Compendium version of Acorn Electron Elite

Updating Acorn Electron Elite with all the bells and whistles

The Acorn Electron is an absolutely delightful machine. I didn't own one back in the day, but I recently managed to pick one up second-hand, mainly so I could see flicker-free Elite running on real hardware. What I didn't realise was that I would fall in love with the Electron's physical form. It is such a lovely, tactile object; beautifully made, perfectly sized, elegantly 1980s.

But even the most ardent Electron fans have to admit that Elite does suffer from the slower and less configurable machine. There are some major features missing from the game, and it's pretty slow when compared to the BBC Micro version; you can read all about this in the Acorn Electron Elite memory map.

So while Electron users tend to adore their machines, there's always a bit of jealousy when it comes to Elite (not unlike the relationship between BBC Micro cassette and disc players). But no more, because the Compendium version of Acorn Electron Elite brings almost everything from the BBC versions to the Electron, and more.

For example, planets now have planetary details, so when you launch from Lave at the start of the game, it looks like this:

And there are all the ship and station designs from the BBC Micro disc version, including Dodo stations:

There are Thargoids too:

And not only are both missions backported from the BBC Micro, including the Constrictor mission shown below, but it also includes the Trumbles mission from the Commodore 64 and NES versions:

You can find out how to play or download the Compendium version of Acorn Electron Elite, or read on to discover the huge number of enhancements in this version of the Elite Compendium, and what you need to run it.

Hardware requirements
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To run the Compendium version of Elite on the Acorn Electron, you'll need 16K of sideways RAM and a proper storage system (i.e. floppy disc, SD card or similar). There are both traditional and modern options that provide these features.

• If you want to stick to original hardware, the Compendium will work with Acorn's Plus 1 expansion system with a sideways RAM cartridge, and with the Plus 3 disc drive. All of these could be bought back in the 1980s, though they don't necessarily come cheap these days.
• If you're OK with a modern solution, there are lots of options:
  • The easiest and most cost-effective solutions are from Ramtop Retro. The Elite Compendium works out-of-the-box on the ElkSD64, ElkSD128, ElkSD-Plus1 and Plus 1 Mini; I actually developed the game on the latter, and I really like this bit of kit. All of the above products come with at least 16K of sideways RAM and an SD card interface, and the Plus 1 Mini and ElkSD128 also support digital joysticks (but not analogue joysticks). These are all highly recommended options.
  • If you want all the bells and whistles, including support for both analogue joysticks and digital joysticks, then Retro Hardware sells the mighty New Plus 1. This has a built-in SD card interface, and sideways RAM can be added either in cartridge form (available from the same seller), or as a single 62256 RAM chip (if you have the AP6 version of the New Plus 1). The New Plus 1 costs more than the Ramtop Plus 1 Mini, but it does more too. It's pretty great.

Elite should work with most other storage and sideways RAM expansion options too, as they are all pretty standard, but if you have problems, let me know and I'll investigate.

Joysticks
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The Compendium version of Elite supports three different types of joystick: analogue joysticks via the Plus 1, or digital joysticks via the Slogger and First Byte interfaces.

For the Slogger interface, you need to configure the address it uses to &FCD0 by setting the left switch to A and the right switch to D. If you are using a Ramtop Retro product with a joystick interface, such as the ElkSD128 or Plus 1 Mini, then it will already be configured this way.

You can switch to joysticks in-game by pausing the game with COPY, and then pressing K until the correct type of joystick is chosen. The current setting is shown in the top-left corner of the screen, as follows:

• +1 indicates that Plus 1 analogue joysticks are configured
• SL indicates that Slogger digital joysticks are configured
• FB indicates that First Byte digital joysticks are configured
• KB indicates that the keyboard is configured and joysticks are disabled

If you are using Plus 1 analogue sticks then you can also configure joysticks by pressing the fire button on the second title screen (when it says "Press Space or Fire, Commander").

If you are using Slogger or First Byte digital joysticks, then the fire button will not be recognised on the title screen. Instead you should start the game by pressing any key when it says "Press Space or Fire, Commander", and then pause the game with COPY and select the correct joystick type as described above. If you die or quit and return to the title screen, then you can now press fire on both title screens to keep your joystick configured; it's only the first time through the title screen that you that you have to press a key. (This is because checking for a fire button when an interface is absent can return random results, and unlike the Plus 1, there's no way of detecting whether the Slogger or First Byte interfaces are fitted, so you have to tell the game which interface you have before it can detect the fire button on the title screens.)

