Author Topic: The VAntAGE Project - 1.12 Released! (Read 22316 times)

SirPeale · « **on:** December 08, 2003, 11:11:52 pm »

VAntAGE is a great emulator for running older vertical games on old hardware.

Right now the number of games it supports is slim, and there aer a few of us who are trying to add a few more. We don't want 4000+ games like MAME, just a few, like Centipede, Dig Dug and the like.

It seems that before the author stopped development, he was in the middle of a Dig Dug driver, as there is some source included to that effect. So that's the driver I'm trying to get working first.

The hope is for a version 1.12 before the New Year (very optomistic) and looking for other people who would be interested in contributing.

Edit: we now have a release of 1.12. Not before the new year, I'm afraid. Check the official site: http://www.mameworld.net/pc2jamma/

SirPeale · « **Reply #1 on:** December 12, 2003, 10:45:44 am »

This is proving to be interesting to be sure. Especially since I haven't done any coding for years.

I know the Dig Dug hardware is similar to Galaga (at least, that's what is stated in the MAME source) but making the Galaga files compatible with the DigDug stuff is daunting.

Still...not giving up. Old games on old hardware is something everyone should like.

Lilwolf · « **Reply #2 on:** December 12, 2003, 11:14:58 am »

btw, Hive has support for digdug doesn't it. I haven't used it in AGES and don't remember how good the driver was.

but HiVE is one of the fastest emulators hands down out there (and was ported to a lot of portable devices and sold comercially). Might be what your looking for.

IceCold · « **Reply #3 on:** December 13, 2003, 01:20:37 pm »

I really like vantage(how could someone not like being able to use a pc with a 100mhz processor to run a vertical mame cab), but I'm not talented enough to help you. Sorry. Good luck with it though.

SirPeale · « **Reply #4 on:** December 13, 2003, 02:46:08 pm »

I'll have to look into Hive. I'm interested in an emulator that will run on really old hardware AND have most vertical classics supported.

SirPeale · « **Reply #5 on:** May 29, 2004, 02:39:34 pm »

I've just received an email from someone who's taken a look @ the preliminary Dig Dug driver in the VAntAGE source. He thinks he can get it working. Time will tell!

<shameless cry for help>And hey, if anyone else wants to take a crack at it, or maybe trying to shoehorn a Centipede driver into it...</shameless cry for help>

SirPeale · « **Reply #6 on:** May 29, 2004, 02:46:16 pm »

Quote from: Lilwolf on December 12, 2003, 11:14:58 am

btw, Hive has support for digdug doesn't it. I haven't used it in AGES and don't remember how good the driver was.

but HiVE is one of the fastest emulators hands down out there (and was ported to a lot of portable devices and sold comercially). Might be what your looking for.

Just (finally!) checked out HiVE. Neat program, with a couple caveats:

1) windows only.

2) requires unzipped ROMs (which isn't that big of a deal)

JoyMonkey · « **Reply #7 on:** May 29, 2004, 03:51:24 pm »

If I knew anything I'd help out. Right now I'm struggling to learn the very basics of Visual Basic, which should give you an idea of about how useless I'd be.

SirPeale · « **Reply #8 on:** May 30, 2004, 08:41:47 am »

Playing with the source, Carlos managed to get a new driver kind of working (based on Pac Man hardware, Ponpoko). It won't make it into a build, but it's there, if not garbled. Not bad for a first attempt.

Spaced Invader · « **Reply #9 on:** May 30, 2004, 04:54:39 pm »

I'm so glad there is work going on here...Vantage is one of my all time favorites. I just wish I could code. Keep it up guys...an emulator this fast and this lightweight deserves work!

SirPeale · « **Reply #10 on:** May 31, 2004, 08:34:39 am »

Carlos did some work on the Dig Dug driver last night. See enclosed picture.

Also included a 'blackhole' driver that he can't check, as for whatever reason he can't run games with the Galaxian driver.

SirPeale · « **Reply #11 on:** May 31, 2004, 11:33:54 am »

Just verified his exe, and Black Hole works just fine!

Oh, and Carlos is lokki here on the boards.

JoyMonkey · « **Reply #12 on:** May 31, 2004, 11:46:45 am »

Cool! I smell more games for my upcoming/imaginery vertical upright cabinet.

EndTwist · « **Reply #13 on:** May 31, 2004, 01:02:07 pm »

If there is any way I can help, Peale, just tell me. I don't know C very well, but I know VB, PHP, HTML, and am good with graphics.

