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Re: gtBASIC

Posted: 15 Mar 2023, 15:35
by wbushby
@at67
I am just documenting graphics techniques and wanted to include an advanced section on reducing code by direct manipulation of sprite memory data. Can you give me the memory storage specifications of sprites or direct me to the source code referencing them so I can experiment with some memory manipulations. Information on BLT would be useful as well.

Re: gtBASIC

Posted: 16 Mar 2023, 12:49
by wbushby
Is there a way to use a joystick in the emulator ?

Re: gtBASIC

Posted: 16 Mar 2023, 15:33
by wbushby
Here is a version that 'should' work with a joystick. I haven't tested it as I have no access to my real Gigatron at moment.

If someone would like to test it for me that would be appreciated.

Re: gtBASIC

Posted: 16 Mar 2023, 22:34
by bmwtcu
Great work Wayne! I just had a go at playing it. Music takes a while to load but plays fine with latest ROMvX0 and video staying sync-ed. (On a tangential note, I couldn't get the latest BabelFish to work and I had to fall back on the SDROM version.) As Hans reported earlier, you can move Willy the miner and also jump, but at least on my setup you can't do both at the same time unless you start moving, then release the direction key and press jump at just the right time, which makes for pretty tricky gameplay. I don't have a way of connecting the controller directly to the Gigatron and bypassing the built-in Pluggy Reloaded, so not sure if that works any different.

Without further ado, here's the world premier of Manic Miner Joystick Edition, (badly) played by yours truly!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbJA5a2vVVA

Edited 3/17 see post from Hans below.

Re: gtBASIC

Posted: 17 Mar 2023, 08:07
by Hans61
Small correction. I have not tested Babelfish yet. This only makes sense with the current ROMvX0. But this one does not work for me. I haven't had time to look for the cause yet. And I am not sure if I am making a mistake.

I also downloaded the latest software from here https://github.com/at67/ROMvX0 yesterday. If I still copy the SDL2.dll to .\Exe and the ROMvX0.rom to \Exe\roms I can load ROMvX0. It then behaves exactly like my Gigatron. It starts the menu, but I can't call anything. The cursor jumps to the time at each menu item. What is my error?

Without a working ROM I can't test the PluggyReloaded either.

Re: gtBASIC

Posted: 17 Mar 2023, 10:18
by at67
Enter/Return to change the time, Delete/End to run application.

Re: gtBASIC

Posted: 17 Mar 2023, 14:27
by Hans61
Sorry, I had not noticed that the handling has changed. So the ROM also runs on my Gigatron.

Re: gtBASIC

Posted: 17 Mar 2023, 19:54
by axelb
I tested the joystick version on two systems - with and without pluggy reloaded. On both systems the joystick/controller did not allow to run and jump manic miner simultaneously. Only by using bmwtcu‘s trick a diagonal jump was possible.

For an (unfinished) jump and run game I use

Code: Select all

 button.lo = get("SERIAL_RAW") XOR 255

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 if (button.lo AND 0x10)… start button…

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 if(button.lo AND 0x01)… joystick right…
to let the system react on controller inputs at the same time.

Re: gtBASIC

Posted: 17 Mar 2023, 23:36
by wbushby
I will have to wait until I get my new man cave finished and boxes unpacked before I can find my real Gigatron and test. Developing blind is difficult. I can't find a way of getting a joystick working on the emulator.

Re: gtBASIC

Posted: 18 Mar 2023, 01:33
by at67
The emulator does allow you to test with a simulated controller, if you press CTRL+H you will see the AWSD SPACE Z . / keys map to the controller, these are fully handled in the same way as a real controller. This means that you can detect any combination of them using code similar to what Axel posted above.

Use CTRL+K to put the emulator in the right keyboard mode, i.e. K:KBD for emulating the controller.

You can also trivially change/map the keys to whatever you like by editing input_config.ini