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AMOS The Creator Version 1.2 updater
By Franois Lionet
(c) 1990 Mandarin / Jawx
Important copyright notes
---------------------------
The AMOS Basic 1.2 Updater is public domain. You can (and you
are encouraged to) copy and distribute it freely. It does not mean
AMOS Basic itself is public domain. Copyright remains on the
interpreter, and on the updated version.
You need AMOS Basic V1.1 to make the adaptation.
RAMOS V1.2
------------
This updater does not contain an update for the RAMOS run time system.
Due to the limited disc space we are unable to bring you this but it
can be obtained directly from PD libraries and Sandra Sharkey of
course! Her new address is:
The AMOS PD Library
25 Park Road
Wigan
WN6 7AA
Telephone (0942) 495261 for latest PD news
How to proceede
------------------
Updating your AMOS Basic will only take you a little time but you must
keep to these instructions. Hard drive users should proceed on floppy
disc first, and then copy across the new AMOS files to their hard
drive.
1 Format a blank disc.
2 Set the protection tab of your original AMOS Programs disc to
avoid accidental erasure of your master.
3 Using Workbench's DUPLICATE option (or a commercial copier such
as XCOPY,) create a back-up of the AMOS Programs disc onto the
newly formatted disc.
4 Boot up the disc with the AMOS Update on it (Amiga Format disk 16 November 1990)
5 Double click on the AMOS Update disc icon and then on the
resulting AMOS Update program icon.
6 The updater will load and a small window will appear. From this
point onwards, simply follow and answer the on screen prompts.
7 When the updater has finished, place the new version in Df0 and
press Control+Amiga+Amiga keys to boot into AMOS V1.2.
* Please note that the updater will delete many files from the
backed-up AMOS disc - so please don't use your original master!
* If everything was right, you will now have a working copy of
AMOS version 1.2 - make a backup as a precaution. And never go
back to V1.1.
Hard disc users
-----------------
Once you have Version 1.2 on a floppy disc you simply have to copy
across the following files onto your hard disc:
Folder: AMOS_System
AMOS2_1.Env - AMOS environment file. Replaces "AMOS.Env"
Compact - AMOS (bug free compacter) Version 1.2.
Replaces "Compact" file size should be 1816
bytes long
Folder: AMOS root directory (where you always load AMOS from)
AMOS2.1 - AMOS program file. Replaces "AMOS"
AMOS2.1.Info - AMOS workbench icon. Replaces "AMOS.Info"
What's new in version 1.2 - by Franois Lionet
------------------------------------------------
Although we have tested AMOS during many months before releasing it,
we have missed a few bugs. Mandarin and I are also VERY concerned
about the user's request, and we read ALL the letters you send us.
AMOS version 1.2 is the first result of your bug reports and
suggestions. We all hope you find this "public domain" way of
releasing new versions convenient (mostly for your purse!).
Now, let's go for the list of new things! First, the bugs:
1 Nasty bugs!
* HELP accessory crashed on the A500
* Accessory calling also invited the guru with certain
screen configurations
* GARBAGE collection caused a crash if it occurred in the
middle of a string expression, and if the collection could not
get enough space to finish the evaluation. (baaaad bug, I tell
ya man!)
* GENLOCKed Amiga could not get a still picture
* Global variables in procedure calls (I could not imagine
people would actually DO that!)
* CLOSE WORKBENCH used to crash if a window was opened on WB
screen. Now this instruction is really closer to Commodore
specifications, so the AMOS1_2.AMOS program had to change the
Startup-Sequence of the language disc
Note that CLOSE WORKBENCH will NOT work now if you have one
CLI window opened. If you want to start AMOS and actually
close the workbench, you must use the following CLI
instructions:
RUN >NIL: AMOS
ENDCLI
2 Other bugs.
* LDIR now works properly
* Y HARD now returns the right value
* SCIN does not report hidden screens
* VAL works with negative floating numbers!
* PLOT works with large float expressions. In fact, the problem
was in the "double float evaluation" routine. All instruction
that required TWO parameters were affected.
* INT is corrected
* SQR(-2) and LOG(-1..) now returns an illegal function call error
* Def Fn with float numbers does not report a type mismatch error
any more
* I SPRITE and I BOB are now tokenised
* AMAL PLay instruction now works fine
* AMPLAY too
* AMAL OR is now understood by AMAL
* ERRN reports the REAL error number (it used to add TWO to it!)
