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Re: Beyond

Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2020 8:16 am
by hlide
Yes, I believe the version with keyboard buffer is better in the way that it doesn't "corrupt" the MZ header comment. The extra length and the extra loading loading time is too small to be a concern.

Re: Beyond

Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2020 5:07 pm
by Pacman
I'll try to optimize the code, since it's a compiled program so there is some headroom, and maybe I'll reduce the size significantly further.

Re: Beyond

Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2020 10:02 am
by Pacman
After code optimization I get a wav of 1m33.59s. I doubt it will be possible to do better.

I do not know if it is possible to modify the game itself and publish the modifications in view of its publication by sharpworks: I would like to offer a version with choice of more or less difficulty compared to the original and the reprogramming of the control keys and, why not additional panels.

Re: Beyond

Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 12:09 pm
by mz-80a
I'm interested in the mz7 compression program. I've got the link to the github. Is it easy to compile the mz7 utility for Windows? Any instructions or pre-requisities? I might still publish one last batch of Beyond on cassette tape and it'd be nice to have a much faster loading time. (Thanks for supplying the compressed WAV to me). As for altering the game, I'd have to check with the original author.

Re: Beyond

Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 1:05 pm
by Pacman
I am not using windows so I am not sure if it is easy to compile on this platform.
I think hlide certainly needs to know a bit more ...

Re: Beyond

Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 5:30 am
by hlide
Here is the Windows version (compiled with Microsoft Visual Studio C++ 2019).
mz7c.7z
(56.54 KiB) Downloaded 342 times
You may need the usual runtime dlls if not already installed.

Re: Beyond

Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 5:35 am
by hlide
And beware, once compressed, it is like obfuscated as you cannot decompress it and get the binary back. So when archiving MZF, always keep an uncompressed one.

Re: Beyond

Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 9:33 am
by mz-80a
Thanks hlide. I'll try it out (and hopefully work out what DLLs are needed)

Re: Beyond

Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 9:40 am
by mz-80a
Yep, it works without any extra DLLs needed :) Thanks! This, in combination with my Fast Loader, could be very useful indeed to cut down tape loading times!

Re: Beyond

Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 10:13 am
by Pacman
This is exactly what I am in the process of finalizing: Compression in addition to digital transfer.