‘CSDb / Demoscene Mode’

[aZtOcKdOg]

Hey!

Just wanted to share an idea for a possible toggle in settings (and/or CSDb browser UI) for 'CSDb / Demoscene Mode'

A seamless, immersive 'content consumption' mode that automates a number of fundamental actions to reduce any necessary user interaction and input to a minimum- Select a prod from the CSDb browser and it plays ala on-demand streaming service type experience.

No stress on this and just wanted to bounce back and forth on some of the possibilities (when you have time to ideate etc)

First:

Are the filenames contained within the zip files exposed in anyway to vC64Web currently? ie If we click '****.zip' in the CSDb browser are the resulting disk image filenames that appear in the popup for mounting able to be referenced in any way?

If so, we could run a set of wildcards queries to select '****s1.d64' '****side1.d64' '****a.d64' (etc etc) and auto-mount the first disk with the 'auto run' 'reset' flags already set so that by clicking on the demo prod's zip file in the CSDb browser the desired prod simply mounts, resets and starts the demo from the first disk contained in the archive.

This makes the first user input required only when a second disk needs to be inserted, and again- anything with filename '****s2.d64' '****side2.d64' '****b.d64' (etc etc) or greater will automatically NOT have 'auto run' or 'reset' flags set.

This mode could provide full immersion and fluidity from a curated art collection / content consumption point of view and present a very immediate on-demand UX.

I know this is ALOT of work programatically / logistically but just wanted to put the idea out there and see if there may be any merit in this for users looking for a pickup and play demoscene binge session!

(This proposed mode may also be handy in embedded use-case for say a demogroup's website where they could display their prods etc)

Just some thoughts, amazing work!

Thanks for reading! o/

[mithrendal]

Are the filenames contained within the zip files exposed in anyway to vC64Web currently?

Yes. vc64web does uncompress the zip file and it has all the files in there accessible and it can do what it likes with them.

This makes the first user input required only when a second disk needs to be inserted, and again- anything with filename '****s2.d64' '****side2.d64' '****b.d64' (etc etc) or greater will automatically NOT have 'auto run' or 'reset' flags set.

Ok I try to describe your idea in my own words.

1. Generally we adapt the file dialog so that it pre selects files from a zip archive in the following way.

• pre select side1 sideA … when no file from that zip archive has been loaded yet
• pre select side2 sideB … when currently loaded file is side1, sideA, …
• pre select side3 sideC … when currently loaded file is side2, sideB, …

This „auto selection“ feature will predict the selection when file dialog appears based on the current demo workflow context, but you have still to manually click on the mount button (or hit enter).

2. we could go even more automatic by clicking automatically on the mount button when prediction matched successfully i.e. when it recognises side1, sideA, side2, …

This „automatic mount“ feature is only active when a new setting called „content consumption mode“ is enabled

Did I understand you correctly, did I miss something ?

[aZtOcKdOg]

That is 100% correct!

The only other part is:

side1 / disk1 = ALWAYS 'auto load / auto run' and 'reset'

side2 / disk2 (or greater) = NEVER 'auto load / auto run' or 'reset'

Ofc one-file demos / music disks etc can also benefit from this special mode (not sure how we poll for that? - I am sure there is also a logical approach if we think about it? EDIT: Oh I guess if there is only ONE file (d64, prg etc) in the archive then that would get the automount / autoload / autorun treatment!)

[mithrendal]

+filename prediction on zips with multiple disks is now in place...
+no more unwanted prompting about (reset, load, run) on follow up disks

i.e.

1. the file dialog (reset, load, run) shows only on the first disk
2. It tries to guess the next disk and does pre select that guess.

for disk change no more selecting but you still want to click the zip icon and hit enter key or hit mount button

for a complete auto mode we could add a setting "content consumption mode". When that is enabled we just hit automatically the mount button (or with a countdown of 3 seconds) which loads the predicted next disk

@aZtOcKdOg can you do some testing on the filename prediction ?

[mithrendal]

already found one prod where prediction failed...🙈 just fixed it and pushed a new version

[aZtOcKdOg]

nice! ...I am still flicking through too! No probs so far for me nice work

How do you browse for more prods?
Is there a wildcard search or any other lists beside the CSDb front page categories atm?

[aZtOcKdOg]

Wow! Works great... much smoother CSDb demo watching experience! Well done!

I tried a few diff names (01, 1, 1a , a etc) and all loaded the correct 'next disk'...

...also the new reset toggle allows us to play 'Neon' (seperate disk files instead of a zip).

Is there an action button setup that could insert that 'next disk' and mount quietly with no gui / dialogue popups?
...maybe I can set it up semi-opaque and place offscreen (less noticeable).

Also I wondered... is there any event that happens vC64 side when a demo 'waits for flip disk' (like a check disk code / signal etc) that can be interacted with in anyway for this use?

[mithrendal]

Also I wondered... is there any event that happens vC64 side when a demo 'waits for flip disk' (like a check disk code / signal etc) that can be interacted with in anyway for this use?

Theoretically this could be done easily from our side... like a signal in the prod which they would raise when they (the prod makers) need a new disk. I mean they could poke in a defined memory address a special code and we could poll that by peeking the byte value in that address.

Is there an action button setup that could insert that 'next disk' and mount quietly with no gui / dialogue popups?
...maybe I can set it up semi-opaque and place offscreen (less noticeable).

you can copy this snippet, it should work

$("#button_insert_file").click();

[aZtOcKdOg]

$("#button_insert_file").click();

This restarts the machine- is there a 'no reset' flag possible?

[mithrendal]

$("#auto_reset").prop('checked', false);
$("#button_insert_file").click();

[mithrendal]

How do you browse for more prods?
Is there a wildcard search or any other lists beside the CSDb front page categories atm?

you can do a wildcard search

and you can also

change the number of entries in the standard front page categories