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Fire & Ice (1995) (Warner Interactive Entertainment)

Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2013 2:23 pm
by JonAbbott
Image Fire & Ice (1995) (Warner Interactive Entertainment)

ID: 10154
Version: Unknown
Developer: Graftgold Creative Software; Paul Chapman (conversion)
Genre: Platformer
RAM: 1024

CPU compatibility: ARM2 ARM250 ARM3 ARM610 ARM700 ARM710 ARM7500 StrongARM ARMv5+
OS compatibility: 3.11 3.5x 3.6x 3.7x 4.x 5.x

Legal info: Distribution rights held by JASPP


Download full archive: Image (12.4mb)

Download individual floppies: Image Image


Game info
To run the game use "Boot floppy" from the ADFFS Filer.


Synopsis
Suten quietly congratulated himself. This was the perfect place to hide. Already worshipped by the indigenous Human population, he could remain here undisturbed. He needed to rest from some time, it had been a long journey, over 12 light year across the coldness of space. Here he could absorb energy from the heat of the midday sun, and it was very hot here. He began to make plans for his takeover of this small planet, all he needed now was time to replenish his energy. He laughed out loud as he recalled the moment of his escape from his prison of two thousand years It had actually been very easy, he thought. The guards had become slow and lethargic, they had made mistakes. He knew they would, after all, he had time to wait, nothing but time.

Glemm had picked up the trail at last. It had take a while, but he knew that somewhere there would be evidence of the vast expense of magical energy required to transport his old enemy away from this place. How could they have let him escape, he wondered? He called upon the elemental forces to begin the chase. He would have to be careful, Suten was dangerous. He would have no qualms about starting a full-scale elemental battle wherever he was, and at any cost to his surroundings. Glemm remembered how an entire solar system had been destroyed prior to Suten's capture. That was why he had been incarcerated for the remainder of his existence.

The trail led to a small blue-green planet, the third of nine orbiting a yellow star. Suten was bound to be somewhere in the hotter regions. Fire had always been his favourite elemental force. It was more destructive than the others. This was not going to be easy. Direct confrontation would be disastrous for all the life-forms on the planet. No, there had to another way. Glemm needed an agent, someone he could help to defeat Suten without arousing too much suspicion. Who would be the best choice certainly not a Human, they were far to stupid and clumsy. They couldn't hero their way out of a paper bag. The sort of hero required needed to be smart, cunning, fast, and willing to travel!

Glemm began his search near the northern polar ice cap. There weren't many suitable candidates here at all. He could feel Sutens evil magic even here, he didn't have long. Many of the less intelligent creatures were already behaving aggressively towards each other, on a path of certain self-destruction. Where was the hero he needed? Walruses? Too slow! Peskimons? Too stupid! He focussed on a small igloo, and heard the distant sound of music. He had chanced upon the home of one Cool Coyote. He couldn't risk direct contact. His materialisation would almost certainly be detected by the rejuvenated Suten. He would have to help the hero in more subtle ways....

Fire & Ice is a platform game spread across a number of different worlds, each with a different theme, the game features many levels, power-ups, bonuses, and hidden secrets.

Screenshots
Image Image

Gameplay

Re: Fire & Ice (1995) (Warner Interactive Entertainment)

Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2013 9:23 pm
by tlsa1
JonAbbott wrote:Game info
To run the game use "Boot floppy" from the ADFFS Filer.
I've tried this under ArcEm with RO 3.1, but I can't get it to work. What difference is the "Boot floppy" option supposed to make, compared to running it from the filer window?

With "Boot floppy", I get as far as the "Insert data disc" screen, but no further. Ctrl+Shift+F2 does nothing. The floppy images are on HostFS. Is HostFS available when "Boot floppy" is used?

Without "Boot floppy", launching from the filer, I also get to the change disc screen, but Ctrl+Shift+F2 only made the on-screen animation stop.

I've named the discs "Fire1" and "Fire2", typed to "Floppy".

Re: Fire & Ice (1995) (Warner Interactive Entertainment)

Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2013 9:56 pm
by JonAbbott
If you look at !ADFFS.Obey.F1015401 you'll see what the script does. It reserves memory, sets the FDC emulation to 710, sets the screen size and turns off the Hourglass.

I've not tested under ArcEm, however:

1. Check you can switch between the discs okay at the desktop
2. Try holding CTRL when you click the OK button to boot it, that will drop out of the desktop before running the script
3. Check you have enough memory, it will require about 1.5mb free before you boot it

4. Try launching it from the icon, after first typing the following at the supervisor prompt:

Code: Select all

ADFHideHourglass
ADFEmulateFDC 710
ADFReserveMemory 804

Re: Fire & Ice (1995) (Warner Interactive Entertainment)

Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2013 10:25 pm
by tlsa1
Thanks, I got it working. I think I wasn't waiting long enough for it to change disc. I ran it via the "Boot floppy" option. I think ArcEm's having trouble with the mid-screen palette changes or something, because it's quite flickery.

Re: Fire & Ice (1995) (Warner Interactive Entertainment)

Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2013 10:31 pm
by JonAbbott
I just tested it myself (on a Pi), ArcEm does take a while to swap discs - understandable though considering its full machine emulation.

The palette isn't changing at all, as I don't believe ArcEm passes through the VSync. You'll have to put up with green and blue all over I'm afraid.

Re: Fire & Ice (1995) (Warner Interactive Entertainment)

Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2013 10:37 pm
by tlsa1
You need to enable 16bpp rendering mode to see palette switching. Press both Windows keys together when ArcEm is running. That opens the tweak menu, and press "1" to switch from palettised 256 colour display driver to standard display driver.

Or you can pass the command line argument to the binary that makes it use the standard display driver.

Re: Fire & Ice (1995) (Warner Interactive Entertainment)

Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2020 5:01 pm
by Rory Milne
I've been playing an ADF of Fire & Ice on Arculator 2.0, and it has exactly the same problem as in the video on this page in that the game works perfectly until it gets to the Glacier Cavern stage - 7:23 on the video, at which point there are no opponents and therefore no way to get the key pieces required to exit the level and progress to the next one.

Could this be down to copy protection? Just a thought. Any theories would be welcome. :)

Re: Fire & Ice (1995) (Warner Interactive Entertainment)

Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2020 4:38 am
by JonAbbott
Rory Milne wrote: Tue Jun 30, 2020 5:01 pm Could this be down to copy protection? Just a thought. Any theories would be welcome. :)
That is indeed the copy protection kicking in. If you use the JFD with ADFFS, it should work okay. I think at the time I recorded the gameplay video, an update for another game had broken it, so I should probably re-record or at least mention the copy protection in the video description.

Re: Fire & Ice (1995) (Warner Interactive Entertainment)

Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2020 9:05 am
by Rory Milne
JonAbbott wrote: Thu Jul 02, 2020 4:38 am
Rory Milne wrote: Tue Jun 30, 2020 5:01 pm Could this be down to copy protection? Just a thought. Any theories would be welcome. :)
That is indeed the copy protection kicking in. If you use the JFD with ADFFS, it should work okay. I think at the time I recorded the gameplay video, an update for another game had broken it, so I should probably re-record or at least mention the copy protection in the video description.
Thanks for confirming that, Jon. I'll get the JFD working with ADFFS and Arculator when I get a mo. :)