Spectrum Computing

Danterrifik
https://maps.speccy.cz/map.php?id=Danterrifik

Pavel! I'll have a new map for you soon. It's done, but I just have to hold onto it for a few days because there'll be an RZX to match that I'd prefer to send out to Daren at the same time, and there's a bit of debugging still to be done before I can get that done.

And if anyone was asking about Bandit's whereabouts, he's the one doing the debugging, and is in the finest form with it (as I'd expect!), as with life itself.

TMD2003 wrote: ↑Sat May 09, 2020 9:48 am Pavel! I'll have a new map for you soon. It's done, but I just have to hold onto it for a few days because there'll be an RZX to match that I'd prefer to send out to Daren at the same time, and there's a bit of debugging still to be done before I can get that done.

And if anyone was asking about Bandit's whereabouts, he's the one doing the debugging, and is in the finest form with it (as I'd expect!), as with life itself.

[mention]TMD2003[/mention] please let me know via PM what game you are talking about. I would like to avoid a duplicity.

Trace It! (by John Connolly)
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Lost Treasures of Tulum
https://maps.speccy.cz/map.php?id=LostTreasuresofTulum

Spider Mami
https://maps.speccy.cz/map.php?id=SpiderMami

Dizzy & ZX
https://maps.speccy.cz/map.php?id=DizzyZX

Godkiller 1 (New Timeline Edition)
https://maps.speccy.cz/map.php?id=Godkiller1NTE

Godkiller 2 - Exile (New Timeline Edition)
https://maps.speccy.cz/map.php?id=Godkiller2NTE

Bonnie and Clyde
https://maps.speccy.cz/map.php?id=BonnieandClyde

Toofy's Nutty Nightmare
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Hoarder
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Fervor
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Arthur
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MagicAble
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BlockZ
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City oh City
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Encyclopaedia Galactica (by Jim Waterman)
https://maps.speccy.cz/map.php?id=Encyc ... aGalactica

pavero wrote: ↑Thu Jul 02, 2020 6:53 pm Encyclopaedia Galactica (by Jim Waterman)
https://maps.speccy.cz/map.php?id=Encyc ... aGalactica

Wow. That's a map and a half.

I always assumed this game had too much randomisation to be even vaguely mappable. Jim's done a great job of unravelling it all and explaining what's strict and what's not.

I figured that I was going to need a map of some description just to be able to RZX the game in the first place... which eventually led to it all being bolted together into one glorious whole. Tracking down all the bugs (which was Bandit's job) was tricky enough, but we got there in the end.

I suppose I should send the pokes that make the game possible to finish... as well as a tape file that Jim Pass made (with a bit of extra tinkering).

TMD2003 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 03, 2020 12:11 am I figured that I was going to need a map of some description just to be able to RZX the game in the first place... which eventually led to it all being bolted together into one glorious whole. Tracking down all the bugs (which was Bandit's job) was tricky enough, but we got there in the end.

Would it be possible for you (or Bandit) to provide a detailed description of the bugs, ther fixes, and a BUGFIXED file, please? I would like to add this information as "known errors" in ZXDB.

It would be nice to ensure everybody can have a version of this game that can be completed.

Cocoa and the Time Machine
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Corey Coolbrew
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Magenta Jim
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Einar Saukas wrote: ↑Fri Jul 03, 2020 12:42 am Would it be possible for you (or Bandit) to provide a detailed description of the bugs, ther fixes, and a BUGFIXED file, please? I would like to add this information as "known errors" in ZXDB.

It would be nice to ensure everybody can have a version of this game that can be completed.

How much detail do you need? What I've got are two .POK files that will apply all Bandit's pokes, which are annotated with... as many characters as the .POK file can handle before the descriptive line gets cut off. If you want the really technical details, you'll have to ask Bandit about those - all I know is "on the Remixed version, the game crashes after picking up around 27-30 of the 34 species", but as soon as Bandit mentions words like "stack overflow", I'm stumped. Apparently there was the same potential problem in the original version, but I managed to complete it without any such pokes.

