Malban
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I have updated Vectorblade to V1.07.
Following changes for v1.07 have been implemented:
(The button layout is not open for discussion!); DB “VERSION 1.07”
; fixed: player dead and level clear at the same time, leads to endless loop; fixed: a small bug in secret display, if an achievement in the same byte had been gotten
; but no secret yet, a “no secret yet” message was not displayed!; changed: each level allows now at least ONE attack pattern
; this way it is not possible to completely ignore enemies in mode easy,
; when positioned “correctly”; added: additional “INPUT” option, hidden (due to not having any space left
; in the config menu go to the top, going pushing up, than “toggles” the input method
; toggle between joystick (default, not changed) and buttons, button mapping as follows
; button in title:
; 1 Start game
; 2 options
; 3 high score
; 4 achievement
; help not available
;
; button minestorm
; 1 throttle speed
; 4 increase speed
; button 2/3 x movements
; no help available
;
; button highscore edit
; 1 keep initial
; 4 shoot
; button 2/3 letter scrolling
; no help available
;
; button highscore shown
; 1 help
; 2 switch mode
; 4 exit
;
; button achievments
; 1 help
; 2/3 scroll
; 4 exit
;
; button config
; 1 help
; 2/3 scroll up/down
; 4 execute
; you can not do horizontal settings (level edit)
;
; scroll to the top/top – to toggle input method (not visible)
;
; buttons in game
; button 1 super bomb
; button 2/3 x movement
; button 4 shot
; all 4 buttons pressed = pause
;
; buttons in pause
; button 1 help
; button 2/3 y movement
; button 4 exitIf you have time and are willing you can give this one a try.
The changes have been larger than anticipated:
These parts of the sources had to be touched:; done config up down not workin
; done drunk mode not working
; done crash in demo level 95 -> main1 was over the 7ff0 range, UFO crashed in draw!
; done pause not good on left/right
; done achievement display “tick is wrongly placed”
; done fire button unrespronsive
; done switch on / off
; done level 24/94
; done pause
; done High Score entry
; done Minestorm
; done demo mode “remap”
; done high score buttons
; done Achievements
; done desktop
; done Shop
; done gameAlso I had memory problems, so additionally I had to change/optimize some stuff.
I played it with the VecFever and from Flash, both with buttons and joystick, I think it is ok. But experience tells us never to be sure…
The sources and the binaries can now be publically found on github:
https://github.com/malbanGit/Vectorblade
VecFever: https://github.com/malbanGit/Vectorblade/blob/master/VectorbladeV1.07.V4E
Flash: https://github.com/malbanGit/Vectorblade/blob/master/VectorbladeV1.07.bin
Thx
Malban
PS Feedback, if there is any, either as a ticket with GitHub or via eMail.
For your information.
A new bug was discovered, that can lead to Vectorblade crashing!
It is not catastrophic, but I certainly would have prefered it not to have happened.The “Star Wars” boss – CRASHES (always) if the scale of the game is less than 128 (positive).
For some reason or another, in the pretty old boss 4 code, I made a hard reference to the scale and I check it for being positive or negative. If positive – it “endless loops” and overwrites the STACK.
I will fix this bug, but I am not certain how to handle all shiped vectorblades.
I actually THINK a warning not to set the scale to a value smaller than 128 should suffice.Regards
Chris
Hi!
Again I thank you all in participating in the fantastic journey that was
VECTORBLADE
I am officially “closing” this forum. It will be viewable for quite some time – actually I am not planning on deleting it – but I will also not take additional savety measures.
All participants have now only “spectator” rights – so I do not expect new messages.
Thank you for your involved beta testing, great ideas and being stubborn where needed :-).
Cheers
Malban
Discovered another bug.
No crash, but it can influence scoring significantly. But it is nearly as “obscure” as the last found bug.
This time I won’t tell what it is, since it is exploitable…
So…. the PD version will be at least V1.02.
For your info:
Also – I have as of now 201 “orders”.
RegardsChris
PS
Today I sent your copies of VB!
(George, I didn’t send yours, since I await address confirmation… but the time runs out!)Nico, George…
I still need your addresses.
Please answer via eMail – otherwise I must assume you are not interested in Vectorblade anymore.
Thx
Chris
I don’t think Vectorblade can be played “endlessly”.
With the last adjustments to difficulty I have not been able to play past about 280 levels. It’s not impossible – but you have to “learn” the new boss behaviour, and this takes time (or you can use the save game feature).
I doubt that any “sane” player will notice the difference between 1.00 and 1.01.
Besides, the version string is not displayed – its only “visible” when doing a hex dump :-).So if you want to know – you must either hexdump or recreate the “bug” situation – good luck!
(If I remember right, Helmut has not finished easy yet?)
Cheers
Chris
PS
Besides that – what would the criteria be after which a Vectorblade highscore in Vector War would be judged.Played levels?
Reached high score?Scores up to a certain point might be “random”.
E.g. If you get a “Diamond storm” in the first level – and collect a times 5 in the level after and finish with it.
Than the following “Diamond” bonus will be multiplied by 5 – so at the beginning of level 3, you can already have 500000 points.
Or you can play 50 levels and not reach 500000…It “evens out” after a certain time.. so when you start having 2-3 million points… that surely is a sign you played well… but immensly good luck can earn you a good score very early on :-).
