11-10-2024, 04:00 PM
This is a tutorial to graphic rip from Commodore 16/plus4 games:
Tools:
C64 Sprite / CharSet Ripper. Despite the name, it can rip from C16 and plus4 games too. This is because both computers share some components.
VICE - A very popular Commodore 64 emulator that also supports C16/plus4, Commodore 128, VIC-20, PET, CBM 2 (basically most of the pre-Amiga Commodore computers) and the Direct to TV (plug and play) version of the C64.
Download them and extract them into their own folders. As a warning, Windows is required to run C64 Sprite / CharSet Ripper however VICE is multi-platform. Use of WINE is untested.
Go to where VICE is extracted, then go to the bin folder and run xplus4.exe, this will boot up the plus4 BIOS screen. Before playing a game, a few settings are needed to be changed. Go to Preferences, Settings or press Alt+O. Then go to Display, click on the arrow and go to TED. TED is the main chip on the C16. Change the Render filter to Unfiltered. This will make it clearer to see. Then go to Input Devices, click on the arrow and go to Joystick. By default, most C16 and plus4 games use the Joystick. Most modern computers do not have a Number Pad anymore so change Numpad to Keyset A and configure Keyset A. If your keyboard is lucky enough to still have a Number Pad, leave the settings alone. Now you should be able to control your game but some games use the other Joystick port so you may have to press Alt-J to swap the ports over.
Drag and drop the game file (.prg, .tap, .d64) into the emulator window to boot up the game. Not every game does auto boot however the majority of them do. On the rare exception, look up the loading instructions on the game page at plus4world.
(The reason why the default setting is plus4 PAL is because it can run C16, C16 with RAM expansion games e.g. Karting Grand Prix, Bridgehead and native plus4 games without changing any settings. Most C16 games that are preserved are also made in PAL. If you do need to change computer, press Alt+O, Machine, click on the arrow and then Model.)
After loading the game, get to where you want to be then Snapshot -> Save snapshot image. Snapshot is just another way of saying a savestate (it's the home computer counterpart of one, you hear it for C64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC too).
Then go to C64 Ripper and go to File -> Open CCS64 Freeze File* Load up your snapshot that you've taken from VICE.
* - Due to that the tool is over 22 years old, CCS64 was the leading C64 emulator at the time.
Since the C16 has no sprites, you need to go to the CharSet Ripper. If you're not sure where to look, the C64 Ripper website shows an example. Then keep clicking on the arrow until you get to something that looks like graphics.
Some games support the Multi Colour Mode. Unlike the standard mode, it has 4 colours to choose from rather than the two. These usually come from games that had its origins on the C64. Either click on MCM, View -> Charset Multicolour Mode Enable or just Ctrl+E.
Note: There are actually some games that do use the wrong display mode in game, Arthur from Ghosts 'n Goblins and the Day 1 font in Daley Thompson's Star Events being a couple of examples. The computer was not known for quality control in terms of its game library.
Then what you may need to do is adjust the offsets, most of the time you need to get to where it ends with FD. So click on - and then Refresh. It should look like this (using SQIJ as an example):
![[Image: c16tutorialexample.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/8zWHrT01/c16tutorialexample.png)
Afterwards click on File -> Save 8X8 CharSet or Save 8x16 CharSet. Then use your preferred editor to assemble, change the palette and then hopefully good enough to upload the rip here.
Can I load the game file itself into C64 Ripper?
You can however you are more limited because the graphics might be out of the boundaries (the tool can only load up to FFFF), they might be crunched to literally fit into the restrictions making it harder to assemble or in the case of Hyper Sports, nothing at all.
Airwolf, SQIJ and TV Jatek (Pong) are some good examples of getting graphics directly from the tape.
How do I get the palette?
If you still have VICE running, go to Snapshot -> Quicksave screenshot. It will be saved in the bin folder as vice-screen-datenumbers.png. The alternative is print screening however it has a filter on even if you selected Unfiltered on the Filter Render via the TED. Best described as like a jpg, you can get the right colour but only if you're at the centre of a sprite.
Import your screenshot and just get the palette from there.
Why can't I use the palette from C64 Ripper?
Simple. The C64 and the C16/plus4 have a completely different palette. The C16/plus4 has a larger colour variety. Technically both have different video chips too (VIC-II for C64, TED for C16/plus4).
Are there any alternatives?
Yes in the form of CharPad C16 Pro however you would have to pay for it and not everyone has the option of paying. If you do, then it is easier getting the palette and has native support of importing VICE snapshots.
