Barnstorming PAL Conversion?

[DEBRO]

Hi there,

 

Does anyone know if an official PAL version of Barnstormer was developed?

 

The ROM I have looks to be a hack. The VBLANK timing changed, Oversan timing changed, and the Activision copyright graphics were removed.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Yup!

Barnstorming - Die tollkeuhnen Flieger (1982) (Activision, Steve Cartwright - Ariola) (EAX-013, PAX-013 - 711 013-720) (PAL).bin

[DEBRO]

Thank you. I was sure there had to be one.

 

Needed to add the PAL information to my disassembly. It's practically done but this is going slow like Megamania. I keep losing interest.

 

I realize this is Steve Cartwright's first VCS game. Very similar to Grand Prix in game play and code. It has a number of wasted bytes too.

 

It looks like something we could've done fairly easy in AtariBASIC on our A8.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

It has a number of wasted bytes too.

Even David Crane wasted bytes (else my Pitfall!x256 hack would not have been possible within the original 4K).

 

That is no surprise, because today we have much more experience in 650x coding than they had back then.

[davyK]

Yeah - when you have to get something out the door wasting bytes isn't a priority as long you squeeze the game into the available ROM.

[DEBRO]

Hi there,

 

Even David Crane wasted bytes (else my Pitfall!x256 hack would not have been possible within the original 4K).

 

That is no surprise, because today we have much more experience in 650x coding than they had back then.

You're right. We develop with faster tools and have the luxury of no deadlines. Still, this seems a bit rushed. A couple of examples...there is a routine in the kernel to waste time for coarse positioning with a string of NOPs. Also the routine to check to spawn new geese has a NOP but the routine isn't time sensitive. This same routine has code at $F791 that is never called and is the exact same as the 11 bytes before it appears.

 

Yeah - when you have to get something out the door wasting bytes isn't a priority as long you squeeze the game into the available ROM.

That's true and I do understand. This was Steve Cartwright's first VCS game (which I may add is better than my first...and second...and etc.). It's reported he was discovered by David Crane. I can imagine the pressure he must have had to produce not only a finished product but a hit as well.

 

Curious to know if Grand Prix came before this or done around the same time. They are similar in game play and code logic (not kernel).

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Interesting findings, Dennis.

 

I remember Starmaster, where the developer obviously only knew ROR and ROL, but not LSR and ASL. So he had to clear a lot of carries.

 

BTW: How much ROM and RAM is used for screen saving? Pitfall uses quite a lot of ROM and 12 bytes of RAM only for this.

[DEBRO]

Hi Thomas,

 

BTW: How much ROM and RAM is used for screen saving? Pitfall uses quite a lot of ROM and 12 bytes of RAM only for this.

 

If I'm counting correctly I see 10 bytes of RAM and ~30 bytes of ROM.

 

I looked up the Activision part numbers and these are in sequential order with Barnstorming coming first. I wonder if they worked on Branstorming and Grand Prix at the same time.

 

David Crane did say he looked for a way to incorporate a game mechanic around his finding of being able to do the cars using a single player and manipulating the NUSIZx register each scanline.

[DEBRO]

Hi there,

 

...there is a routine in the kernel to waste time for coarse positioning with a string of NOPs.

 

I had to retract this. That is not a time wasting routine as I once thought.

 

Barnstorming fills unused space with $EA (i.e. NOP). This area is actually pushing the next routine 3 bytes into the next page.