Converting a game to ROM - and LOTS of ROM files inside!

[Nilquader]

Wow guys... someone, please make a 128-slot ROMboard...

Doesen't the CTC-AY/PlayCity support up to 2M Flash? Would be 128 Slots...

Or connect 2 (or more) ROM Boxes to the CPC bus to have at least 64 Slots. Reprogramming the CPLD in the X-MEM to provide ROM 32-63 is probably not that hard. Maybe TotO helps us doing that. Other option: Minor changes to the MegaFlash (or compatible) hardware.

[SyX]

EDIT: Filling up the last 2 attachment slots is PSYCHO |HOPPER from Lothlorien back in 1989. Very pretty game, hardware scrolling and a SERIOUSLY frustrating gameplay! LOVE IT! ^_^

And thanks for remembering me that game, i have been able to send a lot of credits fixes to CPC-Power about McLothlorien and the later Martin "Amazing Mode 0 Graphics" Holland

[SuTeKH/Epyteor]

And thanks for remembering me that game, i have been able to send a lot of credits fixes to CPC-Power about McLothlorien and the later Martin "Amazing Mode 0 Graphics" Holland

Both PSYCHO HOPPER and EXPLODING WALL are MC Lothlorien games. Really, really nice graphics for the time (and now, infact) and some nice hardware tricks as well! I've seen quite a few in CPC Power, but I'll keep a keener eye out from now!

[SyX]

Both PSYCHO HOPPER and EXPLODING WALL are MC Lothlorien games. Really, really nice graphics for the time (and now, infact) and some nice hardware tricks as well! I've seen quite a few in CPC Power, but I'll keep a keener eye out from now!

And in the next update in CPC-Power you will see a lot more, because i have sent to Bruno over a hundred of fixes for the credits of a lot of games

For example, nobody had seen that Short Circuit was not credit to John "Gryzor" Brandwood or all the games of Canvas, Twilight, ... and i could take weeks fixing these things.

And in there is a lot more interesting things to do. For example, the bug in the level 7 of  Edd The Duck, where only appears 19 of the 20 stars that you need to complete it. This bug happens in the ZX version, but the speccy people has fixed it. And the fix should be not difficult to "port" to CPC and i imagine the corrupted tiles happen too and can be fixed in the same way. Even maybe the level editor for this game could be used for making one for CPC... if anybody has time, feel free of taking a look.

[SuTeKH/Epyteor]

(not sure what you meant with the KM_WAIT_KEY?)

KM_WAIT_KEY is better known as CALL &BB18 and can be used as a way of displaying a game's loading screen for as long as the user wishes to view it; ie they press any key to continue. As BASKET MASTER has a doody little animation on the title screen (try RUNning the game file on the original to see where the animations "hang" on a blank screen) there's no need to have that key press requirement in the single file build.

And in there is a lot more interesting things to do. For example, the bug in the level 7 of  Edd The Duck, where only appears 19 of the 20 stars that you need to complete it. This bug happens in the ZX version, but the speccy people has fixed it. And the fix should be not difficult to "port" to CPC and i imagine the corrupted tiles happen too and can be fixed in the same way. Even maybe the level editor for this game could be used for making one for CPC... if anybody has time, feel free of taking a look.

Nich has done a quick fix for that; his single file +3 trainer (on CPC Power) has 19 stars for level 7 instead of 20.
Infact, I thought I'd ROM it while I was here! ^_^ (Simple split & LDIR again!)

[CraigsBar]

Oh my god! I have just got around to testing the mfqs ROM. That I like ☺ it works a treat with a few ROMs. Ignoring symbos, CPM and ROM 7. Very clever. I currently have the following games installed.

Chuckie egg, international rugby, spindizzy, deflektor, thrust and Harvey headbanger.

Awesome is all I can say. Thanks all.

[SuTeKH/Epyteor]

Another 7 games in 10 ROM files... some interesting games in this collection;

A game I still have no idea why I hadn't ROM'd before now. A game I loved back in the day and one that showed me that a CPC title can emulate an arcade game with an attract mode, 2 player alternate play and little interludes between levels. The addictively insane SUPER PIPELINE 2. use |SP2 to get fed up with that bloody ingame tune! ^_^

EDIT: |NIBBLER follows; this is a BASIC & M/C snake clone that's actually pretty neat!

