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ALIEN by Mindgames for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum - BUGFIX & IMPROVEMENT
Version 1.1 by Ersh 2018-04-12
The following bugs are fixed:
[BUGFIX] THE RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR USED DATA BEYOND INTENDED MEMORY.
The Random Number Generator stepped through the entire memory instead of being
localised to ROM $0000-$1FFF as intended. This had many side effects.
[BUGFIX] A MISSING PIXEL ON THE MAP OF THE MIDDLE DECK OF THE NOSTROMO.
There was a missing pixel in the northeast corner of the map of the middle
deck. :)
[BUGFIX] INVENTORY BUG WHEN SWITCHING CHARACTERS DURING AN 'ATTACK'.
If the player chose to attack and then switched to another crew member, when
the attack was executed the second crew member could use the 'Leave Item'
command to drop the first character's item. If the first crew member only held 1
item then that would be dropped, if he/she held 2 items then the second item
would be dropped.
[BUGFIX] INVENTORY BUG WHEN SWITCHING CHARACTERS DURING AN 'ATTACK' WHEN USING
THE NET OR BREAKING A TRACKER.
If the player attacked with the Net or a Tracker and then switched to another
crew member, when the attack was executed the second character's first item
would disappear. The game would also remove the menu text for the item, even
when not in a character's menu, erasing anything that was in the same location
in any other menu.
[BUGFIX] 'LEAVE ITEM' COMMAND WAS NOT DISABLED AFTER USING THE NET OR BREAKING A
TRACKER.
If a crew member only had 1 item when the Net was used or when breaking a
Tracker, the game removed the item from the character's inventory but did not
remove the 'Leave Item' command from the menu. Hence it was possible to use that
command to drop the item and pick it up again.
[BUGFIX] PLAYER COULD USE THE NET OR TRACKER TO ATTACK WITH OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
If the player used the Net or a Tracker to attack, the item would be removed
from the inventory, however it was still possible to use the 'Attack' command
and the the crew member would then be able to attack with the Net/Tracker again.
This could be repeated over and over, though if the player changed character, it
would no longer work.
[BUGFIX] THE GAME SOMETIMES READ DATA BEYOND INTENDED MEMORY.
The 'Carry out an Action' routine didn't PUSH/POP the IX registers holding the
pointer to the current character's variables when calling an Action to be
performed. Some Action routines destroyed the register pair, thus IX would hold
the wrong pointer when returning from those routines.
[BUGFIX] 100% COMPETENCE RATING.
Getting a Competence Rating of '100%' would be displayed as '1:0%. Also the
hundredth digit was never cleared so getting a '85%' Competence Rating on your
second go would be displayed as '185%'.
[BUGFIX] THE MESSAGE VARIABLE WAS NOT RESET ON RESTART.
If the player began a new game, then immediately restarted and the Alien
hatched from the same crew member as in the first game, no "The Alien has
hatched from..." message would be displayed. The message variable was not reset
and the game doesn't allow the exact same message to be displayed twice in a
row.
[BUGFIX] IF YOU HOVERED ON 'REMOVE GRILL' WHEN IT TURNED TO 'ATTACK' THE GAME
WOULD NOT LET YOU ATTACK.
If you had the menu marker on 'Remove Grill' and then the Alien (or Android)
entered your location, the command would change to 'Attack', but if you didn't
move the menu marker and instead directly selected 'Attack', the crew member
would remove the grill instead of attacking.
[BUGFIX] CORRUPTED GRAPHICS IN THE ALIEN ANIMATION.
There were two corrupted bytes in the Alien animation, one in the first frame
and one in the second.
The following improvements are also implemented:
[IMPROVEMENT] ATTACK IS NOW ONLY AVAILABLE IF NOT ALREADY IN PROGRESS OF
ATTACKING.
Normally, when selecting 'Attack' the option to do so again would disappear
until you had executed the attack. However if anyone went through a door, opened
a grill or if you selected another crew member and then switched back, the
'Attack' command would be available again even though the attack had not yet
been executed. This would get really confusing when you were trying to attack
with more than one character at a time. I've modified the game so that the
'Attack' command is never available when already in progress of attacking.
[IMPROVEMENT] NEIGHBOURING ROOM/VENT GRILL REMOVAL.
If anyone removed the grill in your room but from the airduct location (and
vice versa), the game wouldn't update the menu indicating that the grill was
removed. I've modified the game to refresh the menu whenever that happens.
[IMPROVEMENT] KILLING THE ANDROID WITH ANOTHER CHARACTER.
If two crew members were attacking the Android and the one that was not your
current character killed it, the 'Attack' command for the second character
didn't disappear even though there was no one left to attack. I've modified
the game to remove 'Attack', check if the grill is removed and if not, give the
option to 'Remove Grill'.
[IMPROVEMENT] WHEN SELECTING ATTACK, THE GAME NOW SHOW 'REMOVE GRILL' IF NOT
ALREADY REMOVED.
Normally when you selected the 'Attack' command, it would be replaced with
nothing. I've modified the game to check if the grill is removed and if not,
give the option to 'Remove Grill'.
Changelog:
Version 1.1 (2018-04-12)
[BUGFIX] THE RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR USED DATA BEYOND INTENDED MEMORY.
[BUGFIX] A MISSING PIXEL ON THE MAP OF THE MIDDLE DECK OF THE NOSTROMO.
Added 'Bugfix' text and version number to the loading screen.
Rewrote the Readme.
Version 1.0 (2016-10-29)
Initial release.
Grab a copy here.
Enjoy!