RIP to BT Garner of MindRec.com... He passed away early 2023 from health problems. BT was one of the top PCE homebrew developers and founder of the OG Turbo List, then PCECP.com. Condolences to family and friends.
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Topics - ccovell

#1
Hi, folks.  Just to see what CD games did when they booted, I hacked my own code into the PC-Engine CD card to report (both on-screen and via serial port) which BIOS calls get executed on real hardware. It's a tad glitchy, probably because I'm stealing CPU time, but the results are kinda cool.

Perhaps an emulator / watchpoints / lua script could do a better job, but oh, well.

Here's what I captured from Pomping World:

E06F 25 EX_SCRMOD 1E 20 00
E06C 24 EX_DOTMOD 00
E0A2 36 EX_SATCLR
E006 02 CD_BASE   0024 8200 0E82
E009 03 CD_READ   B008 8000 0020 0116
E009 03 CD_READ   0008 8000 0020 0116
E009 03 CD_READ   0008 8000 0020 0116
E009 03 CD_READ   0008 8000 0020 0116
E009 03 CD_READ   0008 8000 0020 0116
E009 03 CD_READ   0008 8000 0000 0116
E05D 1F EX_SETVEC 40 D5 01
E063 21 EX_JOYSNS
E033 11 AD_TRANS  0020 0000 0400 00C6
E009 03 CD_READ   0004 C000 0500 010A
E0E4 4C EX_COLCMD
E063 21 EX_JOYSNS
E0A2 36 EX_SATCLR
E060 20 EX_GETFNT 8358 9D00 0000
E060 20 EX_GETFNT 835E 9D20 0000
E060 20 EX_GETFNT 815B 9D40 0000
E060 20 EX_GETFNT 8367 9D60 0000
E060 20 EX_GETFNT 82B7 9D80 0000
E060 20 EX_GETFNT 82E9 9DA0 0000
E060 20 EX_GETFNT 926E 9DC0 0000
E060 20 EX_GETFNT 935F 9DE0 0000
E060 20 EX_GETFNT 82F0 9E00 0000
E060 20 EX_GETFNT 8C88 9E20 0000
E060 20 EX_GETFNT 82DF 9E40 0000
E060 20 EX_GETFNT 82C4 9E60 0000
E060 20 EX_GETFNT 89BA 9E80 0000
E060 20 EX_GETFNT 82B3 9EA0 0000
E060 20 EX_GETFNT 82A2 9EC0 0000
E060 20 EX_GETFNT 8142 9EE0 0000
E060 20 EX_GETFNT 8140 9F00 0000
E060 20 EX_GETFNT 8140 9F20 0000
E060 20 EX_GETFNT 8140 9F40 0000
E060 20 EX_GETFNT 8140 9F60 0000
E060 20 EX_GETFNT FE79 9F80 0000
E063 21 EX_JOYSNS
#2
Hey, folks, I was poking around in the Sapphire ISO and initial loader (IPL) and found a few things.  First of which is a debug/configuration pre-load menu that went unused and deactivated:

IMG

The debug mode DOES work and has things to play around with by pausing the game and pressing buttons. The game can even run without the Arcade Card.

RAM Values for...
Debug: $2698 00/$FF off/on
Level: $269A 0..2  easy-hard
Play rec.: $269E 0..2 normal/trace/record
Demo No.: $001E 0..9 (not used ?)
Stage No.: $269C 0..9 all/1-9
Acc Read: $26A9 00/$FF off/on

If you skip the AC detection manually in the IPL, it loads the game, but with garbage for cinemas / large enemies / ground. If you set the above RAM value to turn "off" AC, it skips some screens and the BG is just blank. I haven't played through the game with these hacks yet.

Also, there is an earlier Arcade Card warning screen hidden in the ISO, before the well-known cheesecake pic was decided on:

IMG
#3
Hi, folks.  This is more-or-less in time for the PCE's 30th birthday, but Konami's SCC add-on for the MSX turns 30 as well.  Since this summer I've been working on making a sort of SCC emulator/player for some of Konami's fab MSX tunes, and so why not release it today?

https://www.chrismcovell.com/data/BinaryStar.zip

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I also posted in the dev section, please feel free to reply here or there: https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=22755.0
#4
Hi, folks.  This is more-or-less in time for the PCE's 30th birthday, but Konami's SCC add-on for the MSX turns 30 as well.  Since this summer I've been working on making a sort of SCC emulator/player for some of Konami's fab MSX tunes, and so why not release it today?

https://www.chrismcovell.com/data/BinaryStar.zip

IMG

It plays .VGM tunes which I compressed down to a nybble stream by bit-encoding only the SCC and AY PSG writes.  The AY PSG is mappable to any of the PCE's channels, but I have one of them (for noise hits) usually mapped to the PCE's last channel.  I even have AY envelope emulation in there, although the AY chip creates voltage spikes through the envelope that just aren't feasible to emulate on the PCE.

Anyway, that's the tech specs.  Enjoy and leave a comment!

Post a thumb on Pouet.net (demoscene site): https://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=72039

Youtube video capture (from emulator):
Technical document now added: https://www.chrismcovell.com/texts/binarystar-tech.html
#5
Here's an interesting bunch of auctions: original art for some Konami games and NEC ads.

Link:
http://forums.lostlevels.org/viewtopic.php?p=35371#35371
#6
Hi, folks.  I'm doing a simple bit of research for one of my classes.

When you were a child, what family rules did you have in your household regarding videogaming?  Eg: time limits, sharing with siblings, punishment, timeout periods because of tantrums, etc?

Feel free to share your answers.
#7
Omar at SMSPower has released prototype dumps of this game for Game Gear and PC-Engine.  The PCE version isn't as complete as the one currently(?) for sale for $1000s, but it'll do.

http://www.smspower.org/forums/16747-OffTheWallForGameGearAndPCEngine

Thanks, Omar.  I know how expensive proto-saving can get!
#8
Hi, an acquaintance in Japan, Kentaro, has analyzed the signal activity on the CPU's pins for the full set of opcodes (I've just stumbled upon it.)  The page is in Japanese, but for those into this thing, the signal dumps are easily understood.

http://www.geocities.jp/team_zero_three/HuC6280_CPU/index.html
#9
Hi, folks.  I recently found out that some former Psygnosis staff have made a group on Facebook, and in addition to sharing old tales, one of them has released (so far) 40 floppy disk dumps from disks used in the Early '90s at Psy.

Link: Facebook link

The disk images are a mix of PC-DOS and Amiga formats, with one FM-Towns image in there as well.  Most of the disks contain Deluxe Paint IFF pictures and animations, with test artwork mainly from the FM-Towns version of Shadow of the Beast, with some Beast 2 / 3 stuff in there as well.  (One disk also has the Lynx version of Beast with the Epyx Amiga realtime debugger software too.)

