Popeye 7800

[+MrZarniwoop]

1 hour ago, darryl1970 said:

Now I just need a Concerto cartridge, or something so, I can enjoy my creation on real hardware again. ?

My understanding was that nothing is currently finalized. Am I missing something?

 

If anybody has an unwanted one lying around, please hit me up.

^ Someone please hook this man up with a Concerto!

 

And right after you do that, please PM me if you have a second one.

 

Happy 50th birthday @darryl1970! And thanks for the port that's helping us relive some great memories!

 

[+Karl G]

1 hour ago, darryl1970 said:

This sounds great.

 

Now I just need a Concerto cartridge, or something so, I can enjoy my creation on real hardware again. ?

My understanding was that nothing is currently finalized. Am I missing something?

 

If anybody has an unwanted one lying around, please hit me up. Friday's my birthday, so I think I can splurge!

 

--Darryl

I don't think there are very many spare ones lying around, but the good news is that @batari has said that he will make the first batch of the new ones available to developers first.

[7800Knight]

34 minutes ago, MrZarniwoop said:

^ Someone please hook this man up with a Concerto!

 

And right after you do that, please PM me if you have a second one.

 

Happy 50th birthday @darryl1970! And thanks for the port that's helping us relive some great memories!

 

 

Thanks for posting that comic book ad - I loved this one.  Soon the Atari 7800 will be added to that list of systems playing Popeye.

 

BTW, I ran down to my local store for Popeye and tried to check out Tutankham, Frogger, etc.  They looked at me like I was crazy.    

[7800Knight]

Speaking of comic book ads for Popeye...

 

 

 

This one was a personal favorite; it was a double-page ad I used to see in some of the 1980s comic books I owned.  Love all that Popeye artwork from before Photoshop and tablets.

Edited November 12, 2020 by 7800Knight

[+darryl1970]

Thanks for the birthday wishes, @MrZarniwoop!

 

Again, I spent many evenings looking at that ad, prior to finally getting my 5200 version. I was envious of the ColecoVision Brutus, and I was intrigued by the TI99. The 5200 did not disappoint me when I finally got it. As I mentioned in the podcast, I was a little confused by Brutus having a #5 for a head. (I called it an 'S', but later realized it was like a number 5.)

 

@Karl G Thank you Karl. That is really encouraging news!

 

@7800Knight, I think I saw that ad somewhere before. I remember the rough drawings of the day. Too cool. Thanks also for sharing.

 

I made this quite a few versions back, so it's funny this ad has come up. I just updated the 7800 screenshot to a more recent version.

 

[BIGHMW]

Can't wait for Concerto to come out, especially since I already have the entire ROM catalog of files, including this one already on my 7800 SD card.

[+darryl1970]

Version 2.3 - 11/12/2020

 

Not too much to show here. It's the same, as far as the Demo Version is concerned.

 

I reverted some experimentation I had toyed with, with sound effect priority.

 

I mostly worked on hidden content that needs unlocked. It isn't accessible from the Demo Version, but I am hoping it will give the game even more variety.

I made refinements in my original hidden content.

 

--Darryl

 

 

 

[phattyboombatty]

On 11/11/2020 at 1:18 PM, batari said:

The Concerto firmware that is out there reportedly has glitches with this game but I have them fixed on my end and will release a firmware update soon so current Concerto owners can play.

 

Also, I got the immediate game over when starting a game too. It isn't a consistent bug, though. When I waited for the demo mode to play, the game started normally, then in subsequent reboots it still worked without having to wait for the demo mode.

Well, that's interesting. I never get an in-game demo, but just the AA and title screens.

[+batari]

6 hours ago, phattyboombatty said:

Well, that's interesting. I never get an in-game demo, but just the AA and title screens.

When I tried again today, I could not get the demo to run or the game to start. I don't think I did anything differently the other day when I could get the game to start. Since it is happening on both CC2 and Concerto, this suggests it's a bug in the game.

[Atariboy2600]

WOW! I would love to make this game label art if there's a slot open. I drew this back in 2017. Here's my take on him drawing them in the classic 1933 style only this time taking from a scene of the live action 1980's film Popeye at the end where all are fighting over the treasure chest on SPAB ISLAND with all the main cast even the background characters. See this is why the live action did not work what they should had done it all in the classic animation style but history is history. (still love the movie anyway)

[gambler172]

is there any bin file?

[7800Knight]

Hey @Atariboy2600 - long time no see!  

 

That cover art concept looks outstanding!

[+darryl1970]

14 hours ago, batari said:

When I tried again today, I could not get the demo to run or the game to start. I don't think I did anything differently the other day when I could get the game to start. Since it is happening on both CC2 and Concerto, this suggests it's a bug in the game.

That's concerning. Is this since the latest version I uploaded. I can share a couple of the the newer versions to see if there's anything different.

 

This version has some changes, but they are only unlocked from the title menu if in the full version.

 

Maybe something in this build undid something in the previous. I am unfamiliar with the MCPDEVCART, but there is an attached version for that. I know that crashed in emulation. Maybe I uploaded that version before accidentally. These should all be right.

 

Popeye(Beta2.3Demo).a78

 

Popeye(Beta2.3Demo).bin

 

Popeye(Beta2.3Demo_MCPDEVCART).bin

[+darryl1970]

@playsoft found something, which may have been causing the issues.

