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FutureOS corner

Started by TFM, 05:12, 01 October 10

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Bryce

The scrolling is very similar to the effect used in sub hunter (2011) and they managed to get that very smooth.

Bryce.

TFM

Quote from: Bryce on 22:46, 21 January 16
The scrolling is very similar to the effect used in sub hunter (2011) and they managed to get that very smooth.

Bryce.

They used a *very* time consuming method: Paint the whole screen again (routines itself are very quick due to usage of PUSH, but they could only get up to 25 fps. Also due to the usage of PUSH only repetitive pattern can be used), so no, that's not it. I think about a technique using different parts of the V-RAM as part of the screen, therefore having 4 different scroll areas. Of course overlapping regions will still need some adaption by software.

The main problem is here to convert the game form an (I guess) character based engine to a real Video-RAM computer and use scrolling. I have to learn more about the Moonbuggy hardware first. And I didn't find so much yet. Well, this seems to become a huge project.

Games with a not scrolling screen or games where the whole screen scrolls in the same speed are more easy to adapt. But why not trying something harder. Maybe it can be done.

TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

robcfg

If you're willing to make minor changes, it should be quite easy. There's a version of that game for the Dragon 32, named Lunar Rover Patrol, that I find quite good.


So, If a Dragon can make it, the CPC can do it too.

TFM

That way it would be really easy. As you see there is no parallax scrolling.
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

TFM

@Fessor : Well, I thought about the Moon Patrol project thoroughly. Now let me ask some questions:

- Do you like it to be 100% like the original or just a game more or less like the original? I ask because an emulator of the original engine would be slow. On the other hand the game could be done from scratch on CPC, but with slightly different features, because it won't be easy to rally clone it 1:1.

- Also do you prefer CPC6128 or 6128 Plus as platform.
The Plus could aid with parallax scrolling, but only few people do own it.

Maybe another game could be converted more quick. However it's amazing what the did fit into few KB back the day with nearly no compression.  :)
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

Fessor

#480
Quote from: TFM on 23:02, 22 January 16
@Fessor : Well, I thought about the Moon Patrol project thoroughly. Now let me ask some questions:

- Do you like it to be 100% like the original or just a game more or less like the original? I ask because an emulator of the original engine would be slow. On the other hand the game could be done from scratch on CPC, but with slightly different features, because it won't be easy to rally clone it 1:1.

- Also do you prefer CPC6128 or 6128 Plus as platform.
The Plus could aid with parallax scrolling, but only few people do own it.

Maybe another game could be converted more quick. However it's amazing what the did fit into few KB back the day with nearly no compression.  :)

As i don't have a cpc+ i prefer the normal cpc6128. It should have as much as possible of the Gameplay of Moonpatrol with the different types of UFOs and its Attackwaves and its ground action; Paralaxx at the Background is not necessery, there im nearly ok with Moon Buggy with static Hills far away and a scrolling zone for Background-GFX (hopefully without that tearing). If its to sophisticaded, my second choice would have been Astrosmash. Seeing Sheldon Cooper wearing a T-Shirt with a motive of it brings back many memorys as i had  an Intellivision back in that time and played that Game many hours.

robcfg

Astrosmash is a great game, but I find Moon Patrol more a challenge on CPC.

As the paralax planes are of a solid color, only some strips on screen should be redrawn to give the feeling that the planes are moving.

As for the enemies and player, there's not too much, so shouldn't be a problem.

Now the big question... Mode 0 or Mode 1? :D

Fessor

#482
I prefer color over resolution.

Attached is a quick n dirty Mockup about how i think it could be possible, playing around with some sources of Unofficial Amstrad WWW Resource . In my mind comes "rupture"-Splitting, as i thought it would be possible at each Interrupt-Zone to set the pointer of the Screen Memory to a new Adress.

