[CHEZZY]

Search utility in the help menu, as you suggested lancer.

[paulguy]

MZX I think is too strict with file access. Like, I was trying to copy a fle that was in use in MZX and I couldn't. I haven't had that problem with many other programs before where it so strictly locks out file access when MZX has the file opened. I'm talking about fread_open and stuff like that.

[ajs]

This is just not true.

http://en.wikipedia....ki/File_locking

"The semantics of share access controls in Windows are inherited from the original MS-DOS system (where sharing was introduced in MS-DOS 3.3) Thus, an application must explicitly allow sharing - otherwise an application has exclusive read, write and delete access to the file (other types of access, such as those to retrieve the attributes of a file are allowed.)"

Blame your OS and not MZX please.

--ajs.

[zombieguy]

If you type "char <number>", it'll automatically convert the number to the char from the char table.
So I'm wondering why it's not the same for the color command? (so you could type 139 from the color table and get c8b)

[Skylark]

Well, since you can use variables or expressions to represent the colour (ie put "varname" parameter p?? "blah" "blah") I'd assume that if you type in a number (even if it doesn't convert it) it would work. If it gives you a parse error (I'm at uni right now so I can't test it, but I assume this is what you're getting), then, well, using the colour table is really easy anyway. But is it really necessary?

But ehn, it possibly wouldn't be hard to add... I'll have a look at the source when my prac ends and check it out.

This post has been edited by Skylark: 22 September 2006 - 12:10 AM

[zombieguy]

Well this isn't something that needs to be added at all. This is simply one of those "ease of use" suggestions, but the main reason I suggested it is because it made me ask the question "it works with chars why doesn't it work with colours?" to myself.

[Dr Lancer-X]

put "(123)" customblock p00 5 5

[Wervyn]

Honestly, it's so much easier to think of a color value in hexadecimal I can't really see why you'd want to input it as a straight integer literal. Sticking in a formula for some sort of color derivation, sure, but remembering that c1f is color f on top of color 1 is a lot easier than remembering the same thing for 31. Really, I feel the same way about the character thing too, though that's a little more useful if you need to get around inputting a null character. I find that effect much more convenient in the other direction, if I'm trying to match a character read from the board, say, and can just use "if "board_char" = 'X' "label"" and have it auto-convert a number for me.

"Saving the world never felt so unfulfilling."

[Frobozz]

Funny but I'd have thought Exophase would have added support for hexadecimal in his expression system. Something like the following...

set "x" to "(0xF0)"

[Dr Lancer-X]

Well, you can go decimal->hex, just not hex->decimal.

[CHEZZY]

This may have been said before, but if you could play midi's in mzx it would be cool.

[weasel]

CHEZZY, on Sep 29 2006, 11:51 PM, said:

This may have been said before, but if you could play midi's in mzx it would be cool.

No it wouldn't. Let's face it - the vast majority of computers today have god-awful MIDI sample sets. Even the Creative X-Fi series comes with a very poor soundfont.

The only way I'd take my MIDI is if it were handled through an OPL emulator (something along the lines of GXSCC). Otherwise, if anybody puts MIDI files in their games, they can expect me to turn the music off entirely.

[zombieguy]

zombieguy, on Aug 28 2006, 01:14 PM, said:

Use modplug tracker to open MIDI and save as IT.
MP3 is the devil. Convert it to OGG. There's plenty of programs, just search for one.

mp3 and midi formats solved right there.

This post has been edited by zombieguy: 30 September 2006 - 08:46 AM

[Koji]

MPT's midi convert sucks. But hey, midi sucks so you get what you get.

[Terryn]

Frobozz, on Sep 21 2006, 10:55 PM, said:

Funny but I'd have thought Exophase would have added support for hexadecimal in his expression system. Something like the following...

set "x" to "(0xF0)"

Yeah, surprisingly, there's full decimal-to-hex but only minimal hex-to-decimal. Pretty much the only hex-to-decimal is autoconversion of simple standalone hex numbers. (EX: set "arr" $ff gets autoconverted to set "arr" 255)

[weasel]

Koji, on Sep 30 2006, 07:02 AM, said:

MPT's midi convert sucks. But hey, midi sucks so you get what you get.

