pancelor [Lexaloffle Blog Feed]

Web clipboard broken (0.2.6c dev8)

Mon, 10 Feb 2025 02:28:58 UTC

repro steps:

run cart bitplane_grid-3 in the web player
press ctrl-c
paste into an external text editor

expected behavior: clipboard should have poke(0x5f5e,0xff) in it
actual behavior: clipboard is unchanged (my specs: linux, firefox, 0.2.6c dev8)

(cart from here)

bitplane_grid

by pancelor

[Click to Play]

Maybe this is a known bug, which is part of why it's "0.2.6cdev8" instead of "0.2.6c"? But here's a ping just in case you don't know about it @zep. (web clipboard stuff seems like a huge pain, I don't envy you trying to fix it...)

The cart has some debug print statements -- open the browser dev tools and you can see it print out "copying str:" right before calling printh(str,'@clip'). I noticed there's no red "press c to copy" prompt that the web player used to show, maybe that's a clue.

I also noticed that a lone ctrl press is now caught by stat(31); my debug logging prints ch code ソ 218 on web, but completely misses this key press in the desktop app (linux, 0.2.6b). I think that may be a separate bug? Shift and alt are not caught in the same way, and I don't think I'd care about a bare ctrl press while reading text input

Toggle Music mod for any cart

Mon, 03 Feb 2025 08:36:48 UTC

Sometimes it'd be nice to mute the music in a game you downloaded from the BBS, but not mute the sound effects. Maybe their music isn't to your taste, maybe you've played it way too much and now you want to listen to your own music instead; there are plenty of reasons.

One easy trick is just typing music=min to kill the music completely. If you'd rather be able to toggle the music on and off, here's a quick snippet:

-- pancelor music toggle v4
-- https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=146963
_music_fn,_music_last=music,-1
function music(...)
	if _music_muted then
		_music_last=... --save 1st arg
	else
		_music_fn(...)
	end
end

menuitem(5,"♪music",function()
	_music_muted=not _music_muted
	if _music_muted then
		_music_fn(-1,500)
		menuitem(nil,"…music")
	else
		_music_fn(_music_last)
		menuitem(nil,"♪music")
	end
	return true
end)

It should work for most carts, just paste it onto the end of the cart's code. It might be convenient to use this as a dev as well (not just as a player) -- it remembers the last call to music() and re-calls it when the player unmutes.

pancelor's postcarts

Sat, 02 Nov 2024 12:52:43 UTC

pancelors_postcarts

by pancelor

[Click to Play]

This is a collection of my various tweetcarts and other code art, circa 2019-2023. Most of my non-interactable postcarts etc are in here, including a few that are only included as a part of this collection. 25+ fun little animations!

(I posted this on itch a while back but forgot to post it here until just now, as I was reading zep's release notes for the BBS's new postcart feature. So I'm uploading my postcart gallery now; better late than never!)

Controls

These carts are non-interactive animations for you to look at. The only interaction is opening the menu (Enter/P), where you can change the active cart.

Press left/right on the cart name to manually swap out the active cart
The carts will auto-advance to a random cart every 20~60 seconds. You can disable this by setting "Cycle: no" in the menu

An example of navigating the menu:

There are 25+ carts in this thing, be sure to check out at least one of these before you leave: system restored, adrift, wormys, weird bug, firefly spring

Hope you enjoy!

Technical details:

Search for carts={ to find the source code for each cart (inside the "script" function of each table entry). The code isn't very readable, but that's where you can find it. There are links to the canonical versions elsewhere, which you can try to pick apart using my twiddler tool, if you'd like.

For this gallery cartridge, I had to set up this whole harness that runs each cart in a sort of sandbox, letting them act as intended without messing with each other. There were lots of finicky parts to this:

resetting the draw state after each cart
using coroutines to allow carts to use goto and other unusual control flow
saving a screenshot of the initial pico-8 state, for the carts that depend on it
redefining the time() function so that carts would think they started at t=0
saving a copy of the values of special characters like 🐱, in case carts redefine those values
etc, etc

I had to make some minor changes to some carts (mainly changing flip() calls to yield() calls) but mostly I was able to wholesale copy-paste them directly into this gallery cartridge, which felt pretty neat.

music desync (0.1.1b)

Thu, 22 Aug 2024 23:26:15 UTC

@zep o/ thanks for fixing the sfx arpeggio effects! here's another audio bug for you:

The music for embedded BBS carts has a noticeable music desync in some cases (the individual tracks sound out-of-sync from each other). I noticed it on linux+firefox with my music visualizer demo cart, reproduced here for convenience:

datufbuyi

by pancelor

[Click to Play]

Individual tracks desync from each other; it consistently happens after the song switches from pattern 3 to pattern 4. The second screenshot here shows me catching it right when it happens:

That last number (the one that desyncs by 11 ticks for me) is stat(400+i,11). I believe this represents the number of ticks played on channel i for the current pattern.

