Dragon Wars 1.2 crashes at first encounter

[SedrynTyros]

Has anyone else tried to get Dragon Wars 1.2 working using WinUAE or any other Amiga emulator? Whatever I've tried in WinUAE, whether it's running the game from the floppy or a hard drive install, it always crashes at the first monster encounter. Dragon Wars 1.0 doesn't have this problem.

I've tried both the SPS and ADF TOSEC releases of Dragon Wars 1.2 and they both crash.

[BarryB]

Works in WinUAE (2.6.0 Beta 19) using Quickstart...
Model: A500
Config: 1.3 ROM, OCS, 512 KB Chip + 512 KB Slow RAM (most common)

FWIW my original DW 1.2 on a real A1200 the 1st encounter exits back to CLI prompt but using Kick141 it works, so looks like a Kickstart version issue!!

[SedrynTyros]

Originally Posted by BarryB

Works in WinUAE (2.6.0 Beta 19) using Quickstart...
Model: A500
Config: 1.3 ROM, OCS, 512 KB Chip + 512 KB Slow RAM (most common)

FWIW my original DW 1.2 on a real A1200 the 1st encounter exits back to CLI prompt but using Kick141 it works, so looks like a Kickstart version issue!!

Are you sure it doesn't crash to desktop when you attempt to leave Purgatory and encounter the Guards? Because it surely does in WinUAE v2.5.1 as well as all previous WinUAE releases I've bothered to test using the "most common" config.

I'll wait for the WinUAE v2.6.0 Final and try it again but I have a feeling it's still going to crash ...

[BarryB]

Walk me through to where it crashes, i.e. forward 3 steps, left 2 steps etc and I'll check it again but the very first encounter using 'most common' config gets past the first encounter for me. I was also playing from floppy disks/IPFs, not HDD.

[Toni Wilen]

Best option is to create statefile just before the crash.

[BarryB]

That's probably the easiest, it can then be put in the zone!

[SedrynTyros]

To clarify, the game itself crashes to the CLI prompt; WinUAE doesn't crash.

I'll see what can do about getting a save state from just before the crash. I've been launching the game straight from SPS IPFs, but I've tried other ADF files and and also running it from a HD install. I haven't had this problem with any other games I've tried and I've successfully ran at least a dozen other games using WinUAE.

[SedrynTyros]

Okay, some new information on this: the game doesn't crash when unselecting the NTSC chipset option. When launched using PAL, it does get to the first encounter without crashing to CLI ... of course, runnng that game in PAL causes timing and aspect ratio problems for me (I'm in the US using a 60Hz monitor).

[SedrynTyros]

Okay, I've attached a save state from WinUAE v2.5.1 just before the crash to CLI when running Dragon Wars 1.2 from SPS IPF. I've also attached screenshot of the WinUAE Properties window showing the quicklaunch config used.

The save state is at the point where you can see the game view heading change to "King's Guard". It's about 1 second before the game crashes.

[Toni Wilen]

Could be out of memory situation. Does it still quit if you add more chip ram (select ecs a500 config and set memory size manually to 1M chip) or only enable one floppy drive?

[BarryB]

Here's my save state just before going forward to the King's Guards, doesn't crash on my PAL WinUAE quickstart config as before (now testing 2.6.0 beta 20).

[SedrynTyros]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

Could be out of memory situation. Does it still quit if you add more chip ram (select ecs a500 config and set memory size manually to 1M chip) or only enable one floppy drive?

Unfortunately, yes it still crashes at the same point. I tried both the increased memory size and single floppy, and both options together.

With a single floppy setup, there's some diskette swapping of course. When you move to the King's Guard encounter, the game asks for "Dragon.Wars.1". It seems like as soon as it recognizes that Disk1 has been inserted it almost immediately crashes.

[BarryB]

If NTSC is ticked in WinUAE the game exits at ANY encounter, not just the King's Guards/Main Gate.

Seeing as the game works in PAL why do you need to play in NTSC? Just because you're in the US and use a 60Hz monitor shouldn't affect WinUAE, most modern PC LCD monitors are 60Hz anyway as is mine and I live in the UK.

Also, my box has a sticker with 'New PAL Version' stuck on it!!

[SedrynTyros]

Originally Posted by BarryB

If NTSC is ticked in WinUAE the game exits at ANY encounter, not just the King's Guards/Main Gate.

Seeing as the game works in PAL why do you need to play in NTSC? Just because you're in the US and use a 60Hz monitor shouldn't affect WinUAE, most modern PC LCD monitors are 60Hz anyway as is mine and I live in the UK.

Also, my box has a sticker with 'New PAL Version' stuck on it!!

Huh ... maybe version 1.2 just isn't designed for NTSC ... that would explain the crashes, lol.

Well, when I try to run it in PAL it seems to impact other aspects of the game, such as display aspect ratio, but I'll play with the settings to see if I can correct these differences ... or I'll just stick with version 1.0. I have no idea what the differences are between v1.0 and v1.2 anyway. For all I know, v1.2 could have been made only to specifically address bugs in the PAL version.

[TCD]

Looking at the box scans here it's quite likely that 1.2 was only aimed at PAL machines.

[BarryB]

The IPF is version 1.2 so probably the PAL version too. It's also strange that it quits to CLI on a real PAL A1200 when you encounter any enemy? I tried disabling Music and SFX (Right Amiga + M, Right Amiga + X) but it still crashes in WinUAE using NTSC, weird!!

I also tested it on my PAL A500 1.3 with 512kb of trapdoor RAM + external drive and the Main Gate/King's Guards encounter works just fine.

[Toni Wilen]

Either it is game bug (accidentally only works on PAL) or it is region lock with annoying implementation (there are few other Amiga games that are PAL or NTSC locked)

[SedrynTyros]

Thanks for the help assessing this, everyone. At least now I know it wasn't just me.