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Thanks for the file, Andy! 🙂 It does run visibly faster than the original.* * One thing that has always puzzled me is why some people are so excited about speeding MM and JSW up (there have been various attempts to do it, some admittedly very successful), while others complain that these (and many newly created MM/JSW) games are so difficult. It seems to be a contradiction. If you take a difficult game (where manual dexterity is involved) and make it run faster, it will be even more difficult. So anyone who thinks these games are difficult (and they are, *unless* you use Rollback, for example), should be thinking of slowing them down rather than speeding them up. That's what I think would be logical, at least...

Thanks, Gary! 👍 Could you give us the link to where Erix1's site is preserved though? I'm aware of this page, but it doesn't look like a whole site of his. One obvious thing I could link to from JSW Central would be his (preserved) home pages of "Manic Miner Mythologies: Eugene - Lord of the Bathroom" and "Maria vs. Some Bastards".

Hi Spider, Many thanks I have found the videos. Do you know if it still OK to convert the game for the Spectrum? I have already started on the first level.

Just been playing this, through to Attack of the Mutant Telephones on my first go, very smooth and playable, thanks Andy!

We have gone over 16,000 posts on the forum today, 25th April 2024! 😁 You can't see it on the main page with this new version of the software (because it only shows a rounded-up number), but we have been tracking it on the admins' side and it's just happened. A big thank you to everyone who keeps the forum going! 🙂

There are videos here of those caverns too. The 'full' game itself is denied (afaik) however there are a few variants, some don't have the extra caverns and some do, plus the freebie 'demo' one that only contains a couple of caverns. The actual 'layout' is very similar in the code itself.

Hi Spider, I have found this video "SAM Coupé Longplay - Manic Miner - The Deeper Caverns" it looks very interesting and yes I would need a workaround for the trampolines or vacuum descents. All the best

Yes no issues. The initial problems I thought about were the extra features aka trampolines or like "vacuum decent" but it would be possible to work around those.

Hello Gawp. I have asked about Mac editors previously, I do have a pc, but tend to use my macbook more these for most things, so a Mac editor would be really good. In truth I have not looked that hard, it may be that someone has compiled JSWED for Mac and it is currently on github or the like, have you had a good look for it? EDIT: this looks interesting? https://github.com/muckypaws/Manic-Miner-Engine

Hi Spider, Many thanks, this is the first time that I have tried to do something like this so it's great to get some feedback 👍 If it is OK with you I will have a look for the Sam Coupe version and maybe give that a go at converting it ❗ ❗ All the best, B

Thank you. That's impressive. 🙂 I did look closely at the other two level sets for the Sam Coupe with a thought to porting those over, as in either one "40 cavern" game or perhaps two separate ones but it is still very much on the back-burner.

