Tool to compile Family Basic program to .NES file

Discuss technical or other issues relating to programming the Nintendo Entertainment System, Famicom, or compatible systems. See the NESdev wiki for more information.

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nitrofurano
Posts: 11
Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2010 3:07 pm

Re: Tool to compile Family Basic program to .NES file

Post by nitrofurano »

slobu wrote:There is already a language called Atalan that targets both the 6502 and Z80
http://atalan.kutululu.org/

Maybe you can use that to contrast and compare.
it looks a bit confusing for starting (more than perl, in my opinion), but i'll try to find out more about this one, thanks! :)
alphamule
Posts: 62
Joined: Fri Aug 29, 2014 1:45 pm

Re: Tool to compile Family Basic program to .NES file

Post by alphamule »

I guess the reason it's not legal to distribute your games is that it essentially contains a copy of FB ROM embedded. They could have just patched FB ROM to copy from ROM to the part of RAM used normally for BASIC programs and then just RUN it without user intervention.

Using a different interpreter would be feasible? There are source codes to some 6502 ROM-based BASICs but think they still claim copyright on the tokenizer (easy to remake a parser for the PC that creates tokenized binaries) and (more importantly) size-optimized interpreter that we'd need.

If I was writing this from scratch for the NES or SNES to run natively, I'd use a tokenizer just like many microcomputer BASICs did. This could even be made to fit in as an optional component (along with editor) of the interpreter's ROM, that could be replaced with a direct loader like in the first paragraph (except legal of course).
Idealogical
From: I have an idea. It seems logical. Thus everyone must agree.

Fail, fail, fail again. Keep trying, then maybe this damn thing will work. Eventually you might even know why it worked.
Pokun
Posts: 2681
Joined: Tue May 28, 2013 5:49 am
Location: Hokkaido, Japan

Re: Tool to compile Family Basic program to .NES file

Post by Pokun »

tepples wrote:I plan to write a BASIC interpreter for NES as soon as someone figures out how to use an MCU to adapt the PS/2 keyboard's wire protocol to the 7-pin port of the NES. Otherwise, I'd be looking at $100 for a keyboard plus more for an ENIO board.
I got my CIB Family BASIC V2.0 in good condition for something like 40$~. But you have to keep your eyes open since they are not easy to find cheap outside of Japan. A PS/2 adapter would be nice though.
alphamule
Posts: 62
Joined: Fri Aug 29, 2014 1:45 pm

Re: Tool to compile Family Basic program to .NES file

Post by alphamule »

<alphamule> https://github.com/jefftranter/6502/tre ... asm/wozmon Guess what is open-sourced. Need to find the license, though.
<alphamule>Ah, Apache
This is a very limited inline assembler, but it's a good start towards replacing the FB ROM. I can't seem to find the license of Integer BASIC, which would be nice to port to the NES. We'd probably have to use something like a menu (loader) and/or chained modules, for certain licensing reasons. That, or just write our own using compatible syntax. I'm still looking into this. Good luck on your FB projects!
Idealogical
From: I have an idea. It seems logical. Thus everyone must agree.

Fail, fail, fail again. Keep trying, then maybe this damn thing will work. Eventually you might even know why it worked.
MrElephant
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 10:31 am

Re: Tool to compile Family Basic program to .NES file

Post by MrElephant »

Hello everyone, I am new here. I would really like to get this to work.
I have virtuanes and the v3 image.
I saved the state, and dropped it into STTONES, but nothing happened.

Does anyone know what is going on?
Pokun
Posts: 2681
Joined: Tue May 28, 2013 5:49 am
Location: Hokkaido, Japan

Re: Tool to compile Family Basic program to .NES file

Post by Pokun »

It's a bit unreliable. Fiddle around with it a bit and it should work eventually.
MrElephant
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 10:31 am

Re: Tool to compile Family Basic program to .NES file

Post by MrElephant »

Ok, so I have messed around with it a bit more. Still cant get it to work with anything.
I took a print screen of what I am seeing when I drop the file in.

I am using windows 7.

I am wondering if they changed sttones or something, because I am following the steps exactly.
Inside the pictures though the nes rom they are using is named differently (japanese of course),
so I am wondering if that could be the problem.

Edit: Could someone upload the 1000 version of sttones. I am thinking that could be the problem.
Attachments
weird error
weird error
Last edited by MrElephant on Sun Aug 16, 2015 11:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
Joe
Posts: 650
Joined: Mon Apr 01, 2013 11:17 pm

Re: Tool to compile Family Basic program to .NES file

Post by Joe »

You're lucky I know how to read those question marks.

It says "FAMIBE_V3.nesが存在し無いため終了します。" which means "terminating because FAMIBE_V3.nes does not exist."

