UKRetrogamer

Thanks Rasmus, for a brilliant conversion of this classic game. From reading some of the comments in this thread, it looks like you've introduced a handful of Ti-99ers to a new (old) world of Miner Willy and from the feedback, it sounds like they're enjoying every minute of gameplay. I know *I* am. Apart from disabling the teleport keys (which I never used - cheat!) are there any further modifications from the previous release? BTW, I made a post on the Jet Set Willy and Manic Miner Community forum to let them know about the latest conversion. Thread here: http://jswmm.co.uk/topic/71-new-2015-ti-994a-conversion-of-jsw/ Looking forward to your next work of art. (Crosses fingers: Please let it be Jet Pac?!)

I've only just noticed another difference between the Ti and ZX Spectrum version which can often result in loss of a lives. In the original version, if Willy is stood upright (i.e. both feet on the ground with no legs stuck out) and turns to face in the opposite direction, the character model effectively flips to face in the opposite direction. No character animation, just a straight-forward horizontal flip. See edit below. In the Ti version the character seems to go through a frame or two of animation which means Willy's tummy or a leg now protrudes a pixel or two, more often than not, into the path of an enemy. In the original, climbing The Banyan Tree is much easier to judge and execute than in the Ti conversion. Edit: My mistake. In the original, there is one frame between left-right which has Willy bring his legs together. In the Ti version, more often than not, the character model appears to move an extra frame or two, meaning a leg becomes stuck out. Sometimes his stomach can get him killed. On the original, if he's stood with his legs together (where his tummy is the furthest part protruding) you're unlikely to be killed. Feet protruding, yes but I don't remember his tummy getting caught by a baddy. I'm beginning to doubt myself now. I must be getting tired... I AM getting tired (which is why I've only just *IMAGINED* this). Please disregard ALL OF THE ABOVE. Banyan Tree is a PITA in both versions.

Confirmed fixed. I've tried all combinations of jumping up from this platform and have managed to move to the next screen every single time. Thanks again. I don't mind the April Showers screen though as I mentioned, I'm a purist when it comes to conversions. I never liked JSW2 AT ALL. With its mix of old and new rooms, it just seemed like a cheap cash-in rather than an official follow up to the original and I wouldn't (and still won't) play it. To me, JSW *IS* JSW and if it's not the original, I'm not in! That said, I wouldn't mind seeing the PROPER sequel Matthew Smith originally planned to release, Willy meets the Tax-man!

I'm a stickler for keeping conversions as close to the original as possible, given any hardware limitations. Any JSW without the death-loop is NOT a JSW game, is a hack or a version with permanent cheat-mode activated IMHO. I'm still a in two minds whether I appreciate Rasmus' addition of The YS "April Showers" room to the Ti conversion but I'm just extremely grateful Rasmus is taking the time to convert JSW to the Ti at all. There are lots of additions and omissions in conversions to other micros. Some due to hardware limitations, some to rushed releases to meet deadlines. Others are just bad coding or hacks. Just go through the ZX Spectrum TOSEC archive and count how many versions/revisions and hacks there are for the original JSW if you want proof of my concerns.

Thanks for the link. I've found the bug-fixed C64 version in the thread but being a ZX Spectrum owner from back in the day - when the C64 was the "enemy" - I guess my disdain [i wouldn't call it hatred - I currently own a number of C64/C128 models] is deep-rooted. I've just given the C64 game another go with the version you mentioned and (under emulation) it still feels a bit "Meh"! As I said though, it might be a deep-seated disregard for the C64 and I'll give it a try on real hardware at some stage to play it as intended. Maybe this will sway my initial impressions. Still, it's nice to have ANY version of JSW on the micro of your choice, so kudos to the programmers who patched up the C64 version and made it playable. Thanks again for the link.

I knew someone who hadn't played before would ask this. The following is an early entry from page 2 of this thread. It's a feature of the original and AFAIK, every conversion [past, present and future] should retain this. It gives JSW its unique character. You just need to remember where you screwed up and be more careful next time. The game is a cruel teacher. Mind you, if you can work your way up the Banyan Tree like you did to find this bug, you shouldn't experience many instances of this feature! Nice to see it has you hooked. I think Rasmus chose a fantastic game to convert this time and in the process, introducing new players to the world of Miner Willy.

You're quite correct. I've just tried this myself and Willy cannot reach the top of the screen from this platform in The Orangery. He can only bounce up and down on this same platform in the latest beta. Another feature for Rasmus to look into. The beauty of the room layouts in JSW is there are multiple ways to traverse them. I have to admit, getting there by following the route in the video you linked and taking this vertical path up from The Banyan Tree requires a high degree of skill and almost perfect mastery of timing. As I try not to cheat when checking rooms for glitches, just getting there from The Banyan Tree via this route proved to be a real PITA. But, yes. Confirmed. This route cannot currently be followed in the present version of Ti-JSW. Edit: How strange?! I left the game running in the background to type the above. When I returned to the game, I found I COULD now jump up into the adjoining screen, "Under The Roof". If Willy is standing on the platform with both feet it doesn't work, but hang one foot off the right-side of the platform as below and you'll make it. In fact, there are a few pixels on this platform which allow the vertical leap to be made. Just not ALL of them!

