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Archive 02/2023


19.Feb.2023



Puzzle game: Connect 1.2
In the puzzle game "Connect" (screenshots), you have to connect a series of ICs in such a way that each chip receives exactly the number of connections printed on its package. Developer Frank Röger has written about the now released version 1.2:

"Our visit to the Amiga Wintertreffen (Germany) brought some fun as well as some insights: Connect still has some minor bugs.

For example, we found that on a Recalbox (Raspberry Pi + emulation) Connect runs rather suboptimal. The problem is that the game controllers support more than one fire button, which leads to the joystick for the Amiga being configured as a 2-button joystick. We were not able to change this and had to live with it at the meeting. However, that doesn't mean we have to live with it forever and have summarily added support for the 2-button joystick. So now it shouldn't matter which fire button is pressed.

Next point of criticism was (once again) the installation routine. The moment Connect was installed into a subfolder, there was no longer an icon for the Connect folder. We were surprised that we didn't notice this during testing, but have corrected it with the new version. Thanks to Gothor for pointing this out!

The user Afebriwyn has taken the initiative and created a WHDLoad slave for Connect. The special thing about it is that you can run the game without graphic errors even with loaded P96 drivers or very fast CPUs. Thanks to Afebriwyn for this work.

However, we have 2 notes about this:

1. If you use a 68060, you have to use NOMMU in the ToolTypes. The same applies to other CPUs, which are emulated by any FPGAs or the like. If you don't do this, the game will abort with an error message at startup.

2. Because the slave is provided by a third party developer LogicalByte does not support the slave. If you encounter any problems, please contact the e-mail address given in the readme. Thank you for your understanding.

We wish you a lot of fun!" (dr)

[News message: 19. Feb. 2023, 13:16] [Comments: 0]
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19.Feb.2023



Aminet uploads until 18.02.2023
The following files have been added until 18.02.2023 to Aminet:
Void-Dreams39.zip        demo/misc  698K  68k Demopack - February 2023
Void-FB14-AmigaOS4.zip   demo/sound 4.6M  OS4 Musicdisk with mods from GERP...
Void-FB14-Classic.lha    demo/sound 2.5M  68k Musicdisk with mods from GERP...
libogg.lha               dev/lib    325K  OS4 Library for handling OGG files
libvorbis.lha            dev/lib    1.0M  OS4 Libraries for handling Ogg Vo...
TilesSlide.lha           game/actio 81K   68k Align 3-4 tiles of the same c...
Space_Travel.lha         game/misc  59K   MOS C port of Ken Thompson's Spac...
AmiVms.lha               misc/emu   3.5M  68k Simulates OpenVMS commands
hippoplayerupdate.lha    mus/play   386K  68k Updated HippoPlayer
avalanche.lha            util/arc   84K   AOS ReAction unarchive GUI for xf...
avalanche_de.lha         util/arc   8K        German catalog for Avalanche ...
Avalanche_FR.lha         util/arc   7K        French catalog for Avalanche ...
avalanche_guide_de.lha   util/arc   7K        German translation of Avalanc...
ChangeExp.lha            util/misc  2K    68k Change Expansion-Devices, esp...
FlipSide_v2.2.lha        util/misc  16K   68k Switch screens via the Mouse-...
SniffEmu.lha             util/sys   12K   68k check if system is running in...
AnalogClock.lha          util/time  40K   68k Resizeable analog transparent...
StartWin.lha             util/wb    104K  68k Two bugged workbench launchba...
(snx)

[News message: 19. Feb. 2023, 10:01] [Comments: 0]
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19.Feb.2023



OS4Depot uploads until 18.02.2023
The following files have been added until 18.02.2023 to OS4Depot:
libogg.lha               dev/lib 325kb 4.0 Library for handling OGG files
libvorbis.lha            dev/lib 1Mb   4.0 Libraries for handling Ogg Vorbi...
drally.lha               gam/dri 3Mb   4.1 AmigaOS4/SDL2 Port of Open Sourc...
amystromwifiswitch.lha   uti/mis 2Mb   4.0 Control and query the myStrom Wi...
(snx)