In short, what we found was:
- the stack overflow that I've just mentioned, which apparently affects both versions, but will only be very annoyingly noticed in the Remixed version. (Travelling directly from one planet to the next and never fannying about with things like diamonds, hydrogen engines or ship repairs, you'll probably make it to 33 species before the inevitable crash; play the game "normally" and buy everything you can afford and you'll get about 25-27 species...)
- buying a cage in the Retro Fusion version will take your payment and give nothing in return (this was fixed in the Remix) - and as the research progresses more slowly in the Retro Fusion version, this means the game will take around two hours to complete, even if you know where you're going...
- the Sunfish Spinner's encyclopaedia entry showed the graphic for the Lizard Creeper
- some of the diamonds were recognised as Komodo Sponge (these can be found when it's impossible to pick up more than one at once; only the diamonds on Hermes and Juventas, and their renamed equivalents in the Remix, will be actual diamonds)
- Digby Blizzard vastly overpays for those diamonds if his offer ends in a five (apparently via Jon's use of RRCA to divide by 2)

Also, the encyclopaedia entries don't show up at all in the Retro Fusion version (except for the first four characters of the Komodo Sponge). This is something that's only been fixed when we asked Jim Pass to see if he could turn the pokes into an actual, working .TAP file - this is because the entries are loaded in a separate block that also contains the AY soundtrack (and hence aren't seen in the 48K version, ever). This fix isn't part of a .POK file, although if Jim told us what the pokes were that he used, I'm sure a separate .POK file could be made, provided it's possible to direct those pokes to the memory bank where that second block is stored - and that's well beyond my knowledge. The downside of this is that the Retro Fusion version is still officially Distribution Denied, even though it hasn't been available to buy (WOS says "still for sale", though back in February 2013 it probably was...) for years on end, so the .TAP file is just going to have to sit on my hard drive...

Apologies, I missed the original post regarding the map - very nice work, great result!

I can't add anymore context to what the fixes are actually doing, I started out with the .POK files for reference

I put together two sets of programs to address the fixes for both game releases

Patch - a short program to take control of loading all the code blocks, applies the fixes then starts the game

Patch and save - specifically loads the second from last code block, applies the fixes and prompts to save out the patched block to tape - you then splice this into your original tape image as you see fit

For the Retro Fusion release the correction for loading the last 128K specific block is to change the length to 13233 (0x33B1) The logic for loading the last block is handled after the second block has been executed - as such, I can't see a straight forward way of fixing this 'on the fly' with a .POK file

One suggestion was to create a new menu item to correct the block length, then prompt and reload that last block

Depending on your emulator you could set a break point at 24000 (0x5DC0), apply the [updated] .POK file then restart emulation

Or maybe, create a initial .POK to MERGE the BASIC loader and POKE in those block length fixes prior to executing the machine code


Let's open this up to the forum for suggestions!

Links for source code and executables are below:

http://www.drumfu.com/Encyclopaedia_Gal ... 11.asm.zip
http://www.drumfu.com/Encyclopaedia_Gal ... ve_v12.zip
http://www.drumfu.com/Encyclopaedia_Gal ... ch_v12.zip
http://www.drumfu.com/Encyclopaedia_Gal ... ve_v12.zip

jpnz wrote: ↑Tue Jul 07, 2020 7:10 am Links for source code and executables are below:

http://www.drumfu.com/Encyclopaedia_Gal ... 11.asm.zip
http://www.drumfu.com/Encyclopaedia_Gal ... ve_v12.zip
http://www.drumfu.com/Encyclopaedia_Gal ... ch_v12.zip
http://www.drumfu.com/Encyclopaedia_Gal ... ve_v12.zip

I never tested the "Patch" files much (and can't do anything with the ASM), but the "Patch And Save" files will do exactly what is required - though it needs a bit of work afterwards. "Patch And Save" loads, then asks to load the .TAP/.TZX file of Encyclopaedia Galactica, it will then output the headerless code block which then needs to be dropped into the correct place using Taper. Get it right, and you'll have a working version of both the Retro Fusion and Remixed editions.

Which reminds me... I still need to test this on real hardware, just so I can add Encyclopaedia Galactica to the list of games I've completed without any Multiface trickery... seeing as I don't have a Multiface.

Masters of the Universe - The Movie
https://maps.speccy.cz/map.php?id=Maste ... seTheMovie