Suggestions for fbzx

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Hello, in a previous issue post you said you would welcome any suggestions for 
fbzx and so I have put together my thoughts on this here, which I will not be 
in the least bit offended by if you totally ignore. 

My number 1 most sought after feature (save key configs for each game) has 
already been implemented and fbzx is already the finest home console Spectrum 
emulator I have seen.

1) Virtual keyboard using Wii pointer
Instead of the current virtual keyboard, an alternative (as seen in Wii MSX 
emulator BlueMSX) way to do this is to automatically bring up the keyboard when 
the Wiimote is pointed at the screen and use the Wiimote pointer to select 
letters. This is a much slicker and quicker way of handling virtual keyboard 
and Blue MSX is well worth a look to see it in action.

2) Support cheat files (.POK format)
This is a text file that contains game specific pokes.
Details of this format are here: http://www.worldofspectrum.org/POKformat.txt
It would be great if you could support really big .POK files such as the Jet 
Pac one I helped out with (see here: 
http://goodwiigames2.blogspot.com/2011/07/jet-pac-advanced.html )

3) Map ‘save snapshot’ and ‘load snapshot’ functions to buttons
With the plus button freed up (if the virtual keyboard suggestion was 
implemented) then we could assign + as save snapshot and - as load snapshot. 
Saves would always over-write the same snapshot and so if a user wants multiple 
snapshots they have to do this through the menus. You could impose an 
artificial limit of (say) 9 snapshot files per game, with snapshot 1 being the 
slot used by + and - keys. 

4) Connect to WOS database
ZXDS (the current gold standard in console ZX Spectrum emulation) can load 
games from Infoseek and it would be great to see this on the fbzx tooi. It 
might also be possible to get other information about each game from WOS 
Infoseek.

5) Game selection menu use screenshots
 would love to see a design aesthetic for the menus that looked something close to the WOS infoseek pages instead of the current functional look-

The emulator currently allows the user to save screen shots so it would be good 
if these could be visible in the game menu selection screen. I think it would 
look good if 2 shots were available (as per WOS Infoseek), one which is the 
loading screen and another which would be user taken screenshots and could 
change every 5 seconds, rotating through the screenshots the user has made.

6) RZX support
This would be great but is not common in console ZX Spectrum emulators, ZXDS is 
the only one that has it I think. Any kind of speed up forward/backwards type 
movement through the file would also be great to make it quicker to get to the 
bit you are stuck on and see how it is done.

7) Multiple files within Zip package support
In ZXDS all the files for each game can be bundled within a zip file, so my 
games are typically stored as a zip file for each game, with each zip file 
containing: 
- a game file (tzx/tap/z80/etc)
- a .POK file
- a key config file
- a RZX file

8) Info file support
This would be text file with the same name as the game file but with a .txt or 
.inf extension. It could hold notes, game instructions, or even game 
walkthroughs. It would be good to be able to switch from the game to this file 
without losing your place in the file.

9) 256 colour support
This would be fantastic if it could be done but I suspect is the toughest thing 
on this list. As far as I am aware it is currently only supported by 2 PC ZX 
Spectrum emulators (Spec256 and EmuZWin) but it is basically a system which 
maps a broader palette of colours to actual spectrum games, so the original 
Z80/TAP/TZX file is still used and the gameplay is thus identical to the 
original (since it is the original game). 
More info can be found here: http://spectrummagic.emuunlim.com/index.htm

Original issue reported on code.google.com by whizzb...@gmail.com on 27 May 2012 at 9:00

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Thanks a lot for the suggestions.

Some features are very hard to implement such as 256 colour support, some are 
less hard.

I had planned to change the very basic GUI. It should be very easy for me to 
use  the Frodo GUI (C64 emulator) since I know it enough well, but I am 
considering to implement a more advanced GUI.

Regarding the virtual keyboard, by a strange coincidence, I received the same 
request for UAE wii.

Regarding the virtual keybord, by a strange coincidence, I received the same 
request for UAE wii.

I will start working on the least hard changes. 

