Gridrunner(Vic-20) - Need help converting and running .tap
Denial-Jeff just posted that he has opened the forum for viewing again. Appearantly it was flooded with guests before.
Within a few minutes after re-opening, he could log 19 different IP numbers in the list of guests. I don't know what's going on - a phpBB DoS attack? - but at least things are back to normal for the time being.
Within a few minutes after re-opening, he could log 19 different IP numbers in the list of guests. I don't know what's going on - a phpBB DoS attack? - but at least things are back to normal for the time being.
Yeah, definitely sniffing the boards out to do with the latest publicised php exploits. Some scripts that were run that spoof being a guest to check for vunerabilities. Some places such as Digital Press boards (which I am also part of) had at some points over 1,500 guests, and it was shut down for a few hours to let it pass as it was making loading anything very slow (even though the board itself was immune to the attacks).
Lie with passion and be forever damned...
Xbox: Mayhem64
Xbox: Mayhem64
*** I'm cross-posting this at Atariage. If you've already been there - please ignore me. 
I just remembered that there was a cassette binder inside the Vic-20 lot when I bought it. I dug through it a few minutes ago and found (along with Lawrence Welk and Nat King Cole tapes) a bunch of accounting, word processing, and banking software. I fired up ol' Vic and slapped in the Calculator tape.
"Searching", "Found Calculator", and "Loading".
When it completed, I typed "run" and the software booted.
I went back and compared the audible recording quality of the game I copied and the Calculator software. Both were loud, but the recorded tape definitely was a little bit fuzzier.
I wish I knew of some way to connect a CD Player to the Vic-20 like I might to my Supercharger for my Atari VCS. When I got started on all of this, I bought an old cassette recorder from the thrift and a cable at Radio Shack. I knew that the sound quality wouldn't be perfect, but I didn't realize the Vic-20 would be this finicky either. I have a newer tapedeck in my entertainment center. I may burn a CD and then copy it to tape and see if I can get a better quality recording.
Meanwhile, I've found a contact that has Matrix for sale. He also has many complete Llamasoft C-64 games for trade! I don't have a C-64 right now, but this gives me good reason to start looking.
For now, I'll play Gridrunner via DreamFrodo on my Dreamcast.
I just remembered that there was a cassette binder inside the Vic-20 lot when I bought it. I dug through it a few minutes ago and found (along with Lawrence Welk and Nat King Cole tapes) a bunch of accounting, word processing, and banking software. I fired up ol' Vic and slapped in the Calculator tape.
"Searching", "Found Calculator", and "Loading".
When it completed, I typed "run" and the software booted.
I went back and compared the audible recording quality of the game I copied and the Calculator software. Both were loud, but the recorded tape definitely was a little bit fuzzier.
I wish I knew of some way to connect a CD Player to the Vic-20 like I might to my Supercharger for my Atari VCS. When I got started on all of this, I bought an old cassette recorder from the thrift and a cable at Radio Shack. I knew that the sound quality wouldn't be perfect, but I didn't realize the Vic-20 would be this finicky either. I have a newer tapedeck in my entertainment center. I may burn a CD and then copy it to tape and see if I can get a better quality recording.
Meanwhile, I've found a contact that has Matrix for sale. He also has many complete Llamasoft C-64 games for trade! I don't have a C-64 right now, but this gives me good reason to start looking.
For now, I'll play Gridrunner via DreamFrodo on my Dreamcast.
Cheers,
-William
-William
I was browsing the forum when I found this post by Psychorob that mentioned playing a minidisc through a cassette adapter...
A cassette adapter!? I have an old cassette adapter for my old discman that I used to use in my car!
I went rummaging through a junk drawer and found the adapter. I stuck the cassette end into my Vic-20 Cassette deck and connected it directly to my computer. I set the game up to load and stepped out for a smoke.
When I returned, I found it still "searching" as it had been doing before. So, even though my problem is not resolved, I know that it is not only the recording, but the converted file as well. Now I just have to find the right way (or program) to convert the .tap file so that my Vic-20 understands the audio data(?)
