Advanced BASIC Editor PACK

[Michael Brown]

Confrontation ran from tape at &E00, but to *save a file to disc it needs running at &1100 removing &300 from its CONFRON file to avoid any possible "no room errors".

This new test disc features a compacted game that now runs at &1100 with &300 less code so you can save your score to disc.

I have played it and it seems OK, but if anyone else would like to give it a go and let me know what you think.

regards,
Mick.

ConfrontationTEST.zip

(15.62 KiB) Downloaded 122 times

[Michael Brown]

Lastly...

Red Coats or Redcoats.
This version has been amended to load each pre defined battle as BATTLE1, BATTLE2 and BATTLE3 etc due to DFS limitations. You can also load/save your own battles as BATTLE and a file is included here.
I have also written/copied the instructions for the game and included some extra stuff about the changes.

This game originally ran from tape at &E00, but to *save a the BATTLE file to disc it needs running at &1100 removing &300 from its REDCOAT file to avoid any possible "no room errors".

This new test disc features a compacted game that now runs at &1100 with &300 less code so you can save your own BATTLE to disc.

I have played it and it seems OK, but if anyone else would like to give it a go and let me know what you think.

regards,
Mick.

[Michael Brown]

As a bonus, I have come across a copy of Rome 90 from Qualsoft.
Again, this is a game that would load at &E00 from tape, but needs to run at &1300 to save the 'SG' file to disc in order to play the 2nd part.

This new test disc features compacted games that now run at &1300 with a bit less code so you can save the 'SG' file to disc on completion of the Qualifiers and the load it to play the Finals.

I have played it and it seems OK, but if anyone else would like to give it a go and let me know what you think.
I have also included some of the massive instructions from the manual.

regards,
Mick.

Rome90TEST.zip

(20.21 KiB) Downloaded 108 times

[Michael Brown]

If anyone knows of any other games that give a "no room at line..." error that I have not mentioned then please let me know.
However, the only games that should be considered are ones that would allow you to save a high score/your position to disc instead of tape and also must be written in BASIC so they can be compacted.

regards,
Mick.

[Michael Brown]

Another game that may benefit from compacting is League Challenge from Atlantis.

This game originally ran from tape at &E00, but to *save the DATA file to disc it needs running at &1300 removing &500 from its CHALLEN file to avoid any possible "no room errors".

This new test disc features a compacted game that now runs at &1300 with &500 less code so you can save your own DATA to disc.

I Have also amended/corrected the instructions slightly.

I have played it and it seems OK, but if anyone else would like to give it a go and let me know what you think.
Before I repost any of these games, they will need massive play testing to make sure there are no errors as a result of changing data within the files.

regards,
Mick.

LeagueChallengeTEST.zip

(17.27 KiB) Downloaded 102 times

[lurkio]

Just to mention that a user of bbcmicro.co.uk contacted us to say that the game RTC Penzance was crashing out with a "No room" error after the in-game clock had reached 20:00 -- that's even though the game was already relocating itself down to PAGE=&E00.

So I used the Pack routine in the PRES Advanced BASIC Editor to compress the main game program, and the user now reports that the game works without error.

Choo, and, inevitably, choo.

[Michael Brown]

Hi,
I too found sometimes that by adding additional basic code (a downloader routine) to the end of a game, that it created a "no room error". The way around this was to add it as a machine code downloader at the end of the game and call that.

Mick.

[billcarr2005]

I don't know if it's in any way (tangentially) related, but the way R.T.C. Penzance was being relocated by unnecessarily tinkering with &13 without OLD before the RUN doesn't update/reset LOMEM and only the high byte for TOP?

[lurkio]

I don't know if it's in any way (tangentially) related, but the way R.T.C. Penzance was being relocated by unnecessarily tinkering with &13 without OLD before the RUN doesn't update/reset LOMEM

Good point! I've now created a new test version of the program by just tweaking the relocator code (to set LOMEM) and leaving the program uncompressed:

• http://bbcmicro.co.uk//jsbeebng/play.p ... der&noseek

I don't know how to trigger the "No room" error, though, so I'm not sure if the above fix works. I've asked the original bugfinder to test it but he's gone a bit quiet since I pushed my luck and asked him to test every single other RTC game!

and only the high byte for TOP?

