phi
Joined: 8/20/2015
Posts: 31
After further investigation, you have to change only 2F206. Changing 2F208 messes things. A few frames after changing 2F206 (with jpcrr.write_byte(addr, byte)), Thor is teleported to the new screen. I updated the maps with the secret cave I forgot (119) and a few screens I discovered while teleporting. Without links between entrances With links 77 87 It is just a house with two people. I cannot talk to them. Leaving the house teleports Thor in the middle of nowhere. 89 It is just a house with a guy. No dialogues possible. Leaving the house teleports Thor inside a wall in 98 118 Yes, it is a spoiler. The boss from chapter 2 is present. It does not move, its eyes glow and it instakills if Thor touch it. 22 A screen full of void. It is not possible to move inside. Those discoveries are not very useful but are funny nonetheless.
Experienced player (674)
Joined: 2/5/2012
Posts: 1772
Location: Brasil
this looks like zelda,what game is this?
TAS i'm interested: Megaman series, specially the RPGs! Where is the mmbn1 all chips TAS we deserve? Where is the Command Mission TAS? i'm slowly moving away from TASing fighting games for speed, maybe it's time to start finding some entertainment value in TASing.
phi
Joined: 8/20/2015
Posts: 31
God of Thunder, a DOS game. It has similarities with zelda but it has different mechanisms and humor. The main weapon is a hammer that you throw and wait for it to come back. A few dialogues are hilarious (such as a guy who explains that you have to accept a deal, otherwise you cannot finish the game). It is a freeware nowadays, I highly suggest you play it. It is not very long.
phi
Joined: 8/20/2015
Posts: 31
I make my apologizes if I am spamming too much. 0x2F206 screen number 0x2C85F X position (16bits LSB) 0x2C861 Y position (16bits LSB) 0x2C85D direction (0 = N, 1 = S, 2 = W, 3 = E) I cannot find where is the speed vector. Max velocities 2px/frame. Moving in diagonal is 2px/frame in each direction (about 2.82px/frame) I have consistency issue when I ask Thor to make a U turn. The time he takes depends. I strongly suspect the R button, which make jpc advances exactly .2 sec, which may not be a round number of frames. So I push a direction arrow sometimes before the poll loop, sometimes after. Also, there is a two frames lag between the indicated position and Thor position on the screen. Since I have turbo off, I suspects that GOT makes an interpolation of Thor position between each frames to smooth out his movements. Baby steps I have to find the RNG. Edit I think I found it 0x2FEE6 (16 bits, LSB ?) I have to check. This value seams to change randomly each frame. Hmm... Edit Resetting the value generate the same sequence. Frame based RNG ? Edit Found it. Not very secure. I hope it is really the RNG xn+1=xn+19866 (mod 2^16) Edit Arg, it is not the RNG...
Editor
Joined: 3/10/2010
Posts: 899
Location: Sweden
Are the addresses the same for the other episodes? I think the game was split into one executable for each episode.
phi
Joined: 8/20/2015
Posts: 31
I don't know. I focus only on the first episod for now. I guess it is the same engine for each episode. _G1.EXE _G2.EXE and _G3.EXE are very small compare to GOT.EXE or GOTRES.DAT (_G1.EXE do not work if you remove GOT.EXE) 4,0K CONFIG.GOT 60K _G1.EXE 60K _G2.EXE 60K _G3.EXE 384K GOT.EXE 724K GOTRES.DAT 4,0K VERSION.GOT But I don't have any difficulties now to search for memory addresses. I think I will be able to find them again.
Patashu
He/Him
Joined: 10/2/2005
Posts: 4042
Most DOS games are at 70 fps (or a rational fraction of that), aren't they?
My Chiptune music, made in Famitracker: http://soundcloud.com/patashu My twitch. I stream mostly shmups & rhythm games http://twitch.tv/patashu My youtube, again shmups and rhythm games and misc stuff: http://youtube.com/user/patashu
phi
Joined: 8/20/2015
Posts: 31
According to jpccrr, this game turns at 59.71299810246679 Hz (125875/2108) Its native resolution is 320x240. But it is not a standard VGA resolution (320x200 is for example). My guess is that it doubles each pixel just before displaying, with some tricks only dos games know how to do. If this is the case, its refresh rate must be 60hz, since it's the standard refresh rate of VGA (actually, exactly the double of NTSC, for easier conversion of a monitor into a TV). Many monitor screens in early 1990 era couldn't show any non vga mode. As far a I know (or wikipedia knows), 70 hz is for 640x400. jpccrr displays the game at 640x480 and dosbox at 320x240 (by detecting the line doubler ?). I still think having a handy button that makes the emulator advances a not round number of frames is stupid ^^
Player (26)
Joined: 8/29/2011
Posts: 1206
Location: Amsterdam
phi wrote:
Its native resolution is 320x240. But it is not a standard VGA resolution (320x200 is for example).