 

@phattyboombatty & @batari, Please let me know if this solves that issue. --Darryl

 

Popeye(Beta2.3a_Demo).a78

 

Popeye(Beta2.3a_Demo).bin

 

Popeye(Beta2.3a_Demo_MCPDEVCART).bin

[gambler172]

My Concerto is an early testncart,so i guess,it will not take all the newer games.

[+darryl1970]

3 minutes ago, gambler172 said:

My Concerto is an early testncart,so i guess,it will not take all the newer games.

People who have a higher-level of understanding are looking into this. All may not be lost for your cartridge.

 

I working back and forth with some people.

[gambler172]

43 minutes ago, darryl1970 said:

People who have a higher-level of understanding are looking into this. All may not be lost for your cartridge.

 

I working back and forth with some people.

No problem,i also have a devcart from CPUWIZ

and my special one....but this is not official ?

[+darryl1970]

8 hours ago, gambler172 said:

No problem,i also have a devcart from CPUWIZ

and my special one....but this is not official ?

@RevEng made some 7800Basic changes. He and @playsoft helped me find a few issues in the code. See if this works better.

 

Popeye(Beta2.3c_Demo_mcpdevcart).bin

 

Popeye(Beta2.3c_Demo).a78

 

Popeye(Beta2.3c_Demo).bin

[phattyboombatty]

On 11/15/2020 at 4:37 PM, darryl1970 said:

@RevEng made some 7800Basic changes. He and @playsoft helped me find a few issues in the code. See if this works better.

 

 

Sorry about the delay. This thread and this game deserve way more attention! 

 

Unfortunately, I see no change with this BIN. Starting the game (by pressing "punch") takes me straight to "Game Over". ?

[+batari]

4 minutes ago, phattyboombatty said:

 

Sorry about the delay. This thread and this game deserve way more attention! 

 

Unfortunately, I see no change with this BIN. Starting the game (by pressing "punch") takes me straight to "Game Over". ?

I agree, this game may be the best Popeye translation I have seen!

 

As for the game starting issue, I am wondering if it's an uninitialized variable or something?

[+darryl1970]

21 minutes ago, phattyboombatty said:

 

Sorry about the delay. This thread and this game deserve way more attention! 

 

Unfortunately, I see no change with this BIN. Starting the game (by pressing "punch") takes me straight to "Game Over". ?

I have a more up-to-date build. I didn't want to keep dumping builds in here until I had something that I felt might work. ****

14 minutes ago, batari said:

I agree, this game may be the best Popeye translation I have seen!

Thank you!:)

14 minutes ago, batari said:

 

As for the game starting issue, I am wondering if it's an uninitialized variable or something?

It was a combination of things. There were some values not getting initialized and interpreter issues. They kind of played off of each other.

 

@RevEng and @playsoft found some issues under the hood. Mike fixed those. Paul helped me find instances of offending code.  Complex conditional statements, using variable arrays, can be an issue. This is especially true if looking for -1, instead of 255.

 

Paul was kind enough to help me find the instances. I still needed to rewrite some of the two-player alternating logic. I think that part is solid now! That should fix the demo and "game over" issue.

 

The game now works in Bupsystem and A7800.

 

The debugger isn't displaying some of the flags that indicated issues with returns. (I was sometimes using "return otherbank" to return to bank 1. Those should be fixed.)

 

**** This hasn't been tested enough to get everybody excited about. I wasn't going to post it, since it might not work, but I'll post here if either of you would like to try it on actual hardware. I am anxious to know.

 

The only feedback I have is that the MCPDEV build crashes, which could be a different issue.

 

The Concerto test reported some graphic glitches.  The Concerto didn't have the latest firmware though. I am wondering if that might make a difference.

 

Popeye(Beta2.3d_Demo).a78

 

Popeye(Beta2.3d_Demo).bin

 

--Darryl

 

[+batari]

1 hour ago, darryl1970 said:

I have a more up-to-date build. I didn't want to keep dumping builds in here until I had something that I felt might work. ****

Thank you!:)

It was a combination of things. There were some values not getting initialized and interpreter issues. They kind of played off of each other.

 

@RevEng and @playsoft found some issues under the hood. Mike fixed those. Paul helped me find instances of offending code.  Complex conditional statements, using variable arrays, can be an issue. This is especially true if looking for -1, instead of 255.

 

Paul was kind enough to help me find the instances. I still needed to rewrite some of the two-player alternating logic. I think that part is solid now! That should fix the demo and "game over" issue.

 

The game now works in Bupsystem and A7800.

 

The debugger isn't displaying some of the flags that indicated issues with returns. (I was sometimes using "return otherbank" to return to bank 1. Those should be fixed.)

 

**** This hasn't been tested enough to get everybody excited about. I wasn't going to post it, since it might not work, but I'll post here if either of you would like to try it on actual hardware. I am anxious to know.

 

The only feedback I have is that the MCPDEV build crashes, which could be a different issue.

 

The Concerto test reported some graphic glitches.  The Concerto didn't have the latest firmware though. I am wondering if that might make a difference.

 

Popeye(Beta2.3d_Demo).a78 144.13 kB · 5 downloads

 

Popeye(Beta2.3d_Demo).bin 144 kB · 3 downloads

 

--Darryl

 

I can report that the game starting issue is fixed! Works on Concerto (with the latest firmware, which will be released soon.)

[+darryl1970]

Just now, batari said:

I can report that the game starting issue is fixed! Works on Concerto (with the latest firmware, which will be released soon.)

YES!!!!!

[+Muddyfunster]

Good news

[PacManPlus]

Wow - awesome work, Darryll!