This also happens locally in the linux executable, but the tracks only desync by a single tick. I can't hear it, but you can see it by pausing after pattern 4.

I think this is new as of 0.1.1, but it's possible I just didn't notice in 0.1.0h when I uploaded this cart, or the desync might be less consistent than it currently seems

sfx/music data layout

Fri, 02 Aug 2024 22:56:07 UTC

Inspired by https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=2341, here's a description of how sfx and music are stored in Picotron. (Well, there's not much description here yet, just some helpful code. I'll add to this over time)

The data can be in unusual custom formats. The header data is supposed to help in these cases and is accounted for in this code (with some asserts to crash if the data format is unknown). But for most people using this code, the data will be in the standard format.

Library

Code:

-- sfx/music data wrangler
-- by pancelor

-- The docs call this the "index", I call it the "header"
-- https://www.lexaloffle.com/dl/docs/picotron_synth.html#Index
function sfxheader_read()
	local num_instruments, num_tracks, num_patterns, flags = peek2(0x30000, 4)
	-- ...8 unused bytes here...
	local insts_addr, tracks_addr, patterns_addr, unused1 = peek4(0x30010, 4)
	assert(unused1==0,"bad sfx header 1")
	local tick_len, def_len, def_spd = peek2(0x30020, 3)
	local def_spd2, unused2, unused3, unused4 = peek(0x30026, 4)
	-- TODO def_spd2 v. def_spd?
	assert(unused2==0,"bad sfx header 2")
	assert(unused3==0,"bad sfx header 3")
	assert(unused4==0,"bad sfx header 4")
	return {
		num_instruments = num_instruments,
		num_tracks = num_tracks,
		num_patterns = num_patterns,
		flags = flags, --0x1 use default track indexing (base+0x20000, increments of 328 bytes)
		insts_addr = insts_addr, --relative address of instruments
		tracks_addr = tracks_addr, --relative address of track index
		patterns_addr = patterns_addr, --relative address of pattern data
		tick_len = tick_len, --in 1/16ths of a sample at 44100Hz [0 means 5880 -- 120 ticks / second]
		def_len = def_len, --used by patterns that do not have a default length specified
		def_spd = def_spd, --used by patterns that do not have a default speed specified
		def_spd2 = def_spd2, -- ??
	}
end

function pattern_read(i)
	local base = 0x30100 + sfxheader_read().patterns_addr -- normally 0x30100
	local addr = base + i*20
	local tracks = { peek(addr, 8) }
	local flow_flags, channel_mask = peek(addr+8, 2)
	local len = peek2(addr+10)
	-- ...8 unused bytes here...
	return {
		tracks = tracks, -- array with 8 track ids
		flow_flags = flow_flags, -- 0x1 loop forward, 0x2 loop backward, 0x4 stop
		channel_mask = channel_mask, -- 0x1 is tracks[1] unmuted? 0x2 is tracks[2] unmuted? 0x4 => tracks[3], 0x8 => tracks[4], ... 0x80 => tracks[8]
		len = len, --TODO: how does this interact with track length and header def_len/def_len2?
	}
end

function track_read(i)
	local header = sfxheader_read()
	assert(header.flags&1==1,"unknown track format")
	local base = 0x30000 + header.tracks_addr -- normally 0x50000
	local addr = base + i*328
	local len = peek2(addr)
	local spd, loop0, loop1, delay, flags, unused = peek(addr+2, 6)
	assert(unused==0,"bad sfx track")
	-- note: if len<64 then some of this data is irrelevant:
	local pitches = { peek(addr+8,64) }
	local instruments = { peek(addr+72,64) }
	local volumes = { peek(addr+136,64) }
	local effects = { peek(addr+200,64) }
	local effect_params = { peek(addr+264,64) }
	return {
		len = len,
		spd = spd,
		loop0 = loop0,
		loop1 = loop1,
		delay = delay,
		flags = flags, --0x1 mute
		-- 64-length arrays, 1 entry per note:
		pitches = pitches,
		instruments = instruments,
		volumes = volumes, -- a 0xFF entry means muted
		effects = effects, -- stored as their ascii code -- retrieve with ord()
		effect_params = effect_params,
	}
end