After watching Manic Miner Ports by RetroGamerDiaries I wondered if it would be possible to convert these levels back into the original Spectrum format. The levels are from the Oric-1, Dragon 32, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro and the Gameboy Advance releases and tries to replicate them as close as the original 48K game mechanic allows. Here is the screen from the Dragon 32 against the Spectrum conversion, one of the limitations is that the level Guards all need to be the same sprite, so they are all Penguins. Here is the screen from the Gameboy Advance against the Spectrum conversion, the level Guards can’t move over other objects, so the Seal is above the conveyor. The Space Shuttle level from the Oric-1 uses the lever to remove a section of wall and The Meteor Storm level from the BBC Micro has a beam effect that I wasn't able to replicate. As with the original version there are only 20 levels, but apart from that all the gameplay is identical to the original. As far as I have tested the usual pokes and the 6031769 boot will work. This is the gameplay order and where all the levels came from. Level Title System Level 01 Not Central Cavern Oric-1 Level 28 02 The Dragon Users Bonus Dragon 32 Level 21 03 The End Of The World Oric-1 Level 22 04 Flunky Punky Munkie Gameboy Advance Level 1 05 The Catacombs Gameboy Advance Level 4 06 Mummy Daddy Gameboy Advance Level 7 07 Nightmare Before Last Night Gameboy Advance Level 10 08 Helium House on the Highlands Gameboy Advance Level 13 09 Metropolis Bingo Gameboy Advance Level 16 10 Eugene’s Other Lair Gameboy Advance Level 19 11 Tokyo Uh Oh Gameboy Advance Level 22 12 Jester Under the Bed Gameboy Advance Level 25 13 Clockwork Satsuma Gameboy Advance Level 28 14 The Space Shuttle Oric-1 Level 23 15 The End Dragon 32 Level 22 16 The Meteor Storm BBC Micro Level 19 17 The Channel Tunnel Oric-1 Level 27 18 At The Centre Of The Earth Oric-1 Level 21 19 The Final BBC Barrier BBC Micro Level 20 20 This, folks, is the Last Cavern Amstrad CPC Level 20 While making The Lost Levels I found out that there was a port for the Nintendo DS that includes all the Oric-1 levels that I hadn’t converted along with some of the ones that I have already done (typical) but missing most of the Gameboy Advance versions. So there are 2 versions, it’s a compromise. This follows the DS level order the levels that are missing from my first attempt are highlighted. Level Title System Level 01 Home at Last? Oric-1 Level 17 02 The Airlock Oric-1 Level 24 03 The End of the World Oric-1 Level 22 04 The Hall of the Mountain Kong Oric-1 Level 20 05 Back to Work Oric-1 Level 18 06 The Dragon Users Bonus Dragon 32 Level 21 07 Not Central Cavern Oric-1 Level 28 08 Down the Pit Oric-1 Level 19 09 Metropolis Bingo Gameboy Advance Level 16 10 At The Centre Of The Earth Oric-1 Level 21 11 Eddie’s Forest Nintendo DS Level 11 12 In a Deep Dark Hole Oric-1 Level 26 13 The Channel Tunnel Oric-1 Level 27 14 Tokyo Uh Oh Gameboy Advance Level 22 15 The Space Shuttle Oric-1 Level 23 16 Where's the Hyperspace Button? Oric-1 Level 25 17 The Meteor Storm BBC Micro Level 19 18 The End Dragon 32 Level 22 19 The Final BBC Barrier BBC Micro Level 20 20 This, folks, is the Last Cavern Amstrad CPC Level 20 Both versions are intended to give the experience of what these versions could have been like if they had been coded for the spectrum and try to follow the originals as closely as possible. This is my first attempt at something like this and there are some things and people to mention. This version was made using the JSWED v2.3.7 by John Elliott, and a big thanks to John for his support with some of the questions that I had when first using the editor. The loading Screen was created in Multipaint by Tero Heikkinen. All the levels were tested on original hardware from Cassette and 3” Disk as well as the ZX Spin v 0.666 and ZXBaremulator version 3.2 emulators. The .tap and .tzx files were assembled in BASin release 14b. Labels for Cassette and Disk were created in LibreOffice Impress. One Final Credit: A big thanks to Daniel Gromann at JSW Central for testing all the levels, all the advice about the gameplay. It would not be possible without his support. For me this was just a bit of tinkering to just see if it was possible and It was a great learning experience putting these levels together. I’m thrilled to see it made available to anyone that wants to give it a go. All the best, Byron Lost Levels DS.zip Lost Levels.zip

That's good news for me playing wise - though it may impact my creating time haha 😄 I'm looking forward to playing these Great to see some of the old crew is active, and as you say many more besides! As a side note, you have probably already noticed, Erix1's old Manic Miner Tech site was saved in the JSW remakes site. Vidar gave full permission for that so I'm sure he won't have an objection if you use it or link to it on JSW central. There's some good stuff in there.

