Vectronix 2

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Text File | 1996-07-03 | 29KB | 646 lines

****** ****** ****** ****** ******* ****** ****** ******* ******* ******** ******* ******* ******** ****** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ******* ******* ** ** ** ** **** *** ** ** ****** ****** ** ** ****** **** *** *** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** *** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ******** ******* ******* ******* ** **** *** *** ****** ****** ******* ***** ** -=Version 1.01=- Improvements for V1.01 ====================== 1) Should play musics properly 2) Bug fixed when editing in hexadecimal 3) A new section - F9 Extras - with one option to fix the STe's desktop bug 4) Improved disk operations 5) By pressing shift+F1-F9 it is possible to switch between sections at any point in the program also by pressing 'p' you can print the screen 6) I have added more colour for colour screen owners and fixed a 'bug' for mono people 7) The disk editor is now a fraction of a millisecond faster PLEASE NOTE: If you have never used a ripper or disk editor before, I strongly advise you to read these instructions before you load up ProbeST! Will ProbeST work on my machine? ================================ ProbeST has been tested by people on the following list of machines: TOS Version Memory(in megabytes) 1.6(STe) 0.5 (my machine) 1.62(STe) 1 (Thanks Mick!) 1.62(STe) 2 (Thanks Norman!) 1.2 0.5 (Thanks Pop!) 1.2 2.5 (Thanks Chaz!) 1.4 0.5 (Thanks Gandy!) 1.4 1 (Thanks Grogan!) 1.4 2.5 (Thanks Chaz!) I have not tested it on any TT's or mega ST's so I dont know if they will work 100%, but I can't see any reason why they shouldn't. You can use ProbeST with a mono monitor or mono emulator but the search graphics section will only allow you to rip mono pictures, but everything else will work Ok. I have improved the colour scheme for both mono monitors and colour screens Instructions for ProbeST V1.01 ============================== This program is shareware, this means that if you use ProbeST on a regular basis, or you enjoy using it then you are obliged to send a donation. If you send a donation of £5.00, then I will send you a disk containing the following:- 1) The latest version of ProbeST 2) Another doc file with some hints on using ProbeST 3) A big list of cheats for a lot of games 4) Help on how to use ripped musics in your own programs 5) A selection of PD/shareware programs 6) By sending a donation, It entitles you to free updates of ProbeST when they are written. You will also be the first to receive the updates. And it will encourage me to get some coding done instead of playing games, so you will get a better program If you wish to send a donation, or have any suggestions, bug reports etc then please write to this address:- ProbeST, 18 Woodford Road, Failsworth, Manchester, England, M35 9JU. And if you do write please tell me what memory/TOS version you have if you find any bugs so I can try to correct them - thanks! Please use this program at your own risk, do not blame me if you damage any disks by the missuse of this program or by any bugs in it. But please think before you act and you should do no damage to any disks! Oh, yes - please feel free to copy to anybody you like - the more the merrier and feel free to put it on a menu but please keep the docs with the two programs in the AUTO folder. - Thanks - What is ProbeST? ================ The reason I decided to write ProbeST was that I had a lot of utilities that I used but was awkward quitting from each program and loading another, so I started to write a program with parts of the most useful sections of each utility, and so ProbeST was born. ProbeST consists of six different sections:- 1) A music ripper 2) A graphics ripper 3) A disk operations section 4) A various searches option 5) A memory/disk editor 6) A virus protection section and each section is split up into smaller sub-sections. The main difference between ProbeST and other programs of its type is the way it works as I will now explain. When you load up a game/demo/etc and you press reset button (providing the program does not clear the memory) a lot of the graphics/ musics/files are still in memory - but aren't used, so it is possible to search through memory looking for graphics/musics/files etc and when they are found, saved to disk. This is exactly how ProbeST works and what it does. The limitation in using this method is that if the game/demo changes the reset routines to clear memory or crash when reset is pressed then ProbeST cannot work, this is where the disk operations sections comes in. If the program is in files then its just a case of loading each file into memory and searching through it, or if its in raw data on the disk then the disk can be read by loading sectors from the disk into memory. There are a couple of programs that ProbeST cannot search through and these usually are highly protected disks. Ok, now we know how ProbeST works, lets take a look at the program itself and the individual sections in it. Using ProbeST ============= Load the disk you want to look at in drive A, and when there is a piece of music that you want to rip, or you see some graphics of fonts that you would like to look at, then press the reset button, insert the ProbeST disk in drive A and wait for ProbeST to load... When ProbeST loads up the words 'Welcome to ProbeST V1.01' will appear at the top of the screen with a list of keys to press for each section these are:- F1 - Search music F2 - Search