Use Cursors To Scroll Text Use Cursors To Scroll Text Tape To Disc Transfer. Tape To Disc Transfer. Messages sent by Albert Schofield. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ISSUE 41 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 (all members) From: K3H (ALBERT SCHOFIELD) Subject: TAPE TO DISC ON THE BBC B Anyone who has used the cassette filing system will be familiar with control codes in the file names. These appear as queries (?) no matter what the control code is. Control codes cannot be used in disc filenames as they confuse the DFS. However, the control codes can usually be dispensed with when transferring files to disc but occasionally a file will not work without the control codes and this causes problems when transferred to disc. There are various ways of getting round this, so to illustrate one method I will give details of how to transfer one such program to disc. The program is ATOM SMASHER which is in four parts :- ATOM-SMASH, INST???, M/C???? and MAIN?. The file that causes the problem is the third one M/C????. The first file is a short loader for the second file which is really only a basic program with protection so the first file can be dispensed with and the second file made listable by the following routine. Load the second file, INST???, from cassette by using *LOAD""18E0 . Then enter:- ?&227A=&FF to set the end of file marker. If page is normally at &1900 you should now be able to list the file, otherwise set page to &1900 first. Delete line 308 which is CALL&1790. Also delete line 310 which is *RUN. Add the following line:- 5 IF PAGE<>&2000THEN PAGE=&2000: CHAIN"INSTRUC" . This is necessary to make room for the next file to download. Alter line 760 which is CHAIN"" to 760*M/C. Add line, 770 PAGE=&E00:RUN Now save the file to disc as INSTRUC . The last two files are machine code and load in below &1100 so they can be combined into one file so that they can be downloaded together. To do this load the third file from cassette with:- *LOAD""1900 . Then load in the last file with:- *LOAD""1E00 . Save it to disc with:- *SAVE M/C 1900+F00 BBA 900 . This file will have to be downloaded to &900 so use whatever method you prefer. By chaining INSTRUC the instructions will be displayed but the game itself will not work because the control codes have not been entered. You can prove this by cataloguing a block or two of the third file from cassette. Press BREAK and chain INSTRUC . The game will now work. To identify the control codes catalogue a block or two of the third file, M/C????, press BREAK and enter:- *SAVE MEMORY 0 400 . This will save the first four pages of memory. Then *DUMP MEMORY and at location &3B2 can be seen the file name and the three control numbers. The fourth is just a query. Make a note of the seven numbers:- 4D 2F 43 98 80 8A 3F. These can be poked into memory by adding an extra line to the file INSTRUC just before it loads the next file as follows:- 756 !&3B2=&432F4D:!&3B5=&3F8A8098 See page 409 of the USER GUIDE. It is possible that slightly different versions of the game exist. If so you will have to make allowances for this. More next month. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ISSUE 42 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 (all members) From: K3H (ALBERT SCHOFIELD) Subject: TAPE TO DISC ON THE BBC 'B' Another game that will not work without control codes in the filename is ALIEN BREAKIN. This is in three parts. A-B-IN, ??? and A_B_IN. The last part being separated by the underline character. The first part is a BASIC program so load this from cassette and alter the last line 1400 to:- 1400*KEY0 *??? |M*RUN A_B_IN |M Then add line 1410*FX138,0,128 and line 1420END and save to disc. Then load in the second part from cassette using *LOAD""2E00 and save to disc using *SAVE ??? 2E00+5FC 3300. Then load in the third part from cassette using *LOAD""1900 and save to disc using *SAVE A_B_IN 1900+2097 22CA B6A. This last part will need to be downloaded. If you now run the game it will probably work as the control codes have been entered during transfer but if you switch the computer off and on then it will not work. The control codes are 8E 8B 90. So you could alter line 1400 in the first part to 1400*KEY0 !&3B2=&908B8E|M*??? |M*RUN A_B_IN |M and it would then work. But a better way is to use a sector editor. On part two, where at location &530 you will see the control codes in reverse order. Replace these with zeros. Also if you want music you will see at location &5A8 the filename for the last part with the A missing. Replace the missing A. And that's about all. More next month. