comp.sys.acorn.games

The Usenet newsgroup comp.sys.acorn.games is somewhat unusual in that a large percentage of the people who actually develop Acorn games also read, and sometimes post to, the newsgroup. Still, there haven't been many new games recently, so perhaps this doesn't mean much...

Anyway, I've collected some pieces of information from the group which I though might prove useful or of interest to people (italics in articles indicate the poster quoting a previous news article). Please note that all articles are copyright their original author.

• Saving games in BBC Exile
• Getting Starfighter 3000 to load reliably on a Risc PC
• Shanghai-type games
• About Acorn's GameModes module
• Fixing bugs in the Acorn User cover-disc version of Xenon 2
• Sales of the Acorn version of Wolfenstein 3D
• Improving the scrolling in XOR
• Finishing Dune 2

1. Create a directory called Star3000 in the same directory as !Star3000.
2. Move !Star3000 inside this directory, and rename it from Star3000 to !Star3000.
3. Create a boot file:
   

   | Star Fighter 3000 © FEDNET Software 1994, 1995
   Set Star3000$Dir <Obey$Dir>.!Star3000
   IconSprites <Star3000