Spider

Thank you for the detailed explanation and the attached examples, allowing it to be seen "in action" as such.

As the original JSW (and MM) both keep some data in lower memory (contended memory to be exact) such as the attribute and screen buffer data, assuming one relocated this to uncontended memory, that being > 32768 would there be any noticeable speed increase in the game itself ? I'm only basing this on the assumption that contended memory might be slower, although with interrupts disabled I'm not sure. Sorry. I suspect any increase would not be noted, I do realise that the change to LDI vs LDIR would and does offer a bit of a boost though.

Sinclair Programs , March 1985 . This is actually my only surviving magazine (and its only half complete) from 'back then' . Posts in some FB groups about Spectrum charts over the years made me think about this, and bear in mind MM was released in 83 and JSW in 84 , and here we are a third of the way into 85 (a long time in computing!) and both JSW and MM still feature highly in the reader charts... EDIT... Yes this is a pic from the actual magazine rather than from an archive somewhere.

Thanks for the detail. 🙂 I was aware of most of what you'd said although I'm hugely appreciative of it being posted. Most 'used' versions of "JSW" for the CPC are actually JSW2, its when you look at the inlay you see this, as indicated. I did as you mention have a lot of trouble finding JSW1 for the CPC and yes it is only on the compilation , same Speedlock almost as the ZX version of this compilation. There's actually this single extracted tape file here, both 'as is' and a very slightly tweaked version I did of it (thank goodness its an early 'easy to break' Speedlock) 🙂 I did conclude but was not sure that the CPC version of JSW1 was never a stand alone release. Random thing: I did 'cut down' the ZX version of JSW2 to match the map of JSW1 although I never finished it, I think this was about 6 or 7 years ago now. Mainly to play JSW1 with the 'engine' of JSW2. EDIT... Here's mine 😉

You first 😉 Warehouse and/or Solar Power Generator Actually, if you can perfectly memorise the key timings it would be possible, ultimately that is really all (sort of) an .rzx is doing.

I've quoted just part of it, not because the rest is uninteresting, on the contrary it is very interesting however this does explain why (to me) JSW2 is slightly tricky to edit at least without some tools. I'm surprised Manic Miner used all of the memory even with the 64K unit, although I do not know anything about the CPC hardware other than it is probably a lot more powerful than it appears to be. I'm thinking along the lines here that certain screen modes may be 'eating' a portion of the available ram, rather than that having its own dedicated shadow ram. I do think there was enough detail and amusement in the released JSW2 , I do wonder what could of been added actually. In particular use of " [ " and " Banned " are funny. 🙂 I'm not sure what the missing '4 rooms' from the original were intended to be, I've heard a lot of things over the years, the most "popular" one was an expansion of the MegaTree, how true that may be is another matter. I'm not asking about that though really. Some of the exits may give clues perhaps.

Well, almost changed all of them. My memory fades a bit! 🙂 , map of it for the sake of completeness. Had I had it to hand at the time of my post the other day I'd of attached it then. I'll not go into the tricks in it because that is not relevant here to this topic.

If the above do not play, two .zips in .mp4 format are here: jsw2_tape_p1.zip jsw_tape2_p2.zip The 'disc' version tour may follow over the next few days. I was unable to climb one area after a few attempts so to avoid a huge video I left that out.

A tour of the mansion, in two videos! I did not visit it all although hopefully enough is shown. It should be noted to speed things up a little bit I did use an immunity cheat. The specifics of this are discussed elsewhere on this site as it is a source of confusion. There is no updated 2021 version of this, unlike JSW1 and ManicMiner however there are in effect two JSW2 versions (excluding any modified ones) of these: 1. A 'tape' version which was by many copied over to disc for convience 2. A 'disc' version The differences are large. Note: Only the 'tape' version is shown here in two individual 'tours' The tape version (which is also on disc but was never officially released as a disc) has a very cut down mansion, very few rooms are present from the original but there are a few new ones and some changes such as no 'Tree Root' , although most if not all of the Space Station and Planet areas are there, the exception here being 'secret passage' , this version is designed to run as one as the BBC graphics mode eat a fair chunk of memory leaving perhaps 20K or less for the game itself. Sprites are also limited in that less are defined likely due to memory constraints. The disc version is fully featured and closely mirrors the ZX version, it uses the disc to load in portions of the map as you play and/or will attempt to load it into 'sideways' memory if this exists. This feature does not work too well on emulation however on a real machine a few years back I'm sure it did. The layout is slightly different however most if not all of the ZX map is there, mansion too. As above, this is not shown here, only the 'cutdown' tape version. There is a lot of confusion about these versions, but that is essentially the difference. Should be noted I did not play too hard. I did run emulation at about x1.5 speed however the video may not play back at that. Please note that the sound out of sync is down to the emulator, the raw .avi also suffers with this sadly. Part One

