================================================================ Spectrum Graphics Editor - Copyright 1998 RAJ ================================================================ This program is completely free for you to use and distribute at your leisure. I take no responsibility whatsoever for any loss of data of any kind. Use it at your own risk and enjoy it! RAJ 1998. ---------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS ======== 1...Release notes 2...What is it? 3...Running SGE 4...Modes of operation 5...Manipulating the RAM display 6...Changing colours 7...Editing graphics 8...Saving graphics 1.Release Notes --------------- This is the very first release of SGE. There are a few minor issues that are still under development. 1. Whilst in Text mode there is no editing or saving available 2. Improve file selecting when saving graphics 3. Occasionaly save produces strange results when in screen mode I hope you enjoy using SGE. Please remember that the majority of old Spectrum games are still under copyright so any graphics you extract should not be used for commercial purpose or you'll probably end up with the men in black knocking on your door. If you have any comments, criticisms or problems with SGE, or have a passion for Sinclair's king of 8-bit machines then I'd be glad to here from you. Mail me at: RJ@SPIDER-MAN.DEMON.CO.UK Constructive comments only please. Anything else will be ignored! 2. What is it? -------------- SGE is a utility which allows you to view, edit and extract the graphics from Spectrum snapshot files (.SNA). Graphics can be exported to a BMP file or just altered on the fly with changes being written back to the snapshot file with your changes incorporated into the game. SGE is fully mouse driven so you will need to have installed an appropriate mouse driver before use. 3. Running SGE -------------- SGE is run from the DOS prompt by simply typing SGE. Ideally you should copy SGE.EXE into a command directory which is included in the path settings. eg. C:\DOS or C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND. By doing this you won't need to copy files about before viewing them, you can simply change to the directory where the SNA file resides and call SGE from there. SGE uses the following command line parameters: filename : The name of the file you wish to view RAM address : The snapshot RAM address you wish to start viewing from The 'RAM address' parameter is optional but you must include the 'filename' parameter. By specifying the RAM address you can easily return to any point in the snapshot. If you do not include the RAM address SGE will start viewing from address 16384, the first byte of RAM in the spectrum memory. This may sound a little odd to those not familiar with the Spectrum memory map but I found it to be the most convenient may of referencing a point in memory. Try the following examples: SGE test.sna - View TEST.SNA from address 16384 SGE test.sna 40000 - View TEST.SNA from address 40000 The filename must be the full name including the extension and the RAM address can be anywhere between 16384 and 65535. 4. Modes of operation --------------------- SGE can be used in three different modes, GRAPHICS, TEXT and SCREEN. You can change mode by clicking on the mode button above the 'Snapshot' button. When you first start SGE the mode button will have the caption 'GRAPHICS' to indicate you are in graphics mode. Clicking this button three times will cycle through the different modes and return you to graphics mode. The current mode is the one displayed on the button. Graphics: By selecting this mode you should be able to find the majority of the sprites and background tiles used in a game. As most games store their graphics in a simple two-colour format you shouldn't have too much trouble finding the images. With a little pratice and frequent adjusting of the screen width you'll soon find what you're after. SGE cannot find graphics in all snapshots. The way the graphics are stored is entirely the choice of the author. If it's not a standard storage method SGE will never find it. Text: Use this option to search for 8x8 font definitions or 8x8 tiles in a snapshot file. Not very useful but it's there anyway. Screen: This option will display entire screens including the attributes. A simple way to find a screen is to start SGE without specifying the RAM address and then immediately switch to screen mode. You should see the screen as is was when the snapshot was taken. Not many games will store entire screens apart from the the one at address 16384, which is the Spectrum screen RAM. 5. Manipulating the RAM display ------------------------------- The majority of the screen in SGE is taken up by the graphical representation of the snapshot file. As graphics come in all shapes and sizes there are three controls which allow you to alter certain properties of the RAM display. The 'Width' control allows you to set the width of the graphics you are trying to locate. If you were looking for a 16x16 sprite you would need to set the width to 16. The lines property could also be set to 16 to specify the height of the sprite but you should find it easier to search if you have more lines displayed and you'll find more frames of the sprite you are searching for. Width and lines cannot be altered when in screen mode. The third property is the zoom level. This is useful for zooming the display when you are editing the graphics. To move up and down through the memory SGE provides you with five controls. These are situated below the 'ADDR' label which tells you whereabouts in RAM you are currently viewing. This is the actual Spectrum RAM address and not a file offset so the first byte will be displayed as 16384 and not 0. You can move forwards and backwards through the memory using the '+' and '-' buttons. Whilst holding the left mouse button down on these two controls you can press the right button aswell to move slightly faster through the code. Pressing the '<' and '>' buttons will move through the code page by page to allow you to quickly jump to a particular address. The 'Shift' button moves forward one byte at a time for fine adjustments. 6. Changing colours ------------------- Using the colour controls you can change the background and foreground colours of the memory being displayed. Pressing '+' and '-' on these two controls will cycle through the Spectrum colours from black to white. 7. Editing graphics ------------------- Any graphics you find in a snapshot can be easily editing by moving the mouse cursor over the graphics and clicking the left button to set a pixel and the right button to remove a pixel. When you quit SGE you will be asked if you wish to save the changes you have made. If you say yes the changes will be permanent and can be seen by running the snapshot in whichever emulator you use. If you intend to alter graphics it is highly advisable to make a copy of the snapshot file first. WARNING! If you alter anything other than graphics you are likely to be overwriting code. SGE cannot stop you doing this as it cannot tell the difference between graphics and code, that's your job. If you do alter code and then try to run the snapshot file it is highly likely that the game will crash. You have been warned! MAKE A COPY OF ANY SNAPSHOT FILE YOU INTEND TO EDIT!!! 8. Saving Graphics ------------------ Clicking on the 'Snapshot' button allows you to save the currently displayed graphics to a BMP file. You will prompted to enter a file name. Type in your desired name without the .BMP extension and the file will be written to the current directory. At present, SGE does not check if the file already exists so be careful. If you are in graphics mode SGE will produce a 2 colour bitmap using the current background and foreground colours. Note: Some graphics applications in Windows will ignore the colour definition in a 2 colour bitmap and just display it as black and white. Snapping the screen whilst in screen mode will produce a 256x192x16 colour bitmap incorporating the screen attributes so you'll end up with a perfect representation of the screen.