[Terryn]

Given the incredibly torpid rate of MegaZeux development lately, it is probably best to plot out changes for versions 2.84 and 2.85 and gather opinions. Here is a possible, tentative outline, much smaller in scale than Exo's original plan but still trying to accomplish changes needed and wanted for further MZX development.

This thread is for current versions. Entries for versions that have already been released are here.

Rearchitecture/main loop (2.93):

• Updater (wrapper)
  
• Char Editor

Rearchitecture/main loop TODO:

• Blocked by mid-cycle update stop/restart
  
  • Robot box
    
  • Scroll editor/display
    
  • Numerous dialogs
    
  • Blocked by dialog architecture
    
    • All dialogs and dialog wrappers
      
    • Color selector
      
    • List selector/board selector
      
    • Help system
      
    • Input window
      
    • Blocked by input box/input window/scroll editor reliance on old intake:
      
      • Char Selector
  
  
• Blocked by needing delayed error messages and several contexts above:
  
  • Error window

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VERSION 2.93c (bugfix/minor features release)

FEATURES:

• Initial SDL3 support. IMPLEMENTED
  
• Updated Xcode project IMPLEMENTED
  
• Linux (Fedora) transition/default to SDL3. IMPLEMENTED
  
• Linux (Arch) transition/default to SDL3. IMPLEMENTED

FIXES:

• Crash when disconnecting controllers FIXED
  
• Shift+(F1-F4) do not work FIXED
  
• MegaZeux 2.93b fails unit tests on loongarch64 FIXED
  
• Rare 2.93/002 Custom SFX (old).mzx test failure
  
• Editor block operations between boards crash when extra memory hacks are enabled FIXED
  
• Text input boxes sometimes fail to accept text input FIXED
  
• Set As Defaults Crashes DOSBox FIXED

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VERSION 2.93d (bugfix/minor features release)

FEATURES:

• Improved config file rewriter to replace .editor.cnf generation.
  
• Variable debugger shows both real and in-game values (instead of just in-game values).
  
• CLIP layer renderer performance improvements. IMPLEMENTED
  
• DJGPP LPT DAC audio support.
  
• Buildscripts BlocksDS release builds. IMPLEMENTED
  
• Windows (MinGW) transition/default to SDL3. (slow softscale renderer?)
  
• HTML5 transition/default to SDL3.

FIXES:

• SDL doesn't have an easy way to distinguish Alt+key presses from AltGr+key presses (workarounds) PARTIALLY FIXED
  
• Android: Config gets reset at launch
  
• sdl2_compat causing input delay
  
• KEY1-KEY9 labels are 2.00 additions. FIXED
  
• Caverns buildscript doesn't include .MOD for the NDS port. FIXED

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VERSION 2.93X (bugfix/minor features releases)

FEATURES:

• Main loop char editor, updater.
  
• Configuration UI.
  
• Vector layer renderers.
  
• String setting via F11 is limited
  
• Further F11/Debug Improvements
  
• replace option for board editor
  
• Current char # updating in multi-char editor
  
• Visible char grid in multi-char editing mode
  
• Make all Robotic editor shortcuts visible in help display
  
• Windows (MSVC) transition/default to SDL3.
  
• macOS (Xcode) transition/default to SDL3. (requires minimum OS version increase to 10.14)
  
• macOS (Darwin ARM64) transition/default to SDL3. (requires Xcode transition)
  
• Linux (Debian stable) transition/default to SDL3.
  
• Linux (Debian testing) transition/default to SDL3.
  
• Linux (Ubuntu LTS) transition/default to SDL3.
  
• Linux (Ubuntu latest) transition/default to SDL3.
  
• Linux (Raspbian) transition/default to SDL3.
  
• Linux (Alpine) transition/default to SDL3.
  
• Linux (Flatpak) transition/default to SDL3.
  
• Switch transition/default to SDL3.
  
• Wii U transition/default to SDL3.
  
• Vita transition/default to SDL3.
  
