Each character cell in Semigraphics mode (32x16) can only hold a single, one color 2x2 block character. Screen RAM is still 512 bytes in either case. Granted, this mode is still handled as a character mode as individual pixel placement isn't possible unless going into one of the specific monochrome/4 color 'resolution' graphics modes.

@ahklys1321 Why, yes! Yes it can. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aZSQmJahf7JraqM

Re-living my childhood watching the clips of the shows.

Yes, just synced. Still trying to work out how to play wav audio with video. Surprisingly the VZ can play 25 FPS video quite well from a SD card interface. Low quality audio should be quite possible with maybe 10 FPS video. Playing the audio as 1-bit through the cassette port or printer interface sounds much better than through the internal piezo speaker.

Hi Frank. Yes, this, and other videos, are running on a real VZ300 with the sd card loader - just outside of camera view. No tricks. This was (I think from memory) my first or second video that I managed to get four colour working. Grab a video, using ffmpeg & magick can extract some ~9,000 individual frames in 128x64 for a 25fps 6 minute video clip. Using another little utility to stack all frames back together again. Place this on to the SD card, then with some assembly, read the file in a continuous way and display in mode(1). Using this similiar reading technique, can play a modified 1 hour long wave file in as a 1-bit wave file. 2-bit music should be possible by playing it out to the cassette port with an amplified speaker plugged in --- I'm still working on this. We have identified that there is an issue with the 2k vz200/laser210 as there is a missing 2 or 4k gap between top of memory in these units, and the start of ram in the SD card reader. I don't know of an easy fix. If you happen to be on facebook, and you aren't already a member, look up 'vz laser fans' group. We're a small group of enthusiasts - and are reasonably quite friendly. Cheers

Hi James, You may be better off coming on over to our 'VZ200/VZ300 fans' FB page and asking. Jase Oakley made a VZ drawing program PaintYX that once the drawing is done, allows the export of the screen to hex and allows easier screen mock-ups within a C and/or asm source code. I typically just use an old version of Paint Shop Pro (v7) with a four colour (both color,0 and color,1) 32x16 and 128x64 templates - each having their own specific exact colours. Can then grab any image and paste it over the top/into the template and the colours attempt to then somewhat become an automatic 'best fit'. Then save it out as a RAW file, and I have an old 16bit conversion program to convert from the raw pic to that of the true data values for the VZ's equivalent colour that is essentially an include file that can then be shoved into a (typically) C or asm program source. Works extremely well. Not knowing how your are programming your adventure game : This method would also work fine for one or many static 128x64 image(s) within a basic listing. Would just take a little longer to get the values into the listing. One method that I can think of from off the top of my head would be : Get the image into a 2048 byte hex listing - say in notepad, use line numbering with data statements, and using one of the emulators, you could simply copy and paste the listing from notepad in to the emulator (it types merrily away). Save it as a VZ snapshot. Convert to WAV. Load the wav into your real VZ, and there is your 2048 byte image in your VZ as a basic listing. Save to tape/disk/sd-card. Magnum Quest is an adventure game, all in basic with some 20 or 30 mode(1) screens. All on floppy disk of course. Anyway, hit us up over on the VZ page for more ideas. cheers

​@@djmaunder Thanks for that lengthy answer! I'm a long time user of PSP 7 myself. I checked out Blue Bilby and have been trying to configure Notepad++ with z88dk, but stuck on a build error message that it can't find Build.vz

By the way, thanks for the work you guys have put in to keeping this li'l piece of history alive.

@@JamesHannagan Hit up Jason who runs Blue Bilby. He will (or should) know what the issue is off the top of his head I'm hoping. I' love to offer you some sort of help, but unfortunately I'm terribly old school and always just use plain old notepad, and, compile source code directly from a command prompt batch file which simply just calls Z88's compiler EXE. Same method with assembly source code listings. cheers

Copy - will see what I can come up with. One day.

@@djmaunder Awesome. What PC tracker should I use to make a tune for you to convert to a 1 bit vz video?

@@zylascope (Dave here, another account). Can just use either Beepola or 1-Tracker. Both are "google-able"; I dont know the URL's off the top of my head. Then pick any engine from either of them, and start tracking. Once sounding beaut, export the music as assembly (with or without the actual engine player code; it won't matter). Hit me up on the VZ FB group, or send me a youtube message to grab me email addy to send it. I'll then fiddle with it to make it playable on the VZ and add an option to play through the peizo speaker or cassette port. With regards to making a video above, I did up a PDF book thingy partially explaining how things work a few years back. It could now be updated quite a bit since having learnt a bit more over the time. Could add screenshots and directions and whatnot into it. Might think about doing this...