[News message: 19. Feb. 2023, 10:01] [Comments: 0]
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19.Feb.2023



AROS Archives uploads until 18.02.2023
The following files have been added until 18.02.2023 to AROS Archives:
chocolatekeen.i386-aros.zip  gam/pla 427kb Game engine for Commander Keen (...
beastieworker.i386-aros.zip  gam/puz 1Mb   OpenGL sokoban game in 3d (10 le...
lunapaint.i386-aros.zip      gra/edi 756kb Updated Lunapaint with better da...
animplayer.i386-aros.zip     vid/mis 2Mb   Anim player with playlist support
(snx)

[News message: 19. Feb. 2023, 10:01] [Comments: 0]
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19.Feb.2023



MorphOS-Storage uploads until 18.02.2023
The following files have been added until 18.02.2023 to MorphOS-Storage:
FinalBurnNeo_1.0.0.3GI... Emulation                 FinalBurn Neo, an Emula...
dRally.lha                Games/Race                Open Source Engine / De...
Fallout2-ce_1.2_R2.lha    Games/RPG                 Open source Fallout 2
Image2PDF_1.4.lha         Graphics/Convert          Convert JP(E)Gs and PNG...
(snx)

[News message: 19. Feb. 2023, 10:01] [Comments: 0]
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19.Feb.2023



WHDLoad: New installers until 18.02.2023
Using WHDLoad, games, scene demos and intros by cracking groups, which were originally designed to run only from floppy disks, can be installed on harddisk. The following installers have been added until 18.02.2023: (snx)

[News message: 19. Feb. 2023, 10:00] [Comments: 0]
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19.Feb.2023
Cizar via Discord/CS-Lab Warp#general (ANF)


CS-Lab: Further Warp 1260 and/or Warp 1240 boards can be assembled
As Greg Donner reports at the title link, CS-Lab will soon receive 50 more FPGAs that were ordered a year ago. So the production of Warp 1260 and Warp 1240 turbo boards can be resumed. Potential buyers therefore can contact CS-Lab now or already send in processors for testing. (snx)

[News message: 19. Feb. 2023, 10:00] [Comments: 1 - 20. Feb. 2023, 18:59]
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19.Feb.2023
Andreas Magerl (ANF)


Print magazine: Amiga Future, issue 161 - preview and excerpts
Preview and excerpts of Amiga Future issue 161 (March/April 2023) have been published online meanwhile at the title link. Contents include an interview with Colin Vella and a review of AmiCygnix 1.7.

Amiga Future magazine is available as an English and a German printed magazine and can be bought directly from the magazine's editorial office as well as several Amiga dealers. (snx)

[News message: 19. Feb. 2023, 10:00] [Comments: 0]
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18.Feb.2023



Floppy disk images on PC and Mac: Greaseweazle Firmware 1.3
Keir Fraser's "Greaseweazle" does - similar to Kryoflux - read the magnetic information on a floppy disk independently from the format used and saves as much information as possible to generate a so-called "Flux Level Image" in Supercard format (SCP), which enables reading and back-writing of copy-protected disks (amiga-news.de reported)

The adapter gets connected between a floppy disk drive - e.g. a standard 3.5" PC one - and a USB port of the PC or Mac. Today version 1.8 of the Greaseweazle firmware has been released providing the following changes:
  • AT32F403A: Run this MCU at 216MHz in main firmware
  • USB: Implement GET_STATUS(DEVICE) as required by USB spec
    • This fixes repeated USB resets on some Linux hosts
  • Blinky test: Fix serial baud rate (115200)
(dr)

[News message: 18. Feb. 2023, 15:19] [Comments: 0]
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18.Feb.2023
TheoTheoderich


Developer log: Single player mode in "Settle the World"?
A week ago, Christian 'TheoTheoderich' Wiegel published an intro update for his turn-based building and trading game "Settle the World" (amiga-news.de reported). In the feedback, the wish was expressed to integrate a single-player mode including at least one computer opponent into the game.
In a recent developer log, the programmer now outlines how this could be implemented:

"To say it in front...this will not be easy.

