Richard Costello's Coding memories

[dlfrsilver]

My version v1.6 disk 4 is OK

Can you check your disk 1 please phil, and tell me if you have a version number written
in the low left corner ?

[jotd]

Originally Posted by Jgames

Easy nowadays ? you're kidding; it so much harder to make a game from a programming point of view than it was ever before; I worked as a DOS assembly and C programmer, and now on the next generation consoles and PC; I can tell you making a game now is sooo much harder, especilly if you do a 3D game in c++, with all the hot algorithms and techniques that are necessary for today's games (3D, lighting, 3d path finding etc...)

gimbal meant: much easier to create retrogames by now, by using SDL / C++ or Java. There I 100% agree.

To be "on the edge" is still difficult, and I suspect that the fun that was in the 8-bit and 16-bit game "industry" has gone. Better work on "serious" projects in big companies, it can be fun too and less pressure. What Ricardo reported on his notes reminds me of the project I'm currently working on: not much memory to spare, not much CPU either, and a huge list of requirements: you have to make compromises, and even sometimes remove working features that "won't fit".

<off topic>About Gods 2: check my remake and the new levels </off topic>

[dlfrsilver]

Richard, we have a great tool here, to run amiga games on hard drive or compact flash,
called whdload. It supported thousands of games, that were not for many installable.

An example of Galahad and Codetapper on your Primal Rage game :

Short: HD-Installer for Primal Rage AGA V1.1
Author: Galahad/Fairlight and Codetapper/Action
Uploader: Codetapper/Action (codetapper@hotmail.com)
Version: 1.1
Type: game/patch

This patch applies to Primal Rage AGA, ©1995 Atari Corp / Time Warner
Interactive 4 Disk version, original release

Slave requires WHDLOAD V10+.
Game requires 2.0 MB Chip Mem (+3.9 Mb other memory for preload option)

FEATURES: (22-Dec-2000)
- Full load from Hard drive
- Lame-o-Protect removed (RNC PDOS)
- Memory routine (utterly useless!) fixed!
- Decrunch routine relocated to fast ram as game is a slooooww loader!
- Quit option is 'F9'

VERSION 1.1: (all work by Codetapper)
- Custom disk imager replaced with a RawDIC ripper (thanks to Tony for the
crash report)
- Disk access removed
- Snoop bug fixed
- Detects the quit key correctly
- RomIcon, NewIcon and OS3.5 Colour Icon (created by me!) and 2 Exoticons
taken from http://exotica.fix.no/
- Cheat mode added to readme
- Install script updated

CHEAT MODE:
- Taken from Sweet Cheater by Keith Krellwitz!
- Press fire to start the game and wait until the main menu appears. It
will have 3 options on it:

START
TRAINING
GAME OPTIONS

Type "GETITON" and a new option called "CHEAT MENU" will appear at the
bottom of the list. Click on the cheat menu and you will be able to
set various options including invulnerability.


Thanks to John Regent for disk images.

EXTRA NOTES:
This game had the most fakes sent to a Rob Northen PDOS loader I have ever
seen! Lots of things tripped the game up.

Disk 1 has a Copylock Serial Track, but nothing checks for this, if it did,
WHDLoad would exit on the ILLEGAL command that ALL Copylock routines use
for disabling caches.

Coupled with the fact that the memory routines, despite calling the OS to
get its results, still managed to report on occasions that a basic A12oo
with 2 meg of chip ram was 1 meg short!!!! Doh!

Have a merry christmas and a happy new year........


Galahad/Fairlight and Codetapper/Action! (21-Dec-2004)


Bug report form, full WHDLoad package and other installs:
http://www.whdload.de/

Golden Axe's one :

Short : HD-Installer for Golden Axe
Type : game/patch
Author : Mr.Larmer & Psygore (psygore@whdload.de)


That patch applies to Golden Axe (c) 1989 Virgin (1 disk version).


Before you can use this you must install WHDLoad and RawDIC from
the whdload package. The tools must be available via the path.


You need 0.5 MB ChipMem and 0.5 MB OtherMem.
You can quit the game by pressing '*' (PrtSc).