You might get lucky using YY-CHR, games that have a .d64 file such as Green Beret can be ripped via the 1BPP 8x8 mode. Any that use the multi colour mode are out of the question though.
Tools:
C64 Sprite / CharSet Ripper. Despite the name, it can rip from C16 and plus4 games too. This is because both computers share some components.
VICE - A very popular Commodore 64 emulator that also supports C16/plus4, Commodore 128, VIC-20, PET, CBM 2 (basically most of the pre-Amiga Commodore computers) and the Direct to TV (plug and play) version of the C64.
Download them and extract them into their own folders. As a warning, Windows is required to run C64 Sprite / CharSet Ripper however VICE is multi-platform. Use of WINE is untested.
Go to where VICE is extracted, then go to the bin folder and run xplus4.exe, this will boot up the plus4 BIOS screen. Before playing a game, a few settings are needed to be changed. Go to Preferences, Settings or press Alt+O. Then go to Display, click on the arrow and go to TED. TED is the main chip on the C16. Change the Render filter to Unfiltered. This will make it clearer to see. Then go to Input Devices, click on the arrow and go to Joystick. By default, most C16 and plus4 games use the Joystick. Most modern computers do not have a Number Pad anymore so change Numpad to Keyset A and configure Keyset A. If your keyboard is lucky enough to still have a Number Pad, leave the settings alone. Now you should be able to control your game but some games use the other Joystick port so you may have to press Alt-J to swap the ports over.
Drag and drop the game file (.prg, .tap, .d64) into the emulator window to boot up the game. Not every game does auto boot however the majority of them do. On the rare exception, look up the loading instructions on the game page at plus4world.
(The reason why the default setting is plus4 PAL is because it can run C16, C16 with RAM expansion games e.g. Karting Grand Prix, Bridgehead and native plus4 games without changing any settings. Most C16 games that are preserved are also made in PAL. If you do need to change computer, press Alt+O, Machine, click on the arrow and then Model.)
After loading the game, get to where you want to be then Snapshot -> Save snapshot image. Snapshot is just another way of saying a savestate (it's the home computer counterpart of one, you hear it for C64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC too).
Then go to C64 Ripper and go to File -> Open CCS64 Freeze File* Load up your snapshot that you've taken from VICE.
* - Due to that the tool is over 22 years old, CCS64 was the leading C64 emulator at the time.
Since the C16 has no sprites, you need to go to the CharSet Ripper. If you're not sure where to look, the C64 Ripper website shows an example. Then keep clicking on the arrow until you get to something that looks like graphics.
Some games support the Multi Colour Mode. Unlike the standard mode, it has 4 colours to choose from rather than the two. These usually come from games that had its origins on the C64. Either click on MCM, View -> Charset Multicolour Mode Enable or just Ctrl+E.
Note: There are actually some games that do use the wrong display mode in game, Arthur from Ghosts 'n Goblins and the Day 1 font in Daley Thompson's Star Events being a couple of examples. The computer was not known for quality control in terms of its game library.
Then what you may need to do is adjust the offsets, most of the time you need to get to where it ends with FD. So click on - and then Refresh. It should look like this (using SQIJ as an example):
Afterwards click on File -> Save 8X8 CharSet or Save 8x16 CharSet. Then use your preferred editor to assemble, change the palette and then hopefully good enough to upload the rip here.
Can I load the game file itself into C64 Ripper?
You can however you are more limited because the graphics might be out of the boundaries (the tool can only load up to FFFF), they might be crunched to literally fit into the restrictions making it harder to assemble or in the case of Hyper Sports, nothing at all.
Airwolf, SQIJ and TV Jatek (Pong) are some good examples of getting graphics directly from the tape.
How do I get the palette?
If you still have VICE running, go to Snapshot -> Quicksave screenshot. It will be saved in the bin folder as vice-screen-datenumbers.png. The alternative is print screening however it has a filter on even if you selected Unfiltered on the Filter Render via the TED. Best described as like a jpg, you can get the right colour but only if you're at the centre of a sprite.
Import your screenshot and just get the palette from there.
Why can't I use the palette from C64 Ripper?
Simple. The C64 and the C16/plus4 have a completely different palette. The C16/plus4 has a larger colour variety. Technically both have different video chips too (VIC-II for C64, TED for C16/plus4).
Are there any alternatives?
Yes in the form of CharPad C16 Pro however you would have to pay for it and not everyone has the option of paying. If you do, then it is easier getting the palette and has native support of importing VICE snapshots.
You might get lucky using YY-CHR, games that have a .d64 file such as Green Beret can be ripped via the 1BPP 8x8 mode. Any that use the multi colour mode are out of the question though.