If the above do not play, two .zips in .mp4 format are here: jsw_orig.zip jsw_new.zip

Although the specifics of this are discussed elsewhere on this site, A couple of short exploration video's of the original BBC Micro release by C.Robson and the updated 2021 version by T.Lobster, which he went to a fair bit of time and trouble to make it look and feel more "ZX Like" Should be noted I did not play too hard on these. I did run emulation at about x1.5 speed however the video may not play back at that. Please note that the sound out of sync is down to the emulator, the raw .avi also suffers with this sadly. The mansion does almost perfectly mirror the ZX version, a few sprites are different however the game is "all there" as such, complete with some of the quirks of the original. Original

If the above do not play, two .zips in .mp4 format are here: mm_orig.zip mm_new.zip

A couple of short video's of the original BBC Micro release by D.Coathupe and the updated 2021 version by T.Lobster. Should be noted I did not play too hard on these. I did run emulation at about x1.5 speed however the video may not play back at that. Please note that the sound out of sync is down to the emulator, the raw .avi also suffers with this sadly. Original

Specific to BBC version of JSW1 and 2 , I was aware of this a long time ago as there are some other differences however (as far as I'm aware) with the standard map layout these are the only versions where you can exit right from Generator back to Priest's Hole. In theory that could mean you could avoid climbing East Wall base, however in practise you'd need get the Front Door item and the conveyor you cannot jump bypass easily. Yes the game does start at 7pm and yes each item seems to count as 10 for some reason. At least in the version I tested. It is still an interesting quirk. Attached is a short < 3Mb video of this , both inline and as a .zip as some browers may not allow its playback. Note the sound does go out of sync unfortunately. This is an emulator issue I think rather than an raw .avi to .mp4 conversion concern as other emulators do not do this. back_forth.zip

I had noticed this but never to be 100% honest gave it a lot of thought as to why. A few backgrounds of the same room are different too, for instance "To the Kitchens , Main Stairway" is blue in JSW1 and black in JSW2. To be honest it looks better in black for that room. Indeed the mini (very mini) JSW I prepared for "Woot!" a few years back, I purposely changed the cell colours and brightness to match JSW2 in the appropriate rooms, including the minor variations in the cell designs. I don't know if its related in any way to the Amstrad version, I mean if it was ported over.

Thanks Danny 🙂 Always nice to get a short update on what you've added/amended to your site.

I view that with a strange mixture of horror and fascination at the same time. 🙂 , I say that in a positive context.

Thanks. 🙂 It was fun even though I did not participate in the later stages too much, just looking at the replies for the images was great.

I'm not sure why its not included in that. Perhaps when they update it as it was from 2012 they might include it. 🙂

That would include me! 🙂

It would be possible for the Sam quite easily, well relatively. Take a look at the Sam version of Manic Miner to see how it kept the original layout but with updated graphics: More info on the Sam version if you're interested can be found here The '81 version of JSW may have to be a very cut down one, possibly like the BBC version of JSW2 minus the 'Space' screens (the mansion is small on this variant, the tape based one anyway, there are two versions of JSW2 for this)

That is a good point, and something I had (somehow) overlooked. 🙂 However I'd expect a 'full run' to generate 28000 to 35000 typically. The idea of the extra life does make sense. I suppose it -is- possible that is after completion if say caverns were completed without too much air remaining (less bonus) and maybe not sending Kong to his doom twice. Hmm. 🙂

I did think (at one point) R.T did do graphic design too possibly for some other Software Project titles, as well as the actual 'drawings' but I do not think that matters if they did or not. 🙂

Looks good to me! 🙂 I do not see any immediate relevance in the scores however. They are not a div/mod of each other nor are they of any ZX particular value.

Welcome @Trolmite It is a good piece of coding to do that on the '81 I too like Danny am not aware of a version of JSW for this machine either sorry. Its similar in a way in that there is an Oric Atmos and Sam Coupe version of Manic Miner but neither of these platforms has JSW, and both are capable of doing it.