TNT's Z-code interpreter, and FE3

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Pedro Lambrini
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Post by Pedro Lambrini »

I'm not sure. It's too dark to see. Looks Grue-some though! :P
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Jeff-20
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Post by Jeff-20 »

orion70 wrote:OK. Hey, I even changed my avatar, see if you recognize this one :wink:
I LOVE it!
High Scores, Links, and Jeff's Basic Games page.
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Post by TNT »

orion70 wrote:Hope TNT is still reading us :wink: .
I am. I don't have too much time for 6502/6510 these days tho :(
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orion70
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Post by orion70 »

OK, happy to read you're online from time to time :D .
I hope this thing will end up to be fully enjoyable by every VIC-20 user - Infocom adventures are a milestone in computer's history, and adapting them to our little Commodore is just... magic.

We're stuck at the time when further development could be done, if only you would have officialy released your work to the forum members. We know it's a work in progress, but a lot of it is already done, you don't have much time to spend upon this project, and there are smart and willing guys here who are able to finish it. So please, please TNT, release your loader and adventure disks!
Of course, you will have all the thankful appreciation of the Denialers, and the credit you deserve for your creation. Oh yes, and also a special edition of my replica Zork packages for free at your home :wink: .
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orion70
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Post by orion70 »

BTW, here's a picture of my Zork I replica package, as an example of what can be done with the images available in the internet. Sorry for the poor quality, but my cell phone went through the washing machine 8) .

Image

This was done with a very poor technique, using a cardboard box (in which my Kindle was shipped :mrgreen: ) with printed A4 sheets glued on.

Notice the VIC label:
Image

I'm ordering some standard-size cardboard boxes and printable A4 labels to better remake most of the Infocom boxes and contents (possibly all of the games available for the VIC) for my personal use. Will post pictures of them once done.
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Post by TNT »

orion70 wrote:Notice the VIC label
As it is now the interpreter needs 35 KB expansion. Interpreter itself is in BLK5 and is not ROMable as it uses self-modifying code for speed. While some Infocom adventures can be played with 24 KB expansion every extra kilobyte helps as it reduces disk access.

Speaking of speed: I dusted off the source, and while I couldn't understand what I was thinking whe I wrote save/restore I managed to shave couple of bytes and cycles from Z-machine intruction dispatcher. Speedup is only 9.75 cycles per instruction on average but should make completing Zork I couple of seconds faster ;)
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orion70
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Post by orion70 »

Thanks for your warning - I'll modify the label in the definitive collection :D . I'm thinking about a one-box solution for all adventures, with a patchwork of game covers on the front, standard general directions and teasers on back of the box, and a big manual for all the games inside (not far from later "lost treasures of Infocom" releases). Notice that it's all for fun, and for personal use (no copyright infringement AFAIK).

As for you getting back to work on the Z-machine: happy to read it. Keep up with this thing and update your progress here from time to time. Thanks!
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tokra
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Post by tokra »

BlackSmurf aka Edilbert Kirk has recently released a Z-Machine-Interpreter for several Commodore 8-Bit-machines: Download. Here's the thread on the german Forum64.

Apparantly he's working on a VIC-20 and CBM 8096/8296-version right now. Maybe TNT can team up with him?
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orion70
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Post by orion70 »

Great news - hope TNT will join this project. :D
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orion70
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Post by orion70 »

I was lurking the cited thread in the German forum: looks like there's good news about the VIC Z-interpreter :) .

[rough Google translation]
BlackSmurf wrote:Starcross is running on the VC-20. Here is the status of the Z-Interpreter for the VC-20:
The good news: It's finished. I test just a few more features - but so far everything works. The bad news: There is less RAM available than in CBM 8032. In the Infocom games, there is always a "resident" part that has to fit entirely into RAM. Zork 1-3 do not fit into the VC-20, but for example Starcross is working. When I'll be done with the test, I will send the image to the download page "petsd.net". I was able to test the program but only in VICE, because I have no real VIC-20. There, I could use even the RAM address range $ A000-$ BFFF, but real VIC-20s are unlikely to be so equipped.
tokra wrote:A 32K/27K expansion was actually quite widespread (thanks Klaus Jeschke). It already had RAM in blocks 1,2,3 and 5 (or alternatively 3K in block 0 and 8K each in 1,2 and 3). Also, today a 32K expander for the VC20 is still pretty cheap.
"Standard" for current VC20 nerds is probably the Final Expansion 3 and the Megacart. Both are (at least) fully expanded to 35K, so you can use the blocks 0,1,2,3 and 5 at the same time (in VICE called "full blocks"). This has been used so far only by TNT's Z-Machine interpreter and Kweepa's Doom 32K, such as Realms of Quest 3 of Ghislain.
BlackSmurf wrote:I'll pick up the ideas about the 24/25 column and the RAM in block 5. The Z-Interpreter for the VC-20 with 32K is now ready. The disk images are as always at "petsd.net".
Download the adventures HERE, attach disks with RAM in full blocks, LOAD"*",8 and RUN. The interpreter will automatically detect the VIC and load the story. You can SAVE at any time up to 10 different positions in drive 8 or 9, and RESTORE at your will :D . Zork I - II - III, Starcross, Deadline, Leather Goddesses of Phobos, and Infidel are available, together with their English manuals in pdf format. I have tested all of them quickly, and found no problems - will try and play-test them thoroughly on my real VIC as soon as I have spare time.

WELL DONE! Hope this will be a starting point to have all the adventures fitting the 32K RAM which were written by Infocom and others and were ported to the Z-interpreter over time.
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Kweepa
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Post by Kweepa »

Very cool!
I tried Leather Goddesses of Phobos, and spotted a couple of problems:

(a) the loading numbers at the bottom steal a line of screen real estate, and that means that more than two pages of text miss a line between pages (the top of the second page)
(b) the interpreter doesn't understand any directions except east - I don't think that was a feature of the game... it also doesn't understand "smell" which is pretty important for LGOP :)

I realize this isn't the right forum, but perhaps you could send it along since that forum is German.
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orion70
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Post by orion70 »

Didn't notice that, sorry but I tried LGOP only by loading the story. As for writing in the forum, I guess Tokra or Mike are more likely to do it (I don't know German). The missing line due to debug info: maybe it's only a matter of time and when they will issue the final version it will be eliminated?
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tokra
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Post by tokra »

Forwarded Kweepa's bug-repot to the Forum64
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orion70
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Post by orion70 »

Thank you Tokra :)
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orion70
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Post by orion70 »

I'm experiencing some problems with memory configuration in the FE3 (see HERE).
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