Definitive list of games incompatible with +2A/+3 and of compatible versions (if any)

[Ast A. Moore]

Match Day 2 suffers also from incompatibility issues on a +3.

Use the 1990 Hit Squad release. It works fine on the +3/+2A. Alternatively, use the original +3 disk released by Ocean in 1987.

[Alessandro]

How about Prince of Persia?
All the .trd and .tap files I have tested, using DivMMC, crash just after the menu screen.

Use this one. I modified it some years ago, it because the one already available had some blocks in the wrong order. This is complete, working, and can be finished.

[toot_toot]

[quote="Ast A. Moore" post_id=23351 time=<a href="tel:1561238230">1561238230</a> user_id=99]
It’s likely the malformed TZX file. There are a few floating around that prose problems loading on real hardware. Incidentally, M.A.S.K. is one of them.

This is loading the original cassette. I know for sure the original Gremlin cassette fails on the +2A, and worked okay with a Sony TCM 939 cassette recorder on a Spectrum +.

I'm seeing the same issue with the Byte-Back release version on a +2A this weekend. I'll try it on a Spectrum + next time I have it out and see if it works on there.

Thanks for the link to the fuse-emulator thread, it confirms a few observations when loading from cassette too: The rare occasions when the +2A actually loads the first few vertical lines of the loading screen before crashing.
[/quote]

Does the version on 10 Great Games II have the same problem? Might be worth testing as by the time it was released the +2A was out and I don’t remember it having published compatibility problems at the time. I’d check my copy but it’s packed away as I’m shortly moving house!

[spykoni]

How about Prince of Persia?
All the .trd and .tap files I have tested, using DivMMC, crash just after the menu screen.

Use this one. I modified it some years ago, it because the one already available had some blocks in the wrong order. This is complete, working, and can be finished.

Nice! Thanks a lot. Why not include it in the list?

[Alessandro]

[mention]spykoni[/mention] You are welcome

Thanks for the suggestion, there are already some titles in the list which require entering USR0 mode on the +2A/+3 before loading the game (not necessary on my tape file because I added Usr0x01 before the game proper, besides rearranging the blocks in the correct order) so I think Prince Of Persia can be added too.

[Pobulous]

I've been busy updating my DIVMMC SD card with TAP files with long filenames, now there is support, and I was using the links on Alessandro's site to make sure I had +2a compatible versions. In some cases I am having to convert from tzx to snapshot format.

The fixed Amaurote tzx file on Alessandro's site does not work for me in ZXSpin or Inkspector 2 - has anyone managed to get it working?
From the TOSEC archive on archive.org, there's 2 TAP files that work - a 48K one, and a trained 128K version - the others all crash in different ways.

[Mike Davies]

Sly Spy Secret Agent (Hit Squad release) crashes on completion of loading the 128k side using a +2A's Tape Loader option. 48k version on the other side works fine.

I tried the 128k version again by going into 128k basic, entering USR 0. 128k side loads fine, and I'm at the menu along with 128k music. Chose options and the game loads in the first level.

[Inky]

I've been busy updating my DIVMMC SD card with TAP files with long filenames, now there is support, and I was using the links on Alessandro's site to make sure I had +2a compatible versions. In some cases I am having to convert from tzx to snapshot format.

The fixed Amaurote tzx file on Alessandro's site does not work for me in ZXSpin or Inkspector 2 - has anyone managed to get it working?
From the TOSEC archive on archive.org, there's 2 TAP files that work - a 48K one, and a trained 128K version - the others all crash in different ways.

The reason it doesn't work in Inkspector is that the "stop tape if 48k" block has a length of 4, when it should be 0, meaning it then jumps 4 bytes into the next block, throwing the TZX loading out of sync. The next version of Inkspector ignores any length in this particular block and always assumes 0, which allows Amaurote to load. I guess other emulators have been around the block long enough to be wise to this

[patters]

I've been busy updating my DIVMMC SD card with TAP files with long filenames, now there is support.

Wait, there's LFN support finally? How do you get that?

[bob_fossil]

I've been busy updating my DIVMMC SD card with TAP files with long filenames, now there is support.

Wait, there's LFN support finally? How do you get that?

Kind of.

<shameless self-promotion>
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2553
</shameless self-promotion>

[Shocktrooper]

Hello,

I cannot get the original cassette of Androids (Sunshine) to work on my grey +2.

The title screen appears but no key is responding.

[Shocktrooper]

Hello,

I cannot get Dinky Digger to work on my Spectrum +2 grey, thanks.

