Date   : Tue, 31 Dec 1996 16:18:37 +0000
From   : deweger <deweger@...>
Subject: Re: Archive format expansion

Robert Schmidt wrote:
>
> [cut everything] Sorry :)
>

After reading this, I get the idea I wasn't clear enough in my previous
mail. Lemme try a bit harder. In the previous mail I tried to make three
points: a major one and two minor ones.

The major point is that it would be a good idea to have a standard
solution for the problem of running a game. I agree that in many cases
it is not so much work to find out how to run a game. It just involves
finding the first file, finding out whether this file should be CHAINed,
*RUN, or *EXECed, and, if the file should be CHAINed, what the PAGE
setting should be. Only if you have to do it every time you wish to run
a game, it gets a bit cumbersome. That's why a standard solution is a
good idea.

(This standard solution is a bit like Robert's log file in a standard
form so it can be executed by emulators and BBCs).

The first minor point is about how such a standard solution should be
implemented. There seem to be two basic ways of doing so:
1. Add an !BOOT file to every game that contains the commands to
   start the game.
2. Add an additional file (with a standard name, e.g. !STARTUP) to every game
   that contains these commands.

Both implementations solve the above problem. The only thing that
requires further standardization is the way in which !BOOT files should
be started (the *OPT4,x parameter). This is my second minor point and
Tom's question that started the discussion.
1a. The extra *OPT4 parameter can be added to !BOOT.INF files.
1b. An extra file (e.g. !OPTION) can be added to every game with an
    !BOOT file. This extra file contains the *OPT4 parameter.
2a. The !STARTUP file may contain the appropriate command to start the
    !BOOT file (*EXEC !BOOT or *RUN !BOOT).
2b. The !STARTUP file contains a command like BOOT x. This is
    interpreted by the emulator as having to start the !BOOT file
    with the option *OPT4,x.

Now my preferences with respect to these options. First between 1 and 2:
I don't really care. Robert wrote that adding !BOOT files to games would
make it cumbersome to combine several games into one disk image/DFFS
image. That's true, but the same applies to adding !STARTUP files.
(Unless Tom comes up with a smart solution, such as automatic renaming
of files by the conversion tool for archive format -> DFFS format
conversion.)

However, if people plan on adding more emulator-specific stuff to the
archive format (like info about errors that occur when running a game on
a specific emulator, or a kind of menu for multiple games), I think it'd
be a good idea to put this emulator-specific stuff in an !STARTUP file,
and not in an !BOOT.INF file. That would localize all emulator-specific
stuff in one file and make transfer of games back to a BBC much easier.
(And I *do* transfer games back to my BBC.)

Then 1a versus 1b. For the arguments above, it would be neater to put
the option in an extra file (1b). However, since it's only a single
parameter, I prefer adding it to an !BOOT.INF file (1a).

Then 2a versus 2b. I don't care.

So my opinion is that as long as we're only talking about the *OPT4
parameter, I think the easiest way is to put it in the !BOOT.INF file
(1b). If, however, we're talking about more such extensions, I prefer
the addition of an !STARTUP file to the archive format (2a or 2b).

But the bottom line in standardization is that the one who's first
usually sets the standard. Tom?
 
> I hope you all had a nice Christmas - I did... 

I didn't. Boring, boring. We've got a little more alcohol in store for
new year's eve, so that should be better :)

> A happy new year to everybody!

Yeah, I just heard 1997 has been nominated Year of the Beeb!

Mark.

Mark de Weger
deweger@...

The law forbids both me and my mum to create and distribute computer
viruses.