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ImpaledGryphon · 16:50, 30 June 15

Hi everyone, i almost feel like a fraud joining an amstrad forum having never owned any amstrad computers (although i did use to sell them but mainly the 1st generation pc's and pcw's) however i have owned a gx4000 since it's early days.

i'm a 50+ year old retro gamer mostly consoles but i do have (or have owned) pretty much every games, handheld and home computer system, i currently have around 60 systems and approximately 4000 games but a disability has forced me towards using flashcards as i can no longer go rooting through cupboards to find what i want to play but i do play, i buy games to play them, none of this keeping them sealed for me games are to be played not looked at.

i never really considered myself a retro gamer as i always just bough whatever was new (and still do, it's a habbit) but modern gaming has driven me to appreciate the pleasure of owning a complete, working game that will continue to work whenever and wherever i want as long as i have access to the correct hardware.

so what persuaded me to sign up here? well to be honest i've been lurking for quite a while but i finally decided to buy one of those fantastic cpc flashcards and it seems the only way to order one is to sign up.

i'm honestly still unsure about the whole amstrad ecosystem as i was (and still am at heart) an atari man but several of my online "friends" seem to rate the cpc systems so i'm thinking of giving it a go at some point in the not too distant future and at that point i'm going to need a whole lot of help and guidance and this seems like the place to get it.

just before anyone thinks my excessive flashcard use is just an excuse for piracy i'll point out that i still regularly buy games that i can already play on them as they tend to open my eyes to games i'd never considered previously, in fact i bought a bunch of atari 2600 and philips g70000 carts only last week.

anyway, thats enough chat from me, i have a new flashcard to go and order

.

CraigsBar · 17:01, 30 June 15

Welcome. To be honest I think all retro gamers these days use flash in at least one device. It's not a piracy thing, its a convenience thing for me at least.

Her is the place for CPC help all right. I hope you enjoy yourself, we do trybto help where we can, and when we can't someone else can, or someone else can fix it.

Apollo · 23:37, 30 June 15

Welcome to the board, Craig said already about the flashcards, as I use this kind of tools just because it is easier as to open some old game box that I have nicely stored away.

Hope you like you stay and the appreciation to the CPC world we love and share.

andycadley · 23:48, 30 June 15

I'm not sure it's even possible to be a massive pirate in the GX4000, there weren't ever enough titles to warrant it!

A flash cart is definitely the best way to play the now hundred odd GX-ready titles, so definitely worth the investment.

CraigsBar · 23:50, 30 June 15

Quote from: andycadley on 23:48, 30 June 15
I'm not sure it's even possible to be a massive pirate in the GX4000, there weren't ever enough titles to warrant it!

A flash cart is definitely the best way to play the now hundred odd GX-ready titles, so definitely worth the investment.

unless you are the owner of one of the 2 know Chase HQ2 carts.. in which case you need to keep your investment safe. :-( If only one of those 2 people would generously dump the cart.

Dizrythmia · 00:32, 01 July 15

There has to be a heap of them sitting in a warehouse somewhere... I've never stopped believing that

CraigsBar · 09:42, 01 July 15

Even if it is bad, I want to play that game lol.

ImpaledGryphon · 13:01, 01 July 15

well, i may be showing the first signs of catching some kind of bug

i just bought an amstrad aj-5 joystick, but it seems that nothing on the gx4000 uses it and as i'm not a pc gamer (nor does my pc have an old gameport) i think i'm going to have to find something else i can use it on, i know my bbc b+ has a 15 pin port but from what i recall like everything on the bbc it's "standard" is pretty non standard so i guess that's going to put me in the market for a cpc plus but looking around the prices do seem amazingly high considering they barely run anything that wasn't designed for a £20 464.

by the way, looking yesterday in my gx4000 box i noticed i had 2 burning rubber carts, one has a red/pink stripe the other yellow is it just a matter of different stickers or is there a difference?

and is there anything on the gx4000 that can use this aj-5? or converted to use the c4cpc i'm now on the waiting list for

.

