Thwocker versions

[Swami]

Anybody know how these versions differ from the original proto? Any basic info will be helpful.

 

Thwockerv01fix.bin

Thwockerv02High-DiffDemo.bin

 

Edit: see post below for files

[Swami]

23 hours ago, Swami said:

Anybody know how these versions differ from the original proto? Any basic info will be helpful.

 

Thwockerv01fix.bin

Thwockerv02High-DiffDemo.bin

Quoting myself, sorry. I think this may be the final fix: to change the extension to *.F8  . It does not start in Stella unless set to F8 in properties or the extension is changed to *.F8 with auto-detect.

v01fix.F8 is the standard fixed game, with bakswitch conversion to F8. Once you get the three notes in the right order, you can collect other notes and instruments briefly before being taken to the 2nd level. Where there are more instruments and more notes to collect in order. I'm not sure where the "exits" play into it yet.

 

v2Hi-DiffDemo.F8 starts you at the second level (higher difficulty).

 

Manual says there are 16 levels. I would be interested to know if one can access these higher levels directly in this hack/fix. Level 1-16 can be selected with the "select" switch. I don't think the last part of the manual applies anymore, about collecting all the extra notes and musical instruments since you quickly get swept to the next level, but I'd be interested to know how the exits are involved, as well.

 

Edit: my understanding is that in the completed version of this game, when the song ends after collecting the treble cleft, the musical instruments would go back to being fatal and the notes uncollectable and the player must make it to an exit to go to the next level. However, in this “quick” v1 hack, when the song ends the player just goes directly to the next level. 

 

Finally, why is v2Hi-DiffDemo called a "Demo"? Are you trapped on the 2nd level, like you were trapped on the 1st in the original proto?

 

Let me know what else you find.

 

Thwockerv01fix.F8

 

Thwockerv2Hi-DiffDemo.F8

Thwocker(proto)manual.pdf

[+stephena]

This cart was converted from 'FE' scheme, but it must still contain some bankswitching code for FE, even if it isn't being used.  Stella is picking up on this code, and thinking the ROM is FE.  I guess if that code was removed, then it would probably use F8 automatically.

[+stephena]

Confirmed on my assumption.  The is dead code in bank 1 at offset 1007 that is triggering the FE autodetection:  JSR $F000; STY $D6 ($20, $00, $F0, $84, $D6).  Changing those 5 bytes to NOP ($EA) allows the ROM to be detected as F8.

[Swami]

1 hour ago, stephena said:

Confirmed on my assumption.  The is dead code in bank 1 at offset 1007 that is triggering the FE autodetection:  JSR $F000; STY $D6 ($20, $00, $F0, $84, $D6).  Changing those 5 bytes to NOP ($EA) allows the ROM to be detected as F8.

Thanks, I suspected Stella was still detecting something FE related, even after the method was changed, but it was just a hunch, since I don't really understand the coding used.

The F8 extention is also needed on the Harmony cart, but fortunately not on the FBP where only files with *.bin extention show up.

 

Also, if someone wants to clean the code or make a finished version of the game, as was described above in the 2nd post, have at it.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

4 hours ago, stephena said:

This cart was converted from 'FE' scheme, but it must still contain some bankswitching code for FE, even if it isn't being used.  Stella is picking up on this code, and thinking the ROM is FE.  I guess if that code was removed, then it would probably use F8 automatically.

{ 0x20, 0x00, 0xF0, 0x84, 0xD6 }   // JSR $F000; STY $D6

This is the pattern which triggers. Actually Stella does not autodetect FE, but relies on fixed pattern (taken from MESS). 

 

Also the code comment is wrong, because the last two bytes are no instruction, but the start of a color table. So when the game would be converted to PAL, detection would fail.

Edited August 31, 2019 by Thomas Jentzsch

[+stephena]

4 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

This is the pattern which triggers. Actually Stella does not autodetect FE, but relies on fixed pattern (taken from MESS). 

Yes, that's what I meant.  In Stella parlance, anything that is detected when a quantity is set to 'AUTO', I call auto-detected.  Whether it's from searching for a pattern, looking at ROM filesize, etc.  Basically whatever heuristic we use to make a determination is an auto-detect (ie, Stella figures it out vs. specifically being told about it).

[Tempest]

I still would like to see if this game could be fixed up a bit so it's more playable.