A good amount of the PC-Engine version's artwork is in there as well (seen in some of the DOS IMGs).  It's interesting to see that the FM-Towns version was the lead CD version of Beast, with the PCE version tailing after it.

Some example images:
(PCE version)
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were the following ever used in the game?
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And here are some animations showing an in-progress cutscene
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The original animations used in the FM-Towns and PCE-CD versions are in their original IFF ANIM format:
IMG

Very cool to explore if you're handy with disk imaging software and a hex editor!
#10
Hi, everyone.  I attended the 2nd day of the Tokyo Demo Fest this year, and entered a PCE slideshow in the Wild compo.  (Placed 5th, but at least I got to meet and chat with some fun, interesting people.)

You can check out a high-quality(?) composite video capture of my demo here:
No raster-graphics-splits or flickering is used to display the pictures in the demo.

PCE ROM: https://www.chrismcovell.com/data/OLD_IS_BEAUTIFUL_PCE.zip
(source code: https://chrismcovell.com//data/OldIsBeautiful_src.zip )

NTSC composite is probably required.
#11
https://github.com/KhazWolf/SNESTools/blob/master/Quantomatic.py
https://github.com/KhazWolf

Anyone want to see if they can adapt it to PCE specs?

(One major limitation is that it supports only up to 256x256 graphics.)
#12
Hi, folks.  I found a couple of cheats in both versions of Dorabian.

Doraemon Dorabian CD: At the title screen, when it says "Push Run", press: I, II, I, II, Up, Up, Down, Down, II, I, Select... to see the ending cinema.

Doraemon Dorabian HuCard: as above, press: Up, I, II, Down, II, I, Right, Left, II, I... for a level select!

If you make a mistake inputting these, you'll have to reset to try again.

I just finished the HuCard version, and the last boss is probably the biggest sprite* I've ever seen on the PCE!

*group of sprites, of course.
#13
Hi, folks.  The talk about NEC Avenue games having analogue joystick code in them, etc, got me browsing around a few of their ROMs.  And I found something cool inside the boot bank of OutRun (probably others...): from $F400- onwards, it has a minimal Hu7 command interface!

Search around for the Hu7, Hu7CD on the Web or YouTube if you don't have an idea of it yet.  It contains a large amount of extra RAM, and possibly several MBits of ROM space too.  Well, by examining how the OutRun code does stuff, we can glean a bit of information about the Hu7 interface.

At least bank $FC contains RAM, and it is needed as OutRun's code copies bank $00 to this, then modifies the first $400 bytes, and uses it as a boot bank as well as RAM.

A PC Parallel Port is connected to the Hu7 system, and its ports are $1C00-1C4x or higher.  These ports are always accessed by the PC-Engine in LOW CPU SPEED MODE...

A map of ports:
$1C00: data byte from PC to PCE
$1C01: data byte to PC from PCE
$1C02: handshake from PC to PCE in bit 2 and/or 3
$1C03: handshake to PC from PCE in bits 0,1,3,4, and 7 (dunno what they all do)
$1C20-$1C22:  (??  CD-ROM simulator?)
$1C40: ?  Both written and read.

Dunno about the others for now, but the command interpreter in OutRun waits for the bytes $48,$75,<command byte> then acts on command numbers from $00-$1F.  (Heartwarmingly, $48,$75 is "Hu" in ASCII.)

The commands (as far as I have deciphered them) are:
00: "NO COMMAND"
01: Send byte data "$03,$11" to PC from PCE.
02: Read further address bytes from PARPORT (LL,HH) and send byte at that Add. location back to PC.
03: Read (as above) from PARPORT and write sent byte to specified address into PCE Add.
04: Boot to ROM/RAM, maybe?
05: Send stored registers/MPR to PC from PCE.
06: Send stored registers/MPR from PC to PCE.
07: Send mem range (ADDR, LEN) to PC from PCE.
08: Send mem range (ADDR, LEN) from PC to PCE.
09: Send VRAM version of command 07.
0A: Write VRAM version of command 08.
0B: Fill memory version of 08 (with a single byte value).
0C: Fill VRAM version of 08 (with a word value).
0D: Copy memory (SRCADDR, LEN to ADDR2).
0E: Copy memory (SRCADDR, LEN to VRAMADDR).
0F: Copy VRAMADDR to memory (ADDR, LEN).

10: Copy (move?) VRAM to VRAM
11: Send Physical address (??) to PC from PCE.
12: Read 1 dummy byte from PC to PCE.
13: Send boot MPR regs to PC from PCE.
14: Send boot MPR regs from PC to PCE.
15: Version of command 07 with specified PCE bank.
16: Version of command 08 with specified PCE bank.
17: Send byte data "$24" to PC from PCE then boot to ROM/RAM?
18: Send VCE PAL version of command 07.
19: Write VCE PAL version of command 08.
1A: Send 3 bytes from PC to PCE, written to regs $1C20-$1C22.
1B: Regs $1C20-$1C22 sent to PC from PCE.
1C: Send word data at (ADDR,Bank,LEN) to PC from PCE.
1D: Write word data to (ADDR,Bank,LEN) from PC to PCE.
1E: VRAM version of command 1C.
1F: VRAM version of command 1D.

----

When Hu7 is started up, the code in OutRun does the following:
#$80 -> $1C23
#$00 -> $1C20,$1C21,$1C22
#$01 -> $1C40
#$91 -> $1C03
... wait for $1C02 bits 2,3 to both be high
#$09 -> $1C03
#$0B -> $1C03

... wait for $1C02 bit 3 to be low     ;start of "get byte" routine
read $1C00
#$08 -> $1C03
... wait for $1C02 bit 3 to be high
#$09 -> $1C03                              ;end of "get byte"
-----

here's the "write byte" routine:
byte -> $1C01
#$0A -> $1C03
... wait for $1C02 bit 2 to be low
#$0B -> $1C03
... wait for $1C02 bit 2 to be high
#14
Hi, folks.  I've taken the rip of Dunegon Explorer from my HES Visual Player ( https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=18260.0 ) and have hacked it to simulate (accurately) what it would sound like on the NES/Famicom sound hardware.

Of course the NES has only 4 sound channels (plus 1 PCM, but it's not used here) where one is a fixed noise channel, and the PCE has 6, so the channels that overflow have to be either cut off (lost) or mixed in with an arpeggio effect.  This hack has an adjustable arpeggio setting.  Please play around with it!! Since this is a real-time channel assignment routine, it's not as perfect as a manual recomposition would be.

Anyway, the file: https://www.chrismcovell.com/data/dungeon_nes.zip

Readme:
QuotePC-Engine -> NES Hardware remapping experiment
----------------------------------------------

This is a hack to Dungeon Explorer's music that imposes the limitations
of the NES/Famicom sound hardware on the PCE.  Which means:

 - 3 channels of melodic sound only, plus 1 noise channel
 - The first 2 channels are square/pulse, the third is triangle
 - Remaining channels are either cut off, or are "arpeggiated" to
   simulate chords.  You can control this in the "arp" setting.

