| Posted By
nojeee
on 2019-03-31
06:38:54
|  Berks Four ... coming soon?
I've just finished converting my C16 program Berks 3 to the Atari 8-bit. The game grew from its original 16K to take up all of the 64K available on the Atari. It now has 4 'Worlds' with the original Berks 3 layout being used as World 3.
The improved game is now called Berks 4 and it has always been the intention to get it running on the Plus 4. It has been a long time since I wrote my C16 games and things have probably changed a lot - so I thought I'd ask a few questions here.
I wrote the Atari version in a Windows IDE using the MADS assembler and was hoping to continue with that setup. With the Atari I was able to assemble and run the Altirra emulator directly which also gave me source level debugging. Are there recommendations for the best Plus 4 emulator? I have used VICE successfully with my setup but I know others are available ... what has the best debugging?
What's the best format for final games? I've converted my previous games to run as .PRG files and they work fine as single loads. However, I know that the final game will use all available memory so is there any recommended way of getting data under the ROMS? The Atari allows a bootable disk to take control of the system and it's then easy to load data directly from sectors on the disk.
Is there any call for cassette based programs or does everybody run from disk on real hardware and emulator?
Many thanks in advance for any help and advice you can give.
Jon
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Posted By
KiCHY
on 2019-03-31
11:50:58
| Re: Berks Four ... coming soon?
Hi nojeee,
I saw an FB post about Berks 4, and thought instantly, man, I hope we'll have that on Plus/4 too! 
In this case, I suggest using the simple PRG format (single file, no loading from tape/disc). Your program will load into the $1001-$FCFF range without any tricks, and in runtime, you can utilize the memory between $0200 - $FCFF. I suggest you should "take over" the whole machine by turning ROM off and redirect the IRQ vector ($FFFE-F) to your own one.
If you run out of free ram, you can compress your in-memory data with (for example) Exomizer, and uncompress when you need it (for example compress each world separately, and unpack the one you need, or compress each room separately, etc.)
For simple games, VICE is fine, but it's far from perfection. For near perfect emulation you should use Plus4Emu, or if you don't like its custom UI or debugger, can use YAPE as well.
If you need help, just ask, and download SVS Ultimate Map v2 from this site.
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Posted By
Doug
on 2019-03-31
12:39:40
| Re: Berks Four ... coming soon?
Completely agree with everything KiCHY said, except to say I find Yape pretty flawless, and Plus4Emu likewise.
Doug.
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Posted By
retroscener
on 2019-03-31
12:43:51
 | Re: Berks Four ... coming soon?
Such a big release this. Could we see physical tape and disk Psytronik releases perhaps?
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Posted By
MMS
on 2019-03-31
19:29:56
 | Re: Berks Four ... coming soon?
Such a classic could be continued? Fantastic news!
I agree it would be nice to have a physical release too.
I do not know, what is the copyright status of the past ones, but would be nice to release them together...
(I do not know, how you call it in English, maybe it is called pentalogy?)
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Posted By
Lavina
on 2019-03-31
16:24:44
 | Re: Berks Four ... coming soon?
Ever since you resurfaced I have kept my fingers crossed for Berks 4. The mission of Berks 3 is a task I complete even nowadays once in a year or two.
VICE is a last resort if you don't have anything else.
Plus4Emu's perfection is mostly needed for TEDhacks in demos.
YAPE is generally good for everything.
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Posted By
nojeee
on 2019-05-08
08:25:24
| Re: Berks Four ... coming soon?
Thanks for all of the helpful feedback - I'll download YAPE and Plus4Emu to see which one works best with my system. The original Berks programs took full control of the machine so I should be able to use that code without too many changes.
I did try to limit the amount of player/missile graphics (Atari sprites) that I used so I'm hoping most of the code will transfer easily. The new location map system may be my biggest problem as that used bitmap graphics ... but I'm sure there will be a way around it.
The original Berks programs were released by CRL who went out of business many years ago - I assume the copyright reverted to me as they were my original titles? I do have all of the original code assembling via my Windows IDE but I hadn't really thought about a physical re-release.
I think it will take a few months to do the Plus/4 conversion of Berks 4 as the final game code was so large. I'll certainly ask if I hit any problems.
Thanks again,
Jon
..
I'm very near to completing the conversion of Berks Four and have a few questions:
The code assembles to a single .PRG file which loads fast in emulators but is it normal to add some sort of fast loader? The file is currently $CC80 / 52352 bytes - I haven't yet tested on physical media but I'm assuming that it will be rather slow to load!
