N00b question re. creating a menu on a disk..

[satchman2000]

Hi folks.. although Im not an Amstrad n00b (got my 464 in 1985!), I never owned a disk drive back in the day. Now I have a DD1, and I've just landed a 6128. I have about 20 'blank' discs.


So my question is this.. if I wanted to make my own compilation disks with 2 or 3 games on each disk,
a) how do I get the games to disk in the first place? do I load (not run) the game then save to disk? 
b) how would I create a loading menu so I can pick the game to load?


I also have a 3.5 drive winging its way to me from fleabay, so hoping to cut some floppy images back to disk and do the same thing..


thanks in advance


Dave aka satchman2000

[Shaun M. Neary]

I wrote a simple one in BASIC, but cant remember what it was as it was some twenty years ago.


Basically, gather the file names of the filenames, and have them display as


1) GAME 1
2) GAME 2
3) GAME 3 etc


And set to press whatever number corresponds with the game and press enter.


I think i used something like if game=1 then run"Game1.bin" and so on and so forth. But if your memory is better than mine for BASIC, you'll know exactly i'm talking about. It's not pretty looking, but it worked.


Save the file as loader.bas for all your discs, so when you load each one, type in run"loader and each menu will pick up. Each side obviously had a different loader.

[arnoldemu]

To make it easy I would download some of CNGSofts "one-file" cracks. They are one file and can be copied to disk easily.

Either using an emu and cpcxfs or some other file manager, or on a real cpc, put them onto a 720k pc disk and copy to cpc with doscopy.

As for how they were done "back in the day", disc games loaded by talking to the floppy disc controller directly and reading sectors from the disc.
These are hacked and converted into files, and the game modified to load extra data from files too, it's not easy for the beginner to do.

[00WReX]

Hi Dave & welcome,

a)
Your best option to get software onto your 3" Amstrad discs is via your 6128 with the 3.5" drive that you have ordered, connected as an external drive.

There are heaps of programs out there that will allow disc to disc copying...drive B (external drive) to drive A (internal drive) on the 6128.

To get the software onto the 3.5" drive...

If you have a PC with a "built-in" floppy drive then you can Read and write Amstrad CPC disks from a PC...

CPCDiskXP - Write and Read Amstrad CPC disks from a PC

or if you only have a USB floppy drive that you connect to your CPC...

Writing DSK images to 3.5" floppies

Writing DSK images to 3.5" floppies

These programs will allow you to convert a .dsk file from the net to a real amstrad disk.

b)
For a couple of really simple Menu Makers...

Amstrad Action March 1986 Type-Ins - CPCWiki

Spoiler: ShowHide

10 BORDER 0:INK 0,24:INK 1,1:PEN 0:PAPER 1:MODE 1:CLS:LOCATE
19,2:PRINT"GAMES";
20 DATA Roland on the Ropes,ROLROPES.BAS,Roland in
Time,ROINTIME.BAS,Locomotion,LOCOMOTI.BAS,Chiller,CHILLER.BAS,Psychedelia,PSY.BAS,Formula
One Simulation,FORMULA1.BAS
30 MENU%=6:DIM PROG$(MENU%)
40 RESTORE 20:FOR
X=1 TO MENU%:READ X$:READ PROG$(X):LOCATE 5,4+X*2:PRINT X;" "; X$;:NEXT X
50
IN$=INKEY$:IF IN$="" THEN 50
60 IF VAL(IN$) < 1 OR VAL(IN$) > MENU%
THEN 50
70 CLS:RUN PROG$(VAL(IN$))
80 RUN

OR...