-- an alternate version of track_read that extracts a single row
-- ti: track index
-- ri: row index
function track_row_read(ti,ri)
	local header = sfxheader_read()
	assert(header.flags&1==1,"unknown track format")
	local base = 0x30000 + header.tracks_addr -- normally 0x50000
	local addr = base + ti*328 + ri
	return {
		pitch = peek(addr+8),
		instrument = peek(addr+72),
		volume = peek(addr+136),
		effect = peek(addr+200),
		effect_params = peek(addr+264),
	}
end

function instrument_read(i)
	local base = 0x30000 + sfxheader_read().tracks_addr -- normally 0x40000
	local addr = base + i*0x200
	assert(false,"not implemented")
	-- see https://www.lexaloffle.com/dl/docs/picotron_synth.html#Index
	-- or read /system/apps/sfx.p64/data.lua:clear_instrument() for info
end

-- i: channel index 0..7
function channel_current_track(i)
	return stat(464,0)>>i&1~=0 and stat(400+i,12) or -1
end
-- i: channel index 0..7
function channel_current_row(i)
	return stat(464,0)>>i&1~=0 and stat(400+i,9) or -1
end
-- number of ticks played on current pattern
function channel_ticks_played(i)
	return stat(400+i,11)
end
--currently playing pattern, or -1
function current_pattern()
	return stat(466)
end

Sources:

/system/apps/sfx.p64/data.lua
https://www.lexaloffle.com/dl/docs/picotron_synth.html#Index

Demo cart

Here's a tiny music "visualizer" that uses this library:

datufbuyi

by pancelor

[Click to Play]

License

This library is licensed as CC BY 4.0 (basically, credit me and link back to this post, and you can use this code for anything)

(This does not include the music playing in the demo cart. The music is by @iaoth and is licensed as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 -- see https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?pid=51460)

spritesheet remapping 0x5f54 crashes after reboot

Wed, 19 Jun 2024 01:38:37 UTC

@zep o/

0.2.6b / linux:

launch pico8 executable
run poke(0x5f54,0x80) (in the console)
run reboot
run poke(0x5f54,0x80) (copied from the 0.2.6 release notes)
the executable crashes

Step 2 is optional -- it still crashes in step 5 if you skip step 2
In Step 4, running poke(0x5f54,0x60) instead does not crash.

I'm not sure how to get a stacktrace on my machine, or if it's even possible. this is the best I know how to do:

> coredumpctl debug
           PID: 12604 (pico8)
           UID: 1000 (pancelor)
           GID: 1000 (pancelor)
        Signal: 11 (SEGV)
     Timestamp: Tue 2024-06-18 18:51:34 PDT (3min 17s ago)
  Command Line: /home/pancelor/.config/itch/apps/pico-8/pico-8/pico8 -root_path /run/media/pancelor/data/Users/pancelor/Documents/pancelor/src/pico8/
    Executable: /home/pancelor/.config/itch/apps/pico-8/pico-8/pico8
 Control Group: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/[email protected]/app.slice/app-pico8-b4acdb07c9cf4629b15a6b78f024fa7f.scope
          Unit: [email protected]
     User Unit: app-pico8-b4acdb07c9cf4629b15a6b78f024fa7f.scope
         Slice: user-1000.slice
     Owner UID: 1000 (pancelor)
       Boot ID: bc016245c64e47f1b3755470beec5d96
    Machine ID: 4eec57f899074b4eb49773a72b91be1c
      Hostname: pancelor-manjaro
       Storage: /var/lib/systemd/coredump/core.pico8.1000.bc016245c64e47f1b3755470beec5d96.12604.1718761894000000.zst (present)
  Size on Disk: 10.3M
       Message: Process 12604 (pico8) of user 1000 dumped core.

                Stack trace of thread 12604:
                #0  0x00000000004734e6 n/a (/home/pancelor/.config/itch/apps/pico-8/pico-8/pico8 + 0x734e6)
                ELF object binary architecture: AMD x86-64

Failed to invoke gdb: No such file or directory

tl;dr: SEGV at 0x734e6

coroutine stack pollution

Sun, 02 Jun 2024 04:59:16 UTC

wutewuwiho

by pancelor

[Click to Play]

hi @zep! This cart should not error, but it does (pico8 0.2.6b / linux)

-- wrap everything in func _init to fix it
--function _init()

--uncomment this to fix it
--poke(0,0)

--make this local to fix it
coro = cocreate(function()
  -- uncomment this to fix it
-- local x=1
  for i=0,32000 do
    -- flr() is arbitary here; it's
    -- just a func that should
    -- return only one value
    local rets = pack(flr(i))
    if #rets~=1 then
      local str="flr rvals:"
      for i,v in ipairs(rets) do
        str ..= "\n\t"..i..": "..tostr(v)
      end
      str ..="\nstat(1): "..stat(1)
      print(str.."\n")
      assert(false)
    end
    -- uncomment this to fix it
--    if flr==flr then end
  end
end)

cls()

--remove second param to fix it
assert(coresume(coro, "uh-oh"))

print"no errors"

It seems like the string "uh oh" is being popped from the stack in a completely wrong place.

