The Darkness of Raven Wood

[BeebMaster]

Hmmm....what I just said works on BeebSCSI, but not on actual ADFS floppy disc, even though both are using ADFS 1.50!

So you would have to find out the current directory name using OSGBPB 6, and then if it's not $ (in which case it's just OPENIN"$") use B%=OPENIN"^.csdname"

(Thinking about it, I believe the JGH patent method is to do *INFO file and read what has actually been written to the screen to get the info needed - or you could trap OSWRCH and put the bytes in a data block instead of on screen which I had to do recently in a different situation where the only way to get information I needed was to use a command which ordinarily writes it on the screen.)

That's led me to discover that there is a part-load call, OSGBPB 3, but it might not be quick enough compared to direct sector reads.

[BeebMaster]

Thanks for testing this! Did you definitely use the version of the game I attached to this previous post? I ask because I've made the edits you suggested (to !BOOT and LOAD2), and although I can now get past the second menu screen, the game just hangs on a blank, black screen when I press 1 to "Start Adventure"! That was on ADFS on my M128. The same thing happens on ADFS on my Master Compact too.

Yes, I did although I actually replaced !Boot completely and *BUILDed Jerusalem a new !Boot altogether with only

Code: Select all

*BASIC
CH."LOAD"

Also I've been running it from BeebSCSI so I'd better write it all to a real floppy disc and make sure it still works, after my @ debacle just now!

[lurkio]

I've been getting very confused.

Arcadian mentioned a "universal" version of the game, where the same set of files would work both on DFS and on ADFS (because the programs would autodetect which FS they were running on), so that you could copy the files from one filesytem to another and the game would just work -- and that led me to believe that this "universal" version had already been created and had been uploaded in the form of Carlo's zip file in his previous post. (And I further assumed that I could integrate my gameplay-bugfixes into either the code on Carlo's DFS .SSD (inside the zip) or the code on Carlo's ADFS .ADL, as I pleased. So I chose to edit the .SSD. (I think.))

I no longer believe that to be the case.

I just tried editing the files on Carlo's ADFS .ADL disc-image specifically. I edited them in the way you suggested, BeebMaster, by removing a couple of CLOSE#0 statements, and I then transferred the edited files to a physical ADFS floppy* and booted it on my M128. It worked! I also tried booting the same ADFS floppy on my Master Compact. It worked there too!

So I conclude that Carlo's DFS .SSD disc-image contains code that's different from the code on his ADFS .ADL disc-image.

If my conclusion is incorrect, then I really do give up!

If, on the other hand, my conclusion is correct, then, er, I still sort of give up because I don't think I have the heart to try to create the "universal" version of the game that Arcadian's dreaming of! (And then integrate my gameplay bugfixes into it..!)




* But I transferred the files via a DFS-based .SSD disc-image in my DataCentre -- whence all the confusion on my part, I think!

[Minor edit for grammar.]

[BeebMaster]

Yes, that's right, sorry, I should have said the image I have been using is RWErr/adl, I haven't tried the DFS version. And it works fine (with those mods) when copied to floppy disc.

[BeebMaster]

If it's any help, I copied the files from ADFS to DFS and, after locking all the files because of the way it searches the DFS catalogue entry for "LPics2", it works under DFS. So I think we could probably say that the actual set of files within the ADL image (rather than the disc image itself) with those two CLOSE#0 mods is "universal".

[tricky]

Looks like you have it sorted.
If you do want my decompressor to go to/from shadow ram, it would probably add 15 bytes (from memory) and another two bytes of ZP to make it runtime configurable.

[lurkio]

Looks like you have it sorted.

Nearly.

If you do want my decompressor to go to/from shadow ram, it would probably add 15 bytes (from memory) and another two bytes of ZP to make it runtime configurable.

Thanks! But first I just need to finish something I'm in the middle of doing:

If it's any help, I copied the files from ADFS to DFS and, after locking all the files because of the way it searches the DFS catalogue entry for "LPics2", it works under DFS. So I think we could probably say that the actual set of files within the ADL image (rather than the disc image itself) with those two CLOSE#0 mods is "universal".

Ah, thanks for that. I'll take the files on the ADL image as definitive, and I'll now reintegrate my gameplay-bugfixes (and your CLOSE#0 mods) into them. [EDIT: It's the other way round, strictly speaking! I'll integrate Carlo's ADFS mods into the versions of $.RW and $.RW2 that already have my gameplay-bugfixes in. And I'll remove CLOSE#0 from !BOOT and LOAD2.]

[lurkio]

Wow guys, this is awesome. Not sure I even understand half of it but great news.

Thanks! I am cautiously optimistic!

Btw, will you be coordinating with Arcadian, who's already prepped cases, inlays, etc., for a potential physical release (so to speak)?

[lurkio]

...ADFS pushing PAGE way up shouldn't be a problem. A 12 kB BASIC program running in MODE 5 with HIMEM at &5800, even with PAGE at &1F00, leaves abouk 2 kB of wiggle room.

