Jet Set Willy: Role Reversal release imminent

[erix1]

19 hours ago, jetsetdanny said:

Erix1, welcome to the forum! 🙂 It's really great that you have joined it! 😁

Thank you for your outstanding contributions to the MM/JSW scene! "Manic Miner Mythologies: Eugene - Lord of the Bathroom" and "Maria vs. Some Bastards" are truly amazing games!

1.

Regarding the former, while re-recording it to make a JSW Central YouTube video very recently, I realised it has a problem in that the title screen is displayed only for a split second and then the game starts immediately, as if ENTER has been pressed. I believe your intention was to display the title screen 'normally', as it says on the title screen "PRESS ENTER TO START", so the program is supposed to wait for the player to press ENTER before proceeding to start the gameplay.

In my video linked above I actually stopped the start of the game "artificially" to allow the viewers to appreciate your title screen.

The question arises though: would you consider releasing a fixed version where the game would not launch 'automatically', but allow the player to savour the title screen?

2.

Regarding the latter, I trust you are aware that back in 2019 this forum's team (with the leading role of Ian Rushforth - IRF), frustrated at the prolonged impossibility to complete "MVSB", released a bug-fixed, completable version of your beautiful game. We did try to contact you back then to ask for your 'blessing' for the project, but were not successful. So I would like to kindly ask you now to confirm you are fine with this release. It was a labour of love, a lot of effort went into analysing the game and coming up with solutions that would not distort the original Rev. E in any way or take away from it, only add to it. It was also a delight to record it for the JSW Central YouTube channel.

If you could "officially" approve of this effort, it would be greatly appreciated!

Finally, I will second Sendy's request for releasing Hackulator if you still have it. This would give people a chance to create more Erix1-mode JSW games! 🙂 

Sorry Danny, I replied using the wrong input-field. I'm obviously not a very talented forum-poster. (See reply in post above)

Edited March 12, 2023 by erix1

[Jet Set Willie]

This roles reversed project just got a new twist as Erix1 appeared from nowhere. 😶

Welcome Erix1! 🙂

Sendy, my loading screen$ is not ready yet. It´s a slow job, I am using ZX Paintbrush (have forgotten most how to use it) and drawing it pixel by pixel with laptop´s user-unfriendly built-in mouse. At yesterday, I arranged time to draw a bit more to it.

[Sendy The Endless]

Jet Set Willie, it's cool, it sounds like you're going through a lot of trouble to make this screen for me and I already have two of them now. I'd still like to see what you've made but please bear in mind, the game is already released. I will include your screen on the tape file of the Special Edition if that ever happens (which it probably will at some point) but can't promise any more for your hard work. So please proceed based on your own will to continue, and thanks for your efforts!

[Spider]

Welcome here Erix1, glad to have you "on board" , or should I say "inside the mansion" 🙂

[jetsetdanny]

5 hours ago, erix1 said:

2. Yes, I'm aware of the bug-fixed, completable version of MVSB (I saw the award ceremony from Manchester play expo 2019 with Matthew Smith and all… Made me giggle like a Japanese schoolgirl). I think you did a wonderful job – treating it with more respect than it probably deserves. I'm flattered and honoured you put in the hours to fix my mistakes, and what I'm concerned, this is now the official version. In other words: It's very officially approved!

Hi Vidar, (or do you prefer to be addressed as Erix1?)

Thank you SO MUCH for your kind words and official approval of the fixed version of "MVSB"! This is really fantastic and extremely gratifying 🙂 . I am speaking for myself now, but I am sure Ian (IRF) and Andy (Spider) who were involved in creating it share my sentiment.

Also, congratulations on "MVSB" winning the Manchester PLAY Expo competition! I was there, in person, it was a very memorable weekend for me, meeting Matthew Smith, Richard Hallas, Daren Pearcy (who has since passed away...) and other guys for the first time. Good old (pre-pandemic) times 🙂 .

So thank you once again, your approval and endorsement are greatly appreciated! I will post this now and then reply regarding "Eugene" in a separate message.

[jetsetdanny]

5 hours ago, erix1 said:

1. Huh? It's always been like that? I just tested it with the Mac-version of Fuse, and it indeed skips the intro. (Seems like in this recording it does not, though:

Anyways, no doubt a bi-product of some reckless hacking done by me, many many years ago. Testing was never my strong suit. I'll have a look at it.

So the TAP file that has been circulating on the internet (the one that can be downloaded, among other places, from the game's page on JSW Central) is dated 09.05.1999. The game was released (according to the Chronology I once created, and it was a fruit of a careful investigation) on "17 May (or a little earlier)". So I think there is every reason to suspect that it's always been like that.