Note that some interfaces, like the ElkSD128 and Plus 1 Mini, allow you to map digital joysticks to the Plus 1 analogue port. This will enable you to use a digital joystick when Plus 1 joysticks are configured, by mapping each direction on the joystick to a full movement of the analogue joystick (i.e. to full pitch or roll). Note that this works differently to the Slogger or First Byte interfaces, which use the same joystick code as the BBC Master Compact version of Elite; with these options, each direction on the joystick is effectively mapped to the keyboard controls, so the longer you hold the joystick in one direction, the steeper the climb or roll becomes. The ElkSD128 and Plus 1 Mini support all three joystick options, so you can choose the one that best suits your flying style.

Features added to the Acorn Electron version
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For the Compendium version of Acorn Electron Elite, I not only wanted to backport all the extra features from the BBC Micro disc version of Elite, but I also wanted to add as many extra Compendium features as possible.

With the exception of the four-colour dashboard and Bitstik support, Electron players can now enjoy everything that the BBC Micro had back in 1984. Here's a complete list of features I've added to the Compendium version of Electron Elite, and below that is a blow-by-blow comparison between the various versions.

Features have been backported from the BBC micro disc version of Elite, unless otherwise stated.

• Speed improvements
  • Significant speed increase over the standard version due to fast sideways RAM
  • Logarithm-based maths routines for a further speed boost (6502 Second Processor)
  • Optimised routines (such as HLOIN) backported from various other 6502 versions
• Graphical improvements
  • Flicker-free ships (BBC Master)
  • Flicker-free planets (using the same algorithm as ships)
  • Circular planets with meridians, equators and craters (no more 50p planets!)
  • Energy bomb lightning effect (BBC Master)
  • Escape capsule animation
  • Three sizes of stardust rather than two (one-pixel stardust added)
  • Variable star sizes in the Short-range Chart
• In-station features
  • Extra lasers (military, mining)
  • Improved selling mechanism (sell all or part of your cargo)
  • Extended system descriptions (edible poets!)
  • System search in the Long-range Chart
  • Hold SHIFT to move the chart pointer more quickly
• In-flight features
  • All 31 ship and station designs from the BBC Micro disc version
  • Advanced enemy tactics (NEWB) and spawning logic
  • Suns, cabin temperatures and fuel scooping
  • Fuel scoops only work when moving (NES)
  • Asteroid mining
  • Thargoids and witchspace
• Docking
  • Proper docking computer sequence
  • Pressing "J" will dock instantly when docking computer is activated (NES)
  • Transporters no longer spawn in the station slot when we're auto-docking (NES)
  • Docking fee for using the docking computer (NES)
  • The ship hangar is shown on docking
• Missions
  • Both BBC Micro missions (Constrictor and Thargoid plans)
  • Trumbles mission (Commodore 64 and NES)
• Loading and saving
  • Disc access menu for saving, loading, cataloguing and deleting commander files
  • Full support for ADFS, DFS and MMFS on all media, including the Plus 3
  • The Acornsoft loading screen no longer has the panel for showing tape progress
• Joysticks
  • Joystick support added for Plus 1 analogue joysticks (BBC Micro)
  • Joystick support added for Slogger and First Byte digital joysticks (BBC Master Compact)
  • Keyboard fire button still works when joysticks are enabled (BBC Master)
• Bug fixes and tweaks
  • Includes bug fixes from the Elite Compendium (Data on System, Moray spawning)
  • Broken sound priorities and durations have been fixed in the sound generation routine
  • The second title screen now has a rotating Constrictor instead of a Mamba (so the Compendium has its own unique ship, rather than reusing the BBC Micro cassette's Mamba)

Notes:

• When launching, hyperspacing, docking and restarting, there is a small pause while the game loads ship blueprints from disc, just like the BBC Micro disc version.
• When using ADFS on the Plus 3, the screen might flicker during disc access.
• All features from the original BBC Micro disc version are included except for the four-colour dashboard and Bitstik.
• All features from the Elite Compendium are included except for music, volume control and Delta 14B support (the standard Electron can't physically support the last two).
• I am investigating adding music and the four-colour dashboard.

Here's a feature-by-feature comparison showing how the Compendium version of Electron Elite has finally caught up with the original 1984 versions. (See the full feature comparison table for more information on the items in the table and to compare all the other versions of 6502 Elite.)

As well as the list above, the Compendium version of Acorn Electron Elite has the following Compendium-specific features:

• Flicker-free ships
• Flicker-free planets
• Trumbles
• Docking computer improvements
• Fuel scoop improvements
• Joystick improvements

Read about the Elite Compendium for more information on these extra features.