ImpaledGryphon · 13:08, 01 July 15

Quote from: CraigsBar on 23:50, 30 June 15
unless you are the owner of one of the 2 know Chase HQ2 carts.. in which case you need to keep your investment safe. :-( If only one of those 2 people would generously dump the cart.

please don' tell me the amstrad scene is like it is on coleco where homebrew comes on very limited run carts which no one will dump even when they are long sold out because "it would devalue the carts if everyone could play them". (obviously, that only applies to certain titles not all). i just don't understand it, especially with old games where the ip holder is never going to make anything from it in the future on that platform.

CraigsBar · 13:13, 01 July 15

Quote from: ImpaledGryphon on 13:01, 01 July 15
well, i may be showing the first signs of catching some kind of bug

i just bought an amstrad aj-5 joystick, but it seems that nothing on the gx4000 uses it and as i'm not a pc gamer (nor does my pc have an old gameport) i think i'm going to have to find something else i can use it on, i know my bbc b+ has a 15 pin port but from what i recall like everything on the bbc it's "standard" is pretty non standard so i guess that's going to put me in the market for a cpc plus but looking around the prices do seem amazingly high considering they barely run anything that wasn't designed for a £20 464.

by the way, looking yesterday in my gx4000 box i noticed i had 2 burning rubber carts, one has a red/pink stripe the other yellow is it just a matter of different stickers or is there a difference?

and is there anything on the gx4000 that can use this aj-5? or converted to use the c4cpc i'm now on the waiting list for .

The yellow stripe is for a 464+ or 6128+ it contains burning rubber and the os with a boot menu to select between them.

Craig.

CraigsBar · 13:16, 01 July 15

Quote from: ImpaledGryphon on 13:08, 01 July 15

please don' tell me the amstrad scene is like it is on coleco where homebrew comes on very limited run carts which no one will dump even when they are long sold out because "it would devalue the carts if everyone could play them". (obviously, that only applies to certain titles not all). i just don't understand it, especially with old games where the ip holder is never going to make anything from it in the future on that platform.

No, chase HQ 2 was a full retail release. It was thought to have been pulled pre launch, up until 2 copies were found in the wild, going for mental money on eBay. Currently the only 2 known copies. And their owners don't seem to want to dump them.

ImpaledGryphon · 13:26, 01 July 15

Quote from: CraigsBar on 13:16, 01 July 15
No, chase HQ 2 was a full retail release. It was thought to have been pulled pre launch, up until 2 copies were found in the wild, going for mental money on eBay. Currently the only 2 known copies. And their owners don't seem to want to dump them.

assuming they aren't sealed and dumping is a risk free operation that just seams mean.

thanks for explaining the yellow stripe, i wonder how i came about that cart as i've never owned a cpc let alone a plus.

CraigsBar · 13:47, 01 July 15

Who knows. It won't work on the gx 4000 anyway. As it hangs when it doors not find the plus hardware.

arnoldemu · 13:49, 01 July 15

Quote from: CraigsBar on 13:47, 01 July 15
Who knows. It won't work on the gx 4000 anyway. As it hangs when it doors not find the plus hardware.

I found that yellow cart will go to a basic screen on gx4000 but without any keyboard it's hard to type

@ImpaledGryphon: Pro Tennis Tour supports the analogue joystick I believe for one of the players.

dthrone · 13:53, 01 July 15

It's Tennis Cup II.

Those AJ-5s are hard to come by. Hang on to it, it will be perfect for future analogue homebrew.....

..... or give it to me

arnoldemu · 13:55, 01 July 15

Quote from: dthrone on 13:53, 01 July 15
It's Tennis Cup II.

Thanks, I knew it was one of those tennis games.

arnoldemu · 13:56, 01 July 15

Quote from: ImpaledGryphon on 13:26, 01 July 15
thanks for explaining the yellow stripe, i wonder how i came about that cart as i've never owned a cpc let alone a plus.

keep it for when you get a plus.