Amstrad Action March 1987 Type-Ins - CPCWiki

Spoiler: ShowHide

1 ' Disk menu
2 ' Joe Halstead
3 ' Amstrad Action   March
87
30 FOR i=0 TO 6
40 READ a$
50 POKE &1500+i,VAL("&"+a$)
60
NEXT
70 DATA CD,60,BB,32,07,15,C9
80 ' define key for quick saving onto
disks
90 KEY 0,"save"+CHR$(34)+"disc"
100 MODE 2:CAT
110
x=14:y=3
120 ' move screen up
130 LOCATE 1,25:PRINT CHR$(10)
140 LOCATE
8,23:PRINT"Use the cursor keys and the Spacebar to choose the program."
150 '
print the cursor
160 LOCATE x,y:PRINT CHR$(242)
170 ' move the
cursor
180 IF NOT INKEY(47)=-1 THEN GOTO 320
190 IF INKEY(0)=-1 THEN
y=y+1
200 IF INKEY(2)=-1 THEN y=y-1
210 IF INKEY(1)=-1 THEN x=x-20
220
IF INKEY(=-1 THEN x=x+20
230 IF x<14 THEN x=14
240 IF x>74 THEN
x=74
250 IF y>18 THEN y=18 ELSE LOCATE x,y-1:PRINT" "
260 IF y<3
THEN y=3 ELSE LOCATE x,y+1:PRINT" "
270 IF x+20<80 THEN LOCATE
x+20,y:PRINT" "
280 IF x-20>0 THEN LOCATE x-20,y:PRINT" "
290 FOR b=0
TO 150:NEXT b
300 OUT &FA7E,1:GOTO 160
310 ' read the filename
320
FOR h=-13 TO -2
330 LOCATE x+h,y
340 GOSUB 480
350 NEXT
360 LOCATE
8,23:PRINT"LOAD"+CHR$(34)+a$+CHR$(34);
370 PRINT" or
RUN"+CHR$(34)+a$+CHR$(34);" or CANCEL (L/R/C)?     "
380
an$="":an$=INKEY$
390 an$=UPPER$(an$)
400 IF an$<>"R" THEN GOTO
430
410 LOCATE 1,23:PRINT SPACE$(80):LOCATE 8,23
420
PRINT"RUN"+CHR$(34)+a$+CHR$(34):RUN a$
430 IF an$<>"L" THEN GOTO
460
440 LOCATE 1,23:PRINT SPACE$(80):LOCATE 8,23
450
PRINT"LOAD"+CHR$(34)+a$+CHR$(34):LOAD a$
460 IF an$="C" THEN GOTO 100
470
GOTO 360
480 CALL &1500:a$=a$+CHR$(PEEK(&1507))
490
a$=RIGHT$(a$,12)
500 RETURN

But there are heaps of "Menu" programs out there if you search around a bit.

I have also attached another that you can check out in an emulator if you like...it's pretty good.

Cheers,
Shane

[satchman2000]

Folks- many thanks for your replies- exactly what I was looking for!

I hope to be quite active in the forum and wiki (done a couple of tape covers), so maybe I can repay the favour some day!

Thanks again 

Dave

[Gryzor]

Hello mate, and welcome-what took you so long?  

Well, your answers have been answered and the attached menu maker is very nice, too. But I'd say, from experience, that apart from the novelty factor (a menu launcher was my first program IIRC... heh), it's not worth much in normal use. But, each to his own; you may find it useful.

It'll also be worth investing in an HxC floppy emulator, if you haven't looked into it yet... 

Again, welcome!

[Bryce]

That's exactly what my advice was going to be: The HxC is the ultimate Game Menu

Bryce.

[satchman2000]

Hi Gryzor!


Joined the wiki ages ago, but only recently got back into the Amstrad in a big way!


Thought id join the forum and join my fellow Arnold fans


I did look into the floppy emulator, but gosh its expensive!


I've got an SD read for my C64, but to be honest I think its a bit poo.. but that might just be the C64 (kidding).


The 3.5" drive will be good enough for me, I think.


cheers for the welcome!


Dave

[Bryce]

I have a µIEC inside my C64. It's considered to be the best C64 SD solution, but it's nowhere close to the HxC for usability. The HxC may be expensive, but it's worth it.

Bryce.

[beaker]

I've got an SD2IEC for my C64 and it's OK at best but it's nowhere near as good as the HxC. I've actually bought a couple HxC's, one for my Atari ST which I've installed in place of the floppy drive and the other for my CPC.

[Gryzor]

Yes, the HxC is expensive, but believe me, if you're the least serious (in a fun way) about trying out various games it's more than worth it. I have two, although I only use one - just in case. And I traded the one I use for a cased one (even more expensive, but nice job done). 

Don't get me wrong, I love my 3" disks. I have one framed on my office wall (Amsoft of course). But I'd never go back to using them as a standard medium after tasting the sweetness of the HxC.

[satchman2000]

Whoa- just been checking the HXC- I didnt realise I could also hook it up to my Amiga, Speccy AND Amstrad?!


Might be worth an investment..

[Bryce]

You can connect it to anything that has a standard (or almost standard) shugart interface. I use mine on Amigas, Amstrads and Spectrums.

Bryce.

[Gryzor]

...and musical instruments, and industrial machinery... probably your cat, if you've got one.

[Bryce]

My cat is USB or SATA only. The old cats were much easier to interface to! 

Bryce.

[Gryzor]

I seriously don't want to understand what you mean by interfacing with cats.

[Bryce]

Don't worry, all my cats are of the Nyan type

Bryce.

[Gryzor]

So you just stick rainbows in them. Cool