EDIT: Next up we have the lengthy titled |WEETABIX VERSUS THE TITCHIES. An advergame from 1984! Even then they were trying to get us to buy other stuff, too! Madness!
EDIT: Oh, I forgot to say; I added a little title-screen to this one and it's taken from the BBC version of the game. However, the whole thing still fits onto 1 ROM (with plenty of spare space), so it's not as if I was wasting ROM space or anything.

EDIT: The great |SABREWULF on 2 ROMs. I still remember the path you need to take to get to the centre of the map... how sad is that?

EDIT: Cascade (yes, those chaps & chapesses who gave us the mighty CASSETTE 50) presents |ACTIVATOR; a decent graphic adventure shoot 'em up.

EDIT: Mastertronic's |RASTERSCAN next; not one of my favourites, but an easy rip! ^_^

EDIT: Finally, Durell's |SPACEHAWKS. An 8k game on a 16k ROM! Wasteful!

[mr_lou]

Thumbs up for Super Pipeline 2. 

Was anyone working on a menu-system for these game roms?

[pelrun]

The addictively insane SUPER PIPELINE 2. use |SP2 to get fed up with that bloody ingame tune! ^_^

It's been twenty years since I last played it and just mentioning that game gets the damn song stuck in my head. AAaaauuugghhh
 

[Nilquader]

Was anyone working on a menu-system for these game roms?

Have you seen my post about the Megaflash QuickStart some posts earlier in this thread? Converting a game to ROM - and LOTS of ROM files inside!

[mr_lou]

Have you seen my post about the Megaflash QuickStart some posts earlier in this thread? Converting a game to ROM - and LOTS of ROM files inside!

Apparently I missed that post.
Awesome! Thanks a lot! 

[SuTeKH/Epyteor]

I had an "important management meeting" this morning, but my lift completely forgot to pick me up and so I'm stuck at home now with little to do until the shift starts... so... I thought I'd ROM a few more games. It passes the time and slowly decreases the number of potential ROM rips left to do!

Let's start with |DEATHSCAPE by Starlight on 2 ROMs; a decent 3D shoot-em-up game from 1987. A nice enough loading screen, too.

EDIT: Second one up is |LAZERTAG from Probe Software on 2 ROMs. Another shoot-em-up, but in the same vein as COMMANDO or SMASH TV. It has a pretty nice two player option, though!

EDIT: Next is the isometric |BATMAN game from Jon Ritman & Bernie Drummond (the guys who did HEAD OVER HEELS if you didn't know) on 2 ROMs. No loading screen for this one, as the Amstrad converted Speccy screen just looks terrible! Still, it's a great game, so deserves to be ROM'd.

EDIT : Mastertronic's |HYPERBOWL on 2 ROMs is up next. An annoying two-player game where it becomes impossible to know where your ship is after 2 or 3 seconds of play! The one player game is simply impossible to beat! I did love the game back in the day, though!

EDIT: Finally, for this batch, is the other Neil Latarche classic, |AIRWOLF2 on 2 ROMs, with another huge opus from Mark Cooksey and a very impressive MODE 0 loading screen. The game itself is a MODE 1 side scrolling shoot-em-up... which is fine until you get to the volcanoes and you'll find your lives disappearing faster than chocolate donuts at a Weight Watchers convention! ^_^

[Nilquader]

By popular request you find here a 2-ROM-Version of Colossus 4 Chess.

[XyphoesRe]

By popular Request?    Damn. this guy can call himself lucky :-)

[nitrofurano]

btw, is there any chance on running any of these roms on GX4000?

[arnoldemu]

btw, is there any chance on running any of these roms on GX4000?

Yes these could be used but of course like most CPC games they need patching to run on joystick/joypad.

Many CPC games supported both keyboard and joystick but the menu was controlled by keyboard. Compare this to the c64 where a lot just worked from joystick. So although they could be put onto cartridge fairly easily they still need patching to use joystick.

