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Archive - comp.sys.acorn.games

The Usenet newsgroup comp.sys.acorn.games is somewhat unusual in that a large percentage of the people who actually develop Acorn games also read, and sometimes post to, the newsgroup. I've collected some pieces of information from the group which I thought might prove useful or of interest to people (italics in articles indicate the poster quoting a previous news article). Please note that all articles are copyright their original author.


Darren Salt (arcsalt@spuddy.mew.co.uk) wrote (17/8/96):
Boring question I know, but that's me. Out of date. Anyone know how to save a game in Exile (the slightly dodgy RiscPC version)?
Shift-F9, wait a few seconds, Ctrl-Break (or Ctrl-ScrollLock if you're using the hacked !65Host and Break key patch), then *Save filename 2C00+400
(Warning - the above is from memory.)
Nick Kennedy (nick@kennedys.demon.co.uk) wrote (5/4/97):
Does anyone know if there is a *reliable* way of getting SF3000 to run on a Risc PC? It keeps on hanging just after the disc protection check.
The following works for me:
  1. Create a directory called Star3000 in the same directory as !Star3000.
  2. Move !Star3000 inside this directory, and rename it from Star3000 to !Star3000.
  3. Create a boot file:
    | Star Fighter 3000 © FEDNET Software 1994, 1995
    Set Star3000$Dir <Obey$Dir>.!Star3000
    IconSprites <Star3000$Dir>.!Sprites
  4. Create a run file:
    | Run SF3000
    Set Star3000$Dir <Obey$Dir>.!Star3000
    Echo StarFighter 3000 System boot-up...
    Copy ADFS::Star3000_1.$.!Star3000.Code.3DV_Handle <Star3000$Dir>.Code.* ~C~VF
    Copy ADFS::Star3000_1.$.!Star3000.Code.CMP_Handle <Star3000$Dir>.Code.* ~C~VF
    Run <Star3000$Dir>.!Run
  5. This should solve the problem.
  6. For key-clash problems, either redefine the keys within the game, or use my SubSpace module:
    http://www.kennedys.demon.co.uk/nick/software/downl.html
Hope this helps somebody.
Mike Williams (mike@econym.demon.co.uk) wrote (27/8/96):
I just came along this old game called 'Taipei'. It's okay, but playability could be better - the gfx are quite confusing. Is there a version of this 'Shanghai'-type game with HiRes gfx and nice background?
I know of the following programs. They all have their good points and weaknesses and it's hard to pick an overall recommendation.
  • !Taipei V1.00 by Andrew Fergusson & Alex Hopkins [1]
  • !Taipei V1.00 by Simon Lockhart
  • !Taipei V1.01 by Alex Hopkins
  • !Taipei V1.00 by Andrew Fergusson (non-desktop)
  • !Shanghai V2.00 by Wynand Thompson [2]
  • !Shanghai (several unnumbered versions) by Julian Jiggins [3]
I find the one with the least confusing graphics to be one of the Julian Jiggins !Shangai variants.
[1] and [3] are available on the Internet at ftp://ftp.uni-kl.de/pub/acorn/short/fun/games/table.arc
[2] is available at ftp://ftp.uni-kl.de/pub/acorn/short/fun/games/shanghai.pkd
I don't know any Internet locations for the others.
Shaun Hollingworth (shaun@moatlane.demon.co.uk) wrote (19/8/96) about Acorn's GameModes module (follow link for details)
Ben Carter (ben@gunk.demon.co.uk) wrote (23/1/97):
Stephen Harrison and I have just been working on the Xenon 2 bug (the game crashes after level 1 on RPCs), and we think we've found the problem.

If anyone out there wants to try this for themselves, then you need to make a backup copy of the !Xenon2.Xenon2 file, and then modify the original (using !Zap or similar), so that address &1D720 = &E1A00000 (MOV R0,R0). This appears to fix the problem (for some reason, Xenon 2 seems to be writing to the vector table, which causes a data abort on RPCs, but not older machines).

Note : We take no responsibility for any consequences of doing this, and don't modify your original copy of the file - make a backup!

Please let me know by e-mail if this works on your system (or doesn't)!

Note 2 : This won't fix the SA sprite glitches, which are an unrelated problem.


Richard Barlow (rbarlow@new-media-solutions.com) wrote (12/2/97) about sales of the Acorn version of Wolfenstein 3D:
Speaking to Eddie from Powerslave some months ago he revealed he lost about a 1/3 of his total revenue when Greyhound went belly up ;-( BTW He 'sold' approx 1200 copies.
Darren Salt (arcsalt@spuddy.mew.co.uk) wrote (18/2/96) about making the scrolling in Xor smoother:
Having just found myself in possession of a copy of this game via APDL, and remembering the comments made the other week about the scrolling, a little hacking provided the following fix:
(Ed: This is an Acorn 'Patch' file - you need '!Patch')
# Patch for Xor
Application:!Xor &2000
Description:Xor
Patch:'Improved' scrolling
File:!Xor.!RunImage
Location:&11138
ChangeByte:2 4
Location:&1117C
ChangeByte:2 4
Location:&11190
ChangeByte:5 3
Location:&111A4
ChangeByte:5 3
For those who prefer to do this in (say) Zap, using code mode:
  • Addesses &11138 and &1117C: change #2 to #4
  • Addresses &11190 and &111A4: change #5 to #3
(each time leaving the rest of the instruction unchanged).
Adrian Jackson (A.G.Jackson@durham.ac.uk) wrote (7/6/97) about finishing Dune 2:
Well, I've just finished completing Dune II with all three houses, and I've found the following works:

First build two spice refineries to give you a fairly good cash supply coming in. Follow up with a radar, a couple of rocket turrets, a factory, a hi-tech factory and a heavy vehicle factory, leaving a 3x2 space for a repair facility. A few more rocket turrets and you're ready to go.

