Spectrum Computing

The place to report bugs is on GitHub . OK, Thanks. That's expected, because the TAP file contains headerless blocks. By default, tap2sna.py ignores headerless blocks because it cannot know where they should be loaded. To make tap2sna.py load a headerless block at a specific address, use the '--ram...

The CTL file looks like a blueprint of where code and data are supposed to be. However, this is the first thing we NEED to do, which is most probably not the best scenario when we don't know anything about the code or data. ... All in all, I see the CTL as a base reference to build a kind of node g...

Found what appears to be another bug. Maybe I should be reporting these elsewhere, but I'm not sure exactly were, so please enlighten me so that I can report them on the proper place. So when processing " Formula One.TZX ", the tapInfo.py correctly reports all the blocks. > tapinfo.py &quo...

By the way, using SkoolKit 8.6, I seem to have found a bug This Macro doesn't produce the expected result (the output of the second third of the screen #SCR1,0,8,32,8(secondThird.png) It comes close, but has a few problems: - Some of the pixels and full lines, are missing - Some colors Also seem off...

This really needs some kind of editor, that would allows us to edit each block, brake it apart, join blocks, etc... Because when we do these operations, we need to make decisions on how to merge or split and to keep or not the existing labels/comments/descriptions, etc ... Because some have referenc...

The CTL file looks like a blueprint of where code and data are supposed to be. However, this is the first thing we NEED to do, which is most probably not the best scenario when we don't know anything about the code or data. This would be a lot easier, if this representation of code/data (AKA CTL), w...

You're not missing anything. That Disassembly DIY documentation was written a long time ago, back when I expected users to start with a control file and eventually move to editing the skool file. But it seems most people prefer to stick with the control file and never touch the skool file. Which is...

By the way routine_09 clearly seems to be the spell casting chance function, for a CHAOS/LAW spell. It; - calls random - compares with casting_chance - determines success or failure based on comparison (updates spell_success_flag ) - Updates Law ( CH_LAW ) based on Spell type ( spell_chaos_law ) - r...

I have been reading a bit on how to use SkoolKit (now with correct name :) ), and according to the documentation So the skool file is - from start to finish as you develop it by organising and annotating the code - the common ‘source’ for both the reader-friendly HTML version of the disassembly, and...

I also noticed that some of the routines, are already known what they do (or partially at least), but the name of the routines don't yet reflect that.
Routine_04 is a good example of this.

It would be really useful if SchoolKit would produce a similar list for variables usage, specially if it would mark them as READ, WRITE or READ/WRITE in each function they are used. Used by the routines at routine04, chaos_law_spell, RAISDO, TUR_DO, creature_cast_spell, trees_castles_spell, routine1...

Here we go, since it's not much of a secret any more this is where we got to: https://zxnet.co.uk/spectrum/chaos/index.html I would like to try make a constructive criticism. Variable names are a bit cryptic. Some examples: FLA481 FRA321 NUM LEVEL GAMTUN POSPRI COMPAR SPELNO RANUM ROMP HISPEL Altho...

https://chaosremakes.fandom.com/wiki/Chaos_Funk Here they mention: To ensure that the internal logic was accurate, relevant z80 code was analyzed by Chaos fans and equivalent C code was used to make routines such as spell casting, combat and the spread of growths faithful to the original game. The A...

https://i.postimg.cc/fy0XPMtX/3.png The stairs like look on the sand, doesn't look nice at all. Like someone mentioned previously, make the sand at water level and above, BRIGHT:1 and the remaining sand (below water level) BRIGHT:0. That will look a lot more natural, overall. The sun only shines on...

... My own solution for colour clash (this would require special coding) is for Dizzy to "force" bright white only in a small area : https://i.postimg.cc/tgXh7R1Y/Forced-bright-zone.png You could also embrace the gray white as being in shadow, if the screen was properly filled so that wou...

I'm planning on fully disassembling "Formula One" and was thinking about using School Kit.

Maybe an opportunity for collaboration.

Yeah, those are good choices. I'd definitely love to see a disassembly of Chaos - for some reason I might have thought someone would've done it by now. I know Chaos as been fully disassembled. There were quite a few fanatics, that wanted to port the game to PC, and they did disassemble it. But I'm ...

145 FOR p=100 TO 1 STEP -1 146 LET t=0 150 FOR a=100 TO 10 STEP -15 155 RANDOMIZE t+p 156 LET t=t+1 199 PLOT 0, a+(RND-0.5)*3 200 FOR F=8 TO 255 STEP 8 225 DRAW 8, (RND-0.5)*3 230 NEXT F 233 NEXT a 234 CLS 400 NEXT p When implementing the above, and using a UpperCase "F" in the FOR cycle ...

not sure how you would do that with draw statements You can check the BASIC manual, but as far as I remember, DRAW will plot a line from the last point to the new coord. So you just need to do PLOT for the first point in a line, this establishes a starting point. Then just call DRAW for every other...

Having calls like those RANDOMIZE and RND, being called in a loop, will always be slow. Simple things you can do, is to minimize the work. For example add "STEP 4" to the FOR cycle on line 200 You won't get a continuous line, but it will be 4 times faster ! You can even increase that to 8 ...

It might be me, but it seems that there is a bit of a mix or confusion between both statements. We set OffsetX=0, OffsetY=16 and print a character to the videoram. We store the first byte at address 16384, the next byte at 16416 (16384+32), etc. A character will appear on the screen as printed using...

I'm wondering, if this is just a thing for these FPGA boards ? Which it seems to be. Could be interesting to be implement on ZX Next, but I think the real killer application for this (if it is really that fast or simple to use, although it doesn't quite seem to be), would be and Add-On board to plug...

I'd imagine it helps whenever you draw in a solid colour, because you can effectively set the colour and then just write as if it were 1bpp. Writing multicoloured objects would be trickier though, and that was where the Amiga started to fall down. Yes, It will, but then what is the reason of having...

Excelent work @Tommo

3. Offsets[/b] ... We set OffsetX=0, OffsetY=16 and print a character to the videoram. We store the first byte at address 16384, the next byte at 16416 (16384+32), etc. A character will appear on the screen as printed using basic's PRINT AT 2.0; The address 16416 is only correct if the offset was s...