Search found 22583 matches

by tepples
Fri Mar 08, 2024 1:18 pm
Forum: General Stuff
Topic: New York Times issues takedowns over word guessing game
Replies: 4
Views: 269

New York Times issues takedowns over word guessing game

Charles Reid's 1973 BASIC game Word was first published in 101 BASIC Computer Games by Digital Equipment Corp. in 1973. AtariArchives.org has a scan of its listing and a sample output . It was adapted to a TV game show called Lingo in 1987 and a Game Boy game of the same name in 1994. This month (Ma...
by tepples
Tue Feb 27, 2024 12:58 pm
Forum: NES Hardware and Flash Equipment
Topic: NES Peritel cable in scart port doesn't show properly on my TV
Replies: 5
Views: 342

Re: NES Peritel cable in scart port doesn't show properly on my TV

A standard 15.625 kHz by 50 Hz video signal (PAL, SECAM, SCART) is interlaced. Even lines of the picture are drawn during one field, and the odd lines between them are drawn 20 milliseconds later in the next field, alternating between even and odd fields to fill all 576 lines. This is called 576-lin...
by tepples
Sat Feb 24, 2024 9:21 pm
Forum: NESdev
Topic: MMC5 and third pattern nametable
Replies: 30
Views: 2228

Re: MMC5 and third pattern nametable

"X=1" means horizontal position equals 1.

In other words, a third consecutive read from the same nametable address means the MMC5 knows that the PPU is performing the kind of memory read that the PPU typically performs during the first two pixels of a scanline.
by tepples
Wed Feb 21, 2024 4:07 pm
Forum: General Stuff
Topic: Public transit
Replies: 10
Views: 639

Re: Public transit

SMS is opening a program on an electronic device, tapping keys or a virtual keyboard to enter text in a box, and then hitting a send button. Email is opening a program on an electronic device, tapping keys or a virtual keyboard to enter text in a box, and then hitting a send button. Why the two liv...
by tepples
Mon Feb 19, 2024 4:39 pm
Forum: General Stuff
Topic: San Guo Zhi discussion
Replies: 5
Views: 326

San Guo Zhi discussion

Edit by Fiskbit: This is split off from this thread to avoid distracting from its intended topic. "San Guo Zhi" sounds like "Sangokushi" [三國志], and I'm pretty sure that's on purpose. To what extent do the events of this game overlap those of either Koei's or Namco's Romance of t...
by tepples
Sun Feb 18, 2024 1:47 pm
Forum: General Stuff
Topic: Public transit
Replies: 10
Views: 639

Public transit

Preemptive split from another topic to air grievances about public transit That said, public transit is a thing too Not in my city right now. The bus service here has 58 days of scheduled downtime per year: the 52 Sundays and six major holidays. Today is a Sunday. At least on those days when it is i...
by tepples
Fri Feb 16, 2024 9:05 am
Forum: NESdev
Topic: Linux on NES
Replies: 22
Views: 9779

Re:

Tying related topics together: Oh noes, teh police! HIDE TEH LUNIX!!!11 True, LUnix is not Linux, but could it or Contiki 1.x be made to run well on a RAM cart like the PowerPak? I guessed right. Nearly a decade and a half later, someone ported LUnix. The 9-minute video by decrazyo ( its transcript ...
by tepples
Thu Feb 08, 2024 8:57 am
Forum: NESdev
Topic: WideNES proposal for cross-releasing NES games on modern platforms
Replies: 15
Views: 1524

Re: WideNES proposal for cross-releasing NES games on modern platforms

One thing not detailed here is that some games will play differently with widescreen. Lidnariq did the obvious case, where 4:3 viewers will see less than the 16:9 viewers will. But the one not mentioned is things like spawning enemies. A good comparison case would be Rockman 11 vs. its earlier 4:3 ...
by tepples
Wed Feb 07, 2024 6:37 pm
Forum: SNESdev
Topic: Two separate moving objects out of one background?
Replies: 23
Views: 1774

Re: Two separate moving objects out of one background?

If anything, I'd suggest seeing if a program can use wai to synchronize to within a pixel or two after a horizontal interrupt.
by tepples
Sun Feb 04, 2024 7:30 pm
Forum: NESdev
Topic: WideNES proposal for cross-releasing NES games on modern platforms
Replies: 15
Views: 1524

Re: WideNES proposal for cross-releasing NES games on modern platforms

Now we're considering making it 352 pixels wide, which is 1. a bit wider (so less black border) and 2. a multiple of 32 pixels wide for a whole number of attribute bytes. And the case for moving high X to bit 4 is reasonable. Padding some existing games to 352×224 and putting them on a 720p screen m...
by tepples
Sat Feb 03, 2024 9:32 am
Forum: NESemdev
Topic: Best emulator approach for the long-run: ROM metadata database? Heuristics? Both?
Replies: 11
Views: 1163

Re: Best emulator approach for the long-run: ROM metadata database? Heuristics? Both?

[This may make slightly less sense in light of a post that was deleted.] In the case of NES 2.0, there is one correct header for each combination of cartridge board behavior and memory sizes, and one cartridge board for each set of PRG ROM and CHR ROM contents. Thus whether it's even possible to enf...
by tepples
Sat Feb 03, 2024 5:44 am
Forum: NESdev
Topic: is there a program that converts bmp's to 32 color attribute squares?
Replies: 6
Views: 579

Re: is there a program that converts bmp's to 32 color attribute squares?

I wrote a command-line tool in Python called savtool.py that converts a 256×240-pixel bitmap and a 32-digit palette string. It converts the image using all four subpalettes and then takes whichever produces the least error for each 16×16-pixel area. It does not handle sprite overlays.
by tepples
Thu Feb 01, 2024 11:33 am
Forum: NESdev
Topic: WideNES proposal for cross-releasing NES games on modern platforms
Replies: 15
Views: 1524

Re: WideNES proposal for cross-releasing NES games on modern platforms

The 7.16 MHz dot clock (also seen in Apple II, Atari products, CGA, Amiga, and PCE mid-res) is 3 master clocks per PPU cycle. Because a CPU cycle still lasts 12 master clocks, this amounts to 4 PPU cycles per CPU cycle. I'm inclined to keep the same 8:7 PAR as the original NES for a couple reasons. ...
by tepples
Wed Jan 31, 2024 2:51 pm
Forum: NES Music
Topic: Looking for a music composer for a NES game in development
Replies: 6
Views: 678

Re: Looking for a music composer for a NES game in development

Nope. I just run a fan wiki on Fandom that documents the Weebles toy line since 1987, including a toy ID guide for 2004-2006 Weebles. (I leave the 1970s generation for This Old Toy.)
by tepples
Wed Jan 31, 2024 2:36 pm
Forum: NESdev
Topic: WideNES proposal for cross-releasing NES games on modern platforms
Replies: 15
Views: 1524

WideNES proposal for cross-releasing NES games on modern platforms

My employer has rereleased its NES games on Steam, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. These all have widescreen displays. One of my coworkers is thinking of making a fantasy extension to the NES platform to let games show a wider field of view where available. I'm trying to offer advice to make this ext...