[zzo38]

Version P2 is now available, with some bug-fixes and new features.

[Terryn]

What are these changes, exactly? You seemed to have failed to document them.

[zzo38]

Terryn, on Jul 1 2009, 05:46 PM, said:

What are these changes, exactly? You seemed to have failed to document them.

O, I'm sorry. Here is a list of some of the changes:

• New Forth commands: FLAGS COUNTERSPEC COPYBLOCK NEWROBOT TRMSG REMOVEID PLACEID BROADCAST
  
• Names of extended kinds can now be used like they were names of MegaZeux built-ins (i.e: they are displayed in the menu, displayed in the current thing buffer, and usable in Robotic codes)
  
• High-bit of background-color of under object is now stripped if graphics mode 141 is set (this means that if you put a non-blinking object on a blinking floor, the object will continue to not blink)
  
• Objects can now be set as visible even while the player is blind (use the A_SEEBLIND flag), you can now also set specific areas near the player to also be visible while blind (like the torch light radius in ZZT)
  
• Some bug-fixes
  
• (To see what all the changes are, do a file compare, source-codes of old versions are still retained on my web-site for compare purposes)

Note that just a few minutes ago, I fixed a bug in the REMOVEID and PLACEID commands, if you downloaded it a few hours ago please redownload.
I probably forgot to fix the modular system, but I will fix that as soon as I make any other changes, so it will be fixed in P3.

This post has been edited by zzo38: 02 July 2009 - 05:47 AM

[zzo38]

checkres can now give statistics about lines of Robotic codes and numbers of different kind of objects in the game, if you give the -x parameter. This program will be released with the next version of forked MegaZeux (version P3).

Example output for CAVERNS.MZX:

$00 = 251159
$01 = 560
$02 = 249
$03 = 87
$04 = 108
$05 = 106013
$06 = 259
$07 = 15
$08 = 156
$0C = 1087
$0D = 45
$0E = 73
$0F = 2005
$10 = 15
$11 = 1303
$12 = 107
$14 = 2331
$15 = 267
$16 = 332
$17 = 201
$18 = 247
$19 = 5101
$1A = 1358
$1B = 12
$1C = 47
$1E = 18
$20 = 1
$24 = 36
$27 = 10
$28 = 18
$29 = 2
$2B = 2
$2C = 33
$2D = 38
$2E = 28
$2F = 8
$31 = 32
$32 = 104
$37 = 7
$38 = 8
$39 = 52
$3A = 199
$3C = 16
$3F = 796
$41 = 1130
$42 = 5
$43 = 9
$47 = 250
$4A = 27
$4B = 146
$4D = 6423
$50 = 41
$51 = 31
$54 = 18
$55 = 108
$56 = 53
$57 = 58
$58 = 10
$59 = 39
$5A = 45
$5B = 44
$5C = 32
$5E = 69
$5F = 37
$7C = 447
$7D = 9
$7E = 4
$7F = 44
$FF = 5240

[ajs]

Hmm might also be useful to enhance it to tell you the robot ID and line number the missing file was found on. Also the board name, board x,y, too, of course.

I meant to add that back when I wrote the tool, but forgot about it.

--ajs.

[zzo38]

ajs, on Jul 4 2009, 02:57 PM, said:

Hmm might also be useful to enhance it to tell you the robot ID and line number the missing file was found on. Also the board name, board x,y, too, of course.

I meant to add that back when I wrote the tool, but forgot about it.

--ajs.

Yes, you are right. I might add that too. Other features I might add would be checking external sound files referenced from the custom SFX list, checking if the world file uses PZX features (and possibly I could make it check for features of other forks too, if anyone contributes information), and checking whether files of associated Forth codes (and Forth codes included by those Forth codes) exists.

I also fixed the logic for checking for command-line switches to a more sensible way that uses for loop.

