366 replies to this topic

[orpheuswaking]

now i just need to make an interface and add some hydraulics to my desk chair

[wood_jl]

Stephen, on Sat Jul 16, 2011 12:06 PM, said:

Marius1976, on Sat Jul 16, 2011 6:04 AM, said:

Today I ordered 5 of those brilliant MaxFlash 8Mbit carts.

There is a "SALE" going now on AtariMax. 5 8Mbit carts, for less than 100 USD!!

That's a VERY decent price!

+1 for AtariMax again.

I can't wait playing this game! I hope the shipping will go lightning fast.

Greetz
M.

Thanks for the heads up - that is crazy cheap!

Goodness, I didn't see this before! Just catching up on this thread. I just ordered 5 of 'em myself!

Thanks for the mention!

[wood_jl]

Faicuai, on Sun Jul 24, 2011 12:23 PM, said:

...Well, the inherent difficulties you depict above are (ironically) what makes the little {Atari 8bit + Space Harrier} combo truly special: there you have a machine/platform (GTIA, ANTIC, PIA, POKEY, main CPU) that came almost FIVE (5) years BEFORE the C64...
yet it is capable of delivering such an impressive performance, considering its absolute capabilities (this is the very-hard-to-stomach part for C64 lovers ).

Actually, it's THREE (3) years before the C64. 1982-1979 = 3.

As for the hard-to-stomach part, I'd have to say that LIKEWISE, some of the C64 games are quite impressive, and are hard-to-stomach for me, an Atari8 lover.

Faicuai, on Sun Jul 24, 2011 12:23 PM, said:

Had the Atari had the same CPU clock-speed as the C64, it may very likely not be capable of delivering the smooth, lightning-fast gameplay that your port is currently delivering, regardless of how much extra memory.

Unless I'm mistaken, the C64's CPU and video chip access RAM on alternate phases, so there's no "stolen CPU cycles" like ANTIC, so the clock speed difference isn't as great as you seem to imply. The Atari is still faster, of course, but as long as you like a screen display (pretty hard to game without one) you don't get a "throughput" of 1.79MHz.

Faicuai, on Sun Jul 24, 2011 12:23 PM, said:

I am personally convinced that gram-by-gram, byte-for-byte, all-in-all, these little Atari 8bits have no substitute.

I agree. I just want to be balanced about it, so I can find myself "standing on firm ground" in my opinion/preference, for the Atari.

Looking forward to trying this game!

Edited by wood_jl, Sun Jul 31, 2011 7:47 PM.

[Goochman]

I gave this another go tonight and great job - I would only wish for the ability to keep continuing

Seeing all the comments around this I couldnt help thinking that even with the expanded memory help its amazing the 8-bit can pull this type of game off so well seeing how the arcade game came out with game specific hardware years later. The fact this can even be done at all on the Atari is an amazing feat IMHO.

[snicklin]

Philsan, on Fri Jul 22, 2011 1:46 PM, said:

Marius1976, on Fri Jul 22, 2011 1:20 PM, said:

The ATR that is downloadable in this thread does not work on my brandnew bought AtariMax 8Mbit flash carts. It programs fine, but the programmed cart does not work.

I downloaded through another link (on a german message board) a so called working version of Space Harrier for 8Mbit carts, but now I'm here on my vacation address I find out this version is again a .BIN file. I can not do anything with that here, and I wonder if i can do something with that at home.

Is there someone who can provide a new and tested version of Space Harrier for the (new?) AtariMax 8Mbit flash carts? I would love to play the game here.

Marius, I attach my .atr that works with my AtariMax cart but I downloaded it from here too!

Hi Philsan,

I've purchased the Atarimax setup in the last few days and all has worked with my 1st cartridge. However, my 2nd cartridge is an attempt to load Space Harrier onto it. It's an 8Mbit cart and I get this error:

[User Interface] Error loading file "Space Harrier (Maxflash 8 mb cart flasher).atr" for slot #1, ATR size of 985488 bytes exceeds maximum supported import size of 737296 bytes.

