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I need to know what the max. refresh rate of the screen is for the 86. I attempted to make an ASM program (of course) that would tell me this, but it didn't seem to work. I made it change the screen buffer area thing (port 0) and then read bit 1 on port 3. If it was clear, it would say that. Otherwise, it would say it was good to go. I then used different delay lengths in between the time it changed the screen area and the time it read port 3. I noticed that this didn't work. It seemed that bit 1 on port 3 had nothing to do with whether or not it was in the middle of refreshing the screen. In fact, the answer it gave depended on whether the interrupts were on. I would really like to know because the bast grayscale can be made if this information is known. If you know what I need, please tell me, or if you know something that I don't, please tell me. Thank you.

If you read previously i was coming out with "Dark Wolf" That as been canceled due to the fact my teacher deleted. I know, i know, it was dumb to not have backed it up. However i will be redoing a game simular to it. I don't want to reprogram the same storyline and same interface so i will redo the whole thing. consequently i need storyline ideas. you can post it or Email me at JeffALund@yahoo.com

I have just made an ASM program that takes 2 regular pics and turns them into a grayscale pic for a number of seconds (given by real variable "TIMER"). If you want the details, go to the upcoming graphics programs page. This could be used by BASIC programmers in title screens and whatnot. By the way, you can do stuff in the background while this program runs (like setting up variables), so that makes it even cooler.

I am designing a game for ti86. I've gotten most of the plot, and it reminds me alot of Zelda for N64. Basically, you go around from city to city collecting items and weopons along the way, using them to defeat any "bad guys" that cross your path. You can save up to 3 games and have the option of having them password protected for security. There are a multitude of weopons, mostly blade type, and as you progress, you can learn to cast different types of spells dependant upon your experience. There's only one minor setback, and that is that I don't have an 86 yet, but I should be getting one soon, so I will be able to start on it then. I do have an 83+ and don't think that learning to program an 86 should be too difficult. If anyone has a possible name for this game, either post it here or email me at robobob03@hotmail.com. Also, if anyone has any ideas that could made this game be even sweeter, post those too. Thanx!

Oh, yeah. You create your character's attribute (speed, strenght, etc...) when you first start the game. You can veiw a map and save your game at nearly any position. As you go further into the game, there will be more on the map to see. If you have any comments, or want any other information concerning this game (whatever it's name ends up to be), please post, or preferably, email me. Thanx!

I have 2 questions about this game. The first is is it in assembly or BASIC? The second is why would you want to password protect the saved games? Is one supposed to be afraid that someone will break into their calculator and mess with the saved game files? It may sound cool, but I for one beleive that it is pointless. I guess this answers my first question about being in BASIC, since if it were in ASM, there should be no way to know even where the saved games are. Anyway, I just thought i'd add a little input.

Your comment doesn't bother me at all. In fact, I wish more people would be more scepticle about it and ask more questions. It will be written in BASIC as you guessed, and, yes, I personally know many people who go onto other people's calculators and delete things from it. If you have any other ideas or questons in mind, the please tell me about them.

So you don't want your savegames to be deleted?
Well, ever thought about this?
"You can't delete what you can't see."

If you are going to store data in a list, you could make that list invisible! On the TI-83 is that done quite easily.
Example: you store your data in list "SAVE". Then, you replace the "S" in "SAVE" with a space (so the name would be " AVE"). This way, the calc won't display the list, it can't be deleted, but it's still there. (It works with the TI-83, so I think it would also work with the 86, please correct me if I'm wrong)

It's quite easy to create an Assembly program wich can hide and unhide a list. Unfortunately, I only know 83 assembly so I can only give you this idea, but maybe someone else could create a prog like that.

The unhide program has to look if list " AVE" (the s is replaced by a space because the list was already hidden hidden) exists. If not, it has to create list "SAVE". If the list did exist, it has to replace the space with a "S".

The hide program has to replace the "S" with a space.

Then, in your main program, it would look like this:

:asm(prgmUnhide
:store the data in list SAVE
:asm(prgmHide

This way, nobody will mess with the savegame (unless they unhide it)

This is just an idea, maybe someone else has a better idea.

Anyway, good luck with your game!

As far as I can tell, you can't create a variable with a space as the first character, at least without using ASM. The TI-86 doesn't interpret the space as part of the name, so it just uses whats after it to name the variable. I really fail to see why this is necessary, because the idea that someone would steal your calc just to mess with your data seems irrational. It's not like you have your phone number and address in there, or wait, maybe you do. Anyway, just thought i'd give you a "head's up"

I actually don't need a protection on my calc because it's empty most of the time (Damn those crashes!). But If anyone messes with your savegames, than that can really be a pain in the ass.

About the (un)hiding thing, thanks for correcting me. I know it works with the 83 but since I don't have a TI-86, I could only guess they would work pretty much the same. Thanks anyway.

I have been tring to do a roguelike game in basic for quite a while. It will be called Cangband(calculator angband). I think it will work pretty well and not be too incredibly slow. However i am not sure how do two things:
1)a random level generator (which i may just skip for now)
2)Line of sight
If any one has any ideas on how to do these things i would apprectiate it alot.

