List of CPC464 games with 2nd fire button?

[Kevin Mount]

Hi,


I am a hardware developer for various retro platforms and I am developing an adapter for using a Playstation 2 gamepad with the Amstrad.


I have already developed Amiga, C64 and MSX versions that I have been selling for a while now. I call it the Cyclone RX. Here is a link to the C64 version so you can see exactly what I am talking about:


NEW ! ! Cyclone RX Playstation Joystick Gamepad Adapter for Commodore C64 C128.


The reason for this post is (apart from introducing myself) the version I am developing now has support for one fire button. I may do a version with second fire button support if it is worth it, so I would like to ask, does anyone have a list of CPC games that uses both fire buttons?


Cheers!

[VincentGR]

Welcome!
Great piece of hardware.

I did an SMS joy mod myself too for Invasion of the zombie monsters cause needed two buttons.

[dodogildo]

Cyclone RX for C64 is awesome. Hope we see an Amstrad version soon.

[CraigsBar]

Well in my game library any game that can use reconfigured keys uses both buttons.

So yes a 2 button one makes sense.

[dodogildo]

Well in my game library any game that can use reconfigured keys uses both buttons.

So yes a 2 button one makes sense.

I just realized 5 mins ago that one of my favorites CPC games, COMMANDO does indeed support 2 buttons out of the box. I was trying out the gx4000 gamepad you sent (gratitudes again) and while A button was mapped as gun fire, the B button was mapped as the bomb.

Excellent game btw

[Kevin Mount]

Thanks guys.

Ok that gets my list off to a start, Commando and Invasion of the zombie monsters.

You might be thinking, why not just implement the second fire button anyway?

Problem is, while the C64 doesn't like being directly connected to MCU I/O pins, the CPC positively detests it, so I use reed relays for switching, which aren't the cheapest components in the world, and the count is already up to five (one more than the C64 adapter).

It may turn out that a relay won't be necessary for the second fire button. I will look into that in the next day or to.

Meanwhile, development is going extremely well with this adapter, and I have a fully working prototype (albeit with only the primary fire button).

[TFM]

Hi and Welcome!


2nd Fire button would be great, for example Cyber Huhn used two of them. There is a decent number of games using Fire 2 imho.


Nice vehicle btw. 

[Kevin Mount]

Hi and Welcome!


2nd Fire button would be great, for example Cyber Huhn used two of them. There is a decent number of games using Fire 2 imho.


Nice vehicle btw. 

Thank you!


I was looking here:


List of Amstrad CPC games - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


But I can't find a game called Cyber Huhn??


Yep I can highly recommend the VFR800 (as long as it is the VTEC model of course) 

[TFM]

Take Cyber Chicken then (Cyber Huhn is the ROM version). Both run on 64 KB CPC464 too. 


That list doen't contain all games anyway, guess most homebrew stuff is probably missing.

[Bryce]

Thanks guys.

Ok that gets my list off to a start, Commando and Invasion of the zombie monsters.

You might be thinking, why not just implement the second fire button anyway?

Problem is, while the C64 doesn't like being directly connected to MCU I/O pins, the CPC positively detests it, so I use reed relays for switching, which aren't the cheapest components in the world, and the count is already up to five (one more than the C64 adapter).

It may turn out that a relay won't be necessary for the second fire button. I will look into that in the next day or to.

Meanwhile, development is going extremely well with this adapter, and I have a fully working prototype (albeit with only the primary fire button).

You can easily and safely interface to the CPC joystick port via a 74LS240, using the COM signal to enable the outputs. The MCU can directly control the states as you wish.

Bryce.

[Kevin Mount]

You can easily and safely interface to the CPC joystick port via a 74LS240, using the COM signal to enable the outputs. The MCU can directly control the states as you wish.

Bryce.

Thanks Bryce. Is this from experience? I would have expected a high risk of bus contention issues with this approach.


Also, looking at Motorola's datasheet I can'y find any reference to a com signal 




Cheers.

[Bryce]

I've used it here on my PS/2 and USB Mouse adapters: PS2Mouse - CPCWiki
There are quite a few owners here who will confirm that it works without an issue.

Bryce.

[Kevin Mount]

I've used it here on my PS/2 and USB Mouse adapters: PS2Mouse - CPCWiki
There are quite a few owners here who will confirm that it works without an issue.

Bryce.

Thanks Bryce I'll have a look at that tomorrow. Are you still using the PIC16F84A for that or have you moved onto the PIC16F628A?

[andycadley]

Burnin' Rubber, Robocop, Navy Seals... probably most of the GX titles too.

[Bryce]

Thanks Bryce I'll have a look at that tomorrow. Are you still using the PIC16F84A for that or have you moved onto the PIC16F628A?

Why would I move to the 628? The 84 works fine.

Bryce.

[Kevin Mount]

Why would I move to the 628? The 84 works fine.

Bryce.

The 84 is more or less obsolete now, so it is normally two or three times the cost of a 628.


If you can make do with a bit less memory, the 627 is cheaper still.




Another money/space/time saving feature, the 627/628 has a built-in oscillator. 


I made the switch about 2 years ago. All my MCU-based products use the 627.

[Kevin Mount]

Guys I am new to the 464, so I have a quick question.


Bearing in mind the official joysticks only have one fire button, how does gameplay work with a game that uses 2 fire buttons?


Is the second fire button copied to the keyboard?

[TFM]

Well, the original joystick port has COM1 and COM2 for the usage of two joysticks. The remaining 7 pins are up, down, left, right and there are two fire buttons. The Amstrad Joystick has them. There is a third fire button referred as spare.


All signals of joystick 2 are mapped to the keyboard too. But NOT joystick 1. All its seven signals are NOT at the keyboard.

[ukmarkh]

There's loads of games where you can configure two fire buttons, especially with the GX4000 pad. I think ChaseHQ allows for this also.

[TFM]

Got one joystick at home providing all three fire buttons - and I'm using them 

[chinnyhill10]

There's loads of games where you can configure two fire buttons, especially with the GX4000 pad. I think ChaseHQ allows for this also.

Redefining keys in Chase HQ? I'm shocked at the thought!

[dragon]

Many games that support redefine the keys. Have blocked the button 2 on the game pad. You can redefine the keys except gamepad button 2 .

These is  another patch i made to several games when i port to gx4000 in the past.

[Kevin Mount]

Got one joystick at home providing all three fire buttons - and I'm using them 

What games use three fire buttons??

[CraigsBar]

What games use three fire buttons??

Only thing I can think are not games, but AMX Art and AMX Stop Press.

[TFM]

Well, as pointed out before games do allow to redefine keys. There is a Renegade patch for 3 buttons, and I like this one in particular.