Very newb user of Adventuron here, but I like the way it works.
I’ve tried it out using a demo adventure of just 5 locations and a similar number of objects. I like to use this to try out new systems. If it takes longer than a few hours to get it working, it’s not for me!
All works fine, including the images. I’ve set it to 8-bit compatability mode, so I can use the export to DAAD Ready function. My aim is to get it to work on the ZX Spectrum Next.
I followed the instructions on the Adventuron site and got the batch file to work without any errors and then booted up the ZX Next emulator with the game. However, the loading screen doesn’t appear, and the only image that appears is the start location one, obscuring the text.
I made sure the size and format of the images were exactly as specified. Has anyone else tried this and had success. If I can’t get this tiny game to work, I won’t spend any time working on a proper one.
Not necessarily wishing to shunt this query to another forum, but I suspect that the only person who knows enough about the ins and outs of the rather arcane Adventuron to DAAD functionality is the creator, Chris Ainsley (@adventuron), and possibly one or two people who frequent the Adventuron Discord, so you may be better off searching / asking this question there.
(But you never know - someone here may pop up with the answer and surprise us both)
I don’t know which version of DAAD Ready you are using, but I know Uto has updated the Spectrum NEXT DAAD interpreter at least once in the last six months, so I guess there’s a chance there may be some changes to how it worked back when Chris made that experimental export feature. It may be using an older “default” template that may need tweaking.
As an Adventuron developer in the past (as well as an old school PAWS and modern day DAAD user), I’d say that there does come a point where you’ll need to learn how DAAD works in order to tweak code exported from Adventuron so that adventures play exactly as you intended on 8-bit systems.
(I don’t use it myself, as it’s not a social media system I would be comfortable, but I believe the best DAAD support is available on the Telegram channel that Uto and others use. It’s usually our Spanish friends leading the way with that system.)
Thanks for those links. Very helpful. Maybe I’m doing something wrong with the graphics, I realise I didn’t use the Next palette, just converted down some high colour pics to 256 colours. Maybe that’s the problem.
Also had probs with an “on command” with 3 nested ifs. When I deleted that and the graphics, it worked much better. Lots to learn!
Also, Strident, you are right, I will need to delve into the code at some point if I’m to progress seriously!
One last thing that I found on inspecting the “TEST.DSF” files created for the King’s Ranson adventure and my own little test game, was that the “WINAT” settings were different. It was 11 for the King’s Ransom and 28 for mine. Not sure how that happened. But when I changed all the instances of WINAT 28 to WINAT 11, my game then converted perfectly (nearly*). Again, using the OLDZXNEXT.BAT batch file.
*One of the graphics didn’t load, just showing a blank area. Must be some incompatability with my image file.
If Uto can spot the bug in the kings randsom exported game file, I can fix it in Adventuron so it suits the newer version. I’m sure the change will not be super complex.
I’m currently getting on fine using DAAD Ready 0.2 with exported Adventuron games (finalising a couple at the moment). The current version of DAAD Ready is now “A”. I’ve not had any success with that at all.
It would be great to have a recommended version of DAAD Ready for Adventuron exports. However, I’m enjoying using both systems as it is, and really thankful to Chris, Uto and all the others involved in creating them.
You’ve got a good memory, Strident . I don’t have any plans to convert any of the old CGH Services ones, but now you mention it, maybe Beano would be a candidate. I’m working on new ones at the moment, just for a little bit of fun and to inflict them on my family (or anyone else daft enough to click on them).
I remember reading about some of them in Probe back in the day. I’ve never really got my head around the QL; it doesn’t seem the most straight forward machine to emulate. It’s a shame there’s not a DAAD interpreter for it (yet).
You’re right, there isn’t a DAAD interpreter for QL yet. Some smart programmers might be persuaded to give it a go, but not holding my breath! In the meantime, I devised a fairly convoluted way of converting DAAD code to QL BASIC and then compiling it to get it to work on the QL. Done that for the King’s Ransom demo game to start with, then one of my own, then had a go at The Curse of Rabenstein (with the author’s permission and help from another QL’er on the graphics front). The latter is now available on Stefan Vogt’s Rabenstein page.
. I don’t have any plans to convert any of the old CGH Services ones, but now you mention it, maybe Beano would be a candidate. I’m working on new ones at the moment, just for a little bit of fun and to inflict them on my family (or anyone else daft enough to click on them).