33 replies to this topic

[Clay]

Matthias, on Mon Jan 23, 2012 11:39 AM, said:

Hello!

Jag_Slave, on Sun Jan 22, 2012 2:51 PM, said:

Heya! Any updates for us?

Recently i have added (for the cartridge-version) a packing-functionality for the selfdesigned levels to the game, so it can now save more than just 2 levels to the serial e2prom, the actual number of stored levels will depend on their design. And last weekend i added the functionality to test out the actual designed playfield immediately from within the editor. Kind regards Matthias

Thanks for the update Matthias.

2012 is looking like the year of the Jaguar.

With the abilities of the editor on this game, I am just wondering if it would be possible to share these designed levels with other Jag owners. I could just imagine having contests within the Jag communities for creating the best new level, best new idea, etc.

Based on my very limited knowledge of the Jag I am assuming it is not possible with the cartridge but would think it could be done for the CD version. On second thought maybe not even on the CD unless there was a way to save to the Skunkboard or something like that. Oh well, just dreaming probably.

[Matthias]

Hello Clay!

Clay, on Mon Jan 23, 2012 7:54 PM, said:

With the abilities of the editor on this game, I am just wondering if it would be possible to share these designed levels with other Jag owners. I could just imagine having contests within the Jag communities for creating the best new level, best new idea, etc.

Based on my very limited knowledge of the Jag I am assuming it is not possible with the cartridge but would think it could be done for the CD version.

The CD-version of Impulse X can already load 2 additional sets of 40 levels each from MemoryTrack cartridge (plus the 40 levels stored by the editor), so the game is already prepared for using the result of other users design work. But as you say the problem is to find a rather convenient way for the user to transfer his work from Jaguar to PC. This applies for both cartridge and CD, but the CD/MemoryTrack-combi has the advantage that a transfer program can be provided on a separate CD any time later.

Best regards
Matthias

[Zerosquare]

I see two ways to do this : with a BJL cable, and/or with a JagLink-to-serial cable. The best option would be to integrate into Impulse X directly, but I suppose it would delay the release and you probably don't want that
In this case it's possible to create a separate BJL or CD program to transfer levels, since both the Memory Track and cartridge EEPROM can be read and written by any software.

By the way, are you building your own cartridges from scratch? In this case, using a larger EEPROM could be interesting to save more levels ; they're almost as cheap as the original ones, and only small modifications are needed in the Atari EEPROM access code.

Edited by Zerosquare, Tue Jan 24, 2012 5:24 PM.

[rdemming]

Maybe CD-version could use the SkunkBoard transfer functions to communicate to a PC using the USB port. The problem would be to put the Skunk in console mode after loading the CD.
Normally the Skunk is placed in console mode when you load a program via the JCP -c switch. But when loading from CD, this does not happen. But maybe a call to "skunkRESET" will do the trick.

Robert

[Matthias]

Hello!

Zerosquare, on Tue Jan 24, 2012 5:23 PM, said:

I see two ways to do this : with a BJL cable, and/or with a JagLink-to-serial cable. The best option would be to integrate into Impulse X directly, but I suppose it would delay the release and you probably don't want that
In this case it's possible to create a separate BJL or CD program to transfer levels, since both the Memory Track and cartridge EEPROM can be read and written by any software.

I think the serial connection is the variant that might find the most users as the JUGS-adapter is already in the hands of (probably) several hundreds of Jaguar-fans (it came with Battlesphere Gold for example).

The Add-On levelsets i mentioned before for the CD-version can easily be installed from CD, the discussed serial connection will only be needed to transfer selfcreated levels from Jaguar to PC.

Quote

By the way, are you building your own cartridges from scratch? In this case, using a larger EEPROM could be interesting to save more levels ; they're almost as cheap as the original ones, and only small modifications are needed in the Atari EEPROM access code.

I will use Atari-PCBs, so i have to stick with 93cXX-family of serial E2proms. I did look into the 24cXXX chip family, but those have a different pin layout. An adapter might be possible, but that's nothing i want to try out for this game-release.


Kind regards
Matthias

[walter_J64bit]

Matthias, it would be awesome to have the abilities to add wallpaper to the game, like jpeg for our own custom levels too.

[Zerosquare]

Matthias, on Wed Jan 25, 2012 11:11 AM, said:

I think the serial connection is the variant that might find the most users as the JUGS-adapter is already in the hands of (probably) several hundreds of Jaguar-fans (it came with Battlesphere Gold for example).

The Add-On levelsets i mentioned before for the CD-version can easily be installed from CD, the discussed serial connection will only be needed to transfer selfcreated levels from Jaguar to PC.

Don't forget the BJL users ; both JUGS and the JagCD are pretty expensive, while BJL is cheap. I think it would be best to allow both options. I can contribute some code for the BJL part if you'd like some help

Matthias, on Wed Jan 25, 2012 11:11 AM, said:

I will use Atari-PCBs, so i have to stick with 93cXX-family of serial E2proms. I did look into the 24cXXX chip family, but those have a different pin layout. An adapter might be possible, but that's nothing i want to try out for this game-release.

Indeed. You can use the 93C86, which is easy to find and compatible with the original 93C46 ; it can store 2 kilobytes, instead of 128 bytes.

[Matthias]

Hello Walter!

walter_J64bit, on Wed Jan 25, 2012 5:38 PM, said:

Matthias, it would be awesome to have the abilities to add wallpaper to the game, like jpeg for our own custom levels too.

You mean as the background graphic for the playfield? Sorry, this won't work too well, because the playfield background is filled by tiles of just 32*32 pixels and there is no RAM-space left for additional stuff. But you have 40 different tiles to choose from when creating your own levels.

Kind regards
Matthias

[Matthias]

Hello!

Zerosquare, on Wed Jan 25, 2012 7:46 PM, said:

Don't forget the BJL users ; both JUGS and the JagCD are pretty expensive, while BJL is cheap. I think it would be best to allow both options. I can contribute some code for the BJL part if you'd like some help

Impulse X already allows BJL-uploads (8 bit transfer), this opens the door for a lot of options.

Zerosquare said:

Matthias, on Wed Jan 25, 2012 11:11 AM, said:

I will use Atari-PCBs, so i have to stick with 93cXX-family of serial E2proms. I did look into the 24cXXX chip family, but those have a different pin layout. An adapter might be possible, but that's nothing i want to try out for this game-release.

Indeed. You can use the 93C86, which is easy to find and compatible with the original 93C46 ; it can store 2 kilobytes, instead of 128 bytes.

I know

Cheers!
Matthias