An Actor's Nightmare (TRS-80 CoCo)

Games for Spectrum, C64, Amstrad, Amiga, Apple ][ and the rest of the 8-bit and 16-bit platforms. Pleas for help, puzzles, bug reports etc.

Moderator: Alastair

Post Reply
Message
Author
ahope1
Posts: 68
Joined: Sun Mar 18, 2012 7:33 pm

An Actor's Nightmare (TRS-80 CoCo)

#1 Post by ahope1 » Sat Mar 02, 2019 8:39 pm

Hi, all.

The Third Rainbow Book Of Adventures for the Tandy Color Computer 1, 2 and 3 was mentioned on the Classic Text Adventures group on Facebook the other day, and I was wondering if anyone could help me get the tape version of the game An Actor's Nightmare to work in an emulator?

The program is on a disk-image that I found on a TRS-80 site somewhere and uploaded to the Facebook group. I've also attached it to this post.

The tape version of the game has the filename ACTOR.TAP and I can get it to start in the JS Mocha emulator, but it then runs out of memory because it's being run from disk. I think. I'm a bit clueless when it comes to Tandy machines!

(In a way, I guess it doesn't matter if I can't get the longer tape version to work because the extra bits that are present in the tape version are just the loading screen (and "tune") and the win-screen, which you can see if you just load ACTOR.TAP and then GOTO the relevant line anyway.)

Attachments
RNBADV3b.dsk.zip
CoCo disk-image
(42.63 KiB) Downloaded 135 times

Alastair
Posts: 1046
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2005 12:21 am

Re: An Actor's Nightmare (TRS-80 CoCo)

#2 Post by Alastair » Sun Mar 03, 2019 12:11 am

I've created a cassette image from the ACTOR.TAP file on the disk [1]. To run it first 'disconnect' any disk controllers from the emulator before you CLOAD and RUN the image.

Actors_Nightmare.zip
(9.23 KiB) Downloaded 149 times

[1] Since it is a BASIC program it is quite easy to create a cassette image, in this case the steps being:

LOAD "ACTOR.TAP"

Creating an output tape and giving it a name with the .cas extension. In the emulator I use (XRoar) this comes under File > Cassette > Output Tape...

CSAVE"ACTOR" (In fact any name up to eight characters will do.)

Waiting until the program has finished saving (in XRoar the F12 function key will speed this up) and then exiting the emulator.
Last edited by Alastair on Sun Mar 03, 2019 3:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Corrected the maximum file name length (8 not 5).

User avatar
Garry
Posts: 468
Joined: Sun Oct 28, 2012 11:43 am
Location: Sydney, Australia
Contact:

Re: An Actor's Nightmare (TRS-80 CoCo)

#3 Post by Garry » Sun Mar 03, 2019 12:55 am

Alistair's information is correct. You can run it from disk if you shorten the program. Here's what it says in the book:

"Due to memory limitations, the program will not run with the disk controller
plugged in unless the graphics title and ending screens are deleted. To do so,
delete Line 9 and lines 265 to the end of the listing (type DEL 9 and DEL265-)."

Incidentally, I use the VCC emulator, so we're all using something different.

ahope1
Posts: 68
Joined: Sun Mar 18, 2012 7:33 pm

Re: An Actor's Nightmare (TRS-80 CoCo)

#4 Post by ahope1 » Sun Mar 03, 2019 1:06 am

Alastair wrote:
Sun Mar 03, 2019 12:11 am
I've created a cassette image from the ACTOR.TAP file on the disk
Excellent! Thank you.

Garry wrote:
Sun Mar 03, 2019 12:55 am
You can run it from disk if you shorten the program. Here's what it says in the book: "Due to memory limitations, the program will not run with the disk controller plugged in unless the graphics title and ending screens are deleted. To do so, delete Line 9 and lines 265 to the end of the listing (type DEL 9 and DEL265-)."
Thanks. Yes, I'd seen that note in the book but what I really wanted to do was run the tape version, but I didn't know how to create a tape-image from the file ACTOR.TAP on the disk-image!
Garry wrote:
Sun Mar 03, 2019 12:55 am
I use the VCC emulator
I'm only really using the JS Mocha emulator at the moment. I think I did install VCC [edit: not VCC -- it was a different CoCo emulator!] in a Windows VM on my Mac, but as I recall it was a bit fiddly to use. I think I might try it again with Alastair's tape-image though because I'm curious to know what the "tune" is really meant to sound like. In JS Mocha it sounds cacophonous!

:)

Alastair
Posts: 1046
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2005 12:21 am

Re: An Actor's Nightmare (TRS-80 CoCo)

#5 Post by Alastair » Sun Mar 03, 2019 3:20 pm

ahope1 wrote:
Sun Mar 03, 2019 1:06 am
I think I did install VCC [edit: not VCC -- it was a different CoCo emulator!] in a Windows VM on my Mac, but as I recall it was a bit fiddly to use.
There are emulators available for the Mac.

Alongside the Mac version of MAME there are Mac builds for XRoar - http://www.6809.org.uk/xroar/ - they may not be the very latest version but they should do the job (or if you are up to it, you could try compiling a Mac build from the latest source code).

VCC - https://github.com/VCCE/VCC - is a CoCo 3 emulator, the CoCo 3 is almost but not quite 100% compatible with the earlier CoCo models and so may not always be the best option for running CoCo 1 and 2 programs. As yet there is no Mac version of VCC but it has been open sourced with the intention of making it available for Mac and Linux, so it may be worth keeping an eye on progress.

