Posted By
Spector
on 2008-11-08
17:25:57
|  Skramble help
I can't get this game to load on a plus 4. I've downloaded both the tap and prg file from this site, but when I try them on my plus 4 using Markus Brenner's ptap utility, the screen just goes black when loading is finished. Aargh! What can I do?
BTW my name on this site is Spector, but I've forgotten my password!
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Posted By
Titler
on 2008-11-09
12:08:58
| Re: Skramble help
Can you get the software to work under emulation? I've just tried Scramble/Skramble and it boots under both C16 and Plus 4 mode when autostarted, using what looks like a "RUN:" command at the final load... but I don't see a black screen I'm afraid
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Posted By
Spector
on 2008-11-09
18:09:34
| Re: Skramble help
It does work under emulation, yes. But when I try it on a real machine, the tap file and prg converted to tap do not work. I wonder why that would be. At least I know now that it works on a plus 4, it's just that the file on this website won't work for some reason.
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Posted By
Csabo
on 2008-11-09
19:43:09
| Re: Skramble help
Hey Spector! I emailed you your password. If you still have problems, drop me a line. As for Skramble, the .PRG file is pretty a straightforward crack. It's not compressed and loads between $1001-$4000 (which is how it should). It should run without problems on any C16 or Plus/4. Unfortunately I can't try it out.
How did you get the .PRG file to your machine? You shouldn't need PTAP for that.
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Posted By
Spector
on 2008-11-10
07:31:57
| Re: Skramble help
Yeah I'm back! 
I converted the prg file to TAP using YAPE and a turboload progam (megacopy, I think). The interesting thing is that both the standard TAP file and the turboload tap taken from the prg both show the same problem when loaded up on my plus 4. I haven't been able to figure it out...
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Posted By
indi
on 2008-11-10
08:01:13
| Re: Skramble help
If your handy with a soldering iron, you can build my parallel port adapter and squirt PRG's down a wire.
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Posted By
Csabo
on 2008-11-10
09:39:36
| Re: Skramble help
If you had the proper cables, that conversion would be unnecessary.
However, if you really want to look into it deeper, there's something we could try. I wrote a small routine that calculates a simple check sum for every 256 bytes. If we're lucky, the conversion only altered a few bytes and we can find out where it is this way. After you loaded the game, go to monitor, and type:
>130 a0 00 84 d0 a2 10 86 d1
>138 a9 20 20 d2 ff 98 51 d0
>140 c8 d0 fb 20 10 fb e8 e0
>148 40 d0 eb 4c 45 f4
G 130
This will print out all the check sums. Here are the correct ones for comparison:
a8 39 e4 50 a3 db 53 c2 fb 72 12 da de 51 a9 d3
d2 15 65 5c 34 66 5e 5e 05 d0 0f 03 33 d7 4e 52
c1 c7 07 25 f5 41 08 b9 3f df 95 ef fe f2 ad ff
You can also just visually compare the memory of the game in the emulator (type M1000 in monitor after loading) and on the real machine. If it looks very different, then definitely something has gone wrote. If it's the same, maybe we can track down where's the problem. Let me know how it goes
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Posted By
Gaia
on 2008-11-10
14:47:59
| Re: Skramble help
Csabo: I think this can be done quicker in the Command prompt (FC /b skramble1.prg skramble2.prg) (just save the loaded TAP as PRG again and then compare). The two files were literal for me (though I found a few bugs in Yape, hehe ).
However... this is indeed very odd! I have yet no explanation (no time !  ) but it did load in VICE oddly enough (though it should not have had to, I think). As a temporary fix, performing a soft RESET and starting the program with SYS14846 does help.
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Posted By
Csabo
on 2008-11-10
15:21:40
| Re: Skramble help
Sure, on PC that would work. I would have suggested that if I thought it applied. So maybe I misunderstood, but I though the problem was that the game did work on the PC and not on the real Plus/4, therefore something went wrong either in the transfer or perhaps during loading?
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Posted By
Gaia
on 2008-11-10
16:15:30
| Re: Skramble help
Well, I just tried it in Yape and got a black screen, hence I figured that'd be about the same as the real one.
BTW, has anyone tried to make the flickery scroll smoother in the game? There's a simple LDX/LDY delay loop at $38FC so that could be replaced by some appropriate CPX $FF1D magic... hm?
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Posted By
Csabo
on 2008-11-10
16:17:36
| Re: Skramble help
How can that be? I have 0.80 which I assume is the latest and the program runs fine... This is getting weird
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Posted By
Gaia
on 2008-11-10
16:34:51
| Re: Skramble help
Well I created a TAP... the PRG loads just fine
Anyways, how about the scroll thingie? This game is an old fav of mine and actually it can be made smoother, just as Super Cobra, though I am not quite sure how we could handle the multicolor shifting of the vessel, maybe that is why the heli in Super Cobra is almost all white). Still... Kikstart could solve this with just a tiny small artifact... (we should really brag TMR to release his improved hack of Kikstart BTW )
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Posted By
Spector
on 2008-11-10
17:32:52
| Re: Skramble help
I'm bamboozled as much as anyone! But, this SYS14846 thing that gaia mentioned: where would I type that in to get the game running if that worked? Would that be at the point the screen goes black, and then press reset?
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Posted By
Gaia
on 2008-11-10
17:34:52
| Re: Skramble help
Well, just push reset as soon as it's finished loading. You can even restart once you get the blackout, it's of no harm to the code.
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Posted By
Spector
on 2008-11-10
17:56:04
| Re: Skramble help
I'll give that a try on the real machine tomorrow, thanks for the tip
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Posted By
Spector
on 2008-11-11
05:31:19
| Re: Skramble help
I tried it, and it works great!
Thanks very much, problem solved
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