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Post by spiff on Oct 27, 2008 11:15:21 GMT -5
This should cover most cases: - 2 player (flag)
- 3..n player (flag)
- multiplayer controls: same joystick, 2nd joystick, keyboard (all separate flags)
In the new (not finished) repository there are some flags indicating if a game requires joy2, joy1, keyboard or dtv-buttons. But the coupling to the number of players is missing. So I would set the flags as requiring joy2, but to play the game (in single player mode) does not require joy1. Maybe what needs to be done here is to reconsider the flags and taking the player numbers into consideration. But what would be the easiest way to represent the combinations? Should some of these options be changed to an enumerated list, rather than a single bit option? Flags for "Flash only" and ".PRG, but >202 blocks" would be useful I have a flag for "requires flash", which I have thought of as "this program/game is multi-part and loads from flash". Again, I don't know if this covers the needed scenarios. Adding short descriptions to the RSS feed would be nice Well, there is a field in the database for notes, but for most games it has not been filled out, and for those where it has been filled out, it does not necessarily have consistently formatted text. Adding another field to the database table is no problem, but actually filling in the text, that is a different story... RSS feed shows version 1 of M.U.L.E. while the repository has v2 (although it still has the title screenshot from v1) OK, I will check up on this. At this point i still have two parallel databases - one with the old repository, which is listed on the main page, and one which is used for the new (and not quite finished) repository at symlink.dk/nostalgia/dtv/fixed/index2.php. The new one has the information about the time when the game was updated, and is therefore needed for the RSS feed. Boulder Dash DTV seems to be the 101% version while the latest version is "final"OK, I was not aware of the final version. In fact I started by adding the original release, then realized that there was a 101% version, and so I updated it. I really need to get the interface finished for other people to update the repository. I guess this could also allow other people to update descriptions, flags, etc. And it will make it more fun for me to look at the RSS, because so far I have a pretty good idea about when it is updated Thanks for all the comments - even if some of them point out things I need to get done ;D
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Post by nojoopa on Oct 30, 2008 7:58:23 GMT -5
Thanks for listening, sorry about the additional work I have a flag for "requires flash", which I have thought of as "this program/game is multi-part and loads from flash". Again, I don't know if this covers the needed scenarios. The uncovered scenarios are "doesn't need to be flashed, but requires a load routine capable of loading files larger than 202 blocks" and "... than 64kB", which means that the program/game can be used from an IEC device if (for example) the peiselulli/TRSI kernal is used. If I remember correctly, using/testing these should also be possible with dtvtrans. I'm not sure if there are any "202 blocks < (size) < 64kB" programs in the repository, but at least Mayhem and North & South are examples of ">64kB". I'd just group both categories under "big .prg" and have a flag for it. The flag is useful for checking if the game can be tested without flashing (with dtvtrans or a IEC+capable kernal). Maybe what needs to be done here is to reconsider the flags and taking the player numbers into consideration. But what would be the easiest way to represent the combinations? Should some of these options be changed to an enumerated list, rather than a single bit option? Supporting all the cases would need quite a lot of flags/options. Some difficult ones: - IK+ supports 2 players, needs 2 joysticks, but also the keyboard to start the 2 player mode (F3) - M.U.L.E. supports 2-4 players, needs only 1 joystick (either one) in total but supports 2 joysticks (two of the players can use the keyboard + borrow a joystick from a third player)... Maybe "supports multiplayer" and "multiplayer needs 2nd joystick" would be OK compromise between "informative/useful" and "accurate/too_many_options". I really need to get the interface finished for other people to update the repository. I guess this could also allow other people to update descriptions, flags, etc. Some form of bug reporting / feature request would be nice to have, for things like: - IK+: map F3 to a DTV button (for enabling 2 players without a keyboard) - Hunter's Moon: map ESC to a DTV button (for the ingame menu) - Last Ninja 2: still accesses drive 8 (which can result in lockups with some IEC devices) ...but I guess this forum works, too
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Post by spiff on Oct 30, 2008 14:48:47 GMT -5
The uncovered scenarios are "doesn't need to be flashed, but requires a load routine capable of loading files larger than 202 blocks" and "... than 64kB", which means that the program/game can be used from an IEC device if (for example) the peiselulli/TRSI kernal is used. If I remember correctly, using/testing these should also be possible with dtvtrans. I'm not sure if there are any "202 blocks < (size) < 64kB" programs in the repository, but at least Mayhem and North & South are examples of ">64kB". I'd just group both categories under "big .prg" and have a flag for it. The flag is useful for checking if the game can be tested without flashing (with dtvtrans or a IEC+capable kernal). There are quite a few that are > 64kB. Those are basically the multi-part games that have been converted into a single large PRG. I have actually wanted to have the dtvpacked size in the database, so one would know how much flash a game takes. But this is not related to the load size, so for the other options, I think your suggestion of just a few flags covering the most common scenarios is probably the best solution. Maybe "supports multiplayer" and "multiplayer needs 2nd joystick" would be OK compromise between "informative/useful" and "accurate/too_many_options". I think you are spot on; with too many options it will get too complicated to do a search that matches what you really want. The two flags you suggest in combination with the existing ones will allow the selection of games that are multiplayer capable, but can be played on an unmodified DTV (the latter being my original idea with the repository). Still, I think an option for the minimum number of players would be nice as well; some games can only be played by two players, whereas some can also be played in single-player mode. But maybe I am getting too carried away with options again? Some form of bug reporting / feature request would be nice to have, for things like: - IK+: map F3 to a DTV button (for enabling 2 players without a keyboard) - Hunter's Moon: map ESC to a DTV button (for the ingame menu) - Last Ninja 2: still accesses drive 8 (which can result in lockups with some IEC devices) ...but I guess this forum works, too In order not to make it too complicated at this point, I will at least finish the other parts first. I think the forum works OK for discussing updates so far. Actually, I think I have discovered a problem with "The Last Ninja" (Roland's), that is in the repository. This is most likely because of my extraction of the game from Roland's auto-patching, and because I did not know about limitations in the file positions or something similar. Of course this also shows I did not have an easy way of trying it back then At least it seemed to be garbled when I tried it. For Last Ninja 2, I am aware of some drive 8 access, but I did not know that this could cause problems. I will try to get rid of it. The only reason why I left it in place was that the multiple calls seemed to be integrated with some routines for defeating the original copy protection. But trying to rep it out will be easy, and it should be possible to test it and see if it works without it. If not, then I can take it from there. Also, I have been thinking about having some "moderators" or "administrators" that can update the entries without being listed as "patcher/creator/maintainer" of a game. Adding a bunch of flags for filtering and searching is probably the easy part, whereas actually getting the entries in the database updated accordingly will take a fair amount of manual work. So if someone wants to help me out on this, let me know.
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Post by 1570 on Oct 31, 2008 5:08:31 GMT -5
I think you are spot on; with too many options it will get too complicated to do a search that matches what you really want. For the more esoteric cases there's always the comment field. I think you can go to two player mode by pressing Joy1 button or something - at least I'm fairly sure I played IK+ with two players but without keyboard. I can help (a bit). I'd for example add "Bug: Sometimes quits game unexpectedly in two player mode" to Archon (unless this has been fixed in the meantime) .
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