Posted By
aNdy/Cosine
on 2020-07-21
07:50:52
 |  My First Plus/4 Project (Robocop PETSCII)
I've just released 'Robocop PETSCII' on the C64. You can find it on CSDb here:
https://csdb.dk/release/?id=193671
To learn more about the Plus/4, I've already begun converting over the code. I have the PETSCII's displaying now (albeit in wrong colours) and all the 'reveals' and fades seem to work.
To make things quicker in the future and perhaps release some more PETSCII's as Plus/4 'exclusives', I'd like to modify my screen editor to export Plus/4 colours as well as C64 colours. I'd still have to 'paint' in C64 colours because modifying the editor for all Plus/4colours would be too much at the moment, but I can easily add an export to the menu.
Is there a colour map somewhere I can grab that gives rough approximations of the Plus/4 colours to the C64 in hex?
e.g.
C64 Cyan = $03 - Plus/4 = $??
C64 Lt Grey = $0f - Plus/4 = $??
Adding this to my editor would give a quick boost to a project and then I can modify the colours more in code.
Hope I explained that ok?
Thanks
aNdy/AL/Cosine
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Posted By
gerliczer
on 2020-07-21
08:26:51
| Re: My First Plus/4 Project (Robocop PETSCII)
You may get the map I used from the sources of Stercore 264.
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Posted By
Luca
on 2020-07-21
10:33:43
 | Re: My First Plus/4 Project (Robocop PETSCII)
This is my personal palette's conversion table. You can see my PETSCII fadein routine in He-Man & Friends C16.
| C64 | | | Plus/4 | | $00 | | | $00 | | $01 | | | $71 | | $02 | | | $22 | | $03 | | | $53 | | $04 | | | $34 | | $05 | | | $4f | | $06 | | | $1e | | $07 | | | $67 | | $08 | | | $38 | | $09 | | | $19 | | $0a | | | $42 | | $0b | | | $31 | | $0c | | | $41 | | $0d | | | $6f | | $0e | | | $4e | | $0f | | | $51 |
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Posted By
MMS
on 2020-07-21
11:05:24
 | Re: My First Plus/4 Project (Robocop PETSCII)
These colors really work in practice, though I have to mention, that white will never be so intensive as on the C64, same valid for red too. I am not sure about brown too 
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Posted By
aNdy/Cosine
on 2020-07-21
11:20:07
| Re: My First Plus/4 Project (Robocop PETSCII)
Thanks for all the responses, they gave me good pointers!
I did roll my sleeves and start to investigate myself (that's only the true way to learn) and came up with something similar to Luca.
I now have Robocop in the 'correct' colours, although I'm going to experiment with the luminance to give a better and smoother grey shade across his helmet compared to the C64 version.
I'm also going to modify my screen editor this evening to be able export the 'mapped' Plus/4 colours so I can add direct to my code in the future, before playing with 'shades'.
Now to load up Knaecketraecker again to write some music. Not loaded it since I did some music for T.M.R a couple of years ago!
Again, thanks for the help! What a friendly forum!!!
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Posted By
Luca
on 2020-07-21
11:35:11
| Re: My First Plus/4 Project (Robocop PETSCII)
Yep, I mentioned your contribution in Crackers' Demo 5 and included it into HVTC. Keep in mind that the original Knaecketraecker's output shows some flaws when the music must be restarted and reinitializated, waiting for a forthcoming fixing by Degauss himself (meanwhile, thanks to Doug, I was able to use a fixed version in 2048 Octaluxe), this because the tracker has been primarily created to produce demos music, which rarely need a restart...
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Posted By
Gaia
on 2020-07-21
12:25:35
| Re: My First Plus/4 Project (Robocop PETSCII)
Back in the day (~1989) I used this palette
; position: C64 color, value: plus/4 color
.BYTE $0,$71,$32,$53,$44,$45,$36,$77,$48,$29,$6B,$31,$41,$6F,$6D,$61
I have to admit this may not be the most optimal one as I have not reviewed it since.
