Little bugs in the database

[MatGubbins]

Well spotted Juan. It's nice to see the archive being used.

These have been logged ready for the next update. It's going to be a biggy!

EDIT: why the hell were you looking at Howard the Duck?!!

Probably trying to find if that Lea Thompson scene made it into the game.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Another issues I came across in several entries:

In many games, for example in Star Wars Droids or Booty, there are inlays from both archive.org (WoS) and SC's own inlays.

The SC inlays are generally in better condition than the archive.org's ones (better scanned: colour, resolution, inclu...) so why keep all those archive.org inlays if there are better inlays in here in SC? I find it 'redundant'.





Would it be too tedious to remove them from the database?

[pavero]

Another issues I came across in several entries:

In many games, for example in Star Wars Droids or Booty, there are inlays from both archive.org (WoS) and SC's own inlays.

The SC inlays are generally in better condition than the archive.org's ones (better scanned: colour, resolution, inclu...) so why keep all those archive.org inlays if there are better inlays in here in SC? I find it 'redundant'.


Would it be too tedious to remove them from the database?

Exactly. There is also my opinion.

I tried to communicate with Einar several times about this topic, but I never got any answer.

Nevertheless, I wouldn't remove them from ZXDB, because these informations can be still useful for someone else. So I would add a new attribute e.g. Archive and all inlays with Archive=1 wouldn't display at SC.

I have the list of all inlays which should be hidden, becuase they were replaced by better version. So it would be very easy to realise it.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Next games have a 'scanned instructions' feature in the database. But what we see is the scanned inlay again. It seems it's been scanned the wrong side:

- Black Lamp
- Dark Sceptre

I'll post here if I find more

It was a bug in my script which generated spreadsheets for adding inlays.

These inlays in ZXDB have wrong filetype, they should have ID 4=Cassette inlay not 29 (Scanned instructions).

1067;CORE.jpg;29;Scanned instructions;

I just realized there's a thing with this inlay...



The database says it was first released by AnF. Then, re-released by Argus Press among other companies.

Sorry for being a bit 'fusspot'... but in that inlay, in the back side, the Argus Press logo appears... maybe it must considered a 're-released cassette inlay' ?

[pavero]

I just realized there's a thing with this inlay...



The database says it was first released by AnF. Then, re-released by Argus Press among other companies.

Sorry for being a bit 'fusspot'... but in that inlay, in the back side, the Argus Press logo appears... maybe it must considered a 're-released cassette inlay' ?

I don't believe there is any re-released version by Argus Press. There is only one original release from AnF+Argus Press and re-release by Bug-Byte.

https://www.retrogames.co.uk/023608/Sin ... ore-by-AnF

[Juan F. Ramirez]

I don't believe there is any re-released version by Argus Press. There is only one original release from AnF+Argus Press and re-release by Bug-Byte.

https://www.retrogames.co.uk/023608/Sin ... ore-by-AnF

In that case, I think the 're-releases' field should be corrected, as it displays Argus Press, Bug-Byte and Mind Games.

The weird thing is that AnF, Argus Press and Mind Games seem to be the same company (or group of companies)...

[Juan F. Ramirez]

According to Mobygames, there are only two releases for the Spectrum...

https://www.mobygames.com/game/core/release-info

[Rorthron]

Argus Press acquired several games publishers in the 80s, including Bug-Byte. I wasn't aware that A&F was one of them, but the Core inlay is strong evidence that it was. If so, I think we should delete Argus Press and just use the subsidiary labels.

The alternatives are just to use the parent label (in this case Argus Press) or use both parent and subsidiary labels (all three). Problems with both of these approaches is that a lot or even most of the time we don't know who the parent company is, and the parent company often changed over time. An additional problem of the former is that we lose a lot of information and the ability to distinguish between releases. An additional problem of the latter is that you end up with the confusing situation (as here) where you have a publisher without a release.

It might be worth trying to put together a separate table of publisher affiliations, though.

[pavero]

There is possible to define more than one Original Publisher in ZXDB.

Version from Mind Games is Spanish re-release, it will probalby exist a different cassette inlay for this version.

[Einar Saukas]

Next games have a 'scanned instructions' feature in the database. But what we see is the scanned inlay again. It seems it's been scanned the wrong side:

- Black Lamp
- Dark Sceptre

I'll post here if I find more

It was a bug in my script which generated spreadsheets for adding inlays.

These inlays in ZXDB have wrong filetype, they should have ID 4=Cassette inlay not 29 (Scanned instructions).

1067;CORE.jpg;29;Scanned instructions;
2354;Hostages.jpg;29;Scanned instructions;
551;BlackLamp.jpg;29;Scanned instructions;
1168;Crosswize.jpg;29;Scanned instructions;
1259;DarkSceptre.jpg;29;Scanned instructions;
1530;DruidII-Enlightenment.jpg;29;Scanned instructions;
2194;Gyron_Front.jpg;29;Scanned instructions;
2194;Gyron_Back.jpg;29;Scanned instructions;

I already sent it to Einar (19/07/2018) but he probably overlooked my e-mail.

Fixed! It will be in the next update.

Sorry that I missed it before!