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ISSUE 43 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 (all members) From: K3H (ALBERT SCHOFIELD.) Subject: TAPE TO DISC ON THE BBC'B' The last of the programs that I have which will not work without control codes in the filename is DEMON DECORATOR. This is in two parts. Both parts are in basic but are unlistable. To transfer the game to disc, load the first part from cassette. The last few lines can then be listed by typing LIST850, (the comma is essential). Alter the last line 870 to:- PAGE=&1100:CHAIN"PAINTER". Then add an extra line:- 855PRINTTAB(6,19)CHR$(131 )"Press"CHR$(129)"SPACE"CHR$(131)"to c ontinue.":REPEAT:UNTIL INKEY-99<>0 . This line will allow time to read the instructions. Then save the file to disc. If the second file is then transferred to disc as PAINTER the game will then probably work, as the control codes will have been entered during transfer. If the computer is then switched off and on again the game will still work but in a very unpredictable way. To remedy this, load the second file into memory again and delete the following three lines:- 967, 1283 and 1685. These are the lines causing the problem. Save to disc again as PAINTER. The game should now work perfectly. More next month. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ISSUE 44 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 (all members) From: K3H (ALBERT SCHOFIELD) Subject: TAPE TO DISC ON THE BBC'B' Some cassette based games which, when transferred to disc, will load and run but will not work properly. One such game is SPACEMAN SID. When loaded from disc, all that appears is the top part of the screen and the bottom part but no action in between. The reason for this is because the last part is locked and will not work properly when unlocked. In this case it is necessary to make the computer think that it has loaded a locked cassette file. A locked cassette file can only be *RUN. It cannot be *LOADED or *DUMPed. When a locked cassette file is *RUN the byte at location &3CA is set (See page 347 of the ADVANCED USER GUIDE). So this byte must be set to make the computer think that it has loaded a locked cassette file. With SPACEMAN SID it should be set to A1. This can be done with the following poke:- ?&3CA=&A1. The game can be transferred to disc as follows. SPACEMAN SID is in three parts SID, SID1 and SID2. The first part is a basic program so load it into memory and alter the *T. command at line 21 to ?&3CA=&A1 and save to disc. Load in the second part using *LOAD""1900. The second part is part basic and part machine code. The machine code section contains the tape token 8C. This must be replaced by a space (20) to prevent the computer reverting to the cassette filing system. The file could be saved to disc and a sector editor used to alter the 8C which is at location &F6F in the file but an easier way is to type ?&286F=&20 before saving the file to disc. Then save to disc using *SAVE SID1 1900+1600. The third part SID2 will have to be loaded at &1900 using an unlocking utility. Then saved to disc using:- *SAVE SID2 1900+3600 E10 400. As this file loads in at &400 it will also have to be downloaded. I use the MOVE DOWN routine on the BEEBUG DISCMASTER disc for this but any downloader will do. The game should then load and run perfectly. More next month. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ISSUE 45 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 (all members) From: K3H (ALBERT SCHOFIELD) Subject: TAPE TO DISC ON THE BBC B Last month I dealt with a game which would not work unless a character was poked into the locked program byte. This month I will deal with the game EAGLE'S WING which needs to have four characters poked into the four spare bytes immediately following the locked program byte. The four characters are DDH. (including the full stop). To PEEK at these locations, first catalogue a few blocks of any part of the game, press escape and type PRINT$&3CB. The characters DDH. will be shown. Typing PRINT ~!&3CB will show the hex equivalent in reverse order which is as they should appear in the necessary poke. So to transfer the game to disc a short loader program will be needed as follows:- 10 !&3CB=&2E484444 20 CHAIN"EAGLE" Save this to disc as LOADER. Load in the first part of the game, which is Eagle-Wing, using *LOAD""1900. This section is part basic so list it and copy line 10 and then list it again. The hidden line 15 can now be seen. Copy line 15 to eliminate the REM but leave the colon. Delete line 20. Copy line 40 and alter the last statement to:- *L. 1.EAGLE Add line 50PRINT'"PRESS"'"SPACE"GET$ Add line 60CALL&753E It is essential to do these alterations exactly as shown to maintain the same length of the basic which is &AB. Otherwise the screen may be corrupted. Save it to disc using:- *SAVE EAGLE 1900+600 8023. The second part, which is 1.EAGLE, is locked so it will have to be loaded at &1900 using a locked file utility. Save it to disc using:- *SAVE 1.EAGLE 1900+600 753E 7000 The last part, which is 2.EAGLE? is a bit tricky. It is locked and also, as the ? shows, the filename contains a control code. This control code is different in every block so it is in effect a changing filename. So type *TAPE and then enter *OPT2,0 to force it to load and load it in at &1900 using a locked file utility. Ignore the File? messages. Then save it to disc using:- *SAVE 2.EAGLE 1900+2C00 3200 1200 By chaining LOADER the game should now run. More next month. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ISSUE 46 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 (all members) From: K3H (ALBERT SCHOFIELD) Subject: TAPE TO DISC ON THE BBC B Several members have been enquiring about the operation of Vine Micro's REPLAY tape to disc system so here goes with a rundown on it. REPLAY first appeared in 1985 and had to be tailor made for each make of DFS. It was activated by entering *REPLAY and some software used this command to block the use of REPLAY. So in 1988 Vine Micros brought out a MARK 2 version of REPLAY which would work with any 1770 DFS double density only. This version did not use the *REPLAY command but was activated just by pressing a push button switch which was usually mounted on the back of the computer. In 1989 Vine Micros ran foul of the new copyright laws and were banned from producing any more. If you have a REPLAY system fitted it is probably one of the original types. If you enter *REPLAY and get BAD COMMAND then you have the MARK 2 version. I will deal with the original version first. Insert a blank formatted disc into drive 0 and type *REPLAY or *REP. and the main menu will be displayed. Press the function key f5 to initialise the disc. Then press key f1 to create a new file. A filename can now be entered which can be up to twenty characters long. The name will appear flashing white to indicate that it is ready to be saved to. Now press BREAK and load in your game as normal. When it is fully loaded press the REPLAY switch just once. The two keyboard control LEDs will start flashing. Press key f0 and the game will be saved to disc. To reload the game in future type *REPLAY or do a SHIFT/BREAK. The menu will be displayed and the appropriate key may be pressed to load the game. The game can originate from either tape or disc. With the mark 2 version the discs have to be specially formatted. Place a disc in drive 0 and press the REPLAY button. The two keyboard LEDs will flash alternately. Press key f4. The message "Shall I format this disc ?" will appear. Press Y and answer the questions regarding the disc drive. The disc will be formatted and the menu will appear. Press SPACE and the utilities menu will be displayed. Press C to create a file which can be up to 31 characters long. Press break and load in your game. When it is fully loaded press the replay button and then press f0 and the game will be saved to disc. To reload the game press the REPLAY button and then key f0 and the menu will appear. With the mark 2 version it is not essential to create a file first. The game can be loaded in first and then the REPLAY button pressed followed by the f0 key and the game will be saved with the filename "UNSET". This can be renamed afterwards if desired. Here is a list of the buttons that can be used:- f0-SAVE TO DRIVE 0. f1-SAVE TO DRIVE 1. f4-ACCESS DRIVE 0. f5-ACCESS DRIVE 1. SPACE-RETURN BACK TO PROGRAM. More next month. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ISSUE 47 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 (all members) From: K3H (ALBERT SCHOFIELD) Subject: REPLAY DISC UTILITY It is often useful, when playing a game, to be able to re-save (or update) a file on disc for replay at a later date. With the REPLAY utility some files can be continuous update files in which case pressing the REPLAY switch will cause a save to the program just loaded. To set a program to be continuously updated, simply enter the EDIT FILE mode (option 4 from the main menu) then press the program letter, and then once the data file is displayed, press "U". The program name will then change colour to purple and "R&W" will appear to the left of the name which means READ & WRITE. Then press "E" to exit the edit mode and re-save the data file. On the mark 2 REPLAY the procedure is slightly different. In this case go into the EDIT DATA file mode and press the "R" key. The program name will then be prefixed by R/W instead of "R". To cancel this just repeat the process by pressing "R" again and the prefix will re-appear as "R". Once set, a program can be loaded as normal and then at some time during the program execution, the REPLAY switch can be pressed (along with one of the drive keys f0 to f3) and REPLAY will overwrite the old program on the disc. On the MARK 2 REPLAY it is advisable not to use the AUTOMATIC FILE CREATION feature on the disc with R/W files on it. This is because if you load a program from a R/W file, then any subsequent save to the disc will over-write this file except when there is a W-only file to save to, or the user has accessed the main menu. The file priority to a disc is:- (1) a W-only file. (2) a R/W file if the last access to the disc being used was to load in a R/W file. (3) a blank file. ie. automatic file creation. If the disc is full then nothing will be saved. More next month. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ISSUE 48 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 (all members) From: K3H (ALBERT SCHOFIELD) Subject: REPLAY DISC UTILITY Some games have special screen formats and when saved with REPLAY the screen may appear broken up. To correct this, the REPLAY edit utility will have to be used. Some versions of REPLAY have the necessary data built in for certain games to correct this but the data will only be recognised if the game name is spelt correctly in upper case letters. To enter data, first transfer the program as normal from tape to disc. Get into the main REPLAY menu, then enter the 'Edit file' menu by pressing number '4', followed by the letter corresponding to the program to be edited. If the Mode needs changing, then press the letter 'M', and enter first the screen mode (the first number, ie. a number from 0 to 7),followed by pressing the key, and then enter the screen size (the second number ie. either 1, 8, 10, 16, or 20 - do not enter the letter k), followed by . To enter the video data, press the letter 'V' from the edit file menu. You will then be asked 'Register ?', to which you should respond with the first number of the video data (eg. the '6' in '6,16', followed by pressing , and then respond to the 'Data ?' prompt by typing the second number (eg. the '16' in '6,16', followed by . Video data is listed as multiple groups of two numbers. The first number in each group is the video register number, and the second is the video data value. To exit the video data entering stage, simply press by itself (ie. without entering any data) when the 'Register ?' prompt appears. Colours are entered by pressing the letter 'C' from the edit file menu. You will then be asked the 'Logical colour ?' value, which is the first number in the group of two numbers (ie. the '1' in '1,7') which should be typed in, followed by . Then the 'Actual colour ?' value should be typed in, which is the second number in the group (ie. '7' in '1,7' followed by , To exit the colour altering mode simply press by itself (without entering any data). To exit the edit file menu, press the letter 'E'. The most common alterations needed are Mode/Screen size, Colours, and alterations to video registers 6 and 7. The values of these can easily be worked out by the average user who knows something about how the screen displays its data, or simply try different values until it comes right. The first thing to get right is the MODE, so try different values until you can actually see something on the screen that looks at least vaguely correct. If the screen is 'broken up' and you have tried all the different modes available (0 to 7) then you will need to try different values for video registers 1 and 2. Assuming that the screen looks reasonably okay, the next step is to alter video register number 6 until the full number of lines is displayed. Then try different values of register 7 until it is centred correctly. Vine Micros issued sheets of data values for various games already worked out. I have most of these sheets so if you have problems with any games, I may be able to help with the data values. More next month. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ISSUE 49 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 (all members) From: K3H (ALBERT SCHOFIELD.) Subject: TAPE TO DISC ON THE BBC B Cassette based games sometimes have extra protection devices such as a card with groups of colours which have to be entered before the game will run, so a copy is no good without the card. Sometimes a device called a LENSLOK is used. This has to be placed over the monitor until two characters appear which have to be typed in before the game will run. There is also a time limit and if, like me, your monitor is the TV and is a couple of feet away it can be a bit tricky. The only game I have come across which uses the LENSLOK is MOON CRESTA. The game as it stands is fairly straight forward to transfer to disc but the LENSLOK still needs to be used. What is needed is a method of transferring it to disc which dispenses with the LENSLOK. The game is in three parts, CRESTA1, CRESTA2 and the filename for the last part is just a space. The first part just gives a fancy screen. The second part handles the LENSLOK routine. The game itself is in the last part. So position the tape at the start of the last part and load it in using:- *LOAD""1900 When it is loaded in, enter the following eight pokes, pressing RETURN after each one. ?&465F=&00 ?&4660=&46 ?&466F=&D0 ?&4739=&00 ?&473A=&21 ?&4775=&50 ?&4776=&4D ?&477B=&50 Now enter *DISC and save the shortened file to disc using:- *SAVE CRESTA2 1900+2EBC 4400 16C3 All that is needed now is a short loader program as follows:- 10*KEY0 *CRESTA2|MCALL&4429|M 20*FX138,0,128 30END Save this as CRESTA. Chaining CRESTA will now run the game and no LENSLOK needed. More next month. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, PRESS SPACE PRESS SPACE