[Terryn]

Thanks to having an active bug tracker here, this thread is mostly a place to show everybody what I did wrong. (HOORAY FOR NEEDLESS TRANSPARENCY!) In-thread reports on minor issues and suggestions are still welcome, but please post any major problems (that is, any hangs, crashes, cut-off or missing sections, etc.) in the bug tracker now.

KNOWN ISSUES:

-The help file needs revamped to accommodate the debytecode changes. ETA when debytecode itself happens, if at all.
-Error section needs to be fully updated. ATM the most important parts have been updated to reflect recent changes (the entry for asking to decrypt a world updated, 1.xx conversion error tossed).

CHANGES FOR NEXT REVISION (arranged by importance, somewhat):

-Nothing at present.

[Ter13]

WHen I try to get to the help menu, MZX crashes. WinXP Pro, SP2+... 1gbram, 3.0ghz, etc. etc.

[Dr Lancer-X]

Terryn, on Nov 21 2005, 01:23 AM, said:

-The 2.80-2.81 changelog section is glitched; it sometimes only loads the beginning and end, totalling roughly 32K, or it will refuse to load at all.

from helpsys.cpp

  // Reserve memory (24k)
  help = (char *)malloc(24576);

Split it up.

[weasel]

Ter13, on Nov 21 2005, 12:40 AM, said:

WHen I try to get to the help menu, MZX crashes. WinXP Pro, SP2+... 1gbram, 3.0ghz, etc. etc.

The help system crashes my computer as well - 3.0 GHz P4, WinXP Home SP1, 512 MB RAM. I opened the help file while playing a game (where it usually brought up the default MZX controls).

[Dr Lancer-X]

wildweasel, on Nov 21 2005, 05:21 AM, said:

Ter13, on Nov 21 2005, 12:40 AM, said:

WHen I try to get to the help menu, MZX crashes. WinXP Pro, SP2+... 1gbram, 3.0ghz, etc. etc.

The help system crashes my computer as well - 3.0 GHz P4, WinXP Home SP1, 512 MB RAM. I opened the help file while playing a game (where it usually brought up the default MZX controls).

The context stuff in helpsys doesn't seem to work with the new help file. helpsys probably needs to be rewritten.

Meanwhile ignore it.

[CJA]

I've noticed somewhere in a help area like Controls or Gameplay (don't have MZX with me right now) that a background color code is not terminated, and continues throughout the line. I think it's where it says 'the player can be a spaceship, stick figure, or other entity'. Just a little unsightly.

Also...it would increase the appearance of items in the Built In Counters menu if the items that were removed (inter-robot targeting, mzxak stuff) were darkened in color. Like, dark cyan instead of light cyan for the counter name and light grey instead of white for the description in removed items. And the credit for removals(mostly Koji) should be moved to a credits section or to the bottom of the help file.

I'd be more than happy to work on the help file...

[Exophase]

Lancer-X, on Nov 21 2005, 04:07 AM, said:

Terryn, on Nov 21 2005, 01:23 AM, said:

-The 2.80-2.81 changelog section is glitched; it sometimes only loads the beginning and end, totalling roughly 32K, or it will refuse to load at all.

from helpsys.cpp

  // Reserve memory (24k)
  help = (char *)malloc(24576);

Split it up.

I already changed that But I whiddled it down to 32k. I'll make it like 64 or 128 again.

- Exo

[Exophase]

Ter13, on Nov 21 2005, 03:40 AM, said:

WHen I try to get to the help menu, MZX crashes. WinXP Pro, SP2+... 1gbram, 3.0ghz, etc. etc.

Don't press it immediately at the file loader. Press it like, anywhere else

- Exo

[Terryn]

CHANGED (Nov 21 2005):

-Fixed two text overruns. That should be all of them.
-Fixed missing link (Controls link in First Time section).
-Fixed glaring error in partial character help section.
-2.81 string additions documented.
-Re-added Dialog Boxes section.
-Three internal links fixed. The help file should stop crashing MegaZeux now.
-Critical error regarding sprite collisions fixed.
-Various other minutiae.
-Thanks to MegaZeux changes, the 2.80-2.81 changelog section works fully now.