According to _README.txt, you need to put a copy of the Family Basic v3 ROM named FAMIBE_V3.nes in the same folder as STTONES.EXE.
MrElephant
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 10:31 am

Re: Tool to compile Family Basic program to .NES file

Post by MrElephant »

Thank you, you are a genius. I wish I knew how to read japanese. I have been searching for the answer for 3 hours now lol.
No where did they mention what you have just pointed out.
MrElephant
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 10:31 am

Re: Tool to compile Family Basic program to .NES file

Post by MrElephant »

All right, I have two other questions, and I dont really know if I should be starting my own topic or not, so I will just post it here.

I first open the nes rom in nestopia, and everything is fine.
I then edit the family basic rom with tile molester.
I change the mario sprite, the first one to be precise.
I save the rom.
I open the rom in nestopia again, and it says something about a keyboard error or something.

I changed mario back to the original mario, and when I did that the game worked again...

I was thinking this was a checksum error, but if it is how would I fix it?

Secondly
Inside the manual of family basic, it says to enter SYSTEMreturn to call the GAME BASIC mode screen from the BASIC screen.
So I type SYSTEM and hit the enter key, but it gives me a weird japanese msg again.

I am trying to make a BG Graphic, so this is rather important if I want to do so.
Anyone have any ideas?
lidnariq
Posts: 11432
Joined: Sun Apr 13, 2008 11:12 am

Re: Tool to compile Family Basic program to .NES file

Post by lidnariq »

There unfortunately seems to be no way to inform Nestopia that it should use the family basic keyboard except by changing its NstDatabase.xml.
This record right here is for Family Basic 3:

Code: Select all

    <game>
        <peripherals>
            <device type="familykeyboard" />
        </peripherals>
        <cartridge system="Famicom" dump="unknown" crc="B2530AFC" sha1="E232C621BFEDBFC6B100677BFBFC50B910248282">
            <board mapper="0">
                <prg size="32k" />
                <chr size="8k" />
                <wram size="4k" battery="1" />
                <pad h="1" v="0" />
            </board>
        </cartridge>
    </game>
you could copy this and update the CRC and SHA1 entries for your hacked thing.
Pokun
Posts: 2681
Joined: Tue May 28, 2013 5:49 am
Location: Hokkaido, Japan

Re: Tool to compile Family Basic program to .NES file

Post by Pokun »

MrElephant wrote:Secondly
Inside the manual of family basic, it says to enter SYSTEMreturn to call the GAME BASIC mode screen from the BASIC screen.
So I type SYSTEM and hit the enter key, but it gives me a weird japanese msg again.

I am trying to make a BG Graphic, so this is rather important if I want to do so.
Anyone have any ideas?
The SYSTEM command is used to exit BASIC mode and go back to the menu (where you select BG GRAPHIC). But I guess you are using V3. There is no menu in V3, you do everything from BASIC mode via commands. If you enter SYSTEM in V3 you just exit BASIC mode and get a message that tells you to turn ON the backup switch if you want your data to remain. You do this before shutting down your Famicom if you are using batteries and want to keep your WRAM content (the backup switch can't be turned off in BASIC mode, or weird things happen).

Enter BGTOOL to go to BG GRAPHIC mode. Saving and loading also works differently in V3 and there are new commands for saving BG GRAPHIC screens to tape if I remember correctly. Check the V3 manual I'm currently translating. All the critical stuff including the explanations for all the new commands should already be translated.
MrElephant
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 10:31 am

Re: Tool to compile Family Basic program to .NES file

Post by MrElephant »

lidnariq wrote:There unfortunately seems to be no way to inform Nestopia that it should use the family basic keyboard except by changing its NstDatabase.xml.
This record right here is for Family Basic 3:

Code: Select all

    <game>
        <peripherals>
            <device type="familykeyboard" />
        </peripherals>
        <cartridge system="Famicom" dump="unknown" crc="B2530AFC" sha1="E232C621BFEDBFC6B100677BFBFC50B910248282">
            <board mapper="0">
                <prg size="32k" />
                <chr size="8k" />
                <wram size="4k" battery="1" />
                <pad h="1" v="0" />
            </board>
        </cartridge>
    </game>
you could copy this and update the CRC and SHA1 entries for your hacked thing.


In the tile molester program how would I go about changing the graphics? Meaning which xml do you want me to paste the data into? I have already tried the settings and the Family Basic.xml, but I have had no success.


Edit: Let me rephrase the question since I might have been confusing. I just want to change the mario sprite into a custom desgin. How would I go about doing this?
lancuster
Posts: 235
Joined: Thu Feb 18, 2016 3:20 am
Contact:

Re: Tool to compile Family Basic program to .NES file

Post by lancuster »

Hi, guys. I tried to find this tool, but no results. Has anyone a copy of this tool? Give it to me, please. ;)
Pokun
Posts: 2681
Joined: Tue May 28, 2013 5:49 am
Location: Hokkaido, Japan

Re: Tool to compile Family Basic program to .NES file

Post by Pokun »

Here's the new link: https://messatu.wordpress.com/2013/02/2 ... %E3%81%99/

Download link doesn't seem to work though. I have an old version here in attachment.
Attachments
STTONES1100.zip
Sorry I didn't have v2000.
(110.12 KiB) Downloaded 194 times
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