One caveat on the plus/4 would be that in MC text mode some character colours are restricted to be either single colour/high-res or multicolour/low-res ($00-$07 and $08-$0F respectively). It's a real missed opportunity that the flash bit was not used for selection bw hires and mcm main colour :(
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Posted By
aNdy/Cosine
on 2020-07-21
13:57:13
| Re: My First Plus/4 Project (Robocop PETSCII)
Thanks again everyone!
I've settled on a 'palette' to use in the export feature of my screen editor. I've already modified the colours in code to nicer shades of colours for Robocop himself. All the reveals and fades are working too!
Just the music to do now really... gulp...
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Posted By
Luca
on 2020-07-21
15:12:10
| Re: My First Plus/4 Project (Robocop PETSCII)
aNdy: just to touch and cite any possible solution, you might use the original SID with a frequecy converter like MConv V1.6, quite an unoptimized solution tho...
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Posted By
gerliczer
on 2020-07-21
15:34:27
| Re: My First Plus/4 Project (Robocop PETSCII)
@Luca: And don't forget to mention Relocator V1.6 by Skoro. It is very handy to move the frq converter in the memory. I used it in Stercore 264, too.
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Posted By
Luca
on 2020-07-21
16:45:30
| Re: My First Plus/4 Project (Robocop PETSCII)
gerliczer oh well, MConv V1.6 comes with the source code, I hoped it was enough  Skoro's relocators series still remains a bunch of great tools, though.
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Posted By
aNdy/Cosine
on 2020-07-21
17:14:49
| Re: My First Plus/4 Project (Robocop PETSCII)
Have considered the SID option, but want to challenge myself by doing another tune on TED.
Will begin music tomorrow! Code is now all converted, colours corrected and reveals and fades working. Tested and working in Yape.
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Posted By
Luca
on 2020-07-21
17:23:43
| Re: My First Plus/4 Project (Robocop PETSCII)
aNdy: to be crystal clear, a frequency converter is a "filter table" which tries to squeeze a SID file into a TEDsound playback; a wave converter does the same, but mixes some digisound slices in order to simulate the SID sound, and this process looks quite raster consumpting; straight SID is, well, SID played thru a SIDcard as hardware addon.
Hence, the usage of a frequency converter plays TEDsound trying to follow the SID data, and of course is a truly unoptimized solution. Just due we've cited it before, He-Man & Friends C16 plays a well known SID tune by Ben Daglish modified by me in order to make it loop, thru a frequency converter.
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Posted By
aNdy/Cosine
on 2020-07-22
14:56:54
| Re: My First Plus/4 Project (Robocop PETSCII)
Thanks for the clarification. I'll investigate that option too as a fall back.
EDIT:
Thanks again to everyone for the palette suggestions above. I've modified my screen editor now so that, although you 'paint' in C64 colours, it can export Plus/4 equivalents in hex ready for me to paste as a data table straight into my code.
Image of this in action can be viewed here:
https://i.ibb.co/VqpCC6t/264export.png
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Posted By
Mad
on 2020-07-22
15:32:27
| Re: My First Plus/4 Project (Robocop PETSCII)
Wow! Nice!
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Posted By
George
on 2020-07-22
18:13:45
 | Re: My First Plus/4 Project (Robocop PETSCII)
Great work, aNdy/Cosine!
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Posted By
aNdy/Cosine
on 2020-07-23
15:40:52
| Re: My First Plus/4 Project (Robocop PETSCII)
I now have some TED music going (the start of a cover of the 'famous' Jonathan Dunn Robocop theme).
How faithful is the sound reproduction/emulation in YAPE? Unfortunately I don't have a Plus/4 machine to test for real... 
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Posted By
Luca
on 2020-07-23
15:55:26
| Re: My First Plus/4 Project (Robocop PETSCII)
aNdy YAPE is very reliable about TEDsound, even better with the right settings in the sound menu (opposite to the horrible hissing sound you can have in VICE). All cases, for any real iron testing, ask for a run on it and pictures and videos will answer to your questions
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Posted By
MMS
on 2020-07-24
08:09:34
| Re: My First Plus/4 Project (Robocop PETSCII)
Great!
BTH I prefer the Jonathan Dunn version made for ZX Spectrum 128K, somehow it is cleaner with less effects and no filters: you can better focus on the epic melody.