See also https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=141267 , a picotron coroutine bug. This cart is a modified version of @jesstelford's code there. I'm unsure if the root cause is related, but the result is the same.

Notably, this cart consistently crashes every single time (unlike the picotron version), and seems directly related to stat(1) going over 1.0

I marked a bunch of things you can uncomment to make this test case pass. (there are some very weird things you can do to make it suddenly work)

I'm fuzzy on the details, but it seems like something like this is happening:

coresume(coro, "uh-oh") pushes "uh-oh" to the internal lua/C/lua_State stack, where it stays for a while (because there isn't a yield() that pops that value)
the coroutine takes a long time (stat(1)>1), and pico8 pauses my cart to do its own thing (flip, etc)
pico8 prepares to hand control back to my cart, by restoring the state my cart was in when it got forcibly paused. it restores the stack with "uh-oh" on it, but it does it wrong somehow
my code resumes running, maybe right at the point where flr() returns? (that would be quite a coincidence, but it might explain why irrelevant changes like local x=1 would squash the bug)
flr returns the correct value, but also the rest of the stack, which is "uh oh".

0x5f36 automatic character wrap + camera

Thu, 23 May 2024 21:45:57 UTC

I'm pretty sure this is a bug; I'm on pico8 0.2.6b / linux

You can turn on character wrapping with 0x5f36 / 24374, but it acts unexpectedly when you move the camera:

cls(1)
poke(0x5f36,0x80) --turn on character wrapping
msg='0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz'
?msg,0,0,12
camera(16,0)
?msg,16,12,13

Expected behavior: both prints should wrap at the edge of the screen.
Actual behavior:

There's a similar issue with p8scii "\^r" wrapping:

cls(1)
msg='\^rf0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz' --note p8scii wrap at start
?msg,0,0,13
camera(16,0)
?msg,16,18,14

menuitem never runs with P8SCII flip()

Fri, 17 May 2024 11:49:05 UTC

cart A: (broken)

msg="havent pressed test yet"
menuitem(1,"★test",function() msg="pressed test!" end)

::_::
?"\^1\^c" --https://www.lexaloffle.com/dl/docs/pico-8_manual.html#Control_Codes
print(time(),0,0,7)
print(msg)
goto _

cart B: (working)

msg="havent pressed test yet"
menuitem(1,"★test",function() msg="pressed test!" end)

::_::
flip()?"\^c" --this line is the only difference
print(time(),0,0,7)
print(msg)
goto _

These two carts should behave the same, but the menuitem function in cart A never runs -- after opening the menu and selecting the menuitem, it still says "havent pressed test yet"

cart B works as expected -- it says "pressed test!"

My system is linux / pico8 0.2.6b

Make Ten

Sat, 11 May 2024 11:27:15 UTC

make_ten

by pancelor

[Click to Play]

Select numbers that add to ten, to remove them from the board. How high can you score in just 2 minutes?

An homage to Fruit Box. A FruitBox-like? There are some big differences in this version, the most obvious being the lack of music. (the music in the original is incredible)

How to play

Drag your mouse to select groups of numbers that add up to 10.
I recommend playing in fullscreen; it's easier to click on larger numbers.
In the original game, you're awarded one point per number removed,
Get the highest score you can within 2 minutes. Good luck!

This was my submission for TweetTweetJam 9, written in 490 characters of code:

z={}c=-8s=0g='⁶!5f58⁵d8"'::_::?"⁶1⁶c0⁶!5f2d3"
e=1x=stat(32)y=stat(33)if btn(5)do f=mid(16,96,y)if(p==a)p=x q=f?"⁷i6v1c1"
😐=c&min(x,p)⌂=c&min(f,q)♪=c&max(x,p)♥=c&max(f,q)else if(p)p=a if(n==c)e=0?"⁷i7f1a"
end?g,d
n=2for i=32,207do w=z[i]or rnd(9)\1+1u=i%16*8v=c&i\2if(u-😐|♪-u|v-⌂|♥-v>0)w*=e n-=w ⬅️+=➡️&~e
z[i]=w?w,u,v,w
end?"⁶jc1score "..s,-🅾️
if(btnp(6))🅾️=⬇️
if(p)rect(😐,⌂,♪+9,♥+8)
d=-t()?"⁶x2¹b█",d-5,106
if(d==-128)➡️=0g="⁶j8rtime up!"⬇️=🅾️?"⁷v3fg"
if(s<⬅️)s+=1?"⁷x5v3c0"
?"⁶.¹³⁷ᶠ³⁴\0\0",x-2,y-2,7
goto _

There's a commented version here.

