griff3125 Posted May 29, 2019 Share Posted May 29, 2019 So I've been loving Defender on the sio2sd and noticed that there are only 8 survivors that start in each wave. I've tried six different versions, and they all have the 8 survivors. I can't really see any difference between the versions, apart from v.5 being a trainer. However, I threw in the official Atari cartridge, and it always starts with 10 survivors? Anybody have any insights on this? I mean it's not a game breaker and hardly affects anything, but I'm curious as to why the differences? Does anybody have a proper file that starts with 10 survivors? Strange.....and thanks for any input. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted May 29, 2019 Share Posted May 29, 2019 First I've ever heard of it - I thought there was only one version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted May 29, 2019 Share Posted May 29, 2019 (edited) I think Griff means that in the Tosec dumps etc there's probably a V5 / alternate dump..Not official differences? @griff, not played Defender in a while, is it possible that the versions you have may start on a harder level where there's less survivors to protect thus making the game harder..I know it does have difficulty levels... Edit: Just looked, the manual says 10 lives but from the play screen its impossible to count ten survivors on the ground (well I could not, looked more like 6 every time), I suspect the squashing of the radar screen makes that hard. Edited May 29, 2019 by Mclaneinc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urchlay Posted May 29, 2019 Share Posted May 29, 2019 It's a bug caused by a badly done crack. There's a writeup and a corrected .xex version by Fandal, on the atarimania forums somewhere (I had a link to this, but it's no longer valid). There's supposed to be 10 humanoids, but whoever patched the ROM to defeat the copy protection (stop it overwriting itself), patched a section of code that shouldn't have been patched. The really (to me) weird thing is, the patches are only needed for a .xex version of the game. But later on, someone turned the patched .xex code back into a raw ROM image and included it in the Holmes Archive, and later it found its way into TOSEC, so this version was (still is) found all over the 'net. The 8-humanoids version isn't any kind of official alternate version, I wish it could disappear forever, but that's not how the internet works... The correctly dumped unpatched ROM (with 10 humanoids) lives here: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-defender_1561.html If it helps, the broken "8 humanoids" ROM image has md5sum: e8d52b4aa33da38f99312f9aa8b48885 ...and the proper one is: 8709351e76ec7c407e63c47ac53f8d19 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
griff3125 Posted May 29, 2019 Author Share Posted May 29, 2019 Thanks for the feedback everybody, it's easiest to tally the count at the end of the level, other then the "8", I've noticed no other differences but deep down it was driving me nuts, haha. Urchlay, great post and thanks for the link! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted May 30, 2019 Share Posted May 30, 2019 (edited) curt vendel released an alternate version (prototype)... but that's another story..... technically there were 2 defenders for the ole 8 bit... and 1 for the 5200 the hacked/pirated 8 humanoid thing is just a massive bug resulting from a dirty hack.. Edited May 30, 2019 by _The Doctor__ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted May 30, 2019 Share Posted May 30, 2019 curt vendel released an alternate version (prototype)... but that's another story..... technically there were 2 defenders for the ole 8 bit... and 1 for the 5200 the hacked/pirated 8 humanoid thing is just a massive bug resulting from a dirty hack.. What was different (if anything) with Curts proto? Just keen to know.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted May 30, 2019 Share Posted May 30, 2019 What was different (if anything) with Curts proto? Just keen to know.. It was a completely different version of the game. http://www.atariprotos.com/8bit/software/defender/defenderalt.htm http://www.atariprotos.com/8bit/software/defender/defenderrev2.htm 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted May 30, 2019 Share Posted May 30, 2019 (edited) http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-defender_29205.html Atarimania needs to update their rom to the lastest prototype! I don't think this is better version with sound and title screen based on the screen shot! Edited May 30, 2019 by _The Doctor__ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Robot Posted May 30, 2019 Share Posted May 30, 2019 Car file of the correct version Defender.car.zip 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted May 30, 2019 Share Posted May 30, 2019 Thanks all..Appreciated... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Robot Posted May 30, 2019 Share Posted May 30, 2019 Heres the proto version for completeness Defender, Rev. 2 (Proto).car.zip 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urchlay Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 Here's a pretty good technical description of the 8-humanoids bug: http://forum.atarimania.com/viewtopic.php?t=2356 I still haven't found the old forum post I referenced in my notes, looks like I messed up the URL way back when I copied it. This was a few years back when I was working on a commented dissassembly of the Defender ROM. The only mystery remaining is... how did the person who cracked the game and introduced the bug not *notice* the bug? It's pretty noticeable if you finish level 1 without losing any humanoids: they get displayed in a row which is obviously not centered and has room for 2 more. Maybe that's just hindsight speaking? I guess there's one more mystery: who the cracker was. Probably the answer to that is lost to the ages... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Robot Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 Did anyone go back and create a cheat version of the correct code or are all the cheat versions 8 humanoid only? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 (edited) Isn't the Wizard OSB only version 10 humanoids...I just tried to count them and sure it was 10...Basically its inv lives, inv smart bombs.. Won't post unless needed... Checked via the details Urchlay posted and deffo 10 at the end level one.. Defender (1982)(Atari)(US)t Wizardreq OSb.atr Edited May 31, 2019 by Mclaneinc 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACML Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 Wow, after all these years I never noticed that the XEX version only had 8 humans. I tried the ROM version above and in deed it has all 10 humans. Is there a XEX version of Defender with 10 humans? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 (edited) Just tried 12 different xex's and they are all 8..Sorry.. Aha...One with 10 after a dupe check removal.. Defender.xex Edited May 31, 2019 by Mclaneinc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Robot Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 Isn't the Wizard OSB only version 10 humanoids...I just tried to count them and sure it was 10...Basically its inv lives, inv smart bombs.. Won't post unless needed... Checked via the details Urchlay posted and deffo 10 at the end level one.. Thanks Paul... now... is there a XL/XE fix of that OSb cheat? :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 I'm just about sure my copy is a "locally cracked" one as we had access to the cartridge in the day and made a copy. But I only seem to have it on floppy so will have to dig out the real hardware to check it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Robot Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 (edited) I just edited this XEX using the forum post mentioned earlier. this now correctly has 10 lives. This is the first time I've ever done anything like that and it was only three bytes but please test! Defender (1982)(Atari)(US) 10 Lives.xex Oh this is XL/XE friendly too Edited May 31, 2019 by Mr Robot 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACML Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 Just tried 12 different xex's and they are all 8..Sorry.. Mclaneinc, Thanks for checking them out. Defender is an iconic game that I'd imagine every Atari computer owner has spent some time playing. I guess back in the day I always used my cartridge. Would be nice to have a XEX version of the correct ROM. Besides playing it, Defender is my go to stress tester on new mods and checking out thermal stability of new purchased hardware. When I receive a new machine, first thing I do is run Defender in demo mode for an hour or so to see if anything overheats before I invest a lot of time on refurbishing and upgrading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 Both myself amd Mr Robot have found you a proper 10 life xex...(reread my post now..) Checked and working...Dunno if mine is edited or a real dump..Its works though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 Thanks Paul... now... is there a XL/XE fix of that OSb cheat? :-) Sadly not in my collection, all OSB... Sorry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACML Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 Both myself amd Mr Robot have found you a proper 10 life xex...(reread my post now..) Checked and working...Dunno if mine is edited or a real dump..Its works though That was fast! Thank you and Mr Robot. I will have to wring it out later tonight when I can. This is why I love checking in at AA. The AA community has some very bright and talented members and I appreciate that we are all the beneficiary or this vast knowledge base. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 I appreciate that after the few days I've had......Wish I'd never seen that damn book now But as with MrRobot, here to please, the more we share the more the enjoyment all around.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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