Darkmere problem

[jotd]

okay whdload version is broken, I can take the job to try to fix it.

But I don't understand the aggressivity here when someone says that the original game may have bugs. This is a discussion, no need to be unpleasant.

[DamienD]

Who's being aggressive?

Myself and Denis are just saying that we doubt the original game from floppy has these issues that some people in this thread have said they do.

Also, if the original floppy disks had these horrible bugs, then you'd think there would be mention of it over all these years, and way before there was ever a WHDLoad version.

[rygar]

Originally Posted by DamienD

As mentioned, HOL somehow got the completed screenshots so surely the .IPFs and some .ADFs are ok.

This proof nothing. I remember that i had Alien Breed 3 which was badly cracked and some levels was broken but i found a way, using other paths, to finish game. If someone is really motivated always will find a way
And i think it's in this case...

[manossg]

@Damien

Originally Posted by meynaf

There is a bug with the monsters at the second level. I think it is there regardless of the version.
Sometimes respawned monsters just don't work and mess things up.

The key word is "sometimes", so it is possible that in other playthroughs it doesn't crash.

And I have the same problems with my A500, V4 and with emulated Amigas with different setups.

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by rygar

This proof nothing. I remember that i had Alien Breed 3 which was badly cracked and some levels was broken but i found a way, using other paths, to finish game. If someone is really motivated always will find a way
And i think it's in this case...

Ok, maybe screenshots alone prove nothing.

As mentioned though, I find it very hard to believe that the original floppy disk version has these bugs as:

... There would have been a lot of angry people back in the day so I'm sure the developer would have had to release a fix.
... There's been no mention of this issue over the part 15 years since the game's release except for this thread.

[dlfrsilver]

Originally Posted by jotd

okay whdload version is broken, I can take the job to try to fix it.

But I don't understand the aggressivity here when someone says that the original game may have bugs. This is a discussion, no need to be unpleasant.

This is indeed a discussion Jotd

My point is simply that we know that the original game can be finished (screens in HOL). So, if we have bugs in the whdload version, this is something that has to be patched, or debugged eventually.

Just for the record, I have a fresh example : I had a talk a long while ago on the Atari Forum about the ST version of Dyter-07. the ST patcher simply told me "the game fails whatever happens, so i had to fix this". I told him that no, that was no possible, otherwise it would have been known since.

In fact, after making a set if IPF yesterday from a dump, it appears the STX files he worked from were simply knackered or bad, the protection failed on each volcano level !

(The game on amiga as stingray found when installing in whdload is ridden with checksums, manual protection, fake interrupt and other sweeties. The ST version has the same protection system in the end).

I was simply right

Now for Darkmere, that can be whdload related bugs or the fact that it likes 020 but not 030 ?

Darkmere at first is 1200 compatible as staten on the box (i own the game in original).

EDIT : Game is enhanced on 1200, so this possibly means the game has 2 memory config (one for A500-600, the other for A1200 for enhanced game).

[jotd]

Denis you're right. Game is 1MB chipmem aware, and also fastmem aware. I'm pretty sure the memory config set by whdload slave (which is valid) triggers a bug unseen in the floppy version.

The game has standard protection (Rob Northen), and Core design games are very compatible with higher amigas. I'll find the reason, but it's memory/OS related.

When I took over the patch, the game cleared the memory because it couldn't find a memory block (Saimo save). Fixing the clear bug naively allows to go further, but then there are access faults with the troll fight. After fixing those access faults, the game locks up after beating the troll...

Now after increasing the memory block, the first clearmem bug goes away, but then the game locks up before the troll appears.

I'm not out of ideas. And this is a good game that deserves a proper install.

[dlfrsilver]

Originally Posted by jotd

Denis you're right. Game is 1MB chipmem aware, and also fastmem aware. I'm pretty sure the memory config set by whdload slave (which is valid) triggers a bug unseen in the floppy version.

