Pools of Radiance - How to restart my game?

[JimBass]

Hello again folks!

I posted this at the end of another thread, but there has been no response, so I thought I'd try here.

I've been playing Pools of Radiance on WinUAE, and at various times (most often after battles) my game will stop being a game and turns into an add for Skid Row and their BBSes. I'm given a prompt that looks like "1>", but everything I try (help, ?, man, ls, pwd, run, quit, exit) has no result, just another 1> prompt.

What can I do to get back into the game? Sorry, my Amiga prompt skills were minimal and Iwas a child last time I used it!

Thanks for any help or pointers!

[TCD]

That means the game crashed and there is no way to get back into it. You should try the WHDLoad version or a different configuration in WinUAE. Maybe the game will run fine with Kickstart 1.2.

[davideo]

The HOL box scan states that it needs 1 MEG of RAM.

Also that it's ECS/OCS so a miggy 500 setup should run it.

Dave G

[JimBass]

Ok, thanks for the help so far guys! I played with some settings in WinUAE to be certain I had 1 MB of RAM happening. I have kickstart 1.3, which limits me to A500 and A500+, but with A500+, 4 MB fast RAM, either OCS or full ECS, the same problem persists. I'm inclined to try the WHDLoad version you speak of CyberDruid, and google hooked me up with that, but I was expecting .adf files, and the majority of the downloaded files seem to be .dax. I'm having trouble finding how to open these? Does it require another emulator, or am I just missing the directions in haste and stupidity?

Thanks again for the help!

[TCD]

Have a look here Jim : http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=5267

[StingRay]

Originally Posted by JimBass

I'm inclined to try the WHDLoad version you speak of CyberDruid, and google hooked me up with that, but I was expecting .adf files, and the majority of the downloaded files seem to be .dax.

You can download a preinstalled version from the WHDownLoad site. You'll need a Kickstart 1.3 ROM for it to work though.

[JimBass]

Ok guys, thanks again for the help. I've followed some of the tutorials, and tried some different things. I've met with a few successes and a few failures as well. I believe (hope) that I'm close to the end of the battle, so of course its time to encounter the most difficult of the problems!

I was able to get WinUAELoader functional, and have the whdownload package as well as their patched Pools of Radiance version 1.1 that Sting Ray linked to. I've had the 1.3 kickstart ROM for a while, that was how I was starting the previous version of Pools that I have. Unfortunately it errors out, wanting a version of kickstart newer than 2.0. That error can be seen in attachment fail0.

I try reloading with a version of kickstart 3.1 for a model 500,600, or 2000, and I get another error which is attached as fail1.

I would have assumed trusty kickstart 1.3 was the candidate. Can you please offer some insight into what the next step is? Thanks again for everyone's shared knowledge!

[clenched]

@Jim: Did your game only bail if you lost the battle and down to last character? If so, this may be the normal exit for this game?(window indicates "The End" gotta admit it's an abrupt ending). I've been playing skidrow game setup like this: A500+/4MB fast mem and three loaded floppy drives to dispense with the disk requesters. As long as I had one man alive, the game would keep playing normally.Original question about restarting game answer is '1> program' but it guru'ed on me unless I was running kickstart 2 and it's no better than just resetting anyway.

[JimBass]

No clenched, these were super easy fights. I never lost a char. That certainly was a possibility though!

My setup was a 500 (no plus) with 512 RAM, also 3 disks, the 2 game disks from skid row and a save game disk. I'll try bumping the RAM and see if that works. I tried that before I believe, but its worth doing again if it worked for you.

The crash happened after any fight. Sometimes I could prevent it by saving the game when the "continue battle" question was asked, simply moving the guys in random directions, then exiting after a few rounds of aimless movement. Now (most of the "in new phlan" quests are done, the outdoor quests have begun), I can't do anything to prevent the crash.

[clenched]

You didn't say if you were running Workbench but if it is WB2 then you're OK with Kick 2. I think the Kick 1.3 that Stingray referred to is needed by the whdload program. Unfortunately this requires yet more ancillary software like skick (search aminet for this) to obtain required .RTB files and instructions on renaming KS1.3 ROM and what directories to put all that in. Here's the url to get what I've been playing so this should keep you busy for a little while. http://www.icestorm9999.com/PoR/pool...ance_amiga.zip

[JimBass]

It was a config issue on my side. When I switched the chipset from basic 500 to 500+ and bumped it up to 1 Mb RAM, the skid row .adf files work fine. The kickstart 1.3 works fine, and it hasn't crashed in 2 hours of playing and saving. Thanks for all the help folks!

