Jump to content
IGNORED

Best Way(s) to Move a Game Character in TI BASIC (not Extended BASIC) without CALL CLEAR


zacharyfruhling

Recommended Posts

On 12/28/2022 at 1:53 PM, zacharyfruhling said:

What are the best way(s) to move a game character on the screen in TI BASIC without clearing the entire screen with CALL CLEAR every time a character is repositioned?

 

1 hour ago, RXB said:

Who ever said fast as possible? Did anyone suggest a Super Computer worth millions of dollars?

Console only Basic is super slow and inefficient and everyone know this even you. 

Any upgrade to it would be an improvement, even XB cart is faster overall, and RXB has faster assembly routines that are backwards compatible.

So now even a cartridge in the cart slot is just a step to far for you?

And you cannot run any other language on the TI without a 32K so that sure is not console alone.

Well LOGO maybe...

Is the Cassette a step to far too?

Or does each program have to be typed in by hand?

Nope...  I am simply saying YOU DO NOT READ.  Do you see where it says "in TI BASIC"?  Not XB or RXB or LOGO or C, C++, C#, F#, JAVA, JS, or any other language.

 

1 hour ago, RXB said:

My first TI came with Minimemory and XB.

Took just a few seconds to see TI Basic sucked compared to XB and Mini Memory had 4K of RAM added to Console that was 3 times faster than VDP.

So good ol Basic took a back seat pretty fast.

Good for you.  I was 11.  I had to save up for the cassette cable.  Never mind $100 for XB.  When I got XB it was used for $50.  Mini Memory was years later for $10 at a flee market.

 

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I stood in line at 2am in front of a TOYS R US till it opened to get a TI99/4A in 1983 and got XB and Mini Memory I sent for from PC Magazine.

I was 29 at that time. My first product was WINDYXB in 1989 a XB Support package like The Missing Link.

It was featured in Micropendium Mag around 1991 to 1993 I think.

In 1999 I finished RXB and released it in 2000. That was over 23 years ago on same product.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, RXB said:

It was featured in Micropendium Mag around 1991 to 1993 I think.

Loved those mags.  Also the catalogues (the "everything" ones and Triton etc.)

25 minutes ago, RXB said:

In 1999 I finished RXB and released it in 2000. That was over 23 years ago on same product.

The latest updates to assembly make this a very attractive option.

 

Can an RXB programs be saved as BIN's and used like a cart?

 

I have a game that has a radar screen and it would really benefit from some of the RXB features.  But I want to be able to create a cart ultimately.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

44 minutes ago, 1980gamer said:

Loved those mags.  Also the catalogues (the "everything" ones and Triton etc.)

The latest updates to assembly make this a very attractive option.

 

Can an RXB programs be saved as BIN's and used like a cart?

 

I have a game that has a radar screen and it would really benefit from some of the RXB features.  But I want to be able to create a cart ultimately.

Yea you ever see XB Packer?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, GDMike said:

Stay on topic please..

The title of this thread is nuts: Best Way(s) to Move a Game Character in TI BASIC (not Exended BASCI) without CALL CLEAR

 

1. CALL CLEAR is a GPL command in Basic and XB:

    ALL character-code

    It puts the same character on the screen in all 768 times filling screen with that character in each 8x8 location of the screen.

 

2. CALL GCHAR(row,colomn,variable) command would get the character off screen.

    CALL HCHAR(row,column,variable) command would move that character to another location.

    CALL HCHAR(row,column,32) would put a space character at that location removing it.

 

3. There is no other command in TI Basic to do this.

    DISPLAY or PRINT only works after scrolling the screen up row and TAB(value) only goes by 28 columns, thus columns 1 & 2 and 31 and 32 are ignored.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, RXB said:

The title of this thread is nuts: Best Way(s) to Move a Game Character in TI BASIC (not Exended BASCI) without CALL CLEAR

 

1. CALL CLEAR is a GPL command in Basic and XB:

    ALL character-code

    It puts the same character on the screen in all 768 times filling screen with that character in each 8x8 location of the screen.

 

2. CALL GCHAR(row,colomn,variable) command would get the character off screen.

    CALL HCHAR(row,column,variable) command would move that character to another location.

    CALL HCHAR(row,column,32) would put a space character at that location removing it.

 

3. There is no other command in TI Basic to do this.

    DISPLAY or PRINT only works after scrolling the screen up row and TAB(value) only goes by 28 columns, thus columns 1 & 2 and 31 and 32 are ignored.

OH? .. good to know.

Edited by GDMike
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, OLD CS1 said:

What is nuts is that this thread could be half as long as it is and not lose any value.  This is tiresome.

OMG. I followed the link (to be enlightened) only to visit your profile. Banging up your visit count ? Thought I could trust a moderator, - only shows you can't be too careful about links. Tiresome ? Absolutely. 😐
 

Edited by sometimes99er
  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, sometimes99er said:

OMG. I followed the link (to be enlightened) only to visit your profile. Banging up your visit count ? Thought I could trust a moderator, - only shows you can't be too careful about links. Tiresome ? Absolutely. 😐

Trust no one.  I guess status updates are not like mini-blog posts, but are part of that social media shtick.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/30/2022 at 7:13 PM, RXB said:

Who ever said fast as possible? Did anyone suggest a Super Computer worth millions of dollars?

Console only Basic is super slow and inefficient and everyone know this even you. 

Any upgrade to it would be an improvement, even XB cart is faster overall, and RXB has faster assembly routines that are backwards compatible.

So now even a cartridge in the cart slot is just a step to far for you?

And you cannot run any other language on the TI without a 32K so that sure is not console alone.

Well LOGO maybe...