ImpaledGryphon · 14:01, 01 July 15

thanks folks for the info, i've not noticed a keyboard on my gx4000 (pity it's not like the atari xegs) so it sounds like i'm out of luck on that yellow striped cart, but it's good to know that tennis game will work with the joystick even though i have 2 pads maybe i can convince someone who's better at it than me to play using it as i'm sure it'll hinder them, pity it doesnt work on some of the driving games.

@arnoldemu, seeing the prices the plus goes for that could be a long while, i paid less for a psx.

@dthrone, yeah i'll hang on to it, hopefully more will / can use it in the future, i didn't realise they were hard to come by i paid £10 for it.

dthrone · 14:17, 01 July 15

oh, once you've got your C4CPC you could also use it with the Arnold diagnostic cart. It will probably keep you more amused than some of the cart games...

ImpaledGryphon · 15:04, 01 July 15

Quote from: dthrone on 14:17, 01 July 15
oh, once you've got your C4CPC you could also use it with the Arnold diagnostic cart. It will probably keep you more amused than some of the cart games...

diagnostic cart? sorry, i don't have one of those (or a rom dump) but yes, i recall the last time i had the gx4000 turned on and i could well believe that watching diagnostics running would be more fun but going from 5 carts (and no, no chase hq 2) to lots to play will hopefully make a difference even if barely anything makes use of the extra features of the gx/plus.

dthrone · 15:14, 01 July 15

The diagnostic cart file comes preloaded on the C4CPC, along with all the other carts

See the relevant section on -

http://www.grimware.org/doku.php/documentations/hardware/amstrad.cartridge.released

ImpaledGryphon · 16:03, 01 July 15

Quote from: dthrone on 15:14, 01 July 15
The diagnostic cart file comes preloaded on the C4CPC, along with all the other carts See the relevant section on -

http://www.grimware.org/doku.php/documentations/hardware/amstrad.cartridge.released

i didn't realise it came preloaded with anything other than the firmware and selector, i just planned to use the 26 rom dumps and 167 conversions i had from the selector as nowhere seemed to have any instructions for the c4cpc dip switches, kind of hoped they came with the cart itself.

that site was interesting though, it seems the yellow cart may work on the gx as it says that if you wait 30 seconds it autoboots to burning rubber, i'll have to try that.

dthrone · 16:12, 01 July 15

The instructions that come with it are limited to which way round it should go in. Instructions are given here -

C4CPC - CPCWiki

Basically, the selector is in slot 16 (all dip switches "on"). You can download the various conversions etc. onto the SD card and run them via the selector.

Sorry, I should really say the 16th slot, i.e. slot 15

ImpaledGryphon · 17:08, 01 July 15

Quote from: dthrone on 16:12, 01 July 15
The instructions that come with it are limited to which way round it should go in. Instructions are given here -

C4CPC - CPCWiki

Basically, the selector is in slot 16 (all dip switches "on"). You can download the various conversions etc. onto the SD card and run them via the selector.

Sorry, I should really say the 16th slot, i.e. slot 15

cheers i looked on the wiki but it says the dip switches are there but gives no hint as to what setting is what, kind of like having a g7000 233 in 1 without its manual (only a lot less switches, the g700 multi cart has 14 of the suckers).

anyway "all switches on" is all i think i'm going to need 99% of the time.

(at least until i have a desire to load the diagnostic cart for some entertainment)

andycadley · 18:28, 01 July 15

Quote from: ImpaledGryphon on 17:08, 01 July 15
cheers i looked on the wiki but it says the dip switches are there but gives no hint as to what setting is what, kind of like having a g7000 233 in 1 without its manual (only a lot less switches, the g700 multi cart has 14 of the suckers).

anyway "all switches on" is all i think i'm going to need 99% of the time.

(at least until i have a desire to load the diagnostic cart for some entertainment)

Basically the dip switches select one of 16 cartridges to boot. You can put any cartridge you like in each numbered slot by following the right directory structure on the SD card. One of the cartridges is "special", it knows how to read the SD Card filesystem directly and lets you navigate a directory listing and load any cartridge you'd like. Unless you're doing something very unusual, leaving the dip switches set to boot the special cart and using the menu to launch software will be fine. Even the diagnostic cart can be started from there!

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