[JimBass]

I spoke a little too soon!

I think my problem is WINuae related, and has to do with RAM settings. I couldn't find what settings this game was released with back in the day, but something on the lemon site suggested it needed 1 Mb of RAM. What frequently happens to me is I'll be playing with a 500+ chipset, 1 Mb chip RAM, 512k slow ram and no fast RAM. Then if I suspend the laptop, or simply minimize the window and leave it for a bit, it will default to 512k chip RAM and 512k slow. I have set higher RAM settings time and again, but it always returns to these numbers. I'm using the Full ECS chipset, which WINuae suggests for 500+ units.

Again, after a fight all seems well, but the minute I try to get back to the map from a treasure screen, it crashes out to the image in the first post.

Does anyone know what the system requirements were for this game at the time of release? Or how I can tell WINuae that I want higher ram, and nothing short of divine intervention should change that?

Thanks again!

Jim

[TCD]

Originally Posted by JimBass

Does anyone know what the system requirements were for this game at the time of release? Or how I can tell WINuae that I want higher ram, and nothing short of divine intervention should change that?

Since the game is from 1990 and the A500+ was released 1992, it surely not the machine it was intended for Use the A500 (without +) most common quickstart. You have 512 KB chip and 512 KB slow RAM which together makes the 1 MB you read about on Lemon. When talking about A500 games 1 MB means you needed a trapdoor 512 KB expansion to play it (which is the 512 KB slow RAM). I would say the problem is related to the Kickstart 2.04 that you have when choosing the A500+ in quickstart, while the A500 used Kickstart 1.2 or 1.3. Try it with the A500 quickstart and see if it happens again (I'm quite sure it will not )

[JimBass]

I never use quickstart, but going with your config, kickstart 1.3, A500 (no plus) chipset, OCS (original chipset), 512 chip ram and 512 slow ram, I still get the same crash in the same place. A battle works fine, but trying to exit from the treasure screen I crash to the image shown in my first post.

Is there anything else I should check?

Thanks for the help!

[TCD]

Do you use a savestate? If so, the new settings won't work even if you set them after you loaded the save state. Does it happen right after the first battle? I would have a look then.

[Toni Wilen]

Probable reason is too many floppy drives. Each enabled floppy drive takes small amount of memory. (more than 2 drives = "not normal" )

Try 1MB chip + 0.5M or more slow mem (yes, it is not standard but usually easy test if problem is not enough memory without causing compatibility problems)

Also make sure you have ECS Agnus enabled (if more than 0.5M chip enabled)

[JimBass]

Yes, I was using savestates, but they weren't from within a battle. My save was after resting from learning spells, then I'd wander until a fight, fight and win, then have the crash. I used the save feature within the game (to floppy), used the restart option within WINuae, and now it appears to be better.

I do have 3 disks (2 game and a save disk), but so far so good.

Out of curiosity, when I'd load a savestate, my first action would be to make sure all the RAM and chipset info was correct. Does loading from a savestate somehow force all your configs back to the way they were when the savestate was made?

Thanks for the help guys!

[TCD]

Originally Posted by JimBass

Out of curiosity, when I'd load a savestate, my first action would be to make sure all the RAM and chipset info was correct. Does loading from a savestate somehow force all your configs back to the way they were when the savestate was made?

Exactly So you can't use a savestate if you want to check another config. You need to start again and should use the ingame save function (to the savedisk) till this is sorted. This way you can 'reuse' the save with another config

[extralife]

i'm not sure if this helps in any way, but i'm actually playing this same game atm and cracked by skidrow aswell on a "real" a500 w. ocs chipset and kick 1.2, 512k chip and 512k expansion (slow), so a standard a500 setup in winuae should be enough i think

[JimBass]

Thanks guys! It is working as extralife mentions, basic a500 chipset and minimal RAM. The savestate issue was where I was having problems.