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uTND User Tool Disk Compiled by Richard Bayliss I thought I write a little something about the TND User Tool disk. Basically this is a compilation of many public domain tools that I seem to have made use with in the past. I still use those today as well. All programs on the disk were done by various members of various demo scene groups. The whole idea of creating this tools disk is to share it with everybody & also give you some general information on how those programs can be used. As well as the user tool disk, I have also included another disk with various stuff to support the tools, such as the Turbo Assembler & the DMC music editor. The tools on this disk are all public domain, just like the compilation & you are very welcome to copy the disk to all of your friends & contacts. Anyway here is what we have on the disk, & some background information about the programs. Turbo Assembler V7.0+ (Angels version) This wasnt the version of Turbo Assembler that I used to use. I used version V5.3 which was public domain by Case/The Ancient Temple. However this is a programming tool for writing your own assembly code. There is already an assembly programming feature in Commodore Free as someone else has the role, but I have included a .D64 with various sources I made to create programs, like the Goldfish demo, 2 scroll intro demo & the Missile Blaster game. Also to accompany the assembler, we have the Turbo Assembler commands. So you will know how to assemble, load a file etc. Hope it helps Code Suck Monitor (Padua) Another handy old tool here. This is a programming tool & also good for ripping code (Which I dont recommend) as well. The Code Suck Monitor is probably based on Action Replay Machine code monitor. Most demo/game programmers on the C64 probably used a machine code monitor as well as an assembler. So if you dont own an Action Replay cartridge, here is a handy hint for you, to use this tool. Since you may wish to use Turbo Assembler as well as this M/C monitor, do not chose $8000 - $C000 as the address for the monitor or anywhere where code & data overlaps the M/C monitor, itself. However, if you would prefer to try programming with a M/C monitor instead (Which is slightly more difficult) then that is entirely up to you. Code Suck Monitor also has instructions to help you get started. Simply chose the note. If you do chose the note then youll have to load the Code Suck Monitor all over again from the menu. DMC V4.0 (Graffity) DMC stands for Demo Music Creator. This is a tool which I like to use a lot & it is very easy to handle, compared to DMC V5.0. To be able to get the hang of the DMC V4.0, I have included some example tunes in the source files disk, so you can get started. However there seems to be some instructions missing in this music editor (Unlike DMC V2.0, which had instructions in with the editor). Here are the commands: General: INST/DEL: Insert/Delete positions Left arrow: Main menu Up arrow: Read data from cursor position @: Write data from cursor position F1: Play music from the start F3: Pause/stop playing music F5: Continue playing music (Paused) F7: Fast Forward music (When playing) Shift + F5: Record played notes (In live play mode) Shift + F7: Enter live play mode Track Editor: Shift + +(and value): Transpose up Shift + - :(and value): Transpose down Shift + Return: Enter sequence/notes editor Sector/Notes editor: CBM+D: Set duration CBM+G: Set glide value CBM+S: Set instrument CBM+V: Set volume of channel CBM+X: Set switch effect = : Set end of note : Place gate on current sound (Depends on how the sound is set, use to stop sound playing in current sector) Keys Q-P, 1-0: Make notes < >: Change octave of all notes from cursor position. Synthesizer: Shift + +: Select next instrument Shift + - : Select previous instrument Shift +1 - 7: Select ocatave Keys Q-P, 1-0: Play notes Shift + Return: Exit sequence/notes editor & return to the track editor Instruments / waveform editor: Shift + +/-: Select next/previous instrument. Shift + Return: (Edit waveform / Exit waveform editor) SPACEBAR: Test instrument (Use back arrow twice to exit) Filter editor: Shift +/-: Chose filter to edit. (Use Back arrow twice to exit) If you need to learn to create instruments, etc. Check out Music Scene feature on my web site at http://www.redesign.sk/tnd64. All Round Re-locator (The Syndrom/TIA) This is a music re-locator that can relocate tunes that have been composed in either an old version of the JCH player (JCH Player V4), DMC V2.0, DMC V3.0, DMC V4.0 or DMC V5.0. Tunes can be relocated from their current position to a new position in C64 memory. This tool was handy for me to relocate my tunes for my game projects, so that I could have one tune at $1000-$1fff & another from $9000-$9fff, etc. Depending on how many tunes I wanted to use for the games/demos. Font Editor V1.3 (Faces) Another tool I used to use to draw my own character set graphics for my own productions. The editor allows you to draw character sets of various sizes, which are 1x1, 1x2, 2x1, 2x2, 2x3, 2x4, 3x2, 4x2, & 3x3. Font editor also has music in the background. The help file is a very nice tool. Have fun drawing char sets with this tool. Sprite Editor V1.2 (Faces) Another graphics drawing program, that allows you to create hi resolution or multi- color sprites for games or demos. I often used this program, because it is easy to handle. You can even save sprites from one range to another to save separate sprites. This tool has instructions to help make game/demo sprites, with handy functions Amica Paint V1.5 (Oliver Stiller) This tool consists of a wide range of options to help you draw, pixel & enhance your pictures, such as bending, rotating & other options, which dont exist in many C64 painting programs. You can also use an Amiga mouse instead of a joystick. A later version of Amica Paint is available at http://www.lemon64.com in the applications section. I didnt bother adding that version to the disk because of the other files that supports the utility. Picture Splitter V2 (Plush) A handy utility to help you split pictures into 3 different files, or even swap colors. You can load various images on to this program Amica Paint, Koala paint & a few others. Splitting a picture is simple. All you need to do is chose the memory locations to place your bitmap file, video RAM & screen color RAM. To do intro pics I place the bitmap at hex $2000, the video RAM at $4000 & the color RAM at $4400, especially when it comes to coding picture demos. However, if you wanted to turn your picture into a