SO..... calculator intelligence is getting you down, huh? Well, I was helping this other kid with a roguelike game, and it was my job to make a random level generator. However, with my current knowledge of ASM random numbers, I found it rather difficult. There are 2 things, first, ASM may be a lot faster but it is a lot more complex and it likes to do things in a very precise manner, which doing random things just doesn't fit in, and two, BASIC may be very slow but it would be a tad easier to make a level generator. You would need to give it random numbers for the coordinates of rooms and whatnot and random numbers for the size or the rooms. Then you would need to make sure that there is a hallway and whatever you want. Line of sight isn't very hard either. You need to give it your location and I assume you can only move left,right,up, and down, so just tell it to do:
For(A,1,21
If (xposition)-A==(whatever see-through value is):Then
::Show this location::
If (xposition)+A==(whatever see-through value is):Then
::Show this location::
End
And if you are looking for something like battles where you want to know if the other guy is blocked, so the same thing but dont show the location, just move the arrow or whatever.
That's what I have to say about that.

As for the random level generator, i decide that for Cangband i will simply have preset levels (for now).
But as to the line of sight your little bit of code works for horazontal and vertical LOS. However, there are 360 degrees and I'd like to be able to see all of them. Any ideas on this? (not that i'm not gratful for you help but...)

Yes I was retarded for not thinking that through. What I gave would be good only for checking for straight movement in 4 directions. In order for true line of sight to work, you would need to give 360 vectors and check every position along that vector. If anything was blocking a part of that vector, it would need to block every position after that on that vector and move on to the next one. I doubt that you will be using single pixels as the unit of measure for your game, and I assume you are using the ASCII text for all your stuff. Since the screen is 21 characters wide and 8 tall, you only need 58 vectors to check. (21+21+8+8 squares to check around the edge of the screen.) You wouldn't have to worry about the size of the thing blocking your sight and turning off the triangle behind it because the next vector you check should turn off those blocks. (Imagine that a small object in the foreground can completely block a larger object in the background.) The only thing about this method is that in BASIC, it would take quite a while to check and redraw the screen every time you move. Another thing is that I'm not quite sure how to check to see if points are along lines and if they are to draw them black or whatever. Maybe you give the program 21 positions along the top or the screen and then have it check the same 21 lines along the bottom. Again, I don't know how you could do this but it may help you think of what you need to do in order to accomplish your goal.

This sounds kinda slow if you ask me, but it's a better start then what I have. Thanks.

I found a cool way to do sprites in basic. It is by using an asm program i found. It is the sprite maker included with this hilo type game. Anyway, i plan on using this for my game. Unfortuatly, i can't draw much more than a sad stick man. I need help! Could anyone send me 8x8 sprites of an elf, a dwarf, a man, a goblin, a zombie, and a 16x16 dragon. You can send them to sir_pansy@yahoo.com. I will include your name and whatnot in the game giving credit where credit is due.

While I'm not a very good artist, I have made some silly little ASM programs. The first one takes two regular TI-86 PIC's and displays them as a grascale picture. The second one makes it so that the ON key doesn't work! HA! Imagine a game where they HAVE to complete it in order to save their calculator!!! I love it. Anyway, I'd just like to say that I have these things and I don't beleive that they can be found elsewhere as of yet.

I have a question for you people. Would you rather have a piture in 4-level grayscale that is flickery or 3-level grayscale that isn't flickery? Please let me know before I release this program that I made. Thanks.

well actually i would prefer they be in black and white. I know this is alot harder as you only get two colors and i will be equally gratful for any help.

Yeah, I don't think I'll be doing much of anything with my calculator as it seems to have broken. When I do grayscale it kinda gets really dark and then fades almost so light that I can't see it no matter what the contrast is. Then when it's done and it goes back to the homescreen the old picture kinda lingers there for about 5-10 seconds before it goes away. When I compared my calc to my friend's at school, his pixels were black while mine were brown, no matter what I did with the contrast. This is desturbing me because I'm trying to work on my grayscale routine and if I can't see what it's really doing then I can't program. By the way, my batteries are fresh and my program doesn't have anything that should do this. Oh, well. Maybe I should just fork over another $120 and buy a new one... Nahhhh.

I case any one cares...my artwork still sucks. But i did find i liked the little faces i drew to go ontop of my little stick figures. Then, i get this (sorta) cool idea. Why not use the faces in a mysterious land called Face Land? (ok, maybe its not THAT cool)Pretty soon a (wierd) storyline creeps into my head. Anyway, I no longer need any sprites as i can handle drawing a bunch of (17 to be exact)faces. See you in Face Land! (i might have to come up with a better name)

Hey, I just remembered that I am hiding a pretty cool BASIC battle thing that I was gunna use for a kikass RPG before I got into ASM. In fact, I had a bunch of pieces that I made and I was going to put them together around a plot (once I made one up). If anybody is interested in them, email me (Notbynow@aol.com) and i'll dig them up.

hey pansey what are sprites???email me at joc7471@aol.com