BEEB-NICCC - BBC Micro Demo - by Bitshifters

Captured from real hardware at 50Hz.
Our loving recreation of the classic STNICCC-2000 demo by Oxygene for the BBC Micro. Released at the Revision 2020 demoparty in the Oldskool Demo compo, winning 1st place. :)
Credits
Code: kieranhj, Tom Seddon, Henley
Logo by Dethmunk
Amazing music composed using Arkos Tracker 2 by Rhino / Torment.
See bitshifters.github.io/posts/p... for disc image download.

[@Ama-hi5kn]

Desert Dream. The Amiga is everywhere.

[@nytrex2001]

Wow! I wouldn't have thought that was possible on a Beeb. Truly amazing. Your skills are up to eleven..

[@tharkthax3960]

Top respect! When I was at school it was BBC computers. Never seen a BBC do this! Got to love how hard modern coders push the old 8 bits. I'm an atari 8 bit man myself but do have an appreciation and respect for all the vintage tech. Brilliant.

[@ecernosoft3096]

Atari forever too!! I'm an 8bit + 7800 man, BUT the beeb is impressive.

[@104d_3rr0r_vince]

Desert Dreams

[@endoflevelboss]

Beautiful recreation of an Oxygen classic boys. The old master working up a sweat but holding it together under the pressure. And that tune, a great tribute to the original composed by Laxity/Kefrens, first heard in their Desert Dream demo on the Amiga ;). Very nice work Bitshifters!

[@retrogamer33]

Holy shit, an Atari ST demo repackaged to run on a beeb, that is impressive

[@Ama-hi5kn]

Give the sound chip involved (Texas Instruments SN76489), i'd say Sega Master system. But that one and the General Instrument AY/Yamaha YM2149 do sound alike.

[@WistrelChianti]

Holly Molly! The line graphics at the end.... how long till you release Descent for BBC micro with dual joystick support?

[@danimationstips]

Well that was unexpected! Dope soundtrack. BBCs back in the day always seemed so dorky to me. You're helping me see them in a new light.

[@DailyCorvid]

Dorky was dorky back in the day. Dorky today is nerdy which is preppy now.

[@recycledsteel3693]

Great demo, love the end music.

[@techtinkerin]

Cool that as a kid we always knew it was capable of more than anyone at that time knew how to do with it. This vid proves it and would have been mind blowing back then😊❤️

[@steven-vn9ui]

No idea the Beeb was so capable in the right hands. What ever would "Micro Live" have though of this in the 80's haha

[@speedsterh]

You sure know how to move a fair amount of bits/sec ! What a mindblowing demo, congrats for the feat.

[@DailyCorvid]

This is a miracle of code, I have a BBC and write a bit of code here and there. I literally couldn't even begin to describe how ANY of this shit is happening!! This computer is OLDER THAN I AM and I am 39... BBC B is just a fantastic machine, this one MUST have a dual processor and extra RAM it HAS to! OK sure I can explain the GFX if it were silent. I could explain the sound if the screen was static. This machine has a TOTAL RAM capacity of 32K!!!! Sound and graphics of this quality TOGETHER with no screen tearing slowdowns or sound glitching. Even with the extras, this is some sort of unbelievable code. This is the shortest masterpiece I have ever heard but one of the more impressive as well. Bravo!

[@DailyCorvid]

This is just fucking outrageous!!!!!!!!! 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 That last bit with the cool electro sounding tune with the polygon shifting.... WOW.

[@kieranhj]

@@DailyCorvid Haha, thank you for the kind comments! It's amazing what you can get a BBC Micro to do when you totally abuse the interrupt system and break every rule in the Advanced User Guide. :D In all seriousness, a 6502 at 2MHz is actually quite powerful for the era, it's just a shame about the limited RAM on a default machine and limited palette of just 8 colours.

[@DailyCorvid]

​@@kieranhj z80 signals "We'll call it a draw..."

[@ChaoticBiker]

this demo does require extra sideways RAM to run with sound - on a stock 32kb you only get graphics but it will be silent. Still amazing AF. Still SWRAM is a cheap and easy upgrade and anyone owning a BBC should get one.

