CROSS CHASE grows A LOT with lots of new targets including some initial prototypes for 8 bit consoles.
The CPC versions need some work. I need some help on how to redefine characters and improve the CPC version.
Now I provide 44 (FORTY-FOUR) different versions!
1. MSX is now fully playable (but no sound and no fancy graphics, yet).
2. CPC is playable (monochromatic version)
3. CPC playable slow prototype (color version)
4. Jupiter Ace playable prototype
5. ZX81 playable prototype
6. Spectravideo playable prototype
7. VZ200 playable prototype
8. Aquarius playable prototype
9. ZX80 sort of playable prototype (turn-based)
10. Atari 5200 console playable prototype
11. NES console sort of playable prototype Remark:
When the loading procedure is not obvious you can find some instructions in the HOW_TO_LOAD_THE_GAME.txt file.
MINIMAL = 16k or slightly less memory required
FULL = 24k or slightly less memory required
You find binaries and source code at
https://github.com/Fabrizio-Caruso/CROSS-CHASE/releases
(https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B2xqycQ7jRc/WZsqCXP1kPI/AAAAAAAAAJ0/hvdZyXpYEdo8bESBkjBUknL07GtMc_VmwCLcBGAs/s1600/c64.jpg)
(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6TMT46BnbqQ/WZssopvhZYI/AAAAAAAAAKA/gxI35abnVWIRcZlQFmPBToHVSRg6L7SpgCLcBGAs/s1600/Vic20.jpg)
(https://github.com/Fabrizio-Caruso/CROSS-CHASE/releases)
Nice project!
Quote from: Fabrizio on 11:01, 20 September 17
CROSS CHASE grows A LOT with lots of new targets including some initial prototypes for 8 bit consoles.
The CPC versions need some work. I need some help on how to redefine characters and improve the CPC version.
I am not a CPC expert, but CPC does not have character mode, so you can use your own character set which is loaded into the memory, as I see you use 4 colours in the game field therefore I would suggest to use 320x200 resolution with 4 colour i think it would look better than 160x200 with 16 colour.
Pixel setup in colour 4 mode, for 8 pixel you need 2 bytes definition.
pixel3 pixel2 pixel1 pixel0
b3,b7 | b2,b6 | b1,b5 | b0,b4
So if you want setup colour 1 for pixel 3, and rest 0 you should enter 80h.
I can help you to convert eg C64 character set to CPC.
I did not check the game itself, but if the game using CPC ROM routines for print the characters, it could be speed up by eliminating using ROM routines.
@Geco (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=1605),
The game does not have to be converted or ported. It is already a CPC game along with lots of other computers.
The game code already supports (nearly) all 8-bit computers and even some 8-bit consoles: the VERY SAME code should generate the binaries for ALL 8-bit computers and some supported consoles.
I need to improve the very small part of CPC specific code (few lines in one file) so that CPC gets nicer graphics.
I need to understand how to redefine characters hopefully in C or (if strictly necessary) in Assembly.
yes, i know this game is already ported to cpc, i suggested to change to color four mode, because it would look much better, and i asked if you use rom routines, because if you do not use then you do not need to change character definition, just use your own by printing routine, i think cpc would require an assembly print routin, because it has only graphics mode. meanwhile i got to my mind a shorter solution for characters than what i mentioned last time, the same characterset could be used like on commodore, just using four conversion table for the four colors.
you mentioned that this game runs on nearly all eight bit machine, if you like an enterprise version would be appreciated also :)
@Fabrizio: (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/profile/?u=2277)
http://cpctech.cpc-live.com/source/charspr.asm (http://cpctech.cpc-live.com/source/charspr.asm)
This example shows how to use txt set matrix to redefine the characters.
this is the important bit:
ld hl,pixel_data ;; location of character matrix data
ld a,248 ;; id of first character matrix
ld b,8 ;; number of characters to define matrix for
.sch
push af
push bc
push hl
call txt_set_matrix ;; set character matrix
pop hl
ld bc,8 ;; number of bytes per character matrix
add hl,bc
pop bc
pop af
inc a
djnz sch
pixel data is 8 bytes per char, 1 byte for each line, 1 bit per pixel.
So you will need to asm but you may be able to use z88dk's inline assembler.
EDIT: If you define the font this way then you will get 2 colours (background and foreground) for each character cell. If you want more you need to do the same as this example and set the mode in two ways (1 directly so that the firmware updates it's drawing functions and then direct to hardware to display the result in a different mode) - this fools the firmware and lets you have more colours per char.
I think before writing a lot in assembler to speed it up, I think it would be good to
1) see if there is anything in your code you can change to speed it up (avoid copy by value - I don't know if you use this. Use pointers where you can. Maybe make some things const, reduce size of data values perhaps unsigned char instead of int, that kind of thing.
2) inspect the generated asm, see if you can re-write some of your c code to force the compiler to generate better code. I have done this and it does work.
3) inspect the ansi libraries you are using, perhaps they are not optimal and can be improved
4) finally re-write the character drawing functions in asm. The firmware functions will be a bit slow because
a) there is code to transition from ram to rom to call the functions in rom, then to transition back to ram
b) the code is generic for all modes. a function for mode 1 can be customised for your use and therefore made faster.
There is 1 more way which may be better than using asm:
http://cpctech.cpc-live.com/docs/manual/s158ap07.pdf
If you define a special string and print it, then hopefully the ansi functions use cpc firmware functions and will call this. If not use the cpclib and print the text.
The control codes are just character values below 32 and with that you can define the lines of a character and redefine characters :)
I'd say you need a ASM routine, too.
