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New TI-99/4A Tunnels of Doom(TOD) game and Game Editor


Fritz442

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Shoot. I'm going to try people's patience here, so forgive me. My sons and I have been playing the hell out of the files we downloaded from Dream Codex's ToD reboot. (ToDr?) They've been playign both the cool enhanced music / graphics / mechanism reboot version and the classic adventures and goofy old variants like KMart and Star Trek. That said, once I start the editor it asks me to browse to a file... but I'm not sure what extension it wants. Can someone help with that basic of information?

Thanks!

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Shoot. I'm going to try people's patience here, so forgive me. My sons and I have been playing the hell out of the files we downloaded from Dream Codex's ToD reboot. (ToDr?) They've been playign both the cool enhanced music / graphics / mechanism reboot version and the classic adventures and goofy old variants like KMart and Star Trek. That said, once I start the editor it asks me to browse to a file... but I'm not sure what extension it wants. Can someone help with that basic of information?

Thanks!

NP with the questions. You simply load any TOD game and begin altering from there.

Then use 'File - Save As' to save a copy using your own game name.

The original 'Quest of the King' game is a good choice as it has no errors in it. The files

will have no extensions...QUEST, KMART etc.

 

(The TOD Reboot files will NOT work with the editor, only the original game files)

 

Fritz

Edited by Fritz442
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Still having trouble. I think my issue is I'm trying to figure out what file to open and all of our files originate from the Reboot version. To note, I AM trying to load original graphics / gameplay version, NOT his update, but I think everything I downloaded from that site that we've been playing for a couple of years is incompatible with this editor, correct? At least I can't find any files, even Kmart, etc... that do not have .todr extensions.

 

If the above is correct, is there another / better / alternate emulator or something we should be using instead? Can someone point me to it?

 

Thanks a million,

 

navajas

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I have searched. One promising site was ridingthecrest.com which recommended an emulator site that has since become Spanish and doesn't seem to have anything to do with the TI. Another is a list of emualtors at 99er.com. Since it seems that none of the assets I've acquired from DreamCodex are of any use with the Editor here, does anyone have a suggestion on which of these to pursue? To be honest I have no real interest in the TI other than Tunnels of Doom so that, and giving my sons the opportunity to design their own ToD adventures, would be my only use for the emulator.

 

I've also come across an entire vocabulary about mounting, .dsk and so forth that I simply don't understand. Having been a veteran of numerous other hobby forums (firearms, pinball, etc...) I know how annoying a neophyte can be asking obvious or redundant questions. Is there a starting guide, or step by step document someone could point me to that would explain exactly how deep this rabbit hole is?

 

Haha. Trying to figure out how much overhead is there before my boys can start working on their games! ;-)

 

 

EDIDT: I have downloaded Classic99 but it seems to be a dead end as well as far as editing goes since its software seems to be coded into the emulator itself. Even then I can't get ToD to run as there seems to be a brick wall to hit when it asks you from where you'd like to load. On I go!

Edited by navajas
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Thanks to a number of extremely patient and helpful PMs, Fritz (the total bad ass) has got my sons and I on the right track and editing like mad. Well, they are, I only get to work on mine when they take a break. So as not to take too much advantage of Fritz' time and goodwill, I'll ask a couple general questions here.

 

  • Does anyone know if scrolls and other items have any greater or less frequency based on their position in the array (Or list. Or whatever the TI would call it) like monsters? I don't think there is, because I think I remember blasting Level 2 things with an ill-timed unidentified Disintegration, but thought I'd confirm.
  • Perusing the treasure effects, I see Consumption Interval and Healing Interval. When I used to play I never really understood what the difference was / could be. Don't you heal WHEN you consume rations? Can someone explain the difference there?
  • Anyone know how Weapon Availability works? In QUEST it lets you use it up to 8 times! I thought it just let you buy the next store's goods at the previous store upon first use.
  • Shows Monster in Room... you mean Listen? Can't remember. Does this pull up the info screen for the monster?
  • Finally, obviously Luck has a huge impact on your likelihood of success, anyone ever delved into the formulae themselves?

