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using Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy game engines
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Message: 5048
Author: Daniel
Date: 15/11/2005
Subject: Resaving files - more questions
Thanks, Andrew, for your long reply to my question about the resaved
file and for the explanation of the best method for comparing TAP
files. Unfortunately, it is /way/ beyond my understanding, let alone
applying. But thanks anyway, and I hope it may be useful to other
people who are more computer-skilled than I am :-) .
I have another "simple" question though. You said:
"If you saved the snapshot after starting to execute the game-engine,
then the two TAP files will differ in the values of runtime
variables - which doesn't usually stop the game working (it did once
when I converted a snapshot to TAP - Utility Cubicles if I remember
rightly), but is inelegant as it causes comparison-tools to report
unnecessary differences."
The difference in the values of runtime variables - what does it mean
in practical terms? I understand by now that the two files are
different, which is "inelegant". However, is one "better" than the
other? Is my original .tap file in any way "better" than the one I
got after saving it as .z80 and resaving it in JSWED as a .tap file,
or just "different"?
What I am kind of getting at is that I am working on my game (in this
case Sendy's and mine, in fact), I keep modifying the file, and at
some point I will release it. The moment I release it, it will
become /the/ file. So there will be no other file to compare it to,
because all of the files which I created during the creative process
won't matter any more. So if there are some values in that final file
which are different from values found in the working files, but they
don't affect the game in any way, I don't really care - it would be
inelegant if I wanted to compare files, but at that point I will not
really want to compare anything, I will just want the game to work
perfectly well. That's why I'm asking if the original file
was "better" in any way.
Also, you mentioned the example of a problem after converting a
snapshot to .tap file in the sense that the differences stopped the
game from running. If in my case the game runs correctly when I start
playing it, does it mean it is certainly OK, or can there be a
problem which will only become visible at some point during the game?
And one thing about SPECSAISIE. It seems to have a lot of wonderful
functions, but I don't even know how to start installing it. How
sad...
Daniel
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