[The TZX file that is also available on the web, dated 30.12.2001, is secondary; it must have been created from your original TAP file in order to be placed on the TZX Vault; it behaves exactly in the same way, i.e. jumping from the title screen to start the game immediately.]

In the recording hosted on RZX Archive, the title screen and the scrolling message are indeed displayed properly. The recording was made by "Fil" (Philip Bee, I believe), and published on the RZX Archive on 19 January 2005. I have downloaded it and wanted to compare a SNA file saved it and a SNA file saved after launching your original TAP file to see if they are different (I meant to do it using Andrew Broad's SPECSAISIE). 

As it turns out, however, Philip Bee recorded "Eugene..." in 128K mode. Because of this, I cannot compare the files in SPECSAISIE, as it only compares 48K SNA files (I don't think it's possible to save a 48K SNA file from an emulator when the emulator is running in 128K mode, which is enforced by the RZX recording).

The files could still be compared 'manually', so to speak, especially the areas of the code where the different behaviour of the program may lie.

It's a little mystery then. I did try to launch your original TAP file on an (emulated) 128K Spectrum, but it behaved exactly the same way as described before (starting the game immediately). So it looks to me like Philip used a modified/different file for his recording. One thing I have not tried (because I don't remember offhand how to do it) is to try launching your original TAP file on a 128K Spectrum but in the 48K mode. I don't think it will make any difference, but perhaps someone could try it.

In any case, if you checked what the problem is and released an updated version with the title screen and the scrolly displayed properly, that would certainly be good 🙂 . Your game is so fine it deserves to be available to the world without any glitches!

[jetsetdanny]

5 hours ago, erix1 said:

3. I still have the Hackulator, and will release it as soon as I have written a necessary manual that explains how to use it. Loading it for the first time after many years made me realize not every function is all that self-explanatory (and that's an understatement).  

Great, thank you! I look forward to it! 🙂 

[IRF]

Just a random thought: another variable that might have been different when Philip Bee made his recording (versus Danny's recent investigations) - he could have had a joystick plugged in? (I recall there's a check in the title screen routine for whether a joystick is connected.) Bugs can manifest themselves in unexpected ways - perhaps it doesn't occur if the check for a joystick returns a different result? (This is pure speculation on my part! But it might be an explanation that doesn't rely on Philip having had a different version of the game file?)

Incidentally, I don't suppose anyone is in contact with Philip these days? (In case he can shed some light on the mystery?)

Edited March 13, 2023 by IRF

[Spider]

17 hours ago, jetsetdanny said:

In the recording hosted on RZX Archive, the title screen and the scrolling message are indeed displayed properly. The recording was made by "Fil" (Philip Bee, I believe), and published on the RZX Archive on 19 January 2005. I have downloaded it and wanted to compare a SNA file saved it and a SNA file saved after launching your original TAP file to see if they are different (I meant to do it using Andrew Broad's SPECSAISIE).

Please send me the file in question. I'll see if I can turn it into a 48 sna.

17 hours ago, jetsetdanny said:

it behaves exactly in the same way, i.e. jumping from the title screen to start the game immediately.]

Likely cause is Kempston emulation, in that its reading from port 31 and detects a 'fire' , causing the game to start. Similar things can occasionally be seen when reloading a snapshot in a different emulator and if it is a game in progress it either resets the machine (not common) or Willy constantly jumps until you press Break and restart the game,.

 

15 hours ago, IRF said:

perhaps it doesn't occur if the check for a joystick returns a different result?

You're on the right track I think.

[IRF]

The mystery of why Eugene: Lord of the Bathroom skips the title screen may be close to being solved - in fact, it may already have been solved at some point!

I just went to see if I had a copy of the game on my laptop, doing a search in Windows Explorer using the search term 'Eugene'.  I got some interesting results... as well as a Zip folder with the original game file (and its readme), I found two files in the same folder as the Zip (outside the Zip) called 'EUGENE Fixed' and 'EUGENE Unfixed'!

I've just tried opening them up (in the QAOP online emulator), and lo & behold, the 'unfixed' one skips the title screen (after displaying it for the briefest of moments), whereas the 'fixed' one does not!  (I haven't looked into whether any other bugs have been fixed between the two files, if indeed there are any other known bugs in the game - I'm not aware of any?)

I can only surmise that at some point (the files date back to 2019), I investigated this very point, and came up with a fix - then forgot about it when the subject came up the other day!

Anyway, I've attached the two files to this post - I haven't yet had chance to scrutinise the code to see the difference, though I would guess (if Erix1 Mode retains the same addresses for the title screen routine as an original Manic Miner game file), that the edit might be somewhere in the region of #861F to #8683.

EUGENE Fixed.TAP EUGENE Unfixed.TAP

Edited March 14, 2023 by IRF