I made this hack because I noticed that DE had a quite primitive sound font
(mostly square waves, with a few more complex ones too) and the composer,
Masuko Tsukasa, paired a few of the channels in several songs, making for
1 noise track, 1 bass track, and two pairs of lead tracks that phase off
each other for a cool aural effect.  If you remove the less-dominant channel
in each of those pairs, then in the best-case scenario you have something
that can sound great even on the NES.  In the worst-case scenario, you have
one bass track, and 5 remaining tracks that need combining down to only two
pulse wave tracks.  Nothing much you can do about that, either lose tracks
or have a deep arpeggio.

The extra code I added does automatic channel rearrangement and arpeggio
by prioritizing each channel and skipping the channel if it is silent,
going down the priority chain to the next channel.  You can see in my code
the table for channel priorities for each song.
Here is the table that assigns virtual PCE channels to NES channels, per song.
0x, 1x, 2x, 3x = NES channel, xA, xB, xC are channel priorities.
;==================== Song Virtual Channel Mapping Table
SongMapTbl:
.db $0A,$0B,$1b,$1a,$1c,$2a
.db $0A,$0B,$2a,$1a,$2b,$2c
.db $0a,$1a,$1b,$0b,$2b,$2a
.db $0a,$1a,$1b,$2b,$0b,$2a
;4
.db $0a,$0b,$1a,$1b,$2a,$2b
.db $0a,$0b,$1a,$2a,$0c,$1b
.db $0a,$0b,$1a,$1b,$2a,$3a
.db $0a,$0b,$1a,$2a,$1b,$3a
;8
.db $0a,$0b,$2a,$1a,$1b,$2b
.db $0a,$0b,$2a,$1a,$1b,$3a
.db $0a,$1a,$1b,$2a,$2b,$0b
.db $0a,$2a,$1a,$1b,$0b,$3a
;C
.db $0a,$0b,$1a,$2a,$1b,$3a
.db $0a,$1a,$1c,$1b,$0b,$2a
.db $0a,$2a,$2b,$1b,$0b,$2c
.db $0a,$0b,$1a,$1b,$2a,$3a
;10
.db $0a,$0b,$1a,$1b,$2a,$3a
.db $0a,$0b,$1a,$1b,$2a,$3a
.db $0a,$0b,$0c,$1a,$1b,$2a
.db $0a,$0b,$1a,$0c,$1b,$2a
.db $0a,$0b,$0c,$2a,$1b,$1a
#15
Hi, I've posted a couple of the codes below before, but I've found the invincibility cheat just now!

Debug Menu
At the title screen press SEL, (I,II)x5, SEL

Invincibility (Super Mode unlock)
Immediately after entering the Debug Menu, press Ux5, Dx6, Rx19, Lx1.  A chime should sound and you can change the mode setting now.

Courtesy of Dengeki PC-Engine magazine:

Here's a funny alternate mode that you can access in Download 2. Go to the debug menu and choose to view the ending cinema (#9). At the very end, when "NEC Avenue / SOFIX" are shown on the screen and the music has stopped, press and hold UP+SEL+II and keep holding them (?) until the debug menu comes back on. Choose a valid stage, and all the smaller enemies in the game will be replaced by crazy cartoon characters, like Ultraman, Bakabon, Moomin, etc! Each stage has something weird to see.

This cheat took me a few tries before it worked, so perhaps you should try this with an emu and savestates first.

Oh, and the RAM address to unlock this crazy mode (if hacking with an emu or using RAM cheat) : $2078:01
#16
Well, I'm looking for it...

Here's a RAM hack (DEII (J)) that lets you walk nearly anywhere:
$3626:FF
IMG

Also, at the character select screen, $9A48:00-1X lets you choose inaccessible characters (BE, for example).

Let me know if anybody finds other hidden or unused stuff in the game / ISO.
#17
Hi, folks.  As the title says, I'm wondering if anyone has made detection/decoding/display software for the tile format in Hudson Soft's HuCard games.  It'd be cool to have (nudge, wink) like the excellent one that the SMS world has:

IMG
http://www.smspower.org/maxim/Software/TileDecoder
#18
Hey, folks.  I didn't want to flood the original topic with just pictures, so I'm opening this one up.

I've made a PCE debugger/monitor program and one of its features is PCX screengrabs from the actual hardware.

So here are some actual screendumps:

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IMG IMG

IMG IMG IMG

IMG IMG
--
IMG IMG

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--
IMG IMG
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IMG IMG IMG

Another famous screen:

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2021 Additions ( https://twitter.com/covell_chris/status/1442101687041155075 ):

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#19
Hi, folks.  I had a bit of fun developing a serial monitor that I call PCEmon.  This is a tool for hackers/developers, but it also has some useful features for non-technical people as well.  Some features:
  • Back up BRAM (save-files) to your PC, edit them, save them back to the PC-Engine (finally!)
  • Upload your own code to RAM and run it.  Upload larger files to CD-RAM and run them.
  • Freeze a game in progress and view its screen data or RAM.
  • Resume a frozen game as-is, or resume from an uploaded savestate.
  • Search for and Activate RAM-freezing trainers for cheating in games.
  • Upload image data to VRAM for viewing on the actual hardware.
  • Hex dump or Binary dump any part of the PCE's address space.
  • Upload data to any part of the PCE's address space.
  • PCEmon can run as a stand-alone ROM or be embedded in games (eg: CD System Card.)

More information is here: chrismcovell.com/PCEmon/

Updated version 10/25/2015

And now, some pics!

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#20
Hey, folks.  I know the PCE's LFO (so-called "FM") can create some weird warbling and growling sound effects... but can it actually make anything harmonic resembling an instrument?

Anybody have any LFO settings that approach anything musical?

I did a few more simple tests with the LFO and have some updated technical info about it (contradicting the PSG docs in HuC/MagicKit)

First off, when $0809 (LFO trigger) bit 7 is high, the LFO is activated, and waveform data for channel 1 act as values to add/subtract from channel 0's frequency register.  Whenever any byte in the waveform data is $10, there is no change to the frequency.  When the bytes are $11 to $1F, the frequency reg for channel 0 has $01 to $0F added to it (lowering the pitch).  When the waveform bytes are $0F to $00, the frequency reg for channel 0 has $01 to $10 subtracted from it (raising the pitch).  Thus, if you have a flat waveform of any value in channel 1, you can linearly raise/lower the frequency of channel 0 through the LFO.

Bits 0 and 1 of $0809 scale the waveform amount by 0,1,4, and 16  (not 16 and 256 as in the MagicKit docs.)  Thus if you set the frequency reg in channel 0 to $140, the waveform in channel 1 to all $0Fs, and the LFO is set to 1x scaling, the resultant frequency coming out of channel 0 would be the same as if it had been set to $13F.  If you set the scale factor to 4x, then the resultant frequency of channel 0 would be $13C.  ($140 - $04 = $13C).  Likewise, if you use the 16x scale setting, the resultant frequency would be $130  ($140 - $10 = $130).

