Codename Droid bug? [false alarm!]

[lurkio]

There's a report on Facebook that there might be a bug in one of the versions of Codename Droid on bbcmicro.co.uk —

http://bbcmicro.co.uk/index.php?search= ... oid&sort=u

— and possibly also in other copies of the game found elsewhere.

Here's some of the Facebook thread:

Is this a bug in codename droid or is it a trap? I cannot descend the elevator err lift. It seems there's a passcard up there too so it's not like I can skip it?

I'd like to know this too. Had the same thing. Back in the day I don't remember this being a problem. I seem to remember playing the game fine. In recent years trying to play this, I get stuck in exactly the same place.

I do have a vague memory of this with the Blueribbon budget issue of Codename: Droid.

My memory may be playing tricks on me, but I seem to recall that you just have to know that you mustn’t go up to that level on that side of the map. It’s a deliberate dead end that you discover during one play through and know to avoid in subsequent ones. I think?
Edit: I’m wrong! This is the bit with a passcard and the plutonium rods? You should be able to descend then. Sounds like a bug!

my memory is cloudy, but maybe there was a free tape replacement that was advertised on electron user/bbc micro user at the time?
It was a BBC micro version bug?

Does anyone know anything more about this possible bug? Can anyone confirm or deny its existence? Is there a non-buggy version of the game out there?

[cmorley]

There is the Codename Droid HFE in scarybeases HFE archive viewtopic.php?f=32&t=19066&hilit=hfe+archive

[gfoot]

I remember getting stuck there back in the day, but I think you just need to go down to get more lift passes before going back up, so that you don't get stranded there.

[billcarr2005]

One would think that any bug would've probably been fixed by the Play It Again Sam 2 re-release?

However I've found the old Impact Games Club tips/solution, and that states

THE SURFACE DEFENSE

SECTOR 2 - CRAWL UNDER THE COLLAPSING LIFT. GO DOWN TO SECTOR 3 VIA THE
LEFT LIFT AND COLLECT THE MYSTERY CRATE. THEN GO UP VIA THIS LIFT TO SECTOR
1 AND COLLECT THE PLUTONIUM RODS.
THEN GO BACK TO SECTOR 3. GET INTO THE JETPACK, COLLECT THE NAVIGATION
ROM AN GO DOWN QUICKLY TO THE ANCIENT SHRINE, SECTOR 1.

So it appears as though it's a deliberate trap!

The protection on Superior Software games was generic, so although it would've been possible to check back for specific values in specific memory locations, it's not something I've ever encountered...

edit: seems gfoot said much the same thing as I was finding / typing this up

[davidb]

It's not a bug. It's just that games of that vintage expected you to learn by trial and error.

You can also get trapped in the area with the jetpack if you go too far on foot.

[Lum]

Got another query on this one, regarding the repair droid.

I can get the first spanner (hidden in the ancient shrine) and the remote activator but walking up to the repair droid just produces a repeated beeping sound and does not repair the pipe.



I've also managed to get the second spanner from level of the missile factory, but there's no way to get back up as you don't have enough passes without having previously gotten the pack of passes from behind the repair droid, so the game must intend for you to do this first.



You can work around this by destroying the repair droid with a mine and get the extra lift passes that way. At this point it seems the second spanner becomes worthless as you can finish the game without it, but given that that leg has the only jetpack refueler in the game and you get just enough fuel to get the pass from the first floor of the missile factory before going there, they must have intended you to collect it. What is its purpose?

I'm also sure that on one run the repair droid did function properly, but I have no idea how I managed to get that to happen and have never been able to repeat it.

I'd really like to do the "official" route. Is there a bugfixed version or something out there, or have I missed something?

[gfoot]

You just need to walk to the droid first, then go back left and get the remote control. It is weird.

I think you do need to head down on the right lift first though and then come back to deal with the droid, for other reasons.

[gfoot]

I thought I'd have a play through to check I was remembering correctly, and I recorded a beebjit capture and video of the whole solution. It is full of spoilers, of course, but the droid bit is from 11:33 to 14:40 - note that I touch the droid first, then go back to collect the remote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=os75ETXSZ3w

Edit: I also just went back to see how much you can skip if you do just destroy the droid, and the answer is quite a bit. So long as you collect the first spanner, you can ignore the spring, the remote control, the second key, the locked-away jetpack, the second spanner, the fuel, and the lift passes that require the jetpack to reach them. It is a huge shortcut and you end the game with many lift passes and potentially batteries left over, so could figure out which ones of those are most awkward to collect along the way and leave them behind.

