Repton 3 Redux Special Edition

[Rocketeer]

For **ALL** BBC machines with at least one bank of 16k swram.

On the disk image see files:-

readme - full instructions to get playing.
credits - various routines where they came from.
version - version history.
passwrd - passwords and edit codes for all the map files (note that the files are compressed so will not load into the editor,
you will have to use the original games, these uncompressed files can be loaded though).
licence - licence for the compression/decompression technology used and other information.

These are attached to this post and are available within your machine by changing to MODE 0, CTRL-N to scroll lock and then *TYPE <filename>.
Use the SHIFT key to page through the file.

[Cruxinc]

this is really cool!

[picosonic]

Wow, looks great.

Love the Repton appearing on the level animation, and the switching map characters with "Y".

Feels a lot smoother with less flickering.

[tnash]

Thanks so much for making this available for a wider set of machines ( including mine! ). Looking forward to playing it when I get back from hols.

[SteveF]

This is lovely! The scrolling is great and the "teleport" animation is a nice touch too.

[kenton]

Is bbcmicro dotcom part of stardot? Because the best thing that's ever happened to the Beeb retro scene is their one-click play-a-game. SSDs are thunderbolts-and-lightning especially if you need a custom build. Is there a one-click version of this?

Tangentially, I wanna get a version of Beebdroid that wraps bbcmicro dotcom and lets users custom-define keyboards for screens, that are then shared with others and voted on like reddit. If anyone feels like coding it, very happy to republish it to Play Store.

[barbarossa69]

It's really cool, it's so nice to have ALL the levels in the same place too

[leenew]

Is bbcmicro dotcom part of stardot? Because the best thing that's ever happened to the Beeb retro scene is their one-click play-a-game. SSDs are thunderbolts-and-lightning especially if you need a custom build. Is there a one-click version of this?

Tangentially, I wanna get a version of Beebdroid that wraps bbcmicro dotcom and lets users custom-define keyboards for screens, that are then shared with others and voted on like reddit. If anyone feels like coding it, very happy to republish it to Play Store.

Hi Kenton,
bbcmicro.co.uk is part of the Stardot family I suppose
I should be able to get this added to the site later.
I like the idea of beebdroid having access to all of the games in a seamless way.... Sounds cool to me!

Lee.

[KenLowe]

Brilliant. Love it. .

Now just need to find a way to run this from my Econet FS .

Edit: Well, just copying the files over to a directory on my PiFS wasn't enough to get it working. I just get a blank screen when I *EXEC !BOOT or */repton1. It doesn't get as far as the loading screen. ADFS fails in the same way . Need to investigate a bit further. I'm guessing it might be workspace related.

[leenew]

The game has been added to the Repton family on bbcmicro.co.uk http://www.bbcmicro.co.uk/index.php?sea ... on&on_Z=on

Thanks to Michael Brown for his quick work

Lee.

[Rocketeer]

The game has been added to the Repton family on bbcmicro.co.uk http://www.bbcmicro.co.uk/index.php?sea ... on&on_Z=on

Thanks to Michael Brown for his quick work

Lee.

Excellent, thanks for that.

[Rhythmbox]

Proper job! My model B salutes you

[TobyLobster]

Really nice improvements here, it plays so well!

[tnash]

It's so smooth! However on my beeb I can't persuade it to load any levels apart from the default level 1. I'm using an SD card reader/mmfs which I'm guessing is the reason (ala white light) Is there anything I can do to make it work?

Specs if useful :BBC B issue 7. MMFS 1.50. Pitubedirect plugged in but set to no copro. 32k boobip swram. 128k boobip flash rom.

[bteamfox]

A big thank you for doing this. It's so fantastic to see people taking the time to improve bbc games or writing new games. I wish I had the skills to do this but I do not, hence I appreciate all your work on this program.

Thanks so much!

[aidanthegasman]

Absolutely magnificent work. It's delightful to see these magnificent games still getting love. It's like a digital version of the Repair Shop!
I spent hours upon hours playing Repton 3 BITD, but also editing the maps and sprites.
Playing on the old CRT televisions, I didn't realise Repton is supposed to have a mouth. I always thought he just had the eyes because I couldn't see his mouth. (I still kind of think he looks better without the mouth!). I only discovered his mouth when editing his sprites in enormous size in the editor.

[Rhys]

Thanks muchly and well done!
You got rid of the skull glitch, which removes at least one avenue for cheating ... but you've also managed to address the fungus glitch on Toccata level E (MAJESTY) so that makes Toccata completable without passwords for the first time! Which also makes it the first time I've completed Repton 3 without save states!

Incidentally, is there a competition for first to complete? The completion numbers seem to be the same as the original version, but I could DM the completions screens ...

[Diminished]

the fungus glitch on Toccata level E (MAJESTY) so that makes Toccata completable without passwords for the first time!

This issue has come up before, and is actually more complicated than this. To spoil the outcome, it turns out that there were two releases of retail Repton 3, the second of which had the fungus bug fixed. This bug-fixed version of the R3 engine was the one that was subsequently used for the expansion packs.

You might be interested in reading the research I did on this issue in this thread.

[Rocketeer]

Incidentally, is there a competition for first to complete? The completion numbers seem to be the same as the original version, but I could DM the completions screens ...

The pleasure is to play - no prizes unfortunately. Good to hear that it plays through from start to finish okay, you never know if new bugs have been introduced!

[!FOZ!]

Brilliant. Love it. .

Now just need to find a way to run this from my Econet FS .

Edit: Well, just copying the files over to a directory on my PiFS wasn't enough to get it working. I just get a blank screen when I *EXEC !BOOT or */repton1. It doesn't get as far as the loading screen. ADFS fails in the same way . Need to investigate a bit further. I'm guessing it might be workspace related.

