Oregon Trail 2600: could it be done?

[orange808]

10 hours ago, monzamess said:

The code snippet does use RND but RND is a pseudo-random number generator and will always produce the same sequence of results for a given seed. So a game can be "random" and completely predictable at the same time. The traditional way to combat this problem is to seed the random number generator using the real-time clock... for systems that have one. Or some programs have the user enter a seed value (so they can choose their "variation" of the game). Or maybe base it on how many cycles pass before a user presses a button or something (since that will be hard to replicate run after run). Just some thoughts.

 

The RND function will "start over" and return the same values after each power cycle on the Apple 2.  Warm reboots will not reset the sequence.  For almost all of us, early Apple 2 software had very random outcomes playing Oregon Trail.  It's an obscure bug.

 

I haven't looked at the source, but you can just add this immediately after you get a keypress (at the title screen or the main menu when the player selects an option):

 

FOO=RND(-1*(PEEK(78)+256*PEEK(79)))

 

I bet later versions of The Oregon Trail included this fix.  If not, patching it would be trivial.

 

Edited August 19, 2019 by orange808
touch keyboards stink. :(

[The Usotsuki]

Is there a newer version than 1.4? o.o

 

(The code I pasted is from a crack of 1.4)