26-01-2024, 10:51 PM
The new RAM fitted and working well. So have been busy writing out a heap of PAK eproms full of games, so far I have PAKA to PAKL full as well as the NET eprom. I've put the SuperPAK board in my Premium PC85. I then setup PAK A and PAK B ( thats PAK0 to PAK15) to be exactly the same as a Premium PC85 using the ROMs we have in the Repository), so if you type in PAK 5 and hit Return you get the original Premium PC85 opening Menu and all options work fully. The spare room on PAKB I filled with some games. I made up a menu in Basic and put it in PAK 6 position on the PAKA eprom. So I turn the Microbee on and it boots to BASIC 5.29e prompt, as per the pictures above. I type in PAK 6 and the Games Menu comes up and there are 4 pages to select the game you wish to play. Page 3 is not full at the moment and Page 4 is for the 14 games in the NET eprom only as they are accessed differently. Do NOT edit line 1 of the Menu as it contains some Machine Code in the REM statement. Edit line 2 if you wish to change the colours of the menu.
Each eprom (PAK) contains 8 x 8k sections which I setup most games to start at the start of each of these 8k section, so looking at them in a Hex Editor, thats at 0000h, 2000h, 4000h, 6000h, 8000h, A000h, C000h & E000h. Thats great for games 8k long, but the good games are much bigger. Outhouse needs 4, Defender, Scavenger & Volcano Hunter needs 3. Others need either 2 or 1 but many only needed 1 1/2. So I have put another small game in the spare space.
I found some games would not work at all, like Apple Panic, Car Race, Droids, Quads, Super Nova and more. I had to modify the code of a couple, like Gridfire & Android NIM to get them to run. Apple Panic appears to run but I get Text and sound only, no graphics. I have no idea how to fix the problem but if anyone does get it to run, please let me know.
The SuperPAK in a Premium main board boots to Basic rather than starting the PC85 menu. But a PAK5 starts the menu and if you turn off the Microbee, and if you have a battery installed on the board, when you power up next time it starts the PC85 menu. From there you can hit Return and move cursor to PAK 6 position to start the main Games Menu. Most games will require you to use ESC Reset to exit the game and you will then need to use PAK 6 to select your next game.
I have also altered PAK A and NET eproms suitable for a non-premium and using PAK 5 brings up the PC85b Menu. I have NOT tested these but see no reason why there should be problems. Any issues though, just ask.
A bit more testing and if all okay I will release a set of eproms for both the Premium and standard PC85 which contain 78 games in the next couple days. You can change them, add to them, but you will also need to modify the Menu file in PAK A also to suit your changes. PAK M, N O & P eproms are still empty and you can make your own and add them into Menu Page 3. If you have any issues there, just ask.
Each eprom (PAK) contains 8 x 8k sections which I setup most games to start at the start of each of these 8k section, so looking at them in a Hex Editor, thats at 0000h, 2000h, 4000h, 6000h, 8000h, A000h, C000h & E000h. Thats great for games 8k long, but the good games are much bigger. Outhouse needs 4, Defender, Scavenger & Volcano Hunter needs 3. Others need either 2 or 1 but many only needed 1 1/2. So I have put another small game in the spare space.
I found some games would not work at all, like Apple Panic, Car Race, Droids, Quads, Super Nova and more. I had to modify the code of a couple, like Gridfire & Android NIM to get them to run. Apple Panic appears to run but I get Text and sound only, no graphics. I have no idea how to fix the problem but if anyone does get it to run, please let me know.
The SuperPAK in a Premium main board boots to Basic rather than starting the PC85 menu. But a PAK5 starts the menu and if you turn off the Microbee, and if you have a battery installed on the board, when you power up next time it starts the PC85 menu. From there you can hit Return and move cursor to PAK 6 position to start the main Games Menu. Most games will require you to use ESC Reset to exit the game and you will then need to use PAK 6 to select your next game.
I have also altered PAK A and NET eproms suitable for a non-premium and using PAK 5 brings up the PC85b Menu. I have NOT tested these but see no reason why there should be problems. Any issues though, just ask.
A bit more testing and if all okay I will release a set of eproms for both the Premium and standard PC85 which contain 78 games in the next couple days. You can change them, add to them, but you will also need to modify the Menu file in PAK A also to suit your changes. PAK M, N O & P eproms are still empty and you can make your own and add them into Menu Page 3. If you have any issues there, just ask.
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ChickenMan
ChickenMan