Wizard of Wor for VIC-20 FOUND!

[pallas]

BTW, there's this easy-to-use VIC Software Sprite Stack available for download that enables the gifted programmer a "quik" method of porting WoW. Love to see that happen.

We could make it and put on a cart

[tokra]

Hmm, the auction was ended by the seller and all bids cancelled. Maybe he got cold feet? Or did someone here convince him to test/dump the cart first?

[orion70]

I emailed him to suggest he take it down so it can be tested.

The listing is now ended.

I think he has done the right thing.

[DwightDMoody]

Would have been more than willing to share the code if I had been the winner of the auction of the Wizard of Wor prototype. By the way, have a number of cartridges that need archiving, would really appreciate some help with the mechanics of how it is done. Have several HAM radio cartridges, plus a whole bunch of ones that do not appear in Ward Shrake's listings and which I have picked up over the years. As a side note, I just won an Ebay auction for a ROMOX Anteater cartridge, which is a super rare vaporware cartridge which I really would like to archive so I can share the ROM image with everyone.

By the way, I have an old Protecto Enterprises catalog which actually lists a whole bunch of vaporware cartridges as items they use to carry, so it makes a great reference tool. It turns out there actually WAS a Mario's Brewery cartridge made for the Vic-20, which they carried, so it may yet show up on Ebay at some point or in a swap meet.

[Mayhem]

Mrew?!

There was an auction for a Vic20 Ant Eater Romox cart recently, and I've somehow missed it? *kicks eBay's search mechanisms again*

(if you want to sell it, let me know!)

The lists Ward made are long out of date now, as he left the scene some ten years ago. Many things have been found since, and quite a few by myself. The closest, up to date list of what's known about is either through my Gamebase20 project, or by looking here:

http://www.digitpress.com/video-game-guide/

I need to get the info back off the database at some point, as a bunch of changes I made are still not reflected in the live search, so I want to maintain the information myself in the future.

There's someone who has a few of the unarchived OEM cartridges, including Mario's Brewery, and we've been trying to get them preserved for a long time. Hopefully it will happen eventually.

As for preserving, you'll need a multi cart adapter that you can disable each slot individually for starters. Plug the cart in (as the only cart in the unit), turn on the Vic20, and then enable the slot once the boot screen is up.

The program below attempts to determine which memory pages have something mapped into them. Reading unconnected memory is not reliable - on my VIC-20 this program reports BLK5 (values 160 - 191) even when there's nothing in there. All other unconnected memory return the high byte of address, and that's what this program tests.

Code: Select all

0 form=828to846:reada:pokem,a:next
1 print:forp=4to15:gosub7:next
2 print:forp=32to127:gosub7:next
3 print:forp=160to191:gosub7:next
6 end
7 poke252,p:sys828:ifpeek(252)<>pthenprintp;
8 return
9 data 160,0,132,251,165,252,209,251,208,4,200,208,249,44,73,255,133,252,96

4-15 = 3K RAM area
32-63 = BLK1
64-95 = BLK2
96-127 = BLK3
160-191 = BLK5

So that can test what block(s) the cartridge occupies in memory.

As for dumping, Mike produced a short dumping program you can type in and save, and then run against the cartridge for the blocks you identified:

http://sleepingelephant.com/ipw-web/bul ... dump#42523

[Jeff-20]

I was away for some time and just saw this thread! What happened?

[Mayhem]

There was an auction for a Vic20 Ant Eater Romox cart recently, and I've somehow missed it? *kicks eBay's search mechanisms again*

Oh, it was a BIN...! No wonder I never saw it as it was only up for less than a day... my search times et al. The offer to buy it still stands

[Jeff-20]

If this guy is a Denialer, why wouldn't he seek help here to save the ROM before just selling it off???

[orion70]

That's what I asked in the first place. But after some circumlocution, we still have no answer to this question...

[Vic20-Ian]

If this guy is a Denialer, why wouldn't he seek help here to save the ROM before just selling it off???

Jeff, maybe it was the mean responses to some of his earlier posts as a new Denial member that put him off. Search fsporsche posts.

Also read through this thread and see the snide comments sent to me for arguing that the guy should be given help to prove it either way.

A few sad days at the home of the Friendly Computer (you know who you are)

[pallas]

I don't see the drama in this thread. I would have seen it in someone who buy a 5$ cart for 50$

[Boray]

maybe it was the mean responses to some of his earlier posts as a new Denial member that put him off. Search fsporsche posts.

Do you mean this?
http://sleepingelephant.com/ipw-web/bul ... highlight=

Even more unlikely that a guy knowable enough to develop a cart containing all games ever released, that he wouldn't be able to test one single game.

[orion70]

As for me, I never meant to be rough or offensive in any way. I had myself the opportunity to dump unpublished software - which I bought in the U.S. for quite a lot of money - and did it promptly, including the respective manuals. So maybe the sad pages don't come from my book

[DwightDMoody]

May I suggest that people remember that harsh words can cause long-term damage in relationships. Harsh words can turn a potential seller into someone who might throw it into the garbage rather than let someone whose words are harsh or hateful have it.

I have TONS of stuff I would like to archive so that others can benefit from my investments in unique Vic-20 items I have obtained from Ebay and elsewhere. Those who have lost bids to Vtfishguy2002 know you have to have pretty deep pockets to outbid me when I really want something. On the other hand, I am more than willing to share by archiving the software and uploading it so everyone can enjoy it. Most of my items are CIB, so I have the cartridge, the box and the instructions.

I have found that doing a lot of research helps a lot to determine whether something on Ebay is legitimate or not. I have a catalog from the early 1980's that lists numerous cartridges that do not appear on the Vic-20 cartridge listings, so when something comes up, I can easily determine whether it is likely to be a cartridge or not. BTW, the catalog specifically mentions that Mario's Brewery WAS available for the Vic-20. So it is likely that one will show up on Ebay eventually. Hopefully it will be a BIN so I can get it without getting into a bidding war.

In the meantime, any help I can get archiving what I have and can obtain would be most appreciated.

[orion70]

I have found that doing a lot of research helps a lot to determine whether something on Ebay is legitimate or not. I have a catalog from the early 1980's that lists numerous cartridges that do not appear on the Vic-20 cartridge listings, so when something comes up, I can easily determine whether it is likely to be a cartridge or not. BTW, the catalog specifically mentions that Mario's Brewery WAS available for the Vic-20. So it is likely that one will show up on Ebay eventually.

Interesting! And what about WoW? Does the catalog you have mention it as a "currently on sale" cart? (of course, a negative answer wouldn't automatically imply that it was not prototyped or sold later than "early 80s")