MSX Pixel Art Collection vol.1 - Preservation Collection
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Published by FRS, 2018

This collection of pixel art is intended to preserve the vast diversity
of images that were published for the MSX system in all its generations.

It's composed by more than 3000 files with the best images from many sources,
including games, demos, disk magazines, picture disks, BBSs, forgotten corners
of the Internet, and so on. Many of the images where even hidden as easter eggs.

I have been collecting these files since more than 30 years, and some months
ago, it occurred that people should be able to enjoy these.

But the collection is still far from complete. There were many more images that
were published and are still not here. I'm now counting with contributions
from the community so the collection can grow even more.

With the only exception of animated GIFs, all files contained in this
collection are stored in file formats that can be opened in the MSX. Each
file type was chosen to better preserve all the characteristics of the image,
while still being easy to be viewed on the MSX.

The collection had to be published as a zip file because unfortunately there's
no site for the MSX equivalent to zxart.ee or c64pixels.com, where images can
have categories/tags, and the users can download the files in their original
format and preview them on the Internet browser. 

It's also important to note that it's beyond my resources to discover who are
the original authors of all these images. Whenever I found out who the author
was, I created a specific folder to credit him/her. But I didn't create
specific folders when the image already contains a signature of the author, to
reduce the amount of folders.

If you're the author of some of the images included in this package and would
like to be credited, or you want your work to be removed from the collection,
please contact me via the e-mail provided at the end of this README file.

Note: There are NSFW folders in this collection. Be sure to view those folders
with discretion.

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How to view these files:

- For MSX computers, there are MSX-DOS applications provided at the same page 
  of the Pixel Art collection:
  http://frs.badcoffee.info/MSXart.html
  - DMAG.COM: Views Maki-chan .MAG, .MKI and .MAX files. It supports scroll
    for images that are larger than the screen.
  - GIFI.COM: GIF file viewer. It supports vertical scroll for images that are
    taller than the screen.
  - BLS.COM: Viewer for .SCx, .SRx, X68000 PIC, QLD files and some others
  - JLD.COM: Viewer for .JPG files
  - DBMP.COM: Viewer for .BMP files
  - SCXVIEW.BAS: Viewer for .SCx files on MSX-BASIC

- For PC and Mac computers, use the RECOIL library. It's a Retro Computer Image
  Library that decodes and views Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit,
  Atari Portfolio, Atari ST/TT/Falcon, BBC Micro, Commodore 16, Commodore 64,
  Commodore 128, Macintosh 128K, MSX, NEC PC-88, NEC PC-98, Oric, SAM Coupe,
  Sharp X68000, TRS-80, TRS-80 Color Computer, ZX81 and ZX Spectrum picture
  formats. 
  It can be downloaded at http://recoil.sourceforge.net , and there's an
  online HTML5 viewer at that website too.


All GIF files have the Pixel Aspect Ratio metadata set, so PC viewers that
honor this feature will show the images with the correct aspect ratio.

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Credits and thanks:

- I would like to send a big thank you to Louthrax, for his MIFui image
  conversion application. Thanks to this, I was able to restore many images
  that were saved in non-native formats, and even images that where saved
  in lossy compression formats like JPEG and had artifacts in them
- I also would like to thank Fly-Duck. Under this and some other pen names, he
  was one of the most impressive MSX artists back in the day. Sadly, he had a
  stroke in 2011 and had his left side paralyzed, in a wheelchair. He is having
  financial difficulties to pay for his medical care, and even to buy a new PC
  computer.
  His current website is https://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=711537 , and he
  now goes on by the pen name "Panda Rice". Be sure to send him a message and,
  if possible, make a donation. 
  This MSX Pixel art collection is also a tribute to him.
- Piotr Fusik, Adrian Matoga and the rest of the RECOIL crew. This wonderful
  library allows images from classic computers to be viewed without a hassle.
  Piotr took special care to add very precise support for the MSX image
  formats.

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Attention:

All files inside this collection are copyrighted by their respective authors.
I do not claim any credit over them. My work here was just to find the images,
and restore those that had any damage (usually caused by lossy compression).

No commercial transaction of any kind is allowed for the collection or for
the images it contains without personal authorization of the respective authors.
For the files that no known artist is known, no commercial transaction of any
kind is allowed until the real author is found, then the real author must
give his/her personal authorization.

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Contact:

If you have any questions or requests, please contact me at sdsnatcheralpha
at that big mail service from Google.


