Lack of updates

[mega rock.exe]

I have noticed that the site doesn't update as often as it should be. Is there a good reason for this. I am concerned with this as I am a contributor. Are people just not available, or push it aside for another day, or what? Seems like just because there was no ZX game this year, updates have declined.

[Terry von Feledae]

When we update, we usually upload a whole bunch of stuff at once, and we just didn't have too much to work with lately. I personally would rather wait longer between updates than have many really tiny ones.

[Xterra]

Especially considering all the rips Turp is doing for Legends. The longer we wait, the more files to all upload at once. It's better than uploading a sheet at a time, so I agree. I'm glad it takes a while to accumulate.

[turpinator]

Speaking of rips... does it count as a rip if you had to make up the colours? I've been having an increasingly difficult time finding correct palettes for tons of things in MML2.

[Mathis]

MMZ2 has several things to be worked on, so I did it myself to add some enemies and BGs into it. I just hope it will be of use in the next Update. Since you guys need them anyway. Members will soon be looking for those enemies... *shuts up*

[DWN-060 Clownman]

Turp, how have you been doing those rips exactly?

[Nightmaresplody]

I'm sure it still counts as a rip if the palette isn't exactly correct...As long as you ripped the exact tiles and everything...a LOT of the first ZXA rips had that problem...

[Xterra]

Turp, how have you been doing those rips exactly?I know you asked Turp, but I know how he did it because he told me. He read Terry's tile rip tutorial for ePSXe, and started with DASH 1 and 2. He's been doing savestate rips to get the tiles out. I'll be helping him as soon as I read the tutorial and figure it out.

And like he had asked, is it okay if some of the colors are guessed on based off of screenshots? It's hard to find the colors, but even harder to color right.

It'd be nice if someone with more experience could locate the real colors. Thus making the rips that much more accurate.

But for now, I think they're fine, since this' the best we can do.

And what Nightmaresplody said is correct. A lot of the first ZxA rips had incorrect colors, and had to be recolored with official palettes when they were found. So I'm pretty sure if we have the tile ripped, the recolor (even when not perfect) is good enough.

[turpinator]

Turp, how have you been doing those rips exactly?
I've been trying to do it the way Terry prescribed in the tutorial, but the palettes are becoming difficult to find in the tile viewer. It's not that I'm ripping it badly, it's just it might be that the colours might be off because I may have to sub the colours by eye instead until the correct palettes CAN be found.

[Rainbow Dash]

It's fine; the initial palettes of ZX sprites had to be guessed based on official art. You have to say that they're guess, though, so someone can come back and fix them later on.

[Barubary]

Legends textures are easy to tilerip, actually. Most (all?) textures are in the files with prefix 'ST' in the DAT-folder of the game. The palettes are usually stored just above the texture.

The same goes for Legends 2, but there are also some textures in the COMMON-folder in that game.

[turpinator]

That means gibberish to me, I'm afraid. And there are usually several layer colours for the more major characters, and even alot of effects and scenery tiles in MML2. I understand that they should be relatively at the same place on the palette list as they are on the tile list beside, but they are still hard to find know THAT much.

[Mathis]

Now that I think about it, just so any mod forgets to update what they--er update, Maybe you should 'hire' someone to do the updates. You understand what I'm talking about, right?

[Xterra]

You're suggesting a new moderator who's only job is to update?

And I think you meant "...just so any mod doesn't forget..."

[Blackbeltdude]

Actually, that was planned before, but ACE decided to just let them do both. :P And, barring Rickysio, it has worked out just fine.

[Xterra]

Um, what's "barring" mean? Sorry, it's just that with my english being my second language, there's still a few words that confuse me. Does the word mean "putting on the board"? If so, I did notice an improvement in all the updates around the time Terry' and Ricky' joined the moderating team.

I think with so many moderators, it gets hard to forget that many updates. Though every now and then a few sheets are missed, for the majority of the time with updates everything gets put up when needed to.

And if something is forgotten, or misplaced into the wrong section, there's always another moderator there that can fix that. So I doubt we need just one to handle everything when so many can work together as a team.

[The Walrus]

Um, what's "barring" mean?

excepting; except for

[Mathis]

Actually, that was planned before, but ACE decided to just let them do both. :P And, barring Rickysio, it has worked out just fine.

Honestly it takes a LONG time for updates to show up, so could ACE possibly take it into consideration again, or no? (I doubt you would know since, well, you're not ACE and all :o)

I'm sure that there could be some way to make the updates come quicker than it is now (the monthly updates aren't exactly posted in the start of the month)