Therefore, with the waveform range of $00 to $1F, and the scaling factors, here is the maximum range the output frequency of channel 0 can be changed:

 1x: -$ 10 <-----> +$ F
 4x: -$ 40 <-----> +$3C
16x: -$100 <-----> +$F0


Now the problem is that the frequency register is simply being changed, and not the actual output frequency, thus the modulation that comes out is different for different notes/octaves, and thus totally nonharmonic, as well as the fact that the modulation blindly causes register wraparounds (ie: $030 - $100 = $F30, a very low note), with more problems besides...

Also, I've played with the LFO frequency (with channel 1 frequency) settings while watching an oscilloscope, and although it can create faster and faster vibrato, it never seems to create overtones that shape channel 0's waveform like (I imagine) true FM would.  Worse, at the fastest possible frequencies, the LFO seems to give up as well, meaning its frequency (countdown) timers stay reset at some level, applying a constant modulation value (rather than ultra-fast modulation).

So that's that.  Anybody got any good use out of the LFO?
#21
Hi, folks.  I played around with the Keith Courage ROM and figured out where various game parameters were stored.  Here are a few ROM hacks you can do:

$1B08: $80 -> $00..... Spikes don't kill you
$4925: $10 -> $38..... Super jump in Nova-Suit
$2FC0: $12 -> $40..... Super jump as Keith
$2EBEC: $03 -> $00.... Auto-start debug mode

These are ROM (not RAM) hacks and will only work with a headerless USA ROM (for now).  Use a hex editor to make the changes.
#22
Hi, folks.  Another little project I started working on is a tool that plays PCE game music, and displays each channel's notes, volume, and waveform (instrument) visually, like a player piano.

IMG

This is Version 3 of my player, which adds TIMING for each song, and an option to have the player Autoplay all songs (and stop at the last song before sound effects.)  I've removed the pitch bend because it was a little silly.

Please make comments and suggestions for improvement!

Download: chrismcovell.com/data/HES_Visual_Player_V3.zip

I've written a how-to for converting/hacking HES to my player:
chrismcovell.com/texts/Howto_HES_to_Visual.txt

Here are the game contents:
Newly added:
The Kung-Fu (Chinawarrior)
R-Type
Battle Lode Runner
Magical Chase

Aldynes
Alien Crush
Ankoku Densetsu (Leg. Axe II)
Blodia / Timeball
Bonk's Adventure
Cratermaze
Devil's Crush
Devil's Crush (stereo hack)
Doraemon Meikyuu Daisakusen
Dungeon Explorer
Dungeon Explorer (NES sound)
Dungeon Explorer (NES before mix/arp)
F-1 Dream
Keith Courage / Wataru
Makyou Densetsu / Legendary Axe
Maniac Pro Wrestling
Neutopia
Neutopia II
Ninja Spirit
Out Live
Sidearms
Son Son 2
Super Star Soldier
Victory Run


Display:
Each channel's frequency/note (with higher notes towards the left and lower notes towards the right) is printed in a different colour, from red to purple.  The volume of each channel likewise is in a dimmer shade of the same colour.  If one of the noise channels is active, the 32-level noise frequency is printed near the right edge of the screen in grey.  Each time the game music changes the sample waveform, it is printed in a box on the right side of the screen (if no other waveforms are currently being printed.)  Everything scrolls upwards, like a ticker tape/seismograph/player piano, as the song is playing.

Controls:
For now, I and II change the game's subtune, RUN stops the music playing but holds all sound channels active, and SELECT swaps muting/solo settings for all sound channels.

Joypad Left and Right move the cursor to the various options.  Up/Down changes each option.  You can:
- set each of the 6 channels on/off
- zoom out to view more of the note range
- clip the visible note range (at 1x etc) or have all note writes overlap on-screen
- change whether the channel volume display is at the left / right side of the screen, or off.  Also, the waveform write display can be set on/off.
- change the playback speed from 8x down to 1/16x
- turn on/off the "Autoplay" option, which goes to the next song when its time is up.

Basically the Zoom, View, and Speed functions allow you to get a detailed display of each note, or a zoomed out overview of the song.  See below:

IMG

Zooming is necessary because there are 4096 frequencies for each sound, but the display is 512 pixels across (1/8 of the possible notes).  So the options are to clip/limit the view, or zoom down the view.  Zooming out means you can see the entire note range, but minute changes like vibrato may not appear in the zoomed out view.

Have fun playing!
#23
Hi, by request, I whipped up a little test ROM for joypads.

IMG

https://www.chrismcovell.com/data/PCE_PadTest.zip

Does what it says on the tin.
#24
Hey, folks.  I've tried VRAM-to-VRAM DMA transfers a few times, and every time I try it, it works only once (inside of the 1st VBlank) and never again on successive VBs.

I write as usual to the Source reg, destination, and then length, and it completes successfully, only once.  Cycling on the status register ($0000) only makes the code loop infinitely.  I've tried DMA interrupts on/off as well as putting the transfer at the start of my VBlank code and at the end.

Are there any tricks to getting this to work reliably?  Something I've overlooked?
#25
Hey, folks.  I've been doing a little coding since February on a (fun?) little game that I call HuZERO.

IMG

Press the I button to accelerate, try to survive for 2 minutes, and try to get a high score.

My top score playing drunk is 65797 points...  ;-)

Download link:  https://www.chrismcovell.com/data/HuZERO_by_Chris_Covell.zip

Happy playing!  If you get a high score and maybe post a screenshot, I might put you on the leaderboard...

High scores appear to be maintained here: https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=18094.0

(This message is also in the homebrew section; don't know which thread to make the main one...)
#26
Hey, folks.  I've been doing a little coding since February on a (fun?) little game that I call HuZERO.

IMG

Press the I button to accelerate, try to survive for 2 minutes, and try to get a high score.

My top score playing drunk is 65797 points...  ;-)

Download link:  HuZERO_by_Chris_Covell.zip

Happy playing!  If you get a high score, post a screenshot here: "HuZero - Caravan Edition" High Scores
#27
Here's something that I discovered last night, and it surprised me:

The audio output from the 5-pin DIN jack of my CoreGrafx has rather distorted audio, potentially causing higher-frequency harmonics (and loss of bass).  This might be a defect of my unit only, but I doubt it since this seems to be a direct byproduct of the inverting amplifier used in the CoreGrafx.)

So, I tested the PCE's audio out from this port, as well as through the 5-pin DIN jack that's on the side of my Super CD-ROM unit, and here are my findings in a pic:
IMG
#28
In another topic, someone wanted to see what Telenet's Elfeene game was like.  Here's my little review (ie: is the actual game-like content worth wading through the non-game idol dreck?)

