Character set - Revision history

Terryn: (category)

2008-01-16T12:25:41Z

(category)

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:25, 16 January 2008
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	Since the [[MegaZeux#SDL Port\|port]], many features have been added to the editor to make manipulating character sets easier, including the ability to edit multiple characters at a time in a large block, the ability to export a series of partial sets from the current set as an animation, and a protected character set used for displaying editor dialogs so that the font characters can be more easily overwritten and used for other things.		Since the [[MegaZeux#SDL Port\|port]], many features have been added to the editor to make manipulating character sets easier, including the ability to edit multiple characters at a time in a large block, the ability to export a series of partial sets from the current set as an animation, and a protected character set used for displaying editor dialogs so that the font characters can be more easily overwritten and used for other things.

			[[Category:MegaZeux]]

Wervyn: Character Set moved to Character set: Capitalization issue

2008-01-14T13:51:07Z

Character Set moved to Character set: Capitalization issue

← Older revision	Revision as of 13:51, 14 January 2008
(No difference)

Wervyn: Poorly written and in many cases completely incorrect. Fixed and completely rewritten.

2008-01-14T00:04:11Z

Poorly written and in many cases completely incorrect. Fixed and completely rewritten.

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:04, 14 January 2008
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	~~The character set~~ is ~~a set of~~ characters ~~(8x14 binary pixel chunks) that~~ are ~~used~~ in ~~mzx~~ to ~~represent graphics. There are two sets active when in the editor~~, ~~the editor~~ character ~~set which makes everything readable and understandable for editing sake,~~ and the ~~world characterset which is the one that is used by the game itself~~ during gameplay ~~and is used~~ to ~~represent programmer modified graphics on the game board~~.		Many limitations in [[Megazeux]] have been expanded and removed over the course of its development, but one of the long standing limits that is unlikely to be removed any time soon is that only 256 characters are available for use in a game at any one time. In order to manage complex artwork across a large game, it is almost always necessary to maintain multiple character sets and import them with the <tt>load char set "charset.chr"</tt> command during gameplay. This was added to MZX in version 2.00

	~~Character set files are files containing~~ the ~~data required by mzx~~ to load ~~256 individual 8x14 characters~~, ~~the data~~ for ~~each character is encoded in 14 bytes each one making up the binary representation of~~ one ~~row of 8 pixels~~.		In the beginning, character sets were always exported and loaded as complete, 256 character blocks. This strongly tied character sets to boards, since it made most sense to load new sets on board transitions. Minor artwork changes were generally handled using <tt>char edit</tt> commands, since it didn't make sense to keep an entire 3.5KB (8x14x256 bits = 3584 bytes = 3.5 KB) file for just one change.

	~~Each characters are stored sequentially from 0~~ to ~~255~~ and ~~there is no added formatting data for the file~~. ~~So every~~ character set ~~file is 6~~.~~5 kilobytes~~, ~~unless~~ the ~~file is a partial character set~~.		[[Exophase]] was the first person to realize the possibility and usefulness of partial character sets, which have been usable in a limited fashion since character sets could be loaded. While tooling around with C, trying to learn it by writing a small utility to generate character sets, a coding error produced incorrectly sized sets. On a whim, he loaded one in MZX and discovered that it only overwrote part of the set. Partial char sets were first put to use in [[Soul Excursion]] during the [[Winter 2000 24 Hours of Zeux\|Winter 2000]] [[Day of Zeux]], saved with the extension .ch2 to distinguish them from normal sets.

	~~A partial character set is a file containing the data for any number~~ of ~~characters from 1~~ character to ~~255 characters~~. ~~These files are often used instead~~ of ~~employing~~ a ~~large number~~ of ~~char edit commands (which only modify one character at~~ a ~~time~~, ~~and used~~ to ~~be one of~~ the ~~biggest resource hogging mzx commands~~, ~~right now~~ the ~~biggest resource hogging commands are any command that use expressions)~~. Partial ~~character~~ sets ~~are used primarily by robots who supply~~ an offset ~~at which to~~ load the ~~character data into~~ the ~~character set~~. ~~The data from~~ the ~~file overwrites~~ the character ~~set data up~~ to the ~~end~~ of ~~the file sequentially through the charset~~ from the ~~offset to 255~~ and ~~then it rolls over again in~~ the ~~case that there is~~ more ~~data in the file~~.		The discovery of this undocumented feature meant that it now made at least some sense to use character sets to hold individual, smaller pieces of artwork. While it still makes sense to associate boards or artistically similar sections of a game with complete sets, artwork for dynamic elements like enemies or other game actors can be loaded separately depending upon the needs of a given board. This didn't become truly powerful until MZX version 2.65, however, when Exophase added syntax to the <tt>load char set</tt> command to support loading to an offset, and the editor was updated to allow saving them easily. Partial sets can be loaded to an offset using <tt>load char set "@###partial.chr"</tt>, where ### is a decimal number (and can thus be easily interpolated). They do not wrap around if there are more characters in the set than space after the offset.

			Since the [[MegaZeux#SDL Port\|port]], many features have been added to the editor to make manipulating character sets easier, including the ability to edit multiple characters at a time in a large block, the ability to export a series of partial sets from the current set as an animation, and a protected character set used for displaying editor dialogs so that the font characters can be more easily overwritten and used for other things.

Koji: Character set and the files who love them.

2008-01-13T20:44:14Z

Character set and the files who love them.

New page

The character set is a set of characters (8x14 binary pixel chunks) that are used in mzx to represent graphics. There are two sets active when in the editor, the editor character set which makes everything readable and understandable for editing sake, and the world characterset which is the one that is used by the game itself during gameplay and is used to represent programmer modified graphics on the game board.

Character set files are files containing the data required by mzx to load 256 individual 8x14 characters, the data for each character is encoded in 14 bytes each one making up the binary representation of one row of 8 pixels.

Each characters are stored sequentially from 0 to 255 and there is no added formatting data for the file. So every character set file is 6.5 kilobytes, unless the file is a partial character set.

A partial character set is a file containing the data for any number of characters from 1 character to 255 characters. These files are often used instead of employing a large number of char edit commands (which only modify one character at a time, and used to be one of the biggest resource hogging mzx commands, right now the biggest resource hogging commands are any command that use expressions). Partial character sets are used primarily by robots who supply an offset at which to load the character data into the character set. The data from the file overwrites the character set data up to the end of the file sequentially through the charset from the offset to 255 and then it rolls over again in the case that there is more data in the file.