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Message: 5806

Author: Daniel

Date: 18/04/2006

Subject: Various current matters

 

1. To Igor

I was sad to learn about your decision. I understand it, however,
because I have felt an urge myself, at various times, to take a
break from JSW after intense periods or editing or working very hard
on other JSW-related issues. After a few weeks of "vacation" I
always started to miss JSW, though, and I've always come back :-) .
So I hope that after some time (maybe longer than weeks, but not
extremely long) you will also feel an urge to come back and create
something new :-).

Also, it's good to see you are still around :-) . And I still owe
you a detailed review of "UMM" - I will do it when the time comes
for it, according to my JSW schedule :-) .

Igor wrote:

> Staying with this best "Y!club" I take part in - is a part of my
> life since 2001 and I don't even think about leaving this club.

Very nicely said, Igor :-) . MM/JSW and the Club have become a part
of my life, too :-) .


2. To DrUnKeN mAsTeR!!!

a) DrUnKeN mAsTeR!!! wrote:

> Since announcing my brief respite I've done more work on my JSW
> projects in 2 days than I have in 2 weeks.

That's very good news! :-)


b) DrUnKeN mAsTeR!!! wrote:

> I can't get Realspectrum working no matter which version I get.

I've had no problems with it. What OS do you use?


c) DrUnKeN mAsTeR!!! wrote:

> So would you suggest I try playing my games on several other emus
> just to get a feel for how they run for other people (who use
> other emus obviously).

Yes, why not? When you test the "perfected" versions of your games
(before you send them to me for the final tearing apart, which I
hope you will do :-) ), play each of them on a different emulator
(one on SPIN 0.6, one on SpecEMU, one on Spectaculator, one on
UNREAL, which Igor mentioned, one on Real Spectrum, if you get it to
run, etc.).


3. To Andrew

Thanks a lot, Andrew, for all of your explanations and answers, and
for including my various suggestions in the room ideas for the AJMT
:-) .

Some specific points:

a) Daniel wrote (concerning how to collect the invisible item
in "The DrUnKeN mAsTeR!!!" original edition):

> The item may be collected by jumping vertically up on the right
> side of the column after inserting e.g. POKE 35358,0.

Andrew wrote:

> You must have the wrong number there.

Yes, you're right, of course, Andrew. I meant POKE 36358,0, which
you yourself mentioned in one of your recent messages as leading
to "some rooms having no gravity" (I usually think of it
as "continuous superjump" :-) ).


b) Andrew wrote:

> I apologise for any upset caused.

No, don't apologise :-) . My feeling upset actually made me work
hard to solve a puzzle, so it was very positive and productive :-) .


c) Andrew wrote:

> 2. RealSpectrum behaves differently from a real Spectrum in JSW's
> WRITETYPER mode. Keys '1' to '6' ('1' to '8' in JSW128) form a room
> number in binary, but some combinations don't take you to the room
> they're supposed to. And the set of WRITETYPERable rooms are
> different on a real Spectrum and in RealSpectrum!

I've had this problem with ZX32 as well. In the Options -> Keyboard
window you have an option to use "Simultaneous key press matrix
effect", and also which keys are to be ZX SHIFT keys. I've found
that the setting of these options affects the WRITETYPER
performance, and also that some rooms are non-WRITETYPERable. I've
never made a precise list of them, though.


d) Andrew wrote:

> RealSpectrum cannot recognise '4', '5' and '9' being pressed
> together (in fact my PC makes a weird beeping noise
> whenever '4', '5' and '9' are pressed together).

Yeah, the same happens with ZX32, if I recall correctly. Or maybe
it's with some other keys pressed together, but I know I get this
beeping noise from time to time.


e) Andrew wrote:

> Yes - I am right-handed, so I always use 'O' for left (index
> finger) and 'P' for right (middle finger).

I am absolutely right-handed, but for JSW I always use my left
hand: "Q" for left (middle finger) and "W" for right (index finger),
plus my right hand for jumping (pressing SPACE with my index finger,
or both index- and middle finger). When I play saving snapshots all
the time, but not a very difficult game, I usually use my left thumb
for jumping (pressing SPACE), and I operate the mouse with my right
hand, saving snapshots.


f) Andrew wrote:

> And it's the same with wraparound ramps and conveyors in JSW48/128
> (unfortunately JSWED just truncates them, and ghost-conveyors -
> ones which extend beyond the bottom-right cell - don't appear at
> all in JSWED, whereas JSW CK takes advantage of being a Spectrum
> hosted editor to handle all these cases correctly with no special
> coding).

Would there be any problem with editing a game in JSWED, then doing
some work on it in JSW CK (things JSWED cannot do), and then going
back and continuing in JSWED?


g) Daniel wrote (concerning horizontal guardians with the right
boundary set to 31):

> Therefore you cannot have any cells in the row below the
> guardian's normal level at the left edge, or else there will be a
> collision.

Andrew wrote:

> Only if the guardian's pixels collide with the cells' pixels
> (cell's pixels, in fact, since there is only one cell at that
> position).

I am not sure, but it seemed to me that the guardian goes entirely
on the left side of the screen for a split second, i.e. that it
occupies TWO cells on that side. I may be wrong, though.


4. To Dunny:

a) Dunny wrote:

> It's an unfortunate fact that various emulators will produce
> differing results.

If it is a fact, then the "supreme arbiter" could only be the real
Spectrum, I guess, e.g. to judge the completability of any given
game.

Fortunately, I think that the emulator imperfections described so
far do not really affect the completability of MM/JSW games, as far
as I can see.


b) Dunny wrote:

> It is a fact that ZX32 does not emulate a Spectrum faithfully.

I am sorry to hear that :-( . Still, as long as the emulation
problems do not affect the completability of the games, I think I
will continue using it, because I like the display so much.


c) Dunny wrote:

> Of the emulators available for PCs, I'd only recommend
> Spectaculator (registered version), SPIN 0.6 and SpecEMU. None of
> the others are at all accurate to today's standards.

Thanks for your suggestion, Dunny. I will consider these as my
priority choices if I need to play a game and be sure the emulation
is "as accurate as possible" (not to say "perfectly accurate", which
would be risky, I guess), or if I decide to try using a new emulator
for a longer period of time.


Daniel

 

 

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