Richard Wilson released a new version of his great Amstrad CPC and Amstrad Plus emulator WinApe. The new version contains mainly bugfixes for the last version and some smaller improvements. You can download it from the WinApe homepage and at the end of this post.

Here is the complete changelist for the new version:

Emulation

• Correct Z80 Flags emulation for IN and OUT and all derivatives.
• Added support for CRTC Type 1 register 6 border blanking when set to zero.

Debugger

• Changed breakpoint conditions to use 32 bit values rather than 16 bit values.
• Added a number of functions to breakpoint conditions to support 32 bit to 16/8 bit conversion.
• Added true and false variables.

Assembler

• Added ability to load symbols from the WinAPE command line using the /SYM:filename parameter.
• Option to automatically hide the output window on successful assemble.

Other

• Added documentation of command line parameters in help files.
• Added documentation of new breakpoint condition variables and functions.
• Updates ParaDOS 1.2 and ParaDOS 1.2+ ROM images to bug-fixed version which will work in slots below 7.

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Post tags: 2016, emulator, richard wilson, winape

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Post tags: 2016, demo, demoscene, eliot, france, party, reset, reset #28

Augusto Ruiz released a new version of his music tracker, which is written in .NET, so it runs under Windows and systems, which are supported by the Mono .NET runtime. It can be used to write music for Amstrad CPC, Spectrum or MSX systems, so it is a nice tool for cross-development. The assembly source code of the WYZPlayer is included and Augusto is also working on a “port” for SDCC / CPCtelera.

The new version features envelopes for drums, loops to a specific pattern and it is easier to select the drum and sfx channel in the player.

Do not hesitate, download the latest version and test it by yourself!

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Post tags: 2016, cpcrslib, cross-development, development, music, wyztracker

EgoTrip has released a new game for the Amstrad CPC called “A Prelude To Chaos”. It is an adventure / shooting / collecting / puzzle game and was based on a Spectrum ZX version (but it is much bigger and more complex now).
In the game you play Amy, who was called for help by a village, because an evil Cyborg queen tries to build her base there. You have to find and destroy their generators to prevent the arrival of the Cyborg queen.

The game features nice graphics and music. Be sure to check it out and download it from the CPCWiki forums or at the end of this news.

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Post tags: 2016, A Prelude To Chaos, egotrip, game

The Revision demoparty in Saarbrücken / Germany is just over and it was – as always – a great event and some CPC users attend to the meeting, too. We also saw two music entries produced on a CPC which competed in the “Oldskool Music” category. So here are the results of the category in which the CPC competed (you can find the complete results here).

Oldskool Music

1. Club Revision by Winks/Fairlight – 806
2. calculated by Andy/Nuance – 784
3. Don’t Punish My Sync Claire by Factor6/Gemba Boys^Hooy-Program – 755
4. 8-Bitburgers by fegolhuzz/Panda Design – 752
5. A Computer In My Backpack (And A Chiptune In My Heart) by lft – 696
6. Kiss Her Beard by AceMan/Appendix^Dreamweb – 636
7. Ask Mommy by Dascon/Deadliners^Desire  – 631
8. Sound of Cracktro by RAFT^TRSi – 621
9. Remembrance by Stinsen/Genesis Project – 615
10. Electric Donkey Muscles by RoccoW/Poo-Brain – 596
11. Pokey Balboa by Triace/Desire^Insane – 592
12. 21 Jump-Up Street by Hoffman and Teis – 586
13. Insomnia Run by Radiant/Panda Design – 583
14. Orch-OR by YERZMYEY/HOOY-PROGRAM^AY-RIDERS – 550
15. Chip Trills by Juice – 544
16. SONNEAUSMARSCH! by Spider Jerusalem/TRSi / Mayday! – 541
17. Back In Space by Curt Cool/Depth Nah-Kolor & AMP & Hoaxers & Bitworld – 533
18. SIDharta goes trauma by Qdor/Panda Design – 493
19. Revised by LiSU_VV8/Tristesse – 444
20. Out by bod/AttentionWhore – 436

I have linked the Amstrad CPC tunes directly in the results. You can find the complete downloads of the Oldskool Music compo on Scene.org.

UPDATE: Here is the live video of the Oldskool Music compo.

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Post tags: 2016, demoparty, demoscene, music, oldskool, revision, saarbrücken

A new version of Sugarbox, a relatively new Amstrad CPC emulator for Windows, was released. The main feature of the new version is the support for various CPC emulator disk image formats (e.g. HFE of the HxC floppy emulator or RAW from kyroflux), precise Z80 emulation (according to Kevin Thackers timing test bench) and some other features.
Be sure to test the new version of the emulator and download the latest version from http://sugarbox.free.fr.

