Spectrum Computing

Finished ripping the Chronos engine. Used most of the same labels as AgentX2 source file, changed the channel labels so it's a bit easier to follow. Chronos engine doesn't have note vibrato, so it's a little less capable compared to AgentX2 engine. Everything else is mostly the same, attack, decay,...

777 wrote: ↑Sun May 07, 2023 3:50 pm how do i go about finding out what address it is?

It’s pretty trivial. Look at the BASIC code in a hex editor. The code for the CLEAR token is $FD; the period is $2E. What should follow is $0E0000. The next two bytes should be the actual argument. Same for the RANDOMIZE USR tokens ($F9C0).

StanVanman wrote: ↑Sun May 07, 2023 12:25 pm

The ZXArt link does indeed lead nowhere. The Virtual TR-DOS link works fine.

I thought someone finally added the shadow to the chopped off head when it lies still on the ground. Alas, it’s just different backgrounds and health gauges.

On the up side, I fired up the original and had a blast kicking my opponent into the corner a few times.

Not a whole lot to choose from, but my favorites are (in no particular order): Seraphima , The Unicorn , and Coinz are Mine! Gun to the head, I’d probably give Coinz are Mine! an edge. Seraphima has nice graphics, but the engine is too jerky for my liking (albeit the entire project is very ambitious...

Yup, if it’s a runaway stack issue, RZX is your friend. It helped me out with a couple of bizarre and nasty (and intermittent) issues. RZX is really pretty straightforward. You just record your game; then you simply play back the recording, mark down the approximate time the crash occurs, and break ...

We are still using V2, and there is a V3 available. It would be interesting to see how many of these fail on the newer version too. I tried a couple of the titles listed above and it made no difference. https://jsspeccy.zxdemo.org/ https://github.com/gasman/jsspeccy3 Oh, wow. I can tell you that it...

How about the player’s ship explosion in Joffa’s Firefly?

Yup. You can download the Spanish ROM and use it with your favorite emulator to investigate further. I remember seeing it for the first time some decades ago with one of the early versions of zxsp and playing around with it. Wasn’t too impressed (for example, the keywords had to but typed in caps, o...

The Speccy is a big boy now! I, for one, am glad I’ve been with it for all these years.

(It’s unfortunate that Uncle Clive is no longer with us.)

Happy Birthday to the best eight-bit micro!

Sure. It’s Helvetica. For the Plus model, the cardboard box font was either Syntax LT or Humanist 531 (they’re basically a variation on a theme).

Here’s a quick mockup I did with these fonts:

PeteProdge wrote: ↑Sun Apr 16, 2023 10:55 am Well, as ever, with homebrew, the lines between label and developer are often blurred

...and do I dub this a poll for Ionian Games, or Jason Railton? Or both?

To me, homebrew equates to individuals. So, I’d go for Jason.

StanVanman wrote: ↑Sun Apr 16, 2023 2:30 am Gah. It's amazing how much stuff copy protection ruins, and it never ever stopped anyone copying anything.

I think it’s misleading to call it copy protection; we simply do it out of habit. It’s more appropriate to call it IP protection, in my book.

For the 9V Speccies I'm using actually new regulated PSUs that give 3.10A @ 9V. Yup. That’s the way to go. My question was more in the sense of "is using one of these old +3 PSUs still safe"? . . . From the schematics I'm guessing these +3 PSUs are bound to fail rather gracefully if somet...

It's mostly for convenience purposes; I'd rather have a single PSU on my desk for all four machines, than be changing PSUs and cables all the time. With PSUs it’s rather simple—all other things being equal (i.e. pinouts and voltages), pick the one with the highest power output (i.e. amps). So, if y...

Swainy wrote: ↑Wed Apr 12, 2023 9:24 pm The clearest speech I ever heard on the Speccy was on SWIV, which sampled Aliens “Get away from her you bitch!” when you activated the cheat mode.

I concur.

Ah ah. So 0:1 and 0:5 are basically the same? Did not know that. Is it possible to fix this? Fix what exactly: the numbers or the error itself? Edit: Also, while loading one of the games on a different tape (full of copied games), it DOES give the border stripes (yellow/blue) like it usually does. ...

Border artwork for rotated TV's. Awesome graphic. Not sure the edges could be implemented as intended, though. First, most TVs would cut them off anyway (due to overscan). Secondly, the border cannot be changed faster than every 24 “pixels.” (I’m using the word pixels here loosely, since there are ...

8BitSC wrote: ↑Sun Apr 09, 2023 12:40 pm Back in the day, I didn't know there was an OPTION to do a simple composite mod on the rubber-keyed wonder. I certainly don't remember seeing anything published in any of the speccy magazines I bought.

Probably, because there were virtually no TVs that accepted composite video.

I’m going to say it’s the Toastrack. Sure, the original rubber-key Speccy is adorable, but there’s something “mature” about the Toastrack. The later Amstrads-made Speccies are fine machines, but they just don’t do it for me.

TheMartian wrote: ↑Wed Apr 05, 2023 4:03 pm Maybe the link is bad?

Here. All fixed.

I can't check the load process of the game on real hardware directly. In my emulator the snow appears a bit after the beginning of the both blocks (when addresses $D800..$DAFF are load). Sounds about right. Here’s the video of the loading process of Ninja Hamster I made a few years back on my Toast...

R-Tape wrote: ↑Sun Apr 02, 2023 9:12 pm King's Valley? Far from a perfect hit, but I do recall a poke to remove the background.

Hot damn, Dave! That’s one hell of a shot.

Very odd, indeed. I’d probably check D26 and D27 (just to be sure). Then look into IC 31.

Try Helvetica Black (if there is such a thing). There is, but this isn’t it. The dot over the i is higher, and overall the font is vertically more condensed. Arial Black certainly exists, but the R is a different shape. Not just that. In Arial, the horizontal lines of the hooks are, well, not stric...