New Zealand Story Update

[Hungry Horace]

Hello

as a few of you might know, or have guessed, i've been working on an update to the slave one of my favourite games of all time; NZS - with JOTD kindly letting me play around with the code to my heart's content


however, i've already added a fair few fixes / extras, and i was wondering if anyone thought one of my considerations was worth bothering with....

it seems it shouldnt be too hard to add a "music test" option, where keys on the number row activate the different in-game musics. (just for fun!) - i would of course tooltype this rathe pointless option, but i am now wondering - should i really be bothering? is anyone that interested in having such options added to the slaves, or is it just mindless 'doing it cos you can' ? opinions from all are welcomed.


current state of the update;

Version 2.0 (JOTD & Hungry Horace)

- Code re-written for WHDload (JOTD)
- Load / Save scores to HD (file 'NewZealandStory.highs')
- Highscore saving is disabled if either CUSTOM1 tooltype or the original game cheat are used.
- Trainers on CUSTOM1 can be combined for multiple trainers:
- CUSTOM1=1 - Infinite Lives
- CUSTOM1=2 - Infinite Oxygen
- CUSTOM1=4 - Enabled Levelskip (Help key)
- CUSTOM2=1 enables the "fast cheater" - press any key to enable the original game cheat.
- "Fast cheater" now supports both game versions
- CUSTOM3=1 enables two button support
- This operates exactly like the arcade version;
- Jump is now activated by the second button and not "up".
- Upwards movement of a balloon or rider is activated by the second button.
- After collecting the Joystick item, or riding the spaceship, the joystick up control is used.
- Game now returns to the highscore table after game completion, instead of the menu screen.
- After completing the game the round number for game completion is entered as "END".
- Highscore table delete function now fixed to three characters to prevent overwriting of score.
- Blitter waits adjusted to make speed closer to the original.
- Loop which locks the game where no sound is enabled (emulation) is now removed.

anything i've missed, or bugs which need fixing that anyone knows of either? (discovered a couple by adding the highscore saving!)

[dlfrsilver]

does the game now start and load the title screen instead of the main menu ?

[Hungry Horace]

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

does the game now start and load the title screen instead of the main menu ?

i knew someone had to ask

not yet, though i'll be asking JOTD about this once i've done as much as i think i can do myself. (i have looked, but havent found how to do it myself -yet-) i think some resourceing may be needed

[Galahad/FLT]

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

does the game now start and load the title screen instead of the main menu ?

Are you talking about the left shot of the double barreled screen shot?

http://hol.abime.net/960/screenshot

if so, this title screen is not part of the main code, its external, and once the game loads, it clears the title pic.

[Hungry Horace]

@ galahad
he is. i know denis and i discussed it before.

i guess it will be a matter of implementing a seperate pic-load routine, and use of the displayer for it at the start of the slave then. explains why i didnt find it in my (limited) searching!

i'll start with the bootblock and work inwards....

/me is not looking forward to that

[Galahad/FLT]

Originally Posted by Hungry Horace

@ galahad
he is. i know denis and i discussed it before.

i guess it will be a matter of implementing a seperate pic-load routine, and use of the displayer for it at the start of the slave then. explains why i didnt find it in my (limited) searching!

i'll start with the bootblock and work inwards....

/me is not looking forward to that

its actually very simple for you to patch, and you're putting way more effort into it than is required, utilise the existing external code that loads and displays the picture.

Only thing you'd need to do is ensure that hiscores are saved before reloading start picture, and that they are reloaded AFTER when the main code file is reloaded.

[Hungry Horace]

Originally Posted by Galahad/FLT

its actually very simple for you to patch, and you're putting way more effort into it than is required, utilise the existing external code that loads and displays the picture.

thanks galagad - my main concern is that i havent got into coding or altering disk/file accesses just yet, so i'll have to see how i get on with that!

you do have to bare with me... i am only a beginner, but i tend to learn and be able to repeat once taught

Only thing you'd need to do is ensure that hiscores are saved before reloading start picture, and that they are reloaded AFTER when the main code file is reloaded.

this bit i dont quite understand... mostly the bit about saving before "reloading start picture" ? because the saving happens right after the score is entered. dont quite understand how it relates to the code for the start picture, given tht the start picture is only done the once, well before anything relating to the scores happen!


i get the bit about the loading tho currently all patches (tooltypes, bug fixes, highscore load) are done after the main game loading, and just before running the main game - so this should be safely unaffected by the extra titlescreen code.

[Anemos]

i know how hard work of Horace for this slave..
good work, my friend

[Hungry Horace]

given my amusement in another thread where NZS has been declared 'rubbish' and 'two buttons always better than one' , I thought i'd level the playing-field and give everyone the chance to play NZS with two buttons or one, by uploading a beta version of this updated whd slave. I must confess it's been sat on my HD for ages with me not having sorted the install script (sorry!)

the pre-installed pack is now in the zone. use custom3=1 to enable the two-button mode (which works the same as the arcade version, in every respect).

delete the .highs file to clear the highscores.


arent freedom of choice and personal opinion wonderful things?

[AmigaFriend]

Thanks Horace. One of my fave games also. I'll give it a go right now!

[TCD]

Originally Posted by Hungry Horace

arent freedom of choice and personal opinion wonderful things?

Indeed
Thanks for the update Horace I hope now even more people can enjoy the game to the max

[Retro1234]

Excellent - much more enjoyable

[Retro-Nerd]

Indeed an improvement over the original Amiga controls. I smell a bit of the arcade feeling now.

[Retroplay]

Woohoo thanks man.

[dlfrsilver]

Thanks Hungwyy Howaccioo i love so much NZS ! Any title pic

[Hungry Horace]

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

Thanks Hungwyy Howaccioo i love so much NZS ! Any title pic

Not at this stage. Perhaps in v2.1. Jean has told me how he removed it as part of a clean (and no doubt quicker) way of removing the copy-protection.

this slave has now been released on www.whdload.de, so i have deleted the one in the zone.

[dlfrsilver]

ok ^^ Thanks !