Changelog:

• [CT-RAW/IPF]: Native support of these two format. CAPSLib dll from SPS is no longer used. This will fix some non-working dump( due to bug in the lib).
• [IPF]: Add a SAVE IPF option. You can save your current disk in IPF format, to generate a 3″ disk. You can even write dump with weak sectors.
• [HFE]: Now it’s possible to save HFE file!
• [edsk]: Added some tuning to handle sector of header size lower than real size.
• [edsk]: Fixed some nasty memory overrun.
• [edsk]: Fixed the way of handling overlapped disk: “Corsarios (UK) (1988) (CPM) [Original].dsk” disk now run correctly. In fact, all dsk should now retrieve their original size of 6k/track
• [edsk]: Fixed support for ALLGAP dumps
• [FDC]: New paradigm : Weak bits are now handled by bit. Multi-revolution dump are converted to single revolution with weak bits data.
• [FDC]: Fix a bug with the SZ byte = 0 in read track command (this fixed “War In Middle Earth (UK) (1987) (CPM) [Original].dsk” dump)
• [Tape]: Add a delay when motor is on/off. This fixed “Last Mission”
• [Z80]: Interrupt mode 0 is partially fixed: It does nothing, but no longer corrupt the Z80 registers
• [Z80]: Fix some wrong behaviour of undocumented opcodes
• [Z80]: Add the undocumented ‘Q’ register used for Flags, and fix the SCF/CCF instructions regarding this register
• [Z80]: All Z80 tests from Patrik Rak, adapted to the CPC by Kevin Thacker, are now correct.
• [Display]: Fixed wrong behaviour for 100%speed with 100hz screen without black frame insertion: Speed was twice what was intendeed
• [General]: Add Autorun disk on insertion which try to guess the best file to run.
• [General]: Optimization: Everything is now running 60-80% faster than before
• [General]: Add a support for auto-executing BIN file (with AMSDOS header), through drag’n’drop.
• [General]: Fixed the Spanish configuration for 464, and added support for Danish keyboard.
• [General]: Added -fullscreen command line to enable fullscreen by default
• [General]: Fixed the “-command” option : In order to run a disc, just launch your command as Sugarbox -command run\”disc\” for example
• [General]: Added sound for disk drive
• [General]: Fix copy/paste for english/spanish/danish
• [GUI]: Added a feedback when loading tape/disk/SNA/SNR
• [GUI]: Added a preliminary debugger, with Register edition, breakpoints, flags
• [Joystick support]: Fixed diagonals not supported with some joypads (now, games should be far more playable!)
• [Memory]: Fixed the configuration : 64k computer no longer have improper PAL
• [Settings]: Fixed some nasty bugs preventing the keyboard settings to work

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Post tags: 2016, emulator, sugarbox, windows

Do you know the Visual6502 project? The 6502 CPU was decapped and reverse engineered to retrieve more information about the way it works and get a better emulation. On the page you will also find an emulator, which shows you how the CPU works on the chip level. Well, why speaking about this project? Because it is about getting information by reverse engineering the chip and that’s what happened to the Gate Array aka “Amstrad 40010” and some other chips. Robcfg sent some of them to Sean Riddle who was kindly enough to decap the chips and provided the photos. The Gate Array is a custom made chip by Amstrad, which provides e.g. clock frequencies or the colour information for the CRTC. With the photos it is possible to do a reverse engineering and hopefully extract a schematic of it. Maybe it is possible to build a replacement in the future, too.

If you want to help or want more information about it, have a look at the thread in the CPCWiki forums.

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Post tags: 2016, amstrad 40007, amstrad 40008, amstrad 40010, gate array, hardware, robcfg, Sean Riddle

A new version of CPCtelera, the Amstrad CPC game engine for C developers, was just released in version 1.4. CPCtelera offers a huge C library for the SDCC C cross-compiler, which makes it easier to create games and applications for the Amstrad CPC. This version features a new license (LGPL), support for the CPCRSLib, a lot of new examples and a huge load of new methods and optimisations (see the changelist below). It is available for Windows, Linux and OS-X. You can get the latest version from GitHub and discuss it in the CPCWiki forums.