This is packed with the MZX 2.81 fix, so get that and you're good to go.

[Lachesis]

I already reported this on irc, but so other people don't report it, I am posting it here.

There is about half a line of blue colored text inside the Expressions section of Robotic Reference Manual section.

[Terryn]

Fixed. All other changes made will be included in the first post.

[T-Bone]

OMG the help files been updated? Wow... i've been dead for far too long lol *knocks wood* <- my own head

This post has been edited by T-bone6: 25 November 2005 - 06:04 AM

[T-Bone]

In the help file "New in Version 2.81!!"

MZX automatically closes/crashes when you press ESC.

(this should of been posted here first... not in the bugs thread )

[Terryn]

Re-download MZX. You have an older version of 2.81.

[T-Bone]

Yep the fix worked

[T-Bone]

In the Help File

Under the Command Reference Section if you go down to the PUT command its all visually weird and when you click it, it sends you to the bottom of the help file and not to the PUT command info.

[Terryn]

Went through - not a problem in the c help file.

[apage43]

Mouse counters section. UTTONS?

[Dr Lancer-X]

Terr was just trying to type in that accent to make the help file more interesting.

"'uttons? What 'uttons?"

[Terryn]

Haha, yeah. That was fixed. It's preceded by a ~B so spellcheckers wouldn't catch it. =( So now it's the correct ~BBUTTONS!

[T-Bone]

If you go to the list of commands and click on
#put "????.MZM" Image_file p?? # #
and then click on "Using MZM" the help file window will automatically close. The same happens when viewing "How to use vlayers and at the buttom there is a "Using MZM" link. So basically the "Using MZM" page either doesn't work or has not yet been created.

This post has been edited by T-bone6: 12 June 2006 - 06:19 AM

[Terryn]

Already addressed. People, check the list of fixes in the first post before posting, please.

[Terryn]

Stop-gap helpfile update. Look here for more details.

[zombieguy]

"color intensity # percent" can go over 100%, up to 255%. The help file states that it only goes from 0% to 100%. Its entry in the help file should probably be fixed.

[Terryn]

...EDIT: Wait, you are right. However, this is a marked change from the original DOS - color intensity over 127 defaulted to 0 instead. 101-127 looks the same as 100 through basic testing. This is probably (probably) not an issue at all, but there's some REALLY awful MZX coding in some older games.

Also, merging into the appropriate topic.

[Dr Lancer-X]

What's with the periods in front of the lines of code in the robotic tutorial? Are they really necessary?

[Terryn]

It's a helpfile encoding character, and they are showing up because of me placing the colors first and not the periods. Changed.

[Terryn]

(Dec 11 2006) CHANGED SINCE C HELPFILE:

