Burnin' Rubber (& what Plus features have really been utilised?)

[andycadley]

Ahh when you highlight the timings like that, it is better. Although checking through the information, it mentions something about if you access ppi at the same time as the ASIC is, it delays it... I need to test this to find out exactly how and when it happens.
But a player using ASIC DMA would be a little bit faster than a normal player. Nice.

Yeah, though for the most part the ASIC has priority over the CPU, so the impact is minimal. From the docs it would seem that DMA loads can be delayed by at most 2us, if the CPU was writing to the PSG. That'd be a total of 34us maximum (1 dead cycle, 3 fetches and 8+2 for every LOAD) for all three channels so still well within a single scanline.

[einoeL]

Are there any games with DMA-Sound?
Navy Seals, Robocop2, Burning Rubber......no DMA at all, only the normal AY-Stuff.   

[arnoldemu]

Are there any games with DMA-Sound?
Navy Seals, Robocop2, Burning Rubber......no DMA at all, only the normal AY-Stuff.   

Prehistorik 2 has it on it's title screen.

It is discussed in the other thread, that some may use the DMA to play normal AY-stuff.

[dragon]

rick dangerous 128+
frogger.
prehistorick2
burning rubber.

Thats all I think.

[Shredder11]

why do I feel the wec le mans game has better playability ? its just my opinion the wec le mans seems to have better control than burnin rubber - which i find strange as burnin rubber is a plus game whic in theory has better everything at its disposal - in theory


burnin rubber looks great - the colours, shadow of car flipping, background changing from day to night, the tunnel driving and scroll are great but it  feels jerky on the corners and overtaking and only 2 speeds that dont really add much at all to the game.....


Xyphoe did you use the cheats ? its well hard on the time limits is burnin rubber I wouldnt care if you did use the cheats some games need it to stop you getting rsi or swollen wrists or finger cramps....

Totally agree with everything you have said.  The WEC graphics look much more nicely defined and stylish, despite the lack of colour.

[redbox]

Are there any games with DMA-Sound?

When I pause Pang (using the GX4000 pause button) on the title screen the music keeps on playing.


Does this suggest it's DMA?

[mahlemiut]

Pang is the only game I know of that uses vectored interrupts (ie: it runs in IM2).

[arnoldemu]

When I pause Pang (using the GX4000 pause button) on the title screen the music keeps on playing.


Does this suggest it's DMA?

No it's not using DMA. I can confirm that.

[arnoldemu]

Pang is the only game I know of that uses vectored interrupts (ie: it runs in IM2).

Yes I was supprised by that. The interrupt mode 2 is more reliable on the Plus. (if you avoid the bug ).

I have updated a few pages in the wiki about which features are used by which game.
I haven't done all the carts yet.

But it's interesting to see what each uses.
Some, such as KLAX, do have slightly different colours in game, although it's not obvious, but the palette registers show it to be so.

[arnoldemu]

Are there any games with DMA-Sound?
Navy Seals, Robocop2, Burning Rubber......no DMA at all, only the normal AY-Stuff.   

navy seals does use DMA sound, for the sound effects in game. DMA channel 0 is only used.

For sfx, it's great, you can create a short list of the data required to make the sfx, tell the dma to do it and forget about it, no cpu time used after setup and it's exactly what navy seals does, the resulting data may actually be about the same too.

[MacDeath]

Some, such as KLAX, do have slightly different colours in game, although it's not obvious, but the palette registers show it to be so.

Really ? isn't it simply because the PLUS doesn't emulate the CPC's colours that properly ?

Anyway the shame with klax is that it could have been using a 320x200 (160x200 as it is mode0) sized screen instead of the 256x200 one.

the cartridge enable to keep free RAM so to scratch on VRAM is not that needed.

[arnoldemu]

Really ? isn't it simply because the PLUS doesn't emulate the CPC's colours that properly ?

Yes really.

when standard cpc colours are used, plus ram will contain 0, 6 or f for each r,g,b depending on none, half and full intensity.
e.g. 066f
But when I look at Klax it has other values such as c for one or more of the elements. Ok, I'll look again, just in case I made a mistake and read a value that is not initialised or misread it.

When I look at barbarian I just standard cpc colours, so no plus colours are used here at all.

Anyway the shame with klax is that it could have been using a 320x200 (160x200 as it is mode0) sized screen instead of the 256x200 one.

the cartridge enable to keep free RAM so to scratch on VRAM is not that needed.

agreed.
Well they didn't make much changes for this game, and I am sure it is a case of "just make a quick cartridge version to keep the publisher happy".