Changes in v1.4:

• Low-level library, scripts, building system and examples moved to LGPL license to suit more developer needs.
• Added CPCRSLib installer script (cpct_installrslib): automatically installs and configures CPCRSLib to be used along with CPCtelera.
• Added -c modifier to cpct_mkproject to let the user create CPCRSLib enabled projects.
• Improved cpct_drawSpriteMaskedAlignedTable to work with un-aligned sprites. Only 256-bytes transparency table shall be aligned now.
• Added interrupt unsafe functions for keyboard scanning
• Improved img2cpc sprite generation: explicit array width*height sizes and automatic size constants generation.
• Added new high-quality random number generators: Marsaglia XORShift 8/16/32 bits and Marsaglia XORShitf+ 40 bits state.
• Simplified use of random number generators with standard macros cpct_rand and cpct_srand, to work like C functions rand/srand.
• Added simple user example for random number generation: easy/random.
• Added macro IMG2SPRITES for automatically converting tilemap TMX files into C arrays on typing “make”.
• Added macro TMX2C for automatically converting image files into sprites (C-arrays), tiles and tilesets on typing “make”.
• Added configuration files image_conversion.mk and tilemap_conversion.mk to easily include TMX2C and IMG2SPRITES macros for all user assets in the project.
• Added new conversion options to cpct_tmx2csv: generation of C/H files, different output folder, and custom c-identifier generation.
• Added new macros cpctm_createTramsparentMaskTable and cpctm_declareMaskTable to easily define and create 256-bytes aligned transparency tables, greatly simplifying the process.
• Added Horizontal Sprite flipping functions: for Modes 0, 1 & 2 and normal/masked sprites, working from RAM and ROM, to suit different user needs.
• Added user examples for horizontal flipping functions. C-examples: flipAnimM2, flipSprites. ASM-examples: hflipSpriteM1, flipMaskSprite.
• Added macro cpctm_screenPtr to do static calculation of screen memory pointers, saving CPU and binary space when calculating constant locations.
• Updated old examples to use new macros, especially cpctm_screenPtr.
• Improved cpct_img2tileset output messages and success status check. Also added an option to output harware converted palette values.
• Added CPCT_VMEM_START macro defining video memory start: standarizes its uses.
• Updated hello world template example to use new macros, simplifying its code.
• Added assembly macros for undocumented Z80 opcodes: used to clarify code.
• Added ultra-optimized assembly macros for bit and pixel reversing inside bytes: they can reverse pixels inside a byte for modes 0, 1 and 2.
• Added macros CPCT_ABSOLUTE_LOCATION_AREA and CPCT_RELOCATABLE_AREA to absolutely locate code and data inside binary space and memory.
• Added example advanced/relocateMemory to show how to use memory relocation macros.
• Added CPCT_XBITARRAY and CPCT_ENCODEXBITS macros to easily define, declare and populate bitarrays.
• Added new type of bitarrays: bitarrays of 6-bits per item.
• Added new example medium/bitarrayMaps1 to clarify the use of bitarrays as tilemaps and other structures.
• Added sprite blending functions: can blend sprites with background using different modes like XOR, OR, AND, ADD, ADC, SUB, SBC, LDI, NOP.
• Added sprite blending example medium/blendedSprites.
• Added colour enumerations to simplify palette definitions and palete colour changes (CPCT_FW_Colour and CPCT_HW_Colour)
• Added support for cpct_winape script to automatically load debugging symbols on launching DSKs.
• Updated cpct_winape to download Winape 2.0 beta 2.
• Added another ASM example with some sprite/text drawing, automatic sprite conversions and animations.
• Some performance improvements on previous functions.
• Updated to SDCC 3.5.5. (and fixed libboost 1.6. compilation problem).
• Fixed a problem with multithreaded compilation on ARM platforms using SD Cards as main storages (mainly Raspberry Pi)
• Added OBJS2CLEAN variable to makefiles to let the user clean some custom generated objects.
• Improved documentation
• Fixed cpct_tmx2csv failing on cygwin
• Added tilemap_hwscroll example to show hardware scrolling capabilities along with an expanded tilemap.
• Added latest 1.1.1. version of Retro Game Asset Studio (RGAS)
• Everything packed with love to give user the best possible set of tools

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Post tags: 2016, cpcrslib, cpctelera, cross-development, development, engine, framework, game, github, sdcc

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Post tags: 2016, germany, metting, seeshaupt, xzentrix

During the last years we saw a lot of hardware expansions for the Amstrad CPC. Most of them were the usual expansions like more RAM, ROM or storage. But finally, thanks to Duke, the Amstrad CPC gets an Wifi expansion, which you can use to connect to the internet. It is possible to send HTTP requests and it also starts a web server (on the on board Wifi microcontroller), where you can change some of the settings.
Besides the Wifi connectivity it also features a ROM board and a SD card slot for storage. The SD card will also be supported directly by replacing ROM 7 (AMSDOS), so you can use software, which don’t use direct FDC access directly from the SD card.

