Asteroids emulator/source code port without the source

[tricky]

I've just finished a new port for the beeb of Asteroids.
Like my other "emulator" games it is actually a source code port, but with source code that comes from me disassembling the arcade ROM.
I don't want *. to get accused of distributing arcade ROMs, so the game loads the original ROMs and patches them to attach my beeb layer.
It expects two files that would be what you would get if you loaded your ROMs into MAME and then saved the memory ranges.
50rom58 is the ROMs that decode and load from &5000-&57FF inclusive.
68rom80 is the ROMs that decode and load from &6800-&7FFF inclusive.

https://youtu.be/1zH4hdREcTE best watch in 720p on a 50Hz monitor.
If you have a legal copy of the ROMS and are having difficulty making the appropriate files, please PM me.

[KenLowe]

That looks brilliant. It's been a long time since I've used MAME for arcade games so I'll need to go search for the ROMs. A job for later today. Does the attached code generate a SSD file I can then take to my Gotek?

Edit: After downloading the attached and reading your instructions again, I now get what I need to do. Does MAME allow you to dump memory chunks?

[tricky]

PM sent.
I have many sets of ROMs from old arcade machines that we scrapped where I used to work and unfortunately wasn't allowed to keep anything "with value". I use MAME to decrypt them or merge them when the originals were either split into nybbles or some other scheme.
run mame with -debug, then select your game and in the debug window's command entry line:save <filename>,<address>,<length> (can't remember if they are in hex or need 0x).
You can also Debug|New Memory Window to see where the ROMs are mapped to as the rest will probably be 0s.

[davidb]

Very good! I like the way you talk about how things are done while you show the results.

[tricky]

With most of the videos, I watch a bit and then record a sentence or two, so it works out that way, although sometimes it is planned

[TobyLobster]

Very nice. I remember one time as a kid using up a lot of my birthday money in one session playing Asteroids for ages at the arcades on 10p a go BITD. The sounds certainly feel right to me. I imagine you have custom code to play sounds, or can you actually get away with using the regular OS versions of SOUND and ENVELOPE?

[tricky]

If I hadn't used all of the memory, SOUND could be used, but as I have also blocked interrupts, it's using my code which is actually very basic.

[oss003]

Nice job Tricky ....
Great to see that you finished some games ...
Keep up the good work ...

Greetings
Kees

[richardtoohey]

My memory not much cop these days, but pretty sure Asteroids was the first arcade game I laid my eyes on.

Didn't have much spending money in those days so I didn't waste much on it!

[kieranhj]

Excellent work Tricky, as ever! And a fantastic video, really interesting to hear about the details of making the game.

Now, about that 6502 copro version with line drawing in MODE 0.

[fwibbler]

How on earth did I miss the release of this one?

I've just had a quick play, it certainly looks the part.
I thought at first that the bullets were firing too slowly, but then I see that they're firing just fine, but the firing sound doesn't keep up with the shots being fired. Its a little off-putting...can that be fixed?
Cheers!

[tricky]

Thanks,
They probably are a bit slow as I expect the game is 60Hz, but haven't checked - it could be anything, being vector.
The sound is "tricky" as I am playing it when the message goes to the analogue HW, it doesn't seem quite right, so I guess the HW is doing something more behinds the scenes. I think you can loose a sound completely if you fire quickly, but I'm not 100%.
I'll put it on the list to revisit

[soviet]

Amazing gonna test it

[soviet]

Can't get the roms to work, what files are needed ?.
Downloaded asteroid arcade roms from the net and they are call this:
034602-01.c8
035127-02.np3
035143-02.j2
035144-04e.h2
035145-04e.ef2

What files i need and how they must be renamed before addint them to the image ?.

[tricky]

They should match these http://bbcmicro.co.uk/game.php?id=3525

[tricky]

Fixed the Compact version, timing of the firing sound and doubled the speed of the explosion animations.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vizd23hvkozr0 ... t.ssd?dl=0 no login required.