I’ve been working on an emulator for over two years now and already have some of the enhancements your speaking about.
http://vcc6809.bravehost.com/
If someone wants to write up some real specs. Memory map. I/O registers and uses. Etc I can start playing around with it. I’ve considered adding such features but didn’t as I doubt anybody will write software to take advantage of them. It only runs on Windows now but if there was enough interest I could prolly port to Linux.
BTW Nitros9 running on a 40Mhz 6309 and a virtual Hard disk is ridiculously fast.
That error should be impossible with VCC. At least there is no way to reduce the VCC RAM to the point where such an error could occur. That makes me think that you have incorrectly patched Ghana Bwana.
Except it is happening with unpatched copies as well!
DarrenA’s patch worked for me using the Ghana Bwana image from Dave Keil’s site. The ?WP error that’s been posted is likely because someone tried to edit Dave’s image. This image is in DMK format which contains extra header info, and in this case the header says it’s write protected. VCC honors the setting but can’t change it (ran into that myself). The fix is to backup the disk to a blank JVC disk image, then do the patch on the JVC copy.
Not sure about the RAM error though. I guess maybe if you could get the VCC source you could try chip swapping… (if you can find a small flathead screwdriver image that is)
As long as we’re talking about lost games, anybody got a copy of Trivia Fever? Also, is Grabber on any of the images floating around (particularly in Mr. Nukem’s collection)?
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Hmm…maybe disconnect the HDD image? That’s the only difference I see between your config and mine.
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NM on Grabber. The bad copy turned out to be a 42 track disk (ahh, the things I used to do to fit more on a disk…and it’s a Bonus disk so it wasn’t because disks were too expensive). Once Hyper I/O was loaded (and I had a copy that had the proper config already, that was what got me to recheck the stuff that wouldn’t work on first try), it worked fine.
Very funny, anyway {a user} already sent me a properly patched version of Ghana Bwana. Now if anyone has properly patched versions of Zaxxon,Pooyan and Draconian I’d be real happy. I have all those but I’ve so far I’ve not managed to make any of them work.
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I found Pooyan and Draconian. As I remember, they didn’t need to be patched to work on the CoCo 3, anyway the copies I found work in VCC. I’ll have to keep looking for Zaxxon, I think I have seen it on a disk this year.
PM me your email address.
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Found Zaxxon. Works fine on the real Coco 3 and in VCC.
You can find all three of these on those D?? DSK images released many years back (there’s three versions of Zaxxon altogether, if you count its two hacks). There were over thirty DSK images in all, and several DSK files were downloaded at once through ZIP files (maybe ten files in each ZIP file altogether; not sure). A number of OS-9 FTP sites carry these files, also. I’d say do a search for “D10.DSK” if you’re interested in the FTP sites.
You’ll want a copy of Grabber that works properly on a disk system, I think (without the Disk Drive Motor bug). Try L. Curtis Boyle’s site for such a copy.
What disk motor bug? I can’t remember ever seeing it touch the drive when running as long as you let the motor stop before EXEC. I just tested in VCC and it didn’t show any disk activity when Grabber was running. Must’ve lucked into a good one all those years ago…
I also don’t remember any Zaxxon hacks, just a clone called Zaksund. So far, the only game that I remember that I can’t seem to find is Trivia Fever.
L Curtis Boyle? EDIT: Never mind I’ve been to his website he does not have a download for Zaxxon or for most games for that matter and I cannot get to work the ones that he does have except Color Maz III.
You’ll see this occur when Grabber (or an enemy) passes a certain area of the maze (The upper-left area, as I remember). A flashing line of dots will appear, and it disappears after a moment. Grabber cannot appear in this part of the maze if the line is there. And if this area is crossed a number of times, the game locks up altogether. The problem doesn’t occur at all when played on a non-DECB system.
Many games have this problem because they were made with a cassette-based system. Rat Attack (T&D #28) and Datafall (T&D #23) are perfect examples.
By the way I’m experiencing problems with some games not being able to recognize either the joystick or joystick buttons on VCC such as Polaris for example! What could be the cause?
Impossible to say without more information. Did you look at the VCC configuration settings for the joystick? You need to match the game requirements for left/right if nothing else.
It may be that there are some VCC bugs but you would need to see if the game in question runs better on some other emulator. If VCC is correctly configured but another emulator does a better job, then there is a VCC problem.
Well I got both (left/right) set for the only USB PC joystick I’ve got.
EDIT: You were right messing with the configuration settings did the trick. Thx…
All except Polaris and a few others so far that simply do not work no matter how you configure the joysticks…
Well again, without any specific information all I can do is give educated guesses. If the games in question do not not require a 6309 (and I doubt any do), configure VCC for a 6809 CPU. Some authors use illegal codes as shortcuts. The 6809 and 6309 act very differently on seeing illegal opcode values.
If that does not help, post urls for a specific game and the errors or problems with the game. I would need to run tests to attempt any fixes or make better suggestions.
Well the games come from the link you gave me earlier here: ftp://www.rtsi.com/RSDOS/incoming/emulator_images
As I said most work just fine after messing with the proper joystick configurations but a few like Polaris and one called Zone9 simply either do not recognize the buttons or the joystick at all. In the specific case of Polaris the game does not seem to recognize the joystick butons no matter how you configure them!
Zone9 I don’t see at that url.
As for Polaris, this is not a VCC problem in fact it is not an emulator problem. You need the instructions for the game! I suggest further questions of this type be posted in the Game forum.
However, it took only a minute or so to discover (I don’t have instructions either) that the joystick buttons are not used. The pointer is moved with the joystick. The fire button is the /? key.
Far as I can tell, the object is to blow up the bombs by placing the pointer slightly below the descending red lines and then hitting the / key. Your missile will detonate below the bomb trace destroying it and any nearby bombs.
There is no difference in game behavior running with VCC or MESS.
Oops my bad! Sorry…
ZXC or ,./ (presumably two sets so that two players don’t have to switch places all the time) – you can choose which sub to fire from.