New release: VICtoria Gold Edition for VIC +16K

[nbla000]

Ok beer is good for me

[Victragic]

Very nice effort, and some great graphics too.

Great use of BASIC and m/code routines, I wouldn't have guessed it was BASIC if I hadn't pressed run-stop at one point!

I remember one of my favourite games for C64 (Kaiser) was written in BASIC, which I didn't know until one day it returned a syntax error.

This was the kind of game I was always hoping to write with my Superexpander Cartridge, but of course memory was always very restrictive.

Congratulations to you both...!

-G

[orion70]

Thanks Victragic. Since the days of Annals of Rome, it has always been my dream to write a turn-based strategy game set in Ancient Rome.
AOR was a little bit frustrating though, mainly because it was easy to loose half your Empire after a revolt or in barbarian invasions. In a single turn, you tipically lost something like all African provinces, or the East, after having conquered and reinforced them in an hour of gameplay or more. From this point of view, I think VGE is far more balanced and historically accurate.
What AOR had but I did not implement in VGE is the Senate, with all Senators listed, each with his age, faithfulness to the Empire, and military skills. You could put any of them as Dux of Rome, and eventually watch them divided into factions fighting for power in a civil war.

As for BASIC optimization and use of M/L routines, it's been a Mike-only affair, and I will never thank him enough for that.

Have fun with it!

[Mikam73]

Very cool

Too bad that Megacart is full.

[nbla000]

Too bad that Megacart is full.

Is not a matter of full MegaCart roms, I cannot add multi file game since they load parts from disk and VICtoria is a multi file disk game, i've asked Orion70 for a single file version but based on the current VICtoria structure, this is not possible.

[carlsson]

I think it is about time we compile the Denial Disk. We've had so many good new games and utilities in the last few years that we'll easily fill a disk. Those who lack the possibility to transfer a disk image themselves get to buy one from a co-member, possibly at a little profit that goes to Jeff-20 for hosting the forum. I believe a such disk may also be possible to sell at eBay and so on.

We already had Denial Collection 1 and 2, both consisting of Jeff's own creations which are great. Now this could be a recurring distribution, where games such as VICtoria Gold is virtually impossible to store on a cartridge but fit like hand in glove on a floppy disk. Everything doesn't need to be squeezed onto a cartridge.

[orion70]

This is an excellent idea.
Members who have the possibility to create the disk could spread it to people from his Country, to minimize mail expenses. I can do it for Italy.
Contents and the cover should be the same for all, of course.

[Jeff-20]

Yes, wonderful idea. We could even have some surprise releases not posted in the forum included (I have a few). I had a Denial 3 planned, but I like this idea better! I say, go!

[orion70]

...meanwhile, I found other forums and sites citing the game:

Commodore Computer Club

Oldschool Gaming

Commodore 128 Alive!

C= News Page

Edicola C64 (ITA)

Thanks to Denial members (or lurkers) who contributed.

[Mike]

There have been some issues regarding the interoperability of the fast loader included with Final Expansion, and VICtoria Gold. For this reason, I have written a new boot loader for VICtoria, here's the *.zip archive for download.

FE3 users still need to update the firmware, too. At least v019 is required, which should be available within the next days. But then, VICtoria is sped up by a good amount loading its data from disc.

Greetings,

Michael

[orion70]

Wow! Software updates for new hardware.. this is VERY professional. Thanks!

[nbla000]

If I'm not wrong the old version worked with Mega-Cart btw I will try this new version with both FE3 and Mega-Cart.

[Mike]

With Mega-Cart, there are no problems, since primarily the memory expansion of +16K (or more) is used, and required, by VICtoria Gold.

The same applies to FE3, given a disabled fast loader.

However, with the old firmware, the FE3 fast loader outputs messages on screen, when files are being loaded, or saved. In direct mode, this is o.k., but in program mode that behaviour disturbs programs which generally rely upon only they themselves write something on screen. For this reason, kernal messages are disabled in program mode, i.e. you'll never see something like 'LOADING <filename>', while a program runs. Sole exception are the 'PRESS PLAY ON TAPE', etc. messages, as otherwise the user wouldn't know what to do.

I've asked Diddl to disable the messages within the fast loader for program mode as well. There exists a ZP location, which explicitly states the current mode, address $9D (=0 => Program mode, =128 => Direct mode).

Now it turns out, that this wasn't sufficient for the old boot loader of VICtoria, since that one operated in direct mode, with pre-printed commands, and lots of simulated key presses. So merely updating the FE3 firmware still wouldn't solve that issue.

As both the fast loader functionality, and the range output are nice add-ons (the last one at least in direct mode), I've changed the boot loader to work in program mode instead. Still, the firmware of the FE3 should be updated, as VICtoria performs further load operations while running.

With FE3, until the firmware is updated to v019, the fast loader must be deactivated before VICtoria is run: this also applies to the current update of VICtoria! This can be done by entering SYS64818 at the start-up screen.

Non FE3 users need not worry. Both versions run on standard VIC-20 hardware (with at least +16K RAM expansion), or VICE without any problems.

Michael

[Mike]

For FE3 users, v019 of the firmware is now available for download.

[Diddl]

New FE3 firmware 019 is finished: link