graphics F3 - Disk operations F4 - Other searches F5 - Disk editor F6 - About ProbeST F7 - Options F8 - Virus protection by pressing keys F1 - F8 we can now go into each section and see what it can do. Before we go into any section, I had better explain what the pointer means in each section. The pointer simply indicates the position in memory where you last looked, ie in the graphics section from what address you last looked at etc. Ok, by pressing F1 we go into the search music section... F1 - Search Music ================= In most programs there is chip music and this section allows us to search through memory and look for three types of chip music: Mad Max chip music - I've found a lot of his music in demos/compact demo disks etc and in some games. David Whittaker chip music - Most of his music is found in games. Count Zero chip music - Again a lot of demos use his music, but I've found some music in some games too. Ok, so for example we want to search memory for a Mad Max music file, this is the procedure: Press F1 to search for Mad Max music, it will then ask you for a start address, this means where do you want to start looking for the music file. You will not be able to search below 100000, so if you want to search all of memory, then type 100000 as the start address. I now asks you for an end address - ie where do you want to stop searching. ProbeST now starts searching for any music between the start and end addresses and will take a while searching - it is possible to stop a search by pressing escape. If a music file is found then you will here a 'bell' sound and you will now have several options: F1 - Play music F2 - Return to music menu +/- - Alter size of music Try pressing F1, you should now here some glorious Mad Max music being played and by pressing the cursor up and down keys it is possible to listen to different tunes and by pressing the space bar it will turn off the music and return you to the above options screen. If you pressed F1 and got no sound then this can be due to a few reasons - press the spacebar to return to the above options screen. Usually if there is no music it is because the length of the music we have selected is too small, so press the + key a few times and press F1 again, you should havethe music playing now, but if still no music is playing, try pressing the cursor up and down keys and by know you should have some Mad Max music playing. If you want to save the music, play around with the + and - keys until the music is as small as possible and can still be played then return to the main music menu and save it. If you still have no music then it is very unlikely that you have a music file and by trying to play it usually ends up in your ST crashing! Searching for the other types of music is carried out in exactly the same manner. If you find a David Whittaker file then ProbeST will try to find the exact size of the file and if it does you are OK to play it but be careful with David Whittaker music as sometimes if you try to play a certain tune the ST crashes so if you play only the first music then save it you will bo OK. If ProbeST cannot find then end of the file then usually when you try to play it it will crash, but you are given the option to try to play it. If you find a Count Zero music you will only find one tune, so there is no point in pressing the cursor up and down keys. If when you try to play the music and there is no sound, try increasing the size of the file. If you rip a piece of music and want to use it in a demo or something then PLEASE credit the author and say who its by, its only fair to the author. Ok, I think I've covered all there is in ripping music files. If I can find anymore type of music files then I will update ProbeST to rip other musics as well. F2 - Search Graphics ==================== This section as the title suggests allows you to visually search through memory/files and look for any graphics embedded in them so you can look at them or save out to disk. The best way of learning about this section is to try to have a go at ripping some graphics on a standard Degas Elite *.PI1 file. Firstly go to the main menu screen and press F3 to go into the disk operations section.Press F1 to load a file into memory and it asks you for a filename, type in the name of the PI1 picture file you want to load in and press return, it will then ask for an address to load the picture in to try typing in 200000 and press return. It will now load up the picture into address 200000. Press escape to return to the main menu and press F1 to go into the search graphics section. Take note of the keys and their functions and press the space bar - what you will now see is a 'messy' screen, try pressing the cursor down and key 2 to move down the screen and when you come to address 200000 you will see something that resembles the picture file that you loaded in. If you forget what keys do what then press the space bar to return to the search graphics menu. Now press the +/- keys until the start of the picture file is at the very top of the screen, when you have done this, the picture may look like it is two pictures on top of each other, press the cursor left and right keys until the picture looks as though it is only the palette that is wrong, and try pressing the keys 4 and 6 to aline the picture so that it fills the whole screen and only looks like the palette is wrong. If you now press the key 0 the palette should be correct now and the whole picture will look OK. If you want you may now save the picture back to disk