Blackbag Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 I've finished cracking the Ultima Trilogy disks that Tempest sent me. I want to test them over the next day or so and I'll upload them as a zip to Asimov and include the scans of the disk labels and some notes on the crack and a minor patch needed to use .dsk images in an emulator (original protection on Exodus 3 uses Volume IDs). I ran into something interesting with Mockingboard support on the updated Ultima 3:Exodus in the Ultima Trilogy. With an 8mhz Zip Chip on my IIe, I found that when I configured the mocking board's type and slot on the initial text screen at boot up the intro music would play fine. However, once you hit a key to proceed to the actual game, the disk drive would grind over and over and never load the game. If I rebooted and selected None for mocking board, it would then load fine and I could play the game (albeit, without mocking board sound). It did this with both mocking boards that I own. I pulled out every card that wasn't needed with the same results. Finally, I pulled another IIe off the shelf with a standard 65c02 1mhz cpu and it worked fine with either mocking board I tried. I think Zip claimed 99% compatibility with software... Figures that I would hit the 1% corner case 30 years later... Rich 2 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/228710-programs-with-mockingboard-support/page/2/#findComment-3058507 Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 I've finished cracking the Ultima Trilogy disks that Tempest sent me. I want to test them over the next day or so and I'll upload them as a zip to Asimov and include the scans of the disk labels and some notes on the crack and a minor patch needed to use .dsk images in an emulator (original protection on Exodus 3 uses Volume IDs). I ran into something interesting with Mockingboard support on the updated Ultima 3:Exodus in the Ultima Trilogy. With an 8mhz Zip Chip on my IIe, I found that when I configured the mocking board's type and slot on the initial text screen at boot up the intro music would play fine. However, once you hit a key to proceed to the actual game, the disk drive would grind over and over and never load the game. If I rebooted and selected None for mocking board, it would then load fine and I could play the game (albeit, without mocking board sound). It did this with both mocking boards that I own. I pulled out every card that wasn't needed with the same results. Finally, I pulled another IIe off the shelf with a standard 65c02 1mhz cpu and it worked fine with either mocking board I tried. I think Zip claimed 99% compatibility with software... Figures that I would hit the 1% corner case 30 years later... Rich The Zip Chip is basically a 6502 with a faster clock, cache and a control circuit so the comparability issue is obviously related to timing in the Mockingboard specific section of code. I'm guessing the clock select circuit of the Zip Chip slightly skews the clock and with the Mockingboard enabled the CPU isn't responding fast enough to read the start of a block of data. The difference has to be small so it should be fixable. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/228710-programs-with-mockingboard-support/page/2/#findComment-3058545 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackbag Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 The Zip Chip is basically a 6502 with a faster clock, cache and a control circuit so the comparability issue is obviously related to timing in the Mockingboard specific section of code. I'm guessing the clock select circuit of the Zip Chip slightly skews the clock and with the Mockingboard enabled the CPU isn't responding fast enough to read the start of a block of data. The difference has to be small so it should be fixable. True, but what's strange is that it's impacting the game's disk read code for some reason. It grinds and grinds, like it's stuck in a loop in the read code, and keeps recalibrating the head. Since it's on hardware and I don't have a clean way to break into the monitor, I haven't been able to inspect where it's getting looped at or trace back the reason why. Maybe I should dig out the Wildcard I picked up years ago and see if I can figure out how to use it to break into the monitor and find the PC and SP values and go from there... Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/228710-programs-with-mockingboard-support/page/2/#findComment-3058554 Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 The Zip Chip is basically a 6502 with a faster clock, cache and a control circuit so the comparability issue is obviously related to timing in the Mockingboard specific section of code. I'm guessing the clock select circuit of the Zip Chip slightly skews the clock and with the Mockingboard enabled the CPU isn't responding fast enough to read the start of a block of data. The difference has to be small so it should be fixable. Compatibility. I must have used the spell checker to fix a typo. True, but what's strange is that it's impacting the game's disk read code for some reason. It grinds and grinds, like it's stuck in a loop in the read code, and keeps recalibrating the head. Since it's on hardware and I don't have a clean way to break into the monitor, I haven't been able to inspect where it's getting looped at or trace back the reason why. Maybe I should dig out the Wildcard I picked up years ago and see if I can figure out how to use it to break into the monitor and find the PC and SP values and go from there... *IF* it throws off the start of the read by even a clock cycle, then it may miss the start of the track or sector if the developers tried to push the timing too close. Something like this almost needs an in circuit emulator to track down. Since it has to be an interaction thing and the only thing I can think of that might cause this is an issue with an interrupt. Perhaps the interrupt is delayed to the CPU by the Zip Chip circuit and the read is supposed to be timed off of the interrupt. Someone with an a nice logic analyzer might be able to see if that is what is happening. The code may use different interrupt handlers for with or without the music player. At the very least, it may spend more time doing something when supporting the Mockingboard. You might be able to tell if there are multiple interrupt handlers or at least have a look at how it treats the Mockingboard differently. If you could look for SEI and RTI instructions, changes to $03FE or even what is at $03FE, you might find the interrupt handler(s) or routines that set up the interrupt handler. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/228710-programs-with-mockingboard-support/page/2/#findComment-3058620 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great Hierophant Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 As for Ultima III, it would be great to have a pristine, fully working Mockingboard version. I believe there are pristine disks of the original, non-Mockingboard version. Does anyone know why the program always thinks the Mocking Board is in Slot #0? Did Origin begin to implement a test, then abandon it prior to shipping the new version but fail to remove the text indicating a board had been detected? Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/228710-programs-with-mockingboard-support/page/2/#findComment-3058731 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great Hierophant Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 Thank you! It's amazing that so few people were aware of its availability. I think you're also right on the Mockingboard incompatibility. I wonder if this switch was made due to availability issues or there was some special technical reason for the switch? Probably, the SC-02/SSI-263 is a substantially more advanced chip than the SC-01, and due to the packaging size, neither is a drop-in replacement for the other. http://www.redcedar.com/sc01.htm Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/228710-programs-with-mockingboard-support/page/2/#findComment-3058745 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackbag Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 As for Ultima III, it would be great to have a pristine, fully working Mockingboard version. I believe there are pristine disks of the original, non-Mockingboard version. Does anyone know why the program always thinks the Mocking Board is in Slot #0? Did Origin begin to implement a test, then abandon it prior to shipping the new version but fail to remove the text indicating a board had been detected? I thought that it always assumed a Mockingboard was installed also, until I realized that once I cracked the disk, converted it to a disk image and ran it under Virtual ][, it went straight to the game and bypassed the Mockingboard set up screen, even though I had a Mockingboard emulated in slot 4 and it works with other games with Mockingboard support. So I dug into the code a little deeper and found that there is a Mockingboard detection routine in the code. After the first/second stage boot code is executed and their DOS is loaded, code resumes at $8000. Before the mockingboard detect code is run, there's a check for a keypress. If any of the following keys are held down, it forces the mockingboard setup text screen to appear: #$9D - Control-] #$8D - Control-M (Return/Enter) #$CD - M #$DD - ] Otherwise, it continues with the detection phase, which is located at $81c5. The interrupt handler is set to $8220, then it tries to configure the MB card starting with slot 1 and moving up. If a MB at that slot is initialized successfully, it will jump to the interrupt handler and store the slot number in $06, then return. If $06 is still zero, then no MB was detected otherwise it will contain the slot number of the detected MB. It's interesting that they put in a force keypress to configure a MB card. This code is somewhat different from other MB detection code that I've seen in other games, which leads me to believe that there's really no reliable, standard way of detecting a MB, even within the same line of cards from the same manufacturer... If the MB setup code continually