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Forums > CSDb Entries > Release id #188012 : PSI-5 Trading Company +4D
2021-03-13 05:06
jcompton

Registered: Feb 2006
Posts: 70
Release id #188012 : PSI-5 Trading Company +4D

The number keys 1-4 should be able to select a mission, but that doesn't seem to work.
2021-03-13 10:55
hedning

Registered: Mar 2009
Posts: 4550
Quote: The number keys 1-4 should be able to select a mission, but that doesn't seem to work.

Then add that info under "Goofs".
2021-03-13 11:44
TheRyk

Registered: Mar 2009
Posts: 2035
Confirmed, not sure, though, if this is due to different original or an Avatar goof, anyway nothing of big importance imho, as selecting via joystick is no problem.

ElfKaa should elaborate a little more on production of this release, i.e. be less modest and unnecessarily secretive - as this version offers a 5(!)th mission and a bunch of trainers, so in some respect it's even superior to N0S and MYD's versions. Krill Loader for games might not be the best idea in the world in terms of compatibility, but that's maybe also only my view.
2021-03-13 13:57
Krill

Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 2804
Quoting TheRyk
Krill Loader for games might not be the best idea in the world in terms of compatibility, but that's maybe also only my view.
If that view includes SD2IEC, then yes. SD2IEC is a mass storage device, so blame is on the people who mistake it for a drive (emulator)*. =)

Otherwise that loader supports all relevant drives (including 1581 and CMD FD) natively, plus IDE64 just fine (fast, sprites and IRQ no problem) via KERNAL fallback.
(SD2IEC does work using KERNAL fallback, but with the stock KERNAL and no JiffyDOS or similar, will use just the standard slow-loading serial protocol.)

* I use to toy with the idea of adding a patch to SD2IEC firmware, but then always decide against it. =)
2021-03-13 16:15
jcompton

Registered: Feb 2006
Posts: 70
Quote: Quoting TheRyk
Krill Loader for games might not be the best idea in the world in terms of compatibility, but that's maybe also only my view.
If that view includes SD2IEC, then yes. SD2IEC is a mass storage device, so blame is on the people who mistake it for a drive (emulator)*. =)

Otherwise that loader supports all relevant drives (including 1581 and CMD FD) natively, plus IDE64 just fine (fast, sprites and IRQ no problem) via KERNAL fallback.
(SD2IEC does work using KERNAL fallback, but with the stock KERNAL and no JiffyDOS or similar, will use just the standard slow-loading serial protocol.)

* I use to toy with the idea of adding a patch to SD2IEC firmware, but then always decide against it. =)


I strongly disagree. The game is best played on keyboard, and having to reach for a joystick to start a mission means original functionality is broken.

(edit: ended up with the wrong quote above, can't fix here in userland but that's in re the no-big-deal-just-use-joystick bit)

Quoting TheRyk
ElfKaa should elaborate a little more on production of this release, i.e. be less modest and unnecessarily secretive


I agree with you here. I've held down C= a bunch and all I've seen for that effort is the special bonus graphic and message in the intro. Haven't noticed it affect gameplay in any other way.
2021-03-13 21:41
TheRyk

Registered: Mar 2009
Posts: 2035
"broken" in terms of non-functionality's a little tough, as you could(!) play the whole game with joystick, however, I see your point/would also prefer/recommend keyboard, i.e. yeah: joy only for picking mission sucks a little
2021-03-17 06:24
ϵʟʞ

Registered: May 2012
Posts: 26
Quoting jcompton
The number keys 1-4 should be able to select a mission, but that doesn't seem to work.


Okay jcompton, you have found a bug :)
Inspite of this disadvantage did you also found what was added? 1-4 then missing the point. Also on the next screen there is written 'Use joystick to select...'. Yes - you are right - it is also possible to choose by first letter. I know..

Take it as the one little disadvantage of the ATA release, but in my opinion this release also brings more then what I forget to leave..

And about Krill - I am sure it was the right choice! Which allows me to make the whole game single sided including all the functionality including demo and it loads the most fast - allows you to play it from disk with the simillar possible speed like if it was on cartridge!

Just compare it with some cartridge release, there is not so big difference even that it loads from the disk drive.
2021-03-17 06:34
ϵʟʞ

Registered: May 2012
Posts: 26
Quoting jcompton

I agree with you here. I've held down C= a bunch and all I've seen for that effort is the special bonus graphic and message in the intro. Haven't noticed it affect gameplay in any other way.


