NIAD Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 (edited) As I mentioned in the thread concerning the huge lot of CV&ADAM goodies I acquired from a former Coleco employee, I came across a rom dump of the ColecoVision version of A.E. on a data pack made with the In-House Coleco Cart Copier program. As many of you know, A.E. was only made available on a compilation data pack for the ADAM called "The Best of Broderbund", which also included Choplifter. I have converted the data pack to an ADAMem compatible DDP Image file and have given it a pretty thorough testing. Everything seems to be in order with the exception of a sound effects bug (enemy ship explosions) that are corrected after you lose a ship. The reason for a DDP Image file instead of a Disk Image file is that the Coleco Cart Copier creates a non-standard media without a directory and there are about 10 games in all on the original DDP that would overrun a 160K Disk. I have created a ROM Image for use with CV emulators as well on a real CV via the AtariMax SD Cart, but in the conversion some further issues have arisen (corrupted graphics and lock-ups) and I will have to try the transfer again. If this second attempt fails, we'll have to wait to see if one of the Homebrew programmers can fix the issues and provide a good/clean rom image. If these issues are fixed, CollectorVision will be producing a run of cartridges complete with a box (which looks fantastic!) and manual and after they are sold out... the good rom image will be made available for free. So keep your fingers crossed that these issues can be resolved. Following are some screenshots and the DDP Image for use with ADAMem / Virtual ADAM. A.E. - 256K DDP.zip Edited July 28, 2011 by NIAD 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroillucid Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 And here's how the box would look like... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozma wars Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 And here's how the box would look like... pls sign me as a customer for that...thanks. Max Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cebus Capucinis Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 I am all over a cart of this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted July 28, 2011 Author Share Posted July 28, 2011 A little update... I finally got the rom file pulled from the DDP Image correctly and have reinserted the code to display the ColecoVision BIOS title screen. All that is left is for the two sound effects bugs to be fixed and some further testing after which we'll be good to go for a CIB release! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cmart604 Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 A little update... I finally got the rom file pulled from the DDP Image correctly and have reinserted the code to display the ColecoVision BIOS title screen. All that is left is for the two sound effects bugs to be fixed and some further testing after which we'll be good to go for a CIB release! Awesome news! Very cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purenergy Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 (edited) Very nice! I would also like to see this on a cartridge. Edited July 29, 2011 by purenergy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted July 29, 2011 Author Share Posted July 29, 2011 Very nice! I would also like to see this on a cartridge. It's all up to Retroillucid now as far as a CIB cartridge release. The two sound effects bugs are going to be looked into by Daniel Bienvenu/NewColeco. Hopefully he will be able to fix them without having to spend a lot of time on it since he is so busy with other projects, but if there is no easy remedy, Retroillucid and I feel that the game is still in a good enough state to warrant a CIB cart release. Actually, I hope the next time I play it is when I plug the real cartridge into a CV as I am burnt out on the game! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newcoleco Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 I was able to patch the sound issue, and I've done it by changing 5 bytes in the rom file and add 12 more bytes at the end (the patch itself). During my investigation on this ROM file, I've noticed that RST $8 is set to call an outside routine that is certainly related to some codes of the Best of Broderbund compilation. If RST $8 is not used anywhere in the ROM file, then I declare the ROM file ready to be published. rst08: jp L2C56 rst10: ret I should have worked on Lock'n Chase sounds, so excuse me if it takes me time. I have to stop working on A.E., but it was fun to do. EXTRA : I've noticed all the free space and I think it can be used to show a splash screen of our own if we want to, something like the intro screen from the Apple II version could be nice I guess. The NMI is made in sush a way that we can check a flag to be synchronized with the refresh rate and show an animation while enabling the NMI properly. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H-_Y5AX8lU NMI: jp L8062 ... L8062: push af ld a,(X702B) set 7,a ld (X702B),a bit 0,a jr z,L8072 pop af retn The modifications to add a title splash screen. First, of course, change the Start Address to run code to the end of the ROM file. 800A : $C40C Code for a splash screen should start by setting to $01 the byte @ $702B, turn off sound and init the VDP properly (turn off screen, no NMI, set video mode, update VRAM, then show screen). Then enable NMI and loop on the flag loop: ld a,(X702B) bit 7,a jr z,loop ld a,1 ld (X702B),a ; update VRAM for the animation then go back to the loop if no fire button detected ... you can figure out the rest of the code to do And all you need to do to go back to the original code is call for MODE_1, turn off sound (if you played any) and jump for $8221 and that's pretty much it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+nanochess Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 I like the backgrounds, the artist obviously took his time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rpgcollector Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 Very nice. I am a customer for sure!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixelboy Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 I was able to patch the sound issue, and I've done it by changing 5 bytes in the rom file and add 12 more bytes at the end (the patch itself). During my investigation on this ROM file, I've noticed that RST $8 is set to call an outside routine that is certainly related to some codes of the Best of Broderbund compilation. If RST $8 is not used anywhere in the ROM file, then I declare the ROM file ready to be published. Nice work, Daniel! +1 for you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bennybingo Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 Count me in for a pre-order whenever this gets produced (fingers crossed)! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroillucid Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 ... whenever this gets produced (fingers crossed)! It will! The front of the box is done, the rest is piece of cake Label will be made this weekend or next week I already have the ADAM "Best of Broderbund" so it'll be easy to make the A.E. manual (I've done some works on the manual already) So expect to get your CIB copy of A.E. soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bennybingo Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 WooHoo!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucifershalo Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 does it look better than the Apple II and Atari 8 bit versions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroillucid Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 does it look better than the Apple II and Atari 8 bit versions? see post#1 for screenshots IMO, the appleII version look better, but the CV version is more colorfull Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jblenkle Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 (edited) Any thoughts on price yet? I might have to chip in for this one!! The front of the box is done, the rest is piece of cake Label will be made this weekend or next week I already have the ADAM "Best of Broderbund" so it'll be easy to make the A.E. manual (I've done some works on the manual already) So expect to get your CIB copy of A.E. soon Edited July 29, 2011 by jblenkle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted July 30, 2011 Author Share Posted July 30, 2011 I was able to patch the sound issue, and I've done it by changing 5 bytes in the rom file and add 12 more bytes at the end (the patch itself)........ Thank you so very much for your work on correcting the sound bug and the further information on how to go about possibly adding further title/splash screens. Sorry to hear that this little project sidetracked you from further work on Lock'n Chase since I, as many others probably are, can't wait for this game to be finished and released. If I come across anything else while I'm sorting through the rest of the stuff... I'll hold off on bugging you! Nah, just kidding, I'll send it to you right away! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffgamer Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 Please count me in for one! Merci! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madaracs Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 I am in for one of these, for sure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 Sorry to bump this old thread, but since the ROM was just released I was wondering if this version is any different than the one on the Best of Broderbund? The only difference I see is that this one can run on a regular Colecovision where that other one needs an ADAM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted August 11, 2013 Author Share Posted August 11, 2013 Sorry to bump this old thread, but since the ROM was just released I was wondering if this version is any different than the one on the Best of Broderbund? The only difference I see is that this one can run on a regular Colecovision where that other one needs an ADAM. This version that I found, was released by CollectorVision on cartridge and now freely available for download in rom format (like I requested... thanks J-F) is the exact same version that was released on Data Pack by Coleco for the ADAM Computer. There is even code in the game that is specific to the ADAM Computer as NewColeco pointed out, but it does not harm anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newcoleco Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 When I think they published the ROM file without my modification that fixes a minor sound issue. Oh well, it's fine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 12, 2013 Share Posted August 12, 2013 So what's the story behind this then? Was Coleco actually planning on releasing it for the Colecovision and in the process of porting it from the ADAM version, or is this some Coleco employee's personal hack? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.