Fred 32
Disk Magazine
Submitted by Dan Dooré on Monday, May 21, 2018 - 17:36.
Download
Release Year
1993
Copyrights
Copyrights Granted
Copyright Provenance
Description
Issue 32
| Item | Author | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Menu | Andy Monk | |
| Magazine | SU Closes, Tips For Contributors | |
| Letters | Wop Gamma and Boing! Reviewed | |
| Outletters | Brian Cavers | Technical Help From Brian Cavers |
| Bofh | Charles Hawes | Humorous Text |
| Waterworks | Martin Bell | Playable Level Of The Hit Game |
| Flip N Hell | Clive Welch | Challenging Othello Game |
| Mc Pt 22 | Steve Taylor | More On Structuring |
| E-Tunes | Stefan Drissen Andy MonkCraig Turberfield | Music Done On E-tracker with new player by Stefan Drissen |
| Bpm Demo | Neil McClean | Mc Demo |
| Invaders | Chris White | Chris White: Diy Space Invaders |
| Datestamp | Derek Marriott | Datestamps Files Without Masterdos |
| Distorted Scroller | J Dale | Scrolly Routine |
| Screen Intro | Neil McClean | Mc Screen-Introducing Routine |
Magazine
BM Editorial
First of all this month, I'll announce that we're not going to
continue the use of the Run, Contents, Next (RNC) presentation
which made OUTLET so distinctive. There are numerous reasons for
this decision, not least the huge amount of mail we received
from readers not wanting the change. The general feeling was
that while the RCN suited Outlet, it's not the sort of thing
that FRED needs.
An added advantage of this is that it's still easy as pie for
programmers to send us in their menus (like the one you've just
come from) without knowing specifics such as how to incorporate
the RCN code. Another advantage is that reader contributions of
all kinds do not need to be fiddled around with to ensure that
they fit in to the RCN system, leading to large all round time
savings.
We hope that those of you who've just joined us from Outlet will
not be too upset, but we really don't feel that the RCN thing'd
work in FRED, a sentiment apparently shared by many.
BM Editorial
We've persuaded Andy Monk to do another menu for us (and this
time it only took us the three threatening phone calls! He's
learning...), and we've also got the first of international
bright young thing CHRIS WHITE's articles on how to go about
writing a Space Invaders game, which just goes to show the
sort of contacts FRED has in the SAM world really, doesn't it.
Oh dear, I expect we'll have that Bruce Gordon chap pestering us
again, and oh! I think that could be that editor from YS on the
FRED line... Or perhaps I should come back to reality. Hum.
On a bit of a sad note now, I have to tell you about the fact
that, well, the month of April sees my last 2 months of school.
Awww.... After that - who knows? Will I be snapped up by a
fast-rising Amiga games producing company? Persuaded into going
to live in the Bahamas by a rich millionairess? Yeah, right. No,
after this April and some exams in May it's a nice 4 month
holiday for me, followed by an even nicer 4 year holiday (with
the odd lecture and exam to keep me from becoming too bored) at
Uni. Hurrah!
BM News
Steve's Software has just released what I think is the first SAM
specific DTP package (if PCG's one was as close to the Speccy
one as I've been led to believe, anyway), costing a very
reasonable £25. Those of you without the 256K RAM expansion are
going to be a bit miffed by the fact that SC_DTP won't work on
your SAM, but what better excuse is there for buying that
memory?
Packed with features, the large design area comprises eight MODE
3 screens, (2 by 4) with a View feature so that you can see what
your printout will look like. There are a staggering 48
typefaces, which should keep most of you going for a while,
ranging from 8 pixels high to 24 high. The built-in text editor
can also be used as a word processor, but files from other WP
packages can also be used apparently. The same applies to
graphics - you can import normal SCQEEN$ files, or create some
in the package. Get it from:
Steve's Software, [redacted]
CM Colin-Time!
Hello and welcome to Colin's bit once more!
Unfortunately, I won't be able to spend too long chatting
because I'm just about to pop off to the European Computer Trade
Show in London (lots of dull meetings with people in suits - but
hopefully lots of freebies too!).
I would like to thank you all for not phoning my old number, it
is appreciated when you phone the new FRED number, thanks.
Judging by the letters I'm getting here, everyone is enjoying
Wop Gamma - and I should hope so too!
Last month I brought back the Creativity Pack deal, and by even
more demand, I now announce the come-back of the "three games
for £25" deal! Yes, you can have any three of WaterWorks, Boing,
Dyzonium and Bulgulators for only £25!! Check the reviews, see
the demos....and now, play them all!
CM The "Publishers" Bit
I hope all of you are enjoying FRED (as much as I am!), although
we can only change FRED if you tell us what to do (power to the
people and all that). We don't get many letters saying that
something in FRED is disliked or should be changed so we assume
you're all perfectly happy with the way it is, after all, it's
worked for almost three years now!
Incidentally, issue 34 marks three years of FRED magazine. We
might try to do something special for it or for issue 36 which
would make more sense really! So, we want lots of Happy Birthday
demos, games, music and screens. They can still be entered into
the big FRED competition and you'll get your name put on show to
over 600 SAM users! Can't be bad!
At the moment we're still chasing up the SCPDSA for bad debts,
so if they owe you anything (money, issues of a magazine etc),
please drop us a line with an explanation and it'll help us to
get it sorted out quicker.
CM
Revelation have announced the imminent release of a fully
fledged spreadsheet.
Sinclair User has finally closed! The issue in shops now is the
last issue of Sinclair User. As the first Spectrum magazine to
appear (it's first issue appeared in mid 1982 - shortly after
the release of the Spectrum 48K), many had hoped that at least
it would be the last magazine "to go". In recent years however,
it has deteriorated into little more than a comic and I'm sure
most SAM users will that take this news as good news.....
Prices are droppping for 16 bits! Atari are selling their old
520ST's for £160 in a last ditch attempt to battle against
Commodore and the consoles. There are also rumours of price
drops for Commodore's Amiga 600 and Nintendo's SNES. What is the
world coming too?
BM Return of the Imbecile
That's not fair. How come I never get to go to all these posh
shows, meeting the rich and famous (people like Chris White; he
writes for FRED, you know...)?
You may all be interested to know that since Colin's down at
this show, wherever it is, he's left me in charge of sending the
mag off to the duplicators, so basically I can write whatever I
like and he can't stop me! Ha! So, starting on the next page, I
think I'll copy out some of the letters from this month's
Playboy, and then possibly fill the rest of the magazine with
the lyrics of every Dinosaur Jr song ever written! Lovely!
On the other hand, I could just send off the disk to the
duplicators a few weeks late; I'm sure that the lad Macdonald
wouldn't mind too much...
BM BASIC Instinct (What A Pun...)
I was reading an Amiga magazine the other week, and a brand
spanking new compilable BASIC programming language has just been
released for the Amiga. It's kind of funny in a way; BASIC was
until then looked upon as something of an ancient relic useful
for Spectrums and not much else, with poncy languages like
Pascal becoming the high-level language to be seen to know.
It's always annoyed me that teachers (well mine at least)
constantly drone on about how BASIC was a terrible language to
make people learn programming with, that it teaches them bad
habits. So what? Honestly, why bother putting things in complex
REPEAT...UNTIL loops when a simple GOTO 1140 does the trick just
as easily. What a waste of time. If people want to be prim and
proper then great; such an attitude is fine with a relatively
large program, but there's just no need for it in a silly little
program that only does a couple of things in it.
BM How To Make Life A Bit Easier For Me
I'm sure you're all just oozing with eagerness at this chance to
help your favourite editor, and by trying to follow these simple
guidelines when sending in contributions (SUBTLE HINT: Send some
in! Please!) you can do just that!
1:- Put your full name and address (if possible) on the labels
of any disks you send in, and the date as well for good measure.
2:- Try to use as few files as possible; it may be proper to
store essential variables such as your text$ for a message as a
seperate file, but it can be a tad annoying sometimes! Wherever
possible, following this particular guideline will make things
much easier, and increase your chance of getting your program
published (ahh, you can't beat a bit of good, honest bribery and
corruption!)
3:- One of our biggest problems each month is actually finding
room for everything, so if you could compress any CODE or
SCREEN$ (especially ones that are half empty!).
BM Oh, It's A Hard Life...
4:- Include DOS on your disks. You'd be surprised how many lumps
of hair on my floor are there because someone forgot to include
a DOS file...
5:- I know I said in no. 3 to compress SCREEN$ files, but if the
screens are for the Screens section, don't compress them!
(Confusing isn't it?).
6:- If you send in a disk with numerous things on it, could you
include a basic menu so that we can look through the items
without the risk of missing something. A list of files needed
for each item would also probably help
7:- Finally, include a crisp £20 with you contribution to help
with erm, administrative costs (this is optional).
Obviously we're not going to chuck out disks which don't comply
with the first 6 above, but please, if you can, try to help this
poor needy soul to have just the occasional early night...
BM FRED 32
The month of April; it forms part of the name of one of the
Jesus And Mary Chain's best songs, and this particular April
also happens to see the first of Brian Cavers' section dealing
with the more technical queries that I usually can't even
understand. Please do send in all your technical questions,
although not along the lines of "How do I ago about writing a
machine code game," okay Mr R Pain!?! Dear oh dear...
Screens. Well, it doesn't occupy section C any more, but that's
all I can really tell you ("I did one of the screens though!"
chuckled the childish editor with glee).
BOFH sees the second, and sadly the final instalment of our
story about every network-user's nightmare. Yes, Colin has taken
a job working as an operator; no-one is safe!
I won't beat around the bush here; Waterworks is a repeat! Gasp!
Horror! Unlike some television companies though, we're not just
putting on a repeat to fill in time (or in this case, space).
BM FRED 32
Goodness, no. You see, when the demo was originally put on, way
way back in issue, oh, 27 was it? Well, back then, FRED had
about 3 and a half readers (including Colin and myself), but now
with all the Outlet readers we're very nearly in double figures
(only 5 more to get and we're there!). So, being the generous
fellows we are, Colsie and I decided that it would only be fair
to let all the new readers see what they're missing (yup, both
of them!). Send letters saying what a marvellous gesture this
is to the usual address, thankyouverymuch.
While we're on the subject of Waterworks, it appears that some
of you are having problems getting past a certain rather tricky
level: Level 20. This is understandable, as there is a rather
cunning catch to it, but I'm going to let those of you who are
virtually suicidal with frustration in on a small secret - don't
tell anyone else, but the code for level 21 is: (whisper) PONTOO
This was also mentioned in the Letters section, but since it's
important I thought I'd let you in on it here as well.
BM FRED 32
Next up is what I'm sure will be the cause of many a bleary-eyed
FRED reader after spending nights drinking coffee and playing
this. In fact, if it wasn't for this little game FRED 32 would
have been released a good day or eight earlier. But I did it!
Yes, I beat the thing on Brain 4! What? Oh sorry, I've not told
you what it is yet, have I? Sorry. Flip N Hell is the name of
the game, and far from being a count-the-expletives affair, this
is a very pleasing Othello/Reversi game, by Clive Welch and a
few of his mates. Simply gushing with presentation this also
puts up a good fight and does seem to have a damn good head on
it's metaphorical shoulders. But like I said: I beat it!
Hurrah! A proper smart game, with full instructions for those of
you who've been on a different planet for the past couple of
decades and have never heard of the game.
