TAP files
------

TAP files are a close representation of what was originally on the tape itself.
It basically contains the bits on the tape, which must be decoded and turned into
bytes.  But the bits are not all together so that 8 bits together is a byte -
it's a lot more complicated than that.  To make things harder, many companies
use their own program to get the data off of the tape (the LOADER), and the data
is stored in a format only that loader can understand.  AFAIK 12 loaders are
known, 9 are unknown, and there are plenty of unidentified ones out there too.

The other problem is that cassette tape is an analog media, so any digital
conversion is going to pick up errors.  This could be different pulse lengths
(within reasonable error) due to tape flutter, or extra spacing due to a slight
speed difference (too fast/too slow).  Two copies of the same tape, from the same
machine, will be exactly the same the day Satan wears long johns and complains
of frostbite.  As one TAP archive maintainer said, there is (currently) no good way
to verify a good TAP, though there a few bad ways.  So if you have two TAP files,
even if they eventually spit out the *exact* same game data, they will be
slightly, or more than slightly, different.  So they won't be recognised the same.

What I'm saying is that TAP files are screwy indeed, and you would be best off
d/l a cleaned copy rather than making your own (unless you are reading this stuff
and are thinking about e-mailing me about a mistake or two I probably made).
So, go here to find more info, and other stuff:

	http://tapes.cia.org
	http://redump64.emuunlim.com



TAP files and C Spray
----

I will say that I made an honest effort to try to support TAP files like I
should, but I would need a crapload more info (and time) to do so.  Maybe
when I win the lottery...

I have included basic TAP file support, just because it was so easy to do.  It
uses just the CRC of the entire TAP file, which is not very helpful for all
of the above reasons.  Fortunately, few sites distribute TAP files so chances
are most of yours are the ones found "in the wild".  Unless you did them
yourself, in which case you know better than we do what it is, so don't ask!

The entire database will be exactly the same as RomDoctor's, though maybe a
version behind, until I can support TAPs by converting them to actual programs.
The renamers are all people from TOSEC (currently hunt4gold for the TAPs) and
I trust them to do a good job, though as I said before it is currently (nearly)
impossible to detect a good or bad TAP unless it just does not run on an
emulator (or when recorded back to a tape and played on your C64).  In that
case it is fairly obvious and you should know that already!

(Believe it or not, this is the short version of my little diatribe about TAP files)

TOSEC / RomDoctor:
	http://syntaxerror.rebelz.org/
RomDoctor home:
	http://flash.emuware.com or emuware.com or something.

tW
