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#21

C

Games / Re: Bubble Quest - GX4000/CPC...

Last post by cwpab - Yesterday at 15:22

I see Bubble Quest continues his journey... I don't see it reaching the top, but I think a 2nd position is doable:

GAME_______________TIME FROM DEVELOPMENT TO RELEASE (IF ANY)
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The Key___________________________0 days
Sugar City________________________0 days
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__V______________________________________
Bubble quest___________________3.5 years
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Vespertino_______________________5 years
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Duke Nukem Forever__________14 years

#22

Amstrad CPC hardware / Re: Other Video Cards

Last post by SerErris - Yesterday at 14:59

The classic henn and egg problem.

Not necessarily. It was already discussed in other threads and Benedikt also mentioned it:

With a graphics card that mirrors the lower RAM and mimics/emulates the GateArray/CRTC combo it could be possible to build a perfect DVI/HDMI output. Instead of connecting the CRT to the normal output you would connect the graphics card to a LCD. Slightly enhanced it could even support the Plus graphics features. And from there on it should be possible to implement further graphics modes or add more features like sprites, tiles, bit blitting, drawing graphics primitives and so on.

I personally would love to have a system that I turn on and I can use in a proper resolution with a nice UI to navigate my collection - and then it smoothly switched into CPC modes where I use the original software as it was supposed to be used.

The adoption would not result from the "graphics card" feature but from the fact that it makes the CPC more accessible and easy to connect to a modern LCD - and then it becomes interesting for a much bigger audience than if its just a graphics card on its own that you have to connect to a different monitor or where you have to switch cables when you use it.

It could even be based on something as cheap as a Raspberry Pico - or more likely on a (hopefully coming soon) successor with more GPIO and more RAM. Hardware costs could be as low as 10-20€.

I was specifically referring to the zeal gfx. 
It has a complete different graphics model, which is more like a C64 or Commander X16 or so. That is nothing bad about it, but just mirroring does not work at all.

That is where it is no software support und no adoption and then it will be very niche. Not that I do not like the card. It is great and would make a CPC even greater, but if there is nothing to do with it ... 

#23

Demos / Re: 38 years old demo unearthe...

Last post by BSC - Yesterday at 12:34

OH NOES!   You changed history! Now Hicks will have to track down and burn all the books he printed!

Or he can invent a time machine and steal my CPC to unchange history

#24

Amstrad CPC hardware / Re: 6128 compatible, mechanica...

Last post by Bryce - Yesterday at 12:27

If similar switches can still be found, the best ones I know of, where the ones used on the BBC Master and Acorn. They can fail when there's a lot of dirt build-up, but they are extremely easy to fix and beating on them doesn't damage the mechanical parts or switching surfaces.

Bryce.

#25

Amstrad CPC hardware / Re: Designing and building the...

Last post by Bryce - Yesterday at 12:18

Hi Benedikt,
      some work in this direction has been done in the past. I know I've seen details of a modern KC Compact design using all western 74 Series IC's, complete with a PCB layout. This could save you a lot of the initial groundwork. Maybe someone here knows where it can be found. If not, I can check my archives too.

Bryce.

#26

Technical support - Hardware related / Re: CPC 6128 - white screen, b...

Last post by Bryce - Yesterday at 12:06

Any update? Did the RAM ever arrive and get installed?

Bryce.

#27

Applications (CPC and CPC-related) / Re: UniDOS, the new multi-devi...

Last post by Prodatron - Yesterday at 11:54

What is the problem to open an own thread for this off-topic stuff?

#28

Games / Re: Bubble Quest - GX4000/CPC...

Last post by MacDeath - Yesterday at 10:12

For my part, my approach to game development on cpc or cpc+ is simple.
I'm not nostalgic for games that are graphically or musically limited to 64kb

More ram allows more graphics, more work in number, but much less in realization to be able to make everything fit.
Likewise for music.
The coder no longer has to rack his brains to optimize everything and can focus on the essentials.
In the end, we have less development time and more content, more openings.

I don't want games from 1990 on my cpc, I want games from 2023.
Extra ram, ultra-fast loading on usb or sd, lots of different sprites, rich backgrounds, games that require a mouse, why not?

The Spanish platforms in 64k, do not amuse me personally, the gryzor or renegade are poor on the screen even if they are very good for 64k.
That's good if the devs want to keep producing 90s games on k7

It would also be nice if we did something else with our machines (like other machines do).

AMEN !

The main limit of the CPC was that its first iteration was a cassette based 64k-only machine.
Yes the palettes could have been more (like having attrribute characters and multiple palette banks, EGA64 or ST 512palette...), the sound could have been more (having 2x AY instead of 1)... but those were well rounded enough compared to the machines of the era and it offers a good resolution capability anyway...

The real culprit is the 64ko+tape limit, wich then limited the successor upgrades : CPU in wait-state when the Video is accessing the "64k VRAM", can't use the extra RAM banks as 'VRAM", can't get the CPU to do something else while the "VRAM" is displayed (oh, already told that)... There is basically not enough RAM to satisfy the CPU AND the graphics, a minima configurations would have been at least 80ko (64k + 16k) or 96ko (because double buffering or Fullscreen).

So just having proper Massdata capacity via RAMdisk/ROM/Cartidge or HDD/X-MASS can somehow show what the machine can do.

16bit sceners have no shame to ask for 4mb of RAM on any Amiga/ST, or special 8mb cartidges for Megadrive. Many commercial games from late80s asked to 1mb of RAM and used 2-3 disk on ST/Amiga. Games on 4-5 disk weren't uncomon on 16bits, and would also ask for HDD...

So many shitty games were had because the devs limited themselves to Speccy48 ports on some CPC464.

Hell SegaMasterSystem managed to get some Populous port to run... but couldn't be done on CPC because not enough memory.

Most 8bit machines were under-powered on the RAM department because good luck filling 256k with a tape driver. 

Thomson TO8 (256ko RAM) or PCW (256/512ko) are the only european 8biters with "enough" RAM, yet they lack at other stuff (poor shitty sound beeper for both, no colours for PCW...)
Japan had those NEC PC-88 that were quite good and could run heavily graphic adventures like Snatcher, alongside various Loli-rape-simulator, ah those Japs....

But again good luck filling 512ko with 178ko per face 3" disks that cost 25Francs each by 1985....

SymbOS shows what a modest 8biter can offer provided it is properly RAMed.

GX4000/PLUS are also failed mostly because the cartidges were limited to 128ko and RAM to 64ko(Gx4000 and 464+) either. Well, those weren't NEC PCengines anyway.
 

So yeah it is great to have projects like Alcon showing what a souped up ROM can do, and prods for PLUS/GX4000 with proper 512ko ROMs (Eery Forest, CRTC3, BubbleQuest).

#29

Games / Re: Adapting loading screens t...

Last post by Gryzor - Yesterday at 09:37

Oh damn that's awesome indeed.

#30

Games / Re: Modyfication old games to ...

Last post by Gryzor - Yesterday at 09:36

Oh MacDeath is back with more palettes!