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Working ADF of David Braben's Lander. |
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RoryM (09:18 21/11/2013)
sirbod (11:38 21/11/2013)
RoryM (14:34 21/11/2013)
RoryM (15:24 21/11/2013)
sirbod (18:09 21/11/2013)
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RoryM |
Message #122818, posted by RoryM at 09:18, 21/11/2013 |
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Posts: 8
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Hi Guys, like the title suggests I'm looking for a working ADF of Mr. B's seminal Zarch demo Lander.
I thought I had a working copy until I noticed that shooting things doesn't affect the score; it sticks at 500. According to the Archimedes Welcome Guide you start with 500 points and get 20 more for each thing you destroy. When you reach 800 points meteors apparently start to fall but since the ADF I have has a stuck score I've yet to witness this.
So does any one have a working Lander ADF or know where to find one? Any help would be much appreciated. |
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Jon Abbott |
Message #122820, posted by sirbod at 11:38, 21/11/2013, in reply to message #122818 |
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Posts: 563
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I've just tested my original copy, the score goes up and meteors start falling past 800. You are looking at the number on the left, not the static 500 on the right?
EDIT: Incidentally, it's on "Applications Disc 2" that came with the original Archimedes
[Edited by sirbod at 11:40, 21/11/2013] |
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RoryM |
Message #122821, posted by RoryM at 14:34, 21/11/2013, in reply to message #122820 |
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Posts: 8
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I've just tested my original copy, the score goes up and meteors start falling past 800. You are looking at the number on the left, not the static 500 on the right?
EDIT: Incidentally, it's on "Applications Disc 2" that came with the original Archimedes
[Edited by sirbod at 11:40, 21/11/2013] Thanks for that, Jon, you've potentially saved me a lot of time trying to find a "working" copy of the game.
Yes, as you guessed, I was looking at the 500 on the right. The reason being that when you shoot the number on the left goes down - so I assumed that was the number of bullets your ship has.
If you work on the assumption that the left number is a bullet tally - albeit wrongly - then it makes sense that the right number must be your score.
The Archimedes Welcome Guide I have to hand certainly doesn't tell you otherwise. Come to think of it, this does raise the question of what the static 500 on the right represents?
I think it's the 310 Welcome Disk that I've been using, incidentally. Am I right in thinking the versions of Lander bundled with later models were the same code?
At any rate, thanks for pointing out that I was looking at the wrong 500, Jon. It's much appreciated. 
[Edited by RoryM at 14:34, 21/11/2013] |
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RoryM |
Message #122822, posted by RoryM at 15:24, 21/11/2013, in reply to message #122821 |
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Posts: 8
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Ah, the 500 on the right isn't static - it's the high score, which is set at 500 before you've had your first game.
So if use your ammo with carefree abandon - like I was doing before I realised that the number on the left is your score and that said score goes down every time you shoot - then the number on the right will always be 500. This is obvious in hindsight, since keeping your finger on the trigger will result in you never getting a better score than 500.
In retrospect, Lander could have probably done with clearer instructions than the Welcome Guide provided.
Oh well, I know now. |
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Jon Abbott |
Message #122827, posted by sirbod at 18:09, 21/11/2013, in reply to message #122821 |
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To my knowledge there was only one release.
One interesting fact is that Lander was written for ARM1 and consequently doesn't use the MUL instruction, instead using a binary adder loop. Hence why it's so slow when there are objects on screen.
It also has a few bugs in the triangle code, which overrun occasionally causing glitches. |
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