Vidcom painter picture, set bitmap at $6000, color RAM at $5800 & screen RAM at $5C00. Another option is a routine that allows you to swap colors with a different, by using keys 0-9 & a-f & RETURN. There are also some options that allow you to lighten or darken your picture. Visiomizer V6.3 (Magnus Lind) A handy utility by the author of the Exomizer. This is probably one of the best char packers available for the C64. The concept is like many other packers, except that you can change load addresses for linking something to your intro/demo (Your own game or another demo part). The concept of this program is to compress single files that range from $0800-$ffff (probably lower than $0800). The program asks you to enter filename details (file which you want to pack). Then it asks for $01 value. I always use $37 as the $01 value. The packer also asks for Jump address? Well it may vary depending on the program. To help you use this packer: (If you have an action replay cartridge or reset cartridge with m/c monitor). Download a SEUCK game from my web site. Run the game. Freeze/reset to M/C monitor & enter S (name),8,0801,FFFF. When done load the Visiomizer & enter as follows: Loadname: game Savename: game+ $01 : 37 JMP$ :4245 Loadback $: 0801 Leastgain: $08 Maxspce: $0c Insert disk for packing & the program will begin packing. When prompted to save the file, press SPACEBAR to save. After save, reset C64 & load the directory & you will notice that the game has been packed. The next step will be to test the depacker. So load game+ & then enter SYS2049 & the game will depack & run. Remember that for all SEUCK games, the jump address is $4245. Sledgehammer II (Cross) This is yet another packer, but this time it has a built in linker. The main purpose of using this tool is to grab all data & code & link it all into one main file. You can link up to 252 blocks of data, but the problem is load addresses must differ & be in order, or packer will overwrite existing data causing the packed program to bomb. Anyway, you can even pack one single unpacked file. So lets try it out. First of all download a SEUCK game from the TND web site. This time we will save it in two separate files. Load the game & enter the M/C monitor & then do as follows for the first file. S GAME1,8,0801,A000 then for the second file S GAME2,8,A000,FFFF. Load Sledgehammer II from the menu & exit the intro with SPACEBAR & then insert the disk which you saved both SEUCK game files from. Enter the depack text option & clear the screen then select depack effect as nothing (No depack text & effect is more helpful for slightly bigger compression for when it comes to using a cruncher.) Now enter Sledgehammer. Insert the disk with the two game files & press SPACEBAR. Now highlight both files & press return. You will then see a 1 or 2 appear (These are the files that have been selected & will load in that kind of order). Once done, use SPACEBAR to enter the Sledgehammer II packer & fill in the following: SAVENAME: GAME+ JMP TO : $4245 $01 VALUE: $37 When done, loading & packing commences. Once packed, press SPACEBAR to save packed file to disk. Reset C64, LOAD & RUN the packed file. You will get a black screen & will have to wait a while for the depack to finish, then your game should come on. Super Zipper V8 (Oneway) This is probably a modified version of 4-Code Zipper classic packer. Unlike Sledgehammer II & Visomizer. This is a simple char packer compatible with different hardware/software fast loaders. Entering information for packing of data is the same as Sledgehammer II & Visiomizer, but it doesnt pack as good as Visiomizer, altho still usable. The Cruncher AB V3.0 (Oneway) Here is something to accompany the Visiomizer packer. You can chose a type of flashy border (for depack effect), but it is not mandatory. In fact, youre better off without an effect. Anyway instructions about the effect to chose is simple. SPACEBAR will test effect. You also have a choice of 3 crunching methods: 1. 202 Block fast crunch (Extra RAM) 2. 111 Block fast crunch 3. 202 Block slow crunch If you chose option 1 on cruncher, you will need to have 256K RAM installed on your C64. In the past, to increase RAM for home computers there used to be cartridges known as RAM Expansion Packs. Youll get a fast 2-pass crunch which will take a maximum time limit between 10-15 min (Depending on how much memory is to be crunched). If you chose option 2 for cruncher. You wont need to have 256K extra RAM. You can use BASIC kernal load or any other hardware/software fast load. However your program size is limited to 111 blocks. Any higher & the cruncher will crash. If you chose option 3 for cruncher. You wont need 256K extra RAM. You will need a lot of patience. Why? Well because (depending on program size) crunching time may take up to 2-3 hours. Cruncher uses its own software loader. Say you packed a program using Visiomizer, & want to crunch it even further to get a smaller amount of memory. Use $0801 as jump address. It wont fail if you get it right. Exploding Faces Cruncher (Epic) This is a version of the Exploding Cruncher, originally created by faces. However this version has high speed loader, & faster compression. Unlike Cruncher AB, this program allows you to compress programs in a one-pass mode. Dir Master V8.4 (Hitmen) A perfect C64 tool to enhance & manage directories on disk. Edit tracks/ sectors, load addresses & even disguise some of your programs inside the directory. With Dir Master V8.4 you can create your own directory stamps, to give the directory art. Careful if you do this because loading a directory from disk for listing will take a longer time. It depends on the size of your directory. Theres a HELP file to get you started with this handy tool. All you need to do is use * to enter the help screen. Well those are all the tools on this disk. Hope you find those to be handy. But before I go, here is how to convert a SYS address to a hex address to use in a packer+cruncher. In a M/C monitor i.e. Action Replay cartridge, use the following. To find the following SYS addresses displayed in BASIC into hexadecimal: 2049: N 2049 2061: N 2061 Result = $080D 20480: N 20480 Result = $5000 49152: N 49152 Thats it. You may find various useful information about C64 machine code from http://project64.c64.org Commodore Free Richard Thanks for your efforts on this, everyone else you should be able to download this disk image from the Commodore Scene website by the time you read this text I am hoping to expand the utilities section of the site with other tools & utilities for users to download. 