Here is the video of the current version of the Wifi expansion:

If you are interested in ordering a board or just want more information about the expansion board, head over to Duke’s homepage.

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Post tags: 2016, duke, expansion, hardware, wifi

After the awesome success of the last CPCRetroDev last year it is time for a new game competition in 2016, isn’t it? This year there are even higher prices, which you can win with your game in different categories. As usual the competition is organised by the University of Alicante / Spain and aims to award the best and creative game developers, who create a game for an unmodified Amstrad CPC 464. The deadline for this years competition is the 26th October 2016, 23:59h (CEST), so don’t waste any time and start the development of your awesome game.
If you are not familiar with development for the Amstrad CPC, you can have a look at the CPCtelera game development kit, the great programming tutorials on CPCMania, the CPCrslib programming library or cpcitor’s development toolchain. There is also a category for Locomotive BASIC programs and you can find help in the CPCWiki forums.

You can achieve the following awards (all in all about 1.050 EUR!!!):

Special awards

• 125€ – Gominolas to the best music
• 125€ – Jon Ritman to technical development
• 125€ – Dinamic to innovative playability

PRO category

• 300€ – Best game
• 150€ – Second best game
• 75€ – Third best game

BASIC category

• 100€ – Best BASIC game
• 50€ – Second best BASIC game

…and there will also be a physical cassette edition with all 2016 games, too.

You can get more information about the competition rules and about the competition itself on the CPCRetroDev 2016 homepage. Be sure to participate and bring your creative game ideas to the Amstrad CPC.

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Post tags: 2016, competition, cpcgamedev, cpcrslib, cpctelera, development, game

About 2 years ago we celebrated the 30th anniversary of our beloved Amstrad CPC and three more years ago the call for participation to produce a “megademo” was started, which should be released on the 30th anniversary to celebrate the Amstrad CPC. Ok, it is a little late, but finally the megademo was released on the ReSeT #28 demoparty in Coutances / France… and it was worth to wait for it :-)!!!
The demo consists of different parts by various demosceners, which can be selected in a small menu part at the beginning of the demo. For those who do not want to wait, you can watch the recorded demo in the video below, but – as always when viewing demos – the demo looks best on the real hardware. So you should download it from Pouet.net (do not forget to vote for it) and run it on the real hardware!!!

A big “Thank you!” flies to all the people who participated in the production of this demo!!!

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Post tags: 2016, anniversary, demo, demoparty, demoscene, megademo, reset, reset #28

“The caves of camelot are controlled by a devious dragon. No one has beend ablte to stop his reign of horror. His traps seems impossible to pass in order to confront him. Who will be able to stop him?” – This is the intro of a new puzzle game written by Morri, which was inspired by the old “Black Dude” calculator game. You have to move boxes to get around obstacles and collect a key to leave the level.
The whole game is written in BASIC and it was planned to send it to the CPCRetroGameDev for the BASIC competition, but unfortunately there were some trouble to port it back to the Amstrad CPC 464 (so it obviously only runs on the Amstrad CPC 664 and the Amstrad CPC 6128). In my opinion it would have been a game with good chances to win the BASIC competition.
Anyway, Morri released it and you should definitively have a look at and see what’s possible with just plan BASIC on the Amstrad CPC. You can download it at the end of this page or from the CPCWiki forums.

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Post tags: 2016, 6128, 664, basic, cpcretrodev, game, morri

TRSI released a new musicdisc for the Amstrad CPC on the Nordlicht demoscene party. The disc features 7 tunes by Virgill, which you can select in a nice menu. It was also ranked 1st in the wild competition of the Nordlicht party. You can download the musicdisc at the end of this posting or from Pouet.net (don’t forget to vote :-)) and if you don’t want to listen to the tunes on the real machine or an emulator, you can listen to them on Soundcloud.

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Post tags: 2016, demoscene, music, musicdisc, nordlicht, premium, raft, red sector, tristar, trsi, virgill

Developing a beat’em up game for the Amstrad CPC in one weekend? Impossible! Impossible? Well, Francisco Gallego, Alberto Gonzalez and Jon Cortazar proved during the BitBitJam #3 that it is possible and released their game Kung Fu Guns now. In the game you play Sheriff Melissa Chase, who has to fight against a new chinese gang. It is a simple beat’em up with 2 levels finished, but they are thinking about evolving the idea and release a full game later. The game was developed with the great CPCtelera game development framework.

You can download Kung Fu Guns at the end of the news or from the BitBitJam #3 page. The latest version of the game is also available on GitHub.