Re "pick an engine", actually, some of the engines within 1-tracker still wont work 100% with the VZ. Any of the phasers, Squats, WTBEEP, Buzzkick, Tritone come across and sound great.

@@bushy5552 Yeah, I'd say you'd have a good, interesting video on your hands if you made that.

1. This was nearly ten years ago. Why are you even bothering to comment. 2. Clearly you are a gun weilding person to be on the gun side of things. 3. Ten years ago it was illegal to "go a huntin' " with a gun. It was opened up to gun wielding people after this event had happened. 4. Police still have, and never released, the video showing nearby dust coming of the rocks when bullets ricocheted off them. This was the only portion of video that could be kept. 4. Was one of these dudes you? If not, then thanks, but you weren't there - dudes were taking pot shots at the person holding the camera. Please go and gun troll someone else.

met your mum 40 years never met your dad but met his brother last year driving a toe truck .

...correct. Address $6800 is the latch which does a multitude of things, including : COLOUR, MODE, SOUND and Cassette port. Since the VZ audio is somewhat kind-of "2-bit" sound to some degree (toggling both bits 0 and 5), usually an AND 32 can be used to mask out the unwanted constant toggling of both colours and mode, (or 'AND 40' to keep mode(1)) , however, after a little bit of fiddling, everything that I attempted upset the timing way too much (even 4 t-cycles), and it threw the music right out. So I gave up, and just posted what I had. It feels like the Phaser engines are incredibly tight, and very little room for timing changes. ....Or, perhaps its just my lack of knowledge on the matter. And, useless info time : (as mentioned above the words 'cassette port') by sending the music to bits 1 and 2, the music appears on the cassette port! Plug in an amplified speaker, and you have loud cool music from the VZ.

@@djmaunder I had often wondered the case - it reminds me of my real time 1bit sampler that I coded for a C64 demo (although mostly badly rewritten stolen code). Play a cassette from your C64's datasette and get a terrible grungy lo-fi playback.

Now I have to search for a VZ music editor and convert some of my 1990s compositions.

"Last Summer" by Utz, for his Phaser X engine. It is one of the most crisp and cleanest pieces of music I have managed to have found so far, and is by far the best sounding coming out from the little VZ. Is one of three music examples found within his PhaserX folder - ether in his github repositry or from within (somewhere) on his webbie: www.irrlichtproject.de

@@djmaunder thanks. I know the website, but I didn't know this song, neither did I find .SNA

@@atari8xxl After a lot of searching on his webbies, I nearly gave up. Its one of his examples within Utz's new Bintracker. Sitting right there in the 'examples' directory as 'last_summer.mdal'. Cheers.

It is not in his github site ( github.com/utz82) It must be within the windows download zip sitting on his bintracker website.

Quick description: -Found the animation as a GIF file that was done by someone else years ago. "What the Monsters in DOOM see. " -Split the GIF into the ~10 or 15 animation frames (however many that there were). -Converted each frame from its original size and colour (whatever they were) into 256x192 mono. -Loaded each frame seperately into the emulator and saved as a single raw image file. 10 or 15 files. -A single BASIC program loads each 6k screen frame into memory, (thats the slow bit at the start of the video), and then it just simply blits each frame to the screen from memory as quick as possible to give an animated appearance. -Music was added to the finished recording after the animation was played on the emulator. If a real VZ computer had the 6847 8k video ram hack performed, (they come with 2k video ram), and the 64k expanded RAM pack, then this program would work on a real VZ computer. The 6847 video chip has a few resolutions. By default the "high res" on the VZ is 128x64 4 colours. With enough video ram, it can display 256x192 in four colour, or mono. A reasonably easy hack for the VZ is to turn it into 256x192 mono. It can also be tricked into 128x96 4 colour (FLD effect), and 128x64 8 colour via incredible tightly timing by software by varying the sync signals. See '2018AD' demo for examples. The BASIC loader and display program in this video was written by Intertek - another VZ fanatic. ...I still giggle to myself when I watch this. Cheers,

Yes, a very quick port (8 minutes?); and surprisingly it worked straight away. If I could find an original asm listing of Cobra, I'd certainly have a crack at it.