Loadstar 210/210.d81/t.mediameister

Text File | 2001-01-01 | 10.0 KB | 445 lines

u
       M E D I A M E I S T E R

           by Dave Moorman


    Maybe you have this great idea for
a Multi-Media Extravaganza: music,
full screen titles, high-res and
multi-color graphics, with lines of
text at the bottom of some of the
graphics. Maybe you have all the
elements -- the SID Player music
files and graphics screens and a
terrific script...

    But you just don't feel up to
doing all that grubby programming.
There's a lot to figure out -- how to
play SIDPlayer tunes, how to display
graphics. Even getting text to look
good with fonts and stuff is a hassle.

    If the above is true -- or could
be true -- then you are going to have
a [blast] with MediaMeister. This
program does all the grunt work. All
you have to do is bring together the
elements and write the script.

    Well, of course, you will need
some creativity. But that has never
been in short supply among Commodore
people. And, you will have to learn
how to use some special commands,
which you will write right into your
script.

    But MediaMeister will do all the
rest!


 [GETTING STARTED]
 [---------------]

    The first step is to copy all of
your materials to a work disk,
inluding "b.mediameister" and
"mediameister" from this disk. For
convenience, also copy Edstar or
Mr.Edstar to your disk (or have your
favorite PETASCII text editor on
another drive where you can get to it
quickly.)

    As you gather together your music
and graphics, you will want to note
how long each file is in disk blocks.
This will be important later in the
process.

    All bitmap graphics need to be in
SHP format. Use STB PRINT from LS 205
to convert OCP, Doodle, or Koala
graphics to the SHP format.

    All music files must be SIDPlayer
files. Often, these have ".mus" as an
extension.

    LOAD "b.mediameister" but do not
RUN it yet. First, list lines 60000-.
Here is where you put the data for
your own production by changing the
DATA statements.

    On line 60001, type in the
filename you will use for your
production. Do [not] include any
prefix such as "b.". MediaMeister will
handle all that.

    On line 60003, type in the name of
your production as you want it
displayed on the title screen. If the
name is shorter than half a screen,
the characters will be spaced apart.

    On line 60005, type in your byline
-- "by Yer Name".

    Now RUN the program. MediaMeister
will create two files: a boot file for
your production (with the "b." prefix)
and the script file (with a "m."
prefix).

    Now you are ready to write your
script. Use Edstar, Mr.Edstar, or any
PETASCII text editor.


 [Memory Areas]

    You will be loading graphics and
music into your production.
MediaMeister makes this fairly easy by
setting up seven Memory Areas, each 16
pages long. The beauty here is that
disk blocks more or less correspond to
memory pages. (Actually, a disk block
is 254 bytes and a page is 256. So
some files might show one more disk
block than the number of pages they
will occupy. You may want to check the
actual length of iffy files. Or not.)

    Just remember, if a file is over
16 disk blocks in length, it will
occupy 2 Memory Areas, overlapping
into the second area. (Some 17 block
files are exactly 16 pages in size.
This is the case of the FTS files from
Mr.MICK. If you are not sure, test --
or play it safe.)

    If the file is over 32 disk
blocks, you will need three areas.
Fortunately, most SHP files are less
than 32 blocks long. And music files
are generally shorter than 16 blocks.

    Memory Area 0 cannot be used for
files over 16 blocks long. This is a
good place for music, scripts, or FTS
files.

    Memory Areas 1, 2, 3, and 4 are
contiguous. The best place for a 33+
block graphic would be Memory Area 1.
Just remember that in this case,
MemArea 3 is being used also.

    MemAreas 5 and 6 will swap with 3
and 4 when a bitmap is displayed, then
swap back. This is why music can only
be played from 0, 1, or 2.

    And lastly, Scripts should not be
longer than 13 blocks. Mr.Mouse adds 3
bytes per text line to the end when
setting up the index -- which can
exceed the 16 pages alotted for the
script. If you have an unexplainable
error in running a script, check its
length.

    With seven Memory Areas, you will
usually be able to load a music file
and three bitmap graphics at one time.
If you display one of the graphics
before turning on the music, you can
then load another graphic into that
Memory Area.


 [The Commands]

    Boot up your text editor and load
"m.filename" (where "filename" is the
name of your production). You will see
a single command:

 <e>

    This means END. [Note:] All
commands must begin in column 0 (at
the far left of the screen). The first
character of each command is always a
"<". Also, all commands are lower
case.

    When you ran MediaMeister with
your production information, it
created "m.filename", and put in the
<e> command. This way, if you just ran
your production boot, nothing untoward
would occur.


 [Load] -- <l#filename>

    This loads "filename" into Memory
Area #. You might start a production
with:

 <l0music.mus>
 <l1pic1.shp>
 <l3pic2.shp>
 <l5pic3.shp>

 Notice how the SHP files were loaded
into odd Memory areas. Also, music
files can only be loaded into Memory
Areas 0, 1, or 2.

