Home Page Forums Other Emulator Message Boards Nestopia Family Basic - Using Tape Recorder

I cannot figure out how to save and load .tpr files. Here's my process...
1. Create a simple program.
2. Type: Save"hello"
3. Select record from the menu bar
4. Hit enter
5. Once it says it was saved: select stop from the menu bar

Although I'm able to reload the program during the session, no .tpr file is created, and therefore, I cannot run the program after I shut down Nestopia. I also cannot figure out how to run existing .tpr files that I've found online, particularly from this website.
http://page.freett.com/familybasic/familybasic_download.html

What do I do?

So far I know support Nester the *.tpr, VirtuaNES the *.vtp and Nestopia the *.tp extension.

Nestopia + Family BASIC (J) (V3.0) as example

To save the .TP file type:

First go to Machine > External > Tape Recorder > File...
and type a new filename which will be selected.

File > Open...
and select the Family BASIC (J) (V3.0).nes file

If you have BASIC listing you can copy the content and paste the text (F12)

SAVE "filename" {don't press ENTER yet!}

Select Machine > External > Tape Recorder > Record

Now press ENTER!

When the flashing cursor reappears

Select Machine > External > Tape Recorder > Stop

***

To load the .TP file type:

First go to Machine > External > Tape Recorder > File...
and select the .TP file.

File > Open...
and select the Family BASIC (J) (V3.0).nes file

LOAD "filename" {don't press ENTER yet!}

Select > Machine > External > Tape Recorder> Play

Now press ENTER!

When the flashing cursor reappears your saved program should be restored

Type RUN

I converted the 2 tape files (*.tpr to *.tp) to work with Nestopia.
https://www.sendspace.com/file/dsc5tf

First go to Machine > External > Tape Recorder > File...
and select SPARKHOUSE.tp or URBANCHAMP.tp

File > Open...
and select the Family BASIC (J) (V3.0).nes file

LOAD {don't press ENTER yet!}

Select > Machine > External > Tape Recorder> Play

Now press ENTER!

When the flashing cursor reappears your saved program should be restored

Type RUN

PS: If you use the LOAD command without the filename, the option "Use image file naming" should be disabled.

Thank you so much! Especially for converting those two files. Did you use a program to do that?

One more quick question; though I don't know if anyone can answer it...
In many BASIC programming languages there's a way to randomize numbers by generating a sequence through the system's internal clock (for example "RANDOMIZE TIMER" in qbasic or RND(0) on the C64). Is this possible in Family Basic, and if not, is there a decent alternative?

I can not remember me in detail because I made the conversion some years ago.
It exist a modified version of Nester called "NNNesteR" (not "NNNesterJ") which support 3 different tape extensions to save the data recorder file.

http://fs2.directupload.net/images/150508/k8vsvzpf.png

The RND command exist for the Family Basic v3.0
Family Basic v3.0 Reference (PDF)
https://www.sendspace.com/file/kuoud6

Example:

Another 2 emulators exist which support the tape recorder for the Famicom:
eFamilyBASIC
http://homepage3.nifty.com/takeda-toshiya/

and

vdmgr
http://www.geocities.jp/g_lsluk/

1.) NNNesteR - save the loaded *.tp/*.tpr tape file to *.vtp
2.) Convert the *.vtp to *.wav
http://rdev.php.xdomain.jp/makimura/archive/tools#
Example:
vtp2wavall.exe SPARKHOUSE.vtp
3.) SPARKHOUSE.wav was created



Different tape formats
https://www.sendspace.com/file/3oicj6

The NES/Famicom don't have an internal clock. This is one reason why games of that era were generally not very random

Anna: Thank you so much for your wealth of information. I'll definitely check out NNNesteR. The issue with RND (without a Randomize Timer function) is that the same set of randomized numbers will be generated each time, which makes for stale gameplay.

Belmont: That is such a pity. I've been racking my brain trying to think of a way to make random numbers, and all I can think of is utilizing user-input. In a game-setting that'd probably be taken from cursor/sprite position.

If any of you know of an alternative way, be it better or worse, I'd love to know.

In games on that kind of hardware (I programmed a shipping commercial Super NES game which will remain unnamed) we seeded the randomness by how many frames it took the user the press a button after boot. On the PS1 (which also lacked a clock), we used user input timings plus CD load timings, since no two mechanisms read at the same speed.

Like I said, that's why games of that era weren't very random (and thus are especially amenable to speedruns and TASes).

That frames til user input is a great idea. I think that could be accomplished with a looping FOR...NEXT command.
Again, many thanks to both of you.