GBA Frotz...Can anyone give me a step by step?

zektor · January 03, 2006, 07:43:53 PM

I am trying to get this interpreter working, can anyone help? Just looking for an easy step by step to give this a go! Want to play Zork!

Mr.Peanut · January 13, 2006, 01:02:13 PM

What exactly do you need to know?

I am at work now, but will reply in detail when I get home. I have played several frotz games on gba.

zektor · January 13, 2006, 06:46:23 PM

Well, alot of my files are either .z5 or .dat. Do I just rename these to .zcode and add them to the batch file? When I tried this last, it did not work. I actually have some Scott Adams text adventures in .z5 format. I would LOVE to get these working

Mr.Peanut · January 13, 2006, 07:16:42 PM

OK,
First of all copy your zcode files(z5 z8) to your gbafrotz folder, and then rename them to filename.zcode ; they must have the file extension zcode. For older infocom games the zcode file was called something like filename.dat

For Zork1 the file is in Zork1\Data\Zork1.dat . You would rename it Zork1.zcode

Second make a backup copy of the file makebin.bat that came with GBAFrotz. Now open makebin.bat with a text editor. Let's say you wanted to add Zork1 and Zork2 to a single GBA file. You would edit the makebin.bat to be:

Code Select

copy frotz.bin game.bin
addfiles game.bin keyb.dat normal.font fixed.font gfx5.font Zork1.zcode Zork2.zcode

(Note: the second line should all be one line in the file. Your web browser might show it as two if your window is too narrow.)
Save the changes and execute makebin.bat

You will then have a new file called game.bin. This is the file you put on your SuperCard after you have run it through the SuperCard program.

zektor · January 13, 2006, 07:29:41 PM

Awesome. Easy enough. I will give this a go after dinner. Thanks again for the reply and info!

zektor · January 14, 2006, 04:55:46 PM

To follow up:

Thanks again for the help! All worked well, and I converted almost 40 classic text adventures into three adventure compilations. I am surprised many do not know about this interpreter. It works very well, and has a nice keyboard input system that really makes it easy to type (one thing I was worried about). Very nice to play "The Count" and "Zork" on the portable. Great stuff!

Mr.Peanut · January 15, 2006, 01:16:58 PM

Yes, GBAFrotz is a neat piece of work. I've gotten very cramped hands playing through several works of interactive ficiton.

The GBAFrotz website is now down. I emailed the guy who wrote GBAFrotz it to make a few suggestions and point out a few minor bugs. He replied he was not going to continue developing it and might instead develop a port for the DS, since the touch screen allows a better keyboard. I have not yet bought a gameboy mini because I was not sure whether I would be able to play GBAFrotz on it because of the smaller screen and the placement of the Start and Select buttons.

zektor · January 15, 2006, 11:56:30 PM

Quote from: "Mr.Peanut"Yes, GBAFrotz is a neat piece of work. I've gotten very cramped hands playing through several works of interactive ficiton.

The GBAFrotz website is now down. I emailed the guy who wrote GBAFrotz it to make a few suggestions and point out a few minor bugs. He replied he was not going to continue developing it and might instead develop a port for the DS, since the touch screen allows a better keyboard. I have not yet bought a gameboy mini because I was not sure whether I would be able to play GBAFrotz on it because of the smaller screen and the placement of the Start and Select buttons.

I no longer have a Micro (returned it to buy my wife a b-day present) but I would imagine that the button config would be fine. Just the screen size would be the problem. I would imagine your eyes would be in big trouble in very little time. A DS port would be fantastic, with a touch screen keyboard. Well, at least we do have what we have for now. Any other games we can play on the system are just a plus.