Speaking of Reversi, which we were in case some of you dozed
off, has anybody played the Windows version? Our school has it
(so they've only themselves to blame for never getting any
coursework handed in) and it's bleep!-ing difficult!
BM FRED 32
I don't mind admitting that I like to show off a bit about being
an old hand at the game (I beat Colin a few months back.
Remember that eh Colin? Good little match wasn't it? Har har),
so naturally plumped for "Expert" opponent, expecting something
about as intelligent as a BBC from the physics department (which
also has a Reversi disk. And teachers expect to get homework in?
I don't know...). Needless to say, I got well and truly whupped;
61 to 3. The word "embarrassing" doesn't even come close...
Steve Taylor, yes, he who single-handedly forms the St Johnstone
support, returns from the brink of Sixth Year Studies
project-dom (Sixth. Difficult to pronounce that, isn't it?
Sixth. Why don't they just change to Sikth? That's what everyone
says anyway) to present the latest in his machine code
chronicles. This month: more structuring.
E-Tunes is another prodigal, returning with style and finesse
and a brand new E-Player by Stefan Drissen, which features
flashing bars and a bouncy scroller. Bet you can hardly wait!
BM FRED 32
There are a couple of tunes in it as well, in case you were
wondering; the first 2 by Andy Monk, and the other 4 by Craig
Turberfield. Could this devastatingly talented Craig bloke be a
contender for the E-Tune throne? Or will Andy recover in time to
stop the newcomer in his tracks? Find out next issue in the
exciting adventures of.... E-Man! (I bet neither of them writes
a single tune after that!)
BPM Demo is another nice machine code demo for to enjoy. This is
by N MacLean, a programmer who seems like he's out to take over
FRED in a Simon Cooke type way, with programs here there and
everywhere. Could this N MacLean be a contender for the FRED
throne? Or will Simon return from out of nowhere, banishing the
coder to the outer regions of the galaxy? Or will I use this
rather melodramatic technique just once too often and get a
severe talking to from Da Boss? Find out next month when...
ouch. Hoi! Leave me alone.. oof. SMACK!
Em, next?
BM FRED 32
Invaders. Nope, it's no use. Try as I might, I just can't
remember who wrote this article. I know he was responsible for a
couple of games a while back, but no, sorry. The name escapes
me. Chris something, wasn't it? Smith? Heseltine? Ford Coppola?
No, maybe not. Ah, well, I'm sure the obscure young fellow won't
mind me forgetting his name. This article, in case you're
wondering, is a detailed guide to writing your own machine code
Space Invaders game. There are some supplementary files to this,
which can be seen by typing:- DIR 1 "IN-*" from BASIC. The two
screens are compressed, you should note, using the Lord Insanity
screen compressor given away yonks ago.
Datestamp. Ah, now you'll like this one. This is the sort of
utility that empires were once built on. Written by D Marriot,
this allows you to quickly and easily attach dates and times to
your files, even without MasterDOS. And if you DO have MasterDOS
you can change any incriminating dates that might be lying
around, so you can fool publishers into thinking that you really
did finish that game two months ago! Full instructions included.
BM FRED 32
In Bits N Bobs, we have a Poolschecker by Andy Monk, for all you
hopeless gamblers out there. Huh. You wouldn't catch me gambling
like that, goodness no. I mean, fruit machines aren't REALLY
gambling; it's skill. No doubt. Pure skill. No risk invloved.
And I MEANT to lose £3 on Saturday, so don't come on all
superior with ME, young scamp!
There's also an impressive distorted scrolly utility, by J Dale,
which I'm sure will please a few of you. Hey - I just noticed
the Coupe's got curly brackets! Smaaart... {} {} ([{}]). Oh,
sorry.
Finally on BNB this month (a fairly empty section, but you know
what they say - quality not quantity) is a machine code screen
introducer by N MacLean (The Doogle). Load, look, and be
impressed...
BM Contributions
Yes I know we're always going on about this but it can't be
helped; without contributions from our talented readers, FRED
would be like a flower without the sun, like an American
without a weight problem, like an episode of Neighbours with
decent acting. In other words, crap (although I don't know how
good acting in Neighbours would make it worse. Maybe I should
steer clear of elaborate metaphors in future).
We welcome all sorts of things; screens, demos, games,
utilities, articles on computer-related topics, articles on NOT
computer related topics, music reviews, amusing stories like
BOFH, menus, tutorials, anything!
We do pay for main menu items, remember; not quite enough to
retire on (unless you put it on a horse which comes in, and you
do the same thing 10 times in a row, but we won't consider that)
but more than enough to make a trip to the pub a little more
enjoyable, which is the important thing to remember here.
BM tpodond
Funny what titles come up when you hit letters at random. Hmm.
You know, life can be ironic can't it? The lengths I went to in
order to find the Lemonheads' "Lick" album, and then the one
week it was actually in HMV I hadn't brought enough cash. Next
week it had gone. Typical eh?
Which brings me nicely onto the benefits of..... SUBSCRIBING!
Ha! Got you! There you were, expecting a nice little
philosophical chat about life, the universe and the price of
computer games (ridiculous on the consoles, perfect on the SAM!)
and what happens? You are pounced upon and forced to learn that
by subscribing not only do you get 12 issues of the biggest SAM
disk magazine, but also substantial discounts on most software
titles available for the Coupe, and frequently extra Newsletters
containg up-to-the minute, Stop-Press type news. And how much do
we ask for this incredible service? How much? Oh heck I've
forgotten... no, here it is - £20. I ask you: is it really worth
missing all the latest news for a measly £20?
BM tpodond (ctd!)
Is it worth the nights spent cowering in terror at the thought
of missing out on so much vital information? Would you be able
to sleep at night, knowing that you'll never know just how long
Steve Taylor's Machine Code series lasted? (Answer: All
eternity!!!!!! Oops, now you know. Damn)
And most importantly of all, would you be happy in the knowledge
that you personally caused the death of one of the small puppies
which I have secured in my garage just waiting for somebody to
cancel their subscription? Would you? Yes? Oh. Oh well then.
Never mind.
-+* These past 2 pages sponsored by Subtle Marketing Inc. *+-
BM Credits
Editor/Lord Of All He Surveys (in his bedroom) - Brian McConnell
Humble ta-muchlies go this month to:
C Hawes D Marriot
A Monk C Welch
S Drissen N Maclean
C Turberfield M Bell
B Cavers D Hubbard
S Taylor J Dale
C White (never 'eard of 'im Guv!)
FRED Publishing Phone:- [redacted]
[redacted]
>> }} Music + Wrestling >> }}
BM Album Reviews
We're hitting the ancient albums in a big way this month, with a
reisssue, an oldie which I happened to find at half price for
some reason, and one new release. What are they?
Lemonheads - Lovey
Pixies - Surfer Rosa & Come On Pilgrim
The God Machine - Scenes From The Second Storey
Before beginning the album reviews though, a quick mention of
the imminent Lemonheads concert; it's on April the 10th, so
it'll have been by the time you read this, but it hasn't been at
the time I'm writing this, so I can't review it for this issue.
FRED 33 sees the official Lemonheads concert review though, so
don't miss it! If any other readers have been to this concert,
please send in your own review of it. Or any other good concerts
you've been to recently. I can tell you now that reviews of any
concerts that I consider would be crap will not get included, so
decent bands only please!
BM Lemonheads "Lovey"
One of the good things about the Lemonheads' recent boom in
popularity is that all their old albums, once nigh on impossible
to get hold of, are becoming widely available again (except
"Lick" so far, but don't worry - it WILL be mine!). Lovey is
their fourth album, with the Creator album, Hate Your Friends
and Lick coming before it (and ...Ray after it), and is actually
about halfway between the rock sound of Hate Your Friends and
the mellow tunefulness of ...Ray. This creates a nice, but
sometimes strange mixture; Ride With Me is a track which equals
My Drug Buddy for mellowness, but the first track on the album
sounds like something from a Mudhoney CD!
There are 10 "real" tracks, and one dumpy little thing at the
end which consist of what I imagine to be a doped-up fan on the
answering machine. Believe it or not this track is actually
quite good! The fan, a young sounding girl, keeps talking and
singing very very strange things, and it is good. Honest!
The album lasts a long time for the Lemonheads - nearly 34 mins!
BM Lemonheads "Lovey"
Considering most of their songs last about 1.5 minutes, this
works out at an average of over 3 minutes which for them is
practically unheard of!
What about the quality though - is the album any good? The
answer to that is generally yes; there are a couple of duff
songs here, but there are also a couple of brilliant ones. Ride
With Me is probably the best. Overall I'd say that this album's
not quite as good as It's A Shame About Ray, but it's still a
very good album to try and get hold of (despite a revolting
cover!), and I'd give it 8 out of 10.
Oh yes, the obligatory cover version is here - Brass Buttons by
somebody called G Parsons, whoever he (or she!) may be. And just
for a change, it sounds like it was probably very crap the first
time round!
BM Pixies "Surfer Rosa" & "Come On Pilgrim"
By now you should all know that the Pixies have split up, and be
thoroughly miserable about it (or we'll want to know why not!!).
Never fear though; at least there are four and a half albums
left to enjoy. The reason I say that is that if you buy the
Surfer Rosa CD you get Come On Pilgrim bunged on the end, which
is more than four but less than five albums, the way I see it.
Naturally, as this consists of very early material it's pretty
rough around the edges. There are also some amazing tracks on
this 22-track, 54 minute CD though (subtle relaying of
duration-related info there!); Where Is My Mind is an eerie
masterpiece. The first 7 tracks are all very good in fact, and
despite the following 3 or 4 being slightly crap, the quality
returns after a short break to end off the album in real style
with Levitate Me. I'm not sure where Surfer Rosa ends and Come
On Pilgrim begins, but there is definitely an extra track in
there somewhere; the track listing on the back says 21 tracks,
my hi-fi says 22. Spooky eh? Get this album; it's not their
best, but it's still suprisingly good. 7 out of 10.
BM The God Machine - "Scenes From The Second Storey"
This is what I like to think of as an "instinct" purchase; I
read a review of it in Select, and thought it sounded pretty
decent, so I bought it! Oh, the money I've wasted doing that
sort of thing... Luckily this one more or less paid off. At the
very least it's good VFM, clocking in at nearly 80 minutes for
one CD! That length of debut album is almost unheard of
(although the Manics managed it in Feb '92), but TGM have enough
songs to manage this no problem.
The single you may have heard is called "Home", and the best way
for you to understand the sort of music this is is to try and
hear that, because this is one very difficult type of music to
explain! It's very intense anyway, and I suppose a little bit on
the morbid side; it's certainly an emotional record.
It's also not the sort of thing you put on just to hear one
brilliant song; put bluntly, there aren't any! It is the sort of
album that's consistently good without ever being superb though,
and as such worth getting. 7 out of 10.
BM Get Fame!
Remember that as well as screens and programs and letters you
can send in music reviews for this little post main-mag
section...
That's all from me then this month; I hope you've all enjoyed
the magazine so far, and if not please write in and say why not.
Until next month, I'll leave you in the capable hands of Darren
Hubbard as he gives some more on that completely genuine,
acting-free world of professional wrestling...
Take it away Daz!
DH Darren Hubbard's Wrestling Video Review
The bit of FRED which is being called "The bit which
wrestling videos are reviewed." And indeed it is.