[Ast A. Moore]

Hello,

I cannot get Dinky Digger to work on my Spectrum +2 grey, thanks.

I cannot get the original cassette of Androids (Sunshine) to work on my grey +2.

The title screen appears but no key is responding.

First, this tread deals with titles incompatible with the +2A/+3, not the original (gray) +2. Secondly, both games work fine for me (in an emulator).

[Alessandro]

The English translation of Komando II presented the same issues of the original.

I made a fix for it and included it in the ZIP file for the Slovak original version.

[amazin]

Alessandro, Ast, a friend found out another incompatible game: Kidnap, by Sparklers/Creative Sparks. He tested using his original tapes, I tested using the tap/tzx files on Spectrum Computing (https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry.php?id=0002693).

It loads fine, you choose your joystick type, there is another screen reminding you of the controls, and then on the next screen, written KIDNAP, the computer freezes.

Reproducible on Retro Virtual Machine. It runs fine on a Grey +2.

Hectic is a similar/derived game that apparently was released only in Spain, and it freezes at the same point.
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/1 ... rum/Hectic

Thanks!

[Alessandro]

@amazin, I looked into the code and found the problem - a classic case of incompatibility with the +2A/+3 ROM of the I register set as IM2 vector at address 14847 (39FFh). Changing the byte value at address 40005 from 57 to 59 solved it for both titles. Fixed files will follow soon.

[Ast A. Moore]

Alessandro beat me to it.

I made a fix earlier and only just now got home and uploaded Kidnap to my website.

[amazin]

Brilliant stuff, thanks Ast, thanks Alessandro.

Here it is, running on the real hardware



Thanks ever so much for your effort in demistifying that the +2A/+3 are inferior machines.

Thanks again.

[Ast A. Moore]

Nice! Kudos for the Maxell tape in the Datacorder.

[Alessandro]

The fixes have been put on the website.

Just one word of caution, both games should be loaded under 48 BASIC, otherwise the keyword SPECTRUM will appear all across the starting screens and kill the playing character upon impact, making them unplayable.

[amazin]

Nice! Kudos for the Maxell tape in the Datacorder.

AHHAH Thanks, they are indeed really good. I'm not an expert, but I got some Maxell, some Sony, some TDK.

Actually it is quite hard nowadays to find 60 minutes tapes. 90 minutes are more common.

[Ivanzx]

Seems like Scaramouche is also incompatible with the +2A, as even being loaded in 48K mode the game would not start, screen freezes in the 1st stage:

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/1 ... caramouche

Would there be an easy way to fix it, via Poke entered in the loader?

[Alessandro]

@Ivanzx, Scaramouche seems to be incompatible with the 128/+2 as well.

The game hangs here:

Code: Select all

25254  LD A,(BC)
25255  LD E,A
25256  ADD HL,DE
25257  INC BC
25258  LD A,C
25259  CP 128
25261  JR NZ,25254

It seems the value of C and therefore of A after the LD A,C instruction is never equal to 128, so the conditional jump at location 25261 is executed in an endless loop.

Interestingly, if you load and run The Ghost before the game, it will work as expected.

[Ivanzx]

@Ivanzx, Scaramouche seems to be incompatible with the 128/+2 as well.

The game hangs here:

Code: Select all

25254  LD A,(BC)
25255  LD E,A
25256  ADD HL,DE
25257  INC BC
25258  LD A,C
25259  CP 128
25261  JR NZ,25254

It seems the value of C and therefore of A after the LD A,C instruction is never equal to 128, so the conditional jump at location 25261 is executed in an endless loop.

Interestingly, if you load and run The Ghost before the game, it will work as expected.

Thanks, Alessandro for the confirmation.

Wow, this Ghost is such a discovery, isn´t it?? :O Theoretically will enable all the incompatible games work??

By the way, I am going to type it up and save it to one cassette, but there are 2 listings... Do I have to type them and save them separatedly one after the other?

[Alessandro]

@Ivanzx : The Ghost is a bit of a hit-and-miss, but in this case it proved itself to be useful.

There is no need to follow the original instructions if you just wish to use it on real hardware. You can play the second and third block from the TAP file - the BASIC and machine code blocks - with a utility like Tapir and save them to a tape connected to your PC through the usual 3.5 mono cables. Start recording, then open the GHOST.TAP file in Tapir, highlight the "Prog: GHOST" header, select Block > Play from cursor and wait a few seconds until playback has stopped.

That is, until someone more expert than me in the exoteric art of understanding Z80 machine code comes up with a permanent solution...