Does anyone have a uef copy of Lode Runner they could post here?
The one on STH only has the main game that includes the first 40 screens.
The reason I ask is because I have found a way to allow for all 160 screens to load from disc, but I believe all disc copies that have been posted may have a faulty screen 160 as you start at the top and fall down through the bottom of the screen and the game crashes.
Oxcode has done a Electron version and all his screens look identical to the BBCs except this last one where on his, your man starts in the bottom right section of the screen. Therefore I have edited this screen to put the man in the same location and it is now completable, but I would still love to know for sure what the original tape screen looked like.
Anyway,
In its current disc hacked form you could only load and play just one of the blocks of 40 screens at a time and any edited screens you created could only be saved to tape - although they could then be transferred to disc and loaded, but that seemed a pain.
So...
Firstly, using the *DISC, *DR.0 *DIR$ ?&DFE=&97 (or &17 if using 1770 DFS) and ?^1082=&FF routine borrowed from the recent posting of Blockbusters, I have managed to get Lode Runner to load the next level from Disc.
The original tape version seemed to try to load the file LEVELS, so I have called the 3 extra blocks of 40 screens LEVEL2, LEVEL3 and LEVEL4 and I have added some code to make the game cycle through these when you select the LOAD option and after LEVEL4 return to load LEVEL2 again and so on, Shame the author didn't include the first 40 screens as a LEVEL1 file.
So when you select the LOAD option my code moves all code between &D00 and &1200 up to &7600 which is at the bottom of the screen and hidden with a mask routine blanking out the bottom of the screen whilst the code is there.
Then after the LEVEL file is loaded (with the routine listed above) the code is moved back to &D00 and the code at &7600 is removed and the screen size restored.
I have also included a hidden bit of BASIC code that is stored at &400 which is run upon the main game loading which include a ON ERROR routine that will move the code from &7600 down to &D00 and restart the game should you try to load a LEVEL from a disc that doesn't have it, or try to save your screens to a disc that is write-protected or the file is locked. Otherwise the game would just crash/break etc.
The screen editor will save your screens to the file LEVEL2. Upon loading the main game you can swap discs and any edited screens can be saved to that disc and then you can easily reload them at any time in the future by loading the main game and then swapping discs and choosing the LOAD option which will load the LEVEL2 file from whatever disc is in the drive.
I have also done a cheat version which stops you getting killed. This is ideal for play-testing the screens. Simply *RUN CHEATLR
A simple &EA at &1915 and &1916 (before the game is downloaded to &900) stops you from dying.
I used the cheat program to select screen 040 and complete it, and the program automatically loaded in LEVEL2 and you keep your score plus get an extra man for completing the previous level - just as the instructions say.
If you load the next LEVEL file with the LOAD option then your score is zeroed, again as per instructions.
Oh, and when you have completed screen 160 (screen 40 in LEVEL4) the game re-loads LEVEL2 and starts again with screen 041 (screen 001). A bit confusing as I would have expected that to be screen 41, but the code in the main game checks for completion of screen 040 and then loads the next level file, so that may be limitations of the game/code written.
I have also amended the instructions to now include loading/saving from disc.
After playing the game for some time and then breaking into it, I noticed various space in lower memory not used by the game, so I have stored all my code for getting this version of Lode Runner to work. New code is stored at &400-&440, &630-&6FF and &880-&8C0.
This version also works correctly under BeebEm with DFS 1.20 and Watford E00. It also works under B-em with DFS 0.90 and DFS 2.26 (1770). It will require *DTRAP on a real BBC with a Datacentre fitted.
Hopefully, it works correctly, and I ask if anyone will playtest it and let me know if there are any errors. I have played various screens for the past week, but I am not really that good at this game. If it is OK then maybe it could be used for a high score challenge too.
Be aware, that you will hear a bell type sound when a screen is completable and upon that sound you must make your way to the highest part of the screen (up a escape ladder if the screen has one). If you don't hear the bell sound then one of the blue men my have one of the gold bars which you cannot see, so you will have to go back to him and dig a hole to trap him and he will then release the gold, if he is the one that has it, if he has then the bell will sound. Didn't say this in the tape instructions, but it does say it if you google it. I may have to add this to the instructions along with anything else anyone finds.
Mick.