pops up at boot, even though a MB isn't installed-- I guess it's possible that some other card is generating an interrupt and somehow the same memory locations are changed to appear as if a MB is installed. Really haven't looked at that too closely, but it does appear that the programmers were concerned with a real mocking board not being detected correctly. I wonder if the force key presses are described in the manuals. RIch Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/228710-programs-with-mockingboard-support/page/2/#findComment-3059035 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 25, 2014 Author Share Posted August 25, 2014 So will the newer SSI263 chip work with ANY of the older games that used speech? Or do you absolutely 100% need the SC-01 chip? Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/228710-programs-with-mockingboard-support/page/2/#findComment-3060074 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianoid Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 Ooh, hey look- another game that purported supports Mockingboards! http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Lancaster-Apple-II-video-Game-Silicon-Valley-Systems-NIB-Sealed-/321656563667?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ae439a7d3 Lancaster by Silicon Valley Systems Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/228710-programs-with-mockingboard-support/page/2/#findComment-3167661 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted February 1, 2015 Author Share Posted February 1, 2015 That one is listed as using the Mockingboard but no one could get it to work. Maybe the dump that's out there is bad? Buy it and see! Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/228710-programs-with-mockingboard-support/page/2/#findComment-3167945 Share on other sites More sharing options...
g0blinish Posted September 18, 2016 Share Posted September 18, 2016 if anyone knows, advice an example of MB speech, please Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/228710-programs-with-mockingboard-support/page/2/#findComment-3596655 Share on other sites More sharing options...
First Spear Posted September 18, 2016 Share Posted September 18, 2016 1. It would be cool to see a matrix with stuff that (tested) works with the Phasor in Mockingboard mode as well as the other modes. Of course that would probably only be worth something to me and the 2 other people on the planet with Phasors. 2. Bill, I didn't realize you had Apple ][ chops as well as Intellivision. Very cool! If you're going to also add in the notes, you should also indicate that Ultima V supports two (dual) Mockingboards. It will be quite the effort, but it would be great if eventually we also confirm the working versions of each of these, i.e., these actually do support the Mockingboard, and have links to the known good versions. These types of lists have been going around for some time now and there are still some questionable (not confirmed) entries. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/228710-programs-with-mockingboard-support/page/2/#findComment-3597062 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great Hierophant Posted July 30, 2017 Share Posted July 30, 2017 I have spent the past two days cataloging the available software online for the Mockingboard and the attached spreadsheet is the result of my efforts. It should give you a fair idea of what is available, what could be made available and what remains to be found and dumped. Mockingboard Software Audit 07-29-17.zip 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/228710-programs-with-mockingboard-support/page/2/#findComment-3816558 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great Hierophant Posted July 30, 2017 Share Posted July 30, 2017 Updated with a new game. Mockingboard Software Audit 07-30-17.zip 2 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/228710-programs-with-mockingboard-support/page/2/#findComment-3816589 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted July 30, 2017 Share Posted July 30, 2017 Updated with a new game. The archive is empty. The earlier file works. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/228710-programs-with-mockingboard-support/page/2/#findComment-3816882 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great Hierophant Posted July 30, 2017 Share Posted July 30, 2017 The archive is empty. The earlier file works. Bizarre, try this : Mockingboard Software Audit 07-30-17.zip 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/228710-programs-with-mockingboard-support/page/2/#findComment-3816884 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted July 30, 2017 Share Posted July 30, 2017 Bizarre, try this : Thanks! Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/228710-programs-with-mockingboard-support/page/2/#findComment-3816893 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted February 5, 2018 Share Posted February 5, 2018 Here are my current Mockingboard results, including with dual Mockingboards: http://armchairarcade.com/perspectives/2018/02/05/apple-ii-mockingboard-promise-unfulfilled/ And yes, I totally forgot about this thread. The spreadsheet will be a big help to me in tracking down some possible additional support. 