Remember, a brouchure of more WWF vids can be obtained from
Silver Vision, PO Box 111, Bracknell, Berkshire RG12 1LE. Don't
send anything to the Wrestling Radio Show. They've closed down.
The rating of the vids...***** Pretty damn spectacular, ****
Very good indeed, *** Alright I suppose, ** Not good - canny
boring actually and * one of the most boring matches I've ever
had the misfortunate to watch.
This month...
WWF FAN FAVOURITES (Silver Vision £10.99)
This is a video of WWF matches selected by the fans of WWF.
Before each match, fans say on camera what matches they would
like to see. The introdution explaining this is by Sean Mooney,
and each match commentry is by Lord Alfred Hayes and the now WCW
commentator Tony Schiavone.
KOKO B.WARE vs BROOKLYN BRAWLER
"Now that would be awesome!!!" says one fan.
No it wouldn't.
How could anyone be so moronic as to pick this match?!? The
two are c**p! Basically it involves the Brawler flinging Koko
outside a lot, punching and kicking. The only reasonable
manuaevers being a flying head scissors, a drop-kick off the top
turnbuckle and a devastating Ghostbuster Suplex which always was
a good finishing move. Doesn't save the match though. 10 and a
half minutes - 9 minutes too long in my opinion. *
DUSTY RHODES vs GREG VALENTINE
Another snoozesome affair. Basically, pushing and shoving for
the first two minutes then a elbow from Rhodes sends Valentine
a four second delayed reaction to fall over (a flop). Hilarious.
Valentine gets the upper hand with knee drops, elbows and chops,
then a Rhodes drop-kick, then Valentine rakes the eyes and for
his figure-four leglock and fails. Valentine goes for knees,
chokes, reverse chinlocks and punches until he distracts the ref
so Valentines manager, Jimmy Hart, could climb the top rope to
smack his megaphone on Rhodes' noggan. Another ref/wrestler,
Ronnie Garvin, shakes him off, catches him whiles Rhodes rolls
him up from behind for the pin.
Not good. Needs more wrestling skill rather than just
punching and that. 10 minutes and only * and a half.
THE HART FOUNDATION vs THE TWIN TOWERS
Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart vs Big Boss Man & Akeem
Now this is more like it. Neidhart & Boss Man starts shoving
each other until Neidhart dropkicks Boss Man and bites him.
Niedhart tags Bret in and he does some work on Boss Man's arm
until Akeem is taged in. Bret starts to do quite well against
the 450lbs (33 stone) lumbering idiot, delivering a elbow drive
off the second turnbuckle, but from there things go in the
Towers' favour, with an Akeem elbow drop, vertical splash,
bear hug and leg-drop and a Boss Man choke, elbow, another
bear-hug and a double avalanche. It is only when Boss Man misses
a avalanche against Bret in the corner that Bret tags. By this
time, Neidhart is a bit peeved off because his partner has been
beat up non-stop for seven minutes. Neidhart gets a bit carried
away and before long, all four men brawl outside. Akeem only
just gets in the ring, leaving the Harts to be counted out.
It doesn't end there, the Harts grab the Towers' manager,
Slick, and handcuff him to the top rope, beating him up a bit.
Akeem gets beat up with a nightstick by Neidhart, while Bret
refuses to give the handcuff keys to the referee, putting the
keys into his tights and waving the ref bye-bye!
The tape needed a good match to save it, so I'll give this 12
minute match * * *.
TITO SANTANA vs MR PERFECT
Mr Perfect had a perfect record, could Tito break it. No
chance! Tito's a has-been, and could never end his perfectness.
Anyway, the highlights of this match include (in time order),
a Santana Piledrive/Bell Ringer, a Perfect Knee-Lift, a rolling
cradle with bridge and a neck-vice, both going toe-to-toe,
another Tito Bell Ringer, two face-slams and a backdrop. It is
then that Tito spots Rick Martel, his enemy and former tag-team
partner, that Tito loses his concentration. Perfect misses a
clothes-line, hits a flying forearm and would have got the pin
if it wasn't for Martel putting Perfect's foot on the rope,
breaking the count. Santana delivers a atomic drop, when Martel
distracts Tito again, enableing Perfect to sneak up behind, grab
Santana's trunks, and get the pin.
Quite good and decidingly average sort of thing. It lasts 10
minutes and ...um... * * and a half methinks.
SUPERFLY JIMMY SNUKA vs TED DiBIASE
The first couple of minutes are quite entertaining, Ted comes
out with a couple of thousand $, and states that he'll give
Snuka the money if he would award DiBiase the match. Snuka
simply goes in the ring, and when Ted isn't looking, he beats
him up, nicks his dosh, and promptly gives it all to the fans at
ringside! Lord Alfred Hayes takes an absolute benny ("Over
here!!! Two thousand dollars come my way!!!") as does DiBiase.
The rest of the match is alright, with Snuka chops, rams into
the turnbuckles, and DiBiase chops, knee-lifts and double
ax-handles. Hayes makes a remark about speaking to islanders
halfway through the match - because "they know pretty girls"
(see last month).
Towards the end, Superfly hits a flying headbutt of the
second turnbuckle, and gets the pin when Dibiase tries another
kneelift, hits his bodyguard Virgil on the apron, and Snuka
rolls him up for the three-count. More action comes after the
match when Snuka body slams Virgil in the ring and delivers a
stunning Superfly splash for the top rope.
8 and a half minutes, a good * * *.
ULTIMATE WARRIOR & JIM DUGGAN vs RICK RUDE & ANDRE the GIANT
Erm...This match is just...erm...strange. Both tag partners
just don't have the same skills and attitudes. Err. What can I
say? The Warrior/Duggan interview is hilarious, the Warrior
refers to his fans as the "Warriors" while he refers to Duggans
fans as "Pitcheesses". Look, just don't ask me what the word
means - the Warrior must have just made the word up.
The match. Well, absolutly no skills here whatsoever. It
starts off with loads of "Hoooo!"s from Duggan and Warrior,
Warrior shaking the ropes along with Duggan shaking them. (quite
funny). Andre eventually gets tied up in the ropes and Rude gets
used as a battering ram by Duggan and Warrior into the belly of
Andre. Warrior gives Rude 10 turnbuckle rams, and a few body
slams before Rude tags Andre. Andre takes the mick out of the
Warrior by shaking the ropes, and giving Duggan a chokehold.
Andre tags Rude. Rude applies a reverse chinlock, which Duggan
escapes by elbowing Rude in the midsection. Rude tags Andre, who
applies a bear-hug. Duggan goes down, and Andre shouts a couple
of "Hoooo!"s before sitting on Duggans chest. Andre tries a Rude
hip swivel which has got to be the funniest thing I have seen in
wrestling.
The match eventually ends when Duggan hits Rude across the
back with a lump of wood and Warrior splashes him, getting the
pin. 12 minutes, and * * and a half, just for the Andre swivel.
Prodution quality is excellent, as with all Silver Vision
videos. The interviews can be quite entertaining at times,
especially the Duggan/Warrior one!, and the whole tape is, well,
average. 6 matches in all and I'll give the overall tape... * *.
Marred by a few poxy selection of matches (I still can't get
over the selection of Koko B Ware vs Brooklyn Brawler).
I can be reached at 10 Princetown Terrace, North Moor,
Sunderland, SR3 1RL, for a list of Spectrum games which I want
to flog off because they are getting in the way of my video
collection (quick advert there, don't mind do you Brian?)
Next month, following last months Dinosaur Jr concert, will
see a report from the two WWF cards at the Whitley Bay Ice Rink,
on the 14th and 19th of April. From the £25 pound seats as well!
Better be worth it, shelling out £100 like that. See ya!
Letters & Reviews
BM Contents
01 - The page you are currently reading.
02 - A Word From My Good Self
03 - Letter from CF Edwards
05 - Letter from S Drissen
09 - Letter from R Pain
14 - Letter from D Martin
16 - Wop Gamma Review, by Darren Hubbard
19 - " " " by D Lewis
23 - Boing Review by D Tallerman
BM A Word From Your "Beloved" Editor
As I've mentioned in the main magazine, we've abandoned our
attempts to introduce an Outlet-esque presentation to the
magazine. As is also mentioned in the main editorial, this is
largely due to you lot taking the time to write in and let us
know how you feel about it.
As has been said many times before, we do need your views and
opinions if we're to remain what many people (well alright -
Colin and I, anyway!) think the best Coupe disk mag available.
After the surprisingly strong response to last month's little
query about presentation, how about another talking point to get
you all writing in:
How do you feel about text like SAM Trek a few months back, and
more recently our little BOFH thing? Letters to the usual
address, and we'll see what happens, eh?
Letter from CF Edwards
Dear Colin,
I am most impressed by the service you give. So much so that I
might as well do what I had intended to do, that is order a copy
of Waterworks. Also to take you up on the offer of the free
back-dated FRED issue. I already have 1-8 and 23 onwards, so any
from 9 to 22 would do fine.
Now for a little chat so you can know a little about one of your
subscribers.
I am an OAP, so obviously not a lot of spare cash so I can't
afford many of your goodies . But I do like to be kept in the
know about what is going on in the SAM world; you do this very
well.
Now for my likes and dislikes. The editorial makes good reading
as do the letters pages, the reviews and any help pages. I like
strategic games, the two card games are great [FRED 31 - BM].
Letter from CF Edwards
I am not into POP music or wrestling so that gets skipped.
I was a subscriber to Outlet until they had to cease, so I am
hoping you will keep the Run, Contents Next feature; also the RS
routine for saving some of the progs. Outdex is very useful but
perhaps I am asking too much...?
Well, I won't take up any more of your valuable time; keep up
the good work.
BRIAN:- Sorry Mr Edwards, but the Run... feature has, as you
have probably realised by now, been "binned". The possibility of
something similar to Outdex is being looked into though; we may
decide to give a complete index of everything included in FRED 1
onwards in a not-too-distant issue, but I can't yet guarantee
that.
Letter from S Drissen
Dear Colin and Brian,
Please find enclosed a Eurocheque for £20 to renew my
subscription to FRED. In FRED a few issues back you stated that
any disks sent in would either be returned or the contributor's
subscription extended an issue; of all the disks I've sent
neither has occurred.
I'm glad you scrapped the RCN bit on the menu, a machine code
menu is much better, compliments to Andy Monk once again for his
truly brilliant music. The article by Chris White was an
interesting read too, but could you ask him to pass his next
article through a spell checker, the spelling was appalling. In
it is the second mention of my article that I know of, I also
received a letter from Mark Broster concerning the article. I
was just having another look at what was on FRED 31 and had a
look through the REM statements in the CLIP ART by AXE; tell him
not to pack it in and keep SAMing.
Letter from S Drissen
I received Wop Gamma a few days ago and it is BRILLIANT,
definitely the best SAM game to date, although Exodus looks very
very promising (can you stop MOM from leaving the SAM scene?).
The reason I mentioned Wop Gamma is that I have found a cheat
mode, it may be a little early to publish this yet, but at least
you'll know about it. It goes like this:
* EDITTED, CENSORED, DELETED, REMOVED - HAHAHAHAHA !!! - BRIAN *
In one of my letters I also asked about level 20 of Waterworks;
I still can't find the blimmin' door!
