RAMS update? Firmware update?

[MtM]

Just thought I would ask about the above, as there has been mention I think from the respective authors not so long
ago that both were going to be updated in the not so distant future.

An update to RAMS with a working Moon Cresta and Frogger with hi score saving would just be incredible!

I would pay for it.

If it could do Hunchback too one day then my life would be complete

[lfaria]

If it could do Hunchback too one day then my life would be complete

AFAIK, you're out of luck: that doesn't run on a Z80, but a (trio of) Signetics 2650's instead.

[Alcoholics Anonymous]

Frogger is a thing as I've been playing it for half a year.

This is what Rusty Pixels had to say about it:

Warhawk 2 may well happen.
Frogger is working in rams. Just Jim Bagley and I need to bang heads and get it finished. We will this year

Hunchback being three Signetics 2650s is a crimp that's for sure. I'm a little confused by the extra notes about the game also being available for the Galaxians / Donkey Kong hardware. Does that mean there was a Z80 version? Or they modded the pcb for Signetics 2650?

Someone feeling really frisky might try emulating the Signetics 2650 and success would depend a lot on how much of the frame time is taken by the game code. I plan to try that with some 6502 arcade games but I have no idea if it will be successful. All for fun -- these things could also be done as hardware cores for the fpga too.

If you don't know about it already, there is also Bubble Bobble which is standalone and not incorporated into RAMS. These things are running the original arcade code and should be using a 60Hz video mode to match the arcade original. Scramble is also very good but it is a port rather than running original code.

-----

For the system software and hardware, the latest publicly available beta is 3.01.10. There has been work done past that and a final version 3 core is being made. Hopefully it won't be too long until it is available because work can't start on version 4 until this is done.

[MtM]

Thanks for those replies, the latest distro is good for me anyway, seems to work okay, had to force it to
use vga with my monitor but once done all fine, and Calm Commander seems to work again on 2.07f & .10.

Keep up the good work!

Whilst I remember, how am I getting Frogger working again then please? I take it that is some
kind of insider release of Rams you have AA? I know I can play it on mame but the Next is really
good for the old ports, much better in a way.

[Alcoholics Anonymous]

Whilst I remember, how am I getting Frogger working again then please? I take it that is some
kind of insider release of Rams you have AA? I know I can play it on mame but the Next is really
good for the old ports, much better in a way.

Yes I have a special version. They're intending to release frogger with RAMS in the first couple weeks of this month.

[MtM]

Whilst I remember, how am I getting Frogger working again then please? I take it that is some
kind of insider release of Rams you have AA? I know I can play it on mame but the Next is really
good for the old ports, much better in a way.

Yes I have a special version. They're intending to release frogger with RAMS in the first couple weeks of this month.

All makes sense, I thought as much. Good to hear, I hope they keep developing RAMS, as I say I like it, prefer
it to MAME, it's simple to use.

[Alcoholics Anonymous]

All makes sense, I thought as much. Good to hear, I hope they keep developing RAMS, as I say I like it, prefer
it to MAME, it's simple to use.

It is MAME inspired, that's for sure and technically it's the exact same idea where original code is running and there is adaptation code that maps graphical / audio output to PC or Next hardware whichever the case.

I do find it personally attractive as a technical challenge to give it a go as these fellows have (Jim, Michael on RAMS / Scramble, dave on Bubble Bobble). I'd be interested in trying to port arcade games for different processors, like the 6502. I think I mentioned it already but anyway there are 6502 interpreters in the spectrum community but the idea here is to disassemble, translate and reassemble which takes out the interpretation step very much like a basic interpreter versus a basic compiler. So I think with the Z80 at 28MHz, it may be possible to do these old arcades since their 6502s (or other) tended to be clocked at rather low speed. My limited time is already committed however so it may be a while until I can have some fun again

Anyway, in case you are not aware, there is another arcade port in the works -- Star Force -- by yet another new programmer to the Next. Graphically looks very good but no sound yet. Not a port, rather running original code like RAMS / Bubble Bobble. The programmer wrote a little bit about the challenges faced on either the spec next dev or spec next games group (can't recall which atm).

[MtM]

I shall keep my eyes open for this AA, Star Force, I don't remember an arcade game called, that, but thank you for the information, and for the explanation about MAME etc. Hopefully they will release the new version of RAMS soon.

Edited by PJ

[Alessandro]

Happy Easter folks

Could someone please explain me what this RAMS is all about? Is it a new emulator?

[PeterJ]

Happy Easter @Alessandro,

It's all explained here:

https://www.rustypixels.uk/?page_id=313

[Alcoholics Anonymous]

The new version with frogger has been released. Link in the last post.

[kegnkiwi]

I installed it at the weekend and have it working. Frogger is ok but I prefer galaxian

[danboid]

RAMS has to be one of the coolest Next projects.

I've been looking for a list of MAME games using the Z80 for its CPU but I haven't found it yet. You could prob write a script to extract this info from the MAME sources.

Off the top of my head, Z80 based arcade games I'd like to see playable under RAMS include Rygar, Zaxxon and Wonder Boy.

[Seven.FFF]

RAMS is individually coded with hook routines for specific games, just as MAME has a hardware driver for each individual board. You can't just drop a random ROM for a Z80 board that works in MAME into RAMS, as it will ignore it. The only ones that work are the ones mentioned on the RAMS page of the Rusty Pixels website. You may see a greyed out entry for the game they are currently working on inside RAMS, but if it's not documented as being supported then they haven't finished it. As they support new games, they'll typically release a new version of RAMS.

There have been some non-RAMS efforts are arcade ports using the original ROMs too. Bubble Bobble is one I can think of off the top of my head. Plus of course other functional ports that reimplement the logic without using the original ROMs.

[danboid]

I am well aware that none of the games I mentioned are currently supported by RAMS and I never made the assumption that anything supported by MAME would work under RAMS but I mentioned those three games beause they all used a Z80 CPU and are probably doable, I should hope.

I was asking about z80 games in MAME just out of interest, brainstorming new possibilities for RAMS.

[Seven.FFF]

I think it depends what hardware is on each arcade board. Golden age boards of that era can have some quite funky programmable sound generators, for example, that can't be done in AY, and can only be approximated with 8bit sampled sound. Boards that use vector graphics, a greater colour depth per pixel, more simultaneous colours on the screen than the Next can do, or a greater resolution than the Next can do, are only ever going to be an approximation.

Generally, I think golden age era arcade games are a good fit for Next ports, and how you judge any approximations will depend on what your expectations are.