[z-machine] More questions.

Johnny Billquist bqt@Update.UU.SE
Sun, 13 Mar 2005 12:44:40 +0100 (CET)


On Sat, 12 Mar 2005, Cedric Knight wrote:

> Johnny Billquist <bqt@Update.UU.SE> wrote:
>> On Thu, 10 Mar 2005, David Kinder wrote:
>>
>>> Johnny Billquist wrote:
>>>> output_stream with strem #3 is documented as being available in
>>>> version 5 and later, but Bureaucracy is a version 4 game which
>>>> uses it.
>>>
>>> Ummm, no:
>>>
>>>  7.1.2: Versions 3 and later supply these and two other output
>>>  streams, numbered 3 (Z-machine memory) and 4 (a script file of
> the
>>>  player's whole commands and of individual keypresses as read by
>>> read_char).
>>>
>>> See also the section on @output_stream.
>>
>> Look at chapter 14 and 15 instead... That is where it's wrong.
>>
>
> You mean
> 5 output_stream number table
> should be
> 3 output_stream number table
> ?

Yes.

> I think you're right, the opcode listing is in conflict with 7.1.2.  I
> think the person to check this with is Jason Penney.  In the
> slowly-being-adopted Z-Spec 1.1 (draft 9), it says
>
> Output streams
> --------------
> Section 7.1.2 is incorrect - output streams 3 and 4 are present only
> in Version 5 and later.

Yikes!

> I've never analysed any Infocom files.  All I know is that when the
> Inform library 6/7 started using @output_stream for inferring
> prepositions, it didn't check for version.

Well, like I said, at least Bureaucracy (V4) uses output stream 3, so the 
proposed draft is directly in contradiction with Infocom games.

 	Johnny

Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
                                   ||  on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt@update.uu.se           ||  Reading murder books
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