I have been busy coding away at the 6502 ROM and it is now in a useable state.

I have implemented all the V3 opcodes and the majority of the V5 opcodes which the game archives require. However, I have only tested a small subset of the available games so far so there is probably still work to do to complete the interpreter.

So far, only Samwise has been helping me test the code so I hope there are plenty more people out there who are willing to help as well. I would hate to think I am spending all this time writing the interpreter and no-one actually wants to use it !

You can download a disc image with the current code from :

http://www.g7jjf.com/progs/zcode.zip

This includes the ROM plus a few sample game files.

By default, the disc assumes you are in Master 128 mode and will auto-load the ROM when the disc is booted. If you want to try it in Model B mode, you can add the ROM to your BeebEm beebfile\bbc directory and alter your roms.cfg file to suit.

After installing the ROM and pressing Ctrl-Break to initialise it, you type :

*Z-CODE czech3 (or whatever)

to load and run the said game file.

You can find game files to try on the WIP page on this forum. Please also complete the games matrix on the WIP page if you are able to test any.

The ROM works very well with V3 games but is still a little slow on V5 games at the moment. I am using disc caching to help speed up game play but there is still plenty of tweaking to do you. Please be aware that the ROM only supports standard Acorn DFS discs at the moment.

If anyone find any problems when playing the games, please do let me know.

Thanks,

Jon.

In fact, I'd quite like to organise a testing run of the Infocom v3 games.

If you're able and willing to playthrough one of the v3 games, pls drop me a PM and I'll try and co-ordinate to make sure we're not duplicating effort.

I'll also show you how get the games into the right format for use with the interpreter.

Sam.

How's the work coming along Jon, I'm looking forward to some testing

Or are you waiting on full results from first round of testing before doing anything else ?

[Sam] As you know I'm willing to play some games Any you wish to allocate to me

Hey, Steve.

Actually we're rather thin on the ground as far as testers go, at the minute, which is a bit disappointing. However, that's cos I haven't started kicking ass and taking names yet.

Ever the perfectionist, Jon is putting the finishing touches on another build - he's splitting out the code so that there's a Model B MODE 7 ROM which will only handle v3 games, and a Master 128 MODE 0 (maybe MODE 4 as well) ROM which we hope will cover v3 - v5 games.

The initial focus now is on the v3 games because Jon has pretty much finished the opcodes for those. We're putting together a Windows/Mac hassle-free testing pack for users so they have everything they need at one click, and it's that that we're spending time on (to try to entice some non-Beeb players from the IF community to help us with the testing).

However, if you're itching to get started, the ROM Jon linked to last time is feature complete and works in Model B or Master mode of BeebEm. You're welcome to pick any of the v3 games and get started - just let me know which one(s) you're playing with. The full list of v3 games is on the wiki WIP page - you can get a synopsis of what each game is about at the unofficial Infocom Homepage. If you drop me a PM, I'll show you how to format the games for use with the interpreter.

If anyone else wants to do the same, please drop me a PM - you don't even have to play through the games properly, if you don't enjoy that sort of thing. Following a walkthrough will do just as nicely, and will leave more time for testing ...

Sam.

Hi Sam,

I'm looking through the games now. The links not right though, a typo on "retro" although the re-direct doesn't work from the corrected link either, needs the end slash removing.

Steve

Mark me down for Infidel please.

Fixed! I have butter fingers today.

*gets out the big ledger*

Infidel it is, sir.

Sam.