The Sinclair QL Forum

Hi again Norm

I was incorrect in my earlier post - QPC.ini doesn't allow to switch SMSQE.bin - only to over-ride the Config block contained within it.

If you carefully open the smsqe.bin file with a binary/hex editor in your QPC installation folder, around byte offset $60 is the SMSQ version number.

I bet you've got an older copy in there, that for some reason wasn't replaced during QPC upgrades.

You could try re-running the setup in to a different folder and testing that (it won't harm your existing copy). If that shows the right version of SMSQE, then you could copy over the newer .bin file in to your original QPC install folder - which will still use your preferred configuration and continue to run the older installation.

I wonder if your smsqe.bin file is locked by Windows (perhaps AV), preventing setup from overwriting it - you'll soon find out if you try replacing it manually...

[EDIT - of course, you are running this under Wine/Linux so, whilst the same advice applies, the cause of the 'sticky' smsqe.bin file can't be pinned on Windows...]

Hi,

I tried BP1.5 on QPC2 v4.05 SMSQ/E 3.33 on Mint 18.3 x64 Wine v1.6 all works perfectly.

I would guess an update of QPC2 SMSQ/E file and check the Wine setup.

Thanks Everyone.

I have done a complete reinstall and download (not necessarily in that order) of the latest QPC 4.0.5 and it has installed correctly with a different version of the qpcbinary file. This is a different version in that it is a different size to the file in QPC 4.0.0 and to the one in QPC 3.3.3.

I'll check later if I'm picking up an old version, if I can, somehow, but I have to toddle off to hospital now to have my chest looked at. (Xray). Back soon (I hope!)


Cheers,
Norm.

Hi Norman

Good luck with the X-Ray!

Just to be clear, it's the version of the SMSQE binary that will determine whether or not ALPHA_BLEND is available, rather than QPC itself.

There appears to be a loose dependency between the two and Marcel always packages the QPC binary with the most up to date SMSQE binary with each QPC release available at the time, but you are usually free to replace the SMQE binary with later versions (e.g. 3.33 versus 3.28 that came with QPC 4.0.5.10).

The SMSQE binaries for various 'platforms' are available from Wolgang's official SMSQE site - for example, I just downloaded and extracted the SMSQE.bin file from WL's site and copied it in to my working QPC directory - which then starts up and runs SMSQE v3.33 instead of v3.28, as per PRINT VER$(1).

Marcel might be best to comment on how 'safe' this approach is.

Has anyone had this running on MAC OS?

Ok, problem solved. It was a PICNIC. (Problem In Chair, Not In Computer).
When I installed the latest version of QPC, it picked up the default folder for the previous version 4.0.0 and was thus using an older version of SMSQ. Once I fixed the default, it "just works". Apologies for the noise!


It was caused by me, copying the QPC 4.0 *.desktop file for 4.0.5 and neglecting to change the default folder. Sigh. (At least I got the correct executable to run!)


Cheers,
Norm.

martyn_hill wrote:The SMSQE binaries for various 'platforms' are available from Wolgang's official SMSQE site - for example, I just downloaded and extracted the SMSQE.bin file from WL's site and copied it in to my working QPC directory - which then starts up and runs SMSQE v3.33 instead of v3.28, as per PRINT VER$(1).

Marcel might be best to comment on how 'safe' this approach is.

Safe or not, Ive use this method all the time without any problems. Same goes for SMSQmulator.

Glad its all sorted now, Norman.

[Per - thanks for confirming the SMSQE update process!]

Hi,

The Black Phoenix animation does not work very well on SMSQmulator. But once loaded works great.

Hi,

Black Phoenix on the Q68 HI-COLOUR modes:
DISP_MODE 7 : 1024x768 Mode 33
DISP_MODE 5 : 1024x768 256 Colour
DISP_MODE 3 : 1024x512 Mode 33

I would not advise using these screen modes due they slow the Q68 down.

Thd best screen mode is:

DISP_MODE 6 : 512x384 Mode 33

This screen mode gives 65535 colours and does not slow the Q68 down.