Colonels Bequest, the - A working ECS version not preserved

[SquawkBox]

Now, this one is not for the faint of heart, so put the children to bed and take a deep breath . None of the available versions I could grab on the file server work on my 1 MB A500, not even the following scene release assembled by Randall Flagg (marked as a 100% version) :

The Colonel s Bequest (1989) Sierra On-Line [The Colonel's Bequest (1989) Cracked by Randall Flagg 100%]

, nor the original images converted to HFE v1. Here is the error message which is displayed when the loading phase halts (doesn't differ among the various versions) :

Tried the fake mem trick (requires > 2.04 KS, thanks again for the suggest Mad-Matt) to assign the additional 512k to other mem (tool is included in one of the cover disks of a French mag) to no avail.

Now enters intric8, a contributor on AmigaLove who happens to be a member here. Please, read his posts in the thread he created in February 2017 :
https://www.amigalove.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=196

Allow me to quote him :

I was going to use transdisk, but it turns out that with Amiga Explorer hooked up via null modem cable it was far simpler to:

• Put a floppy in DF0:
• Go to the PC and open Amiga Explorer
• See the ADF via Amiga Explorer in the root directory, then drag it to the PC's desktop. This killed 2 birds with one stone. It read the ADF on the Amiga, wrote it and moved it to the PC simultaneously.

His release (which he didn't spread the word to the TOSEC team about, what are you waiting for, dude ) can be obtained from this page :
https://www.amigalove.com/games.php?game_id=31

Amazingly enough, that version works on my 1 MB A500, despite the rudimentary method in use.

So naturally, I was puzzled . How come none of the available versions of Colonels Bequest, the work on my machine ? How come Amiga Explorer does such a good job at preserving the original disks of that game ?

[dlfrsilver]

Originally Posted by SquawkBox

Now, this one is not for the faint of heart, so put the children to bed and take a deep breath . None of the available versions I could grab on the file server work on my 1 MB A500, not even the following scene release assembled by Randall Flagg (marked as a 100% version) :

The Colonel s Bequest (1989) Sierra On-Line [The Colonel's Bequest (1989) Cracked by Randall Flagg 100%]

, nor the original images converted to HFE v1. Here is the error message which is displayed when the loading phase halts (doesn't differ among the various versions) :

Tried the fake mem trick (requires > 2.04 KS, thanks again for the suggest Mad-Matt) to assign the additional 512k to other mem (tool is included in one of the cover disks of a French mag) to no avail.

Now enters intric8, a contributor on AmigaLove who happens to be a member here. Please, read his posts in the thread he created in February 2017 :
https://www.amigalove.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=196

Allow me to quote him :

His release (which he didn't spread the word to the TOSEC team about, what are you waiting for, dude ) can be obtained from this page :
https://www.amigalove.com/games.php?game_id=31

Amazingly enough, that version works on my 1 MB A500, despite the rudimentary method in use.

So naturally, I was puzzled . How come none of the available versions of Colonels Bequest, the work on my machine ? How come Amiga Explorer does such a good job at preserving the original disks of that game ?

Sorry to say that you have a problem with your hardware.

Amiga explorer is doing nothing special.

[SquawkBox]

I know Amiga Explorer is nothing special, the reason it's doing a good job at preserving the floppies of CB is tied to the fact that the disks are not protected against copy (manual protection deemed sufficient by the publisher). Where's your sense of humour ? Anyway, my proposal (on behalf of some AmigaLove members who are in favor of this) still holds. It appears intric8 original was discreetly fixed for 1 MB chip machines. If you don't believe me, load the ADF's he posted on Amigalove (I can zip his version and upload it in The Zone!*, if that's Ok with him) in WinUAE with 1 MB chip ram and 0 slow / fast ram, the game loads fine. Now, do the same with any of the TOSEC versions, the game fails to load.

Having said that, there's nothing wrong with my A500 if you consider the Agnus has been replaced to support 1 MB chip ram. It's the missing link between a bog standard A500 featuring 512k slow / fast additional RAM and an A500+ so to speak. Think Steve Austins, bionic A500 in a way! This is deliberate, I could have bought a less customized machine but 1 MB chip had more appeal to me. When I post about a game that fails to load due to the lack of slow / fast ram, it doesn't imply I am complaining about it, just spreading the word aiming at folks whose miggys bear 1 MB chip or more and are deprived of a 1024k / 512k mem switch.

Quite frankly, I didn't expect to find that many games which would need the ross fixing-for-all-config type of treatment (remember those "AGA fixes" that used to be popular before WHDLoad was a thing ? Well, not of all of them were trash, some can even prove useful even though my machine is not AGA). When turrican9 asked us to list such games, the sole title I had in mind was Wayne Gretzky Hockey I. If you play WGH I and WGH II from original in a row, you will notice they are very similar in terms of gfx and presentation. That implies the publisher wanted 1+ MB chip machines users (the A500+ & the A3000 most notably, at the time of release) to enjoy the game too. Not all publishers would bother hiring developers to publish a second opus just to fix issues with 1 MB chip config, mind you (WGH II bears a few additional features vs WGH I, but the main ingredient is elsewhere)! My point is fixing games for 1 MB chip (pre-AGA) machines doesn't come out of nowhere, nor it is some kind of passing fancy, contrary to popular belief.

Now if you fail to understand not all 1 MB A500's are created equal, there's not much more I can do. I know some peeps would simply buy as many Amiga's as necessary to have access to each and every title from the huge "A500 / A2000" catalog, including those early Activision titles which require 1.2 KS, good for them if they have the dough and room space. Personally, I'd rather have one (1) Amiga, at the risk of not being able to play a bunch of early titles momentarily or permanently, to each his own.


Edit (*) : Ok, intric8 version now in The Zone !

[BarryB]

I have both a 'cracked' copy and an original! The 'crack' seems to have added some files like a viewer and the powerpacker.library and won't load with 1mb chip in WinUAE but my original loads no problem!

So I guess something amiss with the 'crack' if my original loads?

[SquawkBox]

You seem to have good taste in terms of how you pick up originals for your collection of Amiga games . Well, from the tests I conducted, It's not just that cracked version you have picked up which specifically requires fast / slow ram to work, it's each and every version currently featured in TOSEC. That includes a couple of cracked versions (by Assault & by Arisk), their variations (a, a2, a3), and the set of original images numbered #0796. The way I see it, Sierra discreetly fixed CB to work on 1+ MB chip ram machines. While doing so, they didn't even bother incrementing the version number.

The good news is in order to preserve that 1 MB chip ram compatible version of CB, the SPS team (comprised of ... Well, Denis ) won't have to register on AmigaLove, assuming intric8 is more active there. The bad news is dlfr seems to be dubious about the very existence of such version, so I'll leave it to you guys to assess whether your original would deserve to be featured in the SPS collection, alongside the less compatible version. Playing from the HFE's would be a better option in the Gotek purist perspective, but I can live with the ADF set I grabbed from AmigaLove since that game in unprotected. Fiat voluntas tua .

[dlfrsilver]

Originally Posted by SquawkBox

You seem to have good taste in terms of how you pick up originals for your collection of Amiga games . Well, from the tests I conducted, It's not just that cracked version you have picked up which specifically requires fast / slow ram to work, it's each and every version currently featured in TOSEC. That includes a couple of cracked versions (by Assault & by Arisk), their variations (a, a2, a3), and the set of original images numbered #0796. The way I see it, Sierra discreetly fixed CB to work on 1+ MB chip ram machines. While doing so, they didn't even bother incrementing the version number.

The good news is in order to preserve that 1 MB chip ram compatible version of CB, the SPS team (comprised of ... Well, Denis ) won't have to register on AmigaLove, assuming intric8 is more active there. The bad news is dlfr seems to be dubious about the very existence of such version, so I'll leave it to you guys to assess whether your original would deserve to be featured in the SPS collection, alongside the less compatible version. Playing from the HFE's would be a better option in the Gotek purist perspective, but I can live with the ADF set I grabbed from AmigaLove since that game in unprotected. Fiat voluntas tua .

Colonel Bequest has been preserved in IPF, i don't understand what you mean. But then anyone is free to submit an original dump of a version we don't have, they are all welcome

[SquawkBox]

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

Colonel Bequest has been preserved in IPF, i don't understand what you mean.

The SPS team has preserved CB sure, but, without any fanfare, it appears Sierra released another version which doesn't require fast / slow ram to load properly. It is counter-intuitive because the version number is the same, but you can clearly notice the better compatibility of the version I zoned by loading it into WinUAE with fast ram disabled in mem tab. Under such circumstances (1 MB chip & fast ram disabled), the IPF's will fail to load and an error message will be displayed "Software Error - Task Held etc.", while the ADF set from AmigaLove will load properly. Fire up WinUAE, adjust settings to mimic such ECS machine specs, and see for yourself. The ADF's contain the game and nothing else.

But then anyone is free to submit an original dump of a version we don't have

That would be up to BarryB to decide. It would be a good idea for him to do so IMHO. As a matter of fact, at the time intric8 posted his version on AmigaLove, he didn't bother contacting the SPS team to dump his original.

you have a problem with your hardware.

Don't talk like that about the Old Lady, she's more lionhearted (pun intended) that you might think !

[BarryB]

My copy had a bad disk 3 so had to write an IPF to it Disk 1 also looked modified, a few tracks were not index aligned so maybe modified? Disks 2, 3 and 5 looked unmodified though, all tracks index aligned!

[SquawkBox]

Well, it's the first disk that contains the modified piece of code which would allow your version of the game to be playable from any ECS machines, so technically, if your first disk was in pristine condition, it wouldn't have mattered much if you wrote IPF's for the four remaining disk. In terms of preservation, it's not too good I guess so we will have to wait for intric8 to submit a dump from his original, should he wish to do so.

PM'd Crashdisk who told me he knew about this version, but couldn't decide what to do with it. Currently, it's featured in non-TOSEC, but he might reconsider :

Colonel's Bequest, The v1.000.059 (1990)(Sierra)(Disk 1 of 5)[alternative release][1BAC4252][NEW]