flexman
Newbie
C64 Walkthrough Site
Posts: 33
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Post by flexman on May 13, 2010 6:19:58 GMT -5
Following Problem: I would also like to make some games working on the C64 DTV, unfortunately I do no know assembler - like many others. For making a game work on the C64 DTV you mostly will need a) link drive actions to #1 (instead of #8) b) link all input to joystick #2 Both can be done with the Action Replay cartridge. After doing that you can safe a freeze of the game which can be copied on the C64 DTV. But many games have options to select something (e.g. Trainer (Y/N)) or you have to enter a name and press return. In this case it would be very helpful if you could link the ABCD-Buttons of the C64 DTV to the keyboard functions that are needed. Can this be done? Or could anyone develop a "cartridge image" for Vice which has these functions to make a game DTV-ready?
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Post by nojoopa on May 13, 2010 10:22:25 GMT -5
I would also like to make some games working on the C64 DTV, unfortunately I do no know assembler - like many others. For making a game work on the C64 DTV you mostly will need a) link drive actions to #1 (instead of #8) b) link all input to joystick #2 Both can be done with the Action Replay cartridge. How does one do such things with the Action Replay without knowing assembler? Are there some neat features that do these for you? In any case, I fail to see how either of these can be done automatically (in the general case); especially a) is rather tricky as the game might be using a custom (fast) loader. But many games have options to select something (e.g. Trainer (Y/N)) or you have to enter a name and press return. The C button conveniently corresponds to return, and one could freeze after the trainers... In this case it would be very helpful if you could link the ABCD-Buttons of the C64 DTV to the keyboard functions that are needed. Can this be done? Or could anyone develop a "cartridge image" for Vice which has these functions to make a game DTV-ready? This is a very difficult problem since the keyboard scanning (and the following key checking) can be done in so many ways, half of which don't work on the DTV (the "scan works only one way" problem, affecting f.ex Bruce Lee) except for the ABCDR buttons. I really doubt anyone will attempt such a "DTV-autofixer". Doing the changes manually does require some assembler knowledge, but only slightly more than changing the used joystick port. Roll up your sleeves, read this guide and start hacking (...or convince someone else to fix the game(s) for you) Fixing multiload games is far more demanding; Armalyte is a nice example.
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flexman
Newbie
C64 Walkthrough Site
Posts: 33
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Post by flexman on May 13, 2010 15:49:08 GMT -5
How does one do such things with the Action Replay without knowing assembler? Are there some neat features that do these for you? Yes there is the function "link everything to drive x" and "use joystick x for everything". You can use that funktion for games like Vermeer which want to save to tape. They will save to drive 8 then, for example. AFAIR you could even safe this state.[/quote] Ah ok, then I could convert that capcom minigolf. It has more files but I found a version that would load them from the drive where it was started. I think that should work somehow. Well I tried to ask here about World Games but nothing happened yet. Surprisingly there are Games like Maniac Mansion and Zak McKracken fixed for the DTV which look more difficult to me to fix, but also are more useless on a DTV since you cannot save the game and won't play everything at once, would you? So I would prefer World Games or Summer Games II, or anything else that makes fun with more players.
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Post by nojoopa on May 16, 2010 12:59:18 GMT -5
How does one do such things with the Action Replay without knowing assembler? Are there some neat features that do these for you? Yes there is the function "link everything to drive x" and "use joystick x for everything". You can use that funktion for games like Vermeer which want to save to tape. They will save to drive 8 then, for example. AFAIR you could even safe this state. Well, live and learn; never noticed these functions back when I used an AR. Key remapping is a lot harder problem as not only the address (in the joyport swap case) or register value at JSR to a specific address (in the drive number case) is of concern, but how the read data is handled (compare to some constant, use as index to a table, check MSb with BMI/BPL, ...) Well I tried to ask here about World Games but nothing happened yet. Surprisingly there are Games like Maniac Mansion and Zak McKracken fixed for the DTV which look more difficult to me to fix, but also are more useless on a DTV since you cannot save the game and won't play everything at once, would you? So I would prefer World Games or Summer Games II, or anything else that makes fun with more players. There are only a handful of people that have DTV-fixed games and I doubt any of them are interested in fixing games that they don't really care about. Especially multiload games take considerable time and effort to fix. Unfortunately, the only sure way to get a game DTV-fixed is to do it yourself, either directly by learning ASM & all that or indirectly by kidnapping a C64(DTV) hacker or two. I'd strongly suggest the direct method
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flexman
Newbie
C64 Walkthrough Site
Posts: 33
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Post by flexman on May 16, 2010 16:11:31 GMT -5
There are only a handful of people that have DTV-fixed games and I doubt any of them are interested in fixing games that they don't really care about. But how could one not care about world games???
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Post by 1570 on May 16, 2010 17:20:56 GMT -5
Yes there is the function "link everything to drive x" and "use joystick x for everything". The FC3 had a similar feature; for exchanging joyports I don't think it did much more than replacing LDA $DC00s by LDA $DC01s etc. . This only worked for few games only; typically, using that function didn't do anything or broke something. Concerning multipart games, I once planned to write a kind of D64=>DTV-PRG converter that would put the disk image to high mem and patch kernel LOAD to read from there. This might even be a matter of patching the RAM Disk functionality in Grokk's DTVBASIC only. However, this of course only works with programs using kernal LOAD, and since for proper DTV usage other things likely need to get patched, ultimately the tool's usefulness would still be limited. I guess very few people are hacking on the DTV these days unfortunately. Using DTVTrans you can copy savegames to/from a PC. Not convenient but works.
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