Apparently not: [Screenshot showing "No room" error in Raven Wood when running on ADFS in B-Plus mode in Mac BeebEm] You get a no-room error when you try to complete the game when it's running with PAGE at &1F00 on ADFS in B-Plus mode in BeebEm. You don't get that error with PAGE at &1900 in Model B mode on DFS ... The error occurs quite a long way into the walkthrough (but still in Part 1), so it looks like ... the game hasn't been tested thoroughly when PAGE is high ... Anyway, the ... solution would probably be to re-examine how the program declares variables (particularly string variables, I suspect) with the aim of making its use of the heap more efficient.

I've checked, and I can confirm that (in Model B mode in BeebEm, with DFS) if you set PAGE to &1F00* before *EXECing !BOOT, then you'll get a "No room" error midway through the first part of the game. (See "GET CASK" in the walkthrough.)

(Btw, if you set PAGE to &1F00, exec !BOOT, and then save your position just before the failure point, you can restart the game with PAGE still at &1F00, restore your saved game, and then play right through to the end of Part 1 before getting a "No room" error!)

But I seem to be able to get through the whole walkthrough without triggering any errors at all when I set PAGE to &1D00, which isn't bad. So I'm not sure if it's really worth trying to edit the program to make its use of the heap less wasteful. How many people will realistically be running systems with PAGE above &1D00?



* I chose &1F00 because that's what PAGE is set to on a B+ with ADFS (in BeebEm at least) -- but that's an unlikely setup for anyone to be using in the real world today, possibly?

[zapiy]

Any release would utilise Arcadians good work, we would want to put the Bitmap Soft design stamp on it though?

So in layman's terms, what does all this error stuff mean, are we talking different bios based on the computer we are using this on?

[zapiy]

Hi all,

I may have come on here to forward so please let me explain.

As you may know Bitmap Soft has release one of John's games, All Hallows to be precise, we have two other games in the pipeline, during the last few months I've got to know Arcadian, he mentioned his work on releasing for BBC games a few years ago that sadly never got released, at that time I was chatting to John about bringing his wonderful game out in a physical format on Bitmap Soft.

Essentially the two ideas merged, John mentioned this issue with the game and told me to pop on here and chat to you guys.

I am not here to rip anyone off, I have Johns permission to do this and I am sure he will tell you that we agreed to pay him from any profits, this is the same on this game also, John has so far turned down any money, and let me assure you that the small amount of money that was, was put back into what we do, I think you can see from our products that we care, we want to leave a legacy for all 8 bit retro homebrew, not just focus on the C64 because they sell the most, we want to give the Micro's the same love that we give all the other systems.

Mostly we are transparent in what we do, all our games are based on the free versions, we make it clear before anyone buys the game that they have a choice to get the free version before they buy from us.

I hope this clears up any concerns, again if you felt we was here to just run a commercial operation then I am sorry if that was the way I came across.

Regards

Jamie aka zapiy on almost all retro forums lol.

[Dethmunk]

Hey all,
As Zapiy/Jamie has mentioned we've talked about releasing it. I remember there was an issue (a technical issue waaaay over my head) with the game and the disc image. I said to come here and talk to you guys. If he/you/anyone can get it to work from a physical disc, then go for it I say. Jamie has offered to pay me for my games and I always refuse (graciously) as I don't do this for money, just for fun and hopefully others like it too, if by some miracle you can get a physical version as a collector thats brilliant.
Anyway its great that someone might want to get it to work off disk. A physical version would be lovely to own (from my own selfish point of view).

Sounds like you guys where getting close to a solution?

[zapiy]

Never selfish mate, we may only sell 20 and only break even but how cool would owning one and maybe in a box, would cost more but wow it would look cool lol.

Anyway cheers all.

[lurkio]

Anyway cheers all.

Jamie and John, I've sent you a PM.

[Lardo Boffin]

Never selfish mate, we may only sell 20 and only break even but how cool would owning one and maybe in a box, would cost more but wow it would look cool lol.

Anyway cheers all.

I’d buy one!

[zapiy]

Nice one, lets see what happens.

[VectorEyes]

I'd buy it too. In fact I'd probably buy any new game released on the Beeb!

[marcusjambler]

I definitely want a 'Darkness of Raven wood' on my software shelf

[zapiy]

Thanks guys..

Once I have spoke to Arcadian we can move this on.

Is the game working on Disk now lurkio?

[lurkio]

Is the game working on Disk now lurkio?

The short answer is yes. The slightly longer answer is that there are some system configs that Arcadian had had difficulty running the game on in the past. (See upthread.) It'd be good to hear from him about whether the latest version works any better on those configs and/or about how he wants to proceed.

Once I have spoke to Arcadian we can move this on.

Agreed!



EDIT: Just updated the DFS code so you can run the game from any drive, not just drive zero. (I think Carlo's ADFS code already does this.)

[lurkio]

Here's the latest version of The Darkness of Raven Wood.