Yes ;) the message says 'hold down C= key during loading the mission'. If you did it right then you did not finished the game after!
2021-03-17 15:41
jcompton

Registered: Feb 2006
Posts: 70
Quote: Quoting jcompton

I agree with you here. I've held down C= a bunch and all I've seen for that effort is the special bonus graphic and message in the intro. Haven't noticed it affect gameplay in any other way.


Yes ;) the message says 'hold down C= key during loading the mission'. If you did it right then you did not finished the game after!


I noted that the screen turned red during the mission load, which it doesn't if I don't hold the key. I finished the first mission and got my mission-completion invoice, and it all seemed normal. If I needed to go even further than that to get the easter egg, I guess I missed it, because I would normally consider that the end of my game session.

As for the keyboard input bug, I'm not the Scene Police but I respectfully suggest that a fix might be in order, so that this release doesn't take away an interface feature that is an expected part of the unmodified game.
2021-03-18 02:45
ϵʟʞ

Registered: May 2012
Posts: 26
a) Okay, there is no more just 4 missions, but I will consider to fix that numbers .)

b) Yes, then - you missed it. It is just a small modification - you can call it 'easter egg' - nothing more.. It is of course no real egg if you are searching for egg. I don't think it must be visible for everyone on first run. So - did you get the cargo into the planete? Or the pirates stopped you? What was your mission to? Renlozen? Play it again and compare it carefully with and without c= key.
2021-03-18 08:29
TheRyk

Registered: Mar 2009
Posts: 2035
Quoting ϵʟʞ
... It is just a small modification - you can call it 'easter egg' - nothing more.. It is of course no real egg if you are searching for egg. ...

An egg is an egg... but what was there first, hen or egg - or bunny?
*confused*
Easter comes early this year!
2021-03-19 19:35
jcompton

Registered: Feb 2006
Posts: 70
Quote: a) Okay, there is no more just 4 missions, but I will consider to fix that numbers .)

b) Yes, then - you missed it. It is just a small modification - you can call it 'easter egg' - nothing more.. It is of course no real egg if you are searching for egg. I don't think it must be visible for everyone on first run. So - did you get the cargo into the planete? Or the pirates stopped you? What was your mission to? Renlozen? Play it again and compare it carefully with and without c= key.


Oh yes, I did notice that I arrived on a very different planet, not Renlozen. Forgot that part.

But I have no idea how to unlock the new missions beyond the canonical four that you seem to be hinting at, and it would be nice if you'd help people who genuinely like this game figure out how to do that.
2021-03-20 02:43
ϵʟʞ

Registered: May 2012
Posts: 26
Quoting jcompton
Oh yes, I did notice that I arrived on a very different planet, not Renlozen.

So you have found an 'easter egg' part..

Quoting jcompton
...figure out how to do that.

Use joystick instead of keyboard.. ;) (simply go more down to select the next one..)

I really don't wanna unhide all of my changes for everyone this way. I believe this is not so difficult to imagine how to make it.. There is another secret thing which stays hidden. But I believe that if you really like the game and will not stopping playing with the C= key (which is obviously my secret key) I believe that you will unhide the other secret that this release hides out.
2021-03-20 03:37
ϵʟʞ

Registered: May 2012
Posts: 26
Thank you Krill for the great loader! It is the master piece!

Quoting Krill
* I use to toy with the idea of adding a patch to SD2IEC firmware, but then always decide against it. =)

Please, if you will do so, don't make upgrade if it could take something out - I mean e.g. size, speed, etc. Then better name it with the different name like 'SD2IEC Krill loader'.
The loader is great as it is - including the on the fly decruncher!
2021-03-20 11:02
Trurl

Registered: Mar 2002
Posts: 58
Quoting ϵʟʞ
The loader is great as it is - including the on the fly decruncher!


True, but I wish more people would actually enable the kernal fallback support :P
2021-03-20 11:44
Krill

Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 2804
Quoting ϵʟʞ
Thank you Krill for the great loader! It is the master piece! [...] don't make upgrade if it could take something out - I mean e.g. size, speed, etc. Then better name it with the different name like 'SD2IEC Krill loader'.
Thanks for the praise! :)

Not sure if i made this clear enough. I meant upgrading SD2IEC-side code to support the loader, not the other way around. SD2IEC already comes with support for a few select fast/IRQ loaders and their custom protocols.
I was musing about adding support for this loader to SD2IEC firmware, without changing anything in the C-64/drive code.

Quoting Trurl
True, but I wish more people would actually enable the kernal fallback support :P
It does come with a fair bit of caveats by having to make ROM calls (including the code not touching associated zeropage/lowmem variables), and making sure that it actually works isn't trivial.

