Acheton - Playability

[fuzzel]

Thought I'd have a look at Acheton, Acornsoft's massive text adventure for the BBC. Think (Castle of Riddles + Kingdom of Hamil + Philosopher's Quest) cubed. I've not played it apart from a cursory look since bitd and I can't remember getting very far on it then either.
Anyway, the disc version is a bit slow so is there any way of speeding it up (in an emulator) ? I've increased Beebem's speed to x2 but this doesn't speed it up too much (and increasing it further plays havoc with the keyboard) so it sounds like there are two options, are either of these possible:
1. Adjust the disc speed in Beebem to make it as fast as ram speed
2. Create a ram disc using sideways ram (I used STLE00 bitd) and copy the Acheton disc to that (not sure if this would work if the game reads directly from the disc)
Hopefully someone out there has some ideas on this.

[lurkio]

Have you disabled Disc Drive sounds in the Sound Effects menu in Windows BeebEm (or in the Sound menu in Mac BeebEm)?

Which version of Acheton are you playing? The Acornsoft release or the Topologika one?

[fuzzel]

Good evening lurkio. I'm playing the one which says "Cracked by P.N. 18.12.1985"
It doesn't actually say whether its Topologika or Acornsoft, I'm assuming Acornsoft given the date.

I've disabled sound effects and it seems to be faster thanks, I'm not sure how much faster it would be if played from a ramdisc though (but I'd like to find out).

btw What's the Topologika version like ?

[lurkio]

What's the Topologika version like ?

Expanded, I seem to recall. Can't remember all the details of how it's different though.

Check out the various Acheton disc-images at bbcmicro.co.uk:

• http://bbcmicro.co.uk/index.php?search= ... =on&sort=b

[CMcDougall]

I have the original discs &box /inlays.
Disc1 was protected, disc2 could copy itself from 40track to 80.

will hunt instructions later ..

[lurkio]

will hunt instructions later ..

The instructions for both the Acornsoft version and the Topologika version of Acheton are at Everygamegoing.com. Also see mocagh.org.

[CMcDougall]

found them, does it have the Hints sheets also from the original envelope, to open when stuck

[sirbod]

If you grab the full archive of the Archimedes release, I PDF'd everything that came with it. I'm pretty sure it included a hint sheet:

https://forums.jaspp.org.uk/forum/viewt ... f=25&t=413

[fuzzel]

After limbering up with Kingdom of Hamil (what a game!) I've started playing the Topologika version of Acheton. However, it hasn't taken me long to encounter a bug (it really grates, this one). From the start: N, GET KEYS, S, S, UNLOCK GRATE, D, YES. This affects my download from this site and the version at The Complete BBC Games Archive. Is there another bug-free version out there somewhere? I'll revert to the Acornsoft version for the time being.

[lurkio]

Emphasis mine!:

I've started playing the Topologika version of Acheton. However, it hasn't taken me long to encounter a bug (it really grates, this one). From the start: N, GET KEYS, S, S, UNLOCK GRATE, D, YES. This affects my download from this site and the version at The Complete BBC Games Archive. Is there another bug-free version out there somewhere? I'll revert to the Acornsoft version for the time being.

Oh, dear. That's not exactly ideal!

I get the same error when I try your command-sequence with the FSD disc-image (of Topologika Acheton for the Beeb): I think BillCarr created the FSD by imaging a genuine commercial release of Toplogika Acheton (but I couldn't swear to that). [EDIT: Actually, he converted an FDI image sent to him by Arcadian.] BillCarr uploaded the FSD here:

viewtopic.php?hilit=Acheton&p=56949#p56949

I can report, however, that the Electron version of Topologika Acheton at Everygamegoing.com does seem to work without error — and it runs in Master mode in BeebEm too, albeit only in MODE6:

https://www.everygamegoing.com/litem/Acheton/918/

I wonder what went wrong with the Beeb version of Topologika Acheton though..?



