This site contains the source code for four different variants of the Commodore 64 version of Elite:
- The variant on the official Firebird GMA85 NTSC release, which was a later release of Commodore 64 Elite, with the newly added title music
- The variant on the official Firebird GMA86 PAL release, which was the PAL version of the GMA85 release
- The variant produced by the source disk from Ian Bell's site, which was never released
- The variant built from the binary files already on the source disk, which is subtly different to the variant produced by the build process
See below for comprehensive details of the differences between the variants, along with links to the relevant bits of the source code.
All these differences are implemented within the source code using BeebAsm IF statements, which determine which variant is compiled. These IF statements check the values of the relevant source code variables (_GMA85_NTSC, _GMA85_PAL, _SOURCE_DISK_BUILD and _SOURCE_DISK_FILES), which are themselves set by parameters to the build command (such as variant=compact). See the associated repository for more about building different variants from the source.
To play Elite with a D64 disk image, load the image into the disk drive and type LOAD"*",8,1.
The official Firebird GMA85 NTSC release
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The Firebird GMA85 NTSC release was a later official release of Commodore 64 Elite, with the newly added title music.
| Default build in repository | Yes |
| Product details | Firebird GMA85 NTSC |
| Date | 1985 |
| Build command parameter | variant=gma85-ntsc (optional) |
| Source code variable | _GMA85_NTSC |
| Verification checksums (crc32) | See the GitHub repository |
| Download D64 disk image | Original, Flicker-free planets |
The official Firebird GMA86 PAL release
---------------------------------------
The Firebird GMA86 PAL release was the PAL version of the GMA85 NTSC version. Investigations are ongoing into the differences between the NTSC and PAL versions.
| Default build in repository | No |
| Product details | Firebird GMA86 PAL |
| Date | 1985 |
| Build command parameter | variant=gma86-pal |
| Source code variable | _GMA86_PAL |
| Verification checksums (crc32) | See the GitHub repository |
| Download D64 disk image | Original, Flicker-free planets |
Ian Bell's source disk build process
------------------------------------
The source disk from Ian Bell's site produces an early version of the game that doesn't contain the Elite theme that was added in a later release. The binaries produced may match the very first Firebird release of Commodore 64 Elite but investigations in this area are ongoing.
The source disk does not build a working game, so there are no disk images available for this variant.
| Default build in repository | No |
| Product details | - |
| Date | 1985 |
| Build command parameter | variant=source-disk-build |
| Source code variable | _SOURCE_DISK_BUILD |
| Verification checksums (crc32) | See the GitHub repository |
Ian Bell's source disk binary files
-----------------------------------
The source disk from Ian Bell's site contains assembled binary files that differ slightly from those produced by the source disk build process. Investigations are ongoing into the differences between these and the binaries produced by the build process.
The source disk does not build a working game, so there are no disk images available for this variant.
| Default build in repository | No |
| Product details | - |
| Date | 1985 |
| Build command parameter | variant=source-disk-files |
| Source code variable | _SOURCE_DISK_FILES |
| Verification checksums (crc32) | See the GitHub repository |