Cybernoid WHDLoad Slave Update

[Hungry Horace]

Ok, this is my first completed attempt at anything like this, so go easy on me please guys.

I've updated the Cybernoid (http://hol.abime.net/3163) [(c)1988 Hewson] WHDload slave by Bored Seal , and the new beta is now in The Zone (http://eab.abime.net/zone.php?). Slightly overdue i guess, given that the last update was in 1999! A lot of thanks is owed to Wepl, JOTD and BippyM for helping me get started, and giving me lots of encouragement.


My main priority was to remove the dependence on the keyboard or any other non-joystick devices (i.e. the mouse) and hopefully the game will even run nicely on a vanilla CD32 now.


I have a few extras i might like to add in future, but i'm hoping this first-attempt, which has been a big learning experience for me, will well received, and become the first of several updates i hope to be able to do int the future.


thanks, and i look forward to your feedback.


Version 1.2 Beta (30.3.2008)
- Minor code cleanup
- Intro can now be skipped with Joystick fire button
- Second button support for sound effects toggle on menu
- Second button support for cycling weapons in-game
- Trainers;
CUSTOM1=1 - Infinite Lives
CUSTOM2=1 - Infinite Weapons
- Files are now stored in the data/ folder

For registered WHDLoad users only:
- Load / Save scores to HD (disabled if trainers are used)

[Boo Boo]

Congratulations! With your enthusiasm for WHDload patching of games not use keyboard and support of greats like Wepl, JOTD and BippyM I look forward to your next install.

[girv]

Nice work HH, welcome to the gang :great Not bad, for a human.

I tried your updated slave quickly and it looks to be fine.

Two questions: WHY and HOW is the Amstrad CPC version of Cybernoid so much better than the Amiga version!?

[Hungry Horace]

Congratulations! With your enthusiasm for WHDload patching of games not use keyboard and support of greats like Wepl, JOTD and BippyM I look forward to your next install.

thanks Boo Boo! Although i am a long way off creating any new installs myself, i hope i can just provide what little i can with a few tweeks / revisions on abandoned slaves, or where the original authors find themselves too busy to be able to do it themselves.... maybe along the way i might learn a thing or two as well! :laughing

Nice work HH, welcome to the gang :great Not bad, for a human.

means a lot coming from you Girv, especially after the trials i put you through with the Bloodwych update!


Two questions: WHY and HOW is the Amstrad CPC version of Cybernoid so much better than the Amiga version!?oooh!!! i cant agree there, but i can hypothesise a reason... perhaps the Amstrad version shared more with the original Speccy version.... i'd even hazard a guess as to say Cecco may have worked on the Amstrad version himself?

[bippym]

Good shit man.. let the release factory get started :D

What's next :)

[Hungry Horace]

Cybernoid slave 1.3

or Cybernoid 2 slave 1.2 .... hmmm!

[girv]

means a lot coming from you Girv, especially after the trials i put you through with the Bloodwych update!

Shout if you need any of that code explained :)

i'd even hazard a guess as to say Cecco may have worked on the Amstrad version himself?

Yeah, he did :bowdown

The CPC version is slickness incarnate, but the Amiga version has the look & feel of a PD remake :rolleyes Wasn't there a thread about "Which games are better on the 8-bit?" ?

[Graham Humphrey]

I think the Amiga version of Cybernoid is rather underrated myself; IMO it's better than the 8-bit versions.

[Hungry Horace]

oooh - harsh girv!

personally one of the reasons i've always hated the PC remakes of cybernoid, is that they are always based on the 8-bit version and dont have the shine or style of the Amiga version, often looking like cheapness in high-res! still - doesnt stop me loving the original either!

edit: oh, and i kept myself up till the wee hours last night adding more CD32 controls (pause, abandon game), and i've added a check to avoid score saving where the in-game cheat is used. I wont upload a new beta though until i've added as much as i think i want to at this stage.

[girv]

oooh - harsh girv!

Well maybe I'll take another look just to be sure, but I was playing the CPC version shortly before I tried your updated installer :)

Up to the wee hours? Now you're a patcher ;)

[Hungry Horace]

:lol i am reminded of the cover of Lemmings;

We are not responsible for:
Loss of Sanity
Loss of Hair
Loss of Sleep

i can only blame WHDload patching for 2 out of 3 so far..... the remainder is hereditary!

