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Beef Drop work in progress


kenfused

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However, Mitch, I am unable to run Emu7800 on my XP Pro system here. Ever since I installed SP2 on it...it now reports Emu7800 as not being a valid windows Executable and then shuts it down. Reinstalling Emu7800 hasn't corrected the problem either. Not sure if it was SP2 that did this specifically, but that is why I first noticed it.

 

Weird, it works fine for me under SP2. :ponder:

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New test version.

 

Known issues:

 

Pokey detection may not always work so some sounds may be missing w/o pokey or no pokey sound with a pokey. My pokey chip seems to have stopped functioning (no sound in Ballblazer either) so I can't really test much until I figure out what is wrong.

 

Get Ready screen doesnt display correctly sometime.

 

Still the problem of a piece not always smashing an enemy going up a ladder.

 

There is no player two support so you cannot select it.

 

Changes:

High score is now unique per level

 

Preliminary high score cart support. The high score as displayed at the top of the screen is not updated though after a coldstart since I am not sure how to do that yet. Is there any info on programming the thing besides the code ripped from Desert Falcon? There also seems to be another three vectors in the HSC that Desert Falcon doesn't use.

bd7800.zip

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New test version.

 

Known issues:

 

Pokey detection may not always work so some sounds may be missing w/o pokey or no pokey sound with a pokey.  My pokey chip seems to have stopped functioning (no sound in Ballblazer either) so I can't really test much until I figure out what is wrong.

 

Get Ready screen doesnt display correctly sometime.

 

Still the problem of a piece not always smashing an enemy going up a ladder.

 

There is no player two support so you cannot select it.

 

Changes:

High score is now unique per level

 

Preliminary high score cart support.  The high score as displayed at the top of the screen is not updated though after a coldstart since I am not sure how to do that yet.  Is there any info on programming the thing besides the code ripped from Desert Falcon?  There also seems to be another three vectors in the HSC that Desert Falcon doesn't use.

 

I'll give it a try.

 

Did you check out the HSC code I posted a link to on the previous page of this thread?

 

Mitch

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It probably could be made to run synced to the video rate with a fair amount of code changes from the original 5200 version, but it may or may not be worth it just to run in emulation.

 

The first verison and 5200 version have a vbi running which updates the screen, handles sound, etc.

 

Using a timer updated in the vbi, I then had a version that use the vbi timing but it was fixed to one overall speed (although there is some coding to change the ratio of chef movements vs enemy movments).  It could be made to allow faster speed by sometimes allowing 1 or 2 pixel movements in the appropriate ratios but it require changes to the existing coding.

 

The last version posted and I am still using is relying on the timers in the RIOT which allows for a faster running timer than the VBI.  This may not be permanent since I do not know if you are really supposed to be allowed to use them (I know accessing them will slow the CPU probably)   It seems to work fine on my 7800 though but MESS must no emulate them since it runs just as fast as the early versions.  

 

I think the main problem with MESS, at least in the first case, is it does not yet accurately emulate the system timing or cycles stolen by the video chip.  So maybe it it not really a bug.

 

Thanks Kenfused for the explanation (You too, again, Mitch for responding the first time around as well). I appreciate the answers I received, and it makes more sense now.

 

I guess someone needs to code a 'cycle exact' Atari 7800 emulator..lol. Well, there is Nestopia for the NES (Which is suppose to be cycle-exact...See Marble Madness). We need a Atariopia 7800 for the Atari 7800 :D

 

 

-Treobr

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However, Mitch, I am unable to run Emu7800 on my XP Pro system here. Ever since I installed SP2 on it...it now reports Emu7800 as not being a valid windows Executable and then shuts it down. Reinstalling Emu7800 hasn't corrected the problem either. Not sure if it was SP2 that did this specifically, but that is why I first noticed it.

Maybe you should try to reinstall the .NET Framework.

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Smutzpuppe:

 

You got it right! I had reinstalled the XP OS and installed SP2 about a month back..but hadn't installed the .Net platform since I didn't see a need for it. I went ahead to M$ updates and installed the 1.1 .Net platform, which they didn't state was needed either..but now emu7800 is running again..

 

So now my next question. How are you getting BD to run in Emu7800 when it only appears to run roms that is recognizes?

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Smutzpuppe:

 

You got it right! I had reinstalled the XP OS and installed SP2 about a month back..but hadn't installed the .Net platform since I didn't see a need for it. I went ahead to M$ updates and installed the 1.1 .Net platform, which they didn't state was needed either..but now emu7800 is running again..

 

So now my next question. How are you getting BD to run in Emu7800 when it only appears to run roms that is recognizes?

 

Open the ROMProperties.csv under Excel and add the following info:

Title: Beef Drop

Cart Type: A78S4

MD5: 22eb1b5fac6f8dd475428aa9a08072fe

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Thanks Trebor!

 

Got it going in Emu7800. But of course..the TIA sounds aweful in this emu compared to MESS and the POKEY isn't working under EMU7800 yet so I can't tell if that is really working or not either.

