Thrust 2 has an interesting loader that loads the game in small chunks. It lets you rewind to load one that failed.
Unfortunately though it's buggy. Half the time the reloading fails and you have to start all over again.
Thrust 2 loading
Re: Thrust 2 loading
That's the infamous Firebird BleepLoad loading scheme there. It was used in many of Telecomsoft’s titles BITD.
My copies of Starglider 128K, Magnetron, and Brainstorm used it.
One of the most annoying loading schemes in my opinion. It made an already lengthy loading process even longer because of all the added intervals. Plus it occupied a good part of the loading screen too.
My copies of Starglider 128K, Magnetron, and Brainstorm used it.
One of the most annoying loading schemes in my opinion. It made an already lengthy loading process even longer because of all the added intervals. Plus it occupied a good part of the loading screen too.
Re: Thrust 2 loading
It's kinda pointless really but a good idea.
It doesn't actually work, but having the ability to rewind and reload would have been great
It doesn't actually work, but having the ability to rewind and reload would have been great
Re: Thrust 2 loading
Dinamic also had a similar loader (Poliload), used on Astro Marine Corps and Rescate Atlántida. It didn't take much longer to load, took care of 48K/128K loading, and you could play master-mind while waiting.
I don't know if that error-control was so useful. I guess that it worked well on undamaged tapes (i.e.: the error was caused by damaged wiring or failing batteries). If the tape was damaged, it took many tries to work... if the game worked again at all.
I don't know if that error-control was so useful. I guess that it worked well on undamaged tapes (i.e.: the error was caused by damaged wiring or failing batteries). If the tape was damaged, it took many tries to work... if the game worked again at all.
Re: Thrust 2 loading
It would have made a bit more sense if the loading screen didn't use it, as it doesn't really matter if the loading screen is screwed up or not.
Might have been more useful to have some parity blocks recorded at the end that could be used to reconstruct bad blocks based on the data of good blocks combined with the parity blocks. That way the original blocks could have been combined on one leader with checksums built in, so the load time would be normal, whilst still having a way to overcome some small number of bad blocks.
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textvoyage
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Re: Thrust 2 loading
I think they got the idea for the bleeploader from the way the BBC Micro loads tape programs - the advantage was that if you had an original cassette with a program recorded on both sides of the tape, but the tape had a "drop out" and a block wouldn't load, you could try to load the damaged block from the other side of the tape
Re: Thrust 2 loading
The downside and a sort of anti-cheat feature is that the blocks still have a pilot signal between them.
In the original media, this signal is very short and without any pauses, so, it increases the load time a bit, but not much. If you try to pirate the game using a copy software, that pilot signal is probably going to be longer and have pauses, so the game is going to be insufferable to load. Some software is not even able to recognize the blocks, because the pilot is so short.
A better version of this technique is probably Creepsoft's loader, used in Rescate Atlantida and Astro Marine Corps.
In the original media, this signal is very short and without any pauses, so, it increases the load time a bit, but not much. If you try to pirate the game using a copy software, that pilot signal is probably going to be longer and have pauses, so the game is going to be insufferable to load. Some software is not even able to recognize the blocks, because the pilot is so short.
A better version of this technique is probably Creepsoft's loader, used in Rescate Atlantida and Astro Marine Corps.