by pressing F1 and typing in a file- name - press return to save it. If you wanted to rip grahics from a demo or a game then load up the program you want to rip from and when there is a screen which you want to rip then press reset, insert the ProbeST disk in drive A and wait for it to load and use the keys 8 and 2 to search through memory until there is something of interest to you, try to set the palette and save it. Some games will have the palettes elswheere than near the graphics that were on screen, so the procedure to find the palette is a little more complicated as I will now try to explain. Go back to the main menu and go to the disk/memory editor section, set the view so that hexadecimal numbers appear on the screen. If the graphics you wanted to rip had a bright white colour, then press F3 to search bytes and type 0777 (this is the RGB value for the color white) and press return, enter a start address of 100000 and an end address of where you want to stop searching. It will now try to find the bytes 0777 in memory and this COULD be a palette - look at the bytes just before the 0777 and the bytes after it. If they all start with a zero then have three colours LESS than seven then this may be a palette. Note down the first address of the palette and go back to the search graphics screen,press space and press the key 0,now find the picture you want to look at and line up the picture, if not, try searching for the palette again. NeoChrome pictures can be found in a similar manner, except instead of pressing the key 0 to set the palette, press the key . to set a NeoChrome palette. Please note that all the keys listed on the search graphics menu screen can only be used when you are looking at the memory - (ie when you press space) except F5 (go to address) that only works on the menu screen. Also I have made this section so that you cannot look for graphics below adress 100000.This is for several reasons which I will not go into, and this will stop the ST crashing if you try looking too low in memory. The best way of using this section of ProbeST is to practice using it the demos on the disk. F3 - Disk operations ==================== This section allows you to load/save files/sectors/memory and is split up into several sections:- F1 - Load file into memory -------------------------- This will ask you for a filename to load from the disk into memory. and an address to load it into. I usually load files to address 200000 on my half-meg 1.6 TOS STe. If the file is packed with any of the listed packers then it will depackthe file when it loads so it is possible to search through it:- Automation Packer V2.31/V2.4/V2.51/V5.01 Pack Ice V2.31/V2.4 JAM Packer V4 -(Ice/LZH/LZW/V2) Pack Fire V2 Atomik V3.3 In future versions I hope to add more depackers. These depackers are used quite often, so it should be quite easy to search through most files loaded from disk that are packed. Generally, if you load any files into address 200000 then you won't crash ProbeST. F2 - Save memory into files --------------------------- This secion allows us to save parts of the memory to disk. If you select this option, you are asked for a filename, a start address, and the number of bytes you want to save(length of file). Please note that if you are saving to disk then MAKE SURE IT'S WRITE ENABLED! as otherwise the program will crash. Why? well when the computer trys to tell you that the disk is write protected in the little dialogue box its makes calls to GEMDOS which is not yet installed, so the computer crashes! F3 - Load sectors into memory ----------------------------- This will load sectors from the disk into memory. It will ask you for an address to load the sectors into and the start of the sector you wish to read from and the number of sectors to load. This option is especially useful for the demos and games that aren't in files. F4 - Save memory into sectors ----------------------------- The reverse of the above option. This option will save memory onto sectors on the disk. If selected it will asks for a start address in memory to save from, the number of bytes to save and the start of the sectors you want to save to. F5 - Put sectors into files --------------------------- This option was a bit of an afterthought - what it enables you to do is to read sectors into memory and save them immediately to disk. Not much to say about it really. F6 - Save marked block ---------------------- If you have marked out a block in memory then this option will allow you save that block out to disk F7 - Run other program ---------------------- This allows you to run another program. Simply type in the filename of the program you wish to run and it will load and execute. Please note that if ProbeST is loaded from an AUTO folder then any programs that use the mouse,windows etc will NOT work. This is because you need to go to desktop if you want the mouse, windows etc. If you go to desktop and load ProbeST from desktop(ProbeST is in the AUTO folder) then you will be able to use the mouse/windows etc. A - Rename a file ----------------- Pressing 'a' will allow you to rename a file on the disk. It simply changes the name of the file. B - Delete a file ----------------- Deletes a file! C - Create new folder --------------------- Lets you make a new folder - same as NEW FOLDER on desktop. D - Delete empty folder ----------------------- Deletes a folder IF IT'S EMPTY! E - View directory ------------------ Not the best solution I know, but this lets you look at the files on the current directory. F - Disk