Deluxe edition

Coming soon! Check itch for updates.

if-shorthand parser weirdness

Thu, 09 May 2024 01:02:15 UTC

@zep This maybe isn't a bug, but it feels very weird to me:

cls()
if (1)<2 print"a"
print"b"

this prints a b, but I would expect a syntax error instead -- the condition is "1<2" but the if-shorthand parens are only surrounding the 1, instead of the whole condition.

(if you change it to if (1)<0 then it only prints "b", which verifies that the condition isn't being interpreted as just if (1) or something like that)

oh, and my system is pico8 0.2.6b / linux

parser bug: shorthand if+print+comment

Tue, 07 May 2024 11:54:35 UTC

Hi @zep!

pico8 0.2.6b / linux:

cls()
if (false)?1 --hi
print(2)
print(3)

expected output: 2 3
actual output: 3

Here's an altered version that works as expected:

cls()
if (false)?1
print(2)
print(3)

(this prints 2 3, as expected)

3 things seem required to trigger this bug:

shorthand if
shorthand print on the same line
!! further text after the shorthand print (" --hi", in this example. but just a single trailing space triggers the bug too)

When these are all true, the next line seems to get scooped up into the shorthand line. This can include attaching an else to the wrong if, like in this more complicated example:

cls()
if false then
 if (false)?1 --hi
else
 print(2)
 print(3)
end
print(4)

expected output: 2 3 4
actual output: 4

photo_carousel

Sun, 07 Apr 2024 11:59:48 UTC

This is a silent tutorial video; skip to 2:10 for the juicy bit:

This is an animated wallpaper that shows your custom PNG files -- just place them in a particular folder! It also works as a screensaver. It's cpu-friendly, only drawing during transitions.

Installing

load #photo_carousel
mkdir /appdata/system/wallpapers
save /appdata/system/wallpapers/photo_carousel.p64
run the cart once, to generate the appdata folder
cd /appdata/photo_carousel
folder
using your host OS, copy any PNG files into this folder (don't put them in subfolders)
set your wallpaper to photo_carousel in System Settings

Settings

Run podtree /appdata/photo_carousel/settings.pod to edit the settings. Be sure to not press enter while editing (this crashes Picotron 0.1.0e) and you must save with the mouse, not ctrl-s (another Picotron bug(?) -- ctrl-s saves the current cart, instead of the settings file)

Set the transition time to 0 to disable transitions

Details

Converting PNGs

This cart uses importpng to convert PNG files into Picotron graphics. It does this once, in the background, and caches the results.

If you edit one of your PNGs, photo_carousel won't notice (afaik it's impossible to get last-edited time of PNGs in Picotron) Rename your file to generate a new cache entry, or delete /appdata/photo_carousel/cache.pod to regenerate the entire cache.

importpng is fast, but it's sometimes lacking in its ability to convert images into Picotron's palette. If you want better colors, you should use an external tool (like Aseprite) to convert your PNG into the base Picotron palette (you'll want the base palette, because the global palette changes to the base palette whenever you focus on some other window)

In the future I may use PNG Frame to get better colors by default, but I haven't done that work yet.

Transitions

You can add your own transitions -- you can skim through src/subdraw.lua without needing to understand anything else in the cart, and add new entries to the list of "subdraws" (transitions). Its very shadery/demosceney code

Many of the subdraws use some helper functions in src/tools.lua

Post your transition code here!

CPU usage

The cart uses about 0.002 cpu (0.2%) most of the time. During transitions, it can spike up to 25% cpu or so (depending on the transition). If you care, you can disable the transitions as a whole (by editing the settings) or individually (by editing the multi-line comments in src/subdraw.lua)

Cart

Here's the cart file. (It won't work here on the BBS, you need to download it)

photo_carousel

by pancelor

[Click to Play]

coroutine bug

Sat, 30 Mar 2024 08:35:58 UTC

hey @zep, I've found a nasty coroutine(?)/multival bug. I'm on Linux + picotron 0.1.0d.

tl;dr: sometimes select("#",tostr(i)) is 2, possibly triggered by calling coresume() with extra args.