This post has been edited by zzo38: 05 July 2009 - 12:12 AM

[zzo38]

Get version P3: http://zzo38computer...1/mzx_extended/

List of a few of the changes:

• REMOVEID and PLACEID commands fixed
  
• New Forth commands MOD (modulo) and SETVIEWPORT
  
• New read-only counters "BOARD_EXTRA" and "BOARD_COUNT"
  
• The old board_mode is now used as an extra eight bits usable by PZX worlds
  
• Variables forest_becomes and extra_value (same as "BOARD_EXTRA" counter but read/write instead of read-only) and target_board are now readable/writable by Forth codes
  
• Push CTRL+I in editor to set extra bit-field per board, and you can also set the values of "INPUT" and "INPUTSIZE" here too
  
• The coding in checkres has been improved
  
• The checkres program now parses the global robot, gives you statistics, can check whether or not the Forth codes exists, and can tell you which forked version of MegaZeux the world file uses (currently only MegaZeux and PZX, but if people contribute information about other forks, I can include those as well)
  
• I think I have fixed modular compiling
  
• A few other things (compare the source-code files if you want to be more specific)

This post has been edited by zzo38: 05 July 2009 - 07:59 PM

[ajs]

Would be good if you could use the existing MZX coding style. Otherwise "comparing codes" is more difficult, and merging changes becomes a two stage process "Identify useful changes, re-code changes". Hmm?

Exo's style is basically Allman ("BSD" in emacs). There are spaces in mathematical expressions, braces go on newlines, and there is no whitespace between keywords and tokens.

--ajs.

[zzo38]

ajs, on Jul 5 2009, 12:35 PM, said:

Would be good if you could use the existing MZX coding style. Otherwise "comparing codes" is more difficult, and merging changes becomes a two stage process "Identify useful changes, re-code changes". Hmm?

Exo's style is basically Allman ("BSD" in emacs). There are spaces in mathematical expressions, braces go on newlines, and there is no whitespace between keywords and tokens.

--ajs.

These might be it, but I am just making a forked project of MegaZeux. Also, there is other problems in the coding too that don't have to do only with the styles (I didn't change coding styles of existing codes). That includes the way that command-line parameters were parsed in checkres. I changed it to use a loop to parse command-line parameters instead, and I also put the robot-parsing codes in a separate function. I just mean there are some badly written codes in MegaZeux, and I have fixed some of them (I don't mean where braces are placed, or spaces, or stuff like that).

This post has been edited by zzo38: 05 July 2009 - 08:00 PM

[Aussie Evil]

Pardon if this seems like a stupid question, but what happens to PZX files if they're loaded into mainstream MZX?

[zzo38]

Aussie Evil, on Jul 6 2009, 01:24 PM, said:

Pardon if this seems like a stupid question, but what happens to PZX files if they're loaded into mainstream MZX?

If they use only standard features of MegaZeux, they will work normally.

If PZX features is enabled and used (that means the first line of global robot is a comment with greater than sign at first), then it will just run incorrectly. You can do a version checking in various ways, one way is to check if "BOARD_COUNT" is zero and if so then PZX features are not supported. But what I recommend is to use checkres to check fork versions and include that information on the download list. I suggest that download lists should also include version numbers of standard MZX as well.

There are a few features that will work without requiring the special code in the global robot to enable PZX features, and these features will also work in mainstream MZX. Here is a list:

• Improvements of checkres utility
  
• Input number and input size setting when pushing CTRL+I in the editor
  
• Allowing CHAR ID values 255 in editor
  
• Using the improvements in the editor that don't affect the game (such as old ALT+D function)

[zzo38]

Version P4 is available, with many improvements, including but not limited to:

• Setting in config.txt for using system mouse, displaying SDL system mouse pointer and don't show MZX block mouse pointer (but mouse-click still works, though)
  
• Square brackets in editor for prev/next board
  
• ALT+H shows single-row bar, including floating to bottom or top of screen
  
• Some new block actions (after push ALT+B and move cursor, you can push various letters for different block actions, including the ones already exist and a few new ones)
  
• Now allows hi-bombs in a chest (MegaZeux already supported getting hi-bombs from chests, but the menu didn't say hi-bombs so you were unable to make chests with hi-bombs before, now you can)
  
• Labels in PZX mode can have a label name and equal sign and number (or expression in parentheses), that means to go to label and also set the loop count to that number. It can be used anywhere a label name can be used, including in choices selecting from a list.
  