[off-topic] JoyMonkey, have you tried VertiWAH yet? [/off-topic]

SirPeale · « **Reply #14 on:** May 31, 2004, 01:05:37 pm »

Download the source and give it a whirl! Worst case, nothing happens. Best case, you get a classic driver working for it.

EndTwist · « **Reply #15 on:** May 31, 2004, 01:13:02 pm »

Which drivers are we looking to add? A short list might help..

lokki · « **Reply #16 on:** May 31, 2004, 01:15:08 pm »

Quote from: JoyMonkey on May 31, 2004, 11:46:45 am

Cool! I smell more games for my upcoming/imaginery vertical upright cabinet.

Hi,
I was actually talking with Peale about this a while ago.

We need to start making a list of games that can be easily added to vantage.

Right now on the list I would like included we have
Congo Bongo
Kangaroo
Xevious
(Peale also wants centipede but that uses a different CPU so that will probably take longer)

What games would you guys like added?

Right now we are looking for games that use the following...
(since support is already available in vantage)

We are looking for well known classics (don't want to add every pacman bootleg out there)

Z80
NAMCO sound system
'Galaxian' style board sound system
AY-8910 sound chip
SN76496 sound chip
YM2203 sound chip

Suggestions are welcomed....

EndTwist · « **Reply #17 on:** May 31, 2004, 01:22:10 pm »

Maybe this sounds stupid, but how do you know what to program when it comes to making the driver? How do you have any idea what to code?

lokki · « **Reply #18 on:** May 31, 2004, 01:34:45 pm »

Quote from: EndTwist on May 31, 2004, 01:22:10 pm

Maybe this sounds stupid, but how do you know what to program when it comes to making the driver? How do you have any idea what to code?

Not really stupid.... It took me a long time to figure out how mame worked (and even there a lot of things way over my head)
Vantage seems simpler than MAME (and harder but possibly because it is new)

For example to add black hole to vantage I modified the following files

boards.c (basically copied the galxian code and renamed here and there)
galboard.h (here is where the roms are loaded) Got the memory map by looking at the MAME black hole driver.

BTW: mame 36 more closely matches vantage the code is very similar

EndTwist · « **Reply #19 on:** May 31, 2004, 01:39:17 pm »

I get it....but lets say I try to do Kangaroo, which is itself a parent rom. Would I just have to leech from mame .36? Since there is no previous code to use...

lokki · « **Reply #20 on:** May 31, 2004, 01:45:45 pm »

Quote from: EndTwist on May 31, 2004, 01:39:17 pm

I get it....but lets say I try to do Kangaroo, which is itself a parent rom. Would I just have to leech from mame .36? Since there is no previous code to use...

Pretty much yes... But you may not have to write as much code as you think.
Look for functions that are similar to the ones you are using...
but the graphics driver may be trickier you will probably have to code the whole thing

EndTwist · « **Reply #21 on:** May 31, 2004, 02:11:10 pm »

alright, I'm going to take a whack at Congo Bongo. Seems to be based off the Zaxxon driver in MAME, and Zaxxon is in VAntAGE...

How do I get it to be compiled with the source (how do I make the emu recognize it?).

EndTwist · « **Reply #22 on:** May 31, 2004, 02:37:00 pm »

I finished modifying Zaxxon files and saving them as the new drivers. I'll test it out and tell you how it goes *crosses fingers.*

EDIT: Agh, it won't compile for me! I've uploaded the drivers I created. Someone want to test it out for me? I've inlcuded all the files (CONGOVID.C, CONGOVID.H, CONGOMEM.H, CONGOSND.C, SUPFILES.H, BOARDS.C). It just needs to be extracted to the VAntAGE source folder and compiled.

Link: Congo Driver

lokki · « **Reply #23 on:** May 31, 2004, 02:55:13 pm »

Quote from: EndTwist on May 31, 2004, 02:37:00 pm

I finished modifying Zaxxon files and saving them as the new drivers. I'll test it out and tell you how it goes *crosses fingers.*

EDIT: Agh, it won't compile for me! I've uploaded the drivers I created. Someone want to test it out for me? I've inlcuded all the files (CONGOVID.C, CONGOVID.H, CONGOMEM.H, CONGOSND.C, SUPFILES.H, BOARDS.C). It just needs to be extracted to the VAntAGE source folder and compiled.

Link: Congo Driver

That was quick. I will give it a go

EndTwist · « **Reply #24 on:** May 31, 2004, 02:56:48 pm »

Well, I have no idea if I did it correctly but we'll see...