Also, I plan to investigate using the Reboot converter on these files. Anyone care to share their experiences good/bad/indifferent when doing so with the files you've created with this amazing Editor? Given that the Reboot has been able to tinker with things like weapon/armor permissions, color monsters or their distribution among levels (1-32 seems way harsh), anyone ever done that successfully with the files you've made with Fritz's editor?

 

So cool. I've day dreamed about being able to do this for 30+ years, and now not only am I able, but my sons are eager to do so as well. Check this off my bucket list I guess!

 

Oh, and I find it handy to have a list of the possible effects so I typed one out. Anyone want it?

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Ok, will do. Small contribution, but what the hey. I'll need to wait until I get to have access to one of those PCs again though. Dang kids... :)

 

Oh thought of another question...

  • What's the difference between Weapon Damage / Weapon Bonus and Armor Protection / Armor Bonus?

 

Thanks!

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As I near completion of my adventure I find more questions. Is there a list somewhere of what each value or effect is or does? For instance, how does the value of say, Decrease Player Experience, relate to actual points taken off? One for one? If so, the "12" in QUEST seems paltry. Some kind of multiple?

 

There are a number of effect values that seem ambiguous:

 

Weapon Availability (effect = 1 to 1 level up or down?)

Armor and Weapon Bonus vs. Protection and Damage (1 to 1 effect vs. value?)

Consumption vs. Healing Intervals (And how does the value effect it? One for one in steps taken?)

Experience (as above, effect = 1 to 1?)

Edited by navajas
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Bummer.

 

For instance I was just testing my game and my "Comm Buoy" (Lantern) called "New Orders" is an Increase Player Experience item with the test settings of 6 uses and a "max effect" of 50. According to the character sheets, it did literally nothing at all on all three characters, both using it from the "use" screen AND the character sheet. I suppose the "effect" could be a timed percentage added to your reward for kills? Regardless I tested to see if it would update after I left the room. No. After the next fight? No.

 

On the other hand, when I followed that up with a "Biotic Rift" (Fountain) effect that supposedly Decreased Player Experience it, too, did nothing to the total on my character sheet.

 

Hmm... :-/ Anyone know what might be up? Did the experience effect maybe never work?

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I would put in ridiculous numbers, just to see what it does... highest frequency possible in finding that particular item with the highest possible effect value.... you can jimmy it up to where you find 10 of them in a 3 floor dungeon, and try them all out individually.

 

Also, if you are modifying an existing game, I try to add as few new things as possible... rather, I modify the ones that already exist because I know they work. Change the name and pattern of a particular monster, keeping the majority of his attributes and potentially upping the attack points, etc.

 

Have patience, keep working with it, and youll figure it out. :)

 

By the time youre finished, youll be something of an expert in the field, and thats a neat feeling.

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My older son and I are now down to play testing. I mean I still need to do sprites for the quest objects and I have yet to tinker with fountain and wall textures and stuff, but still. I'm REALLY happy with how most of the sprites turned out. What a cool reductionist exercise graphics used to be!

 

Now, having talked with Howard Kistler (the other ToD bad ass) in order to use the conversion tool I need an actual disk image of my game, which is the editor does not spit out. The syntax for his tool calls a batch file and the arguments are the "disk image" and then the name of the adventure IN that disk image. Does that makes sense? I hope so, because it doesn't to me. I tried just using the DSK3 folder from which my game data file runs in Classic99 but that does not work.

 

Anyone know how I would go about this disk image thing? My game is called "N7", so, what I need is in the middle here: "todrconv.bat DISKIMAGE.dsk N7".

 

Hints, thoughts, links? I really want to run this game through the converter because it's much easier to debug / play test since you have access to all your stats, the game runs faster, etc...

 

Thanks! Anyone interested in out games once they're finished? Any other Mass Effect fans out there?

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