EDIT: I've discovered that it's possible to hex-edit the Electron disc-image "Acheton_Original.ssd" from Everygamegoing.com, copy the chunk of data from offset &200 to offset &1FBFF, and paste that data onto the bbcmicro.co.uk .SSD at offset &200 in Overwrite mode. The result is a .SSD disc-image that will boot and run in Model B mode in BeebEm without manifesting the bug — but there's now a new problem in that the location-text at the top of the screen isn't printed properly until you enter the command LOOK:

Disc999-AchetonTopologika-HAK.ssd [EDIT: Attachment deleted. See below.]

But this seems to suggest that the game database in the version of Topologika Acheton on bbcmicro.co.uk (and on BillCarr's FSD, from which it derives) is corrupted in some way.



EDIT: There's also Pernod's copy of Topologika Acheton for the Beeb — it comes from a different source (Pernod's own collection) and doesn't manifest the bug!:

viewtopic.php?hilit=Acheton&p=48317#p48317

[fuzzel]

There's also Pernod's copy of Topologika Acheton for the Beeb — it comes from a different source (Pernod's own collection) and doesn't manifest the bug!:

viewtopic.php?hilit=Acheton&p=48317#p48317

Thanks lurkio, I'll use Pernod's version

[billcarr2005]

Must've been a bad transfer!
Redone, seems to have fixed it...

[lurkio]

Must've been a bad transfer!
Redone, seems to have fixed it...

Thanks. Uploaded to bbcmicro.co.uk.

[james]

Thanks. Uploaded to bbcmicro.co.uk.

There are 3 Acheton discs available on bbcmicro ...

Acheton (Acornsoft) http://bbcmicro.co.uk/game.php?id=2021
The notes for this reference the full (Topologica) version and the hints disc

Acheton Hints Disc (Acornsoft) http://bbcmicro.co.uk/game.php?id=2022
There are no notes for this, but I think there should be one saying something like -This is a companion to the Acornsoft Acheton game disc
The Acornsoft (tape) hint sheet itself is on another thread: viewtopic.php?p=83826#p83826

Acheton (Topologika) http://bbcmicro.co.uk/game.php?id=2020
The notes for this reference the cut-down (Acornsoft) version and the hints disc.
But, the hints disc isn't relevant for the Topologika version and shouldn't be mentioned here as the help system it built-in.
I'm struggling to find a scan of the associated hint sheet, but there's an Archimedes version on the bottom "shelf" of https://www.mocagh.org/loadpage.php?getgame=acheton-alt

I believe it would be useful to attach/link to the hint sheets in order to be able to use the help system.

Thanks

[Pernod]

I'm struggling to find a scan of the associated hint sheet, but there's an Archimedes version on the bottom "shelf" of https://www.mocagh.org/loadpage.php?getgame=acheton-alt

That looks like what I remember of the BBC version hints sheet. I wouldn't expect the Archimedes version to be any different.

[leenew]

Thanks. Uploaded to bbcmicro.co.uk.

There are 3 Acheton discs available on bbcmicro ...

Acheton (Acornsoft) http://bbcmicro.co.uk/game.php?id=2021
The notes for this reference the full (Topologica) version and the hints disc

Acheton Hints Disc (Acornsoft) http://bbcmicro.co.uk/game.php?id=2022
There are no notes for this, but I think there should be one saying something like -This is a companion to the Acornsoft Acheton game disc
The Acornsoft (tape) hint sheet itself is on another thread: viewtopic.php?p=83826#p83826

Acheton (Topologika) http://bbcmicro.co.uk/game.php?id=2020
The notes for this reference the cut-down (Acornsoft) version and the hints disc.
But, the hints disc isn't relevant for the Topologika version and shouldn't be mentioned here as the help system it built-in.
I'm struggling to find a scan of the associated hint sheet, but there's an Archimedes version on the bottom "shelf" of https://www.mocagh.org/loadpage.php?getgame=acheton-alt

I believe it would be useful to attach/link to the hint sheets in order to be able to use the help system.

Thanks

I will fix this up tomorrow.

Lee

[leenew]

Please check that I have got my notes correct!

Lee.

[james]

Looks good , thank you