[Lum]

I thought I'd have a play through to check I was remembering correctly, and I recorded a beebjit capture and video of the whole solution. It is full of spoilers, of course, but the droid bit is from 11:33 to 14:40 - note that I touch the droid first, then go back to collect the remote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=os75ETXSZ3w

Edit: I also just went back to see how much you can skip if you do just destroy the droid, and the answer is quite a bit. So long as you collect the first spanner, you can ignore the spring, the remote control, the second key, the locked-away jetpack, the second spanner, the fuel, and the lift passes that require the jetpack to reach them. It is a huge shortcut and you end the game with many lift passes and potentially batteries left over, so could figure out which ones of those are most awkward to collect along the way and leave them behind.

You can skip the second lift pass in the Ancient Shrine level 1, and the last lift pass in the Missile Factory. You can also skip one other lift pass but I haven't figured out where yet.

Gonna do a speedrun attempt tomorrow I think. I have a rough route in mind

[gfoot]

Something else I noticed yesterday but couldn't reproduce - on some occasions the light in Crew's Quarters sector 2 did not need fixing. I'm not sure why. This was using BeebEm saved states, from a regular playthrough, I had probably collected the first spanner but not used it yet. However when playing through again from the start, without collecting the first spanner, the light was broken again and did need fixing. Weird.

If it could be possible to guarantee the light not being broken, you could skip the first spanner as well.

Edit: I think I figured this out - the light doesn't get reset when you restart the game, so if you've repaired the light in one game, and then restart the game, then it will already start repaired in your new game. I don't know whether glitching the game in an earlier playthrough is fair game for speedruns or not, but this allowed be to then complete the game without collecting either spanner. You'll always end with one spare lift pass because the crate after the droid contains six of them and you only need five from that point. I left behind quite a lot of energy cells, and nearly died as a result, but just made it through.

[Lum]

Oooh good work on the light reset bug, I'd been wondering about that myself. Guess we'll need to reboot between attempts to make it fair.

Another bug I've found is that after many attempts you eventually lose the ability to recharge your suit and blaster

Also I think I just found your speedrun on Youtube. Nicely done. Do you plan on making a speedrun.com page for this game and if not would you object to me making one and adding your run as the current any% WR?

[gfoot]

Interesting, I hadn't noticed issues with the recharging yet, but I restart the game between attempts in general.

And yes I did try a speedrun yesterday, but didn't get around to posting here yet: https://youtu.be/59Wz89piNGI I think there's plenty of room for improvement and look forward to seeing yours too! I don't know much about speedrunning, if you want to go ahead and create that page and post this there then please go ahead.

It also got me wondering what a 100% run would require - obviously collecting all items, but killing all enemies at least once? Hmm.

[Lum]

That's entirely up for debate and depends on what the community decides.

To my mind it would just involve doing all the official objectives, i.e. repairing the herbet droid and getting the second spanner. Might also want to categorise it as "glitchless" or "no major skips" rather than 100%

As for my run, I haven't actually made it to the end of a run without dying yet, so it may be a while.

[gfoot]

I just found your twitch streams, very entertaining, especially the lift bug!

I'm not sure if there's a disassembly already, but if not, I'm attempted to do one, and figure out what the point of the second spanner is, and whether mining the Herbert droid is actually intended to be a solution.

[Lum]

I just found your twitch streams, very entertaining, especially the lift bug!

Yeah I felt really stupid when I figured that out!

I'm not sure if there's a disassembly already, but if not, I'm attempted to do one, and figure out what the point of the second spanner is, and whether mining the Herbert droid is actually intended to be a solution.

I think if you repair the herbert droid, that uses up the spanner and then you need the second one for the lamp repair on the next floor.

Anyway, hate to say it but I just knocked 21 seconds off your run for a 12:10. There's definitely still room for improvement though as there's still a few mistakes in it. For now though I'm gonna take a break from this game, kinda sick of it after a week of running!

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1504695992

[gfoot]

Anyway, hate to say it but I just knocked 21 seconds off your run for a 12:10. There's definitely still room for improvement though as there's still a few mistakes in it. For now though I'm gonna take a break from this game, kinda sick of it after a week of running!

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1504695992

Nice one! I watched some of your vods earlier on, it's amazing how much more agile you've become with practice!

