People are still making stuff for the Sinclair related machines. Tell us about new games and other software that runs on the Spectrum, ZX80/ZX81, Pentagon and Next.
flatduckrecords wrote: ↑Sun Dec 20, 2020 11:29 pm
Yes - I've just loaded sucessfully on my +2A (issue 1, Z70833) from the .tap file using a TZXDuino (I've modded the audio socket to accept input). I played for a few moments and it seems fine! I've not been able to load it via Spectranet (it got stuck on the initial "Program: DIZZY-8" loading message) but I will try again. Loads fine from DivMMC.
Great, thanks. I shall investigate the Spectranet tape loading in more detail then.
Just for more data though, has your motherboard got the clock signal modification? (bunch of wire soldered to a logic chip)
It's funny that I get further on the Spectranet, it goes past the two loading screens and starts trying to display the credits. Sometimes it crashes instantly but other times there's a second or two of trying to display the wobbly writing which is horribly scrambled, and then crashes
[mention]Guesser[/mention] No, I don't have the clock signal modification, but there is something (faulty) in the +2 preventing Spectranet from working correctly (maybe a bad M1 line or something? I ought to post about it over in the hardware forum in more detail!). Anyway, I've just tried with the Spectranet attached to a different spectrum (128K) and that loads the game just fine - had to use e.g.
Ralf wrote: ↑Sun Dec 20, 2020 1:49 pm
The graphics are great! So colourful, so many cdifferent oulor combinations that I would probably
never know to use myself right. Marvellous job [mention]moroz1999[/mention]
The engine works very well too. Everything moves very smoothly. A little nice touch are objects in
the front of hero.
I agree, a real work of art and engineering! (Appropriate too, given The Wizard of Oz and its role in popularising Technicolor movies!) I espectially love how rich the animations are. Wonderful indeed!
First up, let me say a huge thank you to everyone involved in this excellent Dizzy game. It really is wonderful, and I thoroughly enjoyed playing it. In particular I was pleased that there were no brutal platforming bits, just a few little challenges that were easy to master.
The reason for my post is a bug in the game that led to me wasting many hours, and ultimately having to play the whole game again. The problem is that I have no idea how to reproduce it or what went wrong. It involves the coins, and the fact that I had 98 of them and couldn't find the 99th. "Oh", you all cry, "I know where the last one is". The problem is, it wasn't "that" one - the typical one most people don't find because it's a bit off the beaten track (I'm trying to not spoil anything here for people still playing). I had already got that one, and was pleased with myself for finding it.
So I literally explored every screen in depth, pressing fire on bits of scenery in case there was a coin hidden behind something (ala Treasure Island Dizzy), and trying to find secret passages off any direction I could jump at - but nothing. I even tried using the one leftover object (that I discovered later has no use) everywhere I could think of. After many hours I declared myself beaten, as I knew that I had been extremely thorough. So I humbled myself and watched a walkthrough on YouTube.
Watching the walkthrough (which took over an hour in itself!) I was astonished to find that they did everything I had done. There wasn't a single that I hadn't done, no coin I hadn't already got. I was expecting a hidden room, or a coin hidden behind a bit of scenery, but no - it was identical except for the fact that they ended up with 99 coins not 98.
So I did the only thing I could. I started the game from scratch and did everything again, but this time I ended up with 99 coins and could complete the game. The only thing I can conclude was that during my first playthough I picked up a coin and somehow it didn't credit me.
The only reason I have posted this is to maybe help anyone else who has found themselves in the same boat. I have no idea how rare this bug might be, but as many people have completed the game without incident (myself included, second time around!), it is obviously not that common.
I can provide evidence of this bug if needed as I have a save state at 98 coins, yet every puzzle (bar the one needing 99 coins!) is done and I guarantee no coin is left on the map. This is from FUSE running via RetroArch. If anyone wants this to check for themselves them please feel free to PM me and I will send them the file.
[mention]Mousey[/mention], have you grabbed every coin as soon as you've seen it or deliberately left some to collect later? The one possibility of coin disappearing i can think of is when you leave a coin after getting Tinker's reward and then get another reward from him appearing in the same place.
Lethargeek wrote: ↑Wed Dec 23, 2020 1:49 pm
@Mousey, have you grabbed every coin as soon as you've seen it or deliberately left some to collect later? The one possibility of coin disappearing i can think of is when you leave a coin after getting Tinker's reward and then get another reward from him appearing in the same place.
I remember that this happened to me with the last two riddles, and I collected two coins in fact.
Lethargeek wrote: ↑Wed Dec 23, 2020 1:49 pm
@Mousey, have you grabbed every coin as soon as you've seen it or deliberately left some to collect later? The one possibility of coin disappearing i can think of is when you leave a coin after getting Tinker's reward and then get another reward from him appearing in the same place.
I think you might have cracked it Lethargeek. In my first playthrough I remember that I did redeem two items in a row with Tinker. I redeemed one and then spoke to him immediately (before I got the coin) to see what he was next after and it turned out that I was holding the item he wanted, so redeemed that as well. Whereas with my second playthrough I got each coin as I saw it deliberately to watch the counter going up.
I may well deliberately try to reproduce this later as it's fairly straightforward to get to that point.
But in the meantime thank you so much Lethargeek - even if it turns out that isn't the answer (but I suspect it is) I really appreciate you taking the time to read through my (long!) post and think of how it might have happened.
Thanks for the bug report, there clearly is a bug which reproduces rarely, but 3-4 times already for different people. It would be really great if somebody would be able to find how to reproduce it.
As far as I know, tinker should not be the reason - Evgeniy has said that there is a check in code for such situation, but it's worth rechecking.
moroz1999 wrote: ↑Wed Dec 23, 2020 3:48 pm
Thanks for the bug report, there clearly is a bug which reproduces rarely, but 3-4 times already for different people. It would be really great if somebody would be able to find how to reproduce it.
As far as I know, tinker should not be the reason - Evgeniy has said that there is a check in code for such situation, but it's worth rechecking.
Unfortunately you are right. I played through it again to the point where I had three items that Tinker wanted. I tried all combinations - giving all 3 in a row, giving 2 and then collecting a coin before giving the last one, and so on. Every variation worked perfectly.
The only difference is that if a coin is on screen when you give Tinker an item, you get the coin credited to you instantly rather than having to go and pick it up (they don't stack).
It's good to know I'm not the only one that came across this, but I wish I knew how to reproduce it.
*Corrected spelling typos. (thx Lethargeek)
*Fixed softlock when jumping next to a witch. (thx Yuri Utiansky)
*Fixed softlock with the inventory in the house when Pogie is absent. (thx Yuri Utiansky)
*Fixed flickering of items when attacking a dragon. (thx Yuri Utiansky)
*Fixed logic with the need to help all friends in the final of the game. (thx Yuri Utiansky)
*Removed foreground artifacts in the forest. (thx Yuri Utiansky)
*Fixed the logic when interacting with the scarecrow. (thx Yuri Utiansky)
*Removed the overlay of the coin on the magic wand. (thx Yuri Utiansky)
*A small code optimization.
Luzie wrote: ↑Mon Aug 30, 2021 6:15 pm
Download is named "Dizzy-VIII-Wonderful-Dizzy-2020-v1.3.1.zip"?!
Here is the correct download link (from the home page, click on "Click here for more information", then on the "Downloads/Spectrum 128K ROM (.tap) button).