Is the Cassette a step to far too?

Or does each program have to be typed in by hand?

LOL - It is funny, you keep painting yourself into a corner with RXB! You have LEARNED to program efficiently a computer... But NOT learned to efficiently communicate with people! (Or understand?) LOL, but the world is as it is and all is good LOL ;)

I was thinking the other day... "What Mr. RXB should do, is to do all the improvements on the NEW "EX Basic - vn 200" and IF he did that... optimizing the hell out of that "cart", then people would treat him like a GOD! Get all the possible speed out of the EX Basic that everyone IS using, THAT would change things. To bad he is so stuck on RXB! But... I guess it is just stupid trying to propose that idea to him. I will let it go! He has learned great programming skill, but forgot to learn to listen to what people want! What program would needed to be installed? (hehehehe)"

So... I guess it will continue as in 2022!

Happy new year to Mr RXB AND everyone else! May this AGAIN, be a great TI 99/4A year!

And I hope it will continue to be as it has been, some "WOW that's great!", some "I don't agree!" and much more fun with respect, agreement and disagreement... BUT always with respect!

 

 


PS! Thinking... Maybe even standard Basic could benefit from optimal programming under the hood. "Same" Basic, but with all the best routines to get out all the speed and forgotten options in BASIC 2023!

TI 99 4A - Rotate PC-Text.gif

  • Confused 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, oddemann said:

LOL - It is funny, you keep painting yourself into a corner with RXB! You have LEARNED to program efficiently a computer... But NOT learned to efficiently communicate with people! (Or understand?) LOL, but the world is as it is and all is good LOL ;)

I was thinking the other day... "What Mr. RXB should do, is to do all the improvements on the NEW "EX Basic - vn 200" and IF he did that... optimizing the hell out of that "cart", then people would treat him like a GOD! Get all the possible speed out of the EX Basic that everyone IS using, THAT would change things. To bad he is so stuck on RXB! But... I guess it is just stupid trying to propose that idea to him. I will let it go! He has learned great programming skill, but forgot to learn to listen to what people want! What program would needed to be installed? (hehehehe)"

So... I guess it will continue as in 2022!

Happy new year to Mr RXB AND everyone else! May this AGAIN, be a great TI 99/4A year!

And I hope it will continue to be as it has been, some "WOW that's great!", some "I don't agree!" and much more fun with respect, agreement and disagreement... BUT always with respect!

 

 


PS! Thinking... Maybe even standard Basic could benefit from optimal programming under the hood. "Same" Basic, but with all the best routines to get out all the speed and forgotten options in BASIC 2023!

TI 99 4A - Rotate PC-Text.gif

LOL show me something really IMPRESSIVE you can do with only CONSOLE ONLY TI BASIC and no Cartridge.

Hell's Halls comes to mind, but when put against other computers Basic we all know TI Basic is slow and pretty limited with very limited set of commands.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, oddemann said:

I was thinking the other day... "What Mr. RXB should do, is to do all the improvements on the NEW "EX Basic - vn 200" and IF he did that... optimizing the hell out of that "cart", then people would treat him like a GOD! Get all the possible speed out of the EX Basic that everyone IS using, THAT would change things. To bad he is so stuck on RXB! But... I guess it is just stupid trying to propose that idea to him. I will let it go! He has learned great programming skill, but forgot to learn to listen to what people want! What program would needed to be installed? (hehehehe)"

I am not an RXB expert, but I read a lot about it and watch demo videos.

So, I am pretty confident when I say that RXB does exactly what you asked for.  It has replaced many GPL command with Assembly, for a fast XB compatible language with additional commands and overloads of existing commands.

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I appreciate all of the suggestions, although I'm not sure how or why exactly this thread got so far off the rails after what I thought was a fairly straightforward question. Nostalgia is apparently a hell of a drug, and no matter how efficient I make my plain-old TI BASIC code, I just can't get the game I'm working on running at a speed even close to what I remember in the version of the game my dad made in the early 1980s (which was definitely in regular TI BASIC at our house at that time).

 

So, to make a long story short, I decided to upgrade to TI Extended BASIC, which is the perfect balance for me between the very bare-bones look/feel that I want for this minimalist game with just enough of a performance improvement to make it genuinely playable.

 

I know I haven't shared any details of the game I'm working on, but I really want to crank out as much of the project solo as I can, to make it true to my vision of what I remember the game being, before posting the finished or near-finished version to share. Thank you, again, to everyone who offered genuinely helpful suggestions!

 

Although I dearly love programming on the TI, I haven't really kept up on all of the innovations over the years; my apologies for wanting to keep things simple in light of the amazing creativity and passion that the TI-99/4A innovators continue to bring to fruition. Perhaps I'll stick with it and do increasingly deeper dives into the full range of possibilities before too long. 🙂

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, zacharyfruhling said:

I appreciate all of the suggestions, although I'm not sure how or why exactly this thread got so far off the rails after what I thought was a fairly straightforward question. Nostalgia is apparently a hell of a drug, and no matter how efficient I make my plain-old TI BASIC code, I just can't get the game I'm working on running at a speed even close to what I remember in the version of the game my dad made in the early 1980s (which was definitely in regular TI BASIC at our house at that time).

Don't worry, you are not alone, I'm on the same path than you, so your question was interesting to me.

I don't want to move to TI Extended B because we didn't have it when I was a kid, and I want to stick to that nostalgia by the moment, even if it's a painful result.

I think that the video about Hell's Halls development from @pixelpedant it's good to understand how to squeeze some stuff with TI Basic to make it appear a little bit faster. Although still a little bit too advance for where I am in terms of TI BASIC dev.

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...