Brian, in your Dinosaur Jr concert review you wrote that "Bettie
Serveert" were a support act; did you know that they are a Dutch
band? And that Serveert means serves, so the group could be
called Betty Serves?
Well, that's about all that I have to say; keep up the good
work.
BM Reply to S Drissen
Colin tells me that he's now sent you your replacement disks,
and that he's also eternally sorry. He also told me that your
address always gets printed wrongly because of the limits
imposed by the database he uses to store them.
Going by the little notes that Colin's scribbled on the side of
your letter to help me with the answering, AXE apparently WON'T
be leaving, which is good news.
We've had to edit out your cheat mode for Wop Gamma for the time
being, but I have to ask: how on earth did you work that out?!
Unless you used some utility to look at actual code, you almost
certainly have too much spare time on your hands!!
Due to the fact that apparently no-one can beat level 20 of
Waterworks, we're now going to annouce the password to level 21:
PONTOO (as in the card game, with no "N" at the end)
BM Reply to S Drissen
So Bettie Serveert are Dutch are they? Well I can honestly say
that no, I did not have a clue about that. They didn't sound
foreign though - is the lead singer American or something? Or
have they been holed up in America for a while? Or are my ears
simply to wrecked to be able to notice the difference anymore?
I also have to admit that I assumed Bettie Serveert to be the
actual name of the singer!! Are the band pretty successful in
Holland then? They deserve to be; they were excellent live.
Just waffling on a bit, I don't suppose anybody knows the
reasons behind the links between American labels/bands and
Europe?
I know this should all be in the music bit, but blame Stefan -
he started it all!
- BRIAN
Letter from R Pain
Dear Brian/Colin,
Thanks for printing my letter! Boy, was I suprised when I saw my
name in print! [Bet you weren't expecting this then!! - BRIAN]
Just a small point, you didn't answer my question about level 20
of Waterworks. Never mind. This isn't really another "Am I
Licking Up Or What" type letter, no sir. You want techy queries?
You got them! Firstly, how do you get differently coloured lines
in BASIC? You know the ones, in Enceladus, SAM Assembler 3 etc.
I hope it is easy to do. Secondly, a more difficult question:
how do machine code scrollers work? Even if you don't know, can
you print this so that I can be enlightened by some super
intelligent being.
Love the XSD menu on FRED 31, especially the music. That wasn't
all I loved either! The games were brilliant. Mog and Dog:
simple idea but amazingly addictive (well done CHIPSOFT), Dead
Ducks: am I a sadist or what? Jeep: what can I say (except use
only the SAM version!)?
Letter from R Pain
The card games were also very enjoyable. Sorry Brian, but I got
all the cards out (0 and 3) without fixing it at all. Enough of
this praise; I have another question to ask: which of the
following games would YOU most highly recommend? Bulgulators,
Dyzonium or Boing?
Don't you think that the WW/free back issue offer is a tad short
sighted? I believe that it is already one of your biggest
selling games, so logically many people must already own it
(like me). As this is the case then many people will be
disappointed that the offer isn't extended to other FRED titles
also. I for one would be tempted to buy a game if I could get a
free back issue!
Just to reinforce your point about the content of FRED I shall
air my views. FRED has just the right mix of humour, games and
serious content (can't say better than that eh?). I love the
light-hearted atmosphere, and the informative but not overly so
FRED and letters pages.
Letter from R Pain
Is it just me or are more swear words creeping into FRED? XSD's
own scrolly message contained language that may offend some
readers (not me though) and I'm sure that not all will enjoy the
BOFH as much as I did. I don't want FRED to degenerate into a
gutter type mag (I'm sure that some concerned people will agree
with me).
Lastly, thanks for being so excellent!
BM Reply to R Pain
In response to your techy queries (yes, I may as well try to
answer them):
1)- What do you mean? Lines of text on the screen? Palette lines
going across the screen? Text in the actual BASIC program?
2)- Very cunningly. No seriously, if you want the answer to
that, I'd suggest you read the last 20 issues of FRED for Steve
Taylors Machine Code Tutorial!
Out of the three games you mention, I would advise you to get
Dyzonium. I really did not like the other two much at all, but
many people did so this is obviously just a personal thing and
probably not a reflection on the games themselves.
The WW/free issue thing is simply a promotion for Waterworks,
the object being to encourage people to buy that. Perhaps it was
a little unfair on those of you who bought it earlier, but we
wanted Waterworks to get the sales it deserves, and this seemed
BM Reply to R Pain
a good way to try and achieve this.
Trying to find a balance in the different contents of the
magazine can be a bit tricky, but we do think it important to
have some sort of mixture; our philosophy is that it's better to
appeal a little to a lot of people than appeal a lot to a small
amount of people, if that makes sense to anybody...
It's also difficult trying to decide what level of language to
use in the magazine. I don't think you can accuse us of using
swear words simply for the sake of it, and even when language
does get a little stronger than your average Blue Peter show,
it's never strongly offensive. And since Andy Monk included his
message without actually TELLING us, I don't think we're at
fault for that!
We did attempt to tone down the BOFH, and I can tell you that
nobody put in asterisks in the original version!
- BRIAN
Letter From D Martin
Dear FRED posse,
I don't know what setup you've got with your SAM, but with mine
whenever the screen is full of graphics all I get in sound
output is a pathetic crackling noise with a slight, incoherent
tune from somewhere in the depths of my TV.
I was wondering if I ought to carry out the PSU modification, as
mentioned in Newsdisk #5 (my SAM's well passed its warranty). Or
is there anything else I can do without indecently assaulting my
PSU?
Whatever happened to the WIMP system believed to partially exist
a while back?
BM Reply to D Martin
Well, referring again to some little scribbles which Colin's put
on this letter, the interference is due to the modulator in the
PSU, and Colin does recommend that you carry out the
modification specified in Newsdisk #5 - but be careful!!
As for the WIMP system: just be patient, young chap; it's still
being developed and with a bit of luck will be out, erm,
sometime. Other than that though, I don't have a clue about it
other than that it's being done by somebody who will certainly
do us all proud.
DH WOP GAMMA review by Darren Hubbard
Right then, you just can't not have played a variation of this
game. Boulderdash has been cloned many thousands of times, and,
to my knowledege, this is the second ever Boulderdash clone on
the SAM, after Rock n Roll on SAM Supplement 24, which, err,
wasn't all that good.
You take on the role of Benny the Bod, and you must collect
loads of Radium pods which have made the planet occupants
brain-dead. So why doesn't ol' Benny here get stoned as soon as
he collects one, eh? Anyway, the instructions take a swipe at
Nintendo (spit!) owners, and thats about it. Of, course, you
could always throw the instructions in the bin because, well,
its Boulderdash, basically.
The first thing you notice about the game, apart from the
fact that it comes without a box, the grafix and the sonix are
stunning. The grafix could be easily confused of that with at
ST, and the game has different tunes for each level, all 99 of
DH WOP GAMMA Review
them, although don't quote me on that because I can only get to
level 7.
Animation is quite limited, but who cares with a game of this
nature? Wop Gamma has lovely presentation, and the music is at
its best when you complete a level or die.
Gameplay wise, it is good. A flush of excitement comes along
when an orange baddie with bong eyes comes chasing you, and you
have to shake it off somehow, but many of the levels seem to be
trial and error, if you don't clock them straight away. Wop
Gamma really is quite hard. Don't expect to finish it all in one
sitting, although there is a password option there every five
levels, so remember to write them down in case you lose your
SANITY (note the big letters for those who can't get past level
4)!
Quantum, Neil Holmes and Andy Monk have done a great job in
polishing this off, but can't anyone come up with anything else
than a puzzle-esq game? Surely it can be done. Anyway, if you
like this type of game, then buy. The graphics and sound are
fantastic, and Wop Gamma gets my stamp of approval.
8 out of 10.
D.LEWIS WOP GAMMA REVIEW
Wop Gamma the bolderdash clone with the dodgy name eh; well
revelation say that Wop Gamma is the planet in the game that has
been used for dumping toxic waste, and the planet that you
(Benny The Bod!?) have the task of cleaning up by collecting all
the radium and finding the exit to teleport to the next level.
Mind you I still reckon that WOP GAMMA really means WOPing GAMe
which it is considering it has 99 levels.
Anyway enough of the storyline and on with the review. The game
at first seems hard. Once you've done level one things start to
take time and a little thought as one mistake could mean not
being able to get one of the radium pods which also means you
have botched things up as you need every single one to finish
the level. Having said this there are the odd trick levels in
which you don't and in which you end up spending ages trying to
figure out how to get some of the radium pods when you only need
one to finish the level (Hint; a good example is level 11).
DL Wop Gamma Review
To top things off there is also a fairly strict time limit on
the levels. Now add a few nutty inhabitants to watch out for as
well as features such as barrels which stick right behind you
and needless to say this is one game you won't complete in a
hurry.
Ok, from what I've said so far you're probably put off about
buying this game, think again, after a few games you get the
hang of things and there is a password for every 5th level. This
means you don't have to go through 10 levels every time you play
if your stuck on level 11 as in some great games such as Prince
Of Persia.
It also means there are 19 passwords to guess if you want to
cheat, and some of them are pretty hard!
The graphics are something to buy it for, they are crisp,
colourful and all movement is fast. A nice touch is every few
levels all the graphics change, including you!
DL Wop Gamma Review
One zone is wild west style and you have a very nifty cowboy hat
on, other levels are in futuristic and nursery styles amongst
others, crystal maze eat your heart out.
The sound is superb, some of Andy Monks finest here, and as you
people who have seen the demo of this game on FRED 30 will know
its not just limited to the title screen as in games like
Bulgulators. Every level the tune changes and there is a
standard tune which plays every time you complete a level.
Wop Gamma is very well presented with a level demo if you don't
hit a key within a certain time as well as a good title screen
with a catchy tune playing on it. Apart from being a bit hard at
first the game is also very playable, fairly addictive, and
enjoyable, especially in parts where you get to blow up/crush
inhabitants which will appeal to all you sadists out there.
The controls are good, joystick, keys or cursor keys can be used
without selection.
DL Wop Gamma Review
So whats the verdict? Well bolderdash fans will love Wop
Gamma and people who haven't played bolderdash or any of its
clones will probably like it too, so here are my ratings;
Graphics 88% One Minor niggle though, for your
Sound 92% cash you don't get a case, just a
Playability 82% disk and instructions.
Lastability 94%
Presentation 90%
Overall 90%
DT (Letter before a) Boing Review
Dear Brian,
I've just written to send you a rather late review of Boing.It
was originally written for someone who was trying to start a new
disk-zine,which never saw the light of day.(As well as a couple
of reviews of REVELATION titles.Do you want readers reviews of
games by companies other than FRED?) (Quite Definitely! - BRIAN)
Anyway, here it is in its full, uncensored glory (shame to waste
it!).Oh, by the way, not only do I read the music reviews, I
even take your advice occasionally. (The Jesus and Mary chain
are wonderful!) Righty-ho, here's the review. Don't eat it all
at once...
DT Boing Review
Boing is a very unusual addition to the SAM market. Why? Because
it's not a puzzle game! "Ye gods, can this be true?" I hear you
cry. Well, yes it is. Boing is in fact an arcade adventure.
Recovered from that startling revelation yet? Goodo,because I've
got some more good news for you. The graphics are the work of
Neil Holmes, and as you would expect they're generally pretty
wonderful.