[@inphanta]

I love that tune at the end! :)

[@hashimotokobayashi2244]

Love all of it

[@xyzzy3000]

Magnificent.

[@tomkrawec]

I am in awe.

[@firerat1653]

Thanks for the specs, never seen of the BBC Micro before

[@mehmetpinarci1456]

lovely

[@Sterophonick]

Loved Revision 2020!

[@tangreen7267]

Most impressive.

[@evolutionalgd]

Superb.

[@UK_Cobra]

Now, get that working on a BBC A :) That was impressive to say the least.

[@valalex2223]

Kefrens - Desert Dream.....

[@therealsnowwhite1937]

Someone ought to show this to Sophie Wilson.

[@douglasalves4892]

❤❤❤

[@retrogamer33]

Real hardware = Nice

[@babylemonade2868]

I used to love playing elite on the bbc

[@FlashPan73]

Where were you in 1984!

[@JustIn-sr1xe]

Seems cool. I couldn't make any of this at all. But, those visuals... They hurt my brain.

[@EvilStreaks]

just how

[@not.yet.another.channel9492]

wow. very cool a flood ... ehm flight of dots

[@jamyskis]

BBC Mic Drop

[@espytpro]

Missed opportunity to say "This is not an Acorn Archimedes demo"

[@ChaoticBiker]

Anyone knows how to run this on turbo spi/mmfs? Need to split the dsd image into ssd as turbo spi only accepts ssd up to 200kb. Used DFSimager to split the image, loaded first part into Drive0, other into Drive2 and demo always hangs a few sec into the first part with OXYGEN, alwas the same way. I've split dsd images before e.g. Bad Apple and it works this way, but would really like to run NICCC on my beeb. Any help appreciated!

[@kieranhj]

Sorry, it's been a while since I looked at MMFS. According to what I wrote on this Stardot thread: stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=19043 it should work on an SD card, although you may experience slowdowns due to the differences in interrupt handling in the filing system ROMs.

[@irrigamii]

What is this sorcery. HOW DO YOU DO THIS

[@recycledsteel3693]

When says "not a Falcon demo" is refering to an Atari?

[@BITBITBIT-fd3gu]

Does this work on a BBC B? All I get is a blank screen with no video input. I am using a PiTube, though. It says I have the audio and video enhancements.

[@kieranhj]

Yes, this works on a vanilla B, with 16K SWRAM required for the music. I'd turn off the PiTube for sure and what are you using for storage? As this was optimised to stream data from a real floppy disc drive, it only works correctly with original hardware or a Gotek - if you're using MMFS or a SD card solution they are not compatible as this use hacked DFS ROM's and the timings are different.

[@BITBITBIT-fd3gu]

@@kieranhj I am using a GOTEK. I guess that the PiTube is the problem. How exactly do I get the 16k of swram, and the video enhancements?

[@kieranhj]

@@BITBITBIT-fd3gu SWRAM and NULA are add-on boards for the BBC MIcro. Your best bet is to join the Stardot forums where you can receive much technical advice from experts: stardot.org.uk/forums/

[@mikekwarner]

If you want to hear the developer discuss The implementation of this demo, take a look here. kzbin.info/www/bejne/npPJfXybfNeehKs

[@Vectrex-xd6qi]

Lots of talk of converting the vector from ST and the routine of showing that on the BBC. But me, as a non BBC Micro user who don't know just about anything about the machine, really liked the part in the beginning, where the sine-dots became text. And also the end where a quicker black/white-version of the vector was showing with REALLY smooth text below. These parts of the demo wasn't even mentioned in the talk it seemed. (Yes, I skimmed the talk, I admit)

[@ecernosoft3096]

2. mhz. 50. fps. X_X This blows my mind.

[@pcsocket462ecsviak7vza]

Nula?

[@melanierhianna]

New ULA. It’s a project to replace the Video ULA with one based on an FPGA which has a palette of 4096 colours.

[@juststatedtheobvious9633]

[This is not a Falcon demo.] To be fair, it wouldn't be impressive as a Spectrum demo, either. But a great demo does put the BBC Micro into context, in a way the best games can't. And our Apple II tech fares far worse.

[@Mizai]

i dont understand

[@pcsocket462ecsviak7vza]

Sam coupé