[McKlain]

Well they didn't make much changes for this game, and I am sure it is a case of "just make a quick cartridge version to keep the publisher happy".

Like other cartridge games, sadly.

[MacDeath]

Shamefull lazy straight ports :

=Barbarian 2.
=Batman the Movie
=Klax
=Mysticall
=Tintin on the moon

(some of those were decent on CPC...shamefull on GX...)


Shamefull straight ports yet with bits of graphics recoloured :

=CrazyCar2
=Fire and Forget2
=Wild Street
=Operation Thunderbolt



shamefull games yet using PLUS : (some of them being ported from CPC anyway, sort of)

=No Exit 
=Dick tracy
=Copter 271

=World of Sport...

Real decent/good Games on Cartridges :

=Burnin' Rubber
=Navy Seal
=Panza KickBoxing
=Plotting
=ProTennisTour
=Pang
=Robocop2
=SuperPinballMagic
=TennisCup2
=switchblade (yet in mode1...)

Unknown (yet they look decently done :
=Skeetshot and Enforcer.

Special PLUS on disk :
=Aigle d'or 2.
=Best of the Best.
=Perhistorik 2 (slow)
=crypt of Trogan (ok)
=Spacegun (not good)
=Rick dangerous 128+...lol


What else ?


To be fair, most Titus titles weren't good at all on any machine but Fire and forget2 and crazy cars2 (yet they were already a bit outdated when re-released on Cartridge...)

So there we are... 10 really decent  official games with no need to additionnal hardware (Phaser).

Anyway :
=Barbarian 2 : vcould have been good if recoloured and used some Hardsprites for a few stuffs... But the 128K cartridge was too short they even had to removes bits.

=Batman the Movie : also could have well benefited from a recolour... but the CPC graphics were sometimes far too specifically designed for the CPC palette that some pixels would have needed some changes too. and perhaps the Cartridge was also too short.

=Klax : Great game at first, just redimension the screen so to only had the "missing part"... and get a few better colour choices then.

=Mysticall : a vertical shooter which doesn't use HardSprites ? GTFO !

Also, no Game should have been 256x200sized screen equivalent on Cartridge !
This was simply too wrong !

[arnoldemu]

Shamefull lazy straight ports :

=Barbarian 2.
=Mysticall

agree

=Batman the Movie

I need to check if they did something here

=Klax
=Tintin on the moon

they did actually make some kind of effort here.. but not enough

Shamefull straight ports yet with bits of graphics recoloured :
=CrazyCar2
=Fire and Forget2
=Wild Street
=Operation Thunderbolt

on each of these they did something extra, but not enough

shamefull games yet using PLUS : (some of them being ported from CPC anyway, sort of)

=No Exit 
=Dick tracy
=Copter 271

Why shameful? they did something with all of these, pity the playability was not as good as they could have been.

=World of Sport...

not much depth, but they did use quite a lot of plus features here

Real decent/good Games on Cartridges :
=Burnin' Rubber
=Navy Seal
=Panza KickBoxing
=Plotting
=ProTennisTour
=Pang
=Robocop2
=SuperPinballMagic
=TennisCup2
=switchblade (yet in mode1...)

yes agree

Unknown (yet they look decently done :
=Skeetshot and Enforcer.

Special PLUS on disk :
=Aigle d'or 2.
=Best of the Best.
=Perhistorik 2 (slow)
=crypt of Trogan (ok)
=Spacegun (not good)
=Rick dangerous 128+...lol

not checked yet, but I'll get to them eventually.
I'm using a internal version of Arnold, with new gui, and which has a much better hardware information.
I can watch the game running and see the values change in real time so I can see which features are used, and without checking the code, get an idea of what they are doing.

So I'll do the same with these and report back.

What else ?


To be fair, most Titus titles weren't good at all on any machine but Fire and forget2 and crazy cars2 (yet they were already a bit outdated when re-released on Cartridge...)

So there we are... 10 really decent  official games with no need to additionnal hardware (Phaser).

Anyway :
=Barbarian 2 : vcould have been good if recoloured and used some Hardsprites for a few stuffs... But the 128K cartridge was too short they even had to removes bits.

=Batman the Movie : also could have well benefited from a recolour... but the CPC graphics were sometimes far too specifically designed for the CPC palette that some pixels would have needed some changes too. and perhaps the Cartridge was also too short.

=Klax : Great game at first, just redimension the screen so to only had the "missing part"... and get a few better colour choices then.