For copyright reasons XRoar does not come with ROM images. These can be downloaded from http://archive.worldofdragon.org/archiv ... Roms/CoCo/ the ones required for the CoCo 2 with a disk drive controller being:
Color Basic v1.3 (1982)(Tandy).zip
Extended Color Basic v1.1 (1982)(Tandy).zip
Disk Extended Color Basic v1.1 (1982) (26-3022) (Tandy).zip

ahope1
Posts: 68
Joined: Sun Mar 18, 2012 7:33 pm

Re: An Actor's Nightmare (TRS-80 CoCo)

#6 Post by ahope1 » Sun Mar 03, 2019 4:42 pm

Thanks for the info, Alastair. I may well try one of the emulators you mention because although I have now got Windows VCC working under CrossOver Mac (which is essentially a wrapper for WINE), it does make the laptop run a little hot, for some reason!

But at least I found out what the intro tune to the game was meant to be. It’s apt.

:thumb:

User avatar
jgerrie
Posts: 280
Joined: Sat Aug 17, 2013 1:25 pm
Location: Nova Scotia
Contact:

Re: An Actor's Nightmare (TRS-80 CoCo)

#7 Post by jgerrie » Mon Mar 04, 2019 1:22 am

Although it might not work in this case. Typing:
PCLEAR1 <Enter>
before loading a program can free up space for very large BASIC programs that don't use graphics.

Jim

ahope1
Posts: 68
Joined: Sun Mar 18, 2012 7:33 pm

Re: An Actor's Nightmare (TRS-80 CoCo)

#8 Post by ahope1 » Tue Mar 05, 2019 2:45 pm

Alastair wrote:
Sun Mar 03, 2019 3:20 pm
there are Mac builds for XRoar - http://www.6809.org.uk/xroar/ - they may not be the very latest version but they should do the job (or if you are up to it, you could try compiling a Mac build from the latest source code).
I eventually got some sort of XRoar installation working on my Mac.

My version of macOS is far from up-to-date, and yet the pre-built download of XRoar doesn't work properly -- because it's even older! The menu item for loading disk-images and tape-images just causes the emulator to freeze. So I have to launch the app from the commandline (which is suitably retro, I guess) and specify a tape- or disk-image manually.

Fortunately, if I want to save my position in a game, say, I do seem to be able to save a snapshot using the menu and then reload it later at the commandline. A bit convoluted but it all seems to work, just about.

The following webpage helped with setup:

(I did also try building XRoar from source, but even though I had installed the recommended dependencies first, the resultant app didn't have any menus at all! :( I don't have the skills to figure out why.)


Alastair
Posts: 1046
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2005 12:21 am

Re: An Actor's Nightmare (TRS-80 CoCo)

#9 Post by Alastair » Tue Mar 05, 2019 11:23 pm

ahope1 wrote:
Tue Mar 05, 2019 2:45 pm
The menu item for loading disk-images and tape-images just causes the emulator to freeze.
You are not the only one to experience this problem, see if pressing command-F twice fixes the problem (taken from the thread http://archive.worldofdragon.org/phpBB3 ... 608#p14608 - "Sixxie" btw is Ciaran Anscomb, the creator of XRoar).

ahope1
Posts: 68
Joined: Sun Mar 18, 2012 7:33 pm

Re: An Actor's Nightmare (TRS-80 CoCo)

#10 Post by ahope1 » Wed Mar 06, 2019 1:32 am

Alastair wrote:
Tue Mar 05, 2019 11:23 pm
ahope1 wrote:
Tue Mar 05, 2019 2:45 pm
The menu item for loading disk-images and tape-images just causes the emulator to freeze.
You are not the only one to experience this problem, see if pressing command-F twice fixes the problem (taken from the thread http://archive.worldofdragon.org/phpBB3 ... 608#p14608 - "Sixxie" btw is Ciaran Anscomb, the creator of XRoar).
The Command-F trick works. Thanks!

:thumb:

Manriquez
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2019 1:53 pm

Re: An Actor's Nightmare (TRS-80 CoCo)

#11 Post by Manriquez » Wed Mar 06, 2019 3:04 pm

ahope1 wrote:
Wed Mar 06, 2019 1:32 am
Alastair wrote:
Tue Mar 05, 2019 11:23 pm
ahope1 wrote:
Tue Mar 05, 2019 2:45 pm
The menu item for loading disk-images and tape-images just causes the emulator to freeze.
You are not the only one to experience this problem, see if pressing command-F twice fixes the problem (taken from the thread http://archive.worldofdragon.org/phpBB3 ... 608#p14608 - "Sixxie" btw is Ciaran Anscomb, the creator of XRoar).
The Command-F trick works. Thanks!

:thumb:
Weirdly enough it worked for me too. What does the Command-F trick do exactly? Does anyone know?
Last edited by Manriquez on Mon Dec 11, 2023 3:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Alastair
Posts: 1046
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2005 12:21 am

Re: An Actor's Nightmare (TRS-80 CoCo)

#12 Post by Alastair » Wed Mar 06, 2019 8:55 pm

Manriquez wrote:
Wed Mar 06, 2019 3:04 pm
What does the Command-F trick do exactly?
From the above linked thread, it appears that just the video freezes (perhaps due to an SDL issue?) and XRoar is still working, pressing Command-F twice switches the emulator to full screen and back and somehow resets the video. As to why it works, I do not know.

Alastair
Posts: 1046
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2005 12:21 am

Re: An Actor's Nightmare (TRS-80 CoCo)

#13 Post by Alastair » Fri May 10, 2019 9:49 pm

There is some good news for Mac users on the XRoar front, Ciaran can now develop the MacOSX version on Mac hardware.

For details and a link to the page containing the latest snapshot DMG see http://archive.worldofdragon.org/phpBB3 ... =5&p=17666

Post Reply