SA... which I doubt; program requires DOS;

 

MazezaM: a puzzle game, move the tiles until the exit is free; the program (or better the file Xbios.COM) had a bug, which prevented it from running from a real A8 floppy drive (tested with 1050 and XF551, various versions; it did run fine with "emulated" floppy drives, like SIO2PC, SIO2SD, SDrive, etc. but NOT with real floppy drives); after I got gray hair, because my comrades Sascha and Gunnar could run it, while I could not run it, we found out the reason why: They tested with floppy-emulation, I tested with real Atari floppy drives; luckily QMEG-author Stefan Dorndorf patched it, so the released version now runs fine; program runs under DOS and Gamedos (and now also with emulated and real floppy drives);

 

Rid.Reality: We first got a copy of this game completely unpacked, length 165kbytes - not nice for a 130k Abbuc magazine. So I packed it with Superpacker and Exomizer and the 3rd or 4th try worked (with very small gfx glitches). Luckily we later got a packed copy from the author himself (smaller than 130k) where none of these glitches were there; program runs under DOs and Gamedos;

 

---------------------

 

All programs were copied by me on two 5,25" disksides (130k, format DOS 2.5) and tested on real 64k and 576k Atari XL computers as well as standard 1050, Speedy 1050, standard XF and Hyper-XF floppy drives and last not least standard Atari XL OS (without any highspeed/ultraspeed patches, etc.) and they worked fine. I have not tested the programs under emulation (except Asteroids emulator - emulated on the A8). Rid. Reality worked fine on my real Atari XL and I solved up to 8 levels without any problems, bugs or crashes (only loaded it on the emulator, but did not playtest it there). Feel free to ask if you have more questions regarding the released programs... -Andreas Koch.

 

Asteroids rocks **** 4stars..

I like Mazem , but it is a little difficult..**** 4stars

Rid Reality Is fun also but doesn't like my NTSC machine..possibly another 4stars if fixed for NTSC.

Thank you...

[phaeron]

Took a look at why this disk crashes in Atari800 with SIO patch enabled... the DOS on this disk is issuing a bizarre read sector command to SIOV with DSTATS=$00, which tells SIO not to expect any data coming back. Altirra detects this problem and punts to the native SIO, but Atari800 is servicing the read request and overwriting the sector buffer at $0400. I recommend fixing the DOS on this disk as this could also blow up with PBI-based disk emulations.

[drac030]

That DOS has problems not only on emulators: on real Atari, when booted from SIO with Option held down, it hangs. When booted without Option, it boots into BASIC, but the DOS command does nothing. So it seems it is a real masterpiece of programming.

[+therealbountybob]

My abbuc mag/disk arrived (UK) today

[Heaven/TQA]

First time for ages that a dos causes problems.