Cybernoid II WHDload Slave Update

[Hungry Horace]

And so it continues.... this time I've updated the Cybernoid II : The Revenge (http://hol.abime.net/3164) [(c)1989 Hewson] WHDload slave by Bored Seal , and the new beta is now in The Zone (http://eab.abime.net/zone.php?).

Very similar features to the Cybernoid 1 update, with me wanting to remove the dependence on the keyboard for weapon select.

I've added even more trainers this time, which i will go back and put in Cybernoid 1 in the future too. This game is so incredibly hard, it only just about becomes reasonable when you turn off at least the screen-timer.

I will probably add level-skip and level-restart buttons (as featured in the in-game cheat) before i send this off for release, so this is only the first of at least 2 betas you will see. I will also allow the levelskip to take you to the game outro, unlike the levelskip in the original cheat.

All feedback on any aspect of this slave would be greatly appreciated.


Version 1.2 (07.04.2008) done by Hungry Horace:
- Minor code cleanup
- Second button support for music/mute/sound effects cycle on menu
- Second button support for cycling weapons in-game
- Options on CUSTOM1 can be combined for multiple trainers:

CUSTOM1=1 - Infinite Lives
CUSTOM1=2 - Infinite Weapons
CUSTOM1=4 - Infinite Level Timer
CUSTOM1=8 - Infinite Screen Timer

For registered WHDLoad users only:
- Load / Save scores to HD (file 'Cybernoid2.highs')
- Highscore saving is disabled if trainer tooltypes or the original game cheat is used.

[Graham Humphrey]

Ooh... will try and give this a whirl tomorrow...

[Hungry Horace]

i have a question for *anyone* who has ever cheated their way through Cybernoid II.... (i dont think its possible to do without cheats!)


does the outro with scrolly text actually work? i've tried the IPF and my original disk... even using the in-game cheat and playing the final level through, the game Guru's out when the text starts talking about the keyboard controls for the outro.



The A500 guru:

http://amigaonline.condor.serverpro3.com/whdload/cyb2_a500_error.gif


The WHDload break:

http://amigaonline.condor.serverpro3.com/whdload/cyb2_whd_error.gif

http://amigaonline.condor.serverpro3.com/whdload/cyb2_whd_register.gif




From what i can tell, the code that breaks is just a part of the standard loop for this "program" .... and the last part of the text displayed on screen is:

IF YOU PRESS THE 'S' KEY THEN| <<< this is where it stops on the right of the screen.

there doesnt appear to be anything odd (like a key number, to alter the effects or anything) within the ASCII at this point.

The start of the text is at $64D8 and the break is at $72B7...... and although 3552 bytes might not seem a particularly likely number to break after, it is a convenient multiple of 32, which leads me to believe that maybe the outro is just plain broken?? :confused (maybe it just reaches the end of the data it wanted to read, and doesnt know to carry on)



any help in breaking-down / re-sourcing this file:

http://amigaonline.condor.serverpro3.com/whdload/Cybernoid2/data/FINI

(i assume its the right file) so that a fix can be found, would be greatly appriciated..... but i shall keep investigating!

[bippym]

Patch it so it isn't dividing by 0 (either d1 or d2 contains a 0)

[Hungry Horace]

i tried that... i nulled the line on the a500, and it still broke (actually, i think i used winuae at that point, so i could use the warp feature... as its a long wait!)

the problem is more complex that one out-of-place line of code.... as i say, the line at $147C is part of the main loop, and it works fine for 3552 characters worth of scrolling text.

[bippym]

Insert a counter and when it equals 3552 make d1 <>0 and d2<>0

[Hungry Horace]

Insert a counter and when it equals 3552 make d1 <>0

worth a shot i suppose! was hoping for something a little less crude though ;)


and i'd still like to know if anyone has ever seen it work?

[girv]

CUSTOM1=1 - Infinite Lives
CUSTOM1=2 - Infinite Weapons
CUSTOM1=4 - Infinite Level Timer
CUSTOM1=8 - Infinite Screen Timer


Just a small point, but KillerGorilla (amongst others) hates that sort of setup as it complicates things for making packs and launcher GUIs. It's better to use separate CUSTOMn tooltypes for different trainers.

I'm sure he would explain it all to you in great depth if you poked him :rolleyes

[Hungry Horace]

Just a small point, but KillerGorilla (amongst others) hates that sort of setup as it complicates things for making packs and launcher GUIs. It's better to use separate CUSTOMn tooltypes for different trainers.