I ran into this initially because add({},3,nil) is a runtime error now (it used to work in PICO-8, but now it throws bad argument #2 to 'add' (position out of bounds)). I had some code: add(list,quote(arg)) that was crashing as if quote() was returning a second value for some reason, even though the code for quote() definitely returned just one value. (surrounding it in parens (to only keep the first return value) fixed my bug: add(list,(quote(arg))))

Version A of the code is very short, and trips the assert inside spin maybe 50% of the time? sometimes many runs in a row don't trigger the assert, but sometimes many runs in a row all trigger the assert. (maybe that's just statistics tho). Version B is a bit more complex but always trips the assert instantly for me.

Version A: (short, inconsistent)

Version B: (longer, very consistent)

As noted in Version A, the two coresume-wrapping-functions inside cocreate_spin() act differently -- I've never been able to trip the assert with the "good" version. I've tried versions of this code with no coroutines and haven't been able to trip the assert.

idk what else to say, this bug seems baffling -- sometimes select("#",quote(i)) is 2, despite quote() being a wrapper for tostr()

import png

Wed, 27 Mar 2024 11:24:42 UTC

importpng

by pancelor

[Click to Play]

Guide

Currently (in Picotron 0.1.0e) it's hard to use a PNG image as a sprite. You can fetch("myimage.png"), but the result isn't in the right image format. So, here's a small tool to convert PNG files into picotron sprites.

Drag any .png or .qoi image into the tool to convert it into a sprite pod on your clipboard. You can paste this into the graphics editor, or into code.

Drag in a .hex file (e.g. from lospec.com) or a .pal file (e.g. from OkPal) before importing your png to change the import palette.

Details

Import speed

This tool prioritizes import speed. Images with only a few unique colors (e.g. an image already in the picotron palette) will import much faster than images with many colors.

Color quantization

You can use any colors, and the tool will try it's best to fit them to the palette. It isn't very smart about converting colors (it uses nearest euclidean distance in RGB space, and doesn't do any dithering). If you want better color conversion, use some external tool and make sure the PNG is in the correct palette before converting it with this tool.

See also PNG Frame, in "Related tools" below.

Wallpapers

If you're making a desktop wallpaper, I think you should stick to the default palette. If you use a custom palette, then your colors will change whenever you focus some window besides the desktop, I'm pretty sure.

To make a wallpaper:

make sure your wallpaper folder exists (mkdir /appdata/system/wallpapers)

save a new cart into that folder with this code:

function _draw()
    spr(1)
    _draw = function() end
end

convert your image using this tool, and copy it into your clipboard
paste your image into sprite 1 of the default sprite file

Library usage

This code is organized to make it easy to use as a library in your code. The library is self-contained in lib/importpng.lua, and you interact with it by calling myjob = job_importpng(myimg). The returned "job" is essentially a coroutine, but one that will let you limit its processing time. Call myjob:work(limit) during _update() until the job is done, or call myjob:join() a single time to finish it all at once (likely lagging the game). See the code for more details.

License: CC4-BY-NC-SA

Related tools

Cutievirus' PNG Frame -- a similar tool with much better color conversion. If your png is already in the right palette, importpng is faster than PNG Frame. But if you want better color quantization, use PNG Frame.
My Aseprite PICO-8/Picotron export extension lets you export Picotron pods directly to your clipboard from Aseprite.
My sprite importer lets you import PICO-8 spritesheets into Picotron.
My photo carousel uses this importer to show your custom PNGs as an animated wallpaper.
drakmaniso's OkPal palette editor.

changelog

p8x8: convert PICO-8 carts to Picotron

Tue, 26 Mar 2024 14:35:54 UTC

p8x8

by pancelor

[Click to Play]

p8x8: convert PICO-8 carts into Picotron carts (some assembly required)

I'm declaring p8x8 good enough for public release! It's a tool to convert pico8 carts to picotron -- it's not perfect and it requires some manual intervention in most cases, but it's magical being able to play a bunch of games on the new system without much effort.