• Possible portability enhancements / toolchain updates.

FIXES:

• MZX with SDL2 fails to return correct Unicode values for AltGr/deadkey combos
  
• 3DS file IO is slow, causes lag with sound effects and slow load menu (fsafetranslate)
  
• Run automatic update check asynchronously if set to "silent"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VERSION 2.94 (feature-oriented release)

MAJOR FEATURES:

• Finish main loop implementation.
  
• Socket counters to add barebones net support to MZX
  
• PlayStation Portable transition off of devkitPSP r16, possibly to SDL2 or SDL3.
  
• Android transition/default to SDL3.
  
• Possible portability enhancements / toolchain updates.

FIXES:

• Most thing matching commands have partially broken whirlpool support
  
• Commands with broken color wildcard support
  
• BOARD_ID and BIDx,y do not update the blocked array
  
• Robotic execution doesn't clear update_blocked

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VERSION 2.95 (feature-oriented release)

MAJOR FEATURES:

• Internal robot overhaul, immutable programs, internal program merging during gameplay.
  
• Possible portability enhancements / toolchain updates.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VERSION 3.00 (initial debytecode release; debytecode replaces mainline)

• Feature: Decouple bytecode from Robotic. (CURRENT OPEN DBC ISSUES: #321, #240, #771, #773, #833)
  
• Source transformation
  
• Programs become separate from Robots
  
• Replacement of all special counters (e.g. FWRITE_OPEN, LOAD_ROBOT) and some string functions (e.g. SMZX_INDICES, LOAD_ROBOT) with proper commands.
  
• Replacement of copy/copy block prefixes with proper commands.
  
• Replacement of Image_file/Sprite/Sprite_colliding "things" with proper commands.
  
• Replacement of COPY BLOCK $string with proper commands.
  
• Replacement of COPY BLOCK @file with proper commands.
  
• Replacement of LOAD CHAR SET "@###file" with a proper command.
  
• Logical operators
  
• Extended slime blob spread speeds

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VERSION 3.xx (further language extensions)

• Robot editor improvements (removal of column limit, improved selection, improved syntax highlighting, etc...)
  
• Control structures
  
• New bytecode, symbol tables, simple identifier optimizations
  
• User-defined commands/macros within Robotic
  
• User-defined functions within Robotic
  
• INCLUDE "program" (?)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VERSION TBA (low-priority, tentative, or blocked features)

• Config/F2 overhaul (this would be really great, but it doesn't help get to debytecode any faster and I don't feel like working on it.)
  
• [Config menu] Allow mapping an SDL joypad to a different MZX joypad number (see above)
  
• [Config menu] Remap joypad buttons to different generic or key values (see above)
  
• Editor buffer improvements and mouse block selection/placement. (use LayerEdit for now)
  
• Distribute game-specific default joypad configurations with MegaZeux (awaiting feedback)
  
• MZXNet (proper implementation is difficult; current progress by GreaseMonkey stalled)
  
• Built-in Debug Log (low demand)
  
• Platform-Neutral On-Screen Keyboard (low demand)
  
• Revised help system (linked to rearchitecture)
  
• Pixel-precise viewport and proper spr!_setview for unbound sprites? (it's too much of a mess and can be achieved with unbound sprites)
  
• Many SAM files from Bernard the Bard play at wrong frequency (Seems to have been a bug in DOS MZX being mistaken for normal behavior? Needs investigation, but low priority.)
  
• Emscripten: rename() doesn't work
  
• Better distribution method(s) for the Sega Dreamcast port?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Any and all comments would be HIGHLY appreciated.

This post has been edited by Lachesis: 13 April 2025 - 01:00 AM
Reason for edit: Xcode switch to SDL3 delayed due to minimum OS verison increase to 10.14 Mojave, no hardware to test.

[ajs]

Looks reasonable to me.

If somebody wants to pick these issues up, you can get yourself a writable MZX git repository by going to https://github.com/ajs1984/megazeux and clicking the Fork button on the top right menu.