I'm sure he would explain it all to you in great depth if you poked him :rolleyes


baagh!! but isnt there a limit of only 5 CUSTOMn= tooltypes isnt there?

i'm quite likely to need those 4, plus others.... 1 for the levelskip, and 1 for CD32 "mode" and possibly 1 for err... dunno (it's very early!)

i copied the 'pattern' laid by other slaves (Stormlord in particular i spotted it on) - it's gotta be prefereable to your JSW / Manic Miner / Frostbyte intuition GUIs and bizare tooltypes surely??

I would just use one and make the options toggleable in-game (i will probably do that anyway), but i would like to keep the option of setting by tooltype, for such as PSPUAE, where you dont have access to a keyboard, and a trainer-setting GUI (using joystick) is preferable.

[girv]

baagh!! but isnt there a limit of only 5 CUSTOMn= tooltypes isnt there?

Yep.

I don't mind it myself, just thought I'd give you a heads up that you're probably gonna get complaints and requests to change it. If you need more than 5 options then I guess you don't have a choice anyway.

What GUIs do people use for PSPUAE or launching WHD games? Surely it can't be too hard to change them to build up bitwise options - just set a bit range subset rather than a whole CUSTOMn tooltype per option.

Wepl had plans to add an option setting GUI to WHDLoad itself, but I guess he hasn't had time yet.

it's gotta be prefereable to your JSW / Manic Miner / Frostbyte intuition GUIs and bizare tooltypes surely??

Bizarre? Like INFINITE_LIVES is more bizarre than CUSTOM1=1 ? I dunno, the GUIs give you as many options as you need by translating readable tooltypes into whatever way you need to encode your options into the CUSTOMn numbers. But they didn't seem popular :crazy:rolleyes

[Codetapper]

How many people set those kind of trainer options anyway? I reckon 99% of people would want all cheats off, or all cheats on. The number that would want infinite lives and grenades without time and level skip etc must surely be small?

The CUSTOM tooltypes come into their own for games like Super Stardust (starting world and starting level select) or Super Cars 2 (starting track), and then a "cheat mode on" tooltype imho. From memory I've never needed more than 5 trainer options...

[girv]

IMHO the launcher GUIs need updating, rather than forcing slave authors to jump through hoops with their trainer / game options.

[bippym]

just enable ingame keys or a key ingame that turns on/off cheats (Codetapper does this!)

[Graham Humphrey]

I gave this a whirl earlier and seems to work okay on my 040, all the trainers work and everything so good stuff. Having said that I only played level one and then turned it off as it's so difficult I got really bored of it ;)

[Hungry Horace]

If you need more than 5 options then I guess you don't have a choice anyway.

thats my thoughts.

What GUIs do people use for PSPUAE or launching WHD games? Surely it can't be too hard to change them to build up bitwise options - just set a bit range subset rather than a whole CUSTOMn tooltype per option.

i make the GUIs! in AMOS! (looks good and i can make them quickly) - they are easy to tailor to any format of CUSTOMn= tooltype. My point is more that this is why i like the options there as tooltypes, and not just as in-game keyboard toggles.

Wepl had plans to add an option setting GUI to WHDLoad itself, but I guess he hasn't had time yet.

personally, i prefer a custom GUI, as you can make it look like its part of the game.

Bizarre? Like INFINITE_LIVES is more bizarre than CUSTOM1=1 ?

only teasing you Girv ;)

How many people set those kind of trainer options anyway? I reckon 99% of people would want all cheats off, or all cheats on. The number that would want infinite lives and grenades without time and level skip etc must surely be small?

i would always still chose that have the option, rather than force everyone to use all or nothing. Particularly in something like Cybernoid 2, where imho, it's mostly only the screen-timer that makes the game brutally unfair. However, other people might find they want to cheat more/less/differently.

From memory I've never needed more than 5 trainer options...

i doubt i generally will need that many in future either! it's more conincidence in this case.

just enable ingame keys or a key ingame that turns on/off cheats (Codetapper does this!)

i've already explained why i dont like this option. remember, my whole purpose here is to -remove- the need for a keyboard!


if it's ok, i am likely to stick to the bit-setting method. (even as far as adding it to Cybernoid 1, where i did not use it perviously)

IMHO, its the most elegant of all the options, meaning less overall tooltypes used, but allowing for multiple options.

I think it's unlikely there will ever be a universally preferred answer to this.


@ Graham - thanks for testing again. I too am not overly fond of this game without cheats, but since the code was so similar to Cybernoid 1, i didnt feel i could leave it un-updated!