Lots more info (instructions, compatibility notes, CC license, etc) here: https://github.com/pancelor/p8x8/

Teaser video here: https://mastodon.social/@pancelor/112162470395945383

changelog

v1.8 (#p8x8-8, unreleased)

music/sfx conversion!! just waiting on picotron 010h to add instrument effects

v1.7 (#p8x8-7)

fix secret palette
add more docs
add p8x8_symbol_visual() and p8x8_datastring() alongside p8x8_symbol() to help convert symbols. details

sedish: edit system files on startup

Mon, 18 Mar 2024 04:05:44 UTC

Here's my /appdata/system/startup.lua file (picotron automatically runs it on startup)

-- take str, delete all chars between
-- indices i0 and i1 (inclusive), and
-- insert newstr into that space
local function splice(str,i0,i1, newstr)
	return sub(str,1,max(1,i0)-1)..(newstr or "")..sub(str,i1+1)
end

-- use str:find to do sed-like file editing.
-- no lua patterns, just literal string matching
-- return str, but replace the first instance of cut with paste
local function _replace(str,cut,paste)
	local i0,i1 = str:find(cut,1,true) -- no pattern-matching
	if not i0 then
		return str,false
	end
	return splice(str,i0,i1,paste),true
end

local function sedish(fname,mods)
	local src = fetch(fname)
	if not src then
		printh("sedish: couldn't find file "..fname)
		return
	end

	for i,mod in ipairs(mods) do
		local cut,paste = unpack(mod)
		-- printh(cut.." "..paste)
		if not cut or not paste then
			printh("sedish: bad cut/paste data in "..fname)
			return
		end
		local changed
		src,changed = _replace(src,cut,paste)
		if not changed then
			printh("sedish: mod #"..i.." did nothing to "..fname)
		end
		if not src or #src==0 then
			printh("sedish: bad result in "..fname)
			return
		end
	end
	-- printh("storing "..fname..": "..sub(src,1,100):gsub("[\n\r]",""))
	store(fname,src)
end

sedish("/system/lib/gui_ed.lua",{
	{ -- fix alt-tab annoyance (pressing alt-tab inserts tab character into code)
		[[if (keyp("tab")) then]],
		[[if keyp"tab" and not key"alt" then]],
	},
})

sedish("/system/apps/podtree.p64/main.lua",{
	{ -- fix podtree bug (pressing enter crashes the program)
		[[if(key("shift")) return true]],
		[[if(_ENV.key("shift")) return true]],
	},
})

-- (you need to open a new gfx tab for these gfx.p64 edits to work)
sedish("/system/apps/gfx.p64/pal.lua",{
	{ -- show pal numbers
		[[pcols[x + y*epr])]],
		[[pcols[x + y*epr])if pal_swatch==1 and x%2==0 then print(pcols[x + y*epr],x*ww+5,y*ww+1,0) end]],
	},
})
-- sedish("/system/apps/gfx.p64/nav.lua",{
-- 	{ -- display sprite numbers in hex
-- 		[[string.format("%03d",current_item)]],
-- 		[[string.format("x%02x",current_item)]],
-- 	},
-- })
sedish("/system/apps/gfx.p64/update.lua",{
	{ -- don't flip when you press ctrl-v (noticeable when undoing)
		[[if (keyp("v"))]],
		[[if (keyp"v" and not key"ctrl")]],
	},
})

sedish("/system/lib/gui_ed.lua",{
	{ -- fix custom key callbacks in gui
		[[content.key_callback(k)]],
		[[content.key_callback[k](k)]],
	},
})

-- doesn't work for startup terminal
--   need to wait for it to regenerate, e.g. after running a fullscreen app
sedish("/system/apps/terminal.lua",{
	{ -- add custom terminal_cd event (to let my z.lua util "run" cd for you)
		[[-- scroll down only if needed]],
		[[on_event("terminal_cd",function(msg) cd(msg.path) end)]],
	},
	{ -- show slightly different terminal prompt when in upgraded terminal
		[[return result -- custom prompt goes here]],
		[[return "\f6"..pwd().."\f7 > "]],
	},
})

printh "sedish done"

what is this

I made this because picotron inserts a tab into my code whenever I alt-tab. I figured out how to edit the code editor itself to not do that, and then I made this script to automatically make the required edits. (you can't just edit the files on disk, because they get regenerated every time picotron boots)

this won't be necessary for too long hopefully, but it works great for now!

(the name "sedish" comes from the (loose) inspiration for this: sed)

post your tweaks

If anyone has other system tweaks like this one (fixing alt-tab), post them here!

pico8 sprite+map importer

Sun, 17 Mar 2024 13:58:25 UTC

update: there are basically 3 tools that are relevant here:

this tool (sprimp) -- maybe still useful, but superceded by p8x8:
p8x8: a tool to fully convert PICO-8 carts to Picotron carts (some assembly required) -- this grew out of sprimp
my aseprite exporter plugin -- still useful

You probably want to check out p8x8 instead, but I'm leaving this thread as it is since it may still be useful or interesting to some people.

sprimp

by pancelor

[Click to Play]

tada! now you can import pico8 spritesheets. and map too!