This beautiful title screen caught my eye in an old issue of EGM (#14) back in 1990.  Is it a Zelda-type game?  Is it fun from the get-go?  Are the characters adorable?
IMG

Are they hell.  You have to sit through a full 4-minute concert with an animated, "singing", Tomomi Nishimura.  She's the tone-deaf idol this game is manufactured around.
IMG IMG

Arrgh!  Get out of here with your moon face and Groucho Marx eyebrows!  At least in-game, you only have to look at her anime characterization.
IMG IMG
See the uncanny resemblance?  It's like they were twins separated at birth! (one of whom was then smashed regularly in the face with a deck brush...)

The game itself is not an RPG but an adventure game/fetch quest.  You have to wander around various lands (grassy hills, lego city, castle town, etc.) talking to characters, noting what they are missing/unhappy about, and then finding the thing they need, either buried somewhere in the land, or with some person in another house, etc.  Japanese skill is not absolutely needed, but you'll do more aimless wandering (than usual) if you can't follow the conversations.  There are lots of cinemas between lands and at important parts of the story.
IMG IMG

The graphics themselves are average, but charming and sometimes beautiful or interesting to look at.  The music is typical second-rate Telenet stuff, similar to Valis II/III, Last Alert, Avenger, etc.  I really like a couple of the tunes, but they're a bit too short.  Oh, and there are 2 full-length Tomomi pop songs.  You'll either like them, or would rather listen to Track 2 of any PCE CD instead.

Okay, screw the fetch quest.  There are at least some mini-games that we can enjoy more than the main game itself.  Hold Sel+I+II+Down and press RUN at the title screen, which will get you into the familiar Telenet debug menu:
IMG

From here you can play a tricky/frustrating Head-On/Rally-X clone:
IMG IMG

A slightly frustrating Arkanoid clone (the baddie at the top drops bombs at you whenever he passes overhead.)
IMG IMG IMG

And a pretty fun cute-em-up:
IMG IMG IMG

The final mini-game is your familiar quiz type thing.  Hope you can read Japanese! (Make your pick: Camus, Sartre, or Hemingway...)  If you get it right, you still have to claim your prize through an Amida mini-mini-game.
IMG IMG

And finally, at the end of the game, a pair of devils fight it out, and you, controlling Tomomi, simply have to avoid them and their projectiles for 2 minutes.  WHAT FUN
IMG

So , in summary, this is some nice graphics, music, and occasional action wasted on a totally unappealing concept.  (I always feel this way when I come across ornate turn-based RPGs...)

At least the idol factor is low, compared to No*Ri*Ko,  Mami Inoue and their ilk.  Anybody wanna review those?
#29
Hey, folks.  A little idle trawling through the data tracks of Darius and Darius II CD netted me some interesting text fields:

DARIUS Version 0.90
Presented by NEC Avenue.
Programed by Masas (Bit's Lab.)
         and Max   (Bit's Lab.)
Special thanks         J.M.Kim
                       Y.TOH
                       Jariten

In Darius II:
copyright TOBI soft,programmed by masahiro tobita  $Header: DB.CV  1.8  89/10/11 11:29:30 
TOBI  Exp $ Symbolic debugger Ver 1.30 copyright 1987,88,89 Hudson soft
SDPORT %x,%x,%x,%x,%x format error: SDPORT=APORT,BPORT,CPORT,CMDPORT,DELAY
 PPI PORT = $%04x,$%04x,$%04x,$%04x,$%04x
 SD: We have no 8255 port.
  Target system is   FAMICOM  C62 BOAD  C62  Hu7  Hu7D ROM Version %d.%d
 Rom version is not match. This SD need version %d.%d illegal symbol size. #n=0...9
 not enough memory %02x illegal command %s
 protect off
 protect on
 kanji mode on
 kanji mode off
 can't exec
 This command is supported above v%d.%d ROM
 continue  %04x(%02x%04x)  %s
 Y/N? N
     ^error

This looks like remnants of Hudson's Fami/PCE assembler, as well as real-time debugger that interfaces with the PCE hardware:
b# bl b@ bc b- bd be br bm bp b x t u z p @ y/n y@ y* y+ y ? ry rw ro rg rf sd se sf sy sw ad ae af ay aw
cp cn cd ce cf cy cw # n d e l f w m h vp vg vd ve vy vw vf vm vc von vof kj q .sd r not found %s
 #%s BANK %x %x
 illegal mpr number
  %d:%02x


 AD[,range>]      :adpcm dump          F<range> data    :fill memory
 AE[address]      :adpcm edit          G[adress][,address] :go
 AF<range>        :adpcm fill          H                :lock history buffer
 AW<range>filename:adpcm write         I filename       :exec indirect file
 AY filename      :adpcm yank          kj               :flip kanji mode
 B                :display breakpoint  L[<range>]          :list
 B[bp][address]   :set breakpoint      M <range> address   :move memory
 BC[<bp>]         :clear breakpoint    N name value        :symbol define
 BE[<bp>]         :enable breakpoint   P[string]           :print symbol
 BD[<bp>]         :disable breakpoint  Q                   :quit
 BR               :reset break count   RG                  :reset go
 B#[address]      :set hard break      RF<range>           :rom fill
 BM[break mode]   :change break mode   RY filname          :rom image read
 CD[,range>]      :color dump          RW<range> filename  :rom image write(MX)
 CE[address]      :color edit          RO filename         :rom image write(BX)
 CF<range>        :color fill          SD[<range>]         :sram dump
 CW<range>filename:color write         SE[address]         :sram edit
 CY filename      :color yank          SF<range>           :sram fill
 CP               :change protect mode SW<range> filename  :sram write
 CN               :change normal mode  SY filename [offset]:sram yank
 D[<range>]       :dump memory         T[N][count]         :trace
 E[address]       :edit memory         U[N][count]         :untrace
 VC[0|1]             :vram change      y@ filename         :read symbol
 VD<range>           :vram dump        y+ filename         :add symbol
 VE[address]         :vram edit        Y/N                 :yes no ask
 VF<range> data      :vram fill        Z[num=command]      :command buffer
 VW<range> filename  :vram write       @[bank]             :bank set
 VY filename [offset]:vram yank        ![command]          :exec dos
 VG<range> address   :vram to mem      ?[exp]    :print expression(hex)
 VM<range> address   :move vram memory /