FWIW, I get the same on ADFS E00 as well.

[!FOZ!]

Update on my sadly failed attempt at 'poking' around get this running on MMFS (v2 in my case). Still documented my process in case it might be useful input for others. https://github.com/hoglet67/MMFS/issues ... 1865249760

[tricky]

Update on my sadly failed attempt at 'poking' around get this running on MMFS (v2 in my case). Still documented my process in case it might be useful input for others. https://github.com/hoglet67/MMFS/issues ... 1865249760

Sorry, not at my beeb, does it work fine on mmfs?

[KenLowe]

Sorry, not at my beeb, does it work fine on mmfs?

No, I don't think it does:

I suspect the problem is the game writing to the user port as it tries to detect sideways RAM. This causing junk to get sent to the SD Card which seems to then stop it responding.

Specifically, I caught it doing these writes

Code: Select all

00.002198 : Mem Wr Watch hit at DA50 writing FE63:FF  .
00.004307 : Mem Wr Watch hit at DA71 writing FE6E:7F  .
00.004322 : Mem Wr Watch hit at DA71 writing FE6D:7F  .
00.004365 : Mem Wr Watch hit at DA94 writing FE6C:0E  .
05.311545 : Mem Wr Watch hit at 0BFF writing FE60:0E  .
05.311593 : Mem Wr Watch hit at 0BFF writing FE60:0D  .
05.311679 : Mem Wr Watch hit at 0BFF writing FE60:0C  .
05.311765 : Mem Wr Watch hit at 0BFF writing FE60:0B  .
05.311813 : Mem Wr Watch hit at 0BFF writing FE60:0A  .
05.311861 : Mem Wr Watch hit at 0BFF writing FE60:09  .
05.311909 : Mem Wr Watch hit at 0BFF writing FE60:08  .
05.311957 : Mem Wr Watch hit at 0BFF writing FE60:07  .
07.320035 : Mem Wr Watch hit at 0C9A writing FE60:07  .
07.375542 : Mem Wr Watch hit at 22C2 writing FE6B:40  @
07.375548 : Mem Wr Watch hit at 22C7 writing FE64:88  .
07.375554 : Mem Wr Watch hit at 22CC writing FE65:13  .
07.375560 : Mem Wr Watch hit at 22D1 writing FE6E:C0  .
07.406904 : Mem Wr Watch hit at 2304 writing FE6B:00  .
07.415420 : Mem Wr Watch hit at 22C2 writing FE6B:40  @
07.415426 : Mem Wr Watch hit at 22C7 writing FE64:88  .
07.415432 : Mem Wr Watch hit at 22CC writing FE65:13  .
07.415438 : Mem Wr Watch hit at 22D1 writing FE6E:C0  .
07.446764 : Mem Wr Watch hit at 2304 writing FE6B:00  .
...

The problematic writes are I think those to &FE60.

I've just tested it on my Master, where MMFS uses a second user port adapter plugged into the Econet headers (at &FEAx). This works fine, and I was able to load the AFRICA map. If I then switch to a version of MMFS that uses the standard user port, then it hangs.

That supports hypothesis that it's the sideways RAM detection code writing to the standard user port that's the issue.

I can't think of a quick fix for this, other than patching the game.

[tnash]

If it is the swram detection, I did wonder how easy would it be to prompt the user for their ram bank and flavour of swram, and bypass the autodetect code?

[tnash]

For info, Matthew did send me a version without the FE60 writes however it still locked up at the same point.
I'm happy to test any potential solutions btw if that helps anyone.

[!FOZ!]

If it is the swram detection, I did wonder how easy would it be to prompt the user for their ram bank and flavour of swram, and bypass the autodetect code?

I am less sure it’s the swram detection tbh and more simply a clash of workspace, zero page etc. That said, I do by now have a good idea of what’s going on in repton1 and could replace the sram detection with a poke and eventual prompt.

What puzzles me a bit is it’s said to run fine on MMFS on a Master with the alternate user port addresss. It’s possible I missed a poke so I will take another look to check.

Oh… just seen that Matt sent a fe60 free version - I guess that closes out this as the cause and more likely workspace. I did also try the E00 based version btw, still no joy, so perhaps zero page clash?

[Rhys]

Further to my previous post; I have now completed all of Repton 3 Redux scenarios / levels (3, 40, Life & Time)
So can confirm that it all works (including Level H - Now).
Again well done creators of - a great job!
Good times

[Rocketeer]

Further to my previous post; I have now completed all of Repton 3 Redux scenarios / levels (3, 40, Life & Time)
So can confirm that it all works (including Level H - Now).
Again well done creators of - a great job!
Good times

Thank you for the confirmation, much appreciated.

[Rhys]

One bit of feedback / comment. The monsters can now no longer inhabit the same space, which makes a couple of levels (most notably Egypt G and OAP G) harder to complete. Harder, but not, as it turns out, impossible

[!FOZ!]

Brilliant. Love it. .

Now just need to find a way to run this from my Econet FS .

Edit: Well, just copying the files over to a directory on my PiFS wasn't enough to get it working. I just get a blank screen when I *EXEC !BOOT or */repton1. It doesn't get as far as the loading screen. ADFS fails in the same way . Need to investigate a bit further. I'm guessing it might be workspace related.

It’s because it’s running *DRIVE 0 and *DIR$. I successfully patched my repton2 file and it now runs from my ADFS HD. The first poke is 7 spaces, the second poke is 4 spaces. This may work now on MMFS or even Econet FS for the same reasons, but I have not been able to test.

Code: Select all

*LOAD repton2
$&2670=“       “
$&2677=“    “
*SAVE repton2 1200 +4600 1200