Technically that should be fine because it's only the high byte of TOP that will change on relocation, right..?

[billcarr2005]

Technically that should be fine because it's only the high byte of TOP that will change on relocation, right..?

Isn't TOP a 16 bit value, ie &190E for a simple 10PRINT"HELLO" program
Changing just the high byte will surely mess things up, even if the page is correct.
And instead of using LOMEM=TOP, why not just use OLD?

[lurkio]

Isn't TOP a 16 bit value, ie &190E for a simple 10PRINT"HELLO" program

Yes, and if you relocate that program down to PAGE=&E00 then the new value of TOP will be &E0E. So only the high byte has changed. So you can leave the contents of ?&12 unaltered.

And instead of using LOMEM=TOP, why not just use OLD?

To avoid adding too much code to the relocator. And to avoid introducing a separate machine-code relocator routine in place of the existing BASIC one. Basically to avoid making too many changes -- with the aim of reducing the risk of me inadvertently breaking something.

[billcarr2005]

But instead of altering &13, LOMEM and TOP, OLD does all of the above automatically

[lurkio]

But instead of altering &13, LOMEM and TOP, OLD does all of the above automatically

Yes, but you'd have to insert it into the keyboard buffer because you can't include OLD inline in a BASIC program. Which would be a bit of a faff. (But not a huge faff, I admit.)

The existing relocator routine takes the form of several lines of BASIC inside the main game program. I'd like to alter that program as little as possible on the principle that the less I change, the less I'll accidentally break.

[leenew]

I've asked the original bugfinder to test it but he's gone a bit quiet since I pushed my luck and asked him to test every single other RTC game!

[Michael Brown]

Yet another game that may benefit from compacting is Wheeler Dealer from OIC.

This game originally ran from tape at &E00, but to *save the BusData file to disc it needs running at &1300 removing &500 from its Busines file to avoid any possible "no room errors".

This new test disc features a compacted game that now runs at &1300 with &500 less code so you can save your own DATA to disc.

I Have also amended the game to say Insert a blank tape or disc.

I have played it and it seems OK, but if anyone else would like to give it a go and let me know what you think.
Before I repost any of these games, they will need massive play testing to make sure there are no errors as a result of changing data within the files.

regards,
Mick.

WheelerDealerTEST.zip

(14.52 KiB) Downloaded 81 times

[Michael Brown]

One last game that may benefit from compacting is Swordmaster from Acorn User.

This game originally ran from tape at &E00, but to *save the FILE file to disc it needs running at &1300 removing &500 from its SWORD4 file to avoid any possible "no room errors".

This new test disc features a compacted game that now runs at &1300 with &500 less code so you can save your own DATA to disc.

I Have also amended the game to say Insert a blank tape or disc.

I have played it and it seems OK, but if anyone else would like to give it a go and let me know what you think.
Before I repost any of these games, they will need massive play testing to make sure there are no errors as a result of changing data within the files.

regards,
Mick.

SwordMasterTEST.zip

(16.47 KiB) Downloaded 79 times

[lurkio]

... There are several other games that have been transferred to disc that could benefit from this tool ... I can confirm the first one I believe to now be running correctly is Division One ... I have been able to restore this game so that you can save your team to disc and reload it and I have managed to compact the main game ... A file called SG is saved which has all your players set up. I will be adding the f0 option to set these players up as per Soccer Supremo once I have found or created some new instructions for the game ... In the meantime, if someone would like to playtest this game and let me know if there are any errors.

I have uploaded the latest version of Mick's compressed version of this game (Division One '85) to bbcmicro.co.uk:

http://bbcmicro.co.uk/game.php?id=2264

It would be good if people could playtest it and try to find any bugs..?