brk ora sxy st0 tsb ora asl rmb0 php ora asl ??? tsb ora asl bbr0
bpl ora ora st1 trb ora asl rmb1 clc ora inc ??? trb ora asl bbr1
jsr and sax st2 bit and rol rmb2 plp and rol ??? bit and rol bbr2
bmi and and ??? bit and rol rmb3 sec and dec ??? bit and rol bbr3
rti eor say tma bsr eor lsr rmb4 pha eor lsr ??? jmp eor lsr bbr4
bvc eor eor tam csl eor lsr rmb5 cli eor phy ??? ??? eor lsr bbr5
rts adc cla ??? stz adc ror rmb6 pla adc ror ??? jmp adc ror bbr6
bvs adc adc tii stz adc ror rmb7 sei adc ply ??? jmp adc ror bbr7
bra sta clx tst sty sta stx smb0 dey bit txa ??? sty sta stx bbs0
bcc sta sta tst sty sta stx smb1 tya sta txs ??? stz sta stz bbs1
ldy lda ldx tst ldy lda ldx smb2 tay lda tax ??? ldy lda ldx bbs2
bcs lda lda tst ldy lda ldx smb3 clv lda tsx ??? ldy lda ldx bbs3
cpy cmp cly tdd cpy cmp dec smb4 iny cmp dex ??? cpy cmp dec bbs4
bne cmp cmp tin csh cmp dec smb5 cld cmp phx ??? ??? cmp dec bbs5
cpx sbc ??? tia cpx sbc inc smb6 inx sbc nop ??? cpx sbc inc bbs6
beq sbc sbc tai set sbc inc smb7 sed sbc plx ??? ??? sbc inc bbs7
 pointer break
 SD: continue exit key break
 memory protection break
 hard pointer break
 violation speed break
 pointer break at bp%d
 real brk fetched
  no address
 break point over
 #       [%02x%04x] %s
 %d %c %04x[%02x%04x] (%04x,%04x)  %s
 no break pointer
 breakpoint list or '*' expected!!
 bad break point list
 no address
 Illegal symbol.
 Symbol not found.
 on off illegal break mode
 illegal break mode
 user break
 memory protection break
 hard pointer break
 violation speed break
 pointer break or real brk feched
 read:  write:  speed: on off A =  X =  Y =  S =  PC =  illegal register name
  A =   X =   Y =   S =   B =     N:  V:  D:  I:  Z:  C:  high  low illegal mpr number
 B = %02x : %02x
 B = %02x :  MPR%x: %02x
 MPR%x:   MPR  %d:%02x %s%02x :  %x
 flag %c = %d :  %x
 can't trace rom area
 %s.sym %s.map can't load %s
 .sym .map r Symbol over
 rb HU00SYM Symbol over
 Symbol over
  Z%d = %s

test.bin : main.o pack.o enemyknl.o intr.o conect.o
lk @linkfile
cv test.bx test.bin
copy test.bx bx
se test.sym
HDWRITE TEST.BIN TEST:TEST.BIN

main.o : main.s work.equ equfile.equ macro.src biosw.equ info.equ silver.equ missile.equ laser.equ bomb.equ bigtitle.equ title.equ select.equ zone.equ hiscore.equ proco.equ demo.equ scroll.equ
as -v main.s
pack.o : pack.s work.equ equfile.equ macro.src biosw.equ info.equ syserror.equ
as -v pack.s
enemyknl.o : enemyknl.s work.equ equfile.equ macro.src biosw.equ info.equ dfmacro.src enemyknl.equ silver.equ
as -v enemyknl.s
intr.o : intr.s work.equ equfile.equ macro.src biosw.equ info.equ scroll.equ silver.equ
as -v intr.s

conect.o : conect.s work.equ  silver.equ
as -v conect.s


The rest looks like the strings inside the assembler itself, generated by Borland Turbo C
I looked for MS-DOS .COM or .EXE file beginnings, but couldn't find them... maybe someone else can?

Turbo C++ - Copyright 1990 Borland Intl. Divide error
Abnormal program termination

$MAKE  Version 3.5  Copyright (c) 1991 Borland International
 __MAKE__ __MSDOS__ 1 .mak
Available memory %ld bytes

 builtins.mak / define( %s, %s )
 undefine( %s )
 inclib( %s )
 isdef( %s )
 definefile( %s )
 defineedepend( %s, %s )
 defineextension( %s )
      MAKE0000.$$$    process( %s )
 interprule: %s
 NO PATH .PATH. AUTODEPEND SILENT SWAP IGNORE KEEP target = '%s'
 interpcmd: %s
 xcmd = '%s'
 control()
 parsecntrl()
 include undef elif endif else error Expanded to: '%s'
 opening %s
break cd chdir cls copy ctty date del echo erase for if md mkdir path prompt rd rem ren rename rmdir set time type ver verify vol age of %s is %x:%x
 PATH \ COMSPEC   s = %s cmd = %s
 .com .exe .bat    :1・|3・Pullp = %s Search string = %s
 Replace string = %s
 *** %d errors during make ***
 Fatal Error '%s' does not exist - don't know how to make it Unable to execute command: %s Incorrect command line argument: %s Unable to open makefile Not enough memory Error directive: %s Unable to redirect input or output No terminator specified for in-line file operator
 Circular dependency exists in makefile Command arguments too long Unexpected end of file in conditional started at line %d Unknown preprocessor statement Bad filename format in include statement Filename too long
No filename ending Unable to open include file '%s' Macro expansion too long If statement too long Command too long Rule line too long Bad undef statement syntax Misplaced else statement Command syntax error Misplaced elif statement
Misplaced endif statement Illegal character in constant expression '%c' Expression syntax error in !if statement Illegal octal digit Character constant too long Division by zero Redefinition of target '%s' Bad macro output translator

make( %s )
 %s is newest
 obj aging %s %lx ? %lx
 rebuilding %s
 Fatal:  Could not create temporary file '%s'
  %s
 exit code = %d cutoff = %d
 
** error %d ** deleting %s
 .   %s  -> %s   Assertion failed: %s, file %s, line %d
 bytesRead > 0 makein.c  $*$*$*
Turbo Make  0x0350 makefile ,0  Syntax: MAKE [options ...] target[s]

    -B%c              Builds all targets regardless of dependency dates
    -Dsymbol         defines symbol
    -Dsymbol=string  defines symbol to string
    -Idirectory      names an include directory
    -K%c              keeps ( does not erase ) temporary files created by MAKE
    -S%c              swaps MAKE out of memory to execute commands.
    -W               write all non-string options back to the .EXE file
    -Usymbol         undefine symbol
    -ffilename       uses filename as the MAKEFILE
    -a%c              performs auto-dependency checks for include files
    -i%c              ignores errors returned by commands
    -n%c              prints commands but does not do them
    -s%c              silent, does not print commands before doing them
    -? or -h         prints this message

      Options marked with '+' are on by default.
      To turn off a default option follow it by a '-',
         for example: -a-



Assertion failed: %s, file %s, line %d
 bytesread < UINT_MAX config.c Cannot write a string option.
 MAKE.EXE Cannot find MAKE.EXE
 
Write options to %s? ( Y/N ) [N]:
Enter full path of MAKE.EXE to modify:  Unable to open file %s.
 %s not a MAKE.
 Write error on file %s.
               %s  %d : 
  2147483648  File not found File creation error              !!!!!