Thank you all - I'll look into the options. Appreciate the pointers 🙂

Hi Daniel (or do you prefer Danny?), Excellent digging there - I did find the files, but can't see them yet until I either get the Emu/Editor for mac // my old windows laptop working. (It feels like getting the Windows laptop working will be easier). You're quite right - my memory was fuzzy! (it is is 20+ years) - for The MC Utility Cubicles, and I had added quite a lot to it. I can't recall exactly how much was added since to Phantasmagoria separately, but I will check. If you manage to get the MC going again at some point I'm happy to contribute what I done already. I'll confirm what I have used for Phantasmagoria, and if that's still worth working on. I'll be trying to finish Voyager first, so I'm happy to go with the flow on the mass collab. Either way I'll let you know when I get the files working. And I'll definitely be up for you play testing Voyager 🙂 So to summarise: Get laptop, make it work... Voyager - Top priority - I will finish this! Phantasmagoria - I will see how much extra was done, and decide to either carry on or leave it for the MassCollab. UC Mass Collaboration - either keep what I did, or give something new if Phantasmagoria is a go-er. Ants Invasion - I remember planning it and starting some rooms, so will evaluate when I see it. King Willy - was just an idea, nothing created. I'll finish the other stuff first and see if I still fancy it. I've never done a Manic Miner game, so... 😉 - Gary

MM_SP_Faster.tap The above 'test file' ( while I learned, thank you N.S! 🙂 ) has the following changes (excluding cosmetics like loading picture and slightly altered piano on title screen) The main change is to the four main copy routines which originally used LDIR in the main loop are now replaced with a routine using a number of LDI's resulting in an increase in speed. These copy routines being: Copy master attributes to attribute buffer , 512 bytes Copy master screen pixels to screen buffer , 4096 bytes Copy pixels from screen buffer to real screen , 4096 bytes Copy attributes from attribute buffer to real screen , 512 bytes The relative increase in speed is quite noticeable. 🙂 The only other changes were three small insignificant ones: Willy faces the correct way upon entry on each cavern The highscore is preset to 010000 instead of 000000 Amoebatron's Revenge conveyor is alive. These are something I'd automatically do anyway, probably.

Could you provide the code you are referring to? I mean what exactly needs to be modified and how.

I think @Richard Hallas uses a Mac, so he may have some experience in this regard?

Must say even with one small change to how the four main copy routines are done in the main loop, the relative speed increase is quite impressive all in all. JSW did not quite seem "as fast" doing the same however it did make a large difference still.

(in no particular order) Sendy is back and her long-lost "Jet Set Willy: Role Reversal" and "Manic Person" have been finally gamma-released (with some input from yours truly). Furthermore, she has created "Strangel 2"! It's in a beta stage, I would say. I had the privilege of playtesting it, it's an amazing game. It still needs some finishing touches before the official release, but it's really another demonstration of Sendy's genius as a JSW author 🙂 . Adban de Corcy (Fabián Álvarez López) was active on the forum a couple of years ago. He worked on "Jet Set Jason: In Roddënwald" and developed it much further, but it's not ready for release yet and I don't think he has worked on it recently. I do hope he will complete the project one day, though. Geoff Eddy is a member. He released a very nice new game "Willy does the Great Pyramid!" back in 2021. Richard Hallas posts on the forum from time to time as well as on the "Central Cavern - The Wonderful World of Willy" Facebook group. Andrew Broad was active here in the past, but hasn't been seen for some time now. John Elliott is a member and, hopefully, reads the posts from time to time. He hasn't posted for a while though. Igor Makovsky is a "double member", but hasn't posted here yet. Vidar Eriksen (Erix1) has joined the forum, but unfortunately his presence was only momentary (he contributed 4 posts). The Drunken Master!!! is active on WoS, not here. I don't believe Stuart Hill has joined this forum, but he has commented on "Monstrum" on the JSW Central YouTube channel (revealing interesting info about the ending). That's a quick overview. I may have missed some people (sorry about this!), this "old-timers" list is not necessarily exhaustive. And there are some wonderful people here who were not active in the Yahoo! Group days but have done A LOT for JSW and MM in the last decade - I'm sure you will be pleased to e-meet them 🙂 .