* CONTROL+C now cuts the block under editor
* CONTROL+S stores the block
* You can now go from one label to another with ALT arrows
* GET FONTS information used to be corrupted by a garbage
collection - now this is fixed
* MENU TO X,Y is now in the right order
* DOUBLE BUFFERED , DUAL PLAYFIELD screens were not displayed,
making it impossible to use bobs on dual playfield
* UNPACK works fine with portions of screens
* SET TAB now works in a program
3 Manual bugs.
Yes! A few mistakes in the manual made us think there were
more bugs in AMOS. Here are the faulty instructions in the manual.
* PRG FIRST needs a filter, like DIR FIRST: =PRG FIRST$("*.*")
* COLOUR BACK $RGB is an instruction that sets the background
colour of the screen, ie the colour OUTSIDE of all screens.
* AMREG wants the CHANNEL number FIRST, and then the register
number, and not the contrary as stated in the manual.
Well, sorry for the bugs. Each time a user found a new one, I
felt bad! Sorry for that, but you must realise that AMOS source code
is over 1 Megabyte long! The most difficult thing in such big
programs, is that when you change something at one corner, it may be
creating a bug in a very far routine that you had almost forgotten!
New Features in AMOS 1.2
--------------------------
1 The new improved File Selector
Certainly a subject on which we had the most remarks and ideas!
What's new then:
* You can now type stuff, and click when the directory is
loading.
As a consequence, the directory is not sorted any more, but
I have provided a SORT button. You can keep clicking on it if
you cannot stand seeing the directory in a mess!
* The up and down arrows are grouped in the top of the file
list.
* The PARENT button is just over the arrows, giving fast access
to all three buttons.
* No more device list on the right of the files! To have it,
just do as in the ARP file selector: click on the right mouse
button. The device REAL names (including ASSIGNED devices)
list will be displayed. Just click on the name to change the
disc.
* The requester is not disabled as it was before. If you ask for
an non-existent disc, it will ask to insert it.
* That's it. Some major changes that will (I hope) satisfy your
needs. Note that the program selector has changed too. No
kidding, how did you guess I was using the same routines?
* The slider bar's display is now cleaner
* Sequential files are now 3 times faster. I was really ashamed
to be slower than Amiga Basic!
* =DIR$ now returns the disc name, and not only the device
reference.
* AMOS is now even more multi-tasking. The editor and the direct
mode do not do "busy" loops any more. You can normally run
other tasks on the background. Of course, when a program is
running, AMOS takes as much processor time as it can to have
the best speed. See the new MULTI WAIT instruction below for
more details.
2 New instructions
Yes, as a bonus, for no extra cost!
* =DEV FIRST$("filter")
* =DEV NEXT$
Like DIR FIRST$ and DIR NEXT$, but for the device list.
Note that you should remove the spaces with -" " to get the
right name.
* MULTI WAIT
To make REAL multi-task programs, you must not grab all the
processor time (as I used to do in V1.1), and leave some power
to the other tasks. MULTI WAIT does a MULTI-TASK wait vbl. You
should use it in your program's main loop, when you wait for
example for a menu item to be selected.
Note that you should not use this instruction to make accurate
screen synchronisation. As it is designed to multi-task, this
instruction is NOT ACCURATE AT ALL! It may skip many VBLs,
depending on the number of running task at the moment.
If you missed it in the manual, multitasking can be activated by
pressing Amiga+A to flick between AMOS and the CLI or Workbench
environments. This allows systems with at least 1 meg to run
AMOS and programs like DPAINT III at the same time!
* PRIORITY REVERSE ON
* PRIORITY REVERSE OFF
When I had finished AMOS, someone told me that I had made a
really stupid mistake: the bob priority display order in AMOS
was REVERSED to that in STOS. Silly me! It made it more
difficult to port programs from STOS to AMOS - but not
impossible! I had to correct this!
PRIORITY REVERSE ON, as it says, reverses the entire bob's
priority table. It means that bob number 1 will be first, in
front of all other bobs, 2 will come in second etc... This
priority list is compatible with STOS.
This instruction has another really nice feature when you use it
with PRIORITY ON. The bobs are not sorted from TOP to BOTTOM any
more, but from BOTTOM to TOP! The highest bob on the screen will
be displayed in front of the others - how to turn a mistake into
a nice new feature!
* Automatic sprite flipping - a very special feature - really
crucial!
In a great number of games, the main character needs to animate
left to right, and up and down. Up to now, you were obliged to
keep in the sprite bank reversed copies of small animation
sequences for the main character. As the main character
usually has the best animation, you lose an enormous amount of
space!
For the game RanXerox (out now!), which I wrote a long time ago,
I produced a nice flipping routine which allowed me to keep just
one copy of the main character in the bank. I have grabbed and
enhanced this routines for AMOS, and it is now a part of Version
1.2.