Settle the World was an entry for BlitzBasic Jam 2022 and was supposed to be finished within six months. It was designed as a purely local multiplayer game due to the tight time constraints of the competition.

Unfortunately, this ensures that visual feedback for players is actually stored everywhere in the programme code. This means, for example, that a window appears when a unit has no more movement points, or a window appears when a Pioneer has no more tools, etc.

The calls to these information windows are built into the programme parts of the units and may of course not be called up during movements of computer-controlled units. Either all program parts will now be rewritten for universal use by players and computer opponents, or the computer opponents will receive their own program parts, which will, however, massively increase the file size of Settle the World (and with it the Fast RAM requirement).

Unfortunately, I realised yesterday that many Statements and Functions cannot simply be rewritten for shared use. That would be equivalent to a complete rewrite in many parts and so I won't be doing that. It would probably lead to a mess in the code that I wouldn't understand after a few weeks and so I would stop the project. Like dozens of projects on Amiga and PC in the last 20 years.

Settle the World should be saved from this "fate", however, because the game is really close to my heart! So I will include the part of the computer opponents as additional program code, which is mostly separate from the actual code. This won't be easy, I've never done anything like this before.

To get a feel for what work is needed, I just started over the last two days and marked one of the players as a computer opponent. This opponent doesn't start with loaded ships like the player, but directly with a first city.

So I wrote a function that determines a "perfect" position for a city.

The basis is the starting position of the respective player, i.e. the position where the player's ships normally spawn. Now all fields in a radius of 12 fields are checked for a suitable position. For this purpose, the surrounding fields of each land field are rated according to certain criteria.

How it works:
  • Each type of terrain gets points for its relevance. Fertile farmland gets a lot of points, tundra or desert give no points. Bonus and river fields give extra points.
  • There are three additional criteria:
    • Does the checked position on the map have access to wheat, wood and/or ocean?
    • If yes, the first field that fulfils one of these criteria gives extra points.
    • If it is the first city of a player, access to the ocean gives a lot of extra points to make sure that the first city is built by the sea.
Then a city is built at the position with the most points. After that a Pioneer is created at the position of this first city, placed into the city and used as a farmer on a field.

So far, this works quite reliably on all the maps I have tested.

However, it has already taken me two evenings... It's going to be a very, very lengthy project to integrate a computer opponent..." (dr)

[News message: 18. Feb. 2023, 08:20] [Comments: 0]
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17.Feb.2023



Unofficial successor: "It Returned From The Desert" for Windows
Tim Rachor's "It returned from the desert" (official release trailer) is an unofficial successor of the Amiga game It came from the desert for Windows (amiga-news.de reported), which now was released on Steam for 8,99 Euro. (dr)

[News message: 17. Feb. 2023, 05:50] [Comments: 0]
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17.Feb.2023



Video: Hidden developer messages
Piracy was rife on the Amiga, and almost every game was cracked by various scene groups. In his latest video, Kim Justice presents the messages and rants left in the code by developers for these crackers, which were sometimes angry but mostly hilarious. (dr)

[News message: 17. Feb. 2023, 05:42] [Comments: 0]
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17.Feb.2023



SCSI-SD adapter: ZuluSCSI firmware 1.2.1
ZuluSCSI is a new generation of file-based SCSI hard disk and CD-ROM drive emulators (review of an user). ZuluSCSI emulates a SCSI-I or SCSI-2 hard disk using an SD memory card (amiga-news.de reported). Version 1.2.1 of the firmware has been released. Changes:
  • Reinsert CD-ROM image when receiving Inquiry command
  • Open image as read-only if attribute set
  • RP2040: Reduce delay between phase signal changes
(dr)

[News message: 17. Feb. 2023, 05:25] [Comments: 0]
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