Is MSX a good platform for beginner programmer/game dev?

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By Tanni

Hero (556)

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26-08-2010, 14:32

Unless you're implementing a programming language or stuff, you usualy don't need a general multiplication routine. If you need multiplication by a fixed value, you're better off with the shift method. IIRC, the last part of the book contains some routines involving lists or so. It's advanced stuff usually not needed when you use mc form inline statements. There is a chapter about assemblers as well.

I was careful too, but you have to open it for reading. And as the pages are only glued against the spine, and as there are many pages, it falls apart soon. The picture on the cover is intriguing!

By Manuel

Ascended (19273)

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26-08-2010, 19:12

IMHO, assembly is not too difficult (unless you want to make it REALLY optimized), but understanding how all MSX chips work is much more difficult.

By yzi

Champion (444)

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26-08-2010, 21:03

I don't know if MSX is a particularly good platform, because VRAM isn't memory-mapped. On the other hand, working with separate VRAM (and VDP doing its stuff independently) can also teach many useful skills.

What comes to assembly, it's not really so difficult, and I don't think you need to learn asm *before* C. But you need to learn at least a little bit of it at some point, because I think no Z80 compiler is smart enough to generate code tight enough for MSX games, and without knowing the machine language, you can't really understand all the things that happen under the hood. Every once in awhile, take a look at what kind of asm your C code produces.

By syn

Prophet (2113)

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30-08-2010, 21:42

Since people already mentioned Pascal on MSX, doesn't hurt to remind about MSXPad: You can code on your PC (with syntax highlight and much more) and generate MSX code with it. It comes with several libraries, for all kinds of stuff, and there is even a simple tutorial on how to use it here.

I havent really looked into pascal as an option. Its like C right? compile once, dont need the software to run it?
Yes. You just need MSXDOS to run the .COM files. But nothing else is required.

Both MSXPad and it's libraries were used to make games like Breakfree, Carmen Sandiego, Snow Fighters (with source), Maximum Penalty (with source), SCSIcide (with source), Dungeons and Dragons, Profanation MSX2, Atomix, MSX2+ scrolling prototype (with source) and Transylvania 3

So there's plenty that can be done with it, and plenty of info to learn from :)

Hi SLotman, I decided to start off with MSXpad/pascal for a first game, since I already have experience with pascal (made some textbased stuff ages ago), to get some quick results (because of the supplied libraries and your great tutorial pdf)

The problem is the compiler seems to crash after a run. I tried that basic "hello world" and the compiler says " Compiling test... No Error" and then a popup saying "run-time error '62': Input past end of file.

What version of windows are you running it on? and do you need stuff like .NET framework (if yes what version) for it to run?

I have windows 7 64 bit, and a failed install of .net framework 3.5 (got some errors when installing, didnt bother to retry (it was months ago since i installed it)

By SLotman

Paragon (1242)

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31-08-2010, 05:45

Hi SLotman, I decided to start off with MSXpad/pascal for a first game, since I already have experience with pascal (made some textbased stuff ages ago), to get some quick results (because of the supplied libraries and your great tutorial pdf)

The problem is the compiler seems to crash after a run. I tried that basic "hello world" and the compiler says " Compiling test... No Error" and then a popup saying "run-time error '62': Input past end of file.

What version of windows are you running it on? and do you need stuff like .NET framework (if yes what version) for it to run?

I have windows 7 64 bit, and a failed install of .net framework 3.5 (got some errors when installing, didnt bother to retry (it was months ago since i installed it)

Actually the program is written on VB5 - so it doesn't need any more files than it installs.
Last OS I test was WinXP, haven't test it on Vista, and don't even have 7 to test it :/

The only reason I can think of it crashing, may be it trying to read the file the compiler generates (or some other file that should be created on disk), and due to permissions on 7 it can't. So you could try some things:

1) run the program with admin rights.
2) install it on other path then "Program Files" - something like c:\MSXPad or anything like it should do it.
3) mark msxpad.exe, tp3.exe, turbopc.bat and dos2cash.com to run in compatibility mode (right click on each one->properties->Compatibility, if it's anything close to XP on this)

Let me know if this works. If not, I'll try to test it on Vista-64 as soon as possible Smile

By syn

Prophet (2113)

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31-08-2010, 19:32

I tried all of the above.. didnt work.

also I googled vb5 and there was a runtime for it (some files for windows 95/98/nt ). Didnt expected it to work and it didnt.

Then I wanted to run a XP instance in virtual machine but my PC is getting some unknown error whle installing vmware. I think the problem is just my PC, i will do a win 7 reinstall i think. So I dont think you need to rush to test it on vista 64 bit.. though maybe its nice to verify if it actually works on 64 bit OS Smile

Thanks for help.

By Manuel

Ascended (19273)

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31-08-2010, 20:52

Try VirtualBox...

By SLotman

Paragon (1242)

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01-09-2010, 19:39

It's not a problem on your system, here on Vista64 the same happened. I'll check it out.

By SLotman

Paragon (1242)

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02-09-2010, 01:03

Yeah, the problem is within the compiler. Win64 cannot run the TP3.exe, it claims it is incompatible with 64 bits OS.

Trying to run TP3.exe alone, I get the following error:


This version of TP3.exe is not compatible with the version of Windows you're running. Check your computer's system information to see whether you need a x86 (32-bit) or x64 (64-bit) version of the program, and then contact the software publisher.

So, unfortunately, unless a new version is released, I guess it won't run on a 64 bit OS Sad

By syn

Prophet (2113)

syn의 아바타

02-09-2010, 11:08

doh thats a bummer. Ah well I will try to work it out. MY CPU isnt that fast.. for some reason virtualbox doesnt run as smooth for me as VMWare .. so my pascal trials will have to wait untill I find time to reinstall windows so i can set up vmware again.

Gues I will try some C in the mean time Big smile

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