 

Otherwise, I didn't experience any problem with any of the difficulty settings causing any speed issues in Emu7800 and I feel that Emu7800 is giving me more of a fell of how it will play on a real 7800 compared to MESS at this point. If only the sound could be fixed in Emu7800..ugh...

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Thanks Trebor!

 

Got it going in Emu7800. But of course..the TIA sounds aweful in this emu compared to MESS and the POKEY isn't working under EMU7800 yet so I can't tell if that is really working or not either.

 

Otherwise, I didn't experience any problem with any of the difficulty settings causing any speed issues in Emu7800 and I feel that Emu7800 is giving me more of a fell of how it will play on a real 7800 compared to MESS at this point. If only the sound could be fixed in Emu7800..ugh...

 

Are you using GDI or SDL as your host type? The SDL host seems to have bad audio on my system, changing to GDI improves it greatly.

 

Mitch

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Thanks Mitch!

 

Hadn't even played with that setting..but yes..the GDI option makes it sound even better than MESS...just slightly...

 

Still wish POKEY support was in the this emu...and I don't care for the small window that the emu now displays the game in...it was full screen before with the SDL...oh well..thanks for the tip Mitch!

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Thanks Mitch!

 

Hadn't even played with that setting..but yes..the GDI option makes it sound even better than MESS...just slightly...

 

Still wish POKEY support was in the this emu...and I don't care for the small window that the emu now displays the game in...it was full screen before with the SDL...oh well..thanks for the tip Mitch!

 

There is a maximize window button on there you know. :D

 

Mitch

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Did you check out the HSC code I posted a link to on the previous page of this thread?

Anyone have a link to the HS cart programming docs, I am sure I seen them somewhere?

 

Is this the one you were thinking of?

 

Mitch

 

Mitch

This code looks like it is pretty much the code ripped from the desert falcon source files on the same sight. It gave me enough info to do some HSC stuff, but it doesnt use three other vectors near where the one it does are. I also had to look at the desert falcon to actually know the values of the routines in the HSC cart. I also started a disassembly of the HSC cart but didnt get too far yet. I would like to be able to do Burgertime style high score entry and update the cart but don't know if that is possiible (well I am sure it would be possible somewhere even if means directly accessing the HSC hardware)
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This code looks like it is pretty much the code ripped from the desert falcon source files on the same sight.  It gave me enough info to do some HSC stuff, but it doesnt use three other vectors near where the one it does are.  I also had to look at the desert falcon to actually know the values of the routines in the HSC cart.   I also started a disassembly of the HSC cart but didnt get too far yet.  I would like to be able to do Burgertime style high score entry and update the cart but don't know if that is possiible (well I am sure it would be possible somewhere even if means directly accessing the HSC hardware)

 

Yeah, it probably is the same code though maybe the other way around (ie Sample code copied into DF).

Have you checked out the disassembly of Robotron that Dan Boris has on his site? It's a HSC game as well, maybe there is something in there that will help.

 

Mitch

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I think I may have figured out the co-called 'bug' in MESS. When both A and B buttons are pressed simultaneously, MESS plays games in fast forward. I wonder if there is something in the Beef Drop code that causes MESS to think that both buttons are being pressed at the same time.

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Did some testing, Pokey version worked OK, the TIA version still seems to have the same sound problems as the last beta.

 

Mitch

 

I just tried the TIA version again this time with a dedicated 32K EPROM board (previously I was using a supercart boart jumpered to 32K). With the dedicated board it worked fine. The extra components on the supercart board must have been causing problems with the auto-detection code. :ponder:

 

So I guess this version is OK after all, as long as it's on a standard 32K board.

 

Mitch

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Did some testing, Pokey version worked OK, the TIA version still seems to have the same sound problems as the last beta.

 

Mitch

 

I just tried the TIA version again this time with a dedicated 32K EPROM board (previously I was using a supercart boart jumpered to 32K). With the dedicated board it worked fine. The extra components on the supercart board must have been causing problems with the auto-detection code. :ponder:

 

So I guess this version is OK after all, as long as it's on a standard 32K board.

 

Mitch

I plan on eventually doing some more toward autodetecting a pokey. One problem with looking at the random number register is if certain address cause the data lines to float, it may appear random. Probably a better way would be using pokey timers or something else a little more predictable. If pokey is detected when there isnt a pokey then a lot of the music will be missing. I am using tia for some sound even if there is a pokey though. Has anyone tried the high score cartridge stuff yet on a real High Score cartridge or on a CC2?
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I tried out the HSC part on my CC2. It sort of worked but when it listed the high scores, my score was a lot less then I had in the game. I'm guessing it may have been the score for just the last level instead of the entire game. :?

 

Mitch

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Can't test that myself as the hiscore cart doesn't work on PAL 7800s.

 

It works OK for the few PAL 7800 carts that support it, though I think one of them crashes on the HSC screen. The problem is that the HSC ROM is NTSC, so when you use it on a PAL 7800 the HSC screen has the same "NTSC cart on PAL system" problem that most 7800 games suffer from.

Incidentally, Beef Drop does not crash with the HSC on a PAL 7800 system, it just has a few junk lines at the bottom of the screen.

 

Someone just needs to hack the HSC ROM to PAL. :D

 

Mitch

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