Tetras
Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2020 11:25 pm
I noticed that the copy of Tetras in the archive seems to be cracked, with the loader & loading screen removed, or perhaps originated as a raw file sent to a disc user. It also has an ?IO ERROR in the final block for some reason although it does seem to run okay with EXEC.
So just leaving a complete/original format copy here for now. I'm pretty sure this loaded okay with T3 although I spent some time trying it with Xroar Online tonight without success, even when padded with extra leader bytes in a few places. I'm not sure if the issue is just the leader bytes, the multiple non-standard block types & lengths that it uses, or perhaps another reason. Inserting leader bytes before blocks 7 and 32 does seem to help, although doing that at another likely location around block 16 actually seems to make things worse instead, or is unusually critical... I don't remember exactly how the loader works, but there are 3 main phases (initial standard text/autorun part, a brief semi-graphics display whilst the 'Gorbachev' picture data loads, then it switches to PMODE 4 whilst the game loads). I'll upload a replacement if I make progress with Xroar compatibility another day...!
If you play the game, pressing 'C' or 'B' on the title page chooses colour (semi-graphics) or black & white (PMODE 4) display option.
Edit: Now updated with correctly fixed and trimmed copy!
So just leaving a complete/original format copy here for now. I'm pretty sure this loaded okay with T3 although I spent some time trying it with Xroar Online tonight without success, even when padded with extra leader bytes in a few places. I'm not sure if the issue is just the leader bytes, the multiple non-standard block types & lengths that it uses, or perhaps another reason. Inserting leader bytes before blocks 7 and 32 does seem to help, although doing that at another likely location around block 16 actually seems to make things worse instead, or is unusually critical... I don't remember exactly how the loader works, but there are 3 main phases (initial standard text/autorun part, a brief semi-graphics display whilst the 'Gorbachev' picture data loads, then it switches to PMODE 4 whilst the game loads). I'll upload a replacement if I make progress with Xroar compatibility another day...!
If you play the game, pressing 'C' or 'B' on the title page chooses colour (semi-graphics) or black & white (PMODE 4) display option.
Edit: Now updated with correctly fixed and trimmed copy!