This was probably posted before:

https://int10h.org/oldschool-pc-fonts/

They claim most of the fonts they offer are compatible with CP437. So no Unicode to worry about, no problems with using `CHR$()` with them!

I noticed the Date$ function returns the current date, but there is no:

We have 2 entries to choose from for Fall Banner 2023.

One from @dbox (the run and jump)
One from @bplus (falling leaves)

Please cast your vote for which banner you would like!

Both banners were created with QBJS, and the winning banner will be embedded to the top of every page of the forum.

Good luck!

We will accept votes until this Friday October 6th, 2023.

@bplus Falling Leaves


@dbox Run and Jump

I'm sure making this kind of thing is a piece of cake to a lot of you, but it was a learning experience for me.  Had a little help on it.

Balls rain from the top, some bounce with gravity, then sink away.

- Dav

'============

'BALLRAIN.BAS

'============

'Balls rain from the top, some drop, some bounce then sink away.

'For QB64 by Dav, SEP/2023



SCREEN _NEWIMAGE(1000, 600, 32)



balls = 200 'number of balls on screen, 200 is my laptop's comfort zone



DIM ballx(balls), bally(balls), ballxvel(balls), ballyvel(balls), ballsize(balls)

DIM ballred(balls), ballgrn(balls), ballblu(balls)



'make random ball values

FOR b = 1 TO balls

    ballx(b) = RND * (_WIDTH) 'x position

    bally(b) = RND * -(_HEIGHT) 'y position

    ballxvel(b) = INT(RND * 7) 'x speed

    ballyvel(b) = INT(RND * 3) 'y speed

    ballsize(b) = RND * 15 + 10 'ball size

    ballred(b) = RND * 255 'red color

    ballgrn(b) = RND * 255 'green color

    ballblu(b) = RND * 255 'blue color

NEXT



DO

    CLS



    FOR b = 1 TO balls



        IF bally(b) < _HEIGHT - ballsize(b) THEN



            ballx(b) = ballx(b) + ballxvel(b)

            bally(b) = bally(b) + ballyvel(b)



            IF ballx(b) < ballsize(b) OR ballx(b) > _WIDTH - ballsize(b) THEN

                ballxvel(b) = -ballxvel(b)

            END IF



            IF bally(b) < ballsize(b) OR bally(b) > _HEIGHT - (ballsize(b) * 2) THEN

                ballyvel(b) = -ballyvel(b)

            END IF



            ballyvel(b) = ballyvel(b) + 3 'gravity value

            'ballxvel(b) = ballxvel(b) + (Rnd * 1.2 - Rnd * 1.2) 'x shake



            'draw gradient ball

            FOR y2 = bally(b) - ballsize(b) TO bally(b) + ballsize(b)

                FOR x2 = ballx(b) - ballsize(b) TO ballx(b) + ballsize(b)

                    clr = (ballsize(b) - (SQR((x2 - ballx(b)) * (x2 - ballx(b)) + (y2 - bally(b)) * (y2 - bally(b))))) / ballsize(b)

                    IF clr > 0 THEN PSET (x2, y2), _RGB(clr * ballred(b), clr * ballgrn(b), clr * ballblu(b))

                NEXT

            NEXT



        END IF

    NEXT



    'see if balls done

    onscreen = 0

    FOR b = 1 TO balls

        IF bally(b) < _HEIGHT - ballsize(b) THEN onscreen = 1

    NEXT

    IF onscreen = 0 THEN EXIT DO



    _DISPLAY

    _LIMIT 24



LOOP

As I see, QB64 only knows the logarithm function LOG() to the base e.
The following small program calculates the binary logarithm ( logarithm to the base of 2) and the logarithms to the base 10 and n

DIM AS _FLOAT a, n

a = 22

PRINT log2##(a)

PRINT logn##(22, 2)

PRINT logn##(22, 10)

PRINT log10##(22)



'Function log2: logarithm to the base of 2 (binary logarithm)

FUNCTION log2## (a)

    log2## = (LOG(a) / LOG(2))

END FUNCTION



'Function log10: logarithm of a to the base of n

FUNCTION log10## (a)

    log10## = (log2##(a) / log2##(10))

END FUNCTION



'Function logn: logarithm of a to the base of n

FUNCTION logn## (a, n)

    logn## = (log2##(a) / log2(n))

END FUNCTION

Hello all

I have an update to the cellular automata demo I did a long time ago. I've done some optimizations and I have more to go, but its in a 'playable' state.