Version 1.0-1.2 (09.05.98) by Mr.Larmer:
- Disk protection removed
- Blitwait inserted

Version 1.3 (12.03.06) by Psygore:
- Slave updated for whdload v14+
- RawDIC imager used
- New icons (Chris Vella/CFou!/BoxIcon) & intall script
- Stack moved in fastmem
- Snoopbug removed
- Joypad buttons for 2 players supported
- Wait in title/credits picture inserted
- Music replay fixed in ntsc
- Unlimited lives activated with CUSTOM1=1 (Mr.Larmer's source slave)
- Manual included


BoxIcon has been made from boxscans (http://hol.abime.net/2759)


Key controls & CD32 buttons during the game:
P (PLAY) Pause
F10 while Paused (GREEN) Abort
LEFT ALT (BLUE/2nd button) Player 1 magic
RIGHT ALT (BLUE/2nd button) Player 2 magic
'*' (RED+BLUE+GREEN+YELLOW Quit game
+REVERSE+FORWARD)


for problems contact: psygore@whdload.de
full whdload package: aminet:dev/misc/whdload#?.lha
other installs: http://www.whdload.de/


Thanx to Mark Knibbs for original disk image.

Whdload allows enhanced of the games on expanded machines. Most of us here have A1200 with 8-32 mb of ram + blizzard IV 68030@50mhz.

Golden Axe use now 2 buttons instead of one for example.

[Ricardo]

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

Whdload allows enhanced of the games on expanded machines. Most of us here have A1200 with 8-32 mb of ram + blizzard IV 68030@50mhz.

Golden Axe use now 2 buttons instead of one for example.

68030@50MHz! Good job I had some wait on v-sync's in there then

I am not sure if my Primal Rage backup is complete, I cant see how I assembled the thing and don't have an executable in site ...

As I suspected there is no version number on my (original release) PR floppies...

[Galahad/FLT]

Only thing I had to fix on Primal Rage was the extra mem routine, the rest of the code was spot on.

[dlfrsilver]

Ok, i explain, my v1.2 was a sealed copy. I have opened it myself. And guess what,
On disk 4 only the upper side of the disk has been mastered lol the lower side is empty,
there is nothing written on it !! So it fails on installation.

Btw richard, what tool and hardware did you used to create your master disk ;
ex : golden axe ? This game is MFM protected and use a longtrack The long track cannot be replicated on a standard drive

[Ricardo]

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

Ok, i explain, my v1.2 was a sealed copy. I have opened it myself. And guess what,
On disk 4 only the upper side of the disk has been mastered lol the lower side is empty,
there is nothing written on it !! So it fails on installation.

Btw richard, what tool and hardware did you used to create your master disk ;
ex : golden axe ? This game is MFM protected and use a longtrack The long track cannot be replicated on a standard drive

There you go you see, V1.2 didnt include that side must have been a budget release

Just out of interest what clock speed is the custom hardware running at in a 68030 @50Mhz equiped Amiga?

I'll have a look at Golden Axe, but I think it was a format I invented using 1 ....long.... sector per track.

[dlfrsilver]

About golden axe, i mean , ok, you created one long sector per track, ok. But
how did you created the master disk before sending it to duplicator ?

Also, about 68030 @ 50 mhz, mmmhh good question. Around 28 mhz clock since the 680EC20 runs @14,13 mhz.

Maybe someone can light a shed here ?

[gimbal]

Originally Posted by Jgames

Easy nowadays ? you're kidding; it so much harder to make a game from a programming point of view than it was ever before; I worked as a DOS assembly and C programmer, and now on the next generation consoles and PC; I can tell you making a game now is sooo much harder, especilly if you do a 3D game in c++, with all the hot algorithms and techniques that are necessary for today's games (3D, lighting, 3d path finding etc...)

I mean from a hobbyist standpoint of course, commercial games are a true technical feat to get done with the incredible development times and high costs bound to them. Not to mention the insane demands of the current gamer generation.

[Ricardo]

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

About golden axe, i mean , ok, you created one long sector per track, ok. But
how did you created the master disk before sending it to duplicator ?

Also, about 68030 @ 50 mhz, mmmhh good question. Around 28 mhz clock since the 680EC20 runs @14,13 mhz.

Maybe someone can light a shed here ?

