AGD new character sets : save/load problems!

[lukebord1]

Hi, there's a problem in saving new character sets.
I'm using a regular Spectaculator emulator, and when i save my AGD game (as a new block in the same TAP file), it seems it's all ok. It can be reloaded, and edited. The problem (a bug ?) comes when i close AGD and start a new session - sprites and settings are loaded correctly, but the whole new character set is LOST !!
How some programmers have bypassed that ?
And finally, how is it possible to load a new character set ?
We only know that the starting POKE number is 31232 and the file has to be 768 bites long, but Spectaculator doesn't accept "chr" files created with FZX Editor !
So how is it possible to load a chr set ?

[kas29]

Welcome lukebord1! The font should be in the format "tap" Save Spectaculator(in progress), better as a snapshot(.szx), and the final result in the "tap".

[kas29]

The font.. I am using the program ZXFont 3.0 , after editing the font ibid translate, the entire font in the "tap" and all..

[lukebord1]

Thank you very much, kas29.
I think, at the present day, the most of users prefer to use an emulator (read: Spectaculator) instead of a real Spectrum... so now it's clear we've to use a TAP file for the Specturm font.

But how about the loss of font data after saving and closing the AGD program?... When i try to start a new session, and load the previous stuff, the font resets to the AGD original!

Do we have to take the TAP font file apart, for the instance?

[kas29]

Nov 25, 2013 16:27:14 GMT lukebord1 said:

Thank you very much, kas29.
I think, at the present day, the most of users prefer to use an emulator (read: Spectaculator) instead of a real Spectrum... so now it's clear we've to use a TAP file for the Specturm font.

But how about the loss of font data after saving and closing the AGD program?... When i try to start a new session, and load the previous stuff, the font resets to the AGD original!

Do we have to take the TAP font file apart, for the instance?

See lukebord1. If you save the material(with your bold) as tap, and then download again.. in agd, the font will be lost.. And in the finished game(not downloading in agd) font will remain the one you want to use. Therefore, in the emulator I do snapshot and the font is not lost..(and easier way), then if you want to edit, and open the snapshot.
Here are some of the fonts in the format of the tap.

Attachments:

[lukebord1]

Thanks for the font set, very very appreciated!
I know that when we save a snapshot through the emulator, the whole work is correctly saved - just because it's a snapshot of the current loaded data.
But working with a snapshot file, will affect the save function in the cassette recorder (cassette recorder can save only with TAP file)... so, what will happen when the game will be finished? We'll need to save it with a loader, and AGD can save the final work only with the TAP file (which can be parsed through another utility in order to separate the AGD program blocks from our game).
I'm sorry, i don't want to bother anyone, but these particular steps are not explained anywhere... i think AGD manual deserves a little more detailed instructions inside the font section: if the font data is lost using a TAP file, that should be warned in the manual.

[kas29]

If you need more fonts, I can translate a few dozen in the tap..
As for the instructions.. About the loss of the font.. about this really is not described..
So only in the finished(without AGD) game, the font will remain that which you want.

[lukebord1]

Hmm.. the point is not my font collection. I'll try to be more clear about my doubt:

- let's assume we're working with a snapshot file, saving the work many times as a snapshot... so sprites, settings and the new chr set will be correctly integrated in the save, that's OK.

- then the game is finished. I have a SNAPSHOT file as last save. That snapshot includes both AGD & my game;

- how can i extrapolate the final work from the SNAPSHOT?.. I can easily do that if i have a TAP file, but i have a snapshot, right?... So, how it will be possible to publish the final work without the AGD integrated inside?

[kas29]

Lukebord1 about fonts I wrote, if those(10) not quite satisfied..
Something I do not understand the essence of the problem now..
If you want to save as a finished game, then in Spectaculator you must create a new "cassette" and save the game..
If you make a saving in the process of writing the game as a snapshot, and the last result as the tap., so the font must remain in the latter case(tap.) yours if the game run as a separate file.
Or I don't understand..?

[lukebord1]

kas29, i'm only trying to focus a specific AGD problem and trying to understand how to bypass it.

I'm not looking for new Spectrum fonts, even if i thank you very much for the collection provided (i'll certainly use it in future projects, but in the actual development i already have the font i need).

The above mentioned AGD problem consists in loss of font data after saving/closing the session. The only way to keep the font alive is to save it as a snapshot, OK.

My question, at this point, is simple:
if i want to publish the finished game, i have to extrapolate the game data from AGD (because, in any case, the save includes both AGD and the game), and I can easily extrapolate data blocks by parsing a TAP file from an utility.
But if i have a snapshot file, the Spectaculator emulator disables the record function in the cassette recorder.

So, at the end, i can't have a new TAP file from a snapshot.

And so, the problem is: how can i obtain a TZX file of the game from the snapshot which includes AGD?

[lukebord1]

Solved!
The problem was basically my misunderstanding with Spectaculator operation and its "File/New" function... i thought "new" could mean "cancel current job and start another"
...the "File/New" function in fact creates a new TAP file in which we can save the final work - and this way, charset is successfully integrated.

Bug in AGD remains, because if we use the same AGD TAP file, the new charset is lost after closing the session.

But at this point it is really not relevant, because we can work with a snapshot as long as we're working on the project, and then create a TAP apart when finished.
Good!

[Jonathan Cauldwell]

V4.3 saves the data correctly, but doesn't properly store the new font when loading an AGD file from tape. I've located the bug and it will be fixed in V4.4.