Database model ZXDB

This is the place for general discussion and updates about the ZXDB Database. This forum is not specific to Spectrum Computing.

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bob_fossil
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Re: Database model ZXDB

Post by bob_fossil »

Don't know if this is the right place to report this but for the recently submitted entry for my WOOT! entry 'I'm Dreaming Of A Black And White Christmas'

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=32193

the loading screen is from another Woot! entry 'Christmas Pudding Attack'

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=32192

Black and White Christmas doesn't have a loading screen.

Thanks,

Bob Fossil
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R-Tape
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Re: Database model ZXDB

Post by R-Tape »

That's my fault, sorry Bob.

And sorry to you Einar, I know you had to correct more errors in my spreadsheet this time.

I might not be able to look at this till tomorrow, Peter i'll be in touch then.
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bob_fossil
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Re: Database model ZXDB

Post by bob_fossil »

No problem. Thanks for taking the time to submit the details for it in the first place.
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Einar Saukas
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Re: Database model ZXDB

Post by Einar Saukas »

bob_fossil wrote: Tue Dec 26, 2017 7:29 pm Don't know if this is the right place to report this but for the recently submitted entry for my WOOT! entry 'I'm Dreaming Of A Black And White Christmas'

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=32193

the loading screen is from another Woot! entry 'Christmas Pudding Attack'

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=32192

Black and White Christmas doesn't have a loading screen.

Thanks,

Bob Fossil
Thank you!

I just fixed it. It will be in the next ZXDB update.
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Einar Saukas
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Re: Database model ZXDB

Post by Einar Saukas »

A minor ZXDB update is available here, containing Bob's correction and hikoki's screenshots.
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PeterJ
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Re: Database model ZXDB

Post by PeterJ »

I have updated the site again with the new ZXDB from [mention]Einar Saukas[/mention] . Thanks for the updates everyone. The screens now appear to be correct [mention]bob_fossil[/mention]
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Einar Saukas
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Re: Database model ZXDB

Post by Einar Saukas »

Another ZXDB update is available here. It contains recent game releases and updated integration with RZX Archive.

Happy New Year! :)
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R-Tape
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Re: Database model ZXDB

Post by R-Tape »

Is there a categorical lacuna for gamebooks and stories? Yerzmyey's new game, the (hopeful) possibility of more MuCho's and pure stories like Crash Compo*

Is there enough of a case to add a new genre or genres to ZXDB?

*these are being added to the spreadsheet.
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Re: Database model ZXDB

Post by Ralf »

There isn't much of such genre but there would be also Adrian Mole game, some Danger Mouse game and probably a few more. About 10 titles I guess. Decide if it is enough.

Just don't mess it with "Book" category which is alrady present here (I checked it). That one is for "static" books - programs which enable you to read content of some book but you don't make any decision there.
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Re: Database model ZXDB

Post by hikoki »

There is an "e-Book" tag on infoseek : http://goo.gl/XZPRG6

Mucho allows to make "gameBooks", that is, regular ebooks but also ebooks with dice mechanics and game logic that makes the text change unlike with ebooks, take into account rpg statistics, etc so apparently gamebooks may look like regular ebooks but might be something else besides regular ebooks, adventure:text, adventure:graphic, strategy:management, cards..
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Re: Database model ZXDB

Post by Nomad »

Well yea, you have Choose your own adventure books - that didn't require anything to use but the book. It was just a series of choices.

But then you had Fighting Fantasy series that required dice and had a random element that affected the game.

The Way of the Tiger series, the character could retain the stats from earlier books in the series plus you had dice. I got a feeling Lone Wolf had the same mechanic also.

Dungeons and Dragons had solo adventures that were essentially game books that you played with one DM and one player.
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Einar Saukas
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Re: Database model ZXDB

Post by Einar Saukas »

I just came back from vacation, but R-Tape and Peter have been very busy adding new content to ZXDB during my absence!

A major ZXDB update is now available here, containing lots of screenshots and playable files for recent game releases, and some additional new information.

Have fun!
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Re: Database model ZXDB

Post by PeterJ »

Hi [mention]Einar Saukas[/mention]

Thanks for this. The site is now fully updated. Latest titles available here:

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.php?cat=301
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Einar Saukas
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Re: Database model ZXDB

Post by Einar Saukas »

R-Tape wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2018 9:32 pmIs there a categorical lacuna for gamebooks and stories? Yerzmyey's new game, the (hopeful) possibility of more MuCho's
There are too few gamebooks, so I don't think it's worth it to create a new category for them. Instead, Yerzmyey's new game was simply classified as "Adventure Game: Text/Illustrated", and there's now a new group called "Gamebook (Multi-Choice Fiction)" to distinguish it from other adventures.

Here's the current list of games in this group:

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... up_id=1038

This list is still missing "El Cementerio", that will be added in next ZXDB update. Are there any others?
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Re: Database model ZXDB

Post by hikoki »

Einar Saukas wrote: there's now a new group called "Gamebook (Multi-Choice Fiction)" to distinguish it from other adventures.