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Posted By
aNdy/Cosine
on 2020-07-25
13:02:46
| Re: My First Plus/4 Project (Robocop PETSCII)
@MMS - I'm still getting used to Knaecketraecker having only used it once before. For the Robocop tune, I'm concentrating on the bassline in one channel and a nice bassdrum/hihat/snare rhythm section in the 'virtual' third channel in Knaecketraecker. The other channel contains the classic arpeggio 'lead' before switching to the main lead part. I will try 'mixing' the bassline and arpeggio part a little to maintain the instruments, but I may be pushing what I'm capable of at this point!
EDIT:
My cover of the Robocop title tune featured in Ocean's various versions of the game is now complete, save some tinkering. A huge thanks goes to Luca for testing an early version on real hardware and confirming for me it was sounding the same as I was hearing in YAPE. I'm now working on a cover of the tune used during the game itself.
In the meantime, I've found that including the sys call in the filename when building the source will make my test build autorun, but removing it means you have to type the sys call.
I'm using ACME and know how to include a basic stub for C64 assemblies, but I can't get this to work on the Plus/4. I'm guessing it's something to do with where it needs to be placed in memory (on the C64 I usually place the basic stub at $0801). My code is at $4000. Where am I going wrong?!??!
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Posted By
Luca
on 2020-07-25
14:34:03
| Re: My First Plus/4 Project (Robocop PETSCII)
aNdy the Basic starts at $1001, of course the autorun in presence of a SYS in the filename is a feature of YAPE.
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Posted By
aNdy/Cosine
on 2020-07-29
12:21:14
| Re: My First Plus/4 Project (Robocop PETSCII)
Ah! Basic at $1001. Basic stub now working! Nice feature of YAPE auto-running with SYS in filename!
Thanks YET again for the help and info!
EDIT:
Finally got this little project finished! Thanks to Luca for help and testing on real hardware.
The PETSCII is on the d64 image. Also in the download is the source (ACME format) and all the data and work files (including the Knaecketraecker music files).
Download that little package here:
https://www.arkanixlabs.com/downloads/robocop_petscii_plus4.zip
Thank you for letting me join in on your forum and making me feel welcome! I've already started another little music project because I would like to learn more about what is possible sound wise using TED.
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Posted By
George
on 2020-07-29
14:09:50
| Re: My First Plus/4 Project (Robocop PETSCII)
You are a great artist. I love your Robocop-Demo!
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Posted By
Luca
on 2020-07-29
14:56:03
| Re: My First Plus/4 Project (Robocop PETSCII)
Robocop PETSCII Plus/4 has landed, congratulations for your absolutel first here, aNdy/Cosine (argh, you've included the group into the nick :D )!
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Posted By
aNdy/Cosine
on 2020-08-05
13:26:54
| Re: My First Plus/4 Project (Robocop PETSCII)
Apologies for bumping this topic, but I didn't want to start a new thread...
I'm sure someone has told me (probably Luca via PM) that if the same exported Knaecketraecker tune is reinitialised in my code while it is playing, there are some issues with the driver?
Just checking because I'm covering some more tunes and they will be selectable in a little music selector and if there are issues with reinitialisation, I'll add some code to check which tune is playing and skip if the same tune is selected again.
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Posted By
gerliczer
on 2020-08-05
14:12:03
| Re: My First Plus/4 Project (Robocop PETSCII)
I think, you can find the updated player in the source code of 2048 Octaluxe.
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Posted By
Luca
on 2020-08-05
14:43:35
| Re: My First Plus/4 Project (Robocop PETSCII)
Yes, the original author is on it, but waiting for that, it's Doug who fixed it with some little help from me, in order to use that into his forthcoming game. 2048 Octaluxe actually uses the fixed code, though Doug cleaned it a bit recently, but basically that's it. Told you right in this forum's thread :)
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Posted By
aNdy/Cosine
on 2020-08-05
15:03:33
| Re: My First Plus/4 Project (Robocop PETSCII)
Thanks for the info and yes of course it's in this thread, I missed when scanning through earlier!
I'll keep things simple for now by performing a check to see if the selected tune is already playing and then avoiding a reinitialisation if so!
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