I say generally because although some of the backgrounds are
totally superb they're let down by the baddies,which are
unimaginative in the extreme. Just to give you an idea of their
awfulness, anyone remember SAM STRIKES OUT? Yup, they're that
bad. Still, overall everything looks rather smart, and if you
want to ignore the nasties just don't look at the screen while
playing, you'll probably still complete it! (Damn,I wasn't going
to mention that the game's incredibly easy until the end, just
forget I said it, okay?)
DT Boing Review
To get you back into the party spirit,let's move onto the
sound.Boing has one of the best theme tunes ever!It really is a
rave!(Oh dear,I just realised I've forgotten to tell you the
plot.)
Anyway,on to the plot,which in keeping with computer game plots
everywhere is truly dreadful.Here's what I could put together
from the scant details on the inlay. (Are you sitting
comfortably?No?Well I'll begin anyway.(Some names have been
changed to protect the innocent.))
Boing,famous green blob and football hooligan,was bombing along
at three times the speed limit in a time machine he had acquired
from a certain well known doctor.Surrounded by the remains of
twenty bottles of extra strong cider he'd discovered in the
fridge,when he crashed into the side of a planet. On waking (and
sobering) up he realised he'd have to find the three parts of
the time machine and the twenty empty bottles,to escape with the
evidence of his crime.
DT Boing Review
Luckily someone had kindly left lots of useful-looking objects
littering the planet....
Now to my fave part-griping!As I mentioned before Boing really
is very easy.I completed it in six days,and only one puzzle
really had me thinking in the slightest,and that was only
because I'm totally useless!You're even given far too much
energy,making it almost impossible to die!
But even with these prob's Boing is still a darn good game.If
you don't want to think too much,or you just like to show off
your SAM to your chums,Boing is ideal for you,and even if it
doesn't take you more than a week to complete doing so is still
great fun.It's just that with a bit of love and attention Boing
could have been the best game ever.
Shame,really.
(Still,it's better than a puzzle game any day!)
Overall:-77%
DIY Space Invaders: MC Tutorial (Chris White)
Hi and welcome to the start of my section on making a game.After
a long and hard think, I decided we will develop the game Steve
Taylor said he was going to do some time ago. And that is SPACE
INVADERS. So I started writing the game and finished it about 1
week later (its a real simple game). First off I had better tell
you what you need off the disk:
File name Description
IN-TXT.PT1 This text
IN-SPR.SCR Sprite screen
IN-MSC.SCR Font and other graphics screen
IN-MSC.POK Font + Graphics basic poker
IN-SPR.POK Sprite basic poker
IN-SOURCE Comet source file (first installment)
Due to lack of free memory you will have to copy of these files
to a blank disc, Then load and run the basic pokers to create
the nessasary data files before you can assemble the source
file. (They do take a bit of time to run but you could write
your own M\Code pokers if you want).
Also please feel free to redesign my graphics as I am not a
artist but they are not that bad (are they). ANY GRAPHIC ARTIST
OUT THERE PLEASE HELP WITH THIS.
And for my finarle sorry only for 512K devolpers. You 256K
people had better get a 256k Upgrade, 'cause 256K is not enough
to assemble this code you will need Comet's workspace to start
at bank 16 (see the Comet manual for this).
WARNING THIS SECTION IS A BIT HEAVY GOING AS I HAVE TO EXPLAIN A
LOT OF ROUTINES IN A SHORT SPACE. BUT THE SOURCE IS COMMENTED
SO YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND IT AFTER READING BOTH.
Game Theory
-----------
The main game code will run in HMPR (section C and D), And we
will have our screens page in low during most of the time. We
may change the low memory page to call music/fx routines (if I
can find any that is CAN ANYONE HELP ME!?).
We will also require two inturpt driven sprites. These would be
use for the FRONT END icon selection (THIS SOURCE LISTING) and
in the game itself. These sprites would have to print onto the
current screen (Set by VMPR register), And would have to
presurve the background.
The inturpt mode we will be using is Inturpt Mode 2, As this
allows us to change the inturpt vector address from the normal
location of address &38 hex. We will use the line inturpt as our
main inturpt program, As this allows us to start our inturpts at
line 191 (bottom of the screen), Thus giving use the bottom and
top border area to do all sorts of screen printing, And with out
any flicker.
We will also be using the flip screen method. What the means is
while the user is looking at one screen we will be printing to
another screen. Then we will wait for an inturpt to occur and
swap the video screen with the ram screen. Beens as the screen
only uses &6000 bytes out of &8000 then there is &2000 bytes
never used, So we will be using this area to store any screen
print routines, Thus enabling use to change the HMPR to bring in
any data to be printed.
The sprite table I explain last month is used in the game
but it has change some wot. It looks something like this :
xcoord: DEFB 0 ;sprite xcoord (in bytes)
ycoord: DEFB 0 ;sprite ycoord (in pixel lines)
sprite: DEFW 0 ;address for sprite data
;our sprite data takes &100 bytes
;for each sprite so increaseing
;the high byte will give us the
;data address for the sprite
var1: DEFB 0 ;misc. varable
coli.off.x: DEFB 0 ;colision offset add for box left
coli.off.w: DEFB 0 ;colision offset add for box right
coli.off.y: DEFB 0 ;colision offset add for box top
coli.off.d: DEFB 0 ;colision offset add for box bottom
scrone: DEFW 0 ;screen replace address for scr.one
scrtwo: DEFW 0 ;screen replace address for scr.two
prog: DEFW 0 ;control program for sprite
Now I will explain how to get a screen address from a x and y
coords. There are two ways for doing this, One is to store a big
table for all the y coords start address the add the x. The
other is much simpler and faster. Say H=Y coord and L=X coord
and we are only wanting byte addressing then we :
SLA L ;move all bits for x left
SRL H ;move all bits for y right+clear
;bit 7+put bit 0 into carry
RR L ;move all bits for x left+take
;carry from above shift into bit 7
If you want pixel movement then just do the following :
SRL H ;move all bits for y right+clear
;bit 7+put bit 0 into carry
RR L ;move all bits for x left+take
;carry from above shift into bit 7
Then if the carry flag is clear (NC) then its the left pixel or
if carry flag set (C) then its the right pixel. Hope this helps
you. Also all my routines have the high byte holding the y coord
and the low byte holding the x coord. Note that this will give a
address for the screen starting at address &0000, If you want
the screen to start at &8000 then set bit 7 of H after the above
commands.
The sprite data will be store going across the image left to
right then down a line etc.. and will be mask,data,mask,data
etc.. This means we can print a mask byte like this (DE holds
screen address and HL hold data address):
LD A,(DE) ;GET SCREEN BYTE
AND (HL) ;MASK
INC L ;INCREASE TO DATA BYTE
OR (HL) ;MIX IN DATA IMAGE
INC L ;INCREASE TO NEXT MASK BYTE
LD (DE),A ;STORE IMAGE TO SCREEN
Note that as each sprite's data take &100 bytes we can just
increase the low byte data address, Thus saveing 2 T-Stakes
every time (224 T-Stakes per sprite).
***** Main Area Source Examination *****
***** ---------------------------- *****
Each month there will be a source file for you copy into this
months Source (Each suppliment will explain what to do).
Now lets just run through this month Source, With the intent of
helping you understand what I am doing and also how you can use
some or all of these routines in your own programs. And lead you
into some bad\good habits along the way.
Equates
-------
These are the first things you will come across, And they are
used by the program to give a name to a value :
E.G:
What looks easier to understand
LD A,23
LD (IY+5),A
OR
explode.s: EQU 23
o.sprite: EQU 5
LD A,explode.s
LD (IY+o.sprite),A
Under normal coding practices all Equates would be stored at the
begining of the source listing, This makes it easier for you to
find them. Also there are Equates which are Machine Percific:
E.G:
VMPR: EQU &FC
This it makes it eaiser to convert the Source to run on
another Machine.
Most of the equates have comments to help you understand what
they are for.
Main Entry
----------
After the equates you will find the main Execution address and
in the program it is &8000 in ram page 1 (normal power on
setting). When we are developing a game it is important to save
the Stack Pointer and Video Settings from the calling program
(usually this will Basic), So we can exit at any time to make
modifications to the program. (Remove these when you have
completed the game)
Then we set the inturpt register to our 257 byte vector table at
address &FE00 and set Inturpt Mode 2. Followed by our game stack
highest location.
Then we set our page that has our assembled screen line
code (in this case bank 15), to LMPR then we call trans.scr.line
which copys the screen line programs to bank 13 (screen one).
This is done because the screen line program's in each screen
must be the same, Because we will we switch between the two
screens and print onto either of them. (Does that make sence).
Then we set screen.ram and screen.video to opposite pages, We
have set screen.ram to page 12, Because 256k basic screen is
bank 14 and there may be a loading screen on it.
Main Start (Front End)
---------------------
As explained last month this is the second thing the user will
see (after the loading screen), And ours is icon driven and has
the following options:
Keyboard - redefinable to any key on keyboard
Joystick - set to joystick 1 (67890)
mouse - no test for mouse as yet but
I am working on it.
music/fx - toggle music,fx or off
play - start game
Also, keys F7,F8,F9 will set keyboard,joystick,mouse.
So first of all we have to display the options, And as ours is a
point and click type, Then we need to display so icon Etc.. And
supprise the next instruction: CALL DISPLAY.MAIN does just that,
It sets up the main screen and displays it, (my god one command
does that), No this one command executes loads of little one's
let me explain :
Display Main Option Screen
--------------------------
First we must clear play flag. (Just incase its not clear when
we return here after playing the game). Then get screen.ram (the
one that is opposite to screen.video), And put it to LMPR
(section A and B). Then we clear it (CLS in basic), By putting
zero's all through the first &6000 bytes. Then we have to make
sure that the inturpt driven sprites are turned off, And their
control programs jump to a ret. Now we can print any graphics
onto the page's in section A and B. Then we have to get the key
defination from the key.table, and setup their asci values into
the key definition print area.
Then we print the text to the screen. Now its getting
interesting so lets go mad, Okay now lets setup the inturpt
sprite 1 to be the pointer (control program ICON.PRG) and the
inturpt sprite 2 to be the control selector.
Are you ready for this one, I have a routine for you to write.
Its simply easy and fun. Its a fade in and out of current
palette routine, Because the labels FADE.IN and FADE.OUT only
turn screen on and turn screen off. (I will tell how you can
write these if there is space at the end)
Then we enable the intrupts and SWITCH.SCREENS, followed
promptly by SET.COLOURS then FADE.IN. (if you write a FADE.IN
then you can remove SET.COLOURS from here) Arhah now we set the
inturpt sprite flag to 2 because when we make the inturpt
sprites alive for the first time there is no need to replace the
background,And this is what INT.FLAG=2 does. What I hear you was
why do we have to put screen low, You said that flip screening
was one LMPR other VMPR, Well what happens when we need to print
to VMPR and we can't, Because LMPR is low. So thats why the next
thing to do is put VMPR to LMPR.
After that can you hang in for more 'cause we are going into the
depths of a routine called : CHECK.SEL.FLG
What this little baby does is it waits for SELECT.AT to become
different to (SELECT.AT+1), Then is party time 'cause somebody's
clicked the fire button on an icon, And we will have to act
according to the icon choose.
If SELECT.AT holds zero then its keyboard time, We ask if
they want to redifine keys (they can see the keys already set
at the bottom of the screen).
