ADFFS 2.82

[JonAbbott]

why would the issue only occur on the JFD files I create and not when loading the original disks?

It depends how you ran it. If you just run it directly from a JFD ADFFS doesn't do anything. If you launch via Boot floppy, ADFFS fixes various issues - one being the Joystick being disabled if it detects movement or a button while loading. It sounds like there's another bug in it's in-game Joystick detection I need to fix.

I suspect it's not performing the correct check for an RTFM Joystick and mis-detecting Econet or similar as a Joystick...its quite a common bug (11 games so far), I fixed them as I come across them.

Why it doesn't occur when you run the game directly is simply down to the first bug, where it disables the Joystick if movement is detected during loading...the author basically implemented a botch to work around a flaw in the in-game Joystick detection.

[JonAbbott]

when you start a game no inputs work and the ship is stuck on autofire

I've modified the script to load JoyMod and use SWI when checking the Joystick, if you'd like to give the latest obey.zip a try.

[wmd]

Thanks, this is now working.

[wmd]

When I was creating the disk images with ADFFS, when I selected "Nevryon (1990) (The Fouth Dimension)" in the Title box, I noticed that the write protect box is not ticked. Presumably that means it's safe to allow saves back to disk for this game?

[wmd]

Having another issue, this time with High Risk Racing. Both floppies imaged fine, but when I boot disk 1, I get the error "!RunImage does not match the expected file".

[JonAbbott]

When I was creating the disk images with ADFFS, when I selected "Nevryon (1990) (The Fouth Dimension)" in the Title box, I noticed that the write protect box is not ticked. Presumably that means it's safe to allow saves back to disk for this game?

Disc 1 needs to be writable as it saves the keymap to the TEMPKEY file. I'm not sure about writing saves to it, without checking if its imaging the full disc. If you Verify the disc and see errors - don't trust saving to it.

Having another issue, this time with High Risk Racing. Both floppies imaged fine, but when I boot disk 1, I get the error "!RunImage does not match the expected file".

Its a different version to the one the script was created for, what does the Info page say the version is?
If you eMail a copy of !RunImage to me, I'll adjust the script to support it. My email is at the bottom of the ADFFS Help file.

[wmd]

I just sent the email. According to the game's ReadMe it is v1.23u.

[JonAbbott]

I just sent the email. According to the game's ReadMe it is v1.23u.

Now that I've had time to analyse your copy of 1.23u, my original boxed copy and the first submitted copy; all three purport to be v1.23u.

The first submitted copy has a README that states 1.23u, but the Wimp Info box reports it as 1.21u (this is the current version that is packaged for beta testers)

Your copy is 1.23u, both in the README and the Wimp Info, but has either had its protection sector overwritten by a save-game file, or it wasn't included.

My boxed copy is 1.23u, both in the README and the Wimp Info...but also includes a StrongARM patched version of QTM. I read from this, that it's a more recent release of 1.23u. Unfortunately, either by the inclusion of the patch (which I believe was added by the distributor as it's also detailed in the README) or by being infected by the Extend virus, it's protection sector has also either been overwritten or not included.

All three copies on the face of it appear to work and all three do perform the protection check. The protection code however doesn't do anything obvious...it changes some internal values, so my guess is it's making the game harder, or setting it up to break later on.

So...long story short, I need to:

1. locate a copy of 1.23u with the protection sector intact (it should show up as a bad block on disc 1 when imaged)
2. try to figure out what the protection actually does when the check fails
3. update the packaged version to 1.23u, retaining disc 1 from 1.21u for the protection check to pass

EDIT: I've now confirmed that neither 1.21u and 1.23u perform the disc protection check.

[Idge]

Hi Jon,
I have noticed that Chopper Force does not seem to work when using ADFFS on a physical machine when using Boot Floppy. It loads the first picture fine and says leave disk 1 in and press space, however when it should prompt for Disk 2, it just seems to have a black screen and not show the disk prompt and goes no further.
If running from the icon it works fine, just when running via Boot Floppy, so must be something in the obey script.
I am testing on an A3010

Cheers

[JonAbbott]

I have noticed that Chopper Force does not seem to work when using ADFFS on a physical machine when using Boot Floppy

It's altering the screen memory allocation after the game has displayed "Insert disc 2 and press SPACE", so it looks like its not working because it had to change MODE to alter the memory allocation.

I've altered the order in the latest obey.zip, so the screen size is set before the intro sequence and confirmed under RISC OS 3.11. I've not tested to see if there's a knock on effect on newer machines though.