• Scrolls/signs now use in-game character set
  
• Some other bug-fixes, both in MegaZeux and in checkres utility

This post has been edited by zzo38: 10 July 2009 - 05:37 PM

[zzo38]

Yet another *quick fix*! This quick-fixing fixes save-files. OK? (So if you have already downloaded P4 before I posted this message, please redownload)

This post has been edited by zzo38: 10 July 2009 - 07:08 PM

[Revvy]

zzo38, on Jul 10 2009, 01:36 PM, said:

• Some new block actions (after push ALT+B and move cursor, you can push various letters for different block actions, including the ones already exist and a few new ones)

Any more details?

Quote

• Labels in PZX mode can have a label name and equal sign and number (or expression in parentheses), that means to go to label and also set the loop count to that number. It can be used anywhere a label name can be used, including in choices selecting from a list.

This seems extremely arbitrary. What's wrong with

set loopcount 5
goto "label"

Quote

• Some other bug-fixes, both in MegaZeux and in checkres utility

More details?

[zzo38]

ALT+B block commands:

• c = copy once
  
• C = copy multiple
  
• x = move
  
• z = clear
  
• m = mirror
  
• M = flip
  
• p = paint
  
• o = overlay
  
• X = export
  
• P = paint thing (like paint, but replaces thing ID instead of color)
  
• f = fill (fills a rectangle with the current object)
  
• F = fill under (fills the under layer with the current object, also fills up Spaces in the top layer with the current object too)

Bug fixes:

• checkres complained when trying to add a empty string to the hash table, now it simply doesn't add that string
  
• score now cannot go less than zero for old worlds
  

Revvy, on Jul 11 2009, 07:20 AM, said:

This seems extremely arbitrary. What's wrong with

set loopcount 5
goto "label"

Nothing wrong with that, but:

send "something" "moving=8"
? "sel=2" "Green"
? "sel=4" "Red"
? "sel=1" "Blue"

O, and I did forget one more major thing I should mention:

• GO (direction) 0 now sets LOCAL counter to the result of the parsed direction (in PZX mode only), while the direction LOCALDIR uses the direction stored in LOCAL counter (also in PZX mode only)

[Exophase]

Boy, if you thought the stuff I did was hacky..

[Dr Lancer-X]

oh my god :(

[CJA]

Actually, a robot facing direction would be quite useful. In my current project I am using the counters face&playerfacedir&x, face&playerfacedir&y to determine where to place projectiles (robots) in relation to the player.

[zzo38]

There is one game using PZX features so far, that you can download: http://zzo38computer.cjb.net/mzx1/Monster_...onster_mesh.zip

This game has 20 levels, and you can add more levels if you want to. You can also look at the codes in this game for an example of how codes in PZX works, so you can learn a few things about it.

This post has been edited by zzo38: 12 July 2009 - 02:32 AM

[ajs]

I took the Hi Bombs in chest fix, checkres hashtable bugfix, and enhanced checkres to process the global robot. Would have liked to just take the code directly, but due to it being mangled with windows line endings, incorrectly formatted, and mixed with a bunch of unrelated changes, I couldn't. Thanks for pointing these problems out though.

I think the extended output in checkres feature is also conceptually nice, but the current info isn't too useful and what I already mentioned in another post would be more generally useful, so I haven't done this for now.

--ajs.

[zzo38]

I wrote some documents for PZX features now. Please check to see if there is something wrong or misunderstand. http://zzo38computer...x_extended/doc/

[zzo38]

Version P5 has now been released.

