STOS Time Tunnel - newly added programs & older extensions (Updated April 2020)

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Gargoyle
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Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2017 12:04 am

STOS Time Tunnel - newly added programs & older extensions (Updated April 2020)

Post by Gargoyle »

Hi all! Just wanted to write a quick update for anyone still using STOS. I have recently sent Chris a set of both old & new programs and extensions. These have either been found or written by ourselves within the STOS Coders FB group over the past couple of years. Some of you might find a few of these items to be quite useful! :) :D

https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/atari/STOS/ ... /index.htm

A listing below of what has been added to the STOS Time Tunnel extensions page:

CSV2STOS v0.85 - by M. Keenleyside (Dec 2019).
Written for users of Tiled & The Missing Link extension for STOS Basic on the Atari ST(e) platform. Tiled is a free map editor written for Windows, MacOS & Linux by Thorbjørn. Import a *.CSV file exported from Tiled into CSV2STOS, to create a Missing Link compatible world or landscape map. Export a *.CSV file from a Missing Link world map or landscape map made in eddy.bas to use with Tiled, with a few additional steps required. More info in the doc file on what to do!

DML'S STOS 3D EXTENSION - A 3D extension written by DML.
This is the 1992 version he uploaded to Atari Forum in March 2014. Not as many features as the original commercial version of STOS 3D, however it draws any object on the screen considerably faster! In this archive the original 1991 docs from the Pixel Twins Utility disk have been included, as documentation was missing with this version. Another doc has been added by M. Keenleyside from the STOS Coders FB page to briefly explain how to use a more modern process involving Blender 3D, 3D Object Converter v7.0 (to export a Cyber Studio CAD-3D *.3D2 file) and subsequently DML's "CADCONV.PRG" to prepare the file and output new *.X, *.Y, *.Z & *.OBJ files to use with the extension.

STE Extension v4.0 (c)1991/92/95 - by Asa Burrows.
Version 3.5 had a bug! When using the STE's hardware scrolling command, the extension would only scroll along to the 15th pixel before restarting the count again. This caused a jerky movement within anything scrolling horizontally. v4.0 was found in issue 1 of the SteStosTerone Magazine disk series, in which Asa had fixed the bug. It's likely that not many knew about this version! Several docs have been included, some are from STOSSER mag just to help give more detail on using the various commands.

STOS BANK RIPPER v0.2 - by Tom (August 2018).
This was converted to STOS code from a utility originally written in C by Hans Wessels called STOS MBK MAKER (July 2007). Tom added in extra bank header types for the program to search for. Use Mega Depack on any compiled program first, just in case it was compressed with ICE 2.4 or Atomik 3.5 for example. Please use responsibly! It should be a very useful utility for those wanting to study how older STOS games were made. Original game authors/designers/musicians who might have lost their original source, including any artwork, music and sound assets from years ago can likely retrieve their asset files this way too.

STOS Ninja Tracker Extension v1.06 - LJ Greenhalgh (1995).
For 1mb STE/TT/Falcon. This extension allows you to play mods at up to 21khz in STOS in the background on any STE/TT/Falcon. It should be able to play any four channel protracker mods and the vast majority of chip music formats available. v1.06 has a couple of additional new commands over v1.05:
Track unpack ADDRESS - unpacks a mod packed with Pack ICE over the top of itself
STRING=track name (ADDRESS) - gets the full name of a mod

TOME v2.0 - Total Map Editor by Aaron Fothergill (Shadow Software, 1989).
This version of the TOME Extension actually includes the editor, the extension files, also various example files and actual documentation! The *.ASC manual seems to be for an older version however, so an explanation on how to use certain commands is still missing. At a later date this will be looked into being updated - Mike K, STOS Coders.

WRLD2STE - by Neil Halliday (April 2020).
Here’s a quick and dirty routine to convert a Missing Link “World” map into an over-sized image that can be used for STE hardware scrolling. You need to have the Missing Link & STORM Development extension installed in order to render the map and use the simple STE Hardware scrolling command. Graphics & map taken from the Missing Link examples disk, which appear to be the graphics from Magic Pockets!
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