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+--- Thread: VEZZA Inform loader for the Microbee + 13 new Infocom Adventure disks (/thread-581.html)
VEZZA Inform loader for the Microbee + 13 new Infocom Adventure disks - ChickenMan - 18-10-2022
Thanks to sijnstra for writing VESSA and making specific Microbee versions available. See his Github site for its development, further information and some of its restrictions - https://gitlab.com/sijnstra1/vezza/ and it wont run all the games unfortunately, so please checkout his site. One restriction is that many Z6 and above files contains graphics and sound. Vezza cannot handle either of these.
VEZZA is a z80 based CP/M2.2 & CP/M3 Infocom/Inform/Z-machine game executor
and virtual machine. It builds in the TRS-80 M1ZVM port of M4ZVM which in turn
originally started as ZXZVM. Much time has been spent optimising, adding
features and debugging the code.
It can run Z1 to Z8 inform format interactive fiction game files including
Infocom and post-Infocom era story game files.
VEZZA for the Microbee comes in 2 forms, one for all disk based Microbee's (VEZZA-MA.COM for CP/M 2.2), while the other (VEZZA-MB.COM for CP/M3) runs on the PP+ and 128k Microbees only, but allows bigger files to run because of its larger TPA. As a result 9 of the new games disks boots VEZZA-MA and 4 that boots VEZZA-MB. Because the different Microbee disk based models uses different disk sizes (5.25" for 56k & 128k 'bees and 3.5" on CIAB, 128k and 256TC) both 5.25" (DS40) and 3.5" (SS80) disk images have been prepared and both are in the downloadable zip file for each game. Also prepared are 2 bootable disk, one using VEZZA-MA and the other VEZZA-MB ready for you to load in any of the 100's for Z5 adventure games available online. A few sites to check out - https://ifdb.org/viewcomp?id=z913f8kco23t5dz4 , https://eblong.com/zarf/if.html , http://www.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXgamesXzcode.html and http://www.plover.net/~davidw/sol/idx_zcode.html
As you see above, BEYOND ZORK has colour and bold which VEZZA-MB can handle. SHOGUN contains graphics, so when the graphics puzzles are presented you will not see it so you cant do the puzzle, just press the Space Bar to continue to the end of the game. ARTHUR also contains graphics at the start. The game starts with a blank screen (a graphics screen) so press Space Bar to continue. You need to press the Space Bar 3 more times to get to the start of the game. ZORK ZERO contains many graphics puzzles but not essential to complete the game. SHERLOCK original contained sound, but this version has had them removed. RESTAURANT was unreleased and is incomplete but still playable.
The Infocom files with a 128k in their name are very large and must run under CP/M 3 so restricted to PP+ and 128k Microbee's (Premium or standard). The versions of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and A Mind Forever Voyaging are later Z5 versions than the early Z3 version we have on Adventures_7 & 9 disks. The physical size of these games are mostly very large with little room left over on the DS40 or SS80 disks. Some are small enough to fit 2 on a disk but decided on one game per disk to keep it simple.
Zork: The Undiscovered Underground is an interactive fiction video game written by former Infocom staff Marc Blank, Michael Berlyn and implemented by G. Kevin Wilson using the Inform language. The game was commissioned by Activision as a free promotional product to coincide with the release of Zork: Grand Inquisitor, which was released for PC only.
For a full description and a walkthrough for all these games, they are all available from http://solutionarchive.com/
So in the MbeeTech Repository in the Microbee\Software\Games\Adventure folder we placed
vezza-MA.zip
vezza-MB_128k.zip
activision_zork_the_undiscovered_underground.zip
infocom_a_mind_forever_voyaging_128K.zip
infocom_arthur.zip
infocom_beyond_zork_128K.zip
infocom_border_zone.zip
infocom_bureaucracy.zip
infocom_hitchhikers_guide_to_the_galaxy.zip
infocom_nord_and_bert.zip
infocom_restaurant.zip
infocom_sherlock.zip
infocom_shogun.zip
infocom_trinity_128k.zip
infocom_zork_zero_128K.zip