If they press 'n' then the current setting is copyied into
the KEY.TABLE and CONTROL.TYPE is set to zero (keyboard)
If they press 'y' then we goto the redifine keys section.
If SELECT.AT holds one then we copy JOY1.TAB to KEY.TABLE
and set CONTROL.TYPE to zero ('Cause joystick is still keys
67890).
If SELECT.AT holds two then we set CONTROL.TYPE to one (mouse
control).
Upon Selecting a new control this is the new selection input.
Redefine Keys
-------------
First we clear our KEY.TAB (the old key controls).Then we setup
clear our loop counter and set hl=KEY.TAB+4 (This is because we
are redifining the keys backwards). And then store our values.
Then we setup the screen address to print the Character code at
and wait for a key press. (While we are waiting we flash some
sore of cursor on the screen). When a key is press we store the
key codes and wair for you to let go of the key. Then we test if
that keys is already been definied, If yes we go back and wait
for another key. If no then we store the GAME.KEY control code
and print the ASCI code (making sure its upper case), to the
screen and loop back untill all five keys are redefined.
Then ask if keys are okay, If no go and do it all again. If yes
copy then new definitions to KEY.TABLE and return to the FRONT
END loop.
When we are in the FRONT END loop we are waiting for the play
icon to be press (PLAY.GAME will equal one if done). Then we
jump to GAME.START (currently set to jump to basic).
Complimentary Routines
----------------------
Wot a lead in 'cause now we are going to tell you want BASIC
does. It simply sets inturpts back to mode 1 and set the vector
jump to &38 (rom IM1 routines), Resets basic stack and rom into
LMPR then clears border and the line inturpt status, Then exits.
Last month I tried to explain about collision detection between
2 sprites, Well the next routine you will find does that. It's
called BOX.COLISION and requires IY and IX to hold the start of
the infomation tables on the two sprites. Then it gets the
XCOORD and adds the COLI.X then the COLI.W for both sprites.
E.G:
LD BC,(IY+COLI.X) ;C=COLI.X B=COLI.W
LD A,(IY+XCOORD)
ADD A,C
LD H,A ;H=X START FOR BOX
ADD A,B
LD L,A ;L=X END OF BOX
This enables us to get more accuracy on detecting colision
between two sprites,With one sprite say being only 2 pixels wide
and start of pixel definition is 3 bytes into the sprite data,
(like the bullet), and the other sprite being 7 pixels wide and
start of pixel definition is 1 byte into the sprite data, (like
the base's). When the routine is called, It makes sure that both
sprites are alive (Eg. not exploding or dead), Then does the
nessasary checks for x collision then for y collision. On return
the accumulator will hold :
0 for no collision, 1 for collision
Next up (or down in the listing), Is the main input device
routines, And first is the MOUSE.READ. This is the same as Dr
Andy Wright's routine but has been modifiy to not allow a 8 byte
by 16 byte cursor go of the screen, Also at the end of the
routine it inverts the ycoord (so zero is top of screen).
Then store the new xy into INT.XY.
Then after that we will find MY GAME.KEY routine which is
the same as the one I put into FRED ISSUE 12 and not Steve's
Taylors one that was in FRED ISSUE 17 , (no I'm not saying Steve
stole my routine but upon looking at both routines they are both
the same and commented exactly the same). Please look at the
source for explanation of how this routine works.
**** THAT IS THE LAST I WANT TO HEAR ABOUT THE ABOVE ROUTINE, AS
PEOPLE KEEP SAYING THE I STOLE STEVE'S ROUTINE AND STEVE'S STOLE
MY ROUTINE. WELL INFACT THIS ROUTINE WAS ORIGINAL DESIGN AND
WRITTEN BY RAFFAELE CECCO (YES HE OF SPECTRUM FAME). BUT HAD TO
TO BE MODIFIED TO ACCEPT THE HIGH KEYBOARD PORT OF THE SAM. ****
After setting that matter straight now back to the source.
The next routine is SET.COLOURS, This set all the colours
registers 0 to 15 from the table GAME.PALETTE. If you want more
palettes in the game (one for FRONT.END,GAME,END Etc..), Then
set HL to the end of your table and call SET.COLOURS2. Note this
outputs the colours backwards (Eg fron pen 15 to pen 0).
SWITCH.SCREENS, What is that I hear you say, Well as I said at
the begining we will be using two screens (screen one bank 12
and screen two bank 14). The reason I use these two pages is
because we simply have to do the following :
LD A,(SCREEN.RAM/VIDEO)
XOR 2
LD (SCREEN.RAM/VIDEO),A
This will swop the two around. Say for example SCREEN.RAM
holds 12 (screen one), And we XOR with 2 SCREEN.RAM will now
hold 14, and 14 XOR with 2 will become 12. Also SCREEN.RAM has
bit 5 set which disables lower rom, And SCREEN.VIDEO has bits 5
and 6 set which select video mode 4.
The routine also checks if inturpt sprites are on, If they
are it test for no replace (INT.FLAG=2),If so presurves it then
it reset INT.FLAG and wait for it to be cleared (Inturpt clears
INT.FLAG when finished), So then we simply XOR (SCREEN.RAM) and
out to LMPR then XOR (SCREEN.VIDEO) and out to VMPR, Thus
showing the user the new screen and putting the old screen low
ready to print to.
If the inturpt sprites are off (INT.FLAG=3), Then we goto the
routine below which clear the FLYBACK and wait for it to equal 1
(Inturpt sets this when it finished).
Now comes my brilliant fantastic routine of the century (Well I
think it great any way). The is called READKEYBOARD and this
will read any key on the keyboard with SHIFT,SYMBOL,CNTRL
CAPSLOCK used as used in basic and return with a asci code and a
GAME.KEY code (for MY GAME.KEY routine). The code returned could
be anything you like, because there are 5 tables (located at
MAIN.TABLES), which is what the routine uses. Have a look its
quite neat and simple to alter, But (theres always a but) there
is NO key repeat as yet but you never know I might add this
later.
Inturpt Routines
----------------
After all that we have the next complicate routine. The
INTURPT.SERVER, This is called by two routines (which I will
say about later), And what it does is first store the inturpt
status flag (in port &F9), then push all registers onto the
stack. Then store the LMPR and sets LMPR to the current VMPR
page. Then it test the inturpt status byte to find which inturpt
had occured and call's it. After all possible inturpts have been
tested for we then reset LMPR and pop all registers back and
return to the calling routine.
Line inturpt server
-------------------
As explain before this our main inturpt. Normally we would
use the Frame inturpt but do to heavy collision detecion (in the
main game), I ran out of border processing time which caused the
inturpt sprites to flicker, So line inturpts was the only way
to prevent this.
Now the reason why is out the way its time to explain what
I am doing in this server. First we must store the inturpt
status (currently in the accumulator), Then we do the following.
Set flyback to 1, Under normal cercumstances this is done
in the frame inturpt server, But we may over run past the
frame inturpt as no other inturpts will occur untill an EI
instruction is executed.
Flip the frame25 flag, Usefull if you only want things to
run every 25th of a second (some music programs run at this
speed).
Increase the frame counter, This is only useful if you want
speed you program is running (50/FRAME.COUNT = frames p/second).
E.g. clear the frame count the run your game the wait for
inturpt by clearing the flyback and waiting of it to equal 1.
Then peeking the frame count will give the number of frames
occured since cleared.
Increase INT.JIFFY, this is useful for a slower refesher
register.
Then we call the inturpt key main program. After which we
test the inturpt sprite/screen flag (INT.FLAG) which will act as
follows :
INT.FLAG=3 then no inturpts sprites control to be done.
INT.FLAG=2 then no replace backgrounds but do call program
and get the backrounds and print the sprites.
INT.FLAG=1 then replace backgrounds the flip the LMPR page
to goto the other screen, Then call program and
get the backgrounds then print the sprites
INT.FLAG=0 then replace backgrounds, Then call program and
get the backrounds the print sprite.
If INT.FLAG is less than 3 then INT.FLAG is set to 0.
Then we test the music/fx flag (INT.SND.FLG), If less than
2 then we call the control program for music.
And after all that we restore the inturpt status back into
the accumulator and return.
Exturnal Inturpt
----------------
Nearly everybody call this a mouse inturpt, But it's really for
any external devices that need to comunicate to and from the
Sam, And inturpts is the only constant way it can do this. As
yet I don't think there are any add on's that do this but one
day who know's. By the way External add on's will select this
inturpt when they want it to happen.
Midi In Inturpt
---------------
This is used when there is a data byte in the midi chip waiting
to be read.
Frame Inturpt
-------------
This occurs when the T.V. raster beam is on its way from the
bottom of the picture to the top, As in about to start another
FRAME display.
Midi Out Inturpt
----------------
This occurs when the midi chip has completed sending its data
byte out to what ever want's it.
Sprite Inturpt Jumps
--------------------
This is where we get the sprite program address and jump to that
location. (when we finished a RET will take us back the the call
in the line inturpt area).
Inturpt Sound Proram
--------------------
This test the accumulator (should be holding INT.SND.FLAG), to
see if we want music or sound fx and jumps to the required
routine. We could if required store LMPR and page ourmusic
program (which should run between &0000 to &7FFF), And call it
then on returning reset LMPR.
Inturpt Input Control Program
-----------------------------
A big name for something that just reads the required control
type (set by CONTROL.TYPE), and sets the new xy coords into
INT.XY. Note that I only check for the left mouse button, To
test for right MSEDP+1 bit 3 will be set if pressed.
Inturpt Sprite Sub-Programs
---------------------------
This is where you will find the ICON.PRG for FRONT.END and later
the players ship and bullet programs. As we only have the icon
program (the pointer for FRONT.END), I will only explain this
one.
First we test if we have set the PLAY.GAME flag (will =1 if so
done), As we don't want the user moving the cursor about after
pressing and hold fire on the play icon. Then we transfer the
inturpt xy to the cursor xy infomation (so pointer is where we
have moved to). Then we test for fire if not we goto test the
key F7,F8 and F9 for change the input control type. Other wize
we go through and BOX.COLLISION check the cursor against the
icon on the screen. This is done as follows :
First there is a table called SELECT.TAB, This holds the xy
coords for all the icons (the last two must be music then play).
then we put the xy coords one by one into the ICON.INFO table a
call BOX.COLLISION. If any return with a hit (A=1), Then we jump
to HIT.OPTION, Else we continue untill all have be tested the
check the function keys just in case.
HIT.OPTION first check to see if play or music was set, If
so then goes to the appropiate routine, Else we store icon
number into SELECT.AT, For CHECK.SEL.FLG to deal with. The
SET.TO.PLAY just sets PLAY.GAME to 1 nd return, Where as the
SET.SOUND routine test if we are holding down fire, If so
returns no action, Else increase's INT.SND.FLG (making sure it
doesn't go over 3), and prints the new icon for new setting.
Varables,Text Messages and Tables
---------------------------------
It's best to keep all things like this at the end of the source
for that page(s), As this remove's the possiblity for
overwriting any code by putting DB instead of DW or DS. They are
comented and have heading, So they are ease to understand.