SirPeale · « **Reply #25 on:** May 31, 2004, 03:14:07 pm »

*waiting breathlessly*

lokki · « **Reply #26 on:** May 31, 2004, 03:25:36 pm »

Quote from: EndTwist on May 31, 2004, 02:56:48 pm

Well, I have no idea if I did it correctly but we'll see...

Hi,
Got it to compile.
Added congovid.o to the makefile
Created congosnd.h
Fixed a congo misspelled to conog on boards.c

The col rom still ponted to zaxxon.u98 (should be congo.u68)

Attached is screen shot

lokki · « **Reply #27 on:** May 31, 2004, 03:31:28 pm »

A couple of things i noticed.

Zaxxon uses one CPU
congobongo uses 2 z80 (one for sound)

Needs a little more work

EndTwist · « **Reply #28 on:** May 31, 2004, 04:18:31 pm »

Alright, can you zip up the files that you changed/added/modified and upload them here? (just change the extension to .txt) This way I can do some more work.

Also - How did you get it to compile?

Thanks!

SirPeale · « **Reply #29 on:** May 31, 2004, 04:21:12 pm »

We need a central repository. Hold on I'm working on it.

EndTwist · « **Reply #30 on:** May 31, 2004, 04:21:48 pm »

I could supply that if you'd like. I got more than enough space (I'd like to use some

)

SirPeale · « **Reply #31 on:** May 31, 2004, 04:22:46 pm »

That's fine then. Make a dir for each person working on the project so no code gets overwritten.

EndTwist · « **Reply #32 on:** May 31, 2004, 04:23:33 pm »

alright, no problem. Give me about 10 minutes and it should be done.

lokki · « **Reply #33 on:** May 31, 2004, 04:27:36 pm »

Hi,
It took me less than 2 minutes to merge your code with mine.
Since we both modified some of the same files
I'm using Source Safe for source control.

BTW: I did get it to compile. and ran it.

EndTwist · « **Reply #34 on:** May 31, 2004, 04:43:24 pm »

Agh- nuts! Wont work correctly. Let me set up FTPs for each of you. 1second...

EndTwist · « **Reply #35 on:** May 31, 2004, 04:47:34 pm »

Ok, guys (Peale, lokki), PM me for your usernames & passwords for the FTP.

All files will be here: http://vantage.jbeffects.com/

EndTwist · « **Reply #36 on:** May 31, 2004, 06:15:42 pm »

did some more work on the Congo Bongo driver...

http://vantage.jbeffects.com/endtwist/congodrv.zip

JoyMonkey · « **Reply #37 on:** May 31, 2004, 10:10:08 pm »

Here's some more to think about;

Arabian (Z80 , AY-8910 sound)
Commando (2x Z80 , 2x YM2203 sound)
Gyruss (looks complicated, lots of CPUs)
Juno First (Z80 etc. , AY-8910 sound
Karate Champ (2x Z80 , AY-8910 sound)
Rescue (2x Z80 , 2x AY-8910 sound
Son of Phoenix (2x Z80 , 2x AY-8910 sound)
Star Force (2x Z80 , custom sound)
Vulgus (2x Z80 , 2x AY-8910 sound)
Wall Street (looks complicated, S2650 CPUs)
Xevious (3x Z80 , Namco sound)

Good luck you brave, brave men.

GadgetGeek · « **Reply #38 on:** May 31, 2004, 10:13:15 pm »

While I don't have time to dive into any of this, in addition to using the mame sources for Centipede, you might be able to look at
http://caesar.logiqx.com/html/emus/single/centipede_emulator.shtml
which is a standalone Centipede EMU with source in C.

lokki · « **Reply #39 on:** May 31, 2004, 10:41:17 pm »

Quote from: JoyMonkey on May 31, 2004, 10:10:08 pm

Here's some more to think about;

Arabian (Z80 , AY-8910 sound)
Commando (2x Z80 , 2x YM2203 sound)
Gyruss (looks complicated, lots of CPUs)
Juno First (Z80 etc. , AY-8910 sound
Karate Champ (2x Z80 , AY-8910 sound)
Rescue (2x Z80 , 2x AY-8910 sound
Son of Phoenix (2x Z80 , 2x AY-8910 sound)
Star Force (2x Z80 , custom sound)
Vulgus (2x Z80 , 2x AY-8910 sound)
Wall Street (looks complicated, S2650 CPUs)
Xevious (3x Z80 , Namco sound)

Good luck you brave, brave men.

Thanks, surprised I hadn't thought of vulgus....

Also Satan's hollow is now on my list....


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