[Lum]

Anyway, hate to say it but I just knocked 21 seconds off your run for a 12:10. There's definitely still room for improvement though as there's still a few mistakes in it. For now though I'm gonna take a break from this game, kinda sick of it after a week of running!

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1504695992

Nice one! I watched some of your vods earlier on, it's amazing how much more agile you've become with practice!

Appreciate the views, and thank you. Just chucked you a subscribe on youtube too! There needs to be more BBC Micro gaming content on the internet

I haven't played this game since I was little. I definitely remember beating it back in the day and entering the contest where you have to describe the end screen, never heard back though. But for this I basically had to start from scratch it's been so damn long!

[Lum]

Finally got the page up (had to wait for admin approval to add a new game) and your run is on there too. Did you use an emulator or real hardware btw?

https://www.speedrun.com/codename_droid

[chrisn]

Excellent! I enjoyed your playthrough video I don't think I ever completed this game

[gfoot]

Finally got the page up (had to wait for admin approval to add a new game) and your run is on there too. Did you use an emulator or real hardware btw?

https://www.speedrun.com/codename_droid

I used an emulator (beebjit). It's a little easier on real hardware though, due to the location of the "fire" key!

I almost recorded a better time today, more similar to your time, but I ran out of health on the last level. I keep getting the timing wrong and having to waste energy cells!

[Lum]

I used an emulator (beebjit). It's a little easier on real hardware though, due to the location of the "fire" key!

Ahh, I'm using beebem, and remapping keys, since I have a very weird keyboard (Kinesis) so the stock layout is basically impossible

I almost recorded a better time today, more similar to your time, but I ran out of health on the last level. I keep getting the timing wrong and having to waste energy cells!

That last part is so hard on the health, you go so quick from warning to death. I just got lucky on that run, ended up with 0 health when getting the last battery.

I'm also trying to get opinions from speedrunners as to whether exploiting the light glitch on a previous run is valid. If it is then you can completely skip getting the spanner, and save a chunk of time.

[gfoot]

I used an emulator (beebjit). It's a little easier on real hardware though, due to the location of the "fire" key!

Ahh, I'm using beebem, and remapping keys, since I have a very weird keyboard (Kinesis) so the stock layout is basically impossible

The trouble with beebjit is that it maps the "star" key in the wrong place as well (to #, next to Enter) which is where the right-bracket (fire) key ought to be. Trying to get your fingers on the PC keyboard's question mark, hash, right-bracket, and enter keys is quite awkward! I often end up firing instead of going up, and missing ropes.

That last part is so hard on the health, you go so quick from warning to death. I just got lucky on that run, ended up with 0 health when getting the last battery.

I had another failed attempt this morning, mostly due to an incident in the Crew's Quarters sector 3, which is typically where I go wrong - the time taken on early battles is a bit unpredictable, meaning I'm never quite sure where the three guards are at the end. Even with a death on Missile Factory sector 3 though, I think it came in under 12 minutes including boot-up time... I just need to pull it all together!

I've also got some improved strategies for Surface Defense sector 2, Ancient Shrine sectors 1 and 2, and especially Missile Factory sector 1 - on that one, I have a way to get through without firing a single shot, without laying any mines, without taking any damage, and almost without having to wait for any guards! I'll upload a video of it later but thought I'd let you think about it first to avoid spoiling it!

Edit: Video uploaded: https://youtu.be/s9oYVwt7Nro

[Lum]

That's a really nice strategy. I may just have to steal it

I've been playing with the lamp glitch (and made a separate speedrun category for it), I reckon I can knock a minute off as you don't even need to collect the spanner now.

I also found this ridiculous strategy that only saves about 1 second, but looks really cool

[gfoot]

Nice trick!

I managed to pull most things together into a new 11:03 speedrun: https://youtu.be/wzgssjB0v4o There are some bad mistakes in there, but most things went well.

I also happened to spot this in my long form playthrough video, which I didn't think was possible:

Combined with your head-walking that could save time and energy.

Edit: Yes it's pretty easy to combine the two:

[Lum]

Holy heck. That's a nice run, gonna be tough to beat that!

Gonna pop it on the speedrun.com page when I get to my PC. Congrats on getting the world record back

[barbarossa69]

Only minor bugs maybe, but has anyone else noticed that if you're riding the Jet Pack and shooting Volgans, the Jet Pack blaster energy never seems to go down?

But also, if you repeatedly access the Jet Pack computer a few times, the fuel goes down much quicker than it should?

EDIT: I should mention I'm playing on BeebEm.