Do you know why this would be?

[Philsan]

Hi Steve.
You have surely read the problem of the two versions of Maxflash cartridges solved here: http://www.atariage....ost__p__2332035

But I think it's another kind of problem.

It seems your second cart hasn't enough memory but I think you should ask to your homonym Steve (classics).

[snicklin]

Philsan, on Tue Aug 2, 2011 2:59 PM, said:

Hi Steve.
You have surely read the problem of the two versions of Maxflash cartridges solved here: http://www.atariage....ost__p__2332035

But I think it's another kind of problem.

It seems your second cart hasn't enough memory but I think you should ask to your homonym Steve (classics).

Hi Philsan,

Thanks for the quick reply. Yes, I've taken a look at that link and I am attempting to use those images.

I've checked with another cartridge and I have the same problem. I believe that it is because I am trying to use a .atr which has a limit of 720k.

I've tried using the binary also and I get this...


[User Interface] Error loading file "sh.bin" for slot #1, Unable to identify file:

C:\Downloads\sh.bin

Not a known or supported image.
[Image Converter] Examining segments in C:\Downloads\sh.bin
[Image Converter] Valid segment [0x8399 - 0x9906] at 0x0000
[Image Converter] Valid segment [0x8A99 - 0x9B31] at 0x1572
[Image Converter] Invalid segment [0xA9E5 - 0x9150] at 0x260F -- assuming zero length.
[Image Converter] Invalid segment [0xC8D7 - 0xA991] at 0x2613 -- assuming zero length.
[Image Converter] Warning: executable sets no RUN or INIT address! Injecting RUN address of 0x8399.
[Image Converter] Process completed with 0 warnings and 2 errors.

I'll get onto Steve (Classics) if nobody here has a quick answer that they know of....

Thanks, Steve

[snicklin]

The alternative may be - does someone have Space Harrier as a .mcw file??

[Philsan]

How do you flash your cartridge?
I simply loaded the flashing .atr with SIO2SD.

[snicklin]

Philsan, on Tue Aug 2, 2011 4:01 PM, said:

How do you flash your cartridge?
I simply loaded the flashing .atr with SIO2SD.

I have the USB cartridge programmer. I reckon that I'm probably making a beginner's error here.

[Philsan]

snicklin, on Tue Aug 2, 2011 4:03 PM, said:

Philsan, on Tue Aug 2, 2011 4:01 PM, said:

How do you flash your cartridge?
I simply loaded the flashing .atr with SIO2SD.

I have the USB cartridge programmer. I reckon that I'm probably making a beginner's error here.

I think the flasher .atr is not for the USB programmer.
Don't you have a SIO2PC/SIO2SD/SDrive?

[Rybags]

Don't try to put the ATR into the cart menu.

The purpose of the ATR is to be run on real machine via APE or other modern SIO device to flash the cart.

If you've got a USB flash interface then you don't need that - just flash the raw BIN image.

[Gregory DG]

Never been a big fan of this game, but I have to say you've done an incredible job with it. Thanks for the great work!

[snicklin]

I've got an SIO2SD so I'll try it on that when I get home tonight. I was just testing out my new AtariMax set-up. I'd like to put it onto cartridge for when I go the R3play show, so that I can play it there - I do not really fancy carrying a fragile unboxed SIO2SD around!

[Almost Rice]

Bunsen, on Sun Jul 10, 2011 8:07 AM, said:

Great Game! Maybe one of the best ever released for 8 bit Atari.
- But only for the NTSC part of the Atari world. -
On PAL machines, especially with CRT's or tube tv's it's a pain for the eyes if you play longer than 5 minutes.

Actually I play on my PAL 600xl because the colors are correct, also because a Dell LCD has much less flicker. On some levels, I cant distiguish shots and enemy on a NTSC machine. I like that the speed is hardly distinguishable between PAL and NTSC. Looks like Sheddy put a lot of effort into that part.