-More color coding in sections for *pop*. Sections will get green color coding for code, yellow for code examples.
-Forgot to detail cheats, whoops. Inserted.
-Forgot to double-tilde a ~f (for the $ command in the ZZT to MZX section). Corrected.
-Expressions area had problems with the >>, <<, etc. commands being interpreted as code - fixed.
-~BUTTONS should be ~BBUTTONS. Replaced.
-Added 12-char mod limit question to the FAQ section.
-Made sure to note which counters are local when local counters are introduced (to remove some ambiguity for those who might think a special prefixing character makes a counter local, or any other assumption).
-PLAYERX and PLAYERY not detailed in helpfile. Added. I BLAME YOU, ACK... AND ESPECIALLY YOU, KOJI.
-MBOARDX and MBOARDY mistakenly noted as read/write. Corrected to read-only.
-Cleaned up The Mirth of Built-Ins massively. The source doc got messed up after saving in a different program than I usually use. Now everything looks much neater, and the items actually correspond to the default chars. I even added the lousy control characters.
-Removed placemarkers I'd forgotten to wipe.
-Detailed method of board-to-overlay and overlay-to-board copying. Somehow it was missed.
-MZM section formerly inaccessible in help file, fixed.
-Added more info about XPOS/YPOS and their cousins.
-Fixed mention of COPY # # # # when applied to Robots.
-Added segment about using file access to detect whether files exist.
-PUT "@FILENAME.XXX" Image_File [param] # # has an incorrect description of the parameter settings. It's 00 for board, 01 for overlay, 01 for vlayer. Fixed.
-F2_MENU eaten much like BUTTONS was. Fixed.
-Added FAQ question about the infamous char 32 overlay problem, as well as a detailed note at the beginning of the overlay section.
-Added an FAQ question about possibility of playing MZX games without the MegaZeux creation program.
-Updated .wav FAQ question to mention OGGs.
-Elaborated on the partial char saving/loading built into MZX's GUI.
-Added an explanation of subroutines less mired in tech-speak.
-Added links to the Robotic Reference at the bottom of EVERY subsection of it. I'd forgotten to do that on the newer sections.
-Detailed SMZX action on counters where the help file left things unknown (e.g.: "current_color" et al)
-Fixed copy (overlay) block x y w h "$string" t [thanks, lancer]
-Edited "color intensity" command descriptions to describe the true range (0-255). [thanks, zombie]
-Added a few ZZT-to-MZX code conversions, mostly IF statements.
-Added information in overlay section about copying between board and overlay.
-Added comparison between ZZT scrolls and MZX scrolls (namely, you can execute ZZT-OOP in a ZZT scroll, but not Robotic in a MegaZeux scroll).
-Clarified lazer action.
-Noted default values for trig counters (multiplier, divider, c_divisions).
-Put volume # with the other sound commands in the sound section.
-More beautification - whitespace added to line up lists, more color added to certain sections, sound frequency tables cleaned up, and (most importantly) another text overrun fixed.
-Explained how to get the number for the "byte" counter for both normal and SMZX modes... not that anyone will ever read it. =( lol quaternary.
-Changed almost all instances of "via" and "circa" in an attempt to make the help file more user-friendly.
-Added 1.XX and beta version changelogs, for posterity and for the curious.
-De-gendered help file. Not that there would be much complaint about leaving instances of he/him in, but while I was looking over the thing in full it didn't hurt to do it.
-Various stylistic and esoteric minutiae not worth mentioning individually.

[Terryn]

(Jan 19 2007) CHANGED SINCE D HELPFILE:

-COPY (OVERLAY) BLOCK "#x" "#y" # # "@filename" # given an actual description on what it does. How in the hell was this missed.
-More redundancy introduced regarding copy block commands.
-OGGs now mentioned in every relevant place. (Some exclusions were especially negligent, such as "JUMP MOD ORDER #".)
-Added question about networking in MZX to FAQ section.
-Typos fixed in "Why doesn't my music play?" FAQ question and in subroutines opening blurb. :rolleyes:

[Terryn]

(Jul 4 2007) CHANGED SINCE E HELPFILE:

-The help file keeps pointing to a detailed overview of the global Robot which does not exist, so I added one in the Robotic Reference Manual.
-Fixed file writing tutorial - it was missing a critical line in the last :yes block (set "FREAD_POS" 0)
-Explicitly stated that read/write functions keep current position (outside of the obvious position changer).
-Explicitly noted the ability to save/load during a test run of a game in the editor (done so because pre-port this was impossible, and there's a reason too now as well)
-Yes, Windows platforms, SET "counter" RANDOM # # actually works for the full 32-bit range now. Changed documentation accordingly.
-Reverted description of send "all" to match the now-reverted action.
-Mentioned that default actions for F1 and F2 may be disabled in some worlds.
-Documented effects of writing to string.N (sets minimum string length).
-Noted that arrow keys can select choices in Yes/No windows now.
-Added info about the differences between ZZT's and MZX's player clones.
-There's no LOAD_WORLD counter, since SWAP WORLD's function already mirrors the desired action. Removed false mention.
-Added the "newer" overlay commands to the list at the bottom of the overlay section.
-KEY counters noted as read-only.
-Added caveat about using BECOME to change Robots to PushableRobots and vice-versa; I don't want this implicitly encouraged at ALL, unlike what Janson's text did.
-Finished inserting the few remaining instances of OGG with SAM/WAV where applicable.
-Elaborated that "thud" and "edge" labels are only called during the WALK [dir] command.
-More elaboration on why using INT et al right now is dumb.
-Pre-2.xx names for potion/ring effects were finally changed. Guess that got totally glossed over.
-Minor form edits and internal cleanup.