Pac Munchkin Posted July 26, 2006 Share Posted July 26, 2006 Ahhhhhhh :-( I am missing it for some reason I get a screen that says Defender arcade then the scaner and one person at the bottom, no mountains no enemies and no defender ship. as I press the button I can hear it shooting and see it on the scaner but nowhere else. :-( Maybe it is something to do with Stella X? As Zach said, you need to hit 'tab', click on 'Game Properties', then change the 'Type' dropdown to "F8SC". Click 'Ok', restart the game, and you should be fine. Thank you very much, but since I am using an old version of Stella X because the new version runs way too slow on my computer, I don't understand that Pentium III 902 HMz and 384MB ram on this laptop. oh well maybe it uses a lot of memory my memory is very taxed most of the time, when I am on here (the net) I am runing at 100% memory usage. I guess I'll use Z26 I may even switch to Z26 but if I do I will be changing the colors of my hacks to look good on Z26, they look lousy on Z26 compared to on Stella where they are beautiful hacks! Thanks for the help again Wade Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Helmet Posted July 26, 2006 Share Posted July 26, 2006 Another observation...the lines that appear underneath the humanoids...could the color be changed to black, making them invisible? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted July 26, 2006 Author Share Posted July 26, 2006 (edited) Cool Idea Dude! I'll try and check that out... and while I'm doing that I'll see how your 'ship shape' looks I have a funny feeling though, those lines are white for a reason... But I'll try and look. Bob Edited July 26, 2006 by PacManPlus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pac Munchkin Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 Cool Idea Dude! I'll try and check that out... and while I'm doing that I'll see how your 'ship shape' looks I have a funny feeling though, those lines are white for a reason... But I'll try and look. Bob I liked your hack very much but I changed my copy to the a ship that looks more like the arcade defender also the reserves. I'll try to copy here what I have in bit hacker if you would like to use it. oxoooooo xxxooooo xxxxooox xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx oxxxoooo For the reserves I just shortened the ship one pixal. oxoooooo xxxooooo xxxxooxo xxxxxxxo xxxxxxxo oxxxoooo This looks very much like the arcade ship I think, I wonder if it could be white though? I just wanted to show you what I did to mine, this is your hack so you may have other ideas even better yet. Wade Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted July 27, 2006 Author Share Posted July 27, 2006 (edited) Hello: Made some more changes: Removed the 'line' under the humanoids (as per Lord Helmet) - it was part of the graphic! Made the score font look like the arcade, with th exception of the number '1'; it shares a line with the number '7' so I had to change it. I have made a new ship that (hopefully) looks more like the arcade as a combination of Lord Helmet's, Wade's, and my own design. Binary to be posted later on tonight. (I want to look more for that flashing Stargate dot in the scanner... It's annoying me!) Bob Edited July 27, 2006 by PacManPlus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted July 27, 2006 Author Share Posted July 27, 2006 Ok , here's the updated bin. Still can't figure out that flashing dot in the scanner for the Stargate. Could really use some guidance or at least an explanation of how they do it. I changed my mind obout the '1' (see above post). I kept the '1' so just now the '7' look a little funny. Hope you guys like the ship shape. Bob defarcad.bin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 Hope you guys like the ship shape. Lookin' good on real hardware That '7' number does look a bit odd. Humanoids are much better off without those lines, and the ship looks great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerky Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 You're doing a fantastic job on this hack! Changing the numbers to the original format was beautiful! Was there a problem with making the ship white? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supercat Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 Was there a problem with making the ship white? The ship has to be the same color as one "slope" of the landscape; player shots have to be the same color as the other "slope". Background stars are the same colors as well. Making the ship white would change the slopes to white as well. This might make them "overpowering", though they could be softened up a bit by adjusting the data table at $1E00. Bits 4-5 of each entry give the NUSIZx/CTRLPF values for each scan line. So changing those bits from "10" to "01" would make the planet less pronounced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted July 28, 2006 Author Share Posted July 28, 2006 (edited) Lookin' good on real hardware Humanoids are much better off without those lines, and the ship looks great You're doing a fantastic job on this hack! Changing the numbers to the original format was beautiful! Thanks guys Was there a problem with making the ship white? Unfortunately yes, Making the ship white also makes the mountains white (they share the same color) Bob EDIT: Oops, didn't see supercat's post above mine until I posted... Hopefully Supercat can give me some pointers about the Stargate showing up in the scanner Edited July 28, 2006 by PacManPlus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supercat Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 Ok , here's the updated bin. Still can't figure out that flashing dot in the scanner for the Stargate. Could really use some guidance or at least an explanation of how they do it. The scanner is implemented using a small hires graphics buffer at Superchip addresses $F0CF-$F0F8 (six columns at seven bytes each). Dots are drawn into this area by code at $D8D0. This code seems to be reading off an object list. The Stargate seems to be object #15. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supercat Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 Unfortunately yes, Making the ship white also makes the mountains white (they share the same color) Have you tried making the mountains' appearance more 'subdued' as I described? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supercat Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 EDIT: Oops, didn't see supercat's post above mine until I posted... Hopefully Supercat can give me some pointers about the Stargate showing up in the scanner Change $886 from $0F to $0E. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy2600 Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 Lookin' good on real hardware Humanoids are much better off without those lines, and the ship looks great You're doing a fantastic job on this hack! Changing the numbers to the original format was beautiful! Thanks guys Was there a problem with making the ship white? Unfortunately yes, Making the ship white also makes the mountains white (they share the same color) Bob EDIT: Oops, didn't see supercat's post above mine until I posted... Hopefully Supercat can give me some pointers about the Stargate showing up in the scanner Damn if only I can make this z26 emulator work on this linux but I cant and I have not play any emulators for over a year. I had to wait till I get my Xbox modded to play any of these hack and homebrew games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supercat Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 The scanner is implemented using a small hires graphics buffer at Superchip addresses $F0CF-$F0F8 (six columns at seven bytes each). Dots are drawn into this area by code at $D8D0. This code seems to be reading off an object list. The Stargate seems to be object #15. The resolution of the scanner may be doubled, btw, by the following edits: 08AE: Turn $4A into $EA (Turn LSR into NOP) 08B1: Turn $EA into $0A (Turn "LDA $DCEA,Y" into "LDA $DD0A,Y") 08B2: Turn $DC into $DD 08B6: Turn $EE into $0A (Turn "LDA $DCEE,Y" into "LDA $DD0A,Y") 08B7: Turn $DC into $DD Aesthetically, I'm not sure this is an improvement. It makes more noticeable the fact that the scanner is updated rather sluggishly, and it also makes it harder to distinguish the humanoids. Given a decent hackable .asm of the game, I might like to redo the scanner code. At present, on each frame the code erases one of six "columns" on the scanner, draws the humanoid (if any), and then draws the monsters/Stargate (since the Stargate seems to always be object #15, changing the code to only draw objects #0-#14 eliminates it). My preferred change to the code (possibly pushing things into another bank) would be to clear the scanner on every frame, set the scanner color to green on even frames and pink on odd frames, and then draw humanoids on odd frames, landers on even frames, and mutants on both. Other enemies should be drawn at more "interesting" intervals to create a flashing pattern. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paranoid Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 So, when you're not making killer joystick mods, you code homebrew games? Heh... I am Jack's green envy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supercat Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 My preferred change to the code (possibly pushing things into another bank) would be to clear the scanner on every frame, set the scanner color to green on even frames and pink on odd frames, and then draw humanoids on odd frames, landers on even frames, and mutants on both. Other enemies should be drawn at more "interesting" intervals to create a flashing pattern. Here's my attempt at a scanner hack. I expanded the game to 16K, though it was rather a kludge since the existing games pretty much filled both banks. There would probably have been a better way to deal with the problem of the hotspot at $1FF6, but using the $F6 bank just to hold a few silly jump instructions seems to work even if it's nasty-looking. Unfortunately, my code doesn't see the monsters at $F0A2,x. Not sure why. MYDEF2.ZIP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pac Munchkin Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 Ok , here's the updated bin. Still can't figure out that flashing dot in the scanner for the Stargate. Could really use some guidance or at least an explanation of how they do it. I changed my mind obout the '1' (see above post). I kept the '1' so just now the '7' look a little funny. Hope you guys like the ship shape. Bob Execllent work!!! Yes your ship is better than the one I came up with, and the people do look much better not standing on platforms like they are waiting for the bad guys to pick them up! lol Wade Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Helmet Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 another observation... In Defender, the mountains are more of an orangeish red than true red. Changing the color might further distinguish this game from Stargate. Looking good guys...I'm brainstorming ways tom make it even better. I love Defender!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted July 28, 2006 Author Share Posted July 28, 2006 WOW! You guys have been busy since I went to bed last night. OK. Hopefully final update (I know how I am, though - that '7' is going to bug me until I figure out a way to fix it) :-/ 1) Planet surface made less pronounced as per Supercat (thanks!) 2) Planet surface (and therefore the ship) has been given more of an 'Orange' color - as per Lord Helmet (thanks!) 3) Thanks to Supercat and JohnnyWC, the Stargate blip on the scanner is now gone! Enjoy! defarcade.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 Have you tried it on real hardware? The ship/landscape color looks waaaay to dark here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic George 2K3 Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 The 7 in the digital score display is a bit messed up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted July 28, 2006 Author Share Posted July 28, 2006 I figured out how to fix the '7'! I also made the ship lighter in color - let me know if this is ok. defarcade.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted July 28, 2006 Author Share Posted July 28, 2006 So, when you're not making killer joystick mods, you code homebrew games? Heh... I am Jack's green envy. Thanks, man You know the saying 'Jack of all trades, master of none'? That's pretty much me. I'm good up to a certain point, then that's it. :-/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 Yeah, color is much better. And the seven looks good It's looking like justice is finally done to the name Defender on the 2600 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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