Somewhere around this point you'll be attacked, and things get hectic for a few minutes. Build that repair facility, and keep a strong defensive line at the north end of your base.

When the attacks begin to die down, build yourself a starport, and set up an assault force containing five siege tanks and five rocket tanks (Harkonen can replace a couple of the siege tanks with devastators, and Atreides should replace all the rocket tanks with sonic tanks). Head for the far right hand side or the far left hand side - both these construction yards are fairly weakly defended. As soon as you destroy any buildings, start building something yourself - this gives you another building yourself and prevents the enemy rebuilding.

Once you take out the construction yard, demolish that enemy. It's worth going for the Harkonen palace quickly (if you're not the Harkonen yourself) to cut down on the number of missile strikes.

On each side of the central complex (the Emperor's) there's a fairly easily accessible construction site, so once you've dealt with the other houses the Emperor shouldn't be much of a problem. Again, go for the palace ASAP to get rid of the missiles.

To which Martin Ward (Martin.Ward@durham.ac.uk) added (12/6/97):
Another construction yard and a few rocket turrets on the little island of rock to the NE will keep off most of the attackers.

This is all very well, but what about the poor old Ordos who can't build rocket tanks? I find them to be essential for taking out rocket turrets (did you know that if you aim a few rocket tanks at the patch of earth just in front of a turret, they will all stay out of range of the turret, but their rockets will still damage the turret enough to take it out?)

Fortunately there is a Harkonen heavy factory near the NW corner: if you can capture this, then you can start making rocket tanks. A good way to capture it: make a WOR in the extreme NW corner, build a few heavy trooper units, surround the factory, and move them all in at once. The first few damage the factory to the red level, the next one captures it, and the rest don't move.


Torsten Karwoth (tkarwoth@braunschweig.netsurf.de) wrote (19/9/97) about increasing the heap size in ArcQuake:
I've got some problems with "heap allocation" in !ArcQuake. After some debugging i've found the place where to change the internal heap size. It worked for me without problems.

You'll need more heap for some pak files, i.e. "rogue" or "hypnotic" ;-)

  • Make a copy of the quake executable (copy the application code "Quake" as "Quake2" in the same directory, if something goes wrong...)
  • Load the file "Quake" into an editor (i.e. StrongEd)
  • Switch to Assembly display (Dump Mode)
  • go to location (address) 000421f8. There must be the instruction ADD R0,R0,#&00500000. If not, then your version doesn't match mine ;-)
  • change the instruction to i.e. ADD R0,R0,#&00700000
  • save the modified quake file
  • as a security option, change the wimpslot size in the !Run file to -min 8400k -max 10240k
You should have more then 8mb free ram in the machine btw ;-))))

Have a nice Day!


Anarchy (n.a.atkinson@durham.ac.uk) wrote (12/12/97) about fixing the AU version of Xenon 2:
Load !Xenon.Xenon2 into Zap (might be an idea to copy it first in case you mash it up).

Goto address: &1D720 and change the line from:
STRB R11, [R12,#0]
to:
MOV R0, R0


Keith Mckillop (kmc@arcade.demon.co.uk) wrote (1/11/97) about running Exodus in 2Mb:
Just gone out and bought Exodus at the AW show? It highlights 2MB of Ram needed but it wasn't that obvious that 4 Megs were really needed :P

Luckily, I managed to get it working on a 2 Meg machine. So if there's other 2meg owners out there who want to run it, there are 2 ways of doing it:

  1. (The easy, less rewarding way) Cold boot, open up the !Exodus application and run the !Run2 file. But this didn't give me music. Does it give any other 2meg owners music?
  2. (The trickier, fully rewarding way) A little bit of messin' around ;)
    Open up the !Exodus directory, and create a basic file called MUS inside !Exodus. Type:
    SYS "DSym_Load","<planets$Dir>.music.st1"
    into this file and save it. Now edit the !Run2 file:
    Dir <Planets$Dir>
    WimpSlot -min 1200k -max 1600k
    RMLoad modules.MD10
    | RMLoad Modules.md11
    | FontFree 40k Error I need at least 40k free font cache
    | RMASize 0k
    | RMAFree 480k Error I need 480k free RMA
    | RMEnsure basic RMFaster basic
    mus
    FontLibrary <Planets$dir>.Font
    Run !RunImage
    Dir $

    And save that. Now change the !Exodus.!Boot file to:
    Set Planets$Dir <Obey$Dir>
    | IconSprites <Planets$Dir>.!Sprites

    Save that, and finally, change the !Exodus.!Run.!Boot file to
    set Exinst$Dir <Obey$Dir>
    | IconSprites <Exinst$Dir>.!Sprites

    Cold boot, set everything down to 0 except screen mem, which should be changed to 160k, fontsize, which should be at 32k (or 48k if you're feeling lucky ;) It didn't work on mine...) and change the module area size until you've got exactly 1200k of free Application memory. Now open up the !Exodus directory and run the !Run2 program. And it should work with music. Of course, you could always change the !Run.!Run program so that it goes straight to !Run2, but I can't really be bothered with that at this time of night.

Any problems, don't blame me, and oh yes, don't forget to make a backup if your computer self-destructs if you took option 2 ;)


Various people have written about choosing non-clashing keys for Starfighter 3000:
Two sets of keys which are similar to those provided by default, but do not clash so badly are as follows: Z - left X - right L - up , - down ; - fire SPC - thrust
or
X - left C - right ; - up . - down ' - fire z - thrust
You can't save your configuration and must set it each time you load the game.


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