jaybird3rd Posted July 2, 2013 Author Share Posted July 2, 2013 Reworking those games will be a huge task. Are you going to dissassemble the games and recompile them, or just replace everything that looks like memory address?As a suggestion, you could also add 16k of RAM on the card and internally copy the game from rom to ram. Disassembling and recompiling them would be my first choice. Many of the games which require a 16K RAM module only seem to use about 8K, judging from the size of the CAQ files, so it should be possible to relocate them into the cartridge space "in one piece" (using $C000 as the new base address instead of $4000, perhaps). But it will indeed require lots of testing for every game, and to be honest, the work involved is the main reason I've been putting off the Aquaricart II until now. I've wanted to put together a collection of these games ever since I finished the first Aquaricart, but I also want Aquarius owners without extra RAM to be able to enjoy them, if that is at all possible. For this approach to work, I'll need a disassembler which can produce output that is ready for an assembler. I believe you've mentioned that you use dZ80w. Have you ever successfully run the output through an assembler, and if so, which one did you use? I had also thought of adding extra RAM, and it's still an option if I can't rework the games to run entirely from ROM. The new cartridge shells I'm using are much smaller than the Aquarius originals, though, and won't easily accommodate onboard RAM. One possible alternative is to create an inexpensive RAM module, separate from the Aquaricart II cartridge, but that would also require that the user have a Mini Expander. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mvdsteenoven Posted July 3, 2013 Share Posted July 3, 2013 For this approach to work, I'll need a disassembler which can produce output that is ready for an assembler. I believe you've mentioned that you use dZ80w. Have you ever successfully run the output through an assembler, and if so, which one did you use? Yes, I did. I have disassembled using dZ80W and used the TASM which came with the VirtualAquarius to re-assemble. The original binary and the new binary where identically. Unfortunattely, TASM doesn't seem to work with Windows 7 64bit, so I need to find a new Z80 assembler I also played around disassembling some Add-On games. These are the dZ80W options I have used to disassemble BOMBER (Gamespack 2) ; Options: ; Start: 14768, End: 16009 ; File Start: 14768, File hdr: 97 ; Radix prefix: $ Note: I always add the dZ80W options as a comment in the assembly file. I found this very helpfull Regs, Martin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted July 3, 2013 Author Share Posted July 3, 2013 Thank you, Martin! TASM is the assembler I already use. I imagine that there will be variables or writable areas that will need to be relocated into the Aquarius's onboard RAM, but this is something I can deal with if I encounter it. A note about TASM and Windows 7: the older version that was bundled with Virtual Aquarius is a DOS executable, but the registered version is a Win32 executable that would probably be more compatible with the 64-bit version of Windows 7; I'll give it a try the next chance I get. The registered version also includes the source code on CD, so it can be recompiled for 64-bit Windows (if needed) or for Linux. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck D. Head Posted July 5, 2013 Share Posted July 5, 2013 . One possible alternative is to create an inexpensive RAM module, separate from the Aquaricart II cartridge, but that would also require that the user have a Mini Expander. I put up a poll to see how many of the proud Aquarius owners here have the Mini-Expander. Now that I did that, I suppose there already is a poll somewhere here. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted November 2, 2013 Author Share Posted November 2, 2013 Well, it's time to dust off this old thread! My post from June 30th included a snapshot of my latest Aquarius gatefold box design. After making a few very small tweaks, I finalized it later this summer, and sent it William at Classic Game Publishers to be printed with his next batch of boxes. It's taken a few months, but I'm excited to announce that the boxes have now been printed and are in my hands! Here they are: I'm very pleased (and more than a little relieved!) that the artwork came out so well, and of course, these boxes are of the same high quality as those of Classic Game Publishers' games. Many thanks once again to William for all his help in making these boxes possible. Now, all I have to do is write enough games to fill them all! Again, the idea behind this design was to make a "generic" box that can be re-dressed for any game by applying labels for the title (on the spine and the thick blue bands on the front and back) and the front cover artwork. The Aquarius has a very small following compared to most other vintage platforms, so having separate boxes printed for each game isn't economically feasible. Nevertheless, I think the end result will look pretty good, and these boxes should also fit nicely into the transparent box protectors used by Intellivision collectors, which would help to "hide" the labels even more. I'll be preoccupied with my "day job" and other matters through the remainder of this year, but I plan to resume the Aquaricart Volume II project early next year. If it succeeds, it will help to offset the cost of these boxes and shells, and will give Aquarius owners the chance to enjoy an interesting variety of games that could previously be played only on a real Aquarius with a 16K RAM cartridge and a tape drive. Much more to come shortly! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cmart604 Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Verrrry sexy! Excellent job on these, glad to see Willy was able to help you get a high quality package for your future Aquarius awesomeness. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquaman Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 Compliments, these boxes really look great! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psquare75 Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 Fantastic!!! I, um, request someone to design a box for the multi-cart 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JasonlikesINTV Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 Very nice! Thanks to Pimpmaul, I now have an Aquarius I'll definitely be following this progress and hope to buy the new games as available. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted November 4, 2013 Share Posted November 4, 2013 Is Synapse Technologies you Jaybird3rd? I hope the future goes something like: Develop BASIC game Convert from .CAS file to ROM Get you to make a cart and provide nifty box Profit? UPDATE: Homebrew isn't about profit. The kind of profit I'm talking about is sharing the homebrew love. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted November 4, 2013 Author Share Posted November 4, 2013 Thanks, everybody! I'm glad you like the boxes. Is Synapse Technologies you Jaybird3rd? I hope the future goes something like: Develop BASIC game Convert from .CAS file to ROM Get you to make a cart and provide nifty box Profit? Yes, Synapse Technologies is me. I picked that name for an unrelated enterprise years ago, but now I'm reviving it as the "umbrella" for my exploration of vintage computing and gaming. The scenario you describe is actually one of the outcomes I had in mind. If prospective homebrew authors would like to develop an Aquarius game in BASIC, the necessary tools are already available: there is a capable version of Microsoft BASIC built right into the computer, and there is the Virtual Aquarius emulator, which offers (among other niceties) a "quick type" feature for entering programs written in a text editor of the programmer's choice. Finally, of course, we have Martin's tool for converting completed BASIC programs to ROM format. Once the game is finished to the author's satisfaction, I would be glad to put the ROM (supplied by the author) onto a cartridge and into one of these boxes. I haven't worked out the pricing yet, but it will be very reasonable. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voltron Posted November 4, 2013 Share Posted November 4, 2013 Wait, a game can be made in basic for aquarius? Are there links to development kits? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voltron Posted November 4, 2013 Share Posted November 4, 2013 Im curious how big is aquarious community? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted November 4, 2013 Author Share Posted November 4, 2013 Wait, a game can be made in basic for aquarius? Are there links to development kits? Certainly. The Aquarius has Microsoft BASIC built right in. Here is the most recent distribution of Virtual Aquarius, which I posted in another thread (check Post #6): http://atariage.com/forums/topic/174191-aquarius-machine-language-programming-on-the-aquarius/?p=2163878 It includes much more than just the emulator, of course: there are tools there for working with cassette image files, sample BASIC code, the source code of the Aquarius OS itself, etc. As for development tools, all you really need is a text editor, which can be anything from Windows Notepad to something fancier. When I have time, I'll also be providing some tools of my own; I already have a half-finished tool for designing screens using the Aquarius's character graphics. The Aquarius user community is pretty small (about 200 active users in all, I'd guess), but I get the impression that collectors are beginning to give the Aquarius a second look, and Aquarius computers are still fairly inexpensive and easy to find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted November 4, 2013 Share Posted November 4, 2013 Thanks, everybody! I'm glad you like the boxes. Yes, Synapse Technologies is me. I picked that name for an unrelated enterprise years ago, but now I'm reviving it as the "umbrella" for my exploration of vintage computing and gaming. The scenario you describe is actually one of the outcomes I had in mind. If prospective homebrew authors would like to develop an Aquarius game in BASIC, the necessary tools are already available: there is a capable version of Microsoft BASIC built right into the computer, and there is the Virtual Aquarius emulator, which offers (among other niceties) a "quick type" feature for entering programs written in a text editor of the programmer's choice. Finally, of course, we have Martin's tool for converting completed BASIC programs to ROM format. Once the game is finished to the author's satisfaction, I would be glad to put the ROM (supplied by the author) onto a cartridge and into one of these boxes. I haven't worked out the pricing yet, but it will be very reasonable. As a personal favor can you message me when you're ready to offer this kind of service? I know the onus should be on me to keep an eye for your announcements but I don't want to miss this. I find it keeps me motivated during homebrew projects if I know the moment I finish it can actually really and truly be turned into a physical product 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted November 4, 2013 Author Share Posted November 4, 2013 As a personal favor can you message me when you're ready to offer this kind of service? I know the onus should be on me to keep an eye for your announcements but I don't want to miss this. I find it keeps me motivated during homebrew projects if I know the moment I finish it can actually really and truly be turned into a physical product I certainly will. As I said earlier, I've got some other business to take care of in the short term, but if you have an idea for a game, there's no need to wait for me. I'll certainly have enough boxes and shells to spare for the foreseeable future! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voltron Posted November 4, 2013 Share Posted November 4, 2013 (edited) Certainly. The Aquarius has Microsoft BASIC built right in. Here is the most recent distribution of Virtual Aquarius, which I posted in another thread (check Post #6):http://atariage.com/forums/topic/174191-aquarius-machine-language-programming-on-the-aquarius/?p=2163878 It includes much more than just the emulator, of course: there are tools there for working with cassette image files, sample BASIC code, the source code of the Aquarius OS itself, etc. As for development tools, all you need is a text editor, which can be anything from Windows Notepad to something fancier. When I have time, I'll also be providing some tools of my own; I already have a half-finished tool for designing screens using the Aquarius's character graphics. The Aquarius user community is pretty small (about 200 active users in all, I'd guess), but I get the impression that collectors are beginning to give the Aquarius a second look, and Aquarius computers are still fairly inexpensive and easy to find. microsoft basic, when i was in school i use know how write code in basic as easy as it was to talk in english. I made a submarine shooting game as a kid, nothing ultra fancy, but i was accused of cheating, bc other student made projects that were text based like guess the number. imhad graphics a submarin, a plane thatnu were suppose to shot down and the ocean. .they wanted me to prove i didnt cheat so they put me in a room and had me code from memory. Anyway i passed. Back then it was microsoft basic for dos. it was dos 3.0 back then. .i have since long forgotten basic, but i think it wouldnt be hard to relearn. Edited November 4, 2013 by voltron 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JasonlikesINTV Posted November 4, 2013 Share Posted November 4, 2013 Dumb question from a technological caveman....Aquarius cart big, Intellivision cart small, new box small.....did modern tech figure out Aquarius game on small cart that fits in Aquarius? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted November 4, 2013 Author Share Posted November 4, 2013 Dumb question from a technological caveman....Aquarius cart big, Intellivision cart small, new box small.....did modern tech figure out Aquarius game on small cart that fits in Aquarius?My new cartridges use Intellivision shells from Left Turn Only that were manufactured "upside-down". They aren't as nice of a cosmetic match for the Aquarius as the original Aquarius shells, of course, but they'll still fit perfectly well in either the computer's or the Mini Expander's cartridge port (I posted pictures in this thread a few pages back). An authentic Aquarius-style shell would have to be custom manufactured, which unfortunately doesn't seem economically feasible at this point. As for the capacity, my cartridges can hold up to a megabyte of ROM, though with BASIC conversions, you'd be limited to 16K. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JasonlikesINTV Posted November 4, 2013 Share Posted November 4, 2013 I'm all for economically feasible Thanks for the clarification. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voltron Posted November 5, 2013 Share Posted November 5, 2013 Im at the silo and i unboxed the aquarius.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted November 5, 2013 Share Posted November 5, 2013 Im at the silo and i unboxed the aquarius.. Remake that sub game! Do it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voltron Posted November 5, 2013 Share Posted November 5, 2013 Remake that sub game! Do it! I going to try, i have to relearn basic. its been over 30 years. It didnt have music back then. bc i never learned how to make it. When I made the game I had just learned how to get the computer to recognize when the plane got hit by missile due to a color change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquaman Posted November 5, 2013 Share Posted November 5, 2013 I going to try, i have to relearn basic. its been over 30 years. It didnt have music back then. bc i never learned how to make it. When I made the game I had just learned how to get the computer to recognize when the plane got hit by missile due to a color change. Just check out the Aquarius manual, this is really a very good manual for (re)learning basic. It's probably one of the best manuals ever incorporated with an eighties homecomputer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted November 5, 2013 Share Posted November 5, 2013 My Google fu is pretty rusty. I did a search on Aquarius + manual and got a medical equipment brochure 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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