While I have an MSX, I've never played JSW on it. Watching videos on YouTube, it sounds like the MSX music routine has been given a low-priority interrupt. Movement of the character is also slow and jerky (unless of course, the player was emulating an MSX on a machine too slow to do the game justice). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDp17AoVlXM

I've just been playing JSW on my BBC Micro Model B and even this commercially released version suffers a problem Rasmus cured immediately on initial feedback on his first beta. Jumping through stairs on the BBC is a PITA. While the Beeb gets a decent conversion, it's limited in colours and missing sprites in a number of places too. It does however, auto-collect the object in The Swimming Pool as per the ZX Spectrum release. In order of favourites to play then, 1. Rasmus' Ti-99/4a version. 2. The ZX Spectrum original release (assuming it's been patched/POKED to allow completion). 3. The Tynesoft BBC Micro version. (Really only spoiled by the difficulty in passing through stairs) 4. Others [TBC]. Somewhere near the bottom of the list is the early Atari 8-bit version I mentioned in a previous post. Man that was a dreadful conversion! Oh, and the C64 version is almost as bad as the Atari version. SQUARE stairs? Ew?!

Better keep playing. You've got 30 years of classic platforming to catch up on. If you use emulators, try the original ZX Spectrum version. It was released on the Spectrum before any other platform as a sequel to the game "Manic Miner". The programmer, Matthew Smith admitted in an interview he saw Miner 2049'er and used this as a basis for HIS Miner game. The 1984 ZX Spectrum release of JSW is nearly identical to the latest Ti conversion although the character movement in Rasmus' version is much smoother. There have been conversions of JSW to other platforms since it was released by Software Projects in 1984. IIRC, the most recent was a conversion to the Atari 8-bit range in 2007 (once again, based on the original ZX Spectrum version). An [extremely poor by comparison] commercially released Atari conversion was made back in 1987 but that's laughable compared to most other conversions past or present. The best thing about the 1987 Atari conversion was its music! Up until recently, the VERY BEST version (IMHO) of JSW was Matthew Smith's original release for the ZX Spectrum. Having played the Ti version extensively since the first beta was released, I'm now torn between the Spectrum version (this probably owes more to nostalgia) and the new Ti conversion, as it shares so much with the ZX version and yet, manages to improve on it. To the best of my knowledge, NONE of the other conversions were ever released on ROM cartridge either, for instant Willy gratification! (Yes, I KNOW that sounds all KINDS of wrong but we ALL know it's the truth!)

Freakin' unresponsive keys... Earlier today, I replaced the CMOS battery in an Acorn BBC Master Turbo (unused in over 2 years), only to find NEITHER the left OR the right Shift keys worked. All other keys were OK so I assumed there was a single and more fundamental problem with the hardware and opened a thread on the StarDot forums. (Bad CMOS, broken trace, yada-yada...) It turned out BOTH keys needed a thorough dousing with switch-cleaner and repeated hammering. Coincidence, huh? If any other key had exhibited the same problem, I wouldn't have given it a second thought and just reached for the spray but BOTH (and ONLY) Shift keys? Pah! Sorry this doesn't help the OP in any way but it does help me by getting this off my chest!

Excellent. We've been striving for a near-perfect conversion and (deliberate or not?) you've made it emulate the original in many more ways than even you thought possible. You're TRULY a great programmer!

...Uh, I've already managed to wrap around. By jumping from Esmeralda's platform, I went through the top of the screen and ended up in The Ballroom East. Edit: Yup, I just repeated it. Though, TBH, I have infinite lives enabled. It's a pity (for debugging purposes) we can't toggle infinite-lives/no collision in-game. I'm not sure if the same would happen (or if I'd die rather get knocked out of the screen) if I didn't have the cheat enabled. It takes quite some skill and timing to reach Esmeralda with a normal compliment of lives and no cheats!

Not downloaded the latest version yet but your mention of a buffer underrun in "The Attic" made me genuinely laugh out loud. A bug in The Attic in the original ZX version was well known to cause issues elsewhere in the game, making it difficult (if not impossible) to complete the game. I *DID* notice however that EVEN IN CHEAT/NO COLLISION MODE on earlier revisions of the Ti version, the grass in The Attic STILL registered a collision (along with some of the objects in the room to the right of The Attic). Looks like The Attic has ghosts in your version as well as the original Sinclair release.

Thanks for fixing these. However, I still can't get onto the upper levels as the "jumping when between two blocks" bug is back. I can't cross The Banyan Tree (not required to reach the upper levels) but in order to reach the upper (rooftop) levels, I cannot progress beyond the screen Nomen Luni for this same reason. Nomen Luni requires a jump from between two blocks to reach higher platforms.

