Formula 18A / Formula 99 / Formula 99+ development

[+OLD CS1]

Wellll... may I point you at the following two threads, since I did try something in this genre as well some years ago... but I didn't go as far as writing it completely in Assembler:

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/159225-ssgc-racer/(Original XB version)

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/206961-xb-compiler-v21/(compiled version)

 

 

Cool! Have not seen the worm around for a while

[fabrice montupet]

I'm thinking about whether it would be possible to make a decent racing game without using the F18A.

It would be great! For me, a TI-99/4A with a F18 FPGA is no more a TI-99/4A.

[+Vorticon]

Wellll... may I point you at the following two threads, since I did try something in this genre as well some years ago... but I didn't go as far as writing it completely in Assembler:

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/159225-ssgc-racer/(Original XB version)

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/206961-xb-compiler-v21/(compiled version)

 

 

A game which won the SSGC contest if memory serves me right. I was very thoroughly impressed by what you pulled off with XB alone.

[+Vorticon]

It would be great! For me, a TI-99/4A with a F18 FPGA is no more a TI-99/4A.

 

Most of us still use the F18A mostly to connect to a VGA monitor Also having 80col capability is a huge deal for me, particularly when it comes to editors, Multiplan and TIMXT. Just think of the F18A as if it was an add-on expansion card...

[+mizapf]

In my view, as long as you just use the F18A for just connecting a VGA monitor, this does not justify to talk about a new platform. It's getting somewhat different for new capabilites like 80 col (already named "TI with 80 columns") and really different when we see complex graphics processing inside the F18A that makes completely new things possible. But we had that discussion already, even with a poll.

[Omega-TI]

Exactly. Just like back in the old days... a PC when released had a text based video card or a CGA card. Later EGA, VGA, SVGA, etc. It still remained a PC, even after the addition of RTC's, hard drives, and more memory.

 

All these new things keep the TI exciting.

[fabrice montupet]

I think that if you find a way to transplant a Core i7 daughter card and a SSD disk drive on the 99/4A, you'll get better performances

More seriously, I'm not agree. If I still use a TI-99/4A , it's to remember the happy old days with this computer, to revive the sensations it procured me and the pleasure that I had when I discovered its graphics and sound, its programmation and its peripherals that amazed me at the begining of the 80's. For these reasons, I only use 80's technologies with my TI-99 computers.

If I want hyper speed performances, high colors and resolutions, gigantic mass storages I use my Core I5 and Core I7 Mac & PC computers.

By using modern technlogies onto the TI-99/4A, its soul fades.

[Omega-TI]

I understand your viewpoint, that is what's so great about the TI, it can be so many different things to different people.

[+mizapf]

Fabrice, I totally agree with you, although a majority seems to think differently. Maybe you did not join the discussion at http://atariage.com/forums/topic/247983-is-it-a-ti-994a/page-2?hl=platform&do=findComment&comment=3448336

 

The good thing about that is that we need not care about the majority when it comes to viewpoints. Everyone may have a good reason to justify his position.

[fabrice montupet]

I just really hope that this F18A modern wart will not make developpers forget the TMS-9918A. And that we'll still also see programs that use the great TI VDP. I am more impressed by what it is possible to do with the 9918A, always exceeding its limits.

I think that the real genius is there :-)

[fabrice montupet]

@mizapf: I voted... NO

Edited November 22, 2016 by fabrice montupet

[Sinphaltimus]

I enjoy the best of all worlds.

 

A pure unadulterated console/peb with no modifications and one I'm adding as many hacks and mods as possible to. And a third for everyday use only modded with an f18a (Not here yet) with flashrom99 and 32k side port. F18a primarily for vga connectivity as my Amiga will be taking up the video port.

 

For all the reasons.

[aftyde]

I think that if you find a way to transplant a Core i7 daughter card and a SSD disk drive on the 99/4A, you'll get better performances

 

More seriously, I'm not agree. If I still use a TI-99/4A , it's to remember the happy old days with this computer, to revive the sensations it procured me and the pleasure that I had when I discovered its graphics and sound, its programmation and its peripherals that amazed me at the begining of the 80's. For these reasons, I only use 80's technologies with my TI-99 computers.

If I want hyper speed performances, high colors and resolutions, gigantic mass storages I use my Core I5 and Core I7 Mac & PC computers.

 

By using modern technlogies onto the TI-99/4A, its soul fades.

