M2TOSNA.EXE V1.1 (Saturday 8th April 1995)
By James McKay.

This program (which runs on PC compatibles) takes CPCEMU tape files (NEW! 
will extract the appropriate files from a DATA format DSK automatically) of
Multiface 2 snaps and converts them into SNA files.  Both 64K and 128K can
be converted!

At last you can try out all those 128K multiface snaps that have been 
stuck useless on your drive.

And don't forget that the ANTI-MULTIFACE utility that comes on CPCPD1.DSK
(supplied with CPCEMU V1.2 and upwards, to my knowledge) doesn't always
work!  Yes, you have 64K games that you can't play, not because the emulator
can't handle them, but because of failings in Anti-Multiface!

Of course there are failings in M2TOSNA as well, there are a few config.
bytes that I have not found equivalents for in the M2 snap.
Namely the Upper Rom Number and the PIO registers.  The IFF1 and IFF2 values,
have been mapped onto bit 2 of the Mi 'register'.  

USAGE
-----
M2TOSNA [<DSK Name>] <Path + 7 Letter Multiface Name> [<Snapshot Version>]

If you enter the following:
M2TOSNA -?
M2TOSNA /?
M2TOSNA
or M2TOSNA with more than 3 parameters then a little help text (it is called
that because it is indeed of little help) will appear.

[<DSK Name>]
OPTIONAL!
This will be the name of the DSK file that the M2 snap is held in.  When this
option is used the .DSK suffix must be included otherwise it will not be
recognised.  NOTE:  The file DSK2TP.EXE must be in the same directory as 
M2TOSNA.EXE and all the BIN files will appear in tape format in the current
directory.

Example:
M2TOSNA SNAPS.DSK GAME1

This would extract the GAME1*.BIN files from SNAPS.DSK then would create the
GAME1.SNA file in the current directory.

<Path + 7 Letter Multiface Name>
I think you can understand this, eg:

M2TOSNA C:\CPCGAMES\TEST

You would use this if you had the files
TEST.BIN
TEST1.BIN
TEST2.BIN
etc...

in your C:\CPCGAMES directory.
Or you can just enter TEST and it will look for test in the current drive
and directory.

[<Snapshot Version>]

This is either 1 or 2, this is 2 by default, if you leave this option out,
then it defaults to 2.
You don't have to include this value, it is OPTIONAL!

The reason this option is available, is due to emulator differences.
CPCEMU V1.2 handles V1 and V2 snapshots.
CPE V4.7 also handles both.

Older CPCEMUs can only handle V1 64K snapshots.
Older CPEs can only handle V1 64K snapshots.

The SNA file created is always in the current drive/directory, and has the
7 Letter Multiface Name as the prefix .

Note: The Out_index and index displayed on the screen should be both -1,
otherwise the decompression has failed.

INSPIRATION FOR M2TOSNA 
-----------------------
While reading CPCEMU V1.2 docs, I find a mention of my +3 conversion antics,
        which he had remembered from that long time ago.  This moment of
        anonymous fame, inspires me into a new idea : copying disks using
        the +3.

PL3READ and PL3WRITE are formed, they allow 2 way conversion of DSK files
        and the games flow across...

Ha!  Not good enough!  I wanted to play 128K snaps as well, (even though I 
        only had 4 of them), and if you want something done, you have to do
        it yourself.

AND NOW THE HISTORY OF M2TOSNA!
-------------------------------
Attempted to solve the decompression problem by trying lots of test cases,
        and trying to guess : miserable failure.

Tried to do it by copying the Multiface code to the PC:

"OK, page in Multiface with LD BC,65256 ; OUT (C),C , then do a LDIR
and save it, how can it fail?  Oh no!  It's failed!"

Sudden flash of logic!  Decompression code must be held in Anti-Multiface,
found it and converted the code to C.

Found the INFO, REGISTERS and PALETTE, by entering 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,etc as the
values for each of them.

Found PSG registers by total fluke when tracing through decompression.

Found SP was off by 2.

Success!  V0.9 Beta is released! (Wish I had never released it)

V1.0 Improvements (Didn't release it)
-----------------
CRTC registers fixed, all the correct colours are now displayed, and a file
called SNAFIX is supplied to provide a 'best fit' background colour to your
old snaps without digging up all the .BIN files, and it lets you change the
snapshot version number. 
Also in V0.9 Beta, if the SP was pointing at a 16K boundary (after it had
been altered by 2) ie 16383,32767,49151,65535.
Then the PC register would become corrupted and, as a result the SNA would
fail to work.  That has now been fixed, and it could not cater for the SP 
pointing at RAM pages 5-8.

V1.1 Improvements (Released!  Very late, as my monitor broke down.)
-----------------
Auto-Extraction of files from a DSK, making the process much quicker, 
well, actually to an acceptable level for usage.

Funny RAM configurations are now dealt with, no thanks to the overwhelming
response of zero in my request for information on RAM configurations, I have
guesstimated the following:

Config Byte                     RAM Page Order
   C0                              0,1,2,3
   C1                              0,1,2,7
   C2                              4,5,6,7
   C3                              0,3,2,7
   C4                              0,4,2,3
   C5                              0,5,2,3
   C6                              0,6,2,3
   C7                              0,7,2,3

FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS
-------------------
*SNATOM2 to let you play any SNAs you get on a real CPC (with real Multiface).

DISCLAIMER
----------
I am not aware of any way that this program could damage any piece of 
computing equipment, and when the ZIP file was constructed, the EXE inside
was virus free.  I checked it with an up to date virus scanner.

LEGAL STUFF
-----------
The Multiface 2 is an interface for the CPC by (and registered trademark of)
Romantic Robot, however their Spectrum stuff is a lot better.

At first I thought about making this shareware, then I thought it wasn't
big enough.  So this is niceware, meaning that you must reform your ways
SINNER!

The files encompassed within M2TOSNA.ZIP (M2TOSNA.EXE, M2TOSNA.TXT,
SNAFIX.EXE, SNAFIX.TXT, DSK2TP.TXT and DSK2TP.EXE) must not be altered in any
way at all, and must not be split, also it must be free.

I do not approve of these stinking PD libraries that sell, for example,
a disc called (say) 'Amstrad Emulation Pack' which they charge 5 for.
Now we all know that P&P plus the cost of a disc is not 5!

E-Mail Address:
com40014@diana1.cs.paisley.ac.uk

or...

com40014@uk.ac.paisley

As I am not sure which works (if indeed either works!)
