Poltergeist Converted To The Dragon 32... What's Wrong?!

Use this forum to submit new files for the download section of the archive. I will check each submission and upload it to the archive on a regular basis.
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daelectron
Posts: 150
Joined: Fri Jul 27, 2012 12:25 pm

Poltergeist Converted To The Dragon 32... What's Wrong?!

Post by daelectron »

Hi there,

So, I found this disc on the internet in a collection of vintage Dragon games over at:

http://www.dragon-it.co.uk/

Not sure how long this site has been live, but it has a number of games that are missing from the Dragon Archive.

I've attached the disc here for ease but you can just as easily download it over there too.

The disc includes (apparently) a Dragon conversion of the CoCo game Poltergeist (which was originally on an 8K cartridge).

Unfortunately, I can't get it to work under xRoar, and I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong.

You CLOAD the M.BAS menu and choose Poltergeist, it then gives the (1) Colour or (2) B&W option (clearly added by whoever did the rewrite). Then a message tells you to reset and type an EXEC command. With baited breath you do so... only for a big crash.

I don't know if xRoar does something different on a "reset" to a real emulator, or if the game needs some sort of expansion... Not sure at all. Anyone here got any ideas? Anyone that can get it to work?
Attachments
games_09b.zip
Poltergeist (CLOAD "M.BAS")
(78.48 KiB) Downloaded 279 times
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robcfg
Posts: 1529
Joined: Sat Apr 04, 2009 10:16 pm
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
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Re: Poltergeist Converted To The Dragon 32... What's Wrong?!

Post by robcfg »

Sorry for the offtopic, but take a look at your inbox, I've been trying to contact you for some time to send you back your disks.
zephyr
Posts: 1474
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2008 1:18 am

Re: Poltergeist Converted To The Dragon 32... What's Wrong?!

Post by zephyr »

daelectron wrote:Hi there,

So, I found this disc on the internet in a collection of vintage Dragon games over at:

http://www.dragon-it.co.uk/

Not sure how long this site has been live, but it has a number of games that are missing from the Dragon Archive.

I've attached the disc here for ease but you can just as easily download it over there too.

The disc includes (apparently) a Dragon conversion of the CoCo game Poltergeist (which was originally on an 8K cartridge).

Unfortunately, I can't get it to work under xRoar, and I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong.
That game will only work on a Dragon 64/200 or a Dragon 32 with 64K of RAM fitted. It switches the Dragon to 64K mode and copies the game code back to the cartridge area ($C000 - $DFFF).
daelectron
Posts: 150
Joined: Fri Jul 27, 2012 12:25 pm

Re: Poltergeist Converted To The Dragon 32... What's Wrong?!

Post by daelectron »

Ok, so here's my problem.

I have xRoar and I've copied the Dragon 64 roms to the topmost directory. I also have DragonDOS in the topmost directory.

I start xRoar and the Dragon says DRAGONDOS and I can catalogue the disc.

I type EXEC 48000 and turn the Dragon into a Dragon 64.

This act however "loses" the DragonDOS ROM. Now I'm stuck with tape, and so I can't play it...!
zephyr
Posts: 1474
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2008 1:18 am

Re: Poltergeist Converted To The Dragon 32... What's Wrong?!

Post by zephyr »

Just enter RUN"M" from the command prompt (32K mode), select the Poltergeist game and follow the on screen instructions.


EDIT: Just checked it and found a bug in the colour selection routine.

Try the attached versions. Games_09c.vdk is a simple bugfix of the original. Games_09d.vdk has been updated to use Steve Woolham's DOS detach utility. It does not ask you to press the reset button.
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games_09-zephyr.zip
(151.71 KiB) Downloaded 270 times
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Rolo
Posts: 228
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2013 7:36 pm

Re: Poltergeist Converted To The Dragon 32... What's Wrong?!

Post by Rolo »

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4460
I converted this too, back in 2013.
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