Gary, Thank you so much for your official approval for the fixed WCH file - it's greatly appreciated! 👍 I will add this info to the Readme and to the game's page on JSW Central soon (within a couple of days). Thank you also for your permission to use stuff from your website 🙂 (which continues to be a reference point for me from time to time when checking some things related to the games from that period or earlier times). Regarding the JSW128 "Mass Collaboration" (MC) based on Utility Cubicles - I do intend to move this project forward at some point and bring it to completion. Sendy (who was its original coordinator) gave me permission to do it some years back on the Yahoo! Group; she may be involved as well, as the came back to the scene last year. There is also a person here at this forum (Jet Set Willie) who has already contributed some rooms to be included in the final version of MC. However, before the project is relaunched, there are some things that need to be done to get the file ready for a renewed circulation among authors, and in my current real-life circumstances it looks like I may not be able to find enough time to do it for quite a while. So the project is on the backburner as far as I'm concerned, really, but I do want to come back to it one day when circumstances permit (even if it is a few years from now). I do recall you estimated "Voyager" to be around 60-70% done. This is great and it would definitely be fantastic if you completed it, given that so much work has gone into it already 🙂 . I've checked your posts on the (now sadly offline) Yahoo! Group and here are the references you made to your unfinished games (apparently there was also one named "King Willy"): Wed Mar 13, 2002 sendy wrote: > gawp, what happened to your game? is it still going?! If you mean JSW - Voyager, yes. I found (most of) it on an old disc, so I'm on it again. I may put up a pre-beta demo for feedback? I've also started a new JSW game called 'Ants Invasion'. Will gets 'shrunk' to ant-size and has to escape from an ant-hill. It'll be better than it sounds... Wed Sep 4, 2002 (...) Voyager is coming on nicely (about 100 rooms now) and will be released at some point. Ants Invasion is mapped out on paper, with only about 15 rooms done. A lot of work there. King Willy is still in the design stage. I may do that one on the PC editor. Wed Apr 28, 2004 I'll upload more stuff soon. I'll put up a rough guide to areas in Voyager ASAP so people have a rough idea what's out there. I've also been working on 2 other JSW games. "Ants Invasion" and "Phantasmagoria" (the 2nd one uses some of the abandoned rooms from the UC MassCollab). But Voyager is the priority at the moment. I really want to get it done, as it's been too long in the making. Wed May 19, 2004 8:36 pm I've put a few preview pics up for "Voyager" and "Phantasmagoria" in the photos section under the 'gawp' folder. I've done about 40 screens for Phantasmagoria now... So how is "Phantasmagoria" exactly related to the original "MC"? You've mentioned that it uses "some of the abandoned rooms" from it. "Abandoned" meaning ones you designed for "MC" but then decided not to include in that project? I look forward to all and any projects you may choose to continue 🙂 . I've replied here.

I don't ever use Macs, so I don't know. However, I can share some info about running JSWED on a Mac. Igor Makovsky asked about it recently. The conversation is in the comments under the video here, starting with Igor's comment "Game author here. It was a dedication to my lovely SO, btw". As mentioned there, I reached out to John Elliott, JSWED's author, of course, to see if he can help. He got back to me and said that he hadn't tried to build JSWED on a Mac. He said it would be necessary to install the software development tools, download the source for JSWED and the libraries it uses, and compile it. Alternatively, it might be worth trying to run the Windows version under emulation, if the Mac has a suitable Windows virtual machine or emulator installed. John currently doesn't have access to a recent Mac, so he can't really offer detailed advice for this.

Thank you again 😄

Welcome back 😄

I'm not sure having not owned a Mac for a long long long time (PowerPC 6100!) running System7 😮 😄 Do newer versions of the OS not have "Wine" (or similar tool) which lets you run some Windows programs ? Wine is for Linux but I've not really tried it much to see how good it is. I'd not recommend trying a virtual machine inside the Mac as it may run so slowly and be quite annoying.