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/228710-programs-with-mockingboard-support/page/2/#findComment-3953872 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommyptr Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 (edited) This pales in comparison to what is coming... but if you are interested in a Modern Mockingboard game demo, here is VECAVES II. This was an old demo of mine I upgraded for mockingboard music. This game is only a concept, the real game which will be slated to be worked on in the 2nd half of 2018 will be double lores and a lot more advanced. Use the spacebar to ascend, let go to descend . Vecaves II -very early demo with Mockingboard Added https://www.dropbox.com/s/ardrd6rafkcduqz/Vecave%20mock%20demo.dsk?dl=0 If you have a Phasor and 128kb, I would love feedback on audio quality on real hardware. This is a demo disk for Reactive Micro's new Phasor Remake, there will be a series of 4 disks. Prototype of course. https://www.dropbox.com/s/jnxosl8vipl1g36/PHASOR%20DEMO%20NO1%20beta.dsk?dl=0 PHASOR DEMO NO1_000000000.bmp Vecave mock dem_000000000.bmp Edited February 22, 2018 by Tommyptr 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/228710-programs-with-mockingboard-support/page/2/#findComment-3969328 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 9, 2018 Author Share Posted August 9, 2018 Bit of a bump here, I tried Bouncing Kamungas last night and didn't hear anything that sounded like Mockingboard sound. Anyone else try this? Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/228710-programs-with-mockingboard-support/page/2/#findComment-4088179 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommyptr Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 Midi2Mock software now has an interrupt driver that allows MIDI music converted mockingboard music in any 'new' homebrew. It has 100 samples to try out... as of 8.10.18 it only works with the card in Slot4... there are modifications that will be uploaded by 08.15.18 that will have a driver that can play music installed in ANY slot... and will also have Echo+ support... the same link will apply now, or in the future. https://www.dropbox.com/s/z0ldxehkebwbfeg/MIDI%20TO%20MOCK%20VER1.zip?dl=0 -Over at AppleII gamezone we have converted a couple minor homebrew games... and even Charles Mangin's Jumpy Guy game. https://www.dropbox.com/s/wkxs5wm9zlmts7z/JUMPY%20GUY-%20MOCKINGBOARD%21.dsk?dl=0 We plan to have many more soon. For those with PHASOR... here is a Midi2Phasor translation that can do upto-12 voices... its set for Slot#4 for now... not designed for games at the moment but has many songs (20-30), even the Diddy Kong Racing theme... https://www.dropbox.com/s/jz6emstwvouan2z/MIDI%20To%20PHASOR.zip?dl=0 *Side note, the latest version of AppleWin has a problem with timing, also other emulators may exhibit problems, which all should be corrected with out new update to Midi2Mock next week. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/228710-programs-with-mockingboard-support/page/2/#findComment-4089129 Share on other sites More sharing options...
berighteous Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 My new game OidZone Supports Mockingboard. 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/228710-programs-with-mockingboard-support/page/2/#findComment-4092890 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great Hierophant Posted November 17, 2018 Share Posted November 17, 2018 What a difference a year makes. In addition to new games, I have managed to find images or methods to get all the games claimed to work with a Mockingboard to work with the exception of Broadsides and G.I. Joe. Please see the notes in the attached spreadsheet for more information. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/228710-programs-with-mockingboard-support/page/2/#findComment-4159413 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted November 17, 2018 Share Posted November 17, 2018 What a difference a year makes. In addition to new games, I have managed to find images or methods to get all the games claimed to work with a Mockingboard to work with the exception of Broadsides and G.I. Joe. Please see the notes in the attached spreadsheet for more information. I don't see an attached spreadsheet, but I'd love to see your findings! Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/228710-programs-with-mockingboard-support/page/2/#findComment-4159448 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great Hierophant Posted November 17, 2018 Share Posted November 17, 2018 Stupid forum software, I thought I attached it but apparently I didn't. Now you can enjoy. Mockingboard Software Audit 11-17-18.zip Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/228710-programs-with-mockingboard-support/page/2/#findComment-4159474 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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