Pacboy (Softgang) issues

[Retroplay]

For some reason I can only get this game to work in WinUAE if using an A500+ config.
Any A500 config fails to load the game, strange as this is a 1987 title, older than A500+.


I also tested it in Retroarch PUAE core, there it does load on a standard A500 KS1.3 512k setting.


Could someone test it on a real KS1.x A500 (disable slow/fast ram) to make sure it's 100% (besides possible bad programming, that is) ?


The adf is in the Zone, it's from an original disk.

[PascalDe73]

Hi,
One day to late… i’m on Holidays (without my A500) …
I will try it as soon as possibles… sorry…

[Superman]

Just tried on my A500 and it freezes on a black screen at track 41 side 1 after I click the left of the screen to close the title screen. With extra ram enabled it gets a bit further but all the graphics are corrupted and garbled.

I have got it running in WinUAE using kickstart 1.3 and 512k chip but only with ECS Agnus or full ECS chipset enabled. Very odd for such an early game. My A500 has the ECS Agnus but definitely won’t load on that for me.

[Don_Adan]

Seems to be not cracked, I think.

[Retroplay]

The "cracked" or better, hacked, version by Fairlight also stalls.
Pacboy & Shooting Star (1987)(FLT).adf
https://ftp2.grandis.nu/turransearch...0&httplinks=on

A500 OCS KS1.2 512k, gets stuck on track 24 during load.
Same disk, but A500+, it works.

Game is definitely buggy, it seems.

The compilation version found on
Amiga Mega Pak (1988)(Ozi Soft)(Disk 2 of 2)[compilation].adf
seems to work though.
http://ftp2.grandis.nu/turransearch/...0&httplinks=on

[giantclam]

Originally Posted by Retroplay

The "cracked" or better, hacked, version by Fairlight also stalls.
Pacboy & Shooting Star (1987)(FLT).adf
https://ftp2.grandis.nu/turransearch...0&httplinks=on

A500 OCS KS1.2 512k, gets stuck on track 24 during load.
Same disk, but A500+, it works.

Game is definitely buggy, it seems.

The compilation version found on
Amiga Mega Pak (1988)(Ozi Soft)(Disk 2 of 2)[compilation].adf
seems to work though.
http://ftp2.grandis.nu/turransearch/...0&httplinks=on

Curious result, piqued my interest (helps a lot when amiberry is in sync with current winuae-core stuffs =) The image from the Zone worked OOTB wrt amiberry Preview (likely v6.3.3 as well) on x86-64. That's using the builtin defaults for base Quickstart settings for A500/512/512/KS1.3/OCS ...didn't think anything of it, then above...

...first image, pretty much mimicked the above result.ie; ./amiberry "Pacboy & Shooting Star (1987)(FLT).adf" -> works as expected...

..the 2nd compilation image above, not so ~ to get it to run needed ECS Full && Cycle Exact disabled ...then it runs like the above examples...(I don't often futz with KS versions unless the Amiga title can date dated back to KS1.2/512k bare bones)...

The fact I had to disable cycle exact (which is nonsensical when you think about it ;), coupled with the disk load stopping on particular track numbers (I conjured 2 or 3 examples), is very much aligned with behavior observed with some other Amiga titles, and at present, Toni's aware of it, involved in a custom chipset code rewrite anyway, and he's indicated it's not really worth digging into, until after the rewrite is done, and if the issues still persist....which makes total sense to me =)

@Retroplay ~ thanks for the sortie ...it's the first case example I now have, that discloses just how sneaky this is...ie; 2 .adf titles, ostensibly presenting as the same thing, and yet one hand runs fine, and the other says.."I want full ECS, and I want my chipset timings sloppy"....not just disk images either ~ as amiberry can direct launch whdload.lha gamepaks, I've got a handful of those as well, which will not run with Cycle Exact enabled...not anymore at least (previously before winuae-core v5.x they did)...

Obviously there's a difference between the disk images, but if this is the same thing, it could be part of the custom chipset code that's being written out (which Toni referred to as being ugly & hacky ;), then you're really chasing a phantom...

...curious footnote: Wrt amiberry's whdbooter process, I found all of these problematic titles could be 'fixed', by either editing their snippets in the XML to add CHIPSET=AGA or having a config.uae file...for these .adf images, I found the same was true, in that config file stipulates Model=A600 ; then these problematic whdload.lha gamepaks work..on KS2.04... go figure (setting floppy drive to 800% decreases loadtime by some appreciable measure ;)

[qupe]

I have longplayed this on FSUAE. I used A500+ settings in FSUAE with 1mb chip ram.

I'll stick that version in the zone for you to test and I'll stick it on my actual 500 to see if works. Might not be until Wednesday though if ok?