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Post tags: 2016, alberto gonzalez, bitbitjam, cpctelera, frencisco gallego, game, jon cortazar, source, source code

A new version of the SDCC C compiler is available. You can use SDCC to develop for the Amstrad CPC, e.g. with using the SDCC Code::Blocks template or the programming tutorials by Mochilote or with the new CPCtelera framework. The new version contains also some features for the Z80 port, so be sure to update it. You can download it from http://sdcc.sourceforge.net.

Changes:

• Merged upstream binutils 2.25
• New memory management with lower overhead
• Changed default language dialect to –std-sdcc11
• Diagnostic for missing type specifier: No implicit int outside of C90 mode anymore
• C11 generic selections
• char type is now unsigned by default (old behaviour can be restored using –fsigned-char)
• Character constants are now of type int instead of char.
• ISO C95 and ISO C11 wide character constants
• ISO C95 and ISO C11 wide string literals
• Basic standard library support for wide characters: c16rtomb(), mbrtoc16(), mbsinit(), mbtowc(), mbrlen(), mbrtoc32, c32rtomb(), mbrtowc(), wcrtomb(), mblen(), wctomb()
• Treat all ports the same in the manual (i.e. mcs51-specific stuff is now clearly described as such)
• Reorganized interrupt handling for z80, z180, r2k, r3ka, tlcs90, gbz80 backends
• Workaround for stm8 division hardware bug
• ELF/DWARF support for stm8
• Output symbol table for ELF
• pic16 port now uses standard-compliant crt0iz that initializes static and globals to 0 by default
• Numerous feature requests and bug fixes

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Post tags: 2016, c-compiler, cross-development, development, programming, sdcc

Devilmarkus and ed209 / Slipstream released their new musicdisc “Remember the 80’s” on the Sundown 2016 demoscene party. As you might have already guessed, it features well-known music from the 80’s on the Amstrad CPC. They also participated in the wild demo competition and ranked 2nd.
You can download the musicdisc from Pouet.net (don’t forget to vote :-)).

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Post tags: 2016, demo, demoscene, devilmarkus, ed209, musicdisc, slipstream, sundown, wild

And another fresh release from the Sundown 2016 demoscene party: BarBar by Benediction. BarBar is an intro, which uses the special hardware capabilities of the Amstrad Plus series. If you own such a system, be sure to watch it on the real machine (all others will use WinApe for sure :-)).
You can download the demo at the end of this news or directly from Pouet.net (don’t forget to vote).

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Post tags: 2016, amstrad plus, benediction, demo, intro, plus, sundown

Rhino released a new graphics tool for the Amstrad CPC called Perfect Pix. Perfect Pix supports 3 different extended graphics modes with extended colours and resolutions:

• Mode R
  • Up to 384×272 pixels and 16 freely selectable colors from a palette of 27.
• Mode B0
  • Up to 192×272 pixels and 136 colors from a palette of 378.
• Mode B1
  • Up to 384×272 pixels and 307 colors, divided into color 0 + up to 34 palettes of 9 colors per line.

Perfect Pix comes with an awesome documentation (english and spanish) and of course with the source code to use the pictures in your own production. If you need graphics for your next project, be sure to have a look at it. You can download the latest version from Pouet.net and the CPCWiki forums.

v1.00

• First release.

v1.01

• Added message if upper memory is full by too many ROMs.

v1.02

• Bug fixed in the converter exporting overscan screens.
• More upper memory free for greater ROMs compatibility.

v1.03

• Improved controls in Paint tool by adding CONTROL + keys to move the pointer to scroll the zoom window (similar to OCP Art Studio).
• Added warning message in the converter when source image exceeds the image size limits managed with the Paint tool.
• Additional upper memory free for greater ROMs compatibility.

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Post tags: 2016, batman group, cross-development, development, graphics, perfect pix, rhino, utility

Reidrac just released a new jump and run game for the Amstrad CPC. It features awesome graphics, nice music, a lot of screens to explore aaaaaand Ninja Power aka Koga Magic :-). In the game, you play the ninja spy Kitsune who needs to collect the 30 pieces of the Golden Tail, which is a talisman with great power. But you can read more details about the story in the intro of the game. Be sure to download and play it – if possible on a real machine…
You can download the game from Usebox.net and at the end of this news. The ZIP file will contain a disk image, a cassette image and the game manual.

[UPDATE: v1.0.1-v1.0.3 some smaller bugfixes]

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Post tags: 2016, artaburu, cpcrslib, game, jump and run, reidrac, useboxnet, wyz