[arnoldemu]

Attached is one proof of concept. This uses unpatched roms.

and two more. it didn't take long.

[arnoldemu]

Can somebody confirm that the attached cprs really do work on a gx4000?

binaries attached (for burning onto flash etc)

[CraigsBar]

If I can find some blank 27c512 chips I can test these in a 464 and 6128 plus. Does that help?

[gerald]

Attached is one proof of concept. This uses unpatched roms.

and two more. it didn't take long.

Works perfectly on a 6128plus, but loops on copyright message on a GX4000

I've seen you are putting the game ROM on slot 7 (upper 16k of the 64kcartridge), with a minimal ROM0 (basic). Do the rom 7 maps to the upper 16k of the cartrigde when in diskless configuration ?
I have no 464plus to test

[arnoldemu]

Works perfectly on a 6128plus, but loops on copyright message on a GX4000

I've seen you are putting the game ROM on slot 7 (upper 16k of the 64kcartridge), with a minimal ROM0 (basic). Do the rom 7 maps to the upper 16k of the cartrigde when in diskless configuration ?
I have no 464plus to test

I keep forgetting the gx4000 effectively has no disc rom. I'm betting it shows the basic page instead.
So it will need a patched firmware that scans 129-(128+15) instead of 0-15. (128 is the OS rom so needs to be skipped)

[arnoldemu]

New version to try. I patched the OS.

[gerald]

New version to try. I patched the OS.

Are you sure you uploaded the updated file ? The .bin is identical to the previous version (and cpr still loops on gx4000 )

[Gryzor]

Haven't been here in ages because I'm afraid of how many new games will have been released. I was right. Not enough time...

[SuTeKH/Epyteor]

Haven't been here in ages because I'm afraid of how many new games will have been released. I was right. Not enough games...

Ok, ok. So I've been busy at work instead of ROMing games. Well, here's a new one for you all. ^_^
DRUID 2 (ENLIGHTENMENT) x 3

1. RUN"DRUID2.BAS" to load a standard rip of the game.

2. RUN"DRUID2.GAM" to load the BITBuster single-file of the game.

3. Extract the DRD2ROM1.ROM, DRD2ROM2.ROM & DRD2ROM3.ROM files from the .dsk and insert them into your CPC via whichever means you deem appropriate. Then run the game with |DRUID2.

All three versions use my newly retouched/recoloured title screen from the C64 version (ie, it's the same as the CPC version but with the "Firebird" logo at the bottom left.

EDIT: Just for shits and giggles, here's a .cdt file of the single-file game. Incidentally, I've now worked out where I was going wrong with 2cdt-GUI; no need for AMSDOS headers! Ha! Easy when you know how, huh? ^_^ |TAPE:RUN" will make it happen for this one!


EDIT: I thought I'd found an easy rip; Z looked the part! However, it wasn't! But, I prevailed and here it is. |Z to run this little fella! Considering the game was released in 1986, this game has some really impressive 8-way scrolling! VERY fast and smooth. Lovely stuff!

EDIT: Keeping with the zee theme, |ZUB is next up on 2 ROMs. Another weird Mastertronic MODE 1 game with music from the master, David Whittaker.

EDIT: 3D |STUNTRIDER breaks up any kind of pattern in this batch. DJL's intriguingly infuriating game of precise speed fits onto 2 ROMs.

EDIT: Ok, so another update. |SPYVSSPY2 (THE ISLAND CAPER) fits itself snuggly onto 2 ROMs. Comes complete with a slightly retouched/recoloured C64 loading screen. Usual press any key to continue nonsense... you all know the routine by now! ^_^

EDIT: Finally, to complete the collection, here's |SPYVSSPY3 (ARCTIC ANTICS) on 2 ROMs (zipped because I ran out of attachment slots! ^_^). As before, this one contains a C64 loading screen. However, it doesn't work if you have the SPY VS SPY 2 ROMs installed... it's an issue with memory allocation or something. (Or maybe I'm lying and it works fine, I can't remember!)