DemoBaseST updated to v1.17

[SkylineDave]

v1.17
-----
UI:
* Slider added to Preferences panel to change thumbnail transition effect
- Added four new thumbnail transition effects
* Added five new elements to filter on: High Colour Pics, Candy Twisters, KB Challenges, Texture-Mapping and Zoomers
* Party panel now has a shortcut button to the party's page on DemoZoo when you filter on a Party
* Question Mark keyboard key now works in Megademo, Crew and Party browser windows, to jump to a random entry
* Search text font now has softer edges

LIBRARY:
* 29 new screens
* 10 new parties added, from the year 2021
* Linked four existing demos to demo parties

ENGINE:
* Ability for DBST to hack STeem version of memory snapshot and to hijack the STF/STE setting
- 124 of the 330 screens which didn't work in STeem 3.9.4 (bomb icon in DBST) now work
- 29 of the 113 screens which had a visual glitch in STeem 3.9.4 (bee icon in DBST) now work correctly
* All internal graphics repacked and optimised from scratch
* Updated STeem 4.1.2 R1 to 4.1.2 R2

DEMO EFFECTS:
* Added 'Dynamic Duo Sexy Beasts' talking skull
* Added 'ST-thinking Garfield' as a character

BUG FIX:
* Running a screen from the Family Map would crash DBST (bug introduced in v1.16)
* "Colorz Demo" is now fixed
* "Delirious Demo 4 - Rasters" is now fixed
* Fixed 'Fly Over Fantasy Please Wait' demo effect running out of pattern index
* Twelfth Panning Background demo effect never got to be seen
* Unnecessary timers were running during non-normal modes (e.g. while watching credits or full-screen image)
* Large thumbnail television static incorrectly appearing underneath previous shrinking out screenshots
* Fixed spelling error

MISC:
* Credits screen content improved
* Credits screen scrolling speed now decoupled from monitor refresh rate
* A few other tiny improvements

[1st1]

Well done, I like it, I just download the new version.

One wish I have, would be for each demo/screen a tag with release year, is that possible? So it would be possible to sort / filter the list by year, for example to be able to follow the advances of effect by year, or search a demo by year, etc. I would love that.

Thank you!

[Cyprian]

Great
Many thanks

[SkylineDave]

Well done, I like it, I just download the new version.

One wish I have, would be for each demo/screen a tag with release year, is that possible? So it would be possible to sort / filter the list by year, for example to be able to follow the advances of effect by year, or search a demo by year, etc. I would love that.

Thank you!

Hi, thanks for your feedback. It's on my list and is something which does feel like it's missing. It would be a massive undertaking though to find the release year for over 5000 screens. Sadly the release date doesn't appear in Fujiology Archive but it does appear individually in DemoZoo, at least it does for the few I've checked at random. I'd need to find a way to obtain the release dates and then match them to my database.

[tin]

Sadly the release date doesn't appear in Fujiology Archive but it does appear individually in DemoZoo, at least it does for the few I've checked at random. I'd need to find a way to obtain the release dates and then match them to my database.

There's the Demozoo API https://demozoo.org/api/v1/ and the nightly Demozoo Postgres DB dump (http://data.demozoo.org/).
I use both to populate the Atariaviary (shameless plug: http://absencehq.de/atariaviary/). Thanks to gasman (who is very helpful both in general and also when it comes to enrich the API) and the rest of the Demozoo team, this is a great source for building different views to that data.

[SkylineDave]

Sadly the release date doesn't appear in Fujiology Archive but it does appear individually in DemoZoo, at least it does for the few I've checked at random. I'd need to find a way to obtain the release dates and then match them to my database.

There's the Demozoo API https://demozoo.org/api/v1/ and the nightly Demozoo Postgres DB dump (http://data.demozoo.org/).
I use both to populate the Atariaviary (shameless plug: http://absencehq.de/atariaviary/). Thanks to gasman (who is very helpful both in general and also when it comes to enrich the API) and the rest of the Demozoo team, this is a great source for building different views to that data.

Thanks for that info tin, and I'm impressed by the browser-based emulator. The API doesn't appear to return the date, at least not the version I looked at, but as you suggest I might be able to get help with that.

[tin]

Thanks for that info tin, and I'm impressed by the browser-based emulator.

