Recent posts

#1

General Discussion - Introductions / Re: What are people actually d...

Last post by Interrupt - Today at 11:46

Having recently got mine up and running again and proving it still works, I'm hoping to archive some of my old discs, try out a few of the games and demos I've missed out on the past thirty years and then to test a new demo that I'm yet to write! Maybe I might manage to code a game as well. That said, I'm a serial starter of things and rarely a finisher (but that's another story). 

#2

Amstrad CPC hardware / Re: Gemini 1MB RAM expansion f...

Last post by andycadley - Today at 11:23

@Apollo it's one of those things that have been circulating for a little while. I've tried to encourage people not to describe there hardware as Plus compatible when it suffers this issue, but they obviously have reasons not to. It does need documenting, although I'm not sure where is best. I think some of the programming and technical sections need some tidying and structure as it's a bit impenetrable at the moment. I've been thinking of making some Plus tutorials so maybe I'll have a look.

@PulkoMandy you can add me to the list for one. I'll probably never actually get around to using it, but it's a project worthy of some support in my opinion.

#3

General Discussion - Introductions / Re: What are people actually d...

Last post by XeNoMoRPH - Today at 11:08

I like to buy hardware and connect everything to the CPC, to boost CPC , i also like to test every new game that comes out, make captured videos from the real machine if possible, and things like that

#4

Games / Re: ZX Spectrum ports

Last post by andycadley - Today at 11:05

• The screen width has been reduced to 32 Mode 1 characters 
• It's in Mode 1
• It's either monochromatic, or colour changes are very obviously character based
• It's often slower - although both machines have a Z80 the contention methods are different and so a routine optimised for one is not always optimised for the other. 

You also see games internally render a buffer ready for the spectrum display then convert that at the last moment to Mode 1, a mechanic that is not only slow but can introduce "colour clash" on a machine which shouldn't have it.

R-Type is probably one of the best (worst?) examples. Not only does it do most of the above, but on the Speccy the right hand column of the screen has black INK and PAPER which hides the drawing. You can't do the same thing on the CPC and so things just pop into existence in a very ugly way. When you look at how much better the remake is, you can start to see why CPC fans felt so let down.

But not every Speccy port has to be a lazy one. Head over Heels looks great, takes full advantage of the extra colour capabilities of Mode 1, doesn't play noticeably slower etc. Done right you can get a good result.

It's understandable why this sort of thing happened back then, with commercial pressure to ship as quickly as possible. In the modern day and age though, I see even less point. Anyone can fire up a Speccy emulator and play that version, so just porting as quickly as possible makes no sense. 

If you're going to recreate a game on the CPC you might as well take full advantage of Mode 0 graphics to make something unique, or take advantage of the ability to double buffer the display etc. Make a version that actually stands out otherwise there really wasn't any point.

#5

Amstrad CPC hardware / Re: Gemini 1MB RAM expansion f...

Last post by Apollo - Today at 10:51

Damn, I somehow missed this thread and additionally, I also didn't know about the RAM extension problem/incompatibility with the ASIC paged into RAM!
Learned something new and, most important, that finally explained why I had some weird bugs with my 6128+ code that I wrote using RAM expansions like Symbiface2! And it seems some people knew about that problem, but it was nowhere documented...

@PulkoMandy: I would be interested in 2x 1Mb RAM extensions please, and if you ever decide to bring also a 4Mb version, I gladly would order then at least two as well, as I have use of that for some code I am cooking. (Hen egg problem...)

#6

Amstrad CPC hardware / Re: CPC IDE adapter, anyone?

Last post by Jomac - Today at 07:26

Any news on the current availability of these boards?

#7

Games / Re: ZX Spectrum ports

Last post by Gryzor - Today at 04:59

Hey, welcome here!

This may be of use if you haven't already seen it: https://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Speccy_Port

#8

Games / ZX Spectrum ports

Last post by equinox - Today at 04:54

Hey guys. My name is equinox. I'm really a ZX Spectrum nerd: I grew up with a bunch of Speccies, and a BBC Micro, but I also played with an Ammy CPC 6128 (actually, that's how I learned about the existence of CP/M!).

I've got a slightly funny question for you.

It is (I think) proverbial that Amstrad users dislike the "Speccy port", where a game was produced for the Spectrum and then converted to the CPC -- presumably for commercial reasons, because there were more Speccies than Ammies, and both machines had got a Z80 (hey, we even share that AY sound chip). Because the Spectrum has got pretty bad graphics (15 colours, and that weird thing about only two colours touching inside an 8x8 cell), these ports are not likely to exploit the pretty colour palette of the CPC.

What I want to know is: what are the characteristics of a "Speccy port" on the CPC, and how did you immediately recognise such games, and how did you feel about them? Not just "oh it looks a bit yellow": was there anything else? Tell me your Speccy port stories.

You may want to know why I am asking this. For now, I absolutely refuse to tell you. lol.

(Quick edit to say that I'm really impressed that your forum turned "8x8" into a proper multiplication sign and not a letter x. I'll fuck off now.)

[S:N]

#9

Games / Re: The Abbey of Crime - La A...

Last post by dragon - Today at 04:29

3.5 changed the final text.

Well done ! You manage to insert the sentences in the two languages?

And you confirm that we activate the open of the mirror door with RIGHT + BUTTON 1 now (your text in the changelog for the version 3.4 indicates RIGHT+ BUTTON 2) ?

Yes was a miistake atake was in button 1 in 3.4  

Yes i have change It in the two langujes i create a new Word in spanish and reuse Word 0 to 13 in english. I Hope that any other  phrases don,t  use a Word below 14.

i think i have discover how change the s:n text

org #4bd4 ;CADENA DE PALABRAS
JP &0040
ORG &0040
call #4b44
DB 'HOLA QUE TAL' ;text sn
DB #FF
;ld d,e
;ld a,(#ff4e)
pop ix
ret

.ANTERIOR
CALL &4B44  ;PALABRAS INTERMITENTES(intermitent wordds)
DB #20,20,#20 (&each space one intermitent character).
DB #20,20,#20
DB #20,20,#20
DB #20,20,#20
DB #20,20,#20
DB #20,20,#20
DB #FF
POP IX
RET


org #4bca
;call #4b44
JP ANTERIOR


ORG &4BBD
;LD HL,&A41D
LD HL,&A415 ;text sn localitation


result:

Yes, it seems to work ! Nice 

For remember:  S:N replaced by SI(DER):NO(F1) and Y:N by YES(RT):NO(F1)

Unfortunly he don't reconize the ().  they ignore It..so made another sentence.without It.

#10

Technical Support - General / Re: Amstrad CPC 6128 664 Gotek...

Last post by SerErris - Today at 03:47

Do you have flashfloppy on the gotek?

If not, the first thing you need to do is to flash it with a new firmware called flashfloppy.

Then you need to configure flashfloppy and then you can use it like a normal disk drive - however that is true for the external port. 

If you want to use it internal in the 6128 you also need a cable adapter and a power connector.

Attention, the Powerconnector for the Amstrad 3" floppy does not have the 3.5" standard voltages ... If you just plug in your gotek, the CPC will destroy it.

Here is an assembly video ... 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg_aSs-VYyE

This video also goes into Flashfloppy details.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85Buolcsa0Q&t=307s

And this video explains how to get flashfloppy onto your gotek (that is not CPC specific task). 

To do the initial flash of the gotec you should solder a pin header to the back to set some jumpers. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cjWs7AlD_o

There are some newer models, that allow it easier - 

please refer to flashfloppy wiki:
https://github.com/keirf/flashfloppy/wiki