The original release of Berks 3 allowed keyboard control of the main player as well as the usual joystick control. I've removed this at the moment as I've had to add a more elaborate keyboard routine to handle the password system. Does anybody still use keyboard entry rather than joystick for an action game?
Is it ok to upload here when the game has been completed?
Jon
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Posted By
Luca
on 2019-05-08
08:55:58
 | Re: Berks Four ... coming soon?
Great news indeed nojee, I'm looking forward to play the brand new Berks game!
- PRG is ok, turboload can be used just if you wanna put your release on a D64 image, or, pretty retro weirdo funny, if you eanna release a tape version as TAP file with a turboloader  In any case, I strongly suggest to compress your game with one of the numoreous bit/byte packers around, first of the row Exomizer of course;
- keyboard commands are a retro fun option indeed, but of course, they're absolutely not needed, they weren't present in the best games of the late commercial era, just to have an example...
- here is THE place where to put all the incoming native stuff!  send the final release to me or Csabo, we'll do all the rest, spreading it thru all our channels and contacts.
And now the important note: do you need help, music, additional graphics, exomizing the final stuff, have care of the D64 handling, need a coffee? Ask here to all of us, we're ready to join forces!
Also, my real Plus/4 is here, ready to test programs, as many buddies of us just did. We only need a chat+file transfer ;)
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Posted By
nojeee
on 2019-05-08
12:02:00
| Re: Berks Four ... coming soon?
Thanks for the information, it's a great help. I haven't used Exomizer before so I'll take a look when I'm almost finished.
I should be able to get the .PRG file copied onto a real floppy with a PC to 1541 device I bought last year to work with some of my old C64 floppies. Hopefully, that should enable me to try it on my real Plus 4 (fingers crossed it's still working). I'll certainly shout for help if needed
I've converted my music and sound effects handlers from the Atari but the TED hardware limitations means that it's all a bit basic. Having said that, I've intentionally tried to write Berks Four in the same way as I did back in the 1980's so everything is designed to have a retro feel.
Maybe, when it's ready, I can upload a version for you to test before making it available? I'd like to find out if I've made any major errors before releasing it to all.
Thanks again for the help.
Jon
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Posted By
Luca
on 2019-05-08
12:17:00
| Re: Berks Four ... coming soon?
nojee absolutely yes, feel free to ask for everything, I can exomize it for you and I can test it on real iron, just like I'm doing these tays for other incoming projects
Ah, useless to say: make your game PAL/NTSC compatible by AND/ORAing your $FF07 usage and by checking your rastertime usage here and there E.g., the little game I must (MUST! DAMN MUST!) release since years (TEDzakker I'm gonna rule over you!) changes its few IRQs due to PAL/NTSC checking.
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Posted By
retroscener
on 2019-05-08
14:36:47
| Re: Berks Four ... coming soon?
I would just like to say that I feel that Timeslip is one of the best C16 blasters of all time, and one of the most original. I put it up there equally with Xzap from the C16 starter pack. That’s an honour doncha know. I personally feel that this is your greatest C16 game. I did a youtube longplay of Timeslip a few years ago. What a game.
What inspired you to create such an original classic from a tired Scramble theme? All those amazing new ideas you threw into it. It would be fabulous if you could maybe work on a remastered version someday if it is at all possible. Similarly like Thalamus recently did to Hunter’s Moon for the C64. Wasn’t the Atari version slightly different?
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Posted By
nojeee
on 2019-05-08
17:57:26
| Re: Berks Four ... coming soon?
Luca ... I think PAL/NTSC should work fine as I retain bit 6 in $FF07 every time I write to the register. I do have a few IRQ's during the screen but everything seems fine on the emulators in PAL and NTSC so I'm assuming it will be ok on real hardware? I only have a PAL machine to check on.
Baz ... thanks for the kind words about Timeslip, that was one of my favourite games to write. The idea for the game came from some scrolling tests I did on the C16. I was looking for ways to make a side scrolling game last longer and it evolved into the three separate zones. Of course, it helped that I was only scrolling a small area of the screen .
The Atari version is pretty much identical but by using hardware sprites for the rocket & submarine I could add some sideways movement. I've recently managed to get the original C16 code assembling again and was considering updating the game for the Plus 4. If I remember, I only had a handful of bytes free on the C16 version so there wasn't a lot more that could be added.
Jon
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