Converting GAC Games

C16

Hiya folks,

I'm currently getting really into GAC on the Plus 4 (yes I know its a Commodore machine) and just released my first game last week. GAC on the Plus 4 has a rather different interface than on the Spectrum/Amstrad & C64 where you enter all the information in a user friendly menu. On the Plus 4 I create a txt/seq file on the pc and enter all the data manually.

What I'm wanting to do is convert some of the great GAC adventures that were created on the Spectrum over to other formats. Does anyone know of a way to extract the datafile out of a compiled GAC game? Hopefully to be read in a text editor on the pc, that way I can quickly compile it for other formats.

Hopes there is such a tool.

Thanks for listening,

Chris

C16

Thanks for trying to help. But I have worked out how to decompile the spectrum GAC adventures into a pc text file. From there I can convert any Spectrum GAC game onto the Plus 4 :)

glancaster

If you're looking for some GAC datafiles to convert, there's a heap on my site:

http://www.worldofspectrum.org/z88forever/whatnow-downloads.html

These are the raw data files, extracted from snapshots of the games themselves.

There were actually a lot more CPC adventures written with GAC, so it might be worth looking at those. The format was almost identical - my Z88 "WhatNow?" program can use both CPC & Spectrum files. So, if you can already convert Spectrum ones, CPC shouldn't be a problem either. If you want, I'll dig out my notes on the the datafile format differences (I think they should be online somewhere, as well).

BloodBaz

C16 wrote: »

Thanks for trying to help. But I have worked out how to decompile the spectrum GAC adventures into a pc text file. From there I can convert any Spectrum GAC game onto the Plus 4 :)

So how did your do it (where did you find a compiler)?

C16

It was quite easy once I found a program called UNGAC, this extracts the game information into a text file that I can convert over to the Plus4. It works with comercial GAC games too.

I'm now looking forward to converting the Spectrum GAC adventures to the Plus 4 :)

cid

There is a way, I am looking for that ;)

I hope I can find it

cid

Here is the way of doing that...

In spanish.

http://lineadura.wordpress.com/2006/03/01/derribando-el-mito-%c2%bfquien-mato-a-la-aventura-conversacional/

So perhaps you can use Google Translator:

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Flineadura.wordpress.com%2F2006%2F03%2F01%2Fderribando-el-mito-%25c2%25bfquien-mato-a-la-aventura-conversacional%2F&langpair=es%7Cen&hl=es&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools

liftarn

Do you have a GAC compiler that can tak ethe UnGAC output? That would be interesting. Then you can edit your adventures using a normal text editor rather than on an umulated (or real) Speccy.

Graz

C16 wrote: »

It was quite easy once I found a program called UNGAC, this extracts the game information into a text file that I can convert over to the Plus4. It works with comercial GAC games too.

I'm now looking forward to converting the Spectrum GAC adventures to the Plus 4 :)

Anything similar to do the same job with PAW files? WinPaw doesn't seem to work for me.

Still, I'm gonna give UNGAC a go. Sounds fun.

liftarn

UnPAW could work. Yes, I was thinking about WinPAW. You could use it to make your adventures, output to UnPAW format and then (in some way I haven't figured out yet) sompile them to run on the Speccy. Some kind of RePAW software.

C16

liftarn wrote: »

Do you have a GAC compiler that can tak ethe UnGAC output? That would be interesting. Then you can edit your adventures using a normal text editor rather than on an umulated (or real) Speccy.

UnGAC works brilliantly, I then use a text editor on the pc to make a few alterations then add it to a D64 image and then compile it on the C16/Plus 4.

I'm just about to release my first Spectrum to C16/Plus 4 conversion. Its Church of Death, but decided to extend it by adding another 10 locations and alot more puzzles. The whole conversion process is fun, but hard to resist the temptation of improving the orginal games and correcting the bugs.

Chris

liftarn

Well, what I'm looking for is a GAC compiler that can produce files for the ZX Spectrum. That way you could use UnGAC to get text files. Edit them (or create new from scratch) and then compile them for the Speccy (and also C16/Plus 4 and others I'd guess).