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Lasermania NTSC fix.


Wilheim

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Well, I tried your version, but it cannot be beaten.

I remember back in the days, there were multiple versions of lasermania... and there is also my own version [f MatoSimi] that should be correctly playable:

 

http://atarionline.pl/v01/index.php?ct=katalog&sub=L&tg=Lasermania#Lasermania

image.png.229c9cbaae2e433c86ac29e50e04bd96.png

 

I do not remember what was the catch, but there must be a reason for that many versions of the game.

 

You can check on your own: lasermania_ntsc_gamebug.altstate

 

lasermania_ntsc_gamebug.png.54ff686eb9701b3ccd0ba917e6e64d9b.png - it is impossible to reach the exit.

 

I'm not sure whether this was intentional (like copy protection) or just a bug, but as far as I remember, it is one of a kind :)

 

BTW... Lasermania would much more require rewrite of controls handling rather than ntsc fix of title screen ;) ... because the controls are really weirdly responding and I remember my frustration when I accidentally pushed some block to non-reversible position due to stupid control responses.

- i just realized game can be played by keyboard as well (WASD would be better) but the unresponsiveness is VERY SAME as when you play with joystick. (just try to move 5times same direction, you will move 3 times at best).

 

 

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8 hours ago, Wilheim said:

I have been curious and checked those other versions ... and there are multiple differences.. some of them have same issue like yours, some not.

Some versions have issue with the scroll on the title screen ... looks like 3 black PMs are overlapping the scroll partially. My guess is these were used in wide form to cover the bottom line of the scroll, but they are broken for some reason... maybe because of additional text line added into DL:

image.thumb.png.9904474f22933e59b4c65653b358e2f1.png

Also in some versions in scroll, where game items are described there can be seen some flickering when new line is displayed - most likely directly connected to the issue with PM overlapping.

 

It would be nice to compare several of those binaries for changes in the code and data. (especially to see whether there are other changes than the ones in title screen...causing impossibility to enter next level).

 

It seems that the *.CAS version is the ultimate correct one (where next level can be reached and scroll is without buggy appearance). Others are maybe hacks/cracks turbo->disk or other abominated versions (including my old fixed hack :D).

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7 hours ago, matosimi said:

Well, I tried your version, but it cannot be beaten.

I remember back in the days, there were multiple versions of lasermania... and there is also my own version [f MatoSimi] that should be correctly playable:

 

http://atarionline.pl/v01/index.php?ct=katalog&sub=L&tg=Lasermania#Lasermania

image.png.229c9cbaae2e433c86ac29e50e04bd96.png

 

I do not remember what was the catch, but there must be a reason for that many versions of the game.

There's also Homesoft XEX version, with starting glitches (characters) removed as usual.

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58 minutes ago, Philsan said:

There's also Homesoft XEX version, with starting glitches (characters) removed as usual.

Heh, I just tried that one... looked promising, but then I finished level 1:

LM_homesoft_bug.png.94e4b88182bc87c8821539f32dc41519.png

 

Also in the meantime I loaded CAS to altirra and dumped the memory prior to game start... build new binary, which looks ok, BUT it is again not possible to reach the exit in level1 ... damn!

There is something fishy here.

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19 minutes ago, DjayBee said:

Your crack is not working, again impossible to exit first level :D

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27 minutes ago, DjayBee said:

 

Does the ATX work?

 

How do you play it? I can move the bulldozer, but that's about it.

Here is the video of first 3 or 4 levels: 

 

 

in the comment section of the video there is mentioned something about disabling SIO speed patches in altirra...

 

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4 minutes ago, _The Doctor__ said:

so a proper fix requires whatever messes with drive speed/sio rates be yanked, patched, or fixed...

guess that's why it works on bog standard set ups... and most all original device set ups..

 

1 hour ago, DjayBee said:

I just tested your crack again... with fast SIO off:

image.png.9f75f2026b6f5829d4c464f64d503dd7.png

 

And I was able to finish the level.

Of course this has no effect on XEX (binary) versions of game, it only makes sense in case of disk images.

Seems like it is somewhere calculating how long does it take to load the game(or so)... because it is loaded completely without any additional loads during the game.

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Does this work?

This is the unchanged file from the original disk.

 

(Nearly?) all LK Avalon's boot disks are only XEX-loaders with a check for bad sectors. The disk boots three sectors and then loads a plain DOS-XEX-file starting with sector 4. Due to this fixed sector 4 it does not need a directory.

 

 

LASERMAN.XEX

Edited by DjayBee
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11 hours ago, DjayBee said:

Does this work?

This is the unchanged file from the original disk.

 

(Nearly?) all LK Avalon's boot disks are only XEX-loaders with a check for bad sectors. The disk boots three sectors and then loads a plain DOS-XEX-file starting with sector 4. Due to this fixed sector 4 it does not need a directory.

 

 

LASERMAN.XEX 27.15 kB · 5 downloads

no, this does not work.

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Interesting about what's happening on this game. There is some kind of checking routine that sabotages the game. Or maybe there is some zero page address that is expected to have a fixed value. I discarded some timing routine, at least with the Vertical Blank, because at the begining the counters are set to zero.

 

I'll take a look into it.

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44 minutes ago, Wilheim said:

Please try this version. I backed up the zero page from the tape version and restore it when it starts the game. That way, I was at least able to pass the first level.

 

Please let me know is there is any other issue regarding this game.

 

Cheers!!

 

Lasermania NTSC v3 comprimido.xex 16.35 kB · 2 downloads

I spent 2 days looking at the code of this game.

This is a nutjob.

 

There are several checks of hacking there and it behaves quite nasty - by altering behavior of game items.

I can see it is possible to pass to level 1 on your v3, same for level 2... however in level 2 there are new gameplay items introduced and in case of hacking they just explode on touch instead of doing the desired action.

 

So still there is something missing in this v3 version.

 

Super weird code is starting at $9857 checking DOSINI and some other stuff and then loading something from 3rd memory page - based on my investigation... so if there is something not ok, it saves RANDOM number to level ($AE) instead of jumping over to $987e.

 

(this happened in my own attempt to crack this game) -however this is not an issue in your v3 version

 

But if you jump to level2 (put #$02 to $AE) you will see that switch does not open the door, but rather explodes on touch.

 

BTW: im not sure if you checked how is the titlescreen animation done, but it is the stuff from other world... 

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Thank you for your feedback! Good grief! Never realized this game is so hard to patch...

 

To be honest, I didn't check how the title screen was done, but I could see that is a pretty sofisticated antic 4 mode animation with font redefinitions and character positioning.

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Here is my version with NTSC fix you provided by PM: Lasermania_r06_ntscfixON.xex , I have played up to level 16 without issues.

(note, this is wip version running in emulator only - rewriting whole memory)

 

BTW it is flickering (on NTSC) during gamplay, try this: ingameNTSCflicker.altstate   -just push the nearest block left or right

 

 

Edited by matosimi
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42 minutes ago, Philsan said:

Martin, I asked Homesoft to fix his version.

Could you please check out if it's OK now?

Heh, funny the file statistics does not show there is an update, however I tried the previous version from homesoft (still saved in download dir) so I can see there is different CRC of the zip file (even the xex modification date is set to 1.1.1980).

 

This version contains Wilheim's NTSC fix and level 02 is NOT working :)

 

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9 hours ago, matosimi said:

Heh, funny the file statistics does not show there is an update, however I tried the previous version from homesoft (still saved in download dir) so I can see there is different CRC of the zip file (even the xex modification date is set to 1.1.1980).

 

This version contains Wilheim's NTSC fix and level 02 is NOT working :)

 

Please try the latest update. ?

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