Moon Patrol body shop !

[TIX]

I always hated the original buggy sprite, but I loved the tank like tracks (instead of wheels).. at least they looked like tank tracks to me..

so Inspired by EnterDude's topic for a complete graphic upgrade of Moon Patrol,

I tried to improve the body of the buggy for a modest graphic replacement hack.

The first attempts where pretty good, but then I read that (Quote: It appears the black PMGs are Double wide and Purple PMGs are Quad wide) what ????

Let me tell you that I have a new respect for the original graphic designer for he have to draw a recognizable buggy with Double wide and Quad wide blocks.

So taking in account the limitations of the game I came with this shape !

I believe the existing tracks/wheels of the buggy are the best compromise (I tried different design combinations but they don't work when animated..)

What do you think ?

 

 

Edited September 7, 2018 by TIX

[Keatah]

Make it a hovercraft.

[doctorclu]

With Miner 2049er wrapping up I thought I would take a look at the Moon Patrol hex code.

 

 

And I found it!!

 

 

I changed that into a block to see if I had the right area and got this...

Moon Patrol 00.rom

 

And then everything under that is the black layer and animation

 

So we found the buggy. Now to find that color code to change from blue to yellow. Why yellow though? Most arcade versions of Moon Patrol I have seen have the moon buggy as redish or pink.

Edited September 13, 2018 by doctorclu

[TIX]

Yay

i just made it yellow/green to show the detail better, it could be any color we decide (preferably as close to the arcade as possible)

[doctorclu]

. Ok, some good news and bad news.

 

Good news: we know where the buggy sprites are! It is two layers (unlike the 2600 version of one color).

 

 

Bad news: If reading the above correctly, we are seeing a few thing going on. First off, the programmers used an effect where the pixel are about two pixel's wide (sometimes more, but that in a bit.)

 

 

The black animation is eight pixels wide, just stretched out. And I figure they cover (from the blue layer above) from 1470 to 1476. I believe 1473 is stretched out a bit more than the rest (double the others). The same stretch trick is used on 1477.

 

In other words, no wonder you had such a difficult time looking for this. I encountered this stretch trick however on 2600 and 800 versions of Fast Eddie when making the Bubsy hack.

 

The rolling animations, BTW, and the second bit of bad news, are eight pixels wide once again stretched out. Unlike the blue layer these are pixel for pixel with no funny business. At least for 1479 to 1480 (actually 8 pixels apart counting in hex). The wheel pixels I haven't determined if they are all the same pixel size.

 

Making three rolling wheels with eight pixels is not easy. However, for the 2600 version I developed a type of rolling wheel effect for two wheels and three wheels. While I was happy with this hack using two frames of animation, I always wished (and may one day add) another layer so the buggy can be two colors.

 

I believe more frames of animation were made for the Atari 800, which might be good or bad news, I haven't figured that out yet, and need to figure out how all this runs together:

 

 

So that is my assessment of what we have so far.

Edited September 13, 2018 by doctorclu

[TIX]

Yes I have read about the double and quad pixels.. makes it really hard to draw something recognizable

Below the new design (still needs tweaking) with the old for comparison, the animated wheels/tracks stays the same for now !

What you think ?

[doctorclu]

Yeh looks good. Might try that out. We could do a blue version real quick.

[TIX]

Slightly tweaked !

I'd love to see a blue buggy running around

[doctorclu]

So I misunderstood how things were laid out, but you'll see how this works. Sometimes you can't know for sure till you tinker with things.

 

The pixels are wide and short.

 

First I removed the black except for the wheels:

Moon Patrol 02.rom

 

Then I started removing columns:

Moon Patrol 03.rom

 

And I've found there are marker or reference points. You delete the one right above all this (at 146B), just one pixel, and you get a rover....

Moon Rover.rom

 

And there is a dot under all this (at 1478). You delete it, the wheels don't know where to go and it all goes bonkers.

 

Fun stuff. So that should give a better idea of what we got here.

 

I found your original message that started this off.

Edited September 14, 2018 by doctorclu

[TIX]

Yeah, too bad the overhaul got nowhere..

 

Back to our business, the little rover is fun

The rest sounds like bad news.. you think it's doable ??

Edited September 14, 2018 by TIX

[AtariNerd]

Aww, Curiosity has changed her mission objective, I see. A little antenna and spinning dish would complete the look.

[doctorclu]

Got two flavors to start this off with....

 

No Back End...

Moon Patrol 04a.rom

 

With Back End....

Moon Patrol 04b.rom

Edited September 14, 2018 by doctorclu

[doctorclu]

Liking this one. Basically took the original, removed some from the nose, and gave it a windshield.

 

 

 

Moon Patrol 05.rom

[TIX]

Yeah not bad !

 

From your explanation I understand that my buggy isn't doable, and from the first results I can see the problem.

The body isn't lined up with the wheels, and I suppose this can't change ?? (move the wheels slightly to the right)

So back to the drawing board

[TIX]

ok correct positioned layers,

attempt for more arcade likeness..

oh it's the pink one

Edited September 15, 2018 by TIX

[TIX]

oh oh, just realized something..

correct me if I'm wrong, the width of the black layer is only between the two lines ???

[doctorclu]

oh oh, just realized something..

correct me if I'm wrong, the width of the black layer is only between the two lines ???

 

HA... yeh, the black layer is in between the two lines. Which is why I did not have a black highlight on the front gun.

 

Not perfect, but hey, I think the buggy already looks better.

[TIX]

Yes it is, but we can't seem to escape from the rectangular original....

 

ok then, rolls sleeves...

how about this sleek futuristic super-lux space vehicle ???

Edited September 15, 2018 by TIX

[doctorclu]

Cool can try that soon. Might also see if I can add to the curiousity rover.

[TIX]

great

[TIX]

Since I stopped striving for arcade likeness, I'm on a roll

Edited September 16, 2018 by TIX

[doctorclu]

Give this a shot. Still running some tests to figure out the color code.

[TIX]

Taking screenshots I have managed to find the animation frames of the flying enemies,

If I'm not mistaken they are two frames (maybe more..) for each monochrome spacecraft (made with double wide pixels of course )..

 

As arcade authenticity goes:

- the red flying saucer is close enough and with little tweaking can be perfect (plus it is rotating)

- the yellow flying saucer is better than the egg yolk ? of the arcade (plus it is rotating beautifully)

- the blue bomber seems tiny in comparison and needs work, but the only way to give volume is to expand the sprite vertically.. you think that is possible ??

See the (wip) bomber sprite last in line !

 

The buggy factory keeps coming up with new wacky designs , I wait to see the last one in action to decide how to proceed !!

Edited September 17, 2018 by TIX

[doctorclu]

Here is one to have fun with..

 

Moon Patrol 06a 5488.rom

* Changes color.

 

Moon Patrol 06b 5344.rom

* Changes color

* Raises the body off the wheels a bit.

 

Let me know what you think.

 

Edited September 18, 2018 by doctorclu

[doctorclu]

With the 06b rom above I have noticed that every so often, usually in the second to the last stage of a set, there is a blank box beneath the surface. (shown in the picture below) . I've played the 06b rom to level M with no problem, but simply found this fascinating.

Edited September 18, 2018 by doctorclu