But i think there's also a common misconception that "KERNAL fallback" would actually be the old slow-load we know from an unexpanded machine.
In fact it's using the closest thing to a standard API for loading we have, and any kind of KERNAL enhancement (IDE64 with its DOS, JiffyDOS, ...) would work with it.
That is, you can have fast and even IRQ loading with KERNAL fallback being active, depending on whatever the machine brings in terms of non-standard KERNAL.

Quoting ϵʟʞ
The loader is great as it is - including the on the fly decruncher!
Thanks again! I'm in fact currently working on a new version. Added some fixes and speed improvements first, now i'm on to adding new decrunchers.
ZX0 and LZSA2 are very promising in both speed and pack ratio: locate Exo3 in this graph https://introspec.retroscene.org/compression/pareto_20210128.png and see how it relates to ZX0, then LZSA2. =D
The next thing on the list would be a (hiscore/savegame) saver plug-in, but not sure if it will make it into next release already or the one after that.
2021-03-20 12:36
DKT

Registered: Aug 2004
Posts: 96
Hi.
The first most important thing was to speed up loading in this game and important was to choose a flexible, most compatible and small enough loader. The game uses almost all c64 memory. As I remember we used some stack space (the only available space after we put loader somewhere under $0400) to implement some translation jumps, so Krill's loader was a perfect choice (with NTSC compatibility enabled). The 3rd opportunity which we found during development was that we are able to put all on one disk side \o/
Saving option for the loader would be really appreciated and would be a gem for all crackers (I'm not the one, but I think the others would be very happy :)
Thanks Krill.
Cheers
2021-03-20 16:11
Krill

Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 2804
Quoting DKT
Saving option for the loader would be really appreciated and would be a gem for all crackers
The saver will probably be rather limited, as in it will probably not be able to create new files.
So i'm thinking of pre-existing hiscore or savegame files.
The saver would then overwrite those existing files with new data, with the overwritten files being as big (same amount of blocks, not necessarily bytes) afterwards as they were before.

The question now is if this would satisfy most or even all the regular saving requirements for games, and if not, what it should be able to do.
2021-03-20 18:06
DKT

Registered: Aug 2004
Posts: 96
I think, overwriting existing file only should be enough in most cases
2021-03-20 18:56
jcompton

Registered: Feb 2006
Posts: 70
The additional mission seems to be a way to smooth out the difficulty curve between missions 2 and 3 (or missions 1/2 from the three-mission version). Risk level was fairly modest throughout (I never saw it go higher than 10, and rarely had more than four ships on the scanner at any one time just by occasionally bouncing between course A and B when I wanted to quiet the fretting navigator). Perhaps useful for players who have been frustrated trying to make the transition to longer missions and just need more time in-flight to get their routines down, although the fact that the risk level stayed so low (it was down in the 0-3 range a surprising amount on course B!) might make it tricky to really push beyond and learn new tricks.
2021-03-21 09:44
ϵʟʞ

Registered: May 2012
Posts: 26
Quoting DKT
I think, overwriting existing file only should be enough in most cases

Hi my friend! And YES - I can imagine that it will be useful enough.
Reserving space on disk for saves then writing at this place.. It is what I will need to have for our next not yet finished release .)
2021-03-21 09:50
ϵʟʞ

Registered: May 2012
Posts: 26
Quoting jcompton
The additional mission seems to be a way to smooth out the difficulty curve between missions 2 and 3 (or missions 1/2 from the three-mission version).

Yes! Additionaly, in the right meaning mission to 'Markus-3' is not 'additional' as it is not my 'addition', the best on it is that it was already included in the original code! :)
2021-03-21 19:51
jcompton

Registered: Feb 2006
Posts: 70
Ah, interesting.

Since you seem to have spent more time digging through the game's code than most, have you tracked down how the different crew characteristics are configured? (for example, how the game assigns weapons officers their skill with each of the four weapons and their likelihood to open fire without orders, etc.)
2021-03-21 20:45
ϵʟʞ

Registered: May 2012
Posts: 26
Uhm, I did not pointed at the game logic, because what you are talking about is not so trivial to understand.. The game is really the masterpiece. There are really lots of routines combined together.. This massively increase the number of branching of possible cases. I found the places of where data is written and tried to understand to some of them but not all I discovered.. They are spread on many different places in C64 memory. This logic is the most important part of what this game is about. To analyze the whole process for me would need really lots of time. Maybe someone more skilled could decompile all of them and better understand. But - if you imagine the machine code look and the memory size of C64 - I was fighting with the free space in memory for my modifications - there is not much space left in memory!
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