320x240 is Mode X, which is one of the standards supported by VGA. And yes, most PC games hardlink their speed to the monitor's refresh rate, to prevent "tearing" of graphics.
Tompa
Any
Editor, Expert player (2213)
Joined: 8/15/2005
Posts: 1940
Location: Mullsjö, Sweden
Are you still working on this? I'm very much looking forward to a TAS of it at least!
phi
Joined: 8/20/2015
Posts: 31
I'm still working on it, I just had IRL stuff to do ^^
Tompa
Any
Editor, Expert player (2213)
Joined: 8/15/2005
Posts: 1940
Location: Mullsjö, Sweden
Alright, great =D! No rushing, IRL should always be the #1 focus.
phi
Joined: 8/20/2015
Posts: 31
By the way, do someone know if the joystick is different than the keyboard for GOT ?
Tompa
Any
Editor, Expert player (2213)
Joined: 8/15/2005
Posts: 1940
Location: Mullsjö, Sweden
A couple of months later... First off, no, I've never used a joystick for the game. But I doubt it would differ. Did you give up on this or will it be a thing in the future? Just curious as I would really LOVE to see a TAS of this game <3.
Player (56)
Joined: 3/16/2018
Posts: 34
Location: KC
So, this thread hasn't updated in a couple years, but having recently finished my second DOS TAS, this game was next on my wishlist of games to TAS. Should I start my own thread, or start making replies here? I have downloaded the game, and am currently troubleshooting how to get it running, because I get a message saying I need 2K more memory (even after trying to up the memory in the JPC parameters), or I can run it without SoundBlaster emulation, which is a travesty because the in-game sounds are *hilarious*.
Patashu
He/Him
Joined: 10/2/2005
Posts: 4042
DungeonFacts wrote:
So, this thread hasn't updated in a couple years, but having recently finished my second DOS TAS, this game was next on my wishlist of games to TAS. Should I start my own thread, or start making replies here? I have downloaded the game, and am currently troubleshooting how to get it running, because I get a message saying I need 2K more memory (even after trying to up the memory in the JPC parameters), or I can run it without SoundBlaster emulation, which is a travesty because the in-game sounds are *hilarious*.
Reuse the existing thread is the policy around here! Good luck, i am looking forward to a TAS of this game.
My Chiptune music, made in Famitracker: http://soundcloud.com/patashu My twitch. I stream mostly shmups & rhythm games http://twitch.tv/patashu My youtube, again shmups and rhythm games and misc stuff: http://youtube.com/user/patashu
Reviewer, Expert player (2432)
Joined: 5/21/2013
Posts: 414
DungeonFacts wrote:
I have downloaded the game, and am currently troubleshooting how to get it running, because I get a message saying I need 2K more memory (even after trying to up the memory in the JPC parameters), or I can run it without SoundBlaster emulation, which is a travesty because the in-game sounds are *hilarious*.
Did you skip fdconfig.sys when booting? There are some memory-related lines in there, you should step through and say yes to everything in there (and just skip autoexec.bat if you want). If you already did that then I'm not sure why it says you don't have enough memory.
Player (56)
Joined: 3/16/2018
Posts: 34
Location: KC
I've been troubleshooting my config to get started on this, and I need some guidance from those of you more knowledgeable about the inner workings of this stuff. I have two issues I want to work out before I engage with the actual TAS work. 1. Memory With Crystal Caves, I was able to skip the config.sys and autoexec.bat and jump straight into the game. With God of Thunder, if I do this I get a message saying I need an additional 2K of memory. If I let both run, I can launch the game, but the current FreeDOS image runs the installer, so I'm guessing I should either use a different floppy image or figure out how to tweak the existing one. I tried extracting the image to edit the config.sys and autoexec.bat, but for some reason when I tried recompiling the image using 7zip it was slightly larger than a floppy image. (Also, yes, I tried just adding more memory in the JPC parameters.) Essentially, I need some guidance on whether I should compile my own disc image (and if so, if there's a good guide on making one), or if there's more to editing the aforementioned files than extracting the image and tweaking them in a text editor before re-inserting them. If there's no alternative to just letting them run, that's fine, but obviously saving the boot frames would be nice. 2. Soundblaster compatibility There's an old thread about SoundBlaster for GoT, but the only takeaway I got is that the game is pretty unreliable about detecting it. I noticed that the new FreeDOS image has "rem SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330" in the autoexec, but even if I manually run the "set BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 T6" recommended by the JPC guide, the game doesn't seem to detect it. It's bundled with a soundblaster testing tool which seems to detect it OK, but obviously if the game doesn't, then it doesn't do me much good. Am I being sabotaged by the autoexec, or should manually running SET BLASTER correct that? Is there anything else I should do besides running multiple attempts and simply hoping that it eventually detects the card when I try to record? I realize that you don't need sound cues in a TAS, but this game has such a great soundtrack and SFX that I consider them must-haves.
