There is a demo from 2009, called "Ahh, the tape loading era", which does exactly this... and more, such as moving some animation, direct video "streaming" from the tape, while loading some actual content. I had to collect my jaw from the floor after watching it. 😮
Thank you! A quickie and easier to put it on here than on Twitter! I spent AGES getting that picture into memory. I entered all the pixels into a spreadsheet, then converted it to a stream of DATA statements, got it on the screen and then POKEd the attributes!
@@WhatHoSnorkers as a Spectrum owner seeing loader games on the C64 back in the day blew me away but the tradeoff was up to 30 minuet load times (from tape) only for the computer to potentially throw up a load error.
Yep. Apparently the C64 "standard" loader was so slow because it had to be compatible with the VIC20 or something (but you could write your own). On my +2 I rarely saw loading errors, apart from Predator (that I couldn't get to load) and Nightshade that would NOT load if you did LOAD "" with the dedicated " button. Had to be symbol shift P. No idea why!
Да, это был единственный способ сделать это на ZX81. Вы все еще можете сделать это на ZX Spectrum. Я предпочитаю POKE, но тогда вам нужно ОЧИСТИТЬ и ЗАГРУЗИТЬ "" КОД, так что это больше работы. Извиняюсь, Google Translate.
Theoretically it is possible for the soare cpu time during loading to be used to toggle the beeper but the entire beeper audio circuit is on one pin of the ULA and it's already employed loading the game (The EAR & MIC ports, plus the beeper are all on that ULA pin)
On 48K machines you could connect the Ear of the tape deck to the Mic of the Spectrum and load that way, and the tape loading sound would not be heard. It had a different impedance or something so could be more finicky about volume, etc. That might work on a 128K or original grey +2.
I know I had my TV on mute for pretty much all my speccy loadings, maybe the developers did too. i mean, couldn't be nice listening to it all day, everyday.
Yeah, it was an interesting experiment. I'm now thinking about interrupts (which definitely CAN work while loading) and AY tracker stuff. I tried Jonathan Cauldwell's AY tracker (that runs on the Spectrum itself!) without success, but another one that runs on PC was more successful... perhaps I can play Snorkers' Theme while loading Snorkers' Logo... (with horrendous loading noise).... Joe Blade II was the one I had. Good fun Pacman game!
With my +2 I changed channel while it was loading. I was watching the news while loading a mission on Project: Stealth Fighter which was when I found out that Saddam had invaded Kuwait...
It's used in a number of cases. Most famous is the loadagame in Joe Blade II, but Trap Door moved Berks eyes during loading and technician Ted had sprites marching back and forth across the screen. So we know there IS spare CPU time in the default loading routine in ROM. (It's optimised for reliability, not raw speed because there's no accounting for what it'll be asked to load from)
There is a demo from 2009, called "Ahh, the tape loading era", which does exactly this... and more, such as moving some animation, direct video "streaming" from the tape, while loading some actual content. I had to collect my jaw from the floor after watching it. 😮
I've seen that one.... and it blew me away. It really is amazing work!
Nice video as always, impressively colourful pixelated mustache to boot!🕹🖖🍀
Thank you! A quickie and easier to put it on here than on Twitter! I spent AGES getting that picture into memory. I entered all the pixels into a spreadsheet, then converted it to a stream of DATA statements, got it on the screen and then POKEd the attributes!
can a video of less than 3 minutes be simply FABULOUS????
¡SÍ!
Thx a lot for the video :)
You're welcome! I can't do music in 128K yet, but this little routine from Joe was a cool "proof of concept"!
Wow! You found a way to make tape loading noise even more irritating! 😂
It'd be cool if there was proper music at least, or an irritating tune! One in the eye for the C64 owners! :)
@@WhatHoSnorkers as a Spectrum owner seeing loader games on the C64 back in the day blew me away but the tradeoff was up to 30 minuet load times (from tape) only for the computer to potentially throw up a load error.
Yep. Apparently the C64 "standard" loader was so slow because it had to be compatible with the VIC20 or something (but you could write your own).
On my +2 I rarely saw loading errors, apart from Predator (that I couldn't get to load) and Nightshade that would NOT load if you did LOAD "" with the dedicated " button. Had to be symbol shift P. No idea why!
только сегодня я узнал что можно делать ассемблерные вставки оператором REM
Да, это был единственный способ сделать это на ZX81. Вы все еще можете сделать это на ZX Spectrum. Я предпочитаю POKE, но тогда вам нужно ОЧИСТИТЬ и ЗАГРУЗИТЬ "" КОД, так что это больше работы.
Извиняюсь, Google Translate.
Long live the Specturd. 🤣
Indeed! Some of the stuff coming out of the demoscene is insane!
Theoretically it is possible for the soare cpu time during loading to be used to toggle the beeper but the entire beeper audio circuit is on one pin of the ULA and it's already employed loading the game (The EAR & MIC ports, plus the beeper are all on that ULA pin)
Yeah, it'd break I think. There are some lovely demos that do all kinds of clever stuff during loading with sound and that. All far beyond me!
On 48K machines you could connect the Ear of the tape deck to the Mic of the Spectrum and load that way, and the tape loading sound would not be heard. It had a different impedance or something so could be more finicky about volume, etc. That might work on a 128K or original grey +2.
That's a clever trick!
Welp. Found my new ringtone.
It's a banger!
im surprised no-one did this bitd cos they did plenty of other neat things while it was loading
I know I had my TV on mute for pretty much all my speccy loadings, maybe the developers did too. i mean, couldn't be nice listening to it all day, everyday.
Yeah, it was an interesting experiment. I'm now thinking about interrupts (which definitely CAN work while loading) and AY tracker stuff.
I tried Jonathan Cauldwell's AY tracker (that runs on the Spectrum itself!) without success, but another one that runs on PC was more successful... perhaps I can play Snorkers' Theme while loading Snorkers' Logo... (with horrendous loading noise)....
Joe Blade II was the one I had. Good fun Pacman game!
With my +2 I changed channel while it was loading. I was watching the news while loading a mission on Project: Stealth Fighter which was when I found out that Saddam had invaded Kuwait...
Yes Snorkers!
I put a link at the end to a REALLY impressive demo!
👍😁
I'm doing research now on what byte value makes what noise when loading!
This feels like black magic!
It is.
The demo at the end certainly is!
The PSG is tricky. It's going to take trial and error and interrupts too!
It's used in a number of cases. Most famous is the loadagame in Joe Blade II, but Trap Door moved Berks eyes during loading and technician Ted had sprites marching back and forth across the screen.
So we know there IS spare CPU time in the default loading routine in ROM. (It's optimised for reliability, not raw speed because there's no accounting for what it'll be asked to load from)
Fascinating stuff! Although with so many people using insta-load nowadays I'm not sure you'd want to invest the time in playing a proper tune
Same with loading screens really. A treat for the faithful!
@@WhatHoSnorkers loading screens could still be enjoyed with a well placed PAUSE 0
@@JimBlimey That's what Hakkenkast does, I presume. Lovely screens!
Mental, everyone will be doing this from now on 🙂
It's the future! That and ZX81 sounds via interference (yet to try that, apparently it does something...)
Interesting! Now port a Rob Hubbard track into it. :)
The end card now points to a video that nearly does that!
epic
Thank you. Now if you want REALLY epic, check out this demo done by someone with a much bigger brain than me!
th-cam.com/video/8o_dVHiuR_Q/w-d-xo.html
oh hi
Why, hello there!