Gdash

[CWS]

Nice work! )

Just to have something for the todo-list:

Put the "Diamonds value" in cave properties from cave data to difficulty levels - as all other similar values are stored there it would fit better in this section.

As written before all values that are shown in percentages should also additionally be shown in clear numbers (e.g. Amoeba Threshold 22.7 %, 200 cells). Both values should be editable - if someone likes to enter e.g. 200 cells he should be able to but if someone likes the percentage better it should also be able to do so. All with a default (reset) button.

Moving some menu options: "Save PNG image" to File/, "Clear cave" to Cave/. Reordering the menu from Cave/ to be more clearly with some more separators. I would recommend: New, Edit, Test/Duplicate cave, Delete cave, Clear cave, Flatten cave, remove map/Colors, Set random colors, set random elements/Overview, Properties.

The x: and y: values in the lower right corner are not shown correctly as the enlarge gadget of the editor window is overlapping it!

Last but not least - there is some space for new elements! I like the Teleporter and the Gravity Switch in Crazy Dream 7. And to be able to import such games - pumpkins, cows, water, skeletons or such things would be nice. Just to have really all engines out there included...

[RTADash]

I second that, Nice Additions!

There's one thing that I'd still like to see, personally, though:

I think it would be good if you could directly save changes to a caveset that's already in one of the Gdash formats (.bd1, .plc, etc.) without having to create a bdcff every time.

[LogicDeLuxe]

As written before all values that are shown in percentages should also additionally be shown in clear numbers (e.g. Amoeba Threshold 22.7 %, 200 cells). Both values should be editable - if someone likes to enter e.g. 200 cells he should be able to but if someone likes the percentage better it should also be able to do so. All with a default (reset) button.

Agreed. I also miss such a feature.

There's one thing that I'd still like to see, personally, though:

I think it would be good if you could directly save changes to a caveset that's already in one of the Gdash formats (.bd1, .plc, etc.) without having to create a bdcff every time.

Or let the any2gdash tool create BDCFF files in the first place. I understand the advantage for internal formats as the BDCFF is still under development along with gdash (among other developments), though once gdash is final (concerning the engine, not the cosmetic and audio/visual stuff), there is no reason not to stick with BDCFF.

We need Undo/Redo buttons.

The new color and random settings dialogs are a good addition, but they should have a cancel button, when hit restoring the settings as they were.

Could you keep the todo-list and the source-code-comments in English throughout, please? I'd like to understand what thoughts are behind certain plans and code lines.

I noticed, that your "C64"-colors look more like EGA than a C64. Could you use a palette from a recent VICE or CCS64 version instead. Those are the result of heavy reverse engineering, and thus the closest you could get to a real C64.

On CrLi caves, Amoeba color should be color 3 and not color 1 like the slime.
Same thing for 1stB version 2.6 as this has the same default graphics.

1stB version 2.2 has the dirtmod always on in its default graphics, regardless of the presence of Amoeba or Slime. But be aware that there is a bug in the Construction Kit 2.6 which saves the caves with the version string 2.2 under certain conditions. A workaround for that issue is to check the version of all 20 caves, and if there is any cave with version 2.6 among them, the game is a 1stB 2.6 engine game with no dirtmod and the BD2 slime graphics.

I still got some random crashes, which I unfortunately can not reproduce.

Mazes are missing on your todo list.

BDCFF version shouldn't be 0.32 as this is Tim Stridman's really old version. I suggested increasing it to 0.5 for now in the R'n'D forum.

[CWS]

As written before all values that are shown in percentages should also additionally be shown in clear numbers (e.g. Amoeba Threshold 22.7 %, 200 cells). Both values should be editable - if someone likes to enter e.g. 200 cells he should be able to but if someone likes the percentage better it should also be able to do so. All with a default (reset) button.

Agreed. I also miss such a feature.

Finally someone agreeing to that!

There's one thing that I'd still like to see, personally, though:

I think it would be good if you could directly save changes to a caveset that's already in one of the Gdash formats (.bd1, .plc, etc.) without having to create a bdcff every time.

Or let the any2gdash tool create BDCFF files in the first place. I understand the advantage for internal formats as the BDCFF is still under development along with gdash (among other developments), though once gdash is final (concerning the engine, not the cosmetic and audio/visual stuff), there is no reason not to stick with BDCFF.

I agree with that, too. BDCFF is a great format. Why not using it. As soon as all "old" C64 games have been converted any new games should be done in BDCFF only.

We need Undo/Redo buttons.

I requested this some time ago. Seems to be difficult to do.

The new color and random settings dialogs are a good addition, but they should have a cancel button, when hit restoring the settings as they were.

I think this should be really standard.

Could you keep the todo-list and the source-code-comments in English throughout, please? I'd like to understand what thoughts are behind certain plans and code lines.

Yeah! I agree with this. Some things in the todo list are difficult to read because I can not read hungarian...

I still got some random crashes, which I unfortunately can not reproduce.

I get these crashes, too. Do not know why and they happen totally random. Not very often but it's very very annoying when drawing a new cave, setting all things, etc. and shortly before saving it GDash crashes...

