New Release : BLUE STAR

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 4:22 pm

I don't know how the mastering is done, but can't he load the game from a tape instead of going via a Commodore formatted floppy disk? Or perhaps some C64/128 is involved so tape timing constants are different on a VIC. It would be possible to save a VIC game in "C64 format" though, but a bit fiddly as the memory layout is different.

Kweepa · Post by **Kweepa** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 4:38 pm

Thanks for the replies.
I don't know how the mastering works, but I got the impression that he has a piece of hardware that takes a commodore disk and makes tapes.

Frank, I'll PM you Simon's email address and tell him to expect your mail.

Thanks again!

TMR · Post by **TMR** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 12:24 am

If the mastering is anything like the C64 stuff i sent him, the issue is probably transferring the stuff to a disk ready to be written out to tape...

fgasking · Post by **fgasking** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 1:59 am

Thats what i'm wondering if its a .prg file... then how will Simon master this easily to tape?

With the C64 I think a tape master file needs to be first written to disk, loaded from C64 which then writes the game and loader to tape?

How did Simon master ViColumn Jas?

nbla000 · Post by **nbla000** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 4:36 am

I do not understand which is the problem, i've started it from Disk 1541 II/1581 and tape without problems, on real hardware of course, may you explain exactly which kind of problem he has ?

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 4:59 am

First, TAPwav can be used to create a *.wav file, that is output by a normal sound card on a PC, and then recorded.

I doesn't matter that this is a C64 tape signal, because ...

... second, a VIC-20 can read C64 tapes.

Michael

bokvamme · Post by **bokvamme** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 5:11 am

You can also use a dc2n http://c64tapes.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=dc2n to write a TAP file to tape.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:55 am

Or AudioTAP.

But I get the feeling Cronosoft uses some special hardware to produce tape copies?

fgasking · Post by **fgasking** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 1:44 am

How do you get the standalone .prg into a TAP image? Is it simple enough to do?

Possibly I could create the tape and then Simon can copy from that.

nbla000 · Post by **nbla000** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 3:20 am

fgasking wrote:How do you get the standalone .prg into a TAP image? Is it simple enough to do?

Use WAV-PRG from the same authors of Audiotap.

It's really simple, just open the program "wavprg.exe" and select the option box "Convert a PRG,P00 or a T64 file to a sound or TAP or WAV" and OK

after in the "Output format" frame, select the "Kernel loader" option and OK

Now just select the input/output PRG/TAP files.

There is another easy way to made a TAP file from a PRG file just by using VICE that work if the vic allow to SAVE the file without an ?OUT OF MEMORY error.

LOAD the PRG as usual, do not RUN.

From the menu select "File"->"Attach tape image..."

set a file name and click on "Create image"

Now from the emulator just SAVE the file

fgasking · Post by **fgasking** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 3:27 am

Ah fantastic!, thanks NBLA!

Kweepa · Post by **Kweepa** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 9:34 pm

Hurray!
I got to play on the VIC at last!

(Wow, it's *really* saturated... the brick texture is all orange.)

Post by **Jeff-20** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 9:41 pm

That looks crazy! Is that a CRT or a Projection CRT or an LCD? Is it 42 inch? 46? 37?

gklinger · Post by **gklinger** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 10:14 pm

Yeah, nice TV. Why didn't you get the big one?

P.S. You really hit that one out of the park with Blue Star.

Post by **Jeff-20** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 11:11 pm

Sony 50inch Wega? Blue Star maintains a good look when enlarged, something most multi-color mode games do not do.