importing a .p8 file

put your game.p8 file somewhere inside picotron's file system
- the filename should not have any dashes ("-"), they generally cause problems currently (picotron 0.1.0b2)
run this importer (sprimp)
import the p8 cart
- you can drag-and-drop the cart onto the sprimp window
- or you can use "Import .p8 file" in the menu (the dialog that pops up says "save as" -- please ignore this. this is the best way I know how to launch a system filepicker)

exporting sprites

press "Save gfx..". choose a filename; the default is /ram/cart/gfx/0.gfx (which is the default spritesheet for your current cart)
IMPORTANT: if the spritesheet was already open in picotron's gfx editor, you'll need to close the file and reopen it (right click on the tab, close, then press the plus)
if you saved to /ram/cart/... save your cart afterwards (ctrl-s)

exporting map

(same as exporting sprites, just click "Save map.." instead)
for an easy transition from pico8 maps to picotron maps, check out this snippet, which includes mget and mset replacements

other ways to import (copypaste, aseprite)

future plans

changelog

adrift

Fri, 15 Mar 2024 13:37:14 UTC

susizker

by pancelor

[Click to Play]

just a port of a tweetcart of mine to the new system :)

move this into /system/screensavers/ and it'll show up as an option in your settings

If you run it on its own as a cart, you'll want to run reset() vid(0) in the console afterwards to get things back to normal

edit: if you want it to be permanently available, you need to put it in /appdata/system/screensavers (otherwise, you need to re-add it every time you start picotron). create the folder by copying the system folder: cp /system/screensavers /appdata/system/screensavers

ghost patrol

Wed, 04 Oct 2023 21:47:32 UTC

ghostpatrol

by pancelor

[Click to Play]

Oh no, ghosts are approaching the town!

Mayor Wombledon has begged ALFREDO THE GHOUL BANISHER to team up with THE WILY WIZ to protect the town. Can they put aside their differences and work together, or will evil spirits devour the populace?

Controls

Arrow keys: move
Z: swap heroes
Enter/P: pause (level select, volume controls)
X: next level

Outcomes

1 night protected: You have the villagers' sincere gratitude 🙏
5 nights protected: The villagers are beginning to hope again 😭
10 nights protected: Valiant Heroes 🏆
40 nights protected: Local Deity 🤯

Tips

Alfredo can dig up graves with his fearsome claws.
The Wiz can swap places with nearly anything.
You can change levels freely in the pause menu.
Never give up; always fight with your full strength.

1024 bytes, made by pancelor for PICO-1K 2023. Thanks to timp + shrinko8 for compression help!

The layouts were randomly generated, but they don't change. My best times for the first 5 levels are 7 / 11 / 15 / 39 / 41.

If you enjoyed this, you might also enjoy my game Hungry Eggbug, or the board game that loosely inspired this game: Ricochet Robots.

pancelor [Lexaloffle Blog Feed]

Web clipboard broken (0.2.6c dev8)

Toggle Music mod for any cart

pancelor's postcarts

Controls

Technical details:

music desync (0.1.1b)

sfx/music data layout

Library

Demo cart

License

spritesheet remapping 0x5f54 crashes after reboot

coroutine stack pollution

0x5f36 automatic character wrap + camera

menuitem never runs with P8SCII flip()

Make Ten

How to play

Deluxe edition

if-shorthand parser weirdness

parser bug: shorthand if+print+comment

photo_carousel

Installing

Settings

Details

Converting PNGs

Transitions

CPU usage

Cart

coroutine bug

import png

Guide

Details

Import speed

Color quantization

Wallpapers

Library usage

Related tools

changelog

v0.4 (#importpng-9)

v0.3 (#importpng-7)

v0.2 (#importpng-6)

v0.1 (#importpng-4)

p8x8: convert PICO-8 carts to Picotron

p8x8: convert PICO-8 carts into Picotron carts (some assembly required)

changelog

v1.8 (#p8x8-8, unreleased)

v1.7 (#p8x8-7)

v1.6 (#p8x8-6)

v1.5 (#p8x8-5)

v1.4 (#p8x8-4)

v1.3 (#p8x8-3)

v1.2 (#p8x8-2)

v1.1 (#p8x8-1)

v1.0 (#p8x8-0)

sedish: edit system files on startup

what is this

post your tweaks

pico8 sprite+map importer

importing a .p8 file

exporting sprites

exporting map

other ways to import (copypaste, aseprite)

importing sprite by copy-paste

importing a single sprite

importing from aseprite

future plans

changelog

v0.2

v0.1

adrift

ghost patrol

Controls

Outcomes

Tips