Original comment by olimpier...@gmail.com on 28 May 2012 at 5:09

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Great, yes I thought the 256 things might be a stretch too far.
On reflection I do not really think that suggestion 7 is really necessary 
either since the current method of having a separate folder for each file type 
is quite neat.

Original comment by whizzb...@gmail.com on 28 May 2012 at 6:19

[GoogleCodeExporter]

10) Map joystick to dpad and control stick
Currently the joystick directions are mapped either to the dpad or the nunchuck 
stick/classic controller left stick but I think it would be good if the 
dircetion could be mapped to both simultaneously. 
I think this would be good as I generally play using the classic controller 
left stick for directions but sometimes need more precise accuracy and so have 
to switch the joystick directions to the dpad for a careful jump or whatever 
and then switch it back.

Original comment by whizzb...@gmail.com on 30 May 2012 at 8:08

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Ok. I have already modified the code.

Original comment by olimpier...@gmail.com on 2 Jun 2012 at 9:16

[GoogleCodeExporter]

The point 10) is done in version 4. Sorry for the other requests but I have 
been working on improving z80 and FBZX emulation

Original comment by olimpier...@gmail.com on 29 Jun 2012 at 10:29

[GoogleCodeExporter]

In version 6

2) Added support for poke files (also large files)
4) Added a FTP client to connect to WOS and download files
7) Added support for ZIP files

Original comment by olimpier...@gmail.com on 31 Aug 2012 at 7:24

[GoogleCodeExporter]

In version 7 the virtual keyboard uses the Wiimote IR pointer even if it is yet 
called by + button.

1) is done.

Original comment by olimpier...@gmail.com on 30 Dec 2012 at 6:25

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Hi again, it has taken me a while to post some feedback on this. I am finding 
that the Virtual keyboard using the Wiimote IR pointer is not working at all, 
and there appears to be no virtual keyboard any more as far as I can see.

Pressing + does nothing and pointing at the screen does nothing. When I 
returned to the Homebrew Channel after my first attempt I found that I could 
not get a pointer on HC either and had to connect a new Wiimote to be able to 
choose anything. I have not been able to replicate this though.

I have tried fbZX several times since and can no longer get any virtual 
keyboard inputs to happen. When I updated I copied all the contents of 
APPS\fbzx-wii to my SD card but only the fbzx.net file from the FBZX-Wii root 
folder to my SD card. Can you think of a reason why it may not be working for 
me?

Thanks again for all your hard work on this.

Original comment by whizzb...@gmail.com on 3 Jan 2013 at 9:24

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Actually, I have no idea. I received positive feedbacks from other people on 
the new virtual keybord.
I compiled against the last libs.
It seems an issue of the libogc and SDL library. 
I can tell you that I use the HC version 1.1 and Wii menu V 4.3.

Original comment by olimpier...@gmail.com on 3 Jan 2013 at 10:55

[GoogleCodeExporter]

The issue could depend on the fact the program can not load the virtual 
keyboard images.

Check if these files are in the /fbzx-wii/fbzx directory:

keymap.bmp 
Spectrum_keyboard.png 
symbol_shift.png 
caps_shift.png 
Spectrum_keyboard_small.png     
symbol_shift_small.png  
caps_shift_small.png 

Original comment by olimpier...@gmail.com on 4 Jan 2013 at 8:10

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Yes, that was the reason and all is working fine now. Thanks for the help!

Original comment by whizzb...@gmail.com on 4 Jan 2013 at 2:01

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Very well. I had prepared a debug dol file for you, but it is no more necessary.

Original comment by olimpier...@gmail.com on 4 Jan 2013 at 3:44

[GoogleCodeExporter]

In version 8

- Virtual keyboard uses Wii pointer (it is an option).

- Game selection menu uses screenshots (2 screenshots are possible).

5) is done.

Original comment by olimpier...@gmail.com on 7 Jan 2013 at 5:15

[GoogleCodeExporter]

In version 8

- Virtual keyboard is activated by Wii pointer (it is an option).

- Game selection menu uses screenshots (2 screenshots are possible).

5) is done.

Original comment by olimpier...@gmail.com on 7 Jan 2013 at 5:22