The Sinclair QL Forum

QStar 2 - another logic puzzle game! It's a spin-off QStar 1, but with different game mechanics and only 10 levels, but harder. This time the Blocker cannot move - but it can switch position with the Hero And because is harder, it is possible to view a solution for the puzzle, not necessarily the on...

dilwyn wrote: ↑Thu May 09, 2024 1:18 pm I understand, thank you Andrew.

Review of the game at https://dilwyn2.wordpress.com/2024/05/09/qstar/ and it's now on my QL website's Games page.

Thank you, Dilwyn!

I'm sorry Andrew, but I have to report a possible bug in QStar! I was using it in QPC2 v5.02 mode 32, resolution 1024x768, with QPC_QLSCREMU 8. The game runs OK until I press F1 to alter the animation delay. After doing that and returning to the game, the display is corrupted, see screen shot below...

QSTAR 1 - final version Tested on QDOS with JS ROM and Minerva ROM, 128 k and up to 4Mb and on SMSQE Updates: 1. fixed a major bug / memory leak that could crash the QL on game exit 2. fixed the SMSQE stipple issue 3. fixed misspelling in spanish text 4. now speaker icon changes when sound is on / o...

Actually, both QDOS and Minerva have stipple patterns 2 and 3 reversed compared to the figures shown in the QL Manual (and QPC Concepts guide) under 'colour'. In stipples 1 and 2, the white pixels are background colour and grey pixels are contrast colour. But in stipples 2 and 3 they are reversed. ...

Derek_Stewart wrote: ↑Sun May 05, 2024 3:39 pm Hi,

The SMSQ/E writers seem to just change and us poor users have figure out what they have done.

They did an amazing job with SMSQE.
The stipple issue is a minor bug that affects almost no one, and that is why it took so long to surface.

Derek_Stewart wrote: ↑Sun May 05, 2024 2:08 pm Hi,

Could the problem be with QDOS having th Stipples in the wrong order and GD2 corrected the problem.

Could be. But in the end SMSQE should maintain compatibility with QDOS, not the other way round.

The issue is much easier to spot when using stipple=2 (vertical bars)

Have you tried older versions of smsq/e as it is astounding that this has not been spotted before, the GD2 colour drivers have been around for at least 20 years and smsq/e itself longer? Cheers No, I have not tried older versions. I have installed SMSQE on my SGC QL only last year - and I use v3.39...

Do you see the same swapped colour effect in other stipple patterns? Maybe SMSQ/E just uses a different 'chequerboard' stipple pattern, which would not effect the colour seen by the eye. Yes, I see the swapped colour effect in all stipple patterns. I played with all stipple patterns in QEmulator, Q...