=Mysticall : a vertical shooter which doesn't use HardSprites ? GTFO !

Also, no Game should have been 256x200sized screen equivalent on Cartridge !
This was simply too wrong !

well, I haven't looked at the cartridge data to see how much is used, so I can't comment on missed bits or if they had to make changes to make it fit.

it would be good to get an idea of how much it cost for cartridge development compared to tape/disc, perhaps there was a difference here.. perhaps larger roms meant more cost?

Not so much of a problem for us now.

I think we have to consider that not all plus features are suited for all games.

We then have to consider they probably rushed most of these out of the door - perhaps the great ones they actually spent some time developing... would be good to know from the programmers.

Ok, so I have a game in development that uses plus features... not sure how many I plan to use, but what would make it actually great?

[MacDeath]

=Batman the Movie

I need to check if they did something here

Well, a new intro page is not enough...

[arnoldemu]

Well, a new intro page is not enough...

I modified your "Direct Disk to Cartridge" port page.

I corrected some English, added information about cost of cartridge compared to disk tape. (not sure if I got the cartridge price correct), added links to some examples. I hope you didn't mind?

Ok, can anyone help me with the cost of cartridge, disk and tape games in France at the time cartridges were being sold. So we can add it to show the price difference and "what you got for your money".

I think I also need to add some links to the cartridge games that got it right in this article as "what they all should have been like".

[MacDeath]

250Fr in 1990... something like that...

("General" from Amstrad 100% december1990...)

Micromania even sold them for 295Fr... ouch !



While a DiskGame was more like 150Fr and a tape game 100Fr.


Concerning production cost... we got to remember that 3" disks were expensive as hell...
general (same date) : 15 x maxell CF2 = 295Fr (300... 20Fr per disk) with a box offered.

While a mundane 3"1/2 disk was 2,90Fr per unit...



Cartridges needed 2 chips : ACID and ROM... the PCB and the casing (plus additionnal production and resistors...)


By may 1991... Jessico retailer (Amstrad 100% mag)

=Ram expansion : 500Fr (+64K for 464/664), 1090 for "256K" (total, must be +128K or even +192K)

=GX cartridges : 225Fr each.

(with vaporwares such as CougarForce, Badlands, KickOff, Midnight Resistance, NightBreed, Shadow of the Beast 2... lol...)

= Amstrad Basic cartridge (for PLUS, to get "98% CPC softs compatibles... lol) : 65fr.

=3" CF2 =
x10 : 175F
X20 : 315Fr...
ACID being custom it was probably a bit expensive (on the other hand it is just a small chip)

Seriously, amstrad could even better had got some ASIC with ROM+ACID in a single chip...


Amstrad, according to some rumors, did the PLUS series only to get rid of components stocks...
They had a large stock of old 128K ROMs.

Disk Games ranged from 145 to 195Fr.

I even see BAT at 245Fr... ouch.

MAXAM ROM is 400Fr.

A ROM board is 350Fr.


(I modified the page too...)

[McKlain]

Chase HQ II hasn't been dumped yet, right?


I was trying Pang on Winape and the plane sprite on the map is corrupted

[Gryzor]

I'm using a internal version of Arnold, with new gui, and which has a much better hardware information.
I can watch the game running and see the values change in real time so I can see which features are used, and without checking the code, get an idea of what they are doing.

Ohhhhh??? WHERE?!

[seanb]

Well the vid is now live...

Enjoy!
Hopefully at the start there where I describe Plus features there isn't inaccuracies - I left it rather vague-ish just in case.

Incredible. I've been playing this since it first came out and never made it to lap 3.
How did you record it.
With win 8.1 and win ape i can't record video that plays back more than once

[kawickboy]

Don't forget the great Bumpy's arcade fantasy. The game uses a better palette color. But use a original dsk rip as many cracked one don't enable cpc+ features.

[CraigsBar]

Don't forget the great Bumpy's arcade fantasy. The game uses a better palette color. But use a original dsk rip as many cracked one don't enable cpc+ features.

never even heard of that. Guess what I'm doing tonight teeheehee.


Edit: Except I am not, because I cannot find anything that will write the image sucessfully


|wdsk from the minibooster does the best job, but the game crashes when selecting a level
SamDisk leaves a corrupt directory on side 1
CPCDiskXP results in Side 2 not being recognised as the game data.


I have tried mix and matching the versions and nothing works.


The HXC also fails with this image


Edit2: And I cannot find an emulator that works either