(Btw, I did check how well the audio was playing on another audible cassette deck. It was as clear and loud as it comes from my PC speakers.)
A cassette adapter!? I have an old cassette adapter for my old discman that I used to use in my car!
I went rummaging through a junk drawer and found the adapter. I stuck the cassette end into my Vic-20 Cassette deck and connected it directly to my computer. I set the game up to load and stepped out for a smoke.
When I returned, I found it still "searching" as it had been doing before. So, even though my problem is not resolved, I know that it is not only the recording, but the converted file as well. Now I just have to find the right way (or program) to convert the .tap file so that my Vic-20 understands the audio data(?)
(Btw, I did check how well the audio was playing on another audible cassette deck. It was as clear and loud as it comes from my PC speakers.)
Cheers,
-William
-William
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As William (mojofltr) mentioned that he downloaded the Gridrunner TAP file, I suppose it should be all right by itself.
The audiotap program has some settings to play with, maybe most important is the invert waveform. I don't know why, but I have a faint memory of doing that when working with audio tape samples. It depends on your audio card how it outputs the generated sound. Try it and see if the tape loads now.
There may also be some timing differences between C64 and VIC tapes. I think the difference is greater on PAL machines than between NTSC, and also that generally you can load a C64 saved program into the VIC but not vice versa. Since the Audiotap program generates a wave like it had been saved from a C64, it should not really be your problem?
A couple of years ago when I tried to convert tapes to TAP using tape64, I encountered this problem. The default pulse of 985248 kHz (C64) was not suitable to load VIC-20 programs without error, so I improved the program with another pulse, 1108404 kHz corresponding to PAL VIC-20. Some other programs in this genre - e.g. TAPir - already come with switches.
Very Technical Edit That Should Be on Denial Instead of YakYak: After analysing source code, it seems Audiotap internally already has supposer for different machines when generating WAV files from TAP: VIC, C64, C16 in both PAL and NTSC, depending on the TAP file header.
First comes a 12 byte identification string, followed by one byte for TAP version, one byte for machine and one for video mode. The machine byte (#14) normally is 0 for C64 but should hold the value of 1 (binary, not ASCII) to force VIC-20 emulation when generating the wave output. I have never encountered this before. If you have a hex editor available, you could look at the Gridrunner.TAP and as a final measure try to toggle this value and see if you get a better result.
Working from tape to TAP seems to be forced to C64 recognition, so it would need slight modification of the program. Hope that helps for now..
The audiotap program has some settings to play with, maybe most important is the invert waveform. I don't know why, but I have a faint memory of doing that when working with audio tape samples. It depends on your audio card how it outputs the generated sound. Try it and see if the tape loads now.
There may also be some timing differences between C64 and VIC tapes. I think the difference is greater on PAL machines than between NTSC, and also that generally you can load a C64 saved program into the VIC but not vice versa. Since the Audiotap program generates a wave like it had been saved from a C64, it should not really be your problem?
A couple of years ago when I tried to convert tapes to TAP using tape64, I encountered this problem. The default pulse of 985248 kHz (C64) was not suitable to load VIC-20 programs without error, so I improved the program with another pulse, 1108404 kHz corresponding to PAL VIC-20. Some other programs in this genre - e.g. TAPir - already come with switches.
Very Technical Edit That Should Be on Denial Instead of YakYak: After analysing source code, it seems Audiotap internally already has supposer for different machines when generating WAV files from TAP: VIC, C64, C16 in both PAL and NTSC, depending on the TAP file header.
First comes a 12 byte identification string, followed by one byte for TAP version, one byte for machine and one for video mode. The machine byte (#14) normally is 0 for C64 but should hold the value of 1 (binary, not ASCII) to force VIC-20 emulation when generating the wave output. I have never encountered this before. If you have a hex editor available, you could look at the Gridrunner.TAP and as a final measure try to toggle this value and see if you get a better result.
Working from tape to TAP seems to be forced to C64 recognition, so it would need slight modification of the program. Hope that helps for now..