[dlfrsilver]

Shout if you need any of that code explained :)



Yeah, he did :bowdown

The CPC version is slickness incarnate, but the Amiga version has the look & feel of a PD remake :rolleyes Wasn't there a thread about "Which games are better on the 8-bit?" ?

Cecco developped his game on atari ST. Stormlord CPC, cybernoid were gfxed on ST. But yes the colors are so good i agree with you here :D
very nice !

[Graham Humphrey]

Here you go Horace - feedback as promised ;)

Firstly, I was pleased to see that running the slave didn't blow up my Amiga. A positive start.

All the options (including the second-button weapon change) work fine, and it didn't crash on me or anything. No tooltypes were needed on the 040.

However I don't see why you had to totally take out the keyboard function for switching weapons? I very rarely use my CD32 pad so I would like to be able to play the game without having to plug it in.

Other than that you've done a good job here; looks like we'll have someone else to bug over installs in the future ;)

[Hungry Horace]

However I don't see why you had to totally take out the keyboard function for switching weapons? I very rarely use my CD32 pad so I would like to be able to play the game without having to plug it in.

err .. i didnt think i had? i will look into that, as the code is defintately still there!

there's no way i'd remove that kind of code, that'd be silly ... so i guess i have my first bug to fix!


edit: bug is fixed. will get another beta up tonight

[Hungry Horace]

revision 2 beta is in the zone.

fixed the f1-f5 bug, and added the checking for the in-game cheat (saves will no longer happen with the RAISTLIN[space] cheat.)


no extra CD32 buttons as yet, that code is still a work-in-progress.

[Hungry Horace]

i know i'm new at this an all, but would anyone be so kind as to confirm the new version is working ok?

[Graham Humphrey]

Sorry Horace, I've been busy today (I've been meaning to try it out) - I'll test it out for you tomorrow.

[Hungry Horace]

i've found another very minor bug, but i am not sure anyone will even notice!
i will be uploading what i think is hopefully the final version of slave1.2 in a mo when i've compiled it

[Graham Humphrey]

Just tried it out, it all works without a hitch as far as I can tell, good work.

One thing though: would it be possible to change it so you can use the keyboard to enter your name in the highscore table? Not a big deal but it would be nice to have.

[Hungry Horace]

hmm... i'll consider it for v1.3, which i am working on giving an option for 'full' cd32 pad support - although i am having trouble with getting multiple-buttons held to operate as i think they should, so i guess it's gonna take a while.
it will take some major investigation, and might take me a lot of time to get names in via keyboard!

i think it is definately do-able, it's likely the little ship will still fly to collect each letter, although possibly that can be avoided. (for me, that would be the main benefit of such a patch)


tbh, it's completely the opposite direction to what i'm trying to achieve, but might serve to teach me more, and gain a bit more experience.


thanks for testing though Graham. Much appriciated.

[Graham Humphrey]

No problem.

I do realise what you're trying to do with this patch (i.e. remove all dependence on the keyboard) and I know that wasn't what you had in mind with it but it would be a cool feature to have (I don't like it when you can't use the keyboard to enter names/passwords etc - especially when the game itself does use the keyboard).

As I say it's nothing major so if you can't/don't want/don't have the time to do it then that's fine, but it would be quite nice to have something like that in there (I'd quite like to see more games patched to use the keyboard for that sort of thing where possible, but that's another story).

[alexh]

http://www.crashonline.org.uk/55/cecco.htm

Today Nick and I are making one of our rare visits to Hewson HQ, ’in the heart of rural Oxfordshire’, as the recruitment ads used to say. Yes, there is not a scene more idyllic and rural than billowing Didcot Power Station and Milton Industrial Estate where Hewson HQ has its roots firmly planted.
I work in building 25, right next where Hewson's HQ was here on Milton Park industrial estate.

I asked the owner (of the industrial estate) one lunch if he remembered Hewson? I wasnt expecting a yes, afteral it's been a long time since they left and Nick Cross is the multimillionaire owner of the vast estate, he's not going to remember one company?! But he did and even knew which building they were in! Amazing.

