RoboCup 2021 Work in Progress

Performa

Performa

Member
So I figured I may as well put together a thread detailing what I'm doing in the effort to get this event ready to go. I like to think these notes might come in handy later, or at the very least help isolate any missteps so we can omit them in future events.

It's been a few days since I was featured on WSAW news, and the response I've gotten locally has been overwhelmingly positive. I've gotten quite a few emails, messages on Facebook and other places, as well as people in town who have offered kind words or support- if even a fraction of the people who have expressed interest attend, we'll have a good show for sure I imagine. Shameless plug, the Facebook event is HERE if anyone wants to chime in over there.

As of now I have a master list of machines, and there's about 25 that should be able to make it to the show. There's a couple that need some work, and a few that might get swapped in and out as the date approaches. I know we'll have some other folks bringing some gear over too, so for once I don't have the "entire" machine list! 😄

I have a very good feeling about this. I think we're going to have a good turnout, I think people are going to like the show, and I think we're going to raise a good deal of money through the tournament and donations to make the Stevens point Robocop statue a reality. This should be good!
 
Performa

Performa

Member
Tournament notes! So the original game selection process was a look at the various Robocop games of the era, then whittling that list down to games that would run on machines we had in working order, then picked from that list. @Jasper was instrumental in breaking all that down, many thanks for the help there!

The game we settled on was RoboCop 2 for the Commodore 64. Everyone loves the Commodore 64, and this game has more of a "Mario" feel to it than the more gunplay-heavy first and third games for the C64. The other consideration was, admittedly, optics. While Robocop is of course a product of it's time and I doubt anyone who has seen the films would say Robocop is a bad guy, we do have to treat the source material with some care today. With tensions high in the wake of numerous police-involved shootings, and due to the limitations of the computers of this time, we don't want to give anyone the impression to someone that might not know anything about Robocop that it is just about a robot police officer gunning people down. The second game has Robocop securing nuclear materials, bounding over obstacles, and occasionally blasting brightly colored mutant enemies with his cartoony-looking gun. It was a good deal we felt.

However, this may not be the game we end up playing in the RoboCup tournament. As explained in the "I'm an idiot" thread a few days ago, the game Robocop 2 was distributed much more widely in Europe than in the United States. As European power systems run on 50 hertz rather than the US 60 hertz, their C64's run at a different speed than the US models do- and this means that European software designed to run on European hardware won't run properly on US hardware. While the club does have one European/PAL-region C64, it is in very poor condition and is prone to crashing (I believe there's bad RAM, among other issues). We can of course run the game on modern PC or Pi-based emulators, but that would no doubt miff the people wanting to play C64 games on a real C64.

All the same, a compromise has appeared- as the venue has moved indoors to a space with reliable electrical power, we can run the club's Amiga machines- and with it, the Robocop Amiga games. Robocop 2 for the Amiga is graphically superior to the Commodore version, and while we'd have to change our scoring rubric a little to compensate, it shouldn't be too bad. I don't imagine too many people would be upset to play the technically superior Robocop game that sold much better in the US, and would be better remembered I'd think.

Ultimately it remains to be seen what happens. I imagine we'll keep a PC with VICE handy in case anyone wants to run the C64 Robocop game instead, but I can't imagine too many people would be upset playing on either an Amiga or an Amiga emulator for this one. I guess we'll find out!
 
Performa

Performa

Member
So, the first problem I've foreseen is that we have a lack of monitors and (for a few systems) games.

First, monitors. I have quite a few, but even still I don't have a 1-to-1 ratio of monitors to computers. I tend to only keep what is easy to store or is matched to a system. This is the biggest show I've ever put on, and if we get all the things out I want out we're going to be short about 5 monitors. Not good, but a problem I think we can solve in time. Most of these old computers use regular TV inputs to work, so getting a few small TVs from Craigslist shouldn't be too hard I'd think. All the same, if you're in the Point area and you have something you'd like to donate, sell, or borrow us for the show, message me here or on Facebook.

Next, games. Some computers I'm thinking of showing I don't have too many games for, or the games I have aren't reliable enough to really be shown- for example, i really don't want to load any tape-based games as they take forever to load. This one is a bit trickier, as some things will need proprietary carts, disks, or connectors that will need to be ordered in. I've got this process going, but with the state of the post in the US right now I'm really hoping everything arrives in time.

On the potential chopping block if games don't come in:
Commodore VIC-20
TRS-80 2000
Various PC's

I'm determined to bring the old Zenith all-in-one as there's been a considerable amount of interest in that, but it will be kinda lacking if it's only able to process text documents instead of playing some sort of game. I guess we'll see how it goes!
 
Performa

Performa

Member
It's been a flurry of orders as I'm working to get all the other odds and ends ordered and shipped so they get here on time. Decorations, table coverings, and transportation equipment are all on the way to augment what I've been able to source locally. There's a cost to it of course, but most of this stuff will be a one-time buy, meaning we'll be able to reuse all this stuff at future events over and over again. I'm getting more and more excited for this show!

