Cadaver trainer

[Calabazam]

Hi.

Currently playing Cadaver, i am at the beginning of level 2 with only 20/200 life bar.
It seems there is nothing to replenish my life bar anywhere in the first rooms of level 2, so, albeit a bit ashamed, i have resolved to use a trainer.

Unfortunately, either with the latest whdload slave (trainer on and off with F5 and F6) or an older one (either CUSTOM5=1 or F3 according to splash screen), no trainer seems active as i am killed after one hit of the spitting volcanos in the third room.

30 years ago, i managed without cheat to make it through level 1 (i wonder how as it was a hard puzzle) and i got lost forever in level 2 but i would like to finally finish the game.

Any clue about how to actually use the trainer? The latest slave makes a green flash with F5 (supposedly cheat ON) and red with F6 (supposedly cheat OFF) but i won't work.
Any trick to raise my life level would also do.

Thanks.

[Calabazam]

Hi again.

Still struggling with Cadaver trainer.
I have redone all the installation of the latest WHDLOAD from disks to be sure and i have latest 3.1 with the trainer activated on the flash screen and toggled on by F5 and off by F6.
All the keys and CUSTOM for trainers are different now from previous versions according to readme.

And yet, as i am very low on energy bar at the start of the second leved, only one contact of the balls spitted by the volcanoes in the third room kills me instantly.

What am i doing wrong here?
I had this game with my A500Plus package in 1991, i remember i got further than this in level 2 by natural ways, but i really got to see the end of this game during this lifetime.
Maybe i shall play from disks but i have currently no plain 68000 computer available.
Help please!

[Calabazam]

Funny, i have tried to see if other monsters would drain energy with trainer activated and it seems not. Only the balls from these volcanoes do. Seems like an incomplete trainer. I'm going to raise the issue to slave author.

[gimbal]

Might be a difference between environment damage and enemy damage. Does water hurt in the first level?

[jotd]

I'll fix it! please create a mantis issue & attach a savegame where the problem arises.

[Calabazam]

Hi. I have created it via whdload webpage already but didn't include the save game. I attach it hereby (start of level2) https://www.transfernow.net/dl/20231210829gsP0m

[Calabazam]

Originally Posted by gimbal

Might be a difference between environment damage and enemy damage. Does water hurt in the first level?

I've tested it back on level 1. No damage from water on room 1.

[rsn8887]

I just managed to finish level 1 without trainer, and I can confirm that level 2 started with only 20% health, even though I finished level 1 with much more health. I think this is just what the game always does?

What is the purpose of the automatic drain trainer option? Did the original game have automatic drain or not?

Also, is there a fully working 1.03 disk version somewhere to test, I mean the unprotected version that doesn’t need a crack and saves to DOS disk instead of MFM?

EDIT: I figured out why the health looks so low in Level 2: you level up when going from level 1 to level 2. Your max health increases from 100 to 200, but your actual health remains what it is. So if you finish level 1 with 100% health which is 100/100, in level 2 you will only have 50% health because you have 100/200 (max increased).

[jotd]

exactly. You can use health potions to put it to the max again. Another smart game design idea from the masters of game design.

[Calabazam]

Thanks for the clarification rsn8887.

Appart for the trainer to be fixed in WHDLOAD, would there be a cheat code or something to resplenish the life bar at start of level 2 and keep going?
In my game, even if i max out at the end of level 1 it seems i start with 20/200 on level 2.

[Don_Adan]

I finished 2 or 3 Cadaver (no trainer) levels many years ago, I dont remember starting 2nd level with only 20% health. Looks for me like bad crack.

[jotd]

no, bad crack just crashes at level 1.

[Don_Adan]

Originally Posted by jotd

no, bad crack just crashes at level 1.

I dont think so. This game has a few RNC Copylocks checks. Not only one. Can be partially cracked. I depacked all files from this game. RNC Copylock was checked in next levels too.

[jotd]

I cracked RN copylock ages ago using RN copylock decoder from Mr Larmer for the whdload install, and I had no trouble finishing the game many times with whdload.

You'll have to prove that the whdload fix doesn't fix all protection checks, I'd be very interested.

[Don_Adan]

It was many years ago, I tried to rip Cadaver music.
From my memory, this game uses unknown (for me) cruncher
I always preferred disks rip, because I dont want to miss something.
I ripped depacker and Dutch coder wrote for me standalone decruncher for Cadaver game.
Later l depacked all files from this game.
I always checked depacked files via my eyes under FileMaster 2.2.
If my memory not failed, I found inside depacked data files (not main file) minimum 1 hidden RNC Copylock, I dont know when this code was called, but perhaps later maybe in 2,3 or 4 Cadaver level.

Edit.
Then if You cracked all RNC copylocks from this game and no checksums, then Your crack is OK.
But if You cracked only first/main RNC copylock, then Your crack will be works only at begining and game is partially cracked only.

[jotd]

I trust your technical knowledge about this but I have played through the end to Cadaver + the Payoff using whdload version and it worked all right, so the protection must have been properly bypassed.

Noone even complained, the slave has been out for more than 15 years IIRC. Ok that doesn't mean much as last Immortal level wasn't playable on whdload and I was the one who finally found it... But Cadaver was personnally tested by me.

As opposed to Psygnosis for instance, there are no checksums in Bitmap Brothers games. Only smart / encrypted copylock stuff. And Cadaver copylock was much simpler than Magic Pockets for instance.

If someone states that he loses energy between first and second level, it shouldn't be too hard to check. The first level is a breeze. The others, on the other hand... Couldn't make it without the walkthrough.

[Calabazam]

Yeah, i feel like i will never finish that game without walkthrough and trainer.
Gaming was hard by then.

[Don_Adan]

Originally Posted by jotd

I trust your technical knowledge about this but I have played through the end to Cadaver + the Payoff using whdload version and it worked all right, so the protection must have been properly bypassed.

Noone even complained, the slave has been out for more than 15 years IIRC. Ok that doesn't mean much as last Immortal level wasn't playable on whdload and I was the one who finally found it... But Cadaver was personnally tested by me.

As opposed to Psygnosis for instance, there are no checksums in Bitmap Brothers games. Only smart / encrypted copylock stuff. And Cadaver copylock was much simpler than Magic Pockets for instance.

If someone states that he loses energy between first and second level, it shouldn't be too hard to check. The first level is a breeze. The others, on the other hand... Couldn't make it without the walkthrough.

Yes, but you wrote in Cadaver readme this:

- v0.01: Imageworks release. Buggy, copy-protected, uses MFM savegame disk.
- v1.03: Renegade/Bitmap bros release. Buggy, copy-protected, uses MFM savegame disk.

Partially cracked game can be finished, it can be dependent to user config, player actions or luck.
If You miss RNC copylock then it can not be 100% crack.
I only inform You that this game has minimum 1 hidden copylock.
Simple, depack all files and check.

[jotd]

Can someone share a whdload savegame just before warping to level 2? I could do it but that would mean replaying level 1. I love that game but...

I could quickly check and probably fix the health issue if there's one, protection or not. That would be very surprising but OK.

[Calabazam]

Actually, i have just rechecked again and indeed if i take care of maxing out life before confronting the Dragon and of not taking damage during this, i can pass to level 2 with half life bar and 100/200. Sorry to have been mistaken before. It seems i was too slow at casting the necessary stuff in front of the Dragon before and i took hits from the fire running on the floor.
I still take damages from the volcanoes, but starting with 100 instead of 20 makes it more playable.