Search found 324 matches

by dave
Tue Apr 05, 2016 2:23 pm
Forum: Classics
Topic: Commodore 64 Hiding BASIC Code technique ..
Replies: 5
Views: 3814

Re: Commodore 64 Hiding BASIC Code technique ..

That's funny :) I used to remember a few of these tricks to stop people listing the program. There's another one, PRINT SHIFT+L or something along those lines, which breaks off LIST when it reaches the line with the command.
I wonder whether the five colon trick is intentional or a side effect of ...
by dave
Sat Mar 26, 2016 11:54 am
Forum: Classics
Topic: Skull Cave on the Sol-20
Replies: 10
Views: 4273

Re: Skull Cave on the Sol-20

I had a quick look through it - I was wrong on the processor: it's an Intel 8080, which is very similar to the Z80 (it's what the Z80 was cloned off).

But, my lack of familiarity with the processor doesn't help, so I didn't get too far in working out the logic, sorry.

Some easy ones though ...
by dave
Wed Mar 23, 2016 9:02 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Free Usborne 1980s Computer Books
Replies: 3
Views: 16336

Re: Free Usborne 1980s Computer Books

Neat, I used to have most of these as a sprog. I still have Adventure Games on my book shelf (it has a Haunted House text adventure in along with my scribble notes for converting to the Sharp MZ-700, which was the only computer we had in the early 80s).
by dave
Wed Mar 23, 2016 8:56 pm
Forum: Classics
Topic: Skull Cave on the Sol-20
Replies: 10
Views: 4273

Re: Skull Cave on the Sol-20

Here's a zip of the raw binary - we can see all the text and command words in the clear.

I'll boot up my laptop with IDA pro on it tonight and see what I can get from a disassemble of it.
by dave
Wed Mar 23, 2016 1:15 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: You are the hero - Fighting Fantasy gamebooks
Replies: 31
Views: 89902

Re: You are the hero - Fighting Fantasy gamebooks

The games company Tin Man has the rights to electronically convert these games to the PC. I own a few of them on Steam (Appointment with FEAR, Caverns of the Snow Witch, Starship Traveller and The Forest of Doom - they've also done House of Hell although I don't own that one yet).

They're pretty ...
by dave
Wed Mar 23, 2016 1:03 am
Forum: Classics
Topic: Skull Cave on the Sol-20
Replies: 10
Views: 4273

Re: Skull Cave on the Sol-20

After a quick conversation of the .ent format to raw binary, it's definitely not BASIC, so I'm guessing it's pure Z80 machine code.

I used a very basic Z80 disassembler to have a look through and it does seem to make sense. So raw Z80 would be my guess.
by dave
Wed Jan 07, 2015 8:42 pm
Forum: Classics
Topic: TOSEC archive
Replies: 2
Views: 1510

TOSEC archive

I found this a while back, but it's been in the news recently as it keeps getting updated: https://archive.org/details/tosec

It's got a shed load of old games for most platforms which may allow us to fill in some of the gaps in various histories (though I suspect it'll be stuff we previous got from ...
by dave
Thu Jun 27, 2013 9:53 pm
Forum: Classics
Topic: Heyley Software Games
Replies: 15
Views: 8085

Re: Heyley Software Games

One of the guys who use to work for some of Heyley's distributors has turned up some old master disks with a selection of Heyley's games and supporting information. He describes it in this thread (with a link to the .ssd files for downloading): http://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6732&p ...
by dave
Sun Sep 09, 2012 11:01 pm
Forum: Classics
Topic: Heyley Software Games
Replies: 15
Views: 8085

Re: Heyley Software Games

The other thing you can try is to Use File->Load Disc 0 (and supply the intermediate.adf file), then press SHIFT+A+F12. If the SHIFT+F12 isn't working you can also try *ADFS
*RUN !BOOT
A "Disc Error 18" basically means that it doesn't understand the format on the disc, which usually means that you ...
by dave
Sat Sep 08, 2012 9:28 am
Forum: Classics
Topic: Question about Quill version of Pirate Adventure
Replies: 2
Views: 2081

Re: Question about Quill version of Pirate Adventure

It looks like an unofficial port, just like the C64 German version of Adventureland , and some more that have been removed from our database.

Because Adventureland and Pirate Adventure were published in magazines with full source code they are commonly re-interpreted. (I myself have sort of done ...
by dave
Thu Aug 30, 2012 2:13 pm
Forum: Classics
Topic: Heyley Software Games
Replies: 15
Views: 8085

Re: Heyley Software Games

That's not the protection - that's because they're using ADFS (Advanced Disc Filing System) rather than the usual DFS (Disc Filing System). If you're using BeebEm, then you want to put it in Master mode (Hardware->BBC Model->BBC Master 128) which I find is the easiest to leave it on.

Then load your ...
by dave
Fri Aug 24, 2012 1:34 pm
Forum: Classics
Topic: Heyley Software Games
Replies: 15
Views: 8085

Re: Heyley Software Games

I'm mainly mapping at the moment. The game consists of 4 sub games, so I've been trying to map these out. As a hint, the command in the lift is the floor number by itself, i.e. "1", "2", "3", "4", "5".

In terms of getting hold of Howard, I believe Dave Edwards of acornelectron.co.uk has contact ...
by dave
Fri Aug 24, 2012 12:21 pm
Forum: Classics
Topic: Heyley Software Games
Replies: 15
Views: 8085

Heyley Software Games

The Heyley software games for the BBC Micro have been though lost for years (with the exception of Stranded!). These have recently been recovered from the master disks at one of the companies that published them. As part of the recovery copy protection was removed, but we can't be guaranteed that ...
by dave
Wed Aug 01, 2012 8:39 am
Forum: Site feedback & announcements
Topic: Duplicate Prisoner Entries?
Replies: 7
Views: 4964

Re: Duplicate Prisoner Entries?

Whew! ;) That's at least nine games based on the series. Which, I might add, I am a big fan of, so maybe I should write something more on this topic.
You're going to write a new Prisoner game? Looking forward to it :P
Cool; with your encyclopaedic knowledge of text adventures we should get ...
by dave
Wed Jul 25, 2012 8:55 am
Forum: Site feedback & announcements
Topic: duplicate game
Replies: 5
Views: 3381

Re: duplicate game

I found out the problem on atari800win plus is that it disables BASIC by default and as this game is written in BASIC, it needs that ROM.