 

I disagree - there is no charm in old floppys going stale - and losing bits of your personal history (literally). Even with Lotharek SD cards emulating floppy disks and the F18A - this old TI has far more personality than my Core i7 monsters will ever have. I actually care about my TI systems and have an emotional connection that goes back to my early teen years. PC's come and go - but I've had my TI in production (running TI-Base) for over 30 years. Adding some new capabilities will just enhance my desire to do more with the TI. That said, my most extreme admiration goes to you and your engineering skills. If you ever decide to put some of your designs into production you have a sold customer waiting right here to send you money!

[RXB]

I do not understand why everyone does not emulate a Hard Drive instead of Floppy all the time?

You can have multiple Volumes in a Hard Drive with sub directories in sub directories.

 

You know just like you do on a PC RIGHT NOW?

EXAMPLE:

RUN "SCS.SHD3.XB.ASSMSUPRT.GAMES901.SCRABBLE"

 

Beats the hell out of

CALL SWITCH DEVICE

CALL DIRECTORY

RUN "DSK1.SCRABBLE"

 

The hard drive version is one path and one shot yo can put in a XB program, the other requires multiple steps to even begin to type RUN

[speccery]

Here's a new version with some other cars, just race fast enough and you should catch them. Still no collision detection.

 

I need to look into improving the steering of the car...

 

 

It seems I am discovering everything late, including this thread. I just want to say that both versions of the code (TMS9918A and F18A) look great to me, very nice job

I also enjoyed looking into the assembly code listings you provided. I guess the good thing about joining the TI99ers late is that there is a ton of stuff to discover.

 

I'll give my small (and late) comment to the discussion regarding authenticity with F18A and other improvements: as I like to work on both hardware and software, for me there is excitement in working with the TI-99/4A with the modern add-ons, as long as one remembers the roots. I guess that is not a surprising comment given that I'm working on the TMS99105 based version of the TI - and really enjoying the extra performance. I think I read from somewhere (BYTE magazine ages ago if I am not mistaken) a comment that Steve Jobs made, something like this: if computers have a soul, it is in the software

 

And now after finding this thread, I'm looking forward to seeing if I can get the formula game/demo running on the TMS99105. Right now cartridge ROM support is limited to 64K, but that is easy enough to make it bigger (at the expense of AMS).

Edited December 5, 2016 by speccery

[PeteE]

Did the Formula F18A racing game ever make any more progress, or was it just a demo? I loved playing Outrun in the arcade as a kid, and this feels like the closest thing on the TI.

[Asmusr]

Did the Formula F18A racing game ever make any more progress, or was it just a demo? I loved playing Outrun in the arcade as a kid, and this feels like the closest thing on the TI.

 

I have worked a bit more on the non-F18A version, adding collisions and explosions, and I think I will come back to this later.

[artrag]

Going to add hills ? 

[Asmusr]

10 hours ago, artrag said:

Going to add hills ? 

Yes I do have plans for developing something with hills, but not on this code base since it would become too slow when the road needed to be stretched vertically. And the way I did the horizon wouldn't work with stretching either. So I have another idea that I need to try out.

[Asmusr]

 

Here is the first demo of the new engine. This is running on an ordinary console with 32K. The green horizontal lines are for debugging, telling me the position of the road segments.

[fabrice montupet]

Yeah!!! That's excellent!  ?

[TheMole]

31 minutes ago, Asmusr said:

Here is the first demo of the new engine. This is running on an ordinary console with 32K. The green horizontal lines are for debugging, telling me the position of the road segments.

That is absolutely awesome. What kind of framerate are you getting? Are you rendering everything to RAM and then uploading it in one go?

 

*edit* also, are the roadside objects scaled in real time, or are they pre-scaled? Either way, it looks really smooth. You'd probably be able to pull off a cool tunnel effect with this as well...

Edited October 15, 2021 by TheMole

[Asmusr]

This is running in the same mode I used for the textured ray caster, which means that the pattern table is fixed, and we only update the color table, giving us a resolution of 64x192 in 16 colors. The good thing is that there is only half as much memory to deal with.

10 minutes ago, TheMole said:

Are you rendering everything to RAM and then uploading it in one go?

No I'm uploading everything in one go. But you are fooled. The parts of the video with trees or start signs are actually pre recorded. But in general the display can be generated in 15 FPS. 

[+Vorticon]

Totally awesome. Compare that to our miserable Pole Position...

[fabrice montupet]

I vote to offer to Rasmus a trip back to 1982 in the DeLorean to give to the 99/4A a software library full of his fantastic games. Thanks to them the computer's history would have been different ?