[LogicDeLuxe]

I noticed a really serious bug: Some elements are not saved in map based BDCFF files. The line is cut short instead missing all the rest of the line. I guess this has to do with missing default mapcodes. If an element has no default mapcode, the BDCFF file has to define one which is not in use by another element.

[RTADash]

This might be a dumb question, but is sound FX on the to-do list?
If so, VICE would become a lot more cumbersome, for BD, at least.

[CWS]

This might be a dumb question, but is sound FX on the to-do list?
If so, VICE would become a lot more cumbersome, for BD, at least.

This seems to be a very sensitive issue...

I think in time we will get it. Correct, bug free code with all options and all things realized that are in the todo-list is more important at the moment.

[Arno]

I noticed, that your "C64"-colors look more like EGA than a C64. Could you use a palette from a recent VICE or CCS64 version instead. Those are the result of heavy reverse engineering, and thus the closest you could get to a real C64.

Or use the pics created by the bdcff-->maps converter as a starting point. Those colors are just Vice but a slightly brighter, so that, for example, I experienced a better contrast between the two "brown" colors. The light-brown color looks more like orange, which looks better in BD1 cave C (where both are used) in my opinion.

Of course this is all a matter of taste...

I really hope that we will get sounds, by the way!

[LogicDeLuxe]

Of course this is all a matter of taste...

Sure, there is no ultimate correct C64 color, as NTSC- and PAL-TV has many factors. Especially since you can freely adjust brightness, contrast and saturation on a TV (as you also can in VICE and CCS64). Also TV sets tend to use different gamma values, eventhough they are stated as a fixed value in the specifications.

Having all this adjustable sure is no priority in Gdash, so I second using Arno's palette. It looks just right on my PC screens and also matches my carefully adjusted TV set when I use a real C64 quite well.

[CWS]

As written before all values that are shown in percentages should also additionally be shown in clear numbers (e.g. Amoeba Threshold 22.7 %, 200 cells). Both values should be editable - if someone likes to enter e.g. 200 cells he should be able to but if someone likes the percentage better it should also be able to do so. All with a default (reset) button.

Agreed. I also miss such a feature.

One addition to that subject: After trying around with this options in a newly designed cave I noticed the problem if I place a outlined rectangle e.g. 6 x 10 cells in size and place an amoeba in the middle with the intention that it explodes into boulders if it fills this rectangle (with 32 cells) but it explodes into diamonds if only one cell less (31 cells). It is very very hard at the moment to specify this with percentage values at the moment. It's only possible by counting each single cell and put the value in clear numbers into the Amoeba threshold.

[CWS]

I still can not able to get my "CWS Boulder Dash 2" running on GDash. It's converted by any2gdash (with problems) but as soon as I open it in GDash the program crashes (quits immediately).

Can anybody help?

[cirix]

hi, just some thoughts.

i just cannot handle bug reports like "sometimes it crashes", i really need a way to reproduce.

i think i will change the hungarian sentences in the to do list to english, but i cannot do an automatic search for hungarian comment lines in the code. there is just no way to do it. so just tell me a file name : source line, and i will translate it.

about colors: if you would take the trouble to check this forum a few pages back, i already asked if you all liked the palette i chose (it's from vice) or not. you are free to send me another one. i think this is like, somehow, the point that Arno mentioned earlier, the more things i implement, the more requests you have, and still, nobody cared sending me the preferred vice vpl file at all. anyway, it not only depended on a tv for c64, it still depends on today's crt and lcd displays. and human eyes.

converting all games to bdcff are as simple as one line in any unix shell, as gdash can: "gdash cave.bd1 -S cave.bd -q". there is more to it than you'd think. still, i do not think that converting everything and throwing unconverted binary files away is a good idea, as importing is still not completed.

converting the edited caves back to original, binary formats makes no sense to me. i'm already on making the game compatible. and also, this game supports a superset of many c64 games, so converting bdcff to any of the old formats is sometimes impossible, too.

[CWS]

I totally understand your point of view. It must be frustrating to do everything but always new things and new ideas are requested. Nevertheless I think it's worth it - GDash is just great, the best clone ever. And when development has reached a near final phase it will be a wonderful piece of software.

The crashes I experienced can not be reproduced. Only if I try to load my CWS Boulder Dash 2 I converted with any2gdash - GDash just quits immediately after loading without any error message. But I think I made a mistake in dumping C64 memory. But because of this GDash is just crashing? Sometimes in editor, especially after opening cave properties, the program is not responding anymore (nothing can be clicked anymore so the program must be forced to quit). But I will continue to investigate - if I notice anything reproduceable I'll report immediately!

[LogicDeLuxe]

Only if I try to load my CWS Boulder Dash 2 I converted with any2gdash

I tried this, but any2gdash doesn't even saves a file for me. It goes until "cws2 is a proper memory map." and then crashes immediately.

I used the CCS64 monitor:
*0
sp "cws2" 0000 10000
which saves the entire RAM into a 65538 byte file.

[cirix]

hi cws, please send me the original .d64 or .t64 of your game, and i'll see what i can do! bye