[bippym]

You can map them to spare joypad buttons, and remember there's 2 ports ;)

[Hungry Horace]

You can map them to spare joypad buttons, and remember there's 2 ports ;)


eugh! spare joypad buttons when i've worked out a sufficient CD32 layout? never!

and having to use the second pad is no better than the keyboard, as both can be mapped to keys in winuae/pspuae etc, but the point is to have a joystick-based control system on any GUI that is used, and have that simply set the tooltypes.

i cant understand a preference for these 'work arounds' rather than just using the system as it is? i'm beginning to think it should be the slave author's choice and no one elses!

[Hungry Horace]

Version 1.2 Beta 2 is now in the Zone


extra feature:

CUSTOM1=16 enables level-skip / level-restart with N and L keys respectively, unlike the in-game cheat, this works during gameplay and will allow you to skip to the game outro.

bugs fixed:

weapons trainer errors:
'bounce' & 'track' incorrectly trainered (now working)
'time' weapon number would actually increase if used when the maximum number were already on-screen. (value now fixed at 40)

bugs not fixed:

bug present in the original game outro. caused guru meditation on A500 and causes whdload to quit out. (no real loss, as the outro does not go back to the menu / highscores)

i will look into fixing this for slave version 1.3, ad try to get it to go back to the menu / highscore entry

[Hungry Horace]

i assume the lack of response means it works fine then?

i know the game is hard, but that's what the trainers are for people!

[Graham Humphrey]

Sorry Horace, I must have missed this. I'll try it out this week sometime...

[Hungry Horace]

thanks Graham. your feedback is very much appriciated ;)

[Anemos]

Keep the good work Horace ;)

[girv]

Horace, can you upload Cybernoid 1 & 2 again ? I built me a new PC and lost the downloads in a backup mishap :rolleyes :sad

[Hungry Horace]

Horace, can you upload Cybernoid 1 & 2 again ? I built me a new PC and lost the downloads in a backup mishap :rolleyes :sad


Cybernoid II is still in the Zone, and thanks to a certain not-so mystery benefactor, so is a fully installed Cybernoid 1. enjoy!

[killergorilla]

It's ME you fokker! :D

[Hungry Horace]

It's ME you fokker! :D

is THAT why it says 'uploaded by killergorilla' ? there was me thinking it was someone else ;)

[girv]

Many thanks to the mystery benefactor anyway, whoever he - or she - is :great

[killergorilla]

is THAT why it says 'uploaded by killergorilla' ? there was me thinking it was someone else ;)

Stop taking credit!

It was me!

[Shoonay]

Many thanks to the mystery benefactor anyway, whoever she is :greatMaybe it was Patricia!? :shocked

[Hungry Horace]

Maybe it was Patricia!? :shocked

already one thread is full of this spambot chat nonsense - lets not have another thankyou!

[killergorilla]

My apologies!

When are we likely to see this on the whdload site?

[Hungry Horace]

My apologies!

ahh, the office joker!

When are we likely to see this on the whdload site?

i will compile it with the right version number, pack it, and send it to releases once it's confirmed this version works ok. except for the obvious outro fault!

[killergorilla]

Cool. Sorry I've not had a chance to test it, if I had WinUAE at work I would!

[Graham Humphrey]

Tested it out, all seems to work fine here, nice job.

[Hungry Horace]

Tested it out, all seems to work fine here, nice job.

sometimes you want to hear bugs reported, so you know nothing is missed!

thanks again GH :great

[Hungry Horace]

please to report the outro bug will be fixed in ver 1.3 - my thanks to Bored Seal for informing me of a whdload flag to fix it.

[Marcuz]

i would love to play it again, i never was able to go past 6th screen probably

[BoredSeal]

Version 1.2 Beta 2 is now in the Zone

bug present in the original game outro. caused guru meditation on A500 and causes whdload to quit out. (no real loss, as the outro does not go back to the menu / highscores)

Add the flag WHDLF_NoDivZero, outro worked completely for me this way ;)

[Hungry Horace]

Add the flag WHDLF_NoDivZero, outro worked completely for me this way ;)


yeah, haha... i did this and it worked (see two posts up ;) )

thanks for the help, must have missed that flag before

[Hungry Horace]

Just submitted to WHDload.de:


Cybernoid 2: Version 1.3 (04.05.2010) done by Hungry Horace:
- 68000/NOVBRMOVE compatible quit (excluding outro)
- Bug-Fix to remove WHD quitting / guru on outro
- Minor changes to second button reading to increase compatibility
- Load/Save scores now enabled for unregistered WHDLoad users
- Press TAB on the menu to enable original cheat (NECRONOMICON)
- 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

- 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/Cybernoid2.html