If the "black" Area is reached, pointing the Screen-Memory to a "band" with the Backgroud-GFX for the Mountains, when the White Zone is reached, setting the Adress to the Background-GFX with the Hills. At the Purple-Area there is no need for Scroll, it could be high enough that the Sprite for the Buggy is also only contained in this area and not overlapping with the white zone if its at its highest point of a jump.

The contents of the HUD could be rearranged so that there is a greater area for the UFOs at the grey-Zone.

CRTC-Registers for this Example:
Reg 7: &22
Reg 2: &2e
Reg 6: &20
Reg 1: &28

TFM

Yep, that's what I thought too. MODE 1 with some color changes should do it.  :)
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

Fessor

 ??? Please, not mode 1. You are running out of colors, especially later in the game, on the second run-through, when ufos begin to try to crash-land on you and on some sections are plants in the holes. I'm afraid that it would look more like a spectrum-game than a cpc game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJVjvIp9S84



TFM

Uuuuu. That's a cruel version.  :o
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

TFM

Hi there fellow FutureOS users and who ever wants to join our realm....  :laugh:

Let me ask a question here... so the idea was to add a feature: This is to switch from time/date being shown in icons towards time/date being shown in regular letters (maybe at the lower end of the screen). I want to add this to the SPARtan mode in default

Now my question: Are you ok if time/date are shown in small while using SPARtan mode? Or do you prefer to be able to configure SPARtan mode and the appearance of time/date independently of each other?


Please let me know!  :) :) :)
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

TFM

Update:
- Support (double detection of both main chips) for Albireo added
- Date/Time can be shown as icons or characters (at bottom of screen)
- SPARtan mode is now switched on per default
- Hotkey "B" / Fire 2 (not 0 or 1!) joy 2 added: Moves mouse arrow to next file, but without tagging
- Hotkey "J" added to Jump to file section in Desktop
- OS/API entry KLICK will now reset SP to &BFF8, Stack pointer stability enhanced

A comprehensive update will follow in some month.
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

||C|-|E||

And this is great  :D

TFM

Thanks, if I got time I will write some small prog for it (both CPC-OS and FutureOS).
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

TFM

Hi friends of the friendly OS.  :)


Now I added eXpansion ROM support eventually. Sorry, took my ages... But as @Gryzor pointed that out years ago it would make sense to have Applications in ROM too, when using an ROM based OS.

Now this feature is added and also the ROManager 2.14 in one single 16 KB ROM.


How to try it?
- Install the ROMs to 10, 11, 12, 13 (or use the Installer DSK on a real CPC)
- Install the ROMANAGR.ROM to one slot between 0 and 255 (doesn't matter where)
- Start FutureOS, type X for eXecute, type 4 for ROM Apps.
- Now you see a message like 'ROManager ROM bla bla'
- Press COPY (or Fire) once, then you see the Apps name, press COPY a 2nd time
- Wait 5 seconds for unpacking
- Use the ROManager and enjoy!

Any questions? Please post here.  :)
Please let me know if there are any problems / suggestions.

btw. Using the new Config OS utility on the Utility DSK you can change the watch/date from Icons to small letters on the ground of the screen.

(You have English and German for now, after a testing phase I will assemble the other languages too. And only versions for CPC are updated. Had no time for the Plus versions).
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

TFM

Sorry only in German for now, English is up next...

Install this ROM somewhere between 0 and 255 (just keep FutureOS ROM A at position 10 please)
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

TFM

#492
Hi! And here the English version of the Tool ROM and also the ROManager ROM and the Installer.
Would be great to get some feedback.  :)


btw. Single OS ROMs are for positions 10-13.
The Installer allows you to choose the destination ROM Numbers.
The two eXpansion ROMs will work at any ROM select (0-255).

TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

Kris

Great job !
A french version is scheduled or not ?


TFM

Quote from: Kris on 14:40, 03 May 16
Great job !
A french version is scheduled or not ?

Thanks for your interest. Well, I don't have a French version of the tools, because nobody volunteered for translation. In this case it may not be that important anyway.

