Started a new Git project for Larry on cartridge. Adapted the framework I found online and things now work. I can actually load a cartridge reliably and get the machine into a state that I can work with. Decided to do an intro sequence for the game. It helps that this forces me to deal with bitmapped graphics again, which is something I hadn’t incorporated into the automated build before.

I’m ok with graphics living on my disk as originals in PNG format and pulling them through a C64 tool by hand if need be. Most of those tools spit out the KoalaPainter format, though, which is something I don’t want to work with directly. Next step, therefore, is to build yet another tool: a KLA to ASM converter that takes KoalaPainter and spits out KickAssembler files that are ready for use.

Finished the tool today and it seems to be working. That is: it does what I tell it to do, haven’t been able to test if it works on a C64 yet. The problem: I can’t get EasyFlash to switch banks! Sure I can prep plenty of banks and Cartman dutifully creates a CRT that cartconv seems to not dislike.

I put the word DEADBEEF in the image for bank 1 as a test. It does not appear in memory after switching to bank 1, even though VICE does tell me that the bank was switched and the cartridge is still in the correct mode. Where’s the bug?? Need to first determine whether it’s in the C64 code or in the way Cartman writes CHIP blocks to a CRT.