[alexh]

Cecco developped his game on atari ST.
No he didn't. Or at least that's not what he said he developed on in inteviews. He said he used a 286 PC.

The graphics and the maps were created on the ST, but that was not Cecco's dept.

[Hungry Horace]

No he didn't. Or at least that's not what he said he developed on in inteviews. He said he used a 286 PC.

The graphics and the maps were created on the ST, but that was not Cecco's dept.

"Cecco's Log" for Crash magazine would agree

http://www.crashonline.org.uk/53/cecco.htm

edit: oops, you used that link already.

anyway, here's the quotes for the lazy....

The Spectrum is actually developed on an IBM compatible PC which runs a fast Z80 cross-assembler that can compile a 200K source file in a few seconds

....

The graphics are all designed on an Atari ST using the Advanced Art Studio. This package (programmed by my good friend Chris ‘8-bits are crap’ Hinsley) also features a ‘map editor’ that enables all the screens in a game to be chopped and changed very quickly.


and just for Girv....

The same set-up can be used to program virtually any micro - the Amstrad CPC conversion was completed in less than two days after the Spectrum one.

he also goes on to talk about Nick Jones and his c64 conversion, which, in all honestly, is dreadful. The guy clearly had no idea about collision detection..... or at least, not when it came to coding Cybernoid.

[dlfrsilver]

so i was right about GFX made on an ST. I can't be wrong all the time lol.

Anyway, thank you very much Hungwwy Howaychioo for coding this nice slave for such a classic. I tested it, it's very good !

[killergorilla]

I know I've mentioned it on IRC but nice work Horace.

I hope you keep editing slaves in this way as it's a great idea.

Gooo Horace.

[bippym]

i too am impressed especially at the speed at which horace has grasped the basics of asm.

He has inspired me to pick up asm again and i too am implementing some features in a classic whd slave.

I have already started the research and started to train the game, which is going well and i have found a few things.

So thanks horace and well done.

[Hungry Horace]

no thanks required guys, its a labour of love, and means i can do the things myself i'd otherwise be hoping others might kindly do.

the help and support i've got has been wonderful, and i cant thank you guys (esp. Bip for the training, and Wepl for all his encouragement/hints) enough.

hopefully bippy, with your (hidden) knowledge, and good teachings, we can work on that team project soon enough!

[bippym]

well i don't know about the knowledge regardless of hidden or not lol we indeed can work on something together. My only issues seem to be rachel (who you chatted too for a few mins lol) and time.

I.ll be beavering away soon.

[ungi]

thanks for improving cybernoid!

[Hungry Horace]

Just submitted to WHDload.de:


Cybernoid: Version 1.3 (04.05.2010) done by Hungry Horace:
- 68000/NOVBRMOVE compatible quit (excluding title screen)
- Removed 'Reset-Resistance'
- Bug-fix on weapons trainer (Mines)
- Minor changes to second button reading to increase compatibility
- Skip title screen with Left Mouse Button or Joystick fire button
- Load/Save scores now enabled for unregistered WHDLoad users
- Press TAB on the menu to enable original cheat (RAISTLIN_)
- Whilst the game is paused, N can be pressed to skip levels,
or L to restart
- Game Over text now waits for button press
- Source Code Included

- Trainers on CUSTOM1 can be combined for multiple trainers:
- CUSTOM1=1 - Infinite Lives
- CUSTOM1=2 - Infinite Weapons
- CUSTOM1=4 - Infinite Screen Time
- CUSTOM1=8 - Infinite Level Time
- CUSTOM1=16 - Enable Level Skip (Including Outro)

- CUSTOM2=1 enables CD32 Controls
- Menu: Blue (SFX Toggle)
- Menu: Play (Show Highscores)
- Menu: Forward + Rewind + Yellow = Activate Cheat
- Menu: Forward + Rewind + Play = WHD Quit

- Game: Green for Special Weapon
- Game: Forward for Cycle Special Weapon Up
- Game: Rewind for Cycle Special Weapon Down
- Game: Play for Pause
- Game: Yellow for Quit (While Paused)
- Game: Blue for Level Skip (While Paused & Cheat Enabled)
- Game: Green for Level Restart (While Paused & Cheat Enabled)

http://www.whdload.de/games/Cybernoid.html

[girv]

Nice work on these slaves Horace :)