Atari ST to Amiga Conversion: Ranarama

[Galahad/FLT]

Originally Posted by Shatterhand

I guess the sound part gotta be really different though, isn't it? Someone must compose a .mod music to go along, and then you have more memory usage and stuff, am I wrong?

By the way, thank you for all this work

Yes, the sound part is different. Im not interested in learning it at all, because if i emulate the sound as Meynaf does, that rules out 68000 Amigas right away which is not something i am keen on.

Thankfully there are several guys that are only too happy to contribute something which means i dont have to learn ST sound code, and obviously, whilst converting the graphics on the fly in realtime means i cant improve them for Amiga, there is no such restriction with the sound.

Memory can be a problem, but simply making the game 1meg minimum makes life easier.

[saimon69]

Heard the ST music and reminds me of an irish ballad; wonder if using fiddles and flutes to remake it might come out interesting...

[4mat_]

I'm intrigued why ST sound emulation would need more than a 68000, can you grab the mixer register & tone/noise frequencies and do a direct conversion with chip waves? At least that's how I'm wrapping around the AY to play them on c64. (with a table to grab the buzzer sync frequencies if they're needed, most early games didn't) In my experience the timing/envelope stuff wasn't used very much in favour of the volume registers, so I left all that out which made it a lot easier to get working.

[Galahad/FLT]

Originally Posted by 4mat_

I'm intrigued why ST sound emulation would need more than a 68000, can you grab the mixer register & tone/noise frequencies and do a direct conversion with chip waves? At least that's how I'm wrapping around the AY to play them on c64. (with a table to grab the buzzer sync frequencies if they're needed, most early games didn't) In my experience the timing/envelope stuff wasn't used very much in favour of the volume registers, so I left all that out which made it a lot easier to get working.

Its not the sound thats the problem, its the way i convert ST games that is.

Rather than me hack each game and change every single routine to blit Amiga format graphics and change each ST image into one thats natively understood by the Amiga, i wait until the ST code has built the Atari screen in memory to display, and then in realtime, convert that ST image to an Amiga one every frame.

That routine is VERY processor heavy for a 68000, and couple with expecting the cpu to then also do a realtime conversion of the sound and music, its just too much.

And unless David Whittaker was doing the music, the Amiga version would have sounded differently in any case.

I dont want to exclude A500 owners, if i have to do that, then id rather not bother at all.

[Predseda]

So in my understanding: in this case conversion means more emulation than porting.

[Shatterhand]

I dont want to exclude A500 owners, if i have to do that, then id rather not bother at all.

Thank you for that

[PortuguesePilot]

Originally Posted by Galahad/FLT

(...) I dont want to exclude A500 owners, if i have to do that, then id rather not bother at all.

You're one of my personal heroes, you know that?

[DamienD]

I hear ya PortuguesePilot!!!

What; you as well? You know anything / released by Galahad is guaranteed to work 100%!!! I was a teenager in Sydney, Australia when I had an Amiga 500 and the name FLT / Galahad resonated even there half a world away...

Sir Galahad is a f$%kin' legend in the Amiga community and has been since I was 15 (24+ years go) and still is still going strong

All hail the master cracker / coder

[Predseda]

Okay, but this is just flattery online

[musojon74]

This is a great game to convert. Thanks Galahad! One of my st favourites. I too remember thinking it was just some silly arcade game. But the rune casting and spell casting really made it for me. And the feeling when a level was completely clear. :-)

[musojon74]

Ok. Well I've done a few bars of music conversion. Will upload ASAP. Might need to use a different Amiga as I keep getting pauses / complete freezes playing high notes through Paula...

[musojon74]

I'll upload a different way.

[musojon74]

Ok let's try this. https://instagram.com/p/BAUo9-8mdab/

[Galahad/FLT]

Originally Posted by musojon74

Ok let's try this. https://instagram.com/p/BAUo9-8mdab/

Sounds good. Dont be afraid to give it some kick ass sounding samples so it doesnt sound so delicate if you know what i mean.

Good start

[musojon74]

Thanks! Ok I've got most of the notes in now. Coming in at 41k. How much can I have? :-)

[musojon74]

Yeah will update the samples. The snare doesn't work. Sounds amazing at original sample rate in logic. Now, not so much.

[BarryB]

Just make any ST conversion need minimum A500 with 1mb, loads of Amiga games need 1mb so why piss about when you can use 1mb, just aim for that config and leave it at that!

[musojon74]

Ok. I need to eat. I'll perhaps try sampling directly on the Amiga. Every sample I send over via cf and convert seems a bit flat.

[Galahad/FLT]

Originally Posted by musojon74

Thanks! Ok I've got most of the notes in now. Coming in at 41k. How much can I have? :-)

Keep it under 90k and i can ramload it so its not too slow to reload when the player dies

[Predseda]

Although I love Graftgold productions, do not forget to Bubble bus work.