Spectrum Computing

Did we all miss this one?

It's on spectrum4ever.org, but can I put the link here?

The .tap file contains a 128k version and a 48K version (demo).

Perhaps someone can mod it and replace the music with something more suitable.

But I like it.

Skukt wrote: ↑Thu Apr 25, 2024 8:12 pm is this
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/4 ... /ZX_Robots
Thank you.

I see it now. Thanks!

Skukt wrote: ↑Tue Apr 09, 2024 3:42 pm Auto alignment
Speed X1.3, X1.5, X2

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/4 ... /ZX_Robots

Those updates are great!
Do you plan to release the game with the modifications?

I don't know if the ZX-VGA-JOY interface has been updated in any way but I got mine some years ago and the kempston port doesn't have +5v on pin 7, so autofire joysticks that require it don't work. If the dongle draws current from the same pin to operate probably it will not too but I could be wrong...

Lee Bee wrote: ↑Wed Mar 27, 2024 12:50 pm As for game bugs, one of the problems Gabriele had with AGDx Mini was that the final game only runs on 128k machines (despite being >48k). If anyone knows an easy fix then please let him know.

Do you mean the game could run on 48K machine with AY card?

Lethargeek : Thank you very much for your work! :) I love the result of both of them but I must confess you nailed it - right on the spot - with the 2nd option! :P Even though it could pass as a hack to imitate weclemans I feel hat's how OutRun should have looked like from the very beginning, and y...

Lethargeek : Amazing stuff! :shock: Just discovered this thread :oops: , been reading it and I'm delighted with the prospect of an hardware add-on. :) But also I would like to hear your opinion on the possibility of colorizing the testarossa car of OutRun in red. Could it look like this I did here ...

Just a bit of off-topic maybe...

Which version seems to have the best graphics?

Decided to to some experimentation with colors using paint:





Could the real zx spectrum display the car sprite in red like that?
But when things started to move there would be color clash like in WEC le mans or Cisco Heat?

@thealfest :

Just curious, Saboteur 2 128k is not 48K+AY compatible? Not even the original version, right?
But could it be made to be?

Hey, I think I have found it! :) I selected the memory view tab of the debugger and suddenly some sequences of numbers started making some sense to me... :geek: https://iili.io/JWDSwqF.md.png Let's see if I change the 4's to 1's what happens to keys. Yup, Poke 31895,1 sets Space instead of M permane...

I remembered something.

If I load the main block code (the game .tzx file) in tapir and then view it as dump I find this:



Is that a coincidence? Those are the game keys Q, A, O, P, M, R, H...

Do those AND's get changed when it resets then? In which case they are probably self modified to write the values from the control type (keyboard/joystick) when the game starts again from the menu? Yes, I think that's what happens. If I don't return to control selection then that's fine but once I ...

ParadigmShifter wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2024 11:40 pm
You could post the code where you hacked Space to be the M key but it didn't work properly, that is probably easy to fix.

You asked me for the code and I read poke...

Anyway, it's this here:

ICreateWorlds_dotNet wrote: ↑Fri Mar 15, 2024 10:16 am It´s just Maya...

Ah yes, Maya was special...

I doubt it, it's just counting the number of times it has redrawn the screen sounds like (every 10 times = 1 second of Out Run time, as others mentioned it is variable though since it doesn't often draw at 10fps). All that's involved there is incrementing a counter (will probably be a 16 bit counte...

Found this useful poke: 39204,0 (stops timer).
Perhaps this could help to improve performance a little.

All right, order has been altered and color changed on some of the stages: - Gateway is now white; - Wilderness is now dark yellow; - Alps is pink; - Seaside Town is bright cyan; Also, I've been trying to change key "M" for "Space" because it's better on 48k+ or +2. I've located ...

Tough choice between Space Harrier and Commando . Back then I was all over Space Harrier , but now I've got a dozen different and better ways to play it. But as for Commando , I'd rather play the Speccy version than the arcade, as I think it's actually the better game. Afterburner and Galaxy Force ...

Meanwhile, my first ever :dance (and probably only one :lol: ) spectrum game hack is progressing. No mock up! :roll: https://iili.io/JVr12Eb.md.png Next step will be re-arrange the order of some stages to match course layout of international version of Outrun. And finally change the color of the roa...

@Old-User But 48k version is not faster than 128k. Ok, I cannot refute that. I'm not saying you're wrong. I don't have the knowledge to explain it in the same terms. What I am trying to say is that, from my experience (and that is mostly playing the game on real 48k/128k machines), the 48k version ...

Maybe I didn't make myself clear or... I'm just talking rubbish. :lol: The 48k version of the game doesn't load normally on 128k machines. As far as I understand it checks the presence of the AY chip and changes to AY music/Fx and uses bank switching. What we get in the end is the enhanced 128k vers...

The weird thing about Outrun, which I’m surprised that nobody pointed out when it was released, is just how S-L-O-W the timer runs at. Like a second in the game timer takes about 2 seconds in real life. And nobody said “that isn’t right”. it’s also strange that the developers didn’t pick up on this...

XoRRoX wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2024 12:51 pm As using the AY chip isn't as CPU-hungry as the beeper, I'm wondering if the 128k version plays faster.

Unfortunately it doesn't.
48K version plays faster.

I was comparing 128k version running on machines with and without memory contention to estimate the performance cost of running some code in slow memory. I do not see any speed improvements on 48k machine. thealfest : I think I may have stumbled on a workaround to force 48k version to run on 128k m...