Next, Meikyuu no Elfinee has 2 different debug menus in 2 different CD sectors (plus some other hidden text.)  If you copy the unused debug menu over the location of the used one, you get this:
IMG IMG IMG IMG
#30
Hi, folks.  Can any PCE musicians help me out?  I'm putting together a little demo and I need someone to make a cover of a song.

Please PM me if you're interested and I'll give you some details.
#31
This game is fantastic.  All too often it gets passed off as some third-rate maze-chase or Bomberman wannabe, and yet it has more depth and breadth to it than most maze-chases out there.  It has far more variety and technique to it than the single-player mode of Bomberman, even!

The depth: You could play it as a bog-standard action game, chasing after enemies, trapping them in a hole, picking up the treasures and key, and leaving for the next stage.  1,000 points for each enemy buried.  This straightforward, linear action is actually the least fun way to play it.

Once you realize that there's a 20,000-point bonus item if you pick up all treasures without burying a single monster, the game opens itself up to you.  It becomes a frantic chase -- that is, monsters chasing you which delivers the same play style and adrenaline rush as the classic Pac-Man.  The game is more about navigating tight corridors and outmanoeuvring enemies than killing them outright.  Several 20,000-point bonuses later, the extra lives are beginning to rack up, which shows that this is how you are supposed to extract longevity from a single credit.

While attempting to avoid burying an enemy to reach that 20,000 bonus, further techniques reveal themselves, showing the nuance and depth to Cratermaze.  For example: If you use a flashlight, yo-yo, or ice power-up on enemies, your bonus is forfeited.  However, if you're in a pinch, you can dig a hole and let the enemy walk into it.  Don't fill in the hole; just walk over the enemy and leave it, and your chance for the 20,000 points is still intact.  It's basically Pac-Man married to Lode Runner.

You are thus compelled to make selective choices when picking up power-ups.  The multiple-hole shovel power-ups are useful, but can become suicide in Difficult or Expert mode since you dig a line of holes, an enemy falls in only one of them, and you can't fill them in for fear of losing the bonus, yet you need a clear path in order to escape.

After you pick up all the treasures and the bonus point-bearing "NEC" icon, you are now finally free to start killing enemies with reckless abandon for those 1,000-point bonuses.  You can also kill the same enemy many times in a row for kill bonuses increasing to 3,200 points.  This gets much tougher in the Difficult mode since there's a much larger number and variety of enemy on each stage, and a tighter time limit.

I might seem to be going on at length all about "points, points, points", but these bonuses are a hint from the designers as to how the game was meant to be played.  Don't attack violently like some weapon-toting brute, but rather, evade and incapacitate like an Aikido master.

Online reviews when the Virtual Console version was released show how much they missed the point: "there's really no point to Cratermaze. They're both maze crawlers, but Bomberman '93 delivers the explosiveness that Cratermaze lacks..."  I'm willing to bet that put side-by-side, BM'93 would be the more tedious game, your player having to trudge from block-to-block, destroying only one or a few blocks at a time, and perfecting the timing through trial-and-error to blow up your enemies.

---
Other things: the music to Cratermaze is fabulous.  Groovy boogie-woogie gets your toes tappin' far more than the PCE's Doraemon version of this game.

Perhaps this game (and its arcade parent) had gameplay that was too classic and old-fashioned (like Pac-Man & Lock 'n Chase) and so people never quite figured out what it was meant to be in the advanced year of 1990.

Any other comments, discuss!
#32
Hi, folks, as asked for, I'm releasing the source code for the SID player I made for my demo, Courage

Here's the link:  https://www.chrismcovell.com/data/PCE_SID_Player.zip

Please be prepared to do some C-64 debugging/hacking to find SIDs that will fit in ROM and play nicely inside of the PCE's 7.5K RAM.  Make sure you read the readme and check the ASM code comments before posing questions.

Have some SIDly fun!
#33
Hi, everyone.  Happy April Fool's Day!

No tricks or pranks this year.  I've released a new demo for the PCE that I've been working on in my meagre free time since August.  It's an oldskool "diskmag" type of demo I've named Courage.

IMG IMG

Try it out on your flashcard or on a CDR and let me know what you think!

Download: https://www.chrismcovell.com/data/CMC_Courage_Diskmag.zip
#34
Hi, folks.  For those who like reading (though there are enough pics too) I started a new "diary" page on my site.  I did it just to put down on paper some fun things I'd been up to that couldn't get their own pages...  Plus I have no time to make large articles anymore.

Enjoy?

https://www.chrismcovell.com/diary.html
#35
Hi, folks.  I had an idea for a fun tool that didn't quite exist yet, so I spent a few hours of my free time this week making it.  Let me know if you find it useful for your audio/music projects.  It's still at an early stage, and doesn't have controls for frequency, panning, etc, but hey.

IMG

Contains waveforms from the System Card, Gunhed, and Ankoku Densetsu too.

Download: chrismcovell.com/data/Waveform_Tool.zip
#36
Hey, folks.  I tried hacking this wrestling RPG (yeah, I know, I know) to look for a sound test or some kind of debug menu.  I couldn't find anything so far...  But I did find a handful of undocumented passwords.  This game has fantastic music by Hirohiko Takayama (I believe) so I'd love to find some kind of test menu if it exists...

First off, the useful ones:
IMG
Lets you view just the cinema scenes (of the whole game??)

IMG
Lets you play just the matches (no cinemas.)

IMG
"Puffed-up chest"  Dunno the effect, maybe makes you strong in battle?

IMG
"I'm a kitty-cat.  Meoooow!"  Dunno the effect, makes you weaker?

The rest of the passwords just give you hidden messages, I think...
IMG
"I'm maad!  <fume fume>" -> "Don't get so angry at me!"
"July 3 9 1"  -> "Take care, Suma-kun!"
"AEIOU..."  ->  "Yasuko Yasuko Yasuko..."
"R-Z Satsuru R"  ->  "That's the name of a [motor]bike."
"Sagami Ohno Station street"  ->  "The offices of Arai."
"AAAA..."  ->  "Don't be lame!"
"My head is hard!!!"  ->  "You are PC Genjin."

(Some of the passwords might vary, but the password code treats the 12 or so pages of fonts as the same letter.  Eg:  "MI" = Dash, "A" = "GA" so the stored passwords' actual text is a little ambiguous.)
#37
Hi, folks.  A couple of years ago, I added some more features to Fractal Engine but didn't quite finish it up and get it out the door...  :^o

Anyway, this year, I added in Julia set support and so here is something deserving of a release!
IMG

Available from this page:
https://www.chrismcovell.com/fractalengine.html

Improvements over version 1.0

+ Twice as many colours in low-resolution mode!
+ Detects SuperGrafx hardware for even more colours / resolutions.
+ Julia Set now accessible!
+ Average of 1.7x speed increase.