I'm planning on adding it as a game mechanic to my rouge-like 'Panacea'. There are several materials for you to choose from and they have different interactions with other materials (especially acid).  Eventually there will many materials your character will have to collect and mix to make medicine for the village.

As of now it is a stand alone program so I'll upload it here so you can mess with it. 

The controls are simple. Use the mouse to select the material and draw it on the canvas.
 'c' clears the canvas, 'l' loads a canvas from 'cellauto.ca', 's' saves the canvas to 'cellauto.ca', and 'space' pauses the simulation.

Attached Files

  cellular automata.zip (Size: 18.08 KB / Downloads: 122)

A while back I found some TI-84 code for a random number generator.  Played with it for a while, adapting it to QB64.  Messed with the calcs.  Gave it more randomness (I think) by feeding it the starting x/y position of the QB84 windows that seems to be placed randomly, and threw in TIMER for good luck.  I don't really understand it, but here it is for anyone interested in such a function.

- Dav

'========

'RAND.BAS

'========

'Get a random number, without using RND

'Adapted for QB64 from TI-84 source found online.

'Thrown together By Dav, SEP/2023



'Since the QB64 window x/y position always starts at a

'random position, I'm using that as the seed starter.



_Delay .25



DIM SHARED seed: seed = _SCREENX * _SCREENY * TIMER



SCREEN _NEWIMAGE(800, 600, 32)



'Blocks of random size of random colors at random positions.



DO

    x = Rand(_WIDTH)

    y = Rand(_HEIGHT)

    s = Rand(100)

    r = Rand(255): g = Rand(255): b = Rand(255)

    LINE (x, y)-STEP(s, s), _RGB(r, g, b), BF

    _LIMIT 1000

LOOP





FUNCTION Rand (num)

    DIM z AS _INTEGER64, k AS _INTEGER64

    seed2 = seed * TIMER

    k = seed / 53668

    seed = 40014 * (seed - k * 53668) - k * 12211

    IF seed < 0 THEN seed = seed + 2147483563

    k = seed2 / 52774

    seed2 = 40692 * (seed2 - k * 52774) - k * 3791

    IF seed2 < 0 THEN seed2 = seed2 + 2147483563

    z = seed - seed2

    IF z < 1 THEN z = z + 2147483563

    Rand = z * 4.656613E-10 * 190000000 MOD num

END FUNCTION

I'm making a utility program that doesn't use a main SCREEN at all, but instead relies on dialogs for interaction.  A couple questions, about the message dialog & input box.

1) Is the message dialogs display behavior the same on all OS's?  Will a CHR$(10) start a new line for everyone?

2) Is there a way to center the input box on the screen?

Here's an example of what I'm doing with those.  Giving away what I'm working on again - since _LOADIMAGE/_SNDOPEN has a "memory" option now, I had to reawaken the old QBV project.

- Dav

_ScreenHide



lf$ = Chr$(10)

a$ = "QBV Video Builder v1.0." + lf$ + lf$

a$ = a$ + "This app builds an .QBV Audio/Video file from a" + lf$

a$ = a$ + "numeric sequence of images (ex: 000001.JPG, etc)" + lf$

a$ = a$ + "and an optional .OGG file.  You will be allowed" + lf$

a$ = a$ + "to specify a frame rate." + lf$ + lf$

a$ = a$ + "Please select a starting image file..."



_MessageBox "QB64 Video Builder", a$, "info"



result$ = _InputBox$("QBV Video Builder", "Frame rate p/s:", "15")



End

I have been using FindFirst for awhile and found FindFirstVolume in MSDN which is here:

Attached Files

  findvol.bas (Size: 913 bytes / Downloads: 30)

I seem to be having issues with _SETALPHA.

When I initially set a color to a transparency level with _SETALPHA I can't change it to another transparency level later on.

I'm certain I've done this in the past.

I've found a work-around using a temporary image but I'm sure this is not needed ... or is it? See my code below and please explain to me why the first block of code is not working. A bug? Brain-fart on my part?