 [Display] -- <d#>

    This displays a bitmap graphic
from Memory Area #. The data is moved
to the display area, so you can load
other files to the Memory Area if you
want.

 [Music Play] -- <m#>

    This will begin playing the music
in Memory Area #. Remember, the data
for the music remains in the Memory
Area. Don't load something over it.
Also, the <m#> command will only play
music in Memory Areas 0, 1, and 2.

    See how four graphics can be set
up before starting the music:

 <l0music.mus>
 <l1cover.shp>
 <d1>
 <l1first.shp>
 <l3second.shp>
 <l5third.shp>
 <m0>

 Here, "cover.shp" is loaded and
displayed immediately. Then the other
graphics are loaded and the music is
turned on.


 [Wait] -- <w>

    This command Waits for a keypress
or a predetermined number of jiffies.


 [Keypress] -- <k#>

    <k0> turns off the keyboard.
    <k1> turns on the keyboard.

    In either case, the "Q" key will
quit the production.


 [Jiffies] -- <j#>

    This sets the number of Jiffies
before a Wait command is automatically
cancelled. If # = 0, then the time is
infinite. Otherwise, use 60 Jiffies
per second.


 [Pause] -- <p#>

    Forces a Pause for # Jiffies which
cannot be ended with the keyboard.
Call it overkill!

 [Quit Music] -- <q>

    Turns off the music -- an
excellent idea before loading any more
files.


 [Text] -- <t#>

    MediaMeister has two types of
text: Full screen text-mode titles,
and bottom-of-the-screen captions with
bitmap graphics. <t0> indicates a
full-screen title. If the value is
greater than 0, the value tells how
many lines of text will be displayed
at the bottom of the graphic.

    <t0> clears the title screen,
draws a border, then prints the
following non-command lines.

 <t0>



           This is Centered


           And so is This!
 <l0music.mus>

    You can continue to print to the
title screen after another command
(such as Load). However, at this point
blank lines must be marked with "\"
(English Pound Sign).

 \
 \
 \
              Press Key
 <w>

    To print captions, first Display
the graphic, then the <t#> command:

 <d1>
 <t2>
 This is caption line 1.
       This is caption line 2.
 <w>

    The number of printed lines must
equal the value given in the <t#>
command. You can reprint to the
graphic by just giving new lines to be
printed. To print a blank caption
line, you [must] always use a "\"
(English Pound Sign).

    This is printed over the above
 \
 <w>


 [Color] -- <c#h>

    You can control the color of your
production with the Color command,
where # is the which color type to
change, and h is the hexadecimal color
value. Here are examples:

        <c10> - text to black
        <c2a> - caption text to pink
        <c32> - caption edge to red
        <c41> - border to white
        <c57> - background to yellow
        <c6f> - reverse caption edge
                to light gray.

    To make the text more readable in
multi-color bitmap mode, I have
designed a font that kind of
"anti-aliases" some of the blocky
edges of the characters. Color types 3
and 6 control multi-colors %01 and
%10.


 [Reverse] -- <v#>

    <v0> turns Reverse off, <v1> turns
Reverse on. Pretty simple.


 [Font Changing] -- <f%filename>

    This loads "filename" to one of
the two fonts. If % is "h", the high
resolution (text) font is loaded. If %
is "m", the multi-color font is
loaded.

    <fhf.hiresfont>
    <fmf.multicolfont>


 [Display Mr.MICK FTS Screen] -- <b#>

    A Mr.MICK screen and font must be
saved as an FTS file and Loaded into a
Memory Area. The FTS file is 16 pages
long, so fits in one Memory Area.
These screen images are great because
you can modify the font, use
multi-color text or extended
background color modes, and create
dazzling effects. And -- all in 16
memory pages!

    To display, just use the <b#>
command, where # is the Memory Area.


 [Appending Further Scripts]

    Your MediaMeister script can be
only 16 pages long. To allow virtually
any length of production, you can use
the Load command to load a second
script to a free Memory Area. Then use
the command

    <s#> where # is the Memory Area
that contains the script. The script
is moved to its own location, and read
immediately.


 [End] -- <e>

    And of course, the <e> command,
which brings your production to a
close.


 [Summary]

    That's about it. Once you have
written your script, LOAD and RUN your
production boot program. If there
seems to be a problem or hang-up, go
back to your script and check for
correct commands and values.

    One last thing about Memory Areas:
Areas 5 and 6 (which reside under
Kernal ROM) are swapped with 3 and 4
when a bitmap graphic is displayed,
then swapped back. This is why music
can only be in Areas 0, 1, and 2.

    Also, do not try to load overlong
files. The memory directly above Area
4 is the bitmap color memory. And if
you over-run Area 6, the data will
overwrite zero page!

    Anyway -- [ENJOY!]

 DMM