I had to be clever (who said I could not?) to find a way of
including this feature and keep compatibility with older
programs.
How does it work? Let's imagine your character is walking to the
left and then back to the right. You would only have in your
bank the image of him walking to the right. To display this
right image, you simply refer to the image number in the bank as
usual.
To display the image reversed in the X axis (left walking
image), you set bit number 15 of the image number to 1. Don't
panic, you can simply do it with:
$8000+Image number
So, BOB 1,160,100,1 will display your character walking right,
and BOB 1,160,100,$8000+1 will display it walking left. The same
principle is used for vertical reversing, for this, bit number
14 is used. Add $4000 to the image number. To have a vertical
and horizontal reversing, use $C000.
The symmetry is a full symmetry: I also reverse the HOT SPOT of
the bob. For example, if we had put the hot spot in X under the
feet of our character, the reversed version would also have it
under its foot. So be careful if you set the hot spot on the top
left corner on a bob, the reversed image will be displayed at
the top left!
You might say that $8000 and $C000 is a bit weird to use. I
have provided special functions to give a better AMOS interface:
* =HREV(image), add $8000 to the image
* =VREV(image), add $4000
* =REV(image), add $C000
Use them in place of the hex values:
BOB 1,160,100,10
BOB 1,160,100,HREV(10)
BOB 1,160,100,VREV(10)
BOB 1,160,100,REV(10)
To allow easy use of the bob reverser in AMAL, I have
implemented HEXADECIMAL evaluation. So you can use hex notation
to refer easily to reversed bobs. If hex frightens you, just add
$8000, $4000 or $C000 before all references in your AMAL
strings.
Example:
Old AMAL string:
"Anim 0,(1,2)(2,2)(3,2)(4,2)"
New reversed string:
"Anim 0,($8000+1,2)($8000+2)($8000+3)($8000+4)"
or...
"Anim 0,($8001,2)($8002,2)($8003,2)($8004,2)"
If you use a register to calculate the image number, do not try
to modify the calculation itself, but only when you assign the
register to the image.
Old AMAL string:
For R0=1 To 10; Let A=R0; Next R0
New one:
For R0=1 To 10; Let A=C000+R0; Next R0
How does the flip routine work?
It is really important for you to understand how it works
internally, so that you do not ask this system to do things it is
not designed to.
I'll make myself a little bit clearer. This reversing system is
designed to increase memory before trying to be fast (although we
would not mind if it was actually fast, would we?). I had to make
concessions to have it at the same time fast, easy and powerful.
The routine actually works right in the middle of the bank, and
does not use any extra memory.
The bobs are flipped during the UPDATE process, just before a bob
is redrawn on the screen: I look to see if the image needs to be
flipped in the bank. If it does, I do it and set a flag in the
bank. On the next UPDATE, if the bob image has not changed, I will
not need to flip it again, thus saving a lot of time.
If you understand the above, you will also realise one BIG
limitation: It is not wise to use more than one flipped bob
pointing to the same image. Let's see the next example:
Bob 1,160,100,1
Bob 2,160,150,$8001
Bob 3,20,20,$4001
Bob 4,20,100,$C001
Update
During the UPDATE process, AMOS will first draw bob #1. No
problem, it is in the right position. Then bob #2 - AMOS needs to
reverse it in X. Bob #3 needs a Y and an X reversing (to put the
bob back to normal in X!). Then bob #4 needs an X flipping.
On the next update, providing the bob's image has not changed,
to display bob #1, AMOS will have to flip it in X and Y, then bob
#2...
As you can see, for each UPDATE, ie every 50th of second, if the
bobs move, they need to be reversed! This will work, but will take
a lot of processor time, and the animation will be disastrous.
So the golden rule is: Use the reversed bobs for objects alone
on a screen (or be sure that normal and reversed images are not
displayed at the same time on the screen). If you want, you can
have two bobs like this - experiment!
I told you before that this system was for use with BOBS. Yes, it
is totally automatic with bobs. But as it directly affects the
sprite bank, you can use it with sprites.
When a hardware computed sprite is calculated, AMOS looks into the
sprite bank and gets the image from it. If the image is
reversed at that moment, the hardware sprite will display a
reversed image. You can therefore have reversed hardware sprites
using this method. But you cannot do for example:
Sprite 1,200,200,$8001
* Pasting flipped bobs
PASTE BOB also accepts reversed images. A simple trick to
reverse an image in the bank without having to display a bob is to
PASTE the reversed image outside of the screen. Example:
Paste Bob 500,500,$C000
This will reverse image 4 in the bank, without any output (and
quite fast).