055 &BBA5 TXT GET MATRIX
Action: Gets the address of a character matrix
Entry: A contains the character whose matrix is to be found
Exit: If it is a user-defined matrix, then Carry is true; if
it is in the lower ROM then Carry is false; in either
event, HL contains the address of the matrix, A and
other flags are corrupt, and others are preserved
Notes: The character matrix is stored in 8 bytes; the first
byte is for the top row of the character, and the last
byte refers to the bottom row of the character; bit 7
of a byte refers to the leftmost pixel of a line, and
bit 0 refers to the rightmost pixel in Mode 2.
Smth like: (pseudocode)
ld a,'o'
ld hl,data
jp &bba5
data:
db 01111110
db 01011010
db 01011010
db 01011010
db 01011010
db 01011010
db 01011010
db 01111110
will change "o" to a token like above
Or just use other standard CPC characters instead of "o" like you can find 'ere:
http://cpctech.cpc-live.com/docs/cpckybd.pdf
You may have a look for changing characters on CPC here: http://www.sean.co.uk/books/amstrad/amstrad4.shtm
I wrote a routine for redefining the character set in Small-C, which uses the Control Code (25) followed by the 8 Lines of Data it needs for the Character:
symbol(ch,p1,p2,p3,p4,p5,p6,p7,p8)
int ch,p1,p2,p3,p4,p5,p6,p7,p8;
{
putchar(25);
putchar(ch);
putchar(p1);
putchar(p2);
putchar(p3);
putchar(p4);
putchar(p5);
putchar(p6);
putchar(p7);
putchar(p8);
}
So something like this should work:
symbol(254,1,1,65,67,71,127,67,1);
symbol(255,128,128,130,194,226,254,194,128);
putchar(254);
putchar(255);
Unfortunately my example doesn't extensively test how many characters can be redefined. In Locomotive BASIC the limit is 15 (or so I read somewhere), before a SYMBOL AFTER needs to be used, which means characters 240-255 can be redefined by default. The SYMBOL AFTER is the equivalent to the TXT SET M TABLE, which was mentioned in the other thread, unfortunately it doesn't exist as a Control code. In BASIC you cannot tell where you this TABLE with SYMBOL AFTER, though with TXT SET M TABLE the HL register can be used to point to an area in the central 32k of RAM, along with DE which represent the same figure found after a SYMBOL AFTER, the lower the number the more area gets allocated for the table, so whatever number of characters you need to redefine, I'd suggest keeping to that.
This is just report some big progress in my project (https://github.com/Fabrizio-Caruso/CROSS-CHASE (https://github.com/Fabrizio-Caruso/CROSS-CHASE))
The game has many more features and it now runs on more than 100 different 8-bit systems.
The CPC version uses Z88DK version of CPCRSLIB. I am still working on it.
Disk image for the Amstrad CPC version:
https://github.com/Fabrizio-Caruso/CROSS-CHASE/releases/download/CPM/FULL_cpc.dsk
Tape image for the Amstrad CPC version:
https://github.com/Fabrizio-Caruso/CROSS-CHASE/releases/download/CPM/FULL_cpc.cdt (https://github.com/Fabrizio-Caruso/CROSS-CHASE/releases/download/CPM/FULL_cpc.cdt)
Rom image of the Amstrad NC 100 version:
https://github.com/Fabrizio-Caruso/CROSS-CHASE/releases/download/CPM/LIGHT_nc100_sprites.rom (https://github.com/Fabrizio-Caruso/CROSS-CHASE/releases/download/CPM/LIGHT_nc100_sprites.rom)
Nice Project! 8)
I will check this out on real hardware when I get time.
Hi everyone!
I have just managed to automatically create a disk image for the Amstrad CPC series:
https://github.com/Fabrizio-Caruso/CROSS-CHASE/releases/download/CPM/FULL_cpc.dsk
I have managed to create a CPC+ version with digital joystick support thanks to a hint from @Phantomz (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=1308)!
CPC tape & keyboard control
https://github.com/Fabrizio-Caruso/CROSS-CHASE/releases/download/CPM/FULL_cpc.cdt (https://github.com/Fabrizio-Caruso/CROSS-CHASE/releases/download/CPM/FULL_cpc.cdt)
CPC disk & keyboard control
https://github.com/Fabrizio-Caruso/CROSS-CHASE/releases/download/CPM/FULL_cpc.dsk (https://github.com/Fabrizio-Caruso/CROSS-CHASE/releases/download/CPM/FULL_cpc.dsk)
CPC tape and joystick control
https://github.com/Fabrizio-Caruso/CROSS-CHASE/releases/download/CPM/FULL_cpc_joystick.cdt (https://github.com/Fabrizio-Caruso/CROSS-CHASE/releases/download/CPM/FULL_cpc_joystick.cdt)
CPC disk and joystick control
https://github.com/Fabrizio-Caruso/CROSS-CHASE/releases/download/CPM/FULL_cpc_joystick.dsk (https://github.com/Fabrizio-Caruso/CROSS-CHASE/releases/download/CPM/FULL_cpc_joystick.dsk)
GX4000 and CPC with joystick control
https://github.com/Fabrizio-Caruso/CROSS-CHASE/releases/download/CPM/FULL_gx4000.cpr (https://github.com/Fabrizio-Caruso/CROSS-CHASE/releases/download/CPM/FULL_gx4000.cpr)
Amstrad NC 100: https://github.com/Fabrizio-Caruso/CROSS-CHASE/releases/download/CPM/LIGHT_nc100_sprites.rom (https://github.com/Fabrizio-Caruso/CROSS-CHASE/releases/download/CPM/LIGHT_nc100_sprites.rom)