Main Inturpt Vector Jump Table and Main Server Caller
-----------------------------------------------------
There are two Vector tables this one is for when we are in the
main code area (pages 1 to 2), The other is later. Directly
after the table is a small routine which PUSH AF, Then reads the
inturpt status (because this must be done in under 20 T-stakes)
the call the INTURPT.SERVER, Then on return restore AF then
enable's inturpts and returns to what ever was inturpted.
And that covers the main code area, If you didn't understand it
all don't worry the source is commented, And after you have read
this and looked through the source things should look a little
clearer. Now with out further delay we will progress onto the
explanation of the program below the screen.
Screen Area Source Examination
------------------------------
As explained before this is where all our screen printing
routines will be. But first look at the Origin and Dump setup.
ORG &6000 ;the routines will be
;from &6000 to &7FFF
DUMP scr.two+1,&2000 ;we will put the code
;into bank 15+&2000
Most of the screen area routines will have the following :
IN A,(HMPR) ;Read High page state
LD (??????),A ;and store it
LD (XXXXXX),SP ;store high stack adr
LD SP,&7FFF ;set SP to screen area
LD A,&FD ;set inturpt vector
LD I,A ;reg. to screen area
;SOME PROGRAM
LD A,(??????)
OUT (HMPR),A ;restore high page
LD SP,(XXXXXX) ;restore high stack
LD A,&FC ;set inturpt vector
LD I,A ;reg. to main area
RET
This is done because the routines may take a long time to
finish executing, And if we have change to HMPR to something
different to MAIN.BANK, Then to inturpt will jump into anything
and crash the machine. Also note that these routines with the
above in can only be called from the MAIN.BANK, Due to my cockup
of not storing the I register, And assuming that it was set for
MAIN.BANK inturpts.
First up in this area we will find PRINT.BLOCK, What this
routine does is take data from address DE (in MISC.BANK) and put
it to the HL xy coordinates with BC holding the width and depth
of the image. This routine doesn't mask this is why its called
Block printing.
Then comes the character print routines these are :
PRINT.CHR - Which prints a single character in the A Reg.
to the xy coords held in DE.
PRINT.CHRS - Which prints a string of chars from adderess
HL (maximun size 42 as no more will fit on a
line), And we simple copy the string to
SCR.STRING, Get the xycoord from the first 2
bytes with the asci string following and the
end is set by &FF as a char byte.
PRINT.CHR.S - This is called by the above routines and just
prints the char they want at address DE. This
saved me having two routines the same and we
only have &2000 bytes to play with hear.
Next comes the inturpt sprite replace,get and print routines,
These are as follows. REP.INT.SPR gets the current xycoord (as
we replace before moving), Then prints the data from INT.SPR.BCK
1 or 2 depending upon which sprite we are doing. GET.INT.SPR
gets the data underneath the sprite and puts it into INT.SPR.BCK
1 or 2. As with replace we don't test for sprite state, Because
going from one sprite to two will great a greater delay before
we return from the inturpts, Thus causeing a small but noticable
delay in the game. PRINT.INT.SPR prints the sprites (if they are
alive or exploding) onto the screen. This is done as explained
in Game Theory.
Then we have a routine that looks just like the above routine
(well the main part is), But this is called PRINT.ICON and it
can be called from MAIN.BANK as it sets the inturpt+stack for
the screen area.
After that comes the TRANS.SCR.LINE, This only has to be called
when the game is first executed. What it does is copy the &2000
bytes of screen program to the other screen (scr.one), Ready for
printing on that screen.
Screen Vars,Text and Tables
---------------------------
This is the end of the screen programs, So this is where we put
these (just like we did in MAIN.BANK).
Screen Inturpt Vector Jump Table and Main Server Caller
-------------------------------------------------------
This is the second Vector Table, And this is when a Inturpt
occurs and we are in the screen area (scr.one or scr.two).
Directly after the table is a small routine which PUSH AF, Then
reads the inturpt status then store it, Then store HMPR and set
to MAIN.BANK (which has the server in it), Retrieve Inturpt
status then call the INTURPT.SERVER. On return we reset HMPR
enable's inturpts and returns to what ever was inturpted.
Merge Data
----------
At the end of our source is where we put our MDAT comands,
Because normally after the first assemble we can comment out
these, Which will sometimes speed up assembly time
And thats the end. I will now give the theory of fadeing the
colours to/from black with out using a table. First lets look at
the bits for a colour register : BIT 0/4 = BLUE LOW/HIGH BITS
1/5 = RED LOW/HIGH, BITS 2/-6 = GREEN LOW/HIGH AND BRIGHT IS
BIT3. Then we need a routine that does the following:
1 - Test if colour =0 if yes return
2 - Flip BRIGHT bit if =0 then return
3 - Test LOW/HIGH bits = 0 if yes goto 5
4 - If LOW=1 then let LOW=0 goto 5
Else, clear HIGH and set LOW
5 - Repeat 3 and 4 for blue, red and green
To FADE down one shade use the above routine for all 16
colours and output the result to the CLUT. So to FADE.OUT do the
above 8 times. To FADE.IN do the above in this order 8,7,6,5,4,
3,2,1,0 times, Then the colours should be correct. You will also
have to make a temp. area for the colours will you are fading.
See ya soon, Chris J. White.
BRIAN - Those of you who actually understand assembly can learn
even more by buying FRED 33. Those of you who, like me, did not
understand a word, will just have to try and recover from such a
violent bit of brain-abuse in time for next month..!
USERCAT Procedure
1. INTRODUCTION.
-----------------
This Procedure reads file details from a disc directory and
returns a table of user-selected information about the files. It
can be used within programs which need to scan through the
directory, or on its own as a sort of customised "DIR" command.
2. PARAMETERS.
---------------
The Procedure has 4 parameters:
1 DRIVE-NO; (Numeric, Mandatory); the disc to process; 1 or 2.
2 FORMAT; (String, Mandatory); specifies the information you
want returned about the files; SEE BELOW.
3 UPPERCASE; (Numeric, Optional); if 0, converts Filenames to
upper case before returning them; otherwise leaves
them as they are. If not supplied, defaults to 0.
4 ACTION; (Numeric, Optional); if 0, just returns the
information about the files; if 1, displays it to
screen; if 2, prints it. If not supplied, defaults
to 0.
3. INFORMATION RETURNED.
-------------------------
Information is returned in the following two Variables, which
are set up within the Procedure:
String Array: CAT$ (No-of-entries, Entry-size)
Numeric: CATCOUNT
"No-of-entries" will be a multiple of 20, probably with unused
entries at the end; CATCOUNT gives the number of entries
actually used; this represents the number of files on the disc.
"Entry-size" will depend on what details were selected in the
FORMAT parameter (see below):
4. FORMAT PARAMETER.
---------------------
This is a string of Letters defining what Information is to be
returned in the file entries; any mix of the following may be
used, in any order; the Letters themselves may be upper or lower
case:
Letter Information Size
------ ----------- ----
P P-no; the number that is shown by the file in a DIR 3
T File Type; "Bas", "Cde" etc 3
N File name 10
S Status; "H"=Hid "P"=Protected "B"=Both Space=neither 1
U Number of Sectors Used 4
L Length in bytes 6
D Date as DDMMYY 6
H Hour as HHMM 4
M Member-Id if Subdirectory, else blank 3
O Owner-Id if in a Subdirectory, else blank 3
K Start Track-no 3
C Start Sector-no 2
(space) inserts a space in entry at this point 1
"Size" is the number of bytes in the returned field.
All Numeric information (Length, Sectors Used, etc) is returned
in decimal characters, right-justified within its field, with
leading spaces if necessary, and is suitable for use with "VAL".
5. EXAMPLES OF USE.
--------------------
USERCAT 1,"NTL" would build up a table of 19-byte entries;
Name (10 bytes) + Type (3 bytes) + Length (6
bytes). By default, the names would be
converted to upper case, and the table would
not be printed or displayed.
USERCAT X,X$,0,1 where X was 2 and X$ held "NSSTSSL", would
access drive 2, build up a table of 23-byte
entries (Name, 2 spaces, Type, 2 spaces, and
Length), with names changed to upper case,
and then display it.
As implied, the parameters can be variables or literals. Note
that you can only default "trailing" variables; in the above
example, where we used "1" to display the table, we also had to
enter the preceding zero as well, even though we wanted the
default.
Entering USERCAT on its own, with no parameters, will just
display a summary of the parameters and their use.
6. FURTHER INFO.
-----------------
MasterDos extended directories are catered for. Any MasterDos
Subdirectory structure is ignored; all files are regarded as
being in the root directory. MasterDos itself is not needed.
The Procedure uses 512 bytes of the System Heap (usually located
at 16384). An error occurs if there is no room on the Heap; in
this event, reset the computer and try again.
The Procedure uses 3 other subsidiary Procedures; "UPPERCASE",
"ADDN", and "INFO". For use in your own programs, "USERCAT" and
these other three should be saved together, with high
line-numbers to facilitate MERGEing.
DATESTAMP Program Info
This program allows you to Datestamp your files, as in MasterDos. It may be useful for dating any pre-MDOS files, or files saved under MDOS but without any date set. MasterDos itself is not needed, although if you don't have it, of course, you'll only be able to see the dates via this program. MDOS Extended Directories are catered for; Subdirectories are ignored, all files are regarded as being in the Root Directory. On running you are asked to select Disc 1, 2 or Quit. Directory details are read in, and you are then presented with a list of the files on disc, and a menu. You may move up and down the file list, Date and Undate files, and store dates for repeated use - full instructions are given in a Help text available from the Menu. When finished, you may choose to update the disc with the dates - no changes are made to the disc until this point. The dates you enter are validated for range, but there is no cross-validation for, e.g., Feb 31st or leap years. The program needs a file called "dstampfont", which contains the font and a few UDG's.