Play online:

• http://bbcmicro.co.uk/game.php?id=2340

Download:

• RWuni.ssd

  DFS disc-image

  (200 KiB) Downloaded 83 times

• RWuni.adl.zip

  ADFS disc-image

  (139.43 KiB) Downloaded 86 times

There are two disc-images, one DFS and the other ADFS, but both should contain exactly the same files.

A very spoilery Easter egg is accessible from the first menu screen.

Please try the game in as many emulators and on as many real machines and filesystems as you can. Let me know if you have any problems.



EDIT: Updated disc-images to fix minor bug.
EDIT2: Updated credits.

[zapiy]

Hi all,

We are now not able to release this we a few commitments to other disk based games using the small amount of disks we have, the good news is that Arcadian will be looking at it from his end so all is not lost. If that was not the case we would have managed somehow but as Arcadian is in a position to do this I feel its a win/win.

[Arcadian]

Yep, the physical release of Ravenwood is almost upon us now ... I updated the credits screen within the game to reflect the contributions of Carlo (radiorama), Ian (BeebMaster), Richard (Tricky) and of course Lurkio, as follows (original on the left, revised on the right).

See Lurkio's post above for the DFS and ADFS downloads, which have just been replaced with the latest versions. Subject to final testing, this should be the version that is mastered to floppy disks.

If anyone can do any further playtesting, particularly on more exotic hardware - either real or emulated (e.g. Beebs with unusual DFS roms, Electrons with Solidisk Electron DFS, Slogger SEDFS, Slogger Pegasus, Plus 3, AP3/4 etc) I'd be very grateful. I will be doing brief tests on the Electron interfaces mentioned, but if anybody else can attempt full playthroughs of the game that wouldn't do any harm!

Lurkio, were you able to check that the version worked on the Electron Plus 3 ADFS with page at &1D00? I can't remember!

Piccies below of a sample disc inlay in its wallet - doesn't John's artwork look just gorgeous!

[Lardo Boffin]

Finally some good news this weekend!

[marcusjambler]

Currently have it running with WE DDFS 1.54T ROM and Issue 2 STL 1770 board

Edit : Vanilla issue 3 model A factory upgraded to full model B

[radiorama]

Wow, new developments on this great game! I had to move on to less fun stuff (real life, work, and such) but I did occasionally come back here looking for new developments; honestly I didn't think any would come after three years. I'm so glad!

If I understand it correctly by skimming through the latest messages, a release version is ready with the only limitation of not working on systems with page at $1F00, right? If any other issues arise with ADFS I can look into it, but I'll have a bit of catching up to do; so much time has passed and I can't remember all the details right off my head.

I'm definitely willing to buy a copy.

Thank you all and best regards,
Carlo.

[Dave Footitt]

Nice work, can't beat a physical release!

Well done to all involved

[8271]

Please try the game in as many emulators and on as many real machines and filesystems as you can. Let me know if you have any problems.

Had great fun playing this game - Tried copying it to my Econet as I hoped it would work (not in a mutiplayer way). Alas not, computers seem to stop with a blank screen (Not crashed but not apparently doing anything). If you <Break> then Old / List you can see the code. I think it is stopping looking for the image file (It seems to follow that it might be using direct disc access routines meaning that it would never run from a file server.

[Sopbil]

Hello,

New here. Created this account just so i could praise this wonderful game!

I first saw screenshots on Rucksacks homepage earlier this year when looking for some new games for my recently bought ZX Spectrum +2
(a computer virtually unknown here in Sweden, This was 100% Commodore country)

I have always liked to play games on the real hardware so i have collected quite the collection of consoles and computers and after playing C64 and Amiga during my childhood i wanted to see what i had missed from the competition and then i bought the Spectrum.

Now i realised that i had to have a BBC Micro or an Electron to be able to enjoy this beautiful game and these computers were even rarer than Spectrums in Sweden.
It took a while to find one but i finally found an Electron last month and then i had to get a Scart cable and the Elk64 Sd card solution for it and learn how to use it, all for this game!

After completing it today (with some help from a walkthrough... I am apparently not as smart as a thought) i can only say: Worth it!
Very nice game and superb atmosphere.
Very nice work by John and everyone else involved. Would definitely by a physical copy if one was made available!

Now to look for more hidden gems for this little machine of joy. And check out Johns other games.

[radiorama]

I waded through the thread and checked the code to see if all the fixes (ADFS and gameplay) have been included into Lurkio's final universal version. I'm most glad to announce that, to the best of my knowledge, all the fixes have indeed been included!

As far as I know, the only remaining bugs (or, better, lacking features) are ADFS related, so I'm sure some of you will say that there are no remaining bugs to speak of

Namely, the two remaining problems are:
1) Out-of-memory error when PAGE is at &1F00 as in a Model B+ with ADFS (not a very common setup);
2) "Some-problem-or-other on channel 57" errors on systems with CF-Flash ADFS Hard Drives, seemingly an ADFS bug.

I would venture to say that the universal version is thusly definitive. I already bought a copy from Dave and am looking forward to receiving it!

Best,
Carlo.