Thanks, but my little Emscripten/UI hackery _totally_ pales in comparision to the decades of work the Hatari and the Emscripten team put into their respective projects. So let's give them some praise instead

Thanks for that info tin, and I'm impressed by the browser-based emulator. The API doesn't appear to return the date, at least not the version I looked at, but as you suggest I might be able to get help with that.

Maybe I am looking for the wrong thing, but I see a field named "release_date" with the content "1998-10-10" e.g. here:
https://demozoo.org/api/v1/productions/309425/

Maybe that matches what you're looking for?

Not all productions have that info (for reasons like "not known" or others) but the Atari >16 bit section is pretty well maintained.

[SkylineDave]

Maybe I am looking for the wrong thing, but I see a field named "release_date" with the content "1998-10-10" e.g. here:
https://demozoo.org/api/v1/productions/309425/

Maybe that matches what you're looking for?

Not all productions have that info (for reasons like "not known" or others) but the Atari >16 bit section is pretty well maintained.

No, I see it now, thanks for the link.

[tin]

No, I see it now, thanks for the link.

You're welcome And thanks for the DemoBaseST update, much appreciated, as always!

[1st1]

I am happy that you consider to add the release date to the DemoBaseST!

[marss]

Thanks

[1st1]

By the way, just testing the current version of DemoBaseST, any screen I select crashes if I set the emulator window to fullscreen. (Core i5 8th gen. notebook with Intel graphics, full HD, Win 10 21H2)

[SkylineDave]

By the way, just testing the current version of DemoBaseST, any screen I select crashes if I set the emulator window to fullscreen. (Core i5 8th gen. notebook with Intel graphics, full HD, Win 10 21H2)

Sadly I think this is a fault with STeem 3.2. In the DBST Preferences box if you select Full Screen for 3.2, it will automatically "roll back" to Maximised, so the demo will play almost fullscreen but with a window. If you select STeem 3.9.4 and Full Screen, it should play Full Screen properly.
Note that for a few screens which aren't fully compatible with 3.9.4 (highlighted with a bee or bomb), DBST will roll back to 3.2, and therefore if you'd selected Full Screen, then this will roll back to Maximised.

[FlorKendall]

I never had any problem with previous versions, but this one doesn't work anymore for me.
it crash with I select a screen.

log:

Code: Select all

------# 30/06/2022   09:57 #------System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception (0x80004005): Accès refusé
   à System.Diagnostics.Process.StartWithShellExecuteEx(ProcessStartInfo startInfo)
   à System.Diagnostics.Process.Start()
   à DemoBaseST.MainWindow.Shell(DataRow dr, String imageFilename, Boolean isRightClick)
   à DemoBaseST.MainWindow.RunDemo(DataRow dr, Boolean isRightClick, Boolean userChosen)
   à DemoBaseST.MainWindow.i_MouseDoubleClick(Object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
   à System.Windows.Input.MouseButtonEventArgs.InvokeEventHandler(Delegate genericHandler, Object genericTarget)
   à System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs.InvokeHandler(Delegate handler, Object target)
   à System.Windows.RoutedEventHandlerInfo.InvokeHandler(Object target, RoutedEventArgs routedEventArgs)
   à System.Windows.EventRoute.InvokeHandlersImpl(Object source, RoutedEventArgs args, Boolean reRaised)
   à System.Windows.UIElement.RaiseEventImpl(DependencyObject sender, RoutedEventArgs args)
   à System.Windows.UIElement.RaiseEvent(RoutedEventArgs e)
   à System.Windows.Controls.Control.OnMouseDoubleClick(MouseButtonEventArgs e)
   à System.Windows.Controls.Control.HandleDoubleClick(Object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
   à System.Windows.Input.MouseButtonEventArgs.InvokeEventHandler(Delegate genericHandler, Object genericTarget)
   à System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs.InvokeHandler(Delegate handler, Object target)
   à System.Windows.RoutedEventHandlerInfo.InvokeHandler(Object target, RoutedEventArgs routedEventArgs)
   à System.Windows.EventRoute.InvokeHandlersImpl(Object source, RoutedEventArgs args, Boolean reRaised)
   à System.Windows.UIElement.ReRaiseEventAs(DependencyObject sender, RoutedEventArgs args, RoutedEvent newEvent)
   à System.Windows.UIElement.OnMouseDownThunk(Object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
   à System.Windows.Input.MouseButtonEventArgs.InvokeEventHandler(Delegate genericHandler, Object genericTarget)
   à System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs.InvokeHandler(Delegate handler, Object target)
   à System.Windows.RoutedEventHandlerInfo.InvokeHandler(Object target, RoutedEventArgs routedEventArgs)
   à System.Windows.EventRoute.InvokeHandlersImpl(Object source, RoutedEventArgs args, Boolean reRaised)
   à System.Windows.UIElement.RaiseEventImpl(DependencyObject sender, RoutedEventArgs args)
   à System.Windows.UIElement.RaiseTrustedEvent(RoutedEventArgs args)
   à System.Windows.Input.InputManager.ProcessStagingArea()
   à System.Windows.Input.InputManager.ProcessInput(InputEventArgs input)
   à System.Windows.Input.InputProviderSite.ReportInput(InputReport inputReport)
   à System.Windows.Interop.HwndMouseInputProvider.ReportInput(IntPtr hwnd, InputMode mode, Int32 timestamp, RawMouseActions actions, Int32 x, Int32 y, Int32 wheel)
   à System.Windows.Interop.HwndMouseInputProvider.FilterMessage(IntPtr hwnd, WindowMessage msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam, Boolean& handled)
   à System.Windows.Interop.HwndSource.InputFilterMessage(IntPtr hwnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam, Boolean& handled)
   à MS.Win32.HwndWrapper.WndProc(IntPtr hwnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam, Boolean& handled)
   à MS.Win32.HwndSubclass.DispatcherCallbackOperation(Object o)
   à System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.InternalRealCall(Delegate callback, Object args, Int32 numArgs)
   à System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.TryCatchWhen(Object source, Delegate callback, Object args, Int32 numArgs, Delegate catchHandler)

