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From: erkyrath@netcom.com (Andrew Plotkin)
Subject: Re: [CONTEST] Crashing
Message-ID: <erkyrathDzLvxB.Jxq@netcom.com>
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Date: Mon, 21 Oct 1996 03:19:59 GMT
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Roger Giner-Sorolla (giner@xp.psych.nyu.edu) wrote:
> On 19 Oct 1996, Nulldogma wrote:

> > > Oh, it just gets better and better.  Keep me informed of 
> > > all the things going wrong and I'll try and fix them as 
> > > soon as possible.
> > 
> > Here's my scorecard to date of files that won't play under either MaxZip
> > or Zip Infinity:

> I took a look at a couple of those, just for grins, before I read this. 
> Not only do they crash upon input after showing the first quote box but
> the strings "ce" and "se" are replaced by "ch" and "sh". (Pleash press the
> space bar...) Which at first led me to believe that some evil anti-Inform
> prankster had been sabotaging the contest, mocking the language's 
> recently-discussed ability to output "drunken" text.

Heh. After more email from RGS, I discover that he was downloading the 
game files in ascii FTP mode. No! No! See me roll up the newspaper! Whap!

(Well, he had a plausible reason, actually, but not actually a correct one.)

For extra credit, determine why transferring .z5 files to a Mac in ascii 
mode will turn "se" to "sh"... I was rather amused. Check the definition 
of Z-machine text encoding.

I snarfed all the entries as everything.zip (which also has to be
transferred in binary mode.) I unpacked it using StuffIt Expander with
DropStuff/Expander Enhancer. (The DS/EE module is shareware, but you can
use it for a month for free, I believe, so it may be worth getting solely
for the contest. You *do* need to install DS/EE in order for StuffIt 
Expander to handle .zip files.)

I have now played several of the Inform entries all the way through, and 
at least a few moves of every one, in MaxZip 1.5.1. I continue to have no 
problems. Except that in a couple of places, a "Hit any key to continue" 
message fails to be cleared when it should be. I'm working fixing that 
now. :)

The other possible problem is the all-fixed-width mode of Delusion, which 
may or may not be deliberate.

--Z

-- 

"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the
borogoves..."