B**T**D OPERATOR FROM HELL #6
It's friday, so I get into work early, before lunch even. The phone rings. S**t! I turn the page on the excuse sheet. "SOLAR FLARES" stares out at me. I'd better read up on that. Two minutes later I'm ready to answer the phone. "Hello?" I say. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, I'VE BEEN TRYING TO GET YOU ALL MORNING?!" I hate it when they shout at me early in the morning. It always puts me in a bad mood. You know what I mean...? "Ah, yes. Well, there's been some solar activity this morning, it always disrupts electronics..." I say, sweet as a sugar pie. "Huh? But I could get through to my friends?!" "Yes, that's entirely possible, solar activity is very unpredictable in it's effects. Why last week, we had some files just dissappear from a guy's account while he was working on it!" "Really?" "Straight Up! Hey, do you want me to check your account?" "Yes please, I've got some important stuff in there!" "Ok, what's your username..." He tells me. Honestly, it's like shooting fish in a barrel. Twice. With an Elephant Gun. At point blank range. In the head. (Do I really need to tell you the clickety click bit? I think not.) "How many files are in your account?" I ask. "Um, well there should be about 20 in my thesis writeup, 10 or so with the data for it, and another 20 or so in a book that I'm writing" "Hmmm. Well, I think we caught it just in time. You've still got 2 files left... .cshrc and .login" "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaggggggggghhhh!" He sobs into the receiver a bit - it really turns my stomach. "What can I do?" he sniffs. "Ok, do you have any of your stuff backed up on floppy?" "Some, but it's weeks old!" I fire up the bulk eraser. "Ok" I say "How about I come out and load all that data onto your account pronto so you can get some work done?" "That'd be great, but it's all at home" he wimpers. "I suppose I'll just load it in myself." "Sure. But remember what I said, solar flares are bad for disks and machines. Protect your disks from solar activity to prevent them losing their data" "How do I do that? Wrap them in tin-foil?" "NO! TIN FOIL'S THE WORST THING! YOU KNOW WHAT TIN FOIL DOES IN A MICROWAVE DON'T YOU?! " "Yes..." "Then don't use it. There's only one thing that protects disks in solar activity" "What's that?" "MAGNETS. Wrap your disks up in a pillow case with lots of magnets - Solar Flares hate that" "Wow! Thanks" "No worries at all..." S**t, I'm good! ---------------------------------------------------------------- WARNING! I know it's really stupid saying this, but if you really do wrap a disk in magnets, you need help. So don't do it. This is FICTION. FICK-SHIN! ----------------------------------------------------------------
B**T**D OPERATOR FROM HELL #7
So I manage AT LONG LAST, to get a couple of hours off for lunch, and, because I can't leave my desk unattended, I get the janitor in and have him sit in my chair. I tell him that all he has to do is make sure the receiver doesn't accidentally get put back on the hook. He agrees and I'm off. First stop, the bank. I change a $50 note into quarters and then ask to see a balance of my account. Then I yank the power lead out of the teller's vdu. It dies. I say I'm in a hurry and is the manager around? He rolls over like a man-sized twinkie and asks what the problem is. I say that all I want is a balance of my accounts. I cross my fingers. YES! He finds the vdu lead out, plugs it in, and logs in, TO THE MANAGER'S ACCOUNT. Now's my chance - I slip up against the counter, slopping 200 coins across the counter. The manager ignores it, but all the tellers dive for the money. I watch, unobserved, as the manager types in his password at the breakneck speed of one character a minute. At that rate I should've got $100 worth.... He finishes typing. "MONEY". What a toughy! Well, that's my mortgage taken care of tonight... A user that I recognise from "D(eletion) day '89" approaches. I think he's going to talk to me. Even the bank manager is shaking his head furiously. But it's too late, he stops. "Um, excuse me, Could you tell me what is the best computer to buy to do my thesis on?" ?! Right. "You've heard of Commodore 64's?" I ask "Yes?.." "Avoid them like the plague! Not many people know this, but computers aren't made to handle that much memory - it's over 64,000 things, more in some cases. It's a recipe for disaster!" "Oh!" "Try something safe and proven. A ZX81 with dual cassette drive if you can get it. The 1K ram model. Write that down. Don't buy a disk drive - You know how they're always failing, but music cassettes last for ever!" "Hey thanks!" "No worries. What was your username again?" He tells me. Just in time for D-Day 93. You'd think they'd learn. I get back to work and the janitor's asleep at the terminal. I ask him if he wants to work here too, but he likes the ability to bust in on people when they're in the toilet... I put the phone back on the hook, and straight away it rings. I hate it when it does that; it takes me AGES to get my walkman phones in. It's the hottest hosemonster I've ever met, and she's got a computer problem! I love it when that happens! "What's your username?" I ask. She tells me (as if I didn't know) Quick as I can I read all her E-mail (mostly boring stuff), then grep everyone else's mail files for her username. Nothing. Excellent! "What's the problem?" I ask, all smiles and charm. "I can't save my documents, it says something about space." "Not a problem for long" I say, and delete everyone else on the same disk as her. "You should be fine now..." "Thank you so much" she gushes. I make a mental note to do something to her account again tomorrow. "No worries." The phone rings almost before I've got it on the hook. "My files are all gone!" a voice whines out at me. "When did this happen?" I ask. "Just now..." he says, through the tears. "I see. Well, I wouldn't worry, there's three days till the end of the semester, if you work day and night until then, you should get at least a C-" He sobs a couple more times then hangs up. What a wimp. THE PHONE RINGS AGAIN! "The screen on my PC is really dim" The woman at the other end says "Should I wind the brightness knob up?" "NO!" I scream "Don't touch that knob! Have you any idea of the radiation that comes out of that thing when the knob gets wound up?!!!!" "Well I..." she says, all uncertain. "TAKE MY ADVICE!" I say "There's only ONE way to fix a dim display, and that's by power surging the drivers" The words "power surging" and "drivers" have got her. People hear words like that and go into dummy mode and do ANYTHING you say. I could tell her to run naked across campus with a powercord rammed up her backside and she'd probably do it... Hmmm... "Have you got a spare power cord?" "No.." "Oh well, never mind, we'll have to do the power surge idea... Ok, quick as you can, I want you to flick the power switch of your PC on and off 30 times" "Should I take my disks out?" "NO! Do you want to lose all your data!?!" "Oh. No! Ok.." I listen carefully.... ...clicky..clicky...clicky.. .. .. ...clicky. ...clicky......... ...BOOM! Amazing, it probably made it to 27 - the power supply usually s**ts itself at 15 or so... "MY COMPUTER BLEW UP!!!" she screams at me down the line. "Really? Must've been a dodgy power supply! Lucky we found out now! Is your machine still under warranty?" "NO!" "Dear oh dear. Well, best get it repaired then. Did you backup your files?" "Yes, to the system, yesterday, but all this morning's work is gone!" "Oh dear. What was your username? I'll just check that your backups worked ok." She tells me....
B**T**D OPERATOR FROM HELL #8
I'm at my desk as usual, and a user calls. "Hello Computer Room, Simon here, How can I help" I answer. "I can't get into my account!" A user mumbles at me. "What was your username please?" I say. They give me their username. No worries. I look in their account. "No worries, it was just a badly made .login file. I've fixed it, you should be able to get in." "Thanks!" "No worries. Have a nice day!" WHAT IS THIS? you're asking yourself. Has the B**T**D OPERATOR FROM HELL turned over a new leaf? Sold out?! GONE INSANE?!!! Nope. The B**T**D OPERATOR FROM HELL is being logfiled. And if that's happening, I'm being bugged as well. So I'm being nice till I can find the bugs. It shouldn't be long - bear with me. Ah. One in the phone handpeice. Basic. But then the boss is a sneaky sort, so there's probably a couple more. Ah! And another in the base of the phone and one inside my keyboard. Time for a mad coffee-spilling frenzy. This is a big job, so I bring the whole jug over and wait for a witness. The System Manager comes in. "Where's t hat report of mine?" he asks in a surly manner - he's obviously p****d that I haven't implicated myself yet. Antagonist Identified. As the Principal of "B**T**D OPERATOR SCHOOL" (me) will tell you, "There's no problem so large it can't be solved by killing the user off, deleting their files, closing their account and reporting their REAL earnings to the IRS" I pull his printout from under the coffee jug where I put it, and the coffee splashes all over the phone and keyboard, which for some reason were stacked on top of each other. "Woopsy!" I say, mock horror on my face. The System Manager's face tells me I was right in my guess. "Don't think you'll get away with this!" he snarls and stomps off. I click on the ethernet monitor and watch the traffic coming out of his PC. Ah! A memo, authorising the termination of my contract, going to the laser in the director's office. I make a few alterations to the file in the spool directory and let it go to its destination. I run my dinky little program that deposits -522 to the PC and our mainframe s**ts itself. Later, while booting, I'll remove that nasty logfile business. Next, I wander into the comms room and plug my earphone in to the spare RS232 port in the Directors office. It's amazing how simple it is to bug an office once it's got data lines going to it! Director: "Are you sure about this?" SysMgr: "OF COURSE!" Director: "You don't want to reconsider?" SysMgr "NEVER!" Director: "Very well, I'll fax it to staffing now.." SysMgr "EXCELLENT!" Two seconds later the System Manager strolls in smiling. "Well, I'll really miss you Simon..." he says, full of himself. "Oh?" I say, all sweetness and charm "Where are you going?" "No Simon" he says with glee. "You're going!" "A PROMOTION!" I say. "You've finally written that letter to the head of staffing telling him he's a bum-sucking a**e bandit and that you quit?" "No..." "Are you sure? It's much better than the one about me being fired..." "Y.." His eyes widen slightly. It's like clubbing a seal to death with a foam cushion. He runs to stop the fax. Only, having just resigned, >clicky click< his card key no longer works... Amatuers... The Phone rings. It's the same guy as before "I can get into my account now, but I've run out of disk" "Hang on, I'll see what I can do" >clicccky<... DELETE *.*
B**T**D OPERATOR FROM HELL #9
I'm driving to work and I'm stuck behind this old guy, the
classic slow driver from hell, whose car red-lines at 20 mph and
can't take corners at more than 5. I honk my horn but his
hearing aid's probably turned way down to "whisper", so I'm
stuck.
I make a mental note of his license plate. In fact, I did that
60 times a minute for 15 and a half minutes. Oh dear. . oh
dear.... Looks like another call to the DVLA Database to
register a vehicle as stolen by out-of-town arms dealers...
I get to work, flick the excuse page over. "ELECTROMAGNETIC
RADIATION FROM SATTELLITE DEBRIS". Fair enough, it looks like
it's going to be a good day.
I log into "F**KYOU", (the help-desk enquiries username) and go
into mail. There's 3 new messages, the first of which is 117
lines long, so it's obviously a storyteller. S**t, I hate that.
Instead of saying "My account needs more disk space" they tell
you about how they're doing this bit of research for a lecturer
and how it's got to be in yesterday, and they almost had it but
their second cousin twice removed had a perforated herpes scab
and lost a lot of blood and had to be rushed into hospital...
etc etc. I delete the message.
Second message I read, but it's one of those people who can't
handle the mail interface and send a null message, so all you
get is headers. I reply to the message saying "No worries, we
can do that by next tuesday". Hope it was important.
The last message I leave for tommorrow, because Saturday would
be a dull day if I never had to work then.
The phone rings. I thought I'd fixed that!
I put it on hands free so I can slop some pizza into the
microwave.
"Yes" I call.
"Something's wrong with my Boot disk, I can't log in to the
server"
"Have you got your disk with you?"
"Sure!"
I go get the disk and put it and the pizza in for 5 minutes on
"ULTRA-NUKE".
Six minutes later, he rings back.
"It still doesn't work, and now my disk makes a funny noise and
smells."
"OH S**T! It's that electromagnetic radiation from satellite
debris again!"
"Really? I think I heard about that!" (What a tool!)
"Yep, I'm sorry, you'll have to buy another disk"
"Oh, that's ok, I don't mind, the old one was getting worn.
Thanks"
"Sure, no worries. And be sure to run it through our virus
checker FDISK when you get a lot of important data on it... "
"I will! Thanks!"
"That's Ok - it's my job!"
Xcbzone is running really slow so I kill off a whole lot of
database backends that seem to be hogging all the CPU and get
back into my game. Much better.
It isn't easy on the frontline, work work work...
I go to the cafeteria for a quick 2 hour snack - they're so nice
to me there.
They always have been, ever since that computer glitch that
registered their kitchen as an organ recipient - very messy.
I grab a couple of cans of coke and some cheese things and
cruise on back to the office via the first year computer
fundamentals lab. I look in the window on the scene that unfolds
itself to me - a lab full of first years with no demonstrator.
WELL I'LL JUST HAVE TO HELP!
I walk on in.
"Right, I'm your temporary replacement demonstrator and today
we're going to put our assignments aside for half an hour to
learn about the RENAME function, or, as it's known to the
computer literate world, ERASE..."
I should have been a teacher you know - I've got this way with
people...