Here's the current list of games in this group:

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... up_id=1038

This list is still missing "El Cementerio", that will be added in next ZXDB update. Are there any others?
There you have a few more CYOA. There must be more for sure.

https://awesome-table.com/-KTJLy2xX7_E1 ... N=gamebook

http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseek ... loadpics=1

http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseek ... loadpics=1

http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseek ... loadpics=1
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Re: Database model ZXDB

Post by hikoki »

The license of Mojon Twins' MK2 engine has changed to copyleft CC BY-NC-SA 3.0. and released on github: https://github.com/mojontwins/mk2
See the announcement on their site: http://www.mojontwins.com/2018/01/12/li ... -spectrum/
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Einar Saukas
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Re: Database model ZXDB

Post by Einar Saukas »

hikoki wrote: Tue Jan 23, 2018 2:14 pm
Einar Saukas wrote: there's now a new group called "Gamebook (Multi-Choice Fiction)" to distinguish it from other adventures.

Here's the current list of games in this group:

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... up_id=1038

This list is still missing "El Cementerio", that will be added in next ZXDB update. Are there any others?
There you have a few more CYOA. There must be more for sure.

https://awesome-table.com/-KTJLy2xX7_E1 ... N=gamebook

http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseek ... loadpics=1

http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseek ... loadpics=1

http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseek ... loadpics=1
Thank you!!!

This information will be in the next ZXDB update.
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Einar Saukas
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Re: Database model ZXDB

Post by Einar Saukas »

hikoki wrote: Wed Jan 24, 2018 1:29 pm The license of Mojon Twins' MK2 engine has changed to copyleft CC BY-NC-SA 3.0. and released on github: https://github.com/mojontwins/mk2
See the announcement on their site: http://www.mojontwins.com/2018/01/12/li ... -spectrum/
Thank you!!! It will be in the next ZXDB update too.
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Re: Database model ZXDB

Post by Ralf »

Einar, I would have an question.

Running your script deletes exisitng database and makes a new one or updates an existing database?

I created my local copy in ZXDB as described in this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=328

if I create some sql views and other changes in my database and later run the latest update script I'll lose my changes, right?
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Einar Saukas
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Re: Database model ZXDB

Post by Einar Saukas »

Ralf wrote: Thu Jan 25, 2018 1:48 pmRunning your script deletes exisitng database and makes a new one or updates an existing database?
The script don't delete anything, but it assumes ZXDB tables don't exist, or they are all empty.

Technically the "incremental" scripts in ZXDB were originally intended to allow people update their database copy without recreating anything. However it was too much work to maintain them this way, and nobody was benefiting from them, so they don't work this way anymore. Although "incremental" scripts still exist, now they only serve the purpose of "auditing" (so anyone can see and help validate every correction and addition made to the original WoS content).

Ralf wrote: Thu Jan 25, 2018 1:48 pmif I create some sql views and other changes in my database and later run the latest update script I'll lose my changes, right?
If you delete data from all ZXDB tables, then run the ZXDB script, these tables will be repopulated with latest ZXDB content without losing your views. However if you made changes to ZXDB tables content, they would be lost. Notice that there's not much I could do to help you in this latter case. Even if I provided a separate script containing only the ZXDB changes, there's always the chance that a certain ZXDB update will override exactly the information you previously changed yourself...

My suggestion is, write instead your own script to create views and whatever other changes you want. Whenever there's a new ZXDB update, you can simply drop the entire database, run the latest ZXDB script, then run your own script afterwards. This is exactly how ZX Pokemaster build works now, I suggest you take a look at its source code.
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Re: Database model ZXDB

Post by Ralf »

Thanks for the explanation.
Yes. keeping your views in a script seems a sane idea. And I wasn't going to alter the tables themselves.
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kolbeck
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Re: Database model ZXDB

Post by kolbeck »

Einar Saukas wrote: Fri Jan 26, 2018 2:39 am
My suggestion is, write instead your own script to create views and whatever other changes you want. Whenever there's a new ZXDB update, you can simply drop the entire database, run the latest ZXDB script, then run your own script afterwards. This is exactly how ZX Pokemaster build works now, I suggest you take a look at its source code.
ZXInfo works the same way, it assumes a clean ZXDB before doing its own work. I did try for long time to see if mysqldbcompare could do some kind of incremental update, but with no luck.

/Thomas
https://api.zxinfo.dk/v3/ - ZXDB API for developers
zxinfo-file-browser - Cross platform app to manage your files
https://zxinfo.dk - another ZXDB frontend
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Re: Database model ZXDB

Post by hikoki »

I've noticed Spectrumcomputing is including more and more .tap files :)
I would recommend that someone checks out SC's files against the ones from my site Speccy21 as I've been quite scrupulous when collecting new updates. I can share my archive in a zip as well as my spreadsheet.
For example, Gabriele Amore put in-game music in all of his games recently. My guess is this game version does not have AY music: https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=30230
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R-Tape
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Re: Database model ZXDB

Post by R-Tape »

Cheers hik, I'll drop you a PM tomorrow.

I added a load in the last update, and your site is one of the main sources (I've always said you're an unsung hero). Hope you're cool with this, but I'd like to discuss in more detail tomorrow. I did almost all of Gab's in the last site update, but it was hard to pick the right file in his dropbox every time. I noticed some has two AY tracks.

BTW your Popeye is still Pengoquest :-p
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Re: Database model ZXDB

Post by hikoki »

R-Tape wrote: BTW your Popeye is still Pengoquest :-p
Oops. Ta! I had to do some automatic replacements within the spreadsheet. I'll check out it there are more bugged links like that one.
As for Gabam's games, I updated my download links after visiting his facebook page a few weeks ago.

Maybe I can help you somehow after reading your PM. Cheers
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