Acorn Arcade forums: Games: Conqueror on A3000?
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Conqueror on A3000? |
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Steve101 (20:01 19/3/2014)
VincceH (22:12 19/3/2014)
CJE (12:04 20/3/2014)
davidb (13:41 20/3/2014)
sirbod (15:22 20/3/2014)
Steve101 (20:13 20/3/2014)
sirbod (21:58 20/3/2014)
Steve101 (18:59 22/3/2014)
sirbod (23:17 19/3/2014)
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Steve Slater |
Message #123141, posted by Steve101 at 20:01, 19/3/2014 |
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Posts: 23
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Hi,
I've just got hold of a copy of the original Conqueror for the Archimedes (the one with the tanks and patchwork landscape!) and am wondering whether this should run on my A3000.
It currently doesn't appear to. Starts to load then just hangs until I reset.
Not sure whether its a dodgy disk or just not compatible! |
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VinceH |
Message #123144, posted by VincceH at 22:12, 19/3/2014, in reply to message #123141 |
 Lowering the tone since the dawn of time
Posts: 1600
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It currently doesn't appear to. Starts to load then just hangs until I reset. It isn't - or shouldn't be - a compatibility issue, unless there are different versions of the game; I had and played Conqueror on an A3000 myself way back when. |
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Jon Abbott |
Message #123145, posted by sirbod at 23:17, 19/3/2014, in reply to message #123141 |
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Posts: 563
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It could be the disc protection failing from your description. From memory it uses the "R.A. North" protection, which has a split track 40 with SD and DD sectors 240 thru 243. |
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Chris Evans |
Message #123148, posted by CJE at 12:04, 20/3/2014, in reply to message #123144 |
CJE Micros chap
Posts: 228
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It currently doesn't appear to. Starts to load then just hangs until I reset. It isn't - or shouldn't be - a compatibility issue, unless there are different versions of the game; I had and played Conqueror on an A3000 myself way back when.
All A3000's had RISC OS 2 fitted in the factory. Most people upgraded to RISC OS 3.1 I think Conqueror would have come out in the RISC OS 2 era. Maybe there was a later version for RO3! |
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David Boddie |
Message #123150, posted by davidb at 13:41, 20/3/2014, in reply to message #123148 |
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Unless I'm misremembering, it should run on RISC OS 3. At least, the version in one of the CIS Hyperpacks did. I'm sure I'd left RISC OS 2 behind long before I played Conqueror.
Maybe make an image of the disk and compare it to someone else's copy. Use a hash function if you're not comfortable exchanging disk images. |
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Jon Abbott |
Message #123151, posted by sirbod at 15:22, 20/3/2014, in reply to message #123150 |
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It's impossible to copy the disc without dedicated hardware. If you have a HD fitted, you could use ADFFS to record what it's doing and confirm if it is the disc protection failing - a bit of a faff though.
Conqueror will run on anything from Arthur to RO5 and ARM2 to ARM710, so there's no problems there.
My notes on the disc protection are:
- Track 80 has mixed density sectors
- Track 80, 4 x DD 512 byte sectors 240, 241, 242, 243
- Track 80, 4 x SD 512 byte sectors 240, 241, 242, 243
- Track 80, SD and DD sector 243 bad CRC
- Track 80, SD and DD sector 241 bad CRC and nested sector:
- Track 80, SD and DD sector 242
- Track 81, unformatted track
- Tracks 82 to 159, 10 x 128 byte SD sectors 240 > 249
Reads: &200 from &2800 (&500000) - 40.240 (9, 250, 1, 1, &9C4000)
Reads: &200 from &2820 (&500400) - 40.242 (9, 250, 1, 1, &9C4000)
Reads: &200 from &2800 (&500000) - 40.240 (9, 250, 1, 2, &9C4000)
Reads: &200 from &2820 (&500400) - 40.242 (9, 250, 1, 2, &9C4000)
Reads: &1400 from &334 (&66800) - 82.0 (9, 10, 2, 2, &C8000)
.. continues reading up to:
Reads: &1400 from &50A (&A1400) - 129.0 (9, 10, 2, 2, &C8000)
So, there's a fair amount there that can fail if the disc is damaged in any way. I suspect it is failing on one of the first four reads at track 40.
Does the drive head move for a while before it hangs? You should hear the head moving for ~10 secs whilst it reads the game off from Track 82 thru 129. |
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Steve Slater |
Message #123152, posted by Steve101 at 20:13, 20/3/2014, in reply to message #123151 |
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Guys,
Thanks for the responses!
Its RISC OS 3.1 I have on my A3000.
The disk registers when I stick it in and it notifies its loading on the monitor. Doesn't get to a loading screen or start screen, just sits there saying conqueror on the black back screen. (I've tried loading it through the desktop and direct from a reset through the supervisor(?) screen).
It sounds reasonably healthy when the disk is in (doesn't sound like its labouring over the same bit over and over - I have an Atari ST so know what that sounds like). Spends a while making the expected sounds then stops and does nothing.
I do have an internal compact flash hard disk (thanks to Dave Holden) so I could run ADFFS if I can get it onto it). |
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Jon Abbott |
Message #123153, posted by sirbod at 21:58, 20/3/2014, in reply to message #123152 |
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I do have an internal compact flash hard disk (thanks to Dave Holden) so I could run ADFFS if I can get it onto it). If you use *ADFRecord to start it recording, launch the game then press CTRL-SHIFT-F10 when it's finished, hopefully you'll end up with a Data file with something in it. Send that to me (jon at jaspp dot org dot uk) and I'll analyse it to see if the protection is the issue.
How much RAM do you have? If it's 1MB, you may need to lower all the memory setting in Tasks. You could also try running the game via the boot script in ADFFS (!ADFFS.obey.F10090) as some games don't set their minimum requirements. It needs 160k screen memory, everything else can be set as low as possible.
[Edited by sirbod at 21:58, 20/3/2014] |
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Steve Slater |
Message #123156, posted by Steve101 at 18:59, 22/3/2014, in reply to message #123153 |
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Thanks Jon I'll try that and let you know whether I get anything from it.
Edit:// I have 2Mb ram so am assuming that's not an issue(?).
The Conqueror manual does have a few tips on settings which I tried to use (*commands ahead of loading the game, but they didn't appear to make a difference).//
Risc OS is new to me so I'm learning as I go along!
Cheers, Steve.
[Edited by Steve101 at 19:07, 22/3/2014] |
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Acorn Arcade forums: Games: Conqueror on A3000? |