The one on STH only has the main game that includes the first 40 screens.
The reason I ask is because I have found a way to allow for all 160 screens to load from disc, but I believe all disc copies that have been posted may have a faulty screen 160 as you start at the top and fall down through the bottom of the screen and the game crashes.
Oxcode has done a Electron version and all his screens look identical to the BBCs except this last one where on his, your man starts in the bottom right section of the screen. Therefore I have edited this screen to put the man in the same location and it is now completable, but I would still love to know for sure what the original tape screen looked like.
Anyway,
In its current disc hacked form you could only load and play just one of the blocks of 40 screens at a time and any edited screens you created could only be saved to tape - although they could then be transferred to disc and loaded, but that seemed a pain.
So...
Firstly, using the *DISC, *DR.0 *DIR$ ?&DFE=&97 (or &17 if using 1770 DFS) and ?^1082=&FF routine borrowed from the recent posting of Blockbusters, I have managed to get Lode Runner to load the next level from Disc.
The original tape version seemed to try to load the file LEVELS, so I have called the 3 extra blocks of 40 screens LEVEL2, LEVEL3 and LEVEL4 and I have added some code to make the game cycle through these when you select the LOAD option and after LEVEL4 return to load LEVEL2 again and so on, Shame the author didn't include the first 40 screens as a LEVEL1 file.
So when you select the LOAD option my code moves all code between &D00 and &1200 up to &7600 which is at the bottom of the screen and hidden with a mask routine blanking out the bottom of the screen whilst the code is there.
Then after the LEVEL file is loaded (with the routine listed above) the code is moved back to &D00 and the code at &7600 is removed and the screen size restored.
I have also included a hidden bit of BASIC code that is stored at &400 which is run upon the main game loading which include a ON ERROR routine that will move the code from &7600 down to &D00 and restart the game should you try to load a LEVEL from a disc that doesn't have it, or try to save your screens to a disc that is write-protected or the file is locked. Otherwise the game would just crash/break etc.
The screen editor will save your screens to the file LEVEL2. Upon loading the main game you can swap discs and any edited screens can be saved to that disc and then you can easily reload them at any time in the future by loading the main game and then swapping discs and choosing the LOAD option which will load the LEVEL2 file from whatever disc is in the drive.
I have also done a cheat version which stops you getting killed. This is ideal for play-testing the screens. Simply *RUN CHEATLR
A simple &EA at &1915 and &1916 (before the game is downloaded to &900) stops you from dying.
I used the cheat program to select screen 040 and complete it, and the program automatically loaded in LEVEL2 and you keep your score plus get an extra man for completing the previous level - just as the instructions say.
If you load the next LEVEL file with the LOAD option then your score is zeroed, again as per instructions.
Oh, and when you have completed screen 160 (screen 40 in LEVEL4) the game re-loads LEVEL2 and starts again with screen 041 (screen 001). A bit confusing as I would have expected that to be screen 41, but the code in the main game checks for completion of screen 040 and then loads the next level file, so that may be limitations of the game/code written.
I have also amended the instructions to now include loading/saving from disc.
After playing the game for some time and then breaking into it, I noticed various space in lower memory not used by the game, so I have stored all my code for getting this version of Lode Runner to work. New code is stored at &400-&440, &630-&6FF and &880-&8C0.
This version also works correctly under BeebEm with DFS 1.20 and Watford E00. It also works under B-em with DFS 0.90 and DFS 2.26 (1770). It will require *DTRAP on a real BBC with a Datacentre fitted.
Hopefully, it works correctly, and I ask if anyone will playtest it and let me know if there are any errors. I have played various screens for the past week, but I am not really that good at this game. If it is OK then maybe it could be used for a high score challenge too.
Be aware, that you will hear a bell type sound when a screen is completable and upon that sound you must make your way to the highest part of the screen (up a escape ladder if the screen has one). If you don't hear the bell sound then one of the blue men my have one of the gold bars which you cannot see, so you will have to go back to him and dig a hole to trap him and he will then release the gold, if he is the one that has it, if he has then the bell will sound. Didn't say this in the tape instructions, but it does say it if you google it. I may have to add this to the instructions along with anything else anyone finds.
Mick.
Statistics: Posted by Michael Brown — Wed Jul 24, 2024 12:34 pm