[SkylineDave]

Sorry to hear that. Could you try running the recovery.exe program and seeing if it downloads any files. If so then that may fix it. Let me know.

[FlorKendall]

already done and doesn't do more. But I think it is due because I launch the file from my NAS.

[SkylineDave]

already done and doesn't do more. But I think it is due because I launch the file from my NAS.

Did you recently move DBST to the NAS? If it was working for you before then it should still work as I don’t think I’ve changed anything to do with launching STeem.

[FlorKendall]

I moved away from my NAS all the files to another harddrive and it works now.
weird... your DemoBaseST doesn't like NAS

[SkylineDave]

I’ll experiment this evening by running DBST on my NAS to see if I get the same problem.

[SkylineDave]

I moved away from my NAS all the files to another harddrive and it works now.
weird... your DemoBaseST doesn't like NAS

I've experimented with running DBST on my NAS and it's working ok. Is your NAS set up with a drive letter shortcut or is it always accessed via a URI or server location?

[FlorKendall]

it is a drive letter. (\\Diskstation\Atari) (F:)
In fact, it works from the NAS drive only one time!
then if I lead another screen, I'm getting this error message.

[Tomchi]

Hey ! Been 10+ years since I last said thank you for your work !
THANK YOU
Launching DBST once in a while, I appreciate the improvements !

Maybe I'm doing wrong, but I can't set my own shortcuts.
Is there an easy way to do that ? e.g: I'd like to add a toggle emulation start/stop shortcut to key "²"

Anyway, keep the updates going !!!
Thx again Dave

[SkylineDave]

Hey ! Been 10+ years since I last said thank you for your work !
THANK YOU
Launching DBST once in a while, I appreciate the improvements !

Maybe I'm doing wrong, but I can't set my own shortcuts.
Is there an easy way to do that ? e.g: I'd like to add a toggle emulation start/stop shortcut to key "²"

Anyway, keep the updates going !!!
Thx again Dave

Hi Tomchi! Thank you for your kind words
Currently the keyboard shortcuts are hard-coded into DBST (DBST overrides the settings of STeem each time you fire off a demo - but only for the temporary STeem used by DBST, not any other STeem installation you might have elsewhere on your system).
It's on my job list to allow the user to change the shortcut keys (like quit and fast-forward) from DBST, so hopefully we'll see it added in the future.
There's a (small) new update waiting for you now btw
Dave.