--ajs.

[Lachesis]

I don't really have much useful input to add here besides

Terryn, on 06 October 2011 - 05:02 PM, said:

#98485 Freezes on level transition

Isn't this already fixed?

[Terryn]

Here's a little reasoning behind some of the more questionable placements.

Although the above crash bug is something that has to be deliberately triggered by a user, it is a crash bug regardless and probably should be stamped out before the next version ships. While I'd love for the other known crash bugs (invalid swap world, invalid MZM, corrupt boards, anything else I've forgotten) to be fixed immediately, they require considerable work to change due to their nature; they're also mostly crashes resulting in the deliberate effort to cause crashing, or at worst a rarity and known quantity when they show up. They're nothing like when pressing certain keys or putting certain values in strings caused MZX crashes.

Secondly, I personally find regressions as necessary fixes by default, even if the regressions are small in nature. The more a regression is left alone, the more chances it has to cause problems in games we need to work around when we fix them. The only reason I consider the self-reference lockself issue a necessary fix is due to it being a regression, even though it's a corner-case action. On the flip side, I do not consider the play string regression a necessary fix because it only impacts the presentation aspects of MZX and not any code outcomes.

[BrainySmurfsArchives]

Not to TRY to reply to an old thread but it sounds like I am going to be looking forward to those upcoming versions!

[Lachesis]

? ? ? ? ?

[Terryn]

bamp

[Lachesis]

ohhHh deaarrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dr Lancer-X]

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!!

[Lachesis]

I wonder when 2.84 is cuming out

[Old-Sckool]

When I stop screwing around and find more bugs.

[Lachesis]

I KNEW YOU WERE HOLDING UP THE MEGAZEUX RELEASE ALL THESE YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lachesis]

Woa 2.84b is gonna fix a lot of bugz

[Exophase]

And only some of them were introduced in 2.84! \o/

[Lachesis]

(yeah, most of them were introduced in 2.84b!)

[Lachesis]

Collapsed FOUR~!!!! and bee, added 2.90 and 2.91

[Lachesis]

Updated a lil, might go through and fill the list in with more recently added things too

[Lachesis]

Updated for 2.84d.

[djtiesto]

Lachesis, on 25 December 2012 - 02:04 AM, said:

Updated a lil, might go through and fill the list in with more recently added things too

Hehe, I love that smileysqueeze image...

[Lachesis]

[Lachesis]

(also, all of these bug fixes, but I didn't feel like listing them all)

[Lachesis]

2.85 2.90 is going to be owesome

features:

• Something like 50+ bugfixes
  
• ROBOTIC DEBUGGER
  
• Robot commands counting
  
• Fixing the binary blob file format
  
• Faster expression processing
  
• Loading char sets/palettes/source code/MZMs from strings! Saving MZMs to strings!
  
• SDL 2.0
  
• Media covfefe
  
• Overdue rendering overhaul
  
• No more stupid SMZX UI glitches
  
• EXTREME SPRITES Unleashed 360
  
• about 20 other things

[Old-Sckool]

also, new unique ways to corrupt world files ^maybe

[Lachesis]

more features:

• Extended charset space for sprites
  
• Customizable palette indexing for SMZX mode 3
  
• Potentially permanent compatibility with 2.84 save files nope
  
• Reseting boards to their original state on board exit
  
• Ternary operator
  
• more bugs probably

also we—that is Lancer, asiekierka, and I—have talked about it some on Discord and decided this version is actually 2.90 now tia

[Lachesis]

o dear we have run out of things to add/fix in the 2.90 list

[Old-Sckool]

my favorite add/fix is the one where megazeux no longer crashes for no good reason. what a boner that one was

[Lachesis]

which one? you'll have to be more specific...

[RinGames]

Reseting boards to their original state on board exit

Excellent. looking forwaed the new MZX version.

[Graham]

Wow! That's pretty exciting. Is there a planned release date yet?

[Lachesis]

Soon :>