Spectaculator - ZX Spectrum Emulator for iOS (un-official thread)

[Sciencematthew]

1.20 still supports custom games, be sure to back up version 1.10 or 1.0 in iTunes!

[neonbible]

Originally Posted by Sciencematthew

1.20 still supports custom games, be sure to back up version 1.10 or 1.0 in iTunes!

Why backup 1.10 or 1.0 if 1.20 still works?

[FuZion]

Thanks for the response,

I see there you have no additional buttons assigned. Assigning additional buttons is where I need some help. Here I'll share my findings with some of the less obvious settings to help people may trip a little on:

<key>model</key>
<integer>1</integer>
1=48k machine or 2=128k machine

<key>joystickType</key>
<integer>0</integer>
0=No Joystick, 1=Kempston, 2=Fuller
3=Cursor (Uses keys 7=Up, 6=Down, 5=Left, 8=Right & 0=Fire) *IIRC
4=Interface II (1) (Uses keys 9=Up, 8=Down, 6=Left, 7=Right & 0=Fire)
5=Interface II (2) (Uses keys 4=Up, 3=Down, 1=Left, 2=Right & 5=Fire)
6=Keyboard (Default, Q=Up, A=Down, O=Left, P=Right, M)

<key>keyJoyMappings</key>
<string>Q,A,O,P,M</string>
Used with joystickType 6 only (In this order: Up, Down, Left, Right, Button)

<key>additionalButtons</key>
<string>A,B,C</string>
Green, Blue, Yellow... In 'string' enter the Key to use for each additional button.
If no button is to be used, you MUST enter 'NONE' or else non-used buttons will still show, i.e:
<string>NONE,NONE,NONE</string> or <string>A,NONE,NONE</string>
The following are some of the non-character keys that you can configure:
- Use "BREAK SPACE" for the space bar
- Use "ENTER" for the enter key (Thanks to PrinceGaz for tracking this one in 2.0)
- Use "SYMBOL SHIFT" & "CAPS SHIFT" ... Go on, guess which they are
- Use NONE to disable the additional button.

<key>rotateThumbPad</key>
<integer>0</integer>
0 or 1. I've tested a game that uses this but joystick rotations is used for games such as Head Over Heels

<key>axesLock</key>
<integer>0</integer>
One of my favourite features. This locks the joystick axis when needed.
0=Off, 1=Left & Right only, 2=Up & Down only
3=Left, Right & Up only, 4=Left, Right & Down
5=Diagonals only. Perfect for those isometric games such as Head Over Heels, but bear in mind if menus need to be navigated.

<key>mirrorYAxis</key>
<true/> or <false/>
Handy for fight sims & the like.

The Thumb Pad & buttons are as follows:

<key>controls</key>
<dict>
<key>thumbPad</key>
<string>Type, Thumb, Pad, Controls, Here</string>
<key>thumbPadSubtitle</key>
<string>(Thumb Subtitle Text Here)</string>

...Subtitle lines are optional.

<key>redButton</key>
<string>Red Button Text Here</string>
<key>redButtonSubtitle</key>
<string>(Red Button Subtitle Text Here)</string>

... You can follow this with further coloured buttons

</dict>

If you have used additional buttons use:
greenButton, greenButtonSubtitle,
blueButton, blueButtonSubtitle,
yellowButton or yellowButtonSubtitle

Note: When choosing which additional buttons to which keys you can pick any coloured virtual button. However, when entering these descriptions, the emulator will always display them starting with Green, then Blue, then Yellow. Have a play & you'll see what I mean.

And lastly, gestures. These work very similar to the controls:

<key>gestures</key>
<dict>
<key>swipeUp</key>
<string>Swipe Up Text Here</string>
<key>swipeUpKeys</key>
<string>F</string> <<< the key you want to assign to the gesture
<key>swipeUpSubtitle</key>
<string>(Swipe Up Subtitle Text Here)</string>

Other swipes (Single finger) gestures are; swipeDown, swipeLeft, swipeRight

Pans work the same.

<key>panUp</key>
<string>Pan Up Text Here</string>
<key>panUpKeys</key>
<string>I</string> <<< the key you want to assign to the gesture
<key>panUpSubtitle</key>
<string>(Pan Up Subtitle Text Here)</string>

Other pan (Two finger) gestures are; panDown, panLeft, panRight

<key>twoFingerTap</key>
<string>Two Finger Tap Text Here</string>
<key>twoFingerTapKeys</key>
<string>R</string>
<key>twoFingerTapSubtitle</key>
<string>(Two Finger Tap Subtitle Text Here)</string>

<key>threeFingerTap</key>
<string>Three Finger Tap Text Here</string>
<key>threeFingerTapKeys</key>
<string>T</string>
<key>threeFingerTapSubtitle</key>
<string>(Three Finger Tap Subtitle Text Here)</string>

These speak for themselves really.

And lastly some system type options:

<key>useSystemKeyboard</key>
<true/> or <false/>
<key>transparentKeyboard</key>
<true/> or <false/>

<key>rowWhenKeyboardVisible</key>
<integer>12</integer>

Number = Scrolls the emulation screen upwards when the landscape keyboard is called for.

Note: Only the spectrum keyboard in landscape goes transparent & sides the screen upwards.

<key>stickyShiftKeys</key>
<true/> or <false/>

<key>allowNormalLoading</key>
<true/> or <false/>

<key>fastLoadingSpeed</key>
<integer>3</integer>

I know there's a lot, but if you've had a go at these it should make sense.

Again, if anyone can work out those non-standard keys, I'd be well grateful.

Russ.

[FuZion]

Ace,

Had some help on this & to configure the Break/Space key you can use something like the following line:

<key>keyJoyMappings</key>
<string>Q,A,O,P,BREAK SPACE</string>

Again, make sure you use joystickType 6 for keys to be assigned.

Thanks for the pointer, Russ.

[niknice]

Any of you nice people care to upload some of your custom gamepaks?

[psj3809]

Dont think its a wise move to put any URL's here at all.

[niknice]

Yeah you`re probably right, its just that i`ve done over a 100 custom games for the C64 emu and I cannot be bothered with all that ball-ache again My main problem is finding the time to do all this. Dam Apple and all their restrictions!

[FuZion]

I agree, this isn't the place to distribute things since there's a perfectly good World of Spectrum that we all love, but I'd be happy to paste my Config.plist files here (They may not be exactly set to everyones liking, but you can tweak them).

You'll have to create your own Artwork.png & Icon.png files for fortunately, the App resizes them regardless of the dimensions so you don't need to be exact. Also, the Instructions.html & Addendum.html files you'll need to create, but I've been using the .txt instructions from WOS for these. If you know basic html, you'll be fine.

If you'd like any of the following config files for the following, let me know & I'll post em here:

• Advanced Lawn Mower Simulator
• After Burner
• Americal Football
• Ant Attack
• ATF
• ATV Simulator (Recorded from my own tape way back, since the Codies won't allow distribution )
• Back to Skool
• Ballbreaker II
• Batman: The Caped Cruisader (Parts 1 & 2)
• Batman: The Movie
• Blind Panic
• Bomb Jack
• Bounder
• Brainstorm
• Buffalo Bills Wild West Show (or Wild West Rodeo)
• Cabal
• Chase H.Q.
• Confuzion
• Crazy Cars
• Crazy Golf
• Cybernoid
• Cybernoid 2
• Cyclone

Russ.

[neonbible]

Can anyone confirm if the latest version (1.2?) still works with custom games?

[FuZion]

It does,

Check back through this (So far) short thread for other bits of info.

Russ.