Reviewer, Expert player (2432)
Joined: 5/21/2013
Posts: 414
DungeonFacts wrote:
I've been troubleshooting my config to get started on this, and I need some guidance from those of you more knowledgeable about the inner workings of this stuff. I have two issues I want to work out before I engage with the actual TAS work. 1. Memory With Crystal Caves, I was able to skip the config.sys and autoexec.bat and jump straight into the game. With God of Thunder, if I do this I get a message saying I need an additional 2K of memory. If I let both run, I can launch the game, but the current FreeDOS image runs the installer, so I'm guessing I should either use a different floppy image or figure out how to tweak the existing one. I tried extracting the image to edit the config.sys and autoexec.bat, but for some reason when I tried recompiling the image using 7zip it was slightly larger than a floppy image. (Also, yes, I tried just adding more memory in the JPC parameters.) Essentially, I need some guidance on whether I should compile my own disc image (and if so, if there's a good guide on making one), or if there's more to editing the aforementioned files than extracting the image and tweaking them in a text editor before re-inserting them. If there's no alternative to just letting them run, that's fine, but obviously saving the boot frames would be nice.
I think the default boot floppy shows you the option to step through each line in fdconfig and autoexec and decide which lines you want to run - if you're not using that, you can still press F8 while it's booting to do this.
2. Soundblaster compatibility There's an old thread about SoundBlaster for GoT, but the only takeaway I got is that the game is pretty unreliable about detecting it. I noticed that the new FreeDOS image has "rem SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330" in the autoexec, but even if I manually run the "set BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 T6" recommended by the JPC guide, the game doesn't seem to detect it. It's bundled with a soundblaster testing tool which seems to detect it OK, but obviously if the game doesn't, then it doesn't do me much good. Am I being sabotaged by the autoexec, or should manually running SET BLASTER correct that? Is there anything else I should do besides running multiple attempts and simply hoping that it eventually detects the card when I try to record? I realize that you don't need sound cues in a TAS, but this game has such a great soundtrack and SFX that I consider them must-haves.
I'm not sure what running two different SET BLASTER lines will do, but it can't possibly help to run the one in autoexec, so skip that when you step through it. As far as the game detecting Sound Blaster, I've had this problem before. For whatever reason with some games, having the game detect it can be very finnicky in JPC-rr. I've had cases where starting the exe on the earliest possible frame results in the game not detecting it, but after waiting a frame or two and then executing the game will see it just fine. Once the game detects it, I've never had any issues with the game continuing to detect it throughout the whole run. It kind of sucks, but losing a couple frames during booting is much more desirable than not having good sound.
Player (56)
Joined: 3/16/2018
Posts: 34
Location: KC
Thanks for the tips!
slamo wrote:
As far as the game detecting Sound Blaster, I've had this problem before. For whatever reason with some games, having the game detect it can be very finnicky in JPC-rr. I've had cases where starting the exe on the earliest possible frame results in the game not detecting it, but after waiting a frame or two and then executing the game will see it just fine. Once the game detects it, I've never had any issues with the game continuing to detect it throughout the whole run. It kind of sucks, but losing a couple frames during booting is much more desirable than not having good sound.
Any way to catch if it detects besides dumping a video? I don't mind if that's the case, but the game has a pointlessly long intro sequence, so it'll be moderately tedious.
Reviewer, Expert player (2432)
Joined: 5/21/2013
Posts: 414
DungeonFacts wrote:
Any way to catch if it detects besides dumping a video? I don't mind if that's the case, but the game has a pointlessly long intro sequence, so it'll be moderately tedious.
I'm not too familiar with this game, but check if there's a settings menu within the game where you can configure sound and see if it'll let you pick Sound Blaster. If not, unfortunately you'll have to make test encodes to see if it's working.
Player (56)
Joined: 3/16/2018
Posts: 34
Location: KC
Alright, stepping through the setup to run HIMEM and skip autoexec does let me run the game, and saves a lot of startup frames. Problem one solved, 10 points to house slamo. Running the SET BLAST in the JPC guide shows the correct settings in the GoT setblast.exe testing tool (unfortunately a separate executable, not part of the in game tools), but it doesn't actually detect the card. I'll have to put some time into testing it starting from different frames, or jiggling the I/O Delay Emulation to see if it makes any difference.