[classics]

snicklin, on Tue Aug 2, 2011 3:13 PM, said:

[User Interface] Error loading file "sh.bin" for slot #1, Unable to identify file:

C:\Downloads\sh.bin

Not a known or supported image.

The .BIN image is a full cartridge image, already ready to use.

Attach the programmer and target cartridge, then go to the top menu Cartridge->Program->8mbit Flash Cartridge

When prompted, select the cartridge .BIN image from the posting above.

That should be all that's required. :-)

Steve

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[snicklin]

Hi Classics / Steve,

Thank you for your update here. Funnily enough, I got a phone call from Beamer320i/Dom earlier and he suggested the same thing!

I have it working now. It's really good to have on original hardware rather than through an emulator (as good as that is still!).

So, thank you to you both for this!

Steve; Thanks for the cartridges and thanks for the "little extras" that you added into the pack. I'm surprised that you have them after all these years!

[Marius1976]

Oh my ....

Yesterday I managed to get into Stage 16.

I am so excited about stage 14. There happens something very cool with the colors. The giant balls are in very brigh yellow, and the rest of the screen is more dark blue. It is amazing how fast the enemies are scrolling over the screen.

I love these stages (4, 9, 14) VERY much. They are very cool to play.

In stage 13 there is this fabulous final thing...

I'm wondering: how many stages does this game have?

Stage 11 is hard, but VERY cool. I love that skeleton-dragon at the end.

Yeah. This game is getting better and better if you get far!

Greetz
M.

[snicklin]

I've managed to get to stage 18 but I'm not sure how many levels that there are... surely I must have been close to the end? (Hint: Use 'Save State' on an emulator).

[Marius1976]

@snicklin

Hehe I only use the real thing. I play on the 'easy' setting, which is great. The only thing I dislike is that the cartridge does not let me continue were I where after I switched off the atari. So the Atari is switched on already for a few weeks with this game inserted. It's ok, when I had my Atari 8bit BBS running it was on 365 days a year

Greetz
M.

[snicklin]

@Marius1976 - I wish I could do that - I find the electricity is too pricey nowadays. Either that or I am too tight!

I just managed to get to level 18 on the MAME version... and then guess what... it crashed.

It's funny as I found when playing the MAME (original) version that I was saying "That shouldn't be like that!". I also prefer the Atari music as I find it more emotive than the original.

[Jacques]

Just got my AtariMax cartridge few days ago, so I can play SH on my real ATARI The game plays and looks great (maybe the title screen is not perfect, but... ), thank you Sheddy! And a question: why there are only bars scrolling on the floor? Would it be possible to handle a chessboard-looking floor on 8-bit ATARI?

Edited by Jacques, Sun Aug 14, 2011 4:53 PM.

[Sheddy]

Glad you like it! It could have a checker board - as long as you didn't mind the game running quite a bit slower - colour bars are easy to do and don't use much processor time on the Atari 8-bit (compared to drawing stuff) ; there's a reason why you see them in nearly every game and demo

Edited by Sheddy, Mon Aug 15, 2011 10:43 AM.

[pps]

OT ON___

Checkered ground is not that hard to code - I just got the right idea some months ago, don´t know why it toook that long, but hey it´s very simple.

You just need a screen with alternating vertical colours for the simpliest way.

black ! white ! black ! white ! etc.
black ! white ! black ! white ! etc.
black ! white ! black ! white ! etc.

Now write a DLI that every now and then alternates the color and you have, what you want:

black ! white ! black ! white ! etc.
white ! black ! white ! black ! etc.
black ! white ! black ! white ! etc.

If you are more skilled, the whole thing can be done by alternating only one colour register (e.g. the background) within a kernel. How powerful kernel usage can be, is shown at the conversion project of Ballblazer onto the a2600.

__OT OFF

[snicklin]

After so many years of hard work, I can't see Sheddy/Chris reopening his coding on this project for version 1.1 !

I suspect that Sheddy is feeling the thought of "Finally, it's out the door, no more" ! Please correct me if this is incorrect though!