space free ------------------- Tells you how many bytes free there are on the disk in drive A. Well, thats the disk operations section out of the way. I can't think of any improvements to make here, but if you can then write and let me know. F4 - Other searches =================== This section is a collection of the searches that I could not think of where else in the program to put them. There are two searches presently in this section, and are:- F1 - Search for cheat modes F2 - Search for executable file Pressing F1 will ask you for a start address and end address and will then search between the address and print up any 'text messages' that it finds. Most of the text will be rubbish, but if you find something that looks understandable then write it down and try typing it in at various points in the game. This search is not really that good and I find it takes too long, but you will get some results. Pressing F2 will again ask for a start and end address and search through memory looking for the start of an executable file. Again I don't think that this search is particularly useful. In future upgrades I hope to add more useful searches, but as yet I don't know of other searches to add. F5 - Disk/Memory editor ======================= This is one of ProbeST's sections that will be of use to you as it allows you to edit the contents of files/sectors or memory and save them to disk. It also allows you to search for text and bytes, analyse disk formats and check for viruses. Please be careful when you select this option as you can do a lot of damage to your disks (ie wipe them) and only edit memory or disks if you know what you are doing as if you make a mistake you can crash ProbeST or wipe a disk. When you come to this section you will that ove half the screen is taken up by dots and maybe there will be a few letters on the screen. This is a view of 256 bytes from address 100000 in memory and where ProbeST finds an ASCII character it prints it. The dots are either where ther is a zero or a value that is not an ASCII character. Looking at the bottom of the screen we have a list of most of the keys and their functions and to the bottom right there is the address of the memory you are looking - you can see 256 bytes at the screen at once. Ok, so we now know what the screen looks like, lets see what the keys do if you are editing memory/files only:- F1 - Toggle view of hex/ASCII ----------------------------- By pressing F1 you can change the view of memory from a ASCII view to a hexadecimal view. In hexadecimal you can see all the values in memory and in ASCII you will only see ASCII characters. If you want to edit the buffer then by toggling this option you can choose if you want to edit memory in either ASCII or hexadecimal. This is also the case if you want to search for bytes or text. F2 - Go to address ------------------ Exactly what it says.Pressing F2 will ask you for an address then you will the values change as you go to the new address. In this section you can go to any address you want but editing data below 100000 is not advised unless you know what you are doing. F3 - Search bytes/text ---------------------- If you are looking at memory in hex then you will be asked what bytes you wish to look for, if you are looking at memory in ASCII then you will be asked what text you want to search. You will then be asked for a start and end address to search between. If it finds what you asked it to search you will be relocated at the address it was found. F4 - Block start ---------------- This will set the start of a block of data you want to mark. F5 - Block end -------------- This will set the end of a block of data. F6 - Block save --------------- This will save a data block between the block start and block end Shift + F6 - Block copy ----------------------- This will copy the marked block to another address in memory F7 - Disk operations -------------------- This option takes you to the disk operations section that I previously explained - see above for all the options. When you quit from this section you are returned to the disk/memory editor. F8 - Edit --------- Allows you to edit the memory in either ASCII or hexadecimal. If you edit the memory in hexadecimal then obviously you can only edit the values with the keys 0-9 and a-f and in ASCII mode you can only enter ASCII characters. By using the cursor keys to move around you can edit the memory, and if you go to the very top or bottom of the screen then ProbeST will accordingly move the 'window' you are editing. F9 - Analyse disk ----------------- This options will present you with imformation about how the disk was formatted. It will tell you the number of sides,number of FATS, number of sectors/track etc and will check to see if the bootsector has a virus on it. For imformation on the virus protector see furthur on. By pressing a key you wil be returned to the editor section. F10 - Open disk --------------- This allows you to look at and edit the sectors on the disk. When you first press F10 you will see the contents of the first 256 bytes of sector 0 on the disk, if you want to see the other 256 bytes press the + key and to return to first 256 bytes press -. When the disk is opened, you will be presented with a new set of keys to look at the disk. F1 - Next sector - this will go on to the next sector on the disk F2 - Previous sector - this will go back one sector and load it F3 - Go to sector - this will ask you for a sector yoou wish to go to and load it F4 - Exit - this will take you back to editing the