I might be wrong, but doesn't the A1200 chipset run at x2 the clock of the original chipset, if so I cant imagine it will overclock by 100%...I imagine the chips are still running at 14ish MHz. Just got me thinking that I bet the 68030 will give the custom chips a run for there money

Golden Axe was actually 6 sectors per track according to my maker code (but my own format not Rob's), but the long track will have been added by the duplicator, I would imagine Rob Northen was responsible for coding that, I didn't use any trick hardware to produce the master. It must have been Gauntlet II where I used 1 long sector per track to maximise data density. But then having thought about it I cut it into sectors as file management became a bit of a pain and ultimately it ended up easier to manage and duplicate by using Rob's file system.

[dlfrsilver]

Gauntlet II uses Rob northen disk format ? doh!

[Ricardo]

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

Gauntlet II uses Rob northen disk format ? doh!

What do I know , actually I just checked, Gauntlet II definitely uses my disc code (attached).

One thing I do know is there were 2 very different versions of GII, one for UK (US Gold) and the other for the US (Mindscape). I finished the UK version and it was released then the Americans wanted changes. I have 3 versions of source, V1.0, V3.0 and V4.5. Can't remember all the changes but one was making the black death character more intelligent so you couldnt hide behind solid objects.

The US Gold box was orange and the Mindscape one grey with different artwork. The Mindscape box art is the same as the Miscshot image in the HOL.

[Hungry Horace]

hmm. cool stuff.

I had a go at improving the GII WHDload Slave to use 2 button controllers, and to start the game with the fire button (rather than needing to use an F-Key) but ran into some stupid errors (on my part)... I certainly wouldnt mind a look at some game-source(s) on that if you are offering it up Rich?

[Ricardo]

Originally Posted by Hungry Horace

hmm. cool stuff.

I had a go at improving the GII WHDload Slave to use 2 button controllers, and to start the game with the fire button (rather than needing to use an F-Key) but ran into some stupid errors (on my part)... I certainly wouldnt mind a look at some game-source(s) on that if you are offering it up Rich?

You know the really frustrating thing?...It originally did start the player with a fire press, but someone asked for it to be removed and use F-keys instead . Probably something to do with hammering the fire button whilst playing then dying and re-entering the game as a different player because of the joy direction player selection before being able to "stop hammering" ...

POK.txt is my mini OS code (POK = P**s Off Kickstart, came from the ST TosOff - ) it contains a routine called readjoy, loads of comments.

INITPLAYERS.txt is the bit of code which sets a player up and contains the check for joy directions and function key presses. Looking at the comments I hoped the ST version still had the fire button logic in ... but it doesn't

Good luck

[Ricardo]

MEGA! I've been looking for my old random number logic for years and there it is sitting in Gauntlet II code just below the readjoy routine, nice one

[StingRay]

Thanks for sharing the code Ricardo, it's fun reading it here at work where I should hack in some C++ instead of looking at 68k code. :P

I liked this line in your trackloader:

.gotall   move.l    a1,a2               ;a3 points at list of sync details

[Ricardo]

Originally Posted by StingRay

Thanks for sharing the code Ricardo, it's fun reading it here at work where I should hack in some C++ instead of looking at 68k code. :P

I liked this line in your trackloader:

.gotall   move.l    a1,a2               ;a3 points at list of sync details

Indeed, problem with all those comments is remembering to change them when you change the code LMAO

[BippyM]

Hi Ricardo.. I've been meaning to post for a few days now, just time constraints

I think it is great that you old game devs turn up here, and it's great reading your posts/old code. What I am most impressed by is the amount of code you still have, most programmers lose their code over the years

[tomcat666]

Just wanted to also say hi to one of the greatest programmers in Amiga history!
I am one of those that waited and waited and waited... for RamRod to show up (since I am a biiig fan of isometric games) and unfortunetly that never happend.
If you can bring back to life any kind of RamRod version, being it only a few levels with bugs, even for the Atari ST (spit), then that would be great.
So biig thanx Richard for the great memories and may your stay on EAB be a long and good one

[dlfrsilver]

Richard, can you talk to us about Terminator 2 hehehe ?

This game exists in 2 different versions. I have the alternate one. The puzzle where
you have rebuild arnie's face is different from one version to another