In your new version with the XB loader: Entering from the Swimming Pool rope into the Orangery, I jumped over to collect the object on the lower left of the screen. Rather than land on the floor where the object had previously been, I collected the object and then, because I still had the jump button pressed, I jumped OFF the object I had just collected (by this time an empty space) as though it were a platform block and then moving from there up the roof to the Conservatory, found it's no longer possible to climb the roof in The Orangery to reach The Conservatory Roof. I keep being dropped back onto the sloping roof of the Orangery. ...And we seem to have lost the ability to get through the Banyan tree again. From the centre upright, I can no longer jump. Only drop! (Sorry, but YOU DID say to keep them coming!) BTW, in the CHEATJSW version, would it be possible to disable death from long falls or add a key-press to quit the game to the MAIN game? Playing with infinite lives means a reset/reload every time I mis-time a jump over a long fall!

I'm not exactly thorough; I have enough memories of playing this game almost constantly on the ZX Spectrum back in the day, PLUS there are excellent online resources if my memory fails me. (Like the complete YouTube walkthrough, I picked snippets from above). Rasmus, would you prefer I continue to post newly found bugs/glitches features here as and when I spot them, or would you prefer I make a list and PM you once in a while? Try collecting the single object from the room "Doctor Jones will never believe this" and you'll see some extra frames of animation which don't belong and which result in Willy not being able to get out of the vertical nasty's path in time. (The extra frames made me chuckle the first few times I saw them. "boop-boop"). It's also currently possible to escape the trademark never-ending fall death-loop (providing you have enough lives). If you fall into a screen and die, it's currently possible to keep jump pressed, along with a direction and Willy will leap in the direction pressed on re-spawning as though he's standing on solid ground (even if he's in mid-air). If you're close enough to an onscreen platform, Willy may land on it and save his remaining lives. With infinite lives enabled, it seems distinctly possible to traverse quite a distance across a screen by exploiting this unexpected feature!

Confirmed fixed. Thanks. Now go get the rest you've been promising yourself. When you're ready, tell me so and I'll give you another issue I've found. (A comical little double bounce in a room when you jump, which always results in Willy's death when collecting the room's only object). ...But not until you tell me you're ready again. I don't want you to feel tired of this project or start thinking badly of it. (Or me, for that matter?!) Enjoy some time away, Rasmus. You deserve it.

Thanks for the link. Just recently, there's been so much activity in this thread, I must've missed that one.

Ok. I'll let you be for a while. Have a good rest but the first thing you need to look at on your return is that I can no longer walk down the ramp in "To the Kitchens Main Stairway". Every time now, Willy catches his head on the star near the top of the ramp. Sorry. Enjoy your time away.

That's odd. I've used a TL866 to program my UberGROM a number of times. Gazoo has posted detailed instructions elsewhere on these forums. IIRC, it was in the 632K cartridge thread. Could you provide a link to the file "XB27 Suite 050915.zip"? Is this the most up-to-date version of the XB27 cart?

In his YouTube walkthrough, Geoff drops into The Swimming Pool from The Orangery. The object is not seen, but the object counter increments as he enters the screen from above. https://youtu.be/tpTz70VawVo?t=265 Also, the counter increments twice on collection of The Beach object: https://youtu.be/tpTz70VawVo?t=1737 Collecting the object from The Beach in the Ti conversion increments the object counter by only one item. If you look closely at the object in The Beach, it looks like it *could* be TWO items. (either that, or a sandwich!) It's amazing what I'm learning about this 31-year old game while playing it on an even older micro.

After a little Googling, it would appear the object in the Swimming Pool disappears on entry to the screen for the first time as it is automatically collected. This would explain why I've never noticed it before. http://mdfs.net/Software/JSW/Docs/faq/remakes.htm and http://jswremakes.emuunlim.com/faq.htm#objects According to the second link, the object found on The Beach counts as TWO. Again, I don't remember this being the case but it's been a while since I played it to collect the objects.

Sorry. It looks like I've found another issue (or maybe two). Since the last update, I'm now finding that if I change direction on a staircase or ramp, a lot of the time, I'll fall through them. Also, I just had an instance when walking down the ramp in "To The Kitchens/Main Stairway", I couldn't pass the star about a third of the way down without it catching my hat and killing me. I found I had to leave the room by going back UP the stairs, then re-enter before I could walk down the stairs as normal. Edit: Also, "Above the West Bedroom", walking down the ramp on the left side of the roof kills Willy. I need to check if this happens in the original, though I don't remember it doing so. Nope. In the original, you can definitely walk on the roof as below. In "The Swimming Pool", there seems to be a spurious object not present in the ZX original. (Circled in Yellow). I've never noticed this object before but this one time, I entered The Swimming Pool by climbing the rope in "The Cold Store" (in both versions for comparison). Further edit: The object is there, even if I take the long route around. As above, it's not present in the original so I'm not sure where it came from in the Ti version.

What took you so long? ;O) Jumping seems to work perfectly now. No more random re-spawns and I can get through the Banyan tree too! (It takes me about 15 tries in the infinite-life version, but at least I can make it through!) I'll keep playing and let you know if I find any other glitches. This is turning out to be the ultimate JSW conversion.