Depending on logistics there may only be one iMac G3 at the event. One of them would be a good ambassador for the platform, and I'd rather cut a duplicate of something already in the show than something that might not otherwise be represented. Time will tell, of course.

We've also started work on a custom donations box. I've reached out to a local artist about it, and I'm expecting we'll get something cool out of it. I've leveraged some leftover pieces from my now-defunct vending business that'll keep it from tipping over or wandering away. I'll have more on that as it comes together!
 
Performa

Performa

Member
Good news, the set of aftermarket Commodore power supplies have arrived all the way from Poland (the fastest international shipping I have ever seen!) and so that won't be an issue for the show. I was worried I might have to cut something or risk using one of the 40 year old original power bricks, but we're all good now!

With the hotel now locked in and a clear setup time established (that's longer than the 2 hour window we were staring down originally) I'm a lot less worried about having to cut some things in place of others. We'll see how things come together!

I'm still cautiously optimistic that the RIFA caps will come in on time to get the KayPro and Osborne rigs in the show. The Osborne will be ugly no matter what thanks to it's keyboard issue, but I still think people would like to see it if I can get it to the show. Might be able to scavenge some keycaps from something else just to get it pseudo-presentable too.

The pieces are all coming together! This is going to be great!
 
Last edited:
Performa

Performa

Member
So I've discovered that there is a port of Robocop 2 for the Apple II system. The Apple II has a lot less graphical power than even the Commodore 64, so in a weird way I'm kinda impressed it doesn't look "worse" than this. I'll see if I can find a bootable ROM for it, though to be clear this version will NOT be in the tournament. It will, however (assuming I can get it to work on the Apple II) be available for those curious to try this flavor of the game.

 
Performa

Performa

Member
The RIFA caps arrived yesterday! Now it's time to see if the KayPro and/or the Osborne can be patched up enough to make it to the show!

 
Performa

Performa

Member
Alright, good news and bad news!

I'll start with the bad news, as it's pretty much what we've expected- a few machines we'd love to bring just aren't going to make it, largely due to faults I just don't have time to troubleshoot before the show in a few days. These are:

  • Commodore VIC-20
While the VIC-20 will likely still physically be at the show, it's not taking any of the cartridges inserted. As it's keyboard is pretty much entirely dead, there's not much point in having it plugged in to sit there. Hopefully we can get whatever's wrong with the cartridge port fixed- it had been working previously, and aside from being cleaned and then stored, nothing about the machine has changed since I got it.

  • TRS-80 2000
A decidedly cool machine, but I'm not able to get it to read any disks. I've disassembled and cleaned the disk drives, and there's been no change. I'm confident the issue is fixable, but I doubt I'll be able to get it going on time for the show. In it's stead, I've called up another PC from reserve to fill it's spot.

  • Osborne 1
As much as I love it, it's not even powering on right now. Likely capacitor issues that I won't have time to sort out before the show.

  • Gateway Profile K6
I don't think I mentioned this one much, but it's a neat little 1999 all-in-one that's essentially a laptop crammed into a different case. My plan was to have it at the show running Command and Conquer Red Alert 2, but unfortunately half of the screen isn't lighting up. That's a little too far gone to play much of anything, and so it's been cut.

Good news! Everything else has so far checked out fine. The Amigas and the IIGS crash a little bit, but that was normal when they were brand new too. As we've had to cut a few oddities, it seems only fitting to slot a few oddities in to fill the gaps. These are:

Apple eMate 300
The Apple eMate was a bizarre educational laptop built on Apple's "Newton" PDA architecture. Some of the things it can do, especially for the 90's, are fairly impressive.

Commodore Colt
I wasn't sure if this was interesting enough to warrant taking along, but with the TRS-80 2000 PC down and out, it's the best early PC I've got to fill that space.

More to follow, depending on how testing goes!

See you at the show!
 
Performa

Performa

Member
Got the cable for the IIGS monitor, and... Amazon shipped me the wrong cable. 😟

They promise to have a replacement out to me by JUNE 17TH. Oh man, what a joke.

If anyone has a DB15 RGB monitor cable they'd be willing to lend me for the show, I'd be eternally grateful. If not, I'll figure out something else for the IIGS.
 
Jasper

Jasper

Well-known member
Performa said:
Got the cable for the IIGS monitor, and... Amazon shipped me the wrong cable. 😟

They promise to have a replacement out to me by JUNE 17TH. Oh man, what a joke.

If anyone has a DB15 RGB monitor cable they'd be willing to lend me for the show, I'd be eternally grateful. If not, I'll figure out something else for the IIGS.
Click to expand...
Damn
 
Performa

Performa

Member
So I've determined that in the RoboCup itself, anyone not playing on the emulator is going to be at a pretty serious disadvantage. The Amiga will run it, but it will still crash and stutter from time to time. I presume if it happens during someone's run, they'll just start over, but that wouldn't be great if someone was having a good run just to crash and burn at the end.

I guess we'll see how it goes. This is our first time doing this, and it's never been done like this before, so we'll figure it out.
 
Performa

Performa

Member
Alright, the event is done and I fell asleep really early after hauling a literal to of computers down the stairs again, so I just got up. A bombardment of details is incoming! 😁
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top