Presentation of 'CharAde'

Broken link? Feature request? Anything related to the Spectrum Computing website here.
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Joefish
Rick Dangerous
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Presentation of 'CharAde'

Post by Joefish »

A few issues with how this looks:
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=30361

I deliberately didn't offer this for download as .TAP files because it doesn't make much sense if you don't download the editor, manual etc. as a bundle. I suppose if you want to offer the demo as a separate download, that's fine. Even the graphics editor. It might confuse some people, but it's their fault if they don't read the manual.

However, the file "CharAde_Example.tap.zip" is completely pointless as it's a BYTES file and can't be run on its own. You can't even load it if you haven't read the manual and know what CLEAR statement to execute first. It certainly doesn't work in the JSSpeccy emulator.

But please can you add under the additional files the entire bundled package as I intended it to be distributed. You can get it from:
http://railtron.com/files/spectrum/

If anything, this is the 'main' download.


Also, isn't it about time someone fixed the scaling of the screenshots?
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R-Tape
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Re: Presentation of 'CharAde'

Post by R-Tape »

Joefish wrote: Mon Jun 25, 2018 6:20 pm But please can you add under the additional files the entire bundled package as I intended it to be distributed. You can get it from:
http://railtron.com/files/spectrum/

If anything, this is the 'main' download.
I agree with this, it was discussed when it was first added. I think CharAde should be an exemption from the unzipped policy for emulators as a) it's not the kind of thing people will use in an emulator, b) not all of it will work online and c) the author wants it distributed as a bundle. I'll see if the guys agree and if I can get it in the update.
Also, isn't it about time someone fixed the scaling of the screenshots?
Charmed. I thought that was sorted, but I'll email Ricardo.

EDIT - what's the issue with the screenshots exactly?
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Kweepa
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Re: Presentation of 'CharAde'

Post by Kweepa »

Yeah, the screenshots are 256x192 in my browser. Seems right.
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PeterJ
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Re: Presentation of 'CharAde'

Post by PeterJ »

[mention]Joefish[/mention] I wil exclude this title from the Emulator section (I will do it over the weekend). I have another one to do as well which I was informed about.
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Joefish
Rick Dangerous
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Re: Presentation of 'CharAde'

Post by Joefish »

On this tablet the screenshot is 256x192. On another PC though it was showing up with a black border that seemed to be affecting the scaling. I'll take another look tomorrow. Sorry, I thought this had just always been a bit wrong on the website.
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Joefish
Rick Dangerous
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Re: Presentation of 'CharAde'

Post by Joefish »

It's mainly the middle file that doesn't work on its own. The demo, editor and manual can still be listed as separate files.
I just meant to list the complete package as a main download, or as an additional file if that's not possible.
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R-Tape
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Re: Presentation of 'CharAde'

Post by R-Tape »

Joefish wrote: Mon Jun 25, 2018 11:31 pm It's mainly the middle file that doesn't work on its own. The demo, editor and manual can still be listed as separate files.
I just meant to list the complete package as a main download, or as an additional file if that's not possible.
I've suggested not excluding it from emulation & making main file downloads like this:

Bundle.zip
Demo.tap

Does that sound okay? What would be your ideal scenario?

Must get around to using this someday.
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Joefish
Rick Dangerous
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Re: Presentation of 'CharAde'

Post by Joefish »

Yep, that's fine, thanks.
I presume you'll leave the PDF manual in the additional file downloads? I don't mind that being available separately, as it lets people see what it's all about without having to download everything.

As for the scaling, I found out it's a new and blwdy annoying thing that Firefox does. If you have your Windows desktop set to scale up fonts, layouts etc. by 110% then Firefox picks up on the system setting and scales up any pixel-precise-sized images on a web page by the same amount, and badly. You can turn it off with a local setting:

about:config and setting layout.css.devPixelsPerPx to 1.0
(Default setting of -1.0 mirrors the desktop scaling setting).

It doesn't seem there's anything the website can do to counter it.
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Joefish
Rick Dangerous
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Re: Presentation of 'CharAde'

Post by Joefish »

R-Tape wrote: Tue Jun 26, 2018 4:04 am Must get around to using this someday.
Although it says 'trial' it does all seem to work OK.
There's one thing a bit poor in that you have to remember some memory addresses and use PEEK to read back any information. I have since figured out how to make INPUT #3 work to return strings of data so it may get a revised version one day.
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