8-bit Software Disc Magazine (c) Duncan Webster 1991
Issue 14 (July 1991)
PROGRAMMERS RETURN
PROGRAM: Liverpool Manager
User 42K: Good graphics to start with and clear and easy instructions.
I dislike having to press a key each time a goal is scored -
better to continue the game automatically after a set period
of time. Team ratings for Liverpool are just a little
biased?
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PROGRAM: Devil's Island
User 2GJ: I love adventures and I think that this could just be a
winner. I have made a slow start, but I hope to complete
this soon. Keep 'em coming!
User ???: The graphics weren't too good in this game at all, but that
is probably because I have a Master 128. I didn't get very
far in this game, I still do not know how to relight the
lamp when it has gone out and I often get put into prison
for killing people. What has Bumwipe got to do with it
anyway? I must point out though that a lot of work has gone
into the text adventure, but how did the jungle get under
the cottage and what about adding a background story to the
game which loads up before you play the game? Even better
what about a Master conversion?
User 238: When I eventually got this program to work I got a bad
impression straight away. I missed the first few lines of
text by the screen scrolling too quickly and some replies
were greeted by funny squiggles on the screen. An all in
all adventure in getting it working but the few bugs spoil
it.
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PROGRAM: Complete Address Book
User 2GJ: I thought it looked good, but it is seriously bugged (?).
The options to search for names and addresses require the
user to ALTER strings, not just locate them. I cannot
discover how to aviod this, so I will not be using this
until a correcting patch comes along.
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PROGRAM: Chuckie Egg Extra Screens
User ???: Makes the game much easier and longer with the extra lives
and levels, but how was it done? I hope to see more quality
efforts like this in the future.
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PROGRAM: Envelope Creator
User 1K1: This is brilliant - no more painstakingly copying whole
lines of envelopes just to change one number .. Well done!
User Y80: Could have made this more visually helpful by using the CLS
command a little more. This program needs a good tidy,
which I would be happy to do with the authors permission.
User 8CT: A Bit messy but the preset noises include a very good
selection.
User 81R: Nice program, it's a little bit awkward in places and I
would like some way of displaying the envelope graphically,
and altering the graph using the cursor keys.
User 0E7: Preset envelopes have a cluttered appearance, a more open
display would benefit - If you create a sound and you decide
to go back to the main menu the sound carries until the
buffer is emptied thus slowing the display of the menu.
Could the sound be stopped when the menu is selcted? - On
selection of an envelope and key 2 in the main menu is
depressed why does the menu screen distort? Shouldn't it be
cleared altogether?
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PROGRAM: Motor Program
User Y80: Of no real use to me as I do not own a car, but nevertheless
it may be useful to someone who has, and who needs to get
results from the calculations the program performs. If
Steve is a newcomer to programming which I feel he may be,
then it was good of him to have a go at writing a program
even if it may not be used by many. A few comments follow
.... 1. You do not need 2 separate programs : START and
MOTOR - you can put the coding from START within a PROCEDURE
in the main MOTOR program. 2. The method you have employed
to file handle is OK, but errors will occur such as Can't
Extend etc. 3. Line 1330 should contain *DELETE instead of
setting function keys to *WIPE 2 files. I also recommend
that you store information within memory (ie. a DIM array)
rather than constantly writing to disc.
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PROGRAM: BASDUMP
User ???: This is an example of simple but clever programming which
leads to very impressive and very good results. I have
tested the BASDUMP utility with several BASIC programs using
the ACP Advanced Battery Backed Sideways RAM as well as
spare SWR bank in my Master and every time it works
perfectly. By the way, I have never supposed that it is
possible to write bytes directly to ABR, ommitting the
'legal' subroutine advised in the ABR manual.
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PROGRAM: ROM to DISC
User 238: This is a very good utility. No problems encountered when
using on the Master 128, even the SWR can be saved back to
disc. (A slight hint for master 128 owners of Repton 3). I
beleove a word of warning should be given with this ROM as
it is very powerful and in the wrong hands could be used
illegaly.
User 8CT: A very useful utility but it is a problem if all the ROMs
won't fit on one disc. Perhaps a prompt to insert a blank
disc could be added when the first disc is full. Apart from
that great!!
User 4RR: For someone who has SWR facilities this is a very useful
utility. Admittedly there have been some simalar programs
on the market and even some utility ROMs have this facility,
but this is the first time I have come across a utility to
dump ALL fitted ROMs to disc automatically.
You may wonder what purpose it could be used for. I
personally like the opportunity to LOAD a utility ROM (which
normally resides in slot 4) into my SWR slot (14). When
doing certain debugging routines I have a clash with simalar
* calls and the ROM in the higher level always takes
precedence. This way my TOOLKIT ROM (No.4) reloaded into
SWR (No.14) can have the priority when I want those certain
utilities. This is prime example where ALL ROM
manufacturers should provide a prefix letter to *Calls to
avoid call clashes. To recap it is a very good program
which not only acts as a personal safety backup for ones
fitted ROMs, but once RUN, can be used in my above example
and I don't think that this could be deemed as breaching
copyright.
User 81R: Nice idea, how about including an option to save the ROMs
because I don't need to keep a disc backup of my DFS and
other service ROMs. Also it is just a waste of time trying
to copy INTER-WORD, you can't do it because it is a hybrid
ROM. (whatever that means).
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PROGRAM: Directory Rename Utility
User 2GJ: Superb! Just what I have needed for a LONG time. Just one
minor niggle - why no option to change all files on one fell
swoop, bo matter which directory your're in? A Wild card
such as * could be used to gather them all.
User 4RR: A very good, well presented and easy to use program, not to
mention how very useful. It came at about just the right
time as I have been wanting to replace an old style menu
system on all my games discs. This necessitated changing
certain files from a "+" directory to an "A", and other mass
changes to a "$" directory. This wonderful utility made it
so much quicker and easy. Simple to use. A Winner -
thanks!
User C83: This program is very handy but it would be better if you
could select the files to be renamed. Well set out and very
colourful.
SORRY but that is really all I can manage to publish this month to
avoid sacrificing other areas of the magazine. If you would like
advance comments then please do not hesitate to phone.