\However in the ROManager 2.14 ROM the Application will of course look up which language you speak and then use the corresponding language pack (that's at the moment French, Spanish, German and English).

To change the language settings of your FutureOS (on a CPC) you can use the Config OS utility, it's part of the Tool ROM or on the System disc. (In case you use FutureOS on an emulator, I can patch the ROMs for you to set your language settings).  :)
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

TFM

#495
Hi there!

After having had vacation I did a lot of testing, one of them was how the FDC does react when Drive B has a constantly activated Ready signal. This may be of interest for @arnoldemu , @Targhan , @Prodatron or others. After testing this in detail I found the following:

- Drive B has the Ready signal constantly switched on (soldered!)

- Drive a will state Ready as soon as a disc is inserted (write enabled), even if the disc drive motors are OFF!!!

To test this I used FDC command &04 (followed by byte &00 to indicated DS 0, side 0), then reading the single result byte from the FDC (equals status register 3). Here bit 5 is the Ready bit. If this is set the FDC thinks that the drive is ready to go. WHICH IS WRONG!

So please refer from using drives with soldered Ready signals, because the even screw up the Ready state of other drives!

Do not use FutureOS with such bad drives, this will produce errors. IMHO same is true for SymbOS, but I haven't tested.


As patch you can set byte &B97F to &FF under FutureOS to switch all drive motors on constantly, this helps a bit. But it's still better to get a real ready signal working.
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

TFM

Here an update (bug corrected, was a problem when selecting colors)...



TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

Audronic

#497
Quote from: TFM on 17:06, 23 May 16

I did a lot of testing, one of them was how the FDC does react when Drive B has a constantly activated Ready signal.


So please refer from using drives with soldered Ready signals, because the even screw up the Ready state of other drives!

Do not use FutureOS with such bad drives, this will produce errors. IMHO same is true for SymbOS, but I haven't tested.

@ TFM


When will the errors be shown.
Reading / Writing .

Is it possible to add a delay before any reading or writing.
As there must be hundreds of people with permanent Ready signals.

Just a thought

Ray
Procrastinators Unite,
If it Ain't Broke PLEASE Don't Fix it.
I keep telling you I am Not Pedantic.
As I Live " Down Under " I Take my Gravity Tablets and Wear my Magnetic Boots to Keep me from Falling off.

TFM

#498
Quote from: Audronic on 10:05, 25 May 16
@ TFM
When will the errors be shown.
Reading / Writing .
Is it possible to add a delay before any reading or writing.
As there must be hundreds of people with permanent Ready signals.
Just a thought
Ray

Hi! Thanks for asking! Ok, I found it the following way:

The B drive with soldered Ready signal was connected and I deleted a file an drive A. Now, the first sector had a data error. Because: The FDC thinks the drive A is ready to be written (directory), but of course it was not, because the drive B Ready intefered.
Result: The directory was destructed, so the disc is completely useless (except you restore everything by hand).

The way out could be to switch the drive motor constantly on.

As you suggested to add a time-delay after starting the drive motors would be a solution. AMSDOS and CP/M do it this way, but it makes everything slower.

Meanwhile one can go to the FutureOS monitor and use Dump/Edit to set the Byte at address &B97F to &FF. This will switch the motor permanently on.

I guess the best thing is that the next update will have an additional configuration byte which tells if such a "hardwired Ready drive" is connected of not. Of course this needs some testing.

The bad thing is that up to now nobody has reported the problem, so people probably think it's an error of the OS. Sadly I get only few error reports, so debugging takes sometimes too long.But ok, we all do what we can.  :)

Please everybody report problems and errors.  :) :) :)
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

TFM

Quote from: Kris on 14:40, 03 May 16
Great job !
A french version is scheduled or not ?


As soon as I checked the MultiPlay and verified it's function and detection the next update will be in French :-)


TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

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