IMG

IMG

IMG

Old version thread:  https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=3580.0
#38
They borrowed cart design from the Amstrad GX4000 maybe?  :D

2 Controller ports... finally!

console .tym .cz/installation/wordpress/?p=29

superengineii.webp
https://eab.abime.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=21381&d=1242411964
#39
Hi, folks.  My interest in a couple of Arc Co. Ltd's games for the PCE boiled over, so I'm going to take screenshots of these lesser-known games and even do a review or something.

The first game:  Road Spirits   https://www.chrismcovell.com/games_illustrated/arc-road_spirits.html
The 2nd game: Chris' Adventure   https://www.chrismcovell.com/games_illustrated/arc-hihou_densetsu.html
The 3rd game: Minesweeper https://www.chrismcovell.com/games_illustrated/arc-minesweeper.html
#40
Hey, folks.  I scanned in a few pages of Famicom Magazine's coverage of the PCE announcement back in fall 1987.  Here they show some proto PCE hardware and games:

IMG
IMGIMGIMG

Check it out here: https://www.chrismcovell.com/secret/PCE_1987Q3.html
#41
Hey, folks.  I found a couple pictures of unreleased/altered games in the PCE's lineup announcement.  Pic from this blog: http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/gamesmasa/62527538.html

The picture shows an unreleased pinball game (became Alien Crush... maybe?) and Jungle King, which I'm sure became Makyou Densetsu.  Both games have Hudson release numbers (8 and 9) which went to different games in the end.  Cool, huh?

IMG
#42
Hey, folks.  This just came in today... no, it's not Strider for the SuperGrafx (I don't think that ever really existed anymore), but it is something that we've never seen!

IMG

I'll have to take proper pictures after work and make a webpage, so hang on until then!

Edit: Page added!  https://www.chrismcovell.com/PowerConsole/
#43
Okay, so everybody knows that the PCE's 9-bit colour space is pretty limited.  Especially when remapping photographs or high-colour art, you get banding, flat colours, or have to resort to a high amount of dithering.

Does anyone know of a paint program that can remap 24-bit -> 9-bit (or any other colour space in RGB (non-indexed)) and apply dithering at the same time?

One technique which I've toyed around with in the meantime:
IMG
(The images at the bottom have been posterized again into the PCE's 8-level colour space.)

Each combination of posterization levels gives a different dithering type, to high dither, dither in dark colours only, bright colours only, narrow dithering bands, etc.  There's no perfect balance that I've found, so one has to select the best-looking type for each picture:
IMG

Any other good ideas?
#44
Hey, folks.  Sorry for the link dump, but in a rather large update, I've put several dozen new pictures & magazine scans on my webpage.  Most of them are PC-Engine themed this time, including:

"Bike"  https://www.chrismcovell.com/secret/PCE_1988Q3.html#bike
and NEC Avenue Golf  https://www.chrismcovell.com/secret/PCE_1989Q2.html#gunhed
both unreleased.

Also, Monster Party  https://www.chrismcovell.com/secret/FC__1988Q4.html#monsterparty
Gunhed  https://www.chrismcovell.com/secret/PCE_1989Q2.html#gunhed
Dungeon Explorer  https://www.chrismcovell.com/secret/PCE_1988Q3.html#de
Aoi Blink  https://www.chrismcovell.com/secret/PCE_1990Q1.html#aoi

and more here: https://www.chrismcovell.com/secret.html
#45
Is anyone interested in me making a hack like this?

Example: original on left, hand-edited on right:
IMG

A little explanation:  Over 2 1/2 years ago #-o  I got fed up with Dungeon Explorer's dark and gloomy graphics, and wondered if I could hack the ROM to brighten its palette overall.  What I did was

1) Find the palette locations in the game ROM
2) Extract them into mutiple 512-byte files
3) Write a C conversion program to change them from PCE 9-bit RGB to Pure RGB 32-bit words (00RRGGBB)
4) Import the Pure RGB as a palette on the Amiga
5) Edit the palettes in Brilliance on the Amiga ('cause it has a 9-bit palette mode)
6) Save the palettes as binary files again
7) Write a C program that does the reverse conversion
8 ) Plonk the converted PCE palette back into the ROM

As you can see, it's a convoluted process.  It's kinda hard (impossible?) to do any realtime palette editing with the PCE file, either as a binary, or as it's running in an emulator.

Does anybody know of a way to speed up the process?
#46
Most people probably know that there's a hard mode in Valis IV (Press Run+I+II on controller 2 at the title screen), but few have seen the extra levels because they're accessible only after beating the game in a single run-through (the save feature doesn't save a flag for hard mode.)  So I decided to cheat my way through the game:
IMG IMG IMG IMG

After defeating the final boss in Hard Mode, instead of getting the usual ending, you're shipped off to a monotonous 4-stage level overlooking the ocean, with strange enemies coming at you.  The faux boss at the end allows only Lena to pass.  If you're playing as the other characters, he'll say "who are you?" and the game will reset.  He warns Lena that the next stage is really difficult, and it is!
IMG IMG
Look familiar?  It's that damned annoying stage from Valis III, only made harder with scads of enemies and the same tricky jumps.  The boss is nigh-impossible to defeat under normal circumstances, too.
IMG IMG IMG

Anyway, after this boss, you get the same ending as before.  So be glad I showed you these pics, as you probably wouldn't suffer through the game in Hard Mode anyway, right?
#47
Hey, folks.  I got a great printer/scanner recently that came with Japanese OCR software, so now I can convert interesting articles to text pretty easily.

First off, I re-scanned most of the pages from Gekkan PC-Engine that had mentions of the Tsushin Booster.  Check it out here: https://www.chrismcovell.com/secret/sp_tsushinbooster.html

And the main "secrets" page: https://www.chrismcovell.com/secret.html
#48
Hey, folks.  I found this cute little warning image in the instruction manual for Klax on the PCE.  I thought it was so funny, I decided to scan it and give it a caption, like "Don't get your Hu-Cards drunk."  But I wonder, can anybody come up with a more clever/funnier caption?
IMG

For example: "Finally, a real-life Drunkard Hu."  (Obscure/unfunny Color Dreams reference)

C'mon, you can do 100x better, right?
#49
Hi, folks.  Some of you might know about my page already, but I'll post the link to my "secret" page which has scans and interesting information from classic Japanese videogame magazines.

https://www.chrismcovell.com/secret.html

I updated my page last night with a translation of a comic series that ran in Famicom Tsushin.  Check it out!
#50
Hi, folks.  Probably many of you already know that the source code to the Apple I integer BASIC interpreter has been released, but an even more interesting one is a disassembly/abstraction of Microsoft BASIC for 6502 machines.  If anybody wants to try a fun project, why not try assembling this BASIC interpreter to run on the PCE?

http://www.pagetable.com/?p=46

The M$ BASIC ROMs/programs from several different old computers have been brought into a single assembly source code, with switches to turn on/off several features and RAM (etc,) configurations.  A PCE version would not be very hard to implement, given the proper text input and output routines to be written around it.

Sorry, I'm not the one to do this; I have enough projects and other junk going on...  :-k