memory F5 - Edit - allows you to edit the contents of the sector F6 - Toggle hex/ASCII - changes the view from hex to ASCII F7 - Save sector - save the sector to the disk F8 - Save the current sector to another sector F9 - Analyse disk - as explained above So that's the editor explained - on to the next section... F6 - About ProbeST ================== Simply tells you about ProbeST, the author and where to send any money, bug reports etc... F7 - Options ============ This section allows you to alter some of the ways in which ProbeST works. It has three options currently:- F1 - Toggle Pack Ice unpack routine ----------------------------------- By pressing F1 you can toggle which unpacking routine you want to use if you are loading files packed with Pack Ice F2 - Alter buffer position -------------------------- When ProbeST finds any music, loads in a sector, stores palettes etc it copies them into a buffer. Sometimes this buffer may be in the way of any work you are doing so you can alter the position of the buffer. Those of you with more than half meg memory could put the buffer much higher in memory. F3 - Load data file into ProbeST -------------------------------- Not available in version 1, but I hope to be able to create files for ProbeST that will include new unpacking routines, new music playing routines etc but this is only a slight possibility. 0 - Toggle Hertz ---------------- For those of you who like to use 60 Hz - here it is. Next section here we come... F8 - Virus protection ===================== This is the last section in ProbeST and is by no means least. This section will check any disks you put in the drive for any data that may be a virus. If it finds this data it will ask if you want to kill it. *** PLEASE NOTE *** If you checking disks that load from the bootsector then DO NOT KILL THE VIRUS!!! as you may actually wipe the disk. If you want to protect your games/demos from viruses then the best method is to keep the disk write protected! The protector will say the disk appears to be clean if the bootsector is executable but contains no code that would appear in a virus. The bootsectors I have come across that say that the disk appears to be clean are usually ones with protectors on them already. I may upgrade this section to recognize some protectors and maybe the option to put a bootsector on a disk... who knows. F9 - Extras =========== An extra sectoin in version 1.01. If you have an STe with TOS 1.6 (like me!) you will know that getting the desktop to boot into medium res. is impossible without editing the DESKTOP.INF file. Well this useful utilty will fix your DESKTOP.INF file for you so that it boots into medium res. Please note that this is for STe owners with TOS 1.6! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Phew!!! Well thats the docs for ProbeST finished I hope you enjoy using it and find it useful and remember if you do to send me some money! As this is the first program I have decided to put into the PD/shareware scene I do not know what reaction I will get. I think it's a good program and I haven't seen another program like it in the PD/shareware catalogues and I have also been told it's good (my ego know is so BIG!) by other people. If I get an encouraging response from the program, ie good reviews in PD/shareware catalogues and I get some people writing to me then I will release more programs into the PD scene and write more upgrades for ProbeST So please write to me and tell me what other options/sections to include as I want to make ProbeST the best program of it's type and if it does then you will benefit from a better program! Also if you know of any other programs like this then tell me what they are so I can try to beat it! If you are trying to write or have wrote a ripper and you want to know something about how ProbeST works in more detail then I may help you, so if there is something that I may be able to help you with or if you can help me then please write as I would be interested in people who are into this sort of program. If you want to know how to write a program like ProbeST then read the top of the docs. I look forward to some competition!!!!! Hmm... Oh yes, I nearly forgot. As ProbeST was a complex program to write, I must thank some people who have helped me develop it,bug reports and let me test it etc.. A big THANKS goes to: Chaz(how come you always found bugs?! and why did it always crash and not work when you where there?!!!! - only joking! and thanks for making valuble suggestions and pushing me to find new routines. Now it's your turn to do something!!!!!) Pop, Steven, Norman, Mick C, Mick B. And a big GO HOME to all those who thought/think I was uncapable of writing it!!! If you go to desktop you should find a file called DEMO.This is NOT meant to be a proper demo, it is a file practice ripping graphics and musics out of. In this file there are some Mad Max musics, some Count Zero musics and some graphics, so load it into ProbeST and search through and see what you can find Well that's the docs done, and the end of three months of development, crashes, things not working, despair, boredom, joy when things works, endless cups of tea, cans of coke, getting disks wiped, losing important disks, seeing bombs in various poses/colours/numbers and finally relief when I can't find anymore bugs. So I hope you enjoy using it and find it useful and if you can spread this disk I would be very grateful as I want as many as people to see it and remember to write! Version 1.01 - Finished 7.38 PM - 15th March 1992