Probably I should fix the documentation of some of the commands, such as what the move flags does in the Forth MOVE command (basically they are used to interact with attribute flags, but I still need to document the specifics), how to use the ROBOTCMD command, various tricks used in programming with PZX mode, describe how "special counters" are accessed in Forth, various examples of use, an explanation about how to use displacement overlay modes, new features in the editor, etc. And I still didn't put a command to create boards yet! (Maybe version P6 will include a command to create boards.)

This post has been edited by zzo38: 13 September 2009 - 06:23 AM

[Revvy]

I think creating boards programmatically may be one of your strangest ideas yet.

[zzo38]

Revvy, on Sep 14 2009, 06:21 AM, said:

I think creating boards programmatically may be one of your strangest ideas yet.

No, my strangest idea is a setting in config.txt that allows access to standard I/O by Forth programs in MegaZeux (so that you can pipe to another program).

[Pyro1588]

no, i think revvy is right. programmatically (awesome word, btw) creating boards is strange in the "why on earth would you want to do that" sense. unless you're going to make a robot that designs a game (and no, roguelikes don't count because those can be generated on an existing board,) i can't see a whole lot of reason for it. actually, make that, "any reason."

standard i/o, on the other hand, has some conceivable uses, making it less strange than something with no conceivable uses.

[zzo38]

Pyro1588, on Sep 17 2009, 10:22 AM, said:

no, i think revvy is right. programmatically (awesome word, btw) creating boards is strange in the "why on earth would you want to do that" sense. unless you're going to make a robot that designs a game (and no, roguelikes don't count because those can be generated on an existing board,) i can't see a whole lot of reason for it. actually, make that, "any reason."

standard i/o, on the other hand, has some conceivable uses, making it less strange than something with no conceivable uses.

Ah, OK. The reason for programmatically creating boards, is so that you can script the editor in Forth (robots can't run in the editor anyways), possibly for batch converting external files into boards, and so on (but if you are loading only one file at a time, at runtime, and without persistent, then just using one board is good enough). Standard I/O would be useful mostly for connecting MegaZeux to external programs through piping (if enabled in config.txt file), or something (although maybe network access would do better).

But I have already added some things to version P6, three new Forth commands and one new Forth event:

• COUNTOBJ
  
• NEWSENSOR
  
• COUNTFLAG
  
• EV.PLAYERSHOOT

This post has been edited by zzo38: 17 September 2009 - 05:50 PM

[zzo38]

Version P6 is now released.

[Kom]

As much as i'd like to see how this thing is different from normal MZX and all, your windows binaries won't even work for me. No errors, no output, nothing.

EDIT: never mind i just copied over the wrong stuff.

This post has been edited by Kom: 04 October 2009 - 06:21 PM

[zzo38]

Kom, on Oct 4 2009, 10:59 AM, said:

As much as i'd like to see how this thing is different from normal MZX and all, your windows binaries won't even work for me. No errors, no output, nothing.

Many things are no different if you don't enable PZX mode. (You enable PZX mode by adding a comment with a greater than sign as the first character of the comment, on the first line of the global robot program. See the documentation on my web-site for more details.) One thing that is different even without PZX mode, is pushing ALT+H in the editor (try it if you want to). There are also some bugs from the older MegaZeux fixed in this version (again, which work even without enabling PZX mode).

[Kom]

zzo38, on Oct 4 2009, 06:39 PM, said:

Many things are no different if you don't enable PZX mode. (You enable PZX mode by adding a comment with a greater than sign as the first character of the comment, on the first line of the global robot program. See the documentation on my web-site for more details.) One thing that is different even without PZX mode, is pushing ALT+H in the editor (try it if you want to). There are also some bugs from the older MegaZeux fixed in this version (again, which work even without enabling PZX mode).

I meant that when I tried to open it, it wouldn't run. It would quit as soon as it started.