Cheers
Chris
I just finished a test game with cartridge number #31 -and I discovered a bug!
Cartridges 1-31 will be version 1.00 and anything forward (till the next fix) will be 1.01.
The bug is soooo small, that I will not change the already finished versions. I will explain:After playing the game “thru” 1 time (mode easy) after the first 100 levels, you get the achievement Blademaster 5.
Clearing the first 100 levels also rewards the player with “Immunity 1”, that is immunity to be downgraded by a “shot 1” bonus drop.
The second time “thru” (mode normal) – or after 200 levels, gives you “Immunity 2”, that is immunity to be downgraded by a “shot 2” bonus drop.
There is ONE other way to gain “Immunity 2” – when you collect EXTRA in the correct order, spin the wheel and “hit” the immunity field. That field grants you immediately “Immunity 1” and “Immunity 2”.
The BUG I just found is the following:
- get immunity 1+2 thru the wheel, within the first 100 levels
- finishing easy than gives you “Immunity 1” (only!) and thus downgrading the already “collected” immunity to “Immunity 1” (and resets the “Immunity 2”)
That should not happen!
Nonetheless – I deem the “bug” so “non important” that it will be fixed, but I will – as said – not exchange versions in already build cards.
Cheers
Chris
Hi!
- current order count 190
- behaviour of VIA under certain conditions – I never wrote a program for it tot test really, but basically stuff I wrote in my blog about: http://vide.malban.de/30th-of-january-vectrex-variances
These differences show in various places. E.g. one thing I added for a Zero-Reference befor the alien shots are drawn, because the “first” alien shot became increasingly unstable the further to the negative Y-coordinate it was printed. - Some… still not completely certain how I’ll handle it legally…
@Peer, George, Vince, Nico Helmut, VTK:
Can you please send me your current addresses for double check via Mail?
Somehow I have to distribute the first 10 Vectorblades :-).Cheers – have a nice rest holiday!
Malban
Hi folks!
Thx again for the hard work you all put into Vectorblade!
Today I did a final compile and produced a 1.00 version. I hope this is majorly bugfree! I changed some small stuff from the last versions. Mainly in relation to my “crooked” vectrex. Straightening “shots” etc.
I found 1 or two small bugs (again) and corrected them. I played a lot amongst others a good game which lasted about 250 level and was totally bugfree – so I have high hopes, that VB can now be played :-).
I “produced” (see blog) my first 10 complete games (box, “literature”, overlay etc…). Nice to see the final shape of things.
I’ll continue to produce about 10 per day for the rest of August – and then go on sending them away…if people can afford the postage…
Thx again!
Cheers
Chris
There are no (known?) bugs with the stuff you report.
On hardcore you can not access the shop, and you also do not get money.
If you tend to collect slowdowns – well the shots get slower… so DON’T!Achievements for shot types are only rewarded AFTER a level.
If you catch the last letter after the level – than the achievement will be given after the next level – UNLESS you lose the weapon before the end of the level – than you miss out on the achievement.These were design decisions, which will not change.
I’ll try to play some hardcore games… but I already did in the last days and I did not find anything that wasn’t like I expected…
Cheers
PS
Looking at your video, I wonder whether that should give some achievment of its own 🙂
Vectorblade_Gold_04.bin – 12th August 2020
and VecFever version:
Vectorblade_Gold_04.V4E – 12th August 2020 when buying “greater” shotsBug fix:
– fixed game save/load high score savingChanges:
– “game over” longer on saved game
– shop: removed reduction of number of shots in airNext “fixed” time frame – end of week (Friday night).
Chris
Vectorblade_Gold_03.bin – 9th August 2020
and VecFever version:
Vectorblade_Gold_03.V4E – 9th August 2020Fixed the bug.
Tested a game to level 299.
Tomorrow I’ll get my “main” test Vectrex back…
Next “fixed” time frame – end of week (Friday night).
Chris
Although not directly reproduceable – the save game feature is a heavenly thing for debugging.
How can one live without it?
I think I found it.
It seems, when doing a scenario change from the “normal” game to a “sequence”, I did not always correctly reset the
player shot structure.Since the shot collision detection is “prepared” during the first set of stars printing, said structure could be references there.
The player shot structure however CAN be overwritten under circumstances, when it necessary to save “scoopy” information.
(entering a minestorm is such an occasion, since scoopies are not used within a minestorm… but afterwards they should be available again).Soooo…
IF the game is “left behind”…
IF there are Scoopies, and these are saved,
IF stars are still printed,
IF shot 9 or 10 were “active” shots (out of 10),
IF the scoopies were at a certain position,Than the shot preparation could access data from the scoopies instead of an “active” shot.
IF that was the case and the scoopies were at a certain location on screen, than the scoopy position would lead with a “$dxxx”.
Than a “random” register of the VIA could be addressed instead of a “normal” memory location by the shot preparation routine.(Probably some timer)
IF that location (timer?) had a specific value….THAN a result could be:a) an endless loop
b) if the emulation was not 100% exact, than that endless loop does not happen in the emulator
I will not try to be that exact with emulation.
Cheers
PS
I doubt that I will ever find out if I really fixed that bug, but I will keep playing!
(With the save feature enabled!)
