Aztec Challenge bug

[Groundhog]

Hello, first post here !

I've been trying some of my favorite games with CCS64 today. That was great ! Thanks for this wonderful emulator. Brings back a lot of memories.

Nearly every game I tried was working - with some tweaking for some - but, unfortunately, not "Aztec Challenge", one of my most loved ones.

You see, at the beginning of the game, egyptian warriors are throwing spears at you, and you just have to crouch or jump to avoid them. This stage is working well in WinVICE but, with CCS64, you're killed while there's nothing on the screen, as if an invisible spear was present.

I tried with every configuration I could think of, but no luck. Does anybody have the same problem ?

[Stuart Toomer]

Have you tried different Kernel/1541 ROMs and different Memory Reset Pattern settings? Have you also tried NOT using the default fast-loader (i.e. the Load(Normal) option) when loading the game?

[Groundhog]

I tried with the kernels from WinVICE. The only thing I didn't try was the different memory reset patterns. I just did now and, unfortunately, it makes no difference.

Correct me if I'm wrong but, I read that WinVICE can patch the kernel in memory. So maybe the kernel I got wasn't really the kernel used, but I don't think this patching is done in C64 mode. Do you know where I can find some other kernels ?

I don't know how the game detects the collisions, but it must be unique, because I read somewhere that WinVICE had the exact same problem in previous versions.

Anyway, thanks for your help.

EDIT : Also, FYI, I tried with several versions of the game.

[Stuart Toomer]

I have passed this on to Hakan for further investigation/fixing...

[Groundhog]

Thanks.

I must say that I tried a lot of the games I owned back then, and "Aztec Challenge" is the only game that don't work properly with CCS64. Great work !

[Groundhog]

I found another problem that could be related to this one, in an early and very simple game: "Moby Dick". The problem here is that your own shots are sometimes disappearing. The game is working properly with WinVICE.

The only catch is that the "bug" is occuring less frequently in this game than in "Aztec Challenge". But since the game is really basic, the problem should be easier to spot.

Hope that'll be helpful. See you.

Edit : Forgot to tell you about "Moon Shuttle". No collisions at all in this one, but I'm not sure this is related.

[Stuart Toomer]

OK, I have passed all of this information on to Hakan...

Thanks for letting me know.

[Groundhog]

Hi! Me again! Sorry!

I've some relatively good news: every problem I told you about here, doesn't appear in v3.2 of the emulator. They are present since v3.3.

Also, there's no collision in "Mothership", with v3.5, while everything is fine with v3.2.

In "Wizard" (1984) & "Ultimate Wizard" (boot them in normal mode), with v3.5, the game hangs at the start of a level. This isn't the case with v3.2.

I hope that will help you spot the problem.

Have a nice day.

[Stuart Toomer]

I think it is to do with the collision-detection code re-write in CCS64 V3.3. I have passed all of this information on to Hakan. Thanks for the information and for your investigation work on this issue. I am awaiting a response from him.

[Stuart Toomer]

Hakan has fixed this bug, in the next release (CCS64 V3.6). He is busy making other graphical changes, which have wide-sweeping effects on the emulator source-code, which I am busy testing/reporting for/to him. I hope he can make a release shortly.

[Chris2222]

There's a similar bug with Impossible mission where you're killed (zapped) where no robots are around you.

Perhaps this is fixed in V 3.6?

Also All American Road Race challenge game pauses for 5 or 10 seconds or so while you are racing.

[Stuart Toomer]

Yes, the Aztec Challenge bug is the same bug as with Impossible Mission (which I also reported myself to Hakan). It only affects the right-hand side of the emulated screen.

Hakan has also re-implemented the DirectX drawing routines, in order to speed-up performance for some graphics drivers which are poorly-implemented - this may help your other problem (it made no difference to me).

[AnubisArc999]

I have version 3.6 and have tried to run Wizard/Ultimate Wizard with 3 different copies, but it always freezes and gives a disk read error when you select any of the menu options (Play, Demo, Construction).
All 3 versions of the game work on Vice 64 though.

[Stuart Toomer]

I have version 3.6 and have tried to run Wizard/Ultimate Wizard with 3 different copies, but it always freezes and gives a disk read error when you select any of the menu options (Play, Demo, Construction).
All 3 versions of the game work on Vice 64 though.

I would try with different versions of the 1541/Kernel ROMs. CCS64 is shipped with some out-of-date versions.

[zaphod]

Sigh. Run Normal will solve this problem with Wizard. Plug in a fast-load cart, though, if you want the game to load in a reasonable amount of time.