Garbage in, garbage out.

[ajs]

If we were to support MIDI, it would sound different on multiple platforms, something that should ideally be avoided. If MIDI support was implemented using timidity (or some subset of it) and a default sound font, it would sound the same and not require MIDI hardware -- however, it would bloat the MZX package.

I think MIDI support is unlikely to be implemented, for decent technical reasons.

--ajs.

[Spectere]

wildweasel, on Sep 30 2006, 12:02 PM, said:

Koji, on Sep 30 2006, 07:02 AM, said:

MPT's midi convert sucks. But hey, midi sucks so you get what you get.

Garbage in, garbage out.

MIDI was intended to control synthesizers and the like. They were NOT intended to be saved as a dump and pumped through a cheap sound card on home computers. It's not MIDIs that are "garbage," it's the device (or sample set) that they're being played with.

[Exophase]

ajs, on Sep 30 2006, 12:02 PM, said:

If we were to support MIDI, it would sound different on multiple platforms, something that should ideally be avoided. If MIDI support was implemented using timidity (or some subset of it) and a default sound font, it would sound the same and not require MIDI hardware -- however, it would bloat the MZX package.

I think MIDI support is unlikely to be implemented, for decent technical reasons.

--ajs.

That and no one ever REALLY cares, just newbs ;P

[Koji]

Spec: Yes well when we say midi we're talking about exactly that, the file dumps being played by cheap hardware.

[Spectere]

No, you're just talking about the cheap hardware and shoddy sound banks.

Point is, I'm sick and tired of people ragging on MIDI without appearing to have any knowledge about what it is or why it exists (or why "it" sounds so crappy on most systems).

[CJA]

Off-topic: MIDI conversion using MPT works a lot better when you get a MIDI editor and set the tempo to 125. Then change it back to normal within the IT.

[Koji]

Emalkay: Good to know

Spec: Yes that too. But aren't the midi sound banks stored in the hardware? (I am probably mistaken, but that's what I've come to believe)

[Dr Lancer-X]

MIDI soundfonts are, afaik, rarely stored in hardware nowadays. This used to be the case though.

Anyway, people have vorbis now, they can use whatever midi soundfont they like and have it sound the same on everyone's computer.

[smilymzx]

Koji, on Sep 30 2006, 02:02 PM, said:

MPT's midi convert sucks. But hey, midi sucks so you get what you get.

Of course, There is a better way to convert MIDI to MOD i found:

1: Get Sound Club (Dos version only, now FREEWARE) from
Blue moon Software.

2: Get a MIDI2CMF converter. since if you let Soundclub load the MIDI only.
It sounds UGLY/TERRIBLE!

3: Convert your Midi to a CMF file using the utility described above.

Open SoundClub and open up to your main CMF folder. that way it can
convert/Save to either 8 or 4-column MOD file

You do not WANT to edit in soundclub! It is an OLD and UGLY program for editing.
so use MPT or any other favorite TRACKER to edit/tweak your MODs + samples

There. You converted a Midi to a GOOD-Quality (I hope) mod.

___________________

Plus One last Favor:

Tromdage, who created MZX before he retired left a Dev NOTE. Hopefully
we can tell EXOPHASE this before he gives us MZX v2.81D:

TO ADD TO A VGA ONLY VERSION OF MZX-

 ?VGA 256-color (320x240) (tiles instead of chars) (page flipping)
 ?
 ?Tile size of 16x16. (or 8x8!)
 ?
 ?Palette editing. (full VGA)
 ?
 ?Support fully EMS/XMS/virtual memory/storage in graphics memory for tiles.
 ?
 ?GOOD tile editor (VGA).
 ?
 ?Tile editing of multiple tiles in a setup at a time.
 ?
 ?Minimum of 500 tiles.
 ?
 ?Smooth movement for VGA. (slides from tile to tile but still limited to
	stopping within tiles)
 ?
 ?Choose tiles for borders.
 ?
 ?Windows-style dialogs.
 ?
 ?Palette rotation. (auto)
 ?
 ?Overlay page (graphics) w/optional parallax scrolling. (overlay page is
 ?pure graphics and although editable by robots has no gameplay value
 ?except to cover the main layer)
 ?
 ?Import PCX/GIF/etc. (seperates into non-duplicated tiles and layers as
 ?
 ?either CustomFloor, CustomBlock, or into the overlay page)
 ?
 ?Player and robots can be two tiles high. (for graphical purposes only)
 ?
 ?Overlaid sprites? (Independant graphical entitys)
 ?
 ?Default characters for objects that are logical for tiles.
 ?

This might be ALSO helpful for us if it is created.

#END

This post has been edited by smilymzx: 18 November 2006 - 08:33 PM

[Exophase]

Absolutely not.

Besides, tromdage is working on GCSX anyway.

[Spectere]

Exo, you ought to just make a thread entitled "What I'm absolutely not going to do with MegaZeux," because it seems like every few pages you get a request like that.

[ajs]

I laughed.

--ajs.

[Koji]

I want internet on mzx! D:<

[T-Bone]

Suggested by Seven:

Quote

Also, could you add where you can play sounds at a particular volume.

Example: Sam 80 100 "boom.wav" (100 being the percent volume)

Then you could do things like noises getting louder the closer you are.

I've been trying to find ways to modify the volume of a sound effect in robots for quite some time now. Simply creating a stack of sam commands sound horrific. Many game creations systems out there give the programmer the ability to modify the volume of a sound effect during game play. The reason why i personally would like to use this would be for creating a range of hearing. So instead of making a sound cut off if its too far away, I'd like to be able to make it dimmed out without just making another wav file that's dimmed down from the original. Of coarse, this feature would allow for other neat in-game audio effects.

Quoted from Insidious:

Quote

easy: put a robot or two in the corner of every board.

Removing the global robot feature would be completely devastating for a MZXer like me. Say I have 150 boards. That would mean I'd have to copy a robot 150 times and place it somewhere hidden on each of those boards. Don't remove the Global Robot; if anything add an option for more.

Quoted from Ter13:

Quote

more than one global robot is kind of dumb. Then again, the entire robot concept is pretty

dumb itself... I think you CAN very well survive without multiple globals.

In fact I'm already having incredible headaches with updating my rather large projects because I have to always go into every board to modify the same bot. So i don't think that suggestion is a terrible one; to add multiple global bots. Though I doubt this will ever happen.

Quoted from Terryn

Quote

Not to mention that the global is likewise bound to 64k.

Another reason why the global robot was a good idea to add, a couple years back when it finally got implemented.

Another Suggestion: Sound Effect Loop
This may or may not be exactly new but its defiantly something I've been trying to do for MANY years with MegaZeux and secondary audio programs. I've made a post about this suggestion recently:

http://www.digitalmz...showtopic=11442

I basically want to be able to loop a sound effect. It sounds quite easy to do by changing the music to a wav or ogg of a sound effect but what if i want music to play aswell as have a sound effect loop?

I thought of one idea that could make this work, but i failed:

http://www.digitalmzx.com/forums/index.php...pic=11073&st=30

It would make sense if we could utilize the "WAIT PLAY" command for when playing a sound effect: play "&sound.wav&". But however this does not work.

I've tried to work around this by slipping a sound effect loop into a music track but my problem is, what if i want a certain area or action to loop sound in the game? By changing the WAIT PLAY command this would help, if that's at all possible. It will not create any incompatibility issues by adding this feature to that command; as long as it can still wait play for SFX sounds (example: abcd-a)

This post has been edited by T-bone6: 16 December 2006 - 02:01 AM