* Collision Detection
This is an important point, and you have to be very careful when
you detect collisions with reversed bobs!
The collision detection uses the shapes in the bank at the very
moment it is called. Let's see an example that will never work:
Bob 1,160,100,1
Do
Bob 2,XScreen(XMouse),YScreen(YMouse),$8001
Wait Vbl
Exit if Bob Col(1)
Loop
Why doesn't it work? We have two reversed images of the same
definition in the bank. After the updating process, the image in
the bank is left reversed. So the Bob Col instruction will take
bob shape 1, the reversed image, and this will not work!
So remember what uncle Franois tells you:
THOU SHALL NEVER USE COLLISION DETECTION WITH MORE THAN ONE
REVERSED IMAGE ON THE SCREEN!
How is it coded into the sprite bank?
I use two bits in the Hot spot X definition of each image in the
bank (at SPRITE BASE+6).
Bit #15 for X: 0 if normal, 1 if reversed
Bit #14 for Y: " " " "
Before RUN and SAVE, the bank is restored to its normal state, so
that it is still compatible with version 1.1...
* Block Flipping
Yes, I had a really nice routine, I had to use it for the blocks!
Two new instructions:
HREV BLOCK number, flips horizontally
VREV BLOCK number, flips vertically
* Bank Swapping
A new and very needed instruction:
Bank Swap number1,number2
This instruction will swap the pointers of the two banks. Useful
if you want to turn an icon bank into a sprite bank. Example:
Bank Swap 1,2
or have more than one music bank at the same time, for example:
Bank Swap 3,5
etc...
3 New Programs
The AMOS1_2.AMOS updater has also saved a few new programs onto
your disc:
* CONFIG1_2.AMOS - the new configuration program. Note that the
configuration file in the AMOS_System folder is not the same as
the version 1_1 file.
* MENU_EDITOR.AMOS - a new one, as AMOS had some annoying bugs in
fonts handling and ERRN functions.
* LOCK.AMOS program! Yes, now you can lock your procedures, as
said in the manual. To proceed:
1 Make a backup of your program, with OPENED procedures
2 Close all the procedures you wish to definitely lock
3 Load the LOCK.AMOS program, as an ACCESSORY
4 Run LOCK.AMOS using the RUN OTHER Menu option from the editor
Your procedures are now locked, and you cannot open them back.
NB: Do not try to load a program with locked procedures in
AMOS1_1 as it will crash the computer! Version 1_1 is designed
to disappear quickly!
I am offering a bottle of (GOOD) French champagne to the first one
who will send me a program that unlocks another AMOS program, and
the LOCK.AMOS program unlocked. I wish you some happy hours trying
to find out how I did it! Hahaha!
AMOS Users Club
-----------------
Issue 1 of the AMOS Newsletter is now available. The club has
really taken off with over 700 members having joined - this is more
than the STOS club did in a year!
Adding a high score to Magic Forest, How I wrote Cartoon Capers,
Public Domain Update, A500 Blues and an article on Sprites, form the
main body of this first issue.
Join now - you won't regret it and you'll get all the latest AMOS
related news.
Soundtracker fix
------------------
If you've experienced problems with the Soundtracker to AMOS
converter (found on the EXTRAS disc), then have a look at the listing
and ensure that line 61 is the same as below:
OF_MUSIC=$43C
Without this change the music tended to play out of sequence on one of
the channels.
AMOS's future
---------------
A look to the future! In the next few months, I will program:
* A COMMS extension, to handle all RS232 and parallel
ports directly
* An AREXX interface
* The COMPILER!!! it is still time to send to Mandarin all your
ideas and suggestions for this important product. We will read
all the letters, as usual.
I look forward to seeing what you have done in AMOS. Think about
the PD library, and do not keep your masterpieces for yourself
only! Send them to the club. I have already seen some amazing
stuff...
That's all folks! I wish you as much fun programming in AMOS
as I had programming it!
PS - Thanks to all these persons for their nice letters and
intelligent remarks: J.M.Wright, Dr. Steve Hill, M. Radeley, T.W.
Davies, Fred Potter (Canada!), Mike Laskey, Frederic Calendini, C.
Savage, Michael Hawksworth, Richard A. Newbould, Robert Pirie, P.J.
Hasell, Eric Sagon, R.P. Couzens, Paul Loraine, C.A. Thompson, Andrew
Forrest, Rob Elsas, Matthew Clark, David Batty, Steve Bennett, David
Spacey, E. Spooner, Michael Ashton, H. Gibbens, Adrian Milliner, Gary
Field, C.J. Hoare, Peter Wade, Phillip Muldoon and all the ones I have
forgotten!