The game has standard protection (Rob Northen), and Core design games are very compatible with higher amigas. I'll find the reason, but it's memory/OS related.

When I took over the patch, the game cleared the memory because it couldn't find a memory block (Saimo save). Fixing the clear bug naively allows to go further, but then there are access faults with the troll fight. After fixing those access faults, the game locks up after beating the troll...

Now after increasing the memory block, the first clearmem bug goes away, but then the game locks up before the troll appears.

I'm not out of ideas. And this is a good game that deserves a proper install.

I love the game very much too. the only real default, is that the french sentences can't be adequately fit into the tiny space they made for them :/
It's a bit the samey with cadaver.....

[jotd]

i always play in english. cadaver french translation has a bug in level 2 the orbs are misnamed and before you figure that out you are stuck

but localized games are always a nice touch

[dlfrsilver]

Originally Posted by jotd

i always play in english. cadaver french translation has a bug in level 2 the orbs are misnamed and before you figure that out you are stuck

but localized games are always a nice touch

I wonder if cadaver could be reworked to fix this bug ?

[jotd]

well, I had a hard time because there were access faults in other languages than english.

- It also fixes access faults which do not occur in english language,
but in the french language (I don't recommend french language,
because there is a typo at level 2 on an orb name, and you don't know
which is which... Also because I fixed the access fault, but I could not fix
it completely: instead of crashing, some potion names will be garbage in the object
display menu (but it still works in the individual object description)

progress on Darkmere: I was able to load Manosgg save game and save it to floppy. Now I can test the .IPF game with this savegame.
Saimo savegames (at least the one I tried) doesn't have a time reverse potion anymore, and I could not find a way to train the game to allow infinite time potions... and cfou! hack for this doesn't work either...

[saimo]

Originally Posted by jotd

progress on Darkmere: I was able to load Manosgg save game and save it to floppy. Now I can test the .IPF game with this savegame.
Saimo savegames (at least the one I tried) doesn't have a time reverse potion anymore, and I could not find a way to train the game to allow infinite time potions... and cfou! hack for this doesn't work either...

Uh? Isn't the game already trained for that? The "help" menu page has always the "magic" item available.
(And no, I wasn't using it: I've been actually using time potions only for a proper experience )

[jotd]

I just tried manosgg savegame with IPF (damn the loading times are just horrible!) and it just doesn't work properly. Before exiting the room, the game just freezes (hourglass animation is still there and also the forest noises but that's it)

For me the savegames used for that game are buggy, probably because the whdload slave didn't provide enough memory to the engine for starters.

I'm going to try saimo saves now that I found the "magic" menu... damn lost 1 hour trying to unlock savegames... if only I had read the docs..

edit: same behaviour on those saves: hourglass, sfx and game lockup...

I'm going to try to play this game from the start with the new memory setup. I like this kind of game anyway. I'm afraid your gamesaves are corrupt because of the incorrect memory setup of the old whdload slave.

[kremiso]

If can be useful, i'm uploading my winuae savestate in the Zone,
Darkmere Level 2 very start (nothing done yet in the level)

A500+ 2MB chip, 2 floppy drives ( disk1 in df0: - disk3 in df1: )
original .ipf disks is the configuration

it should be also useful to make a proper savedisk too

[jotd]

yes it will be useful. I m playing level one with trainer. got a lot of keys the 5 lingots crossed the bridge but no end in sight

[saimo]

@kremiso


Thanks. If/when I'll convince myself to restart from there, it will definitely be useful.

[manossg]

@Kremiso,
thanks, it will definitely be helpful.
Since I don't use WinUAE, though, any chance you (or anybody) could make a real save game file from there?

[kremiso]

I'll take the opportunity to try to complete at least level 2, to have also a level 3 (final stage) start gamesave then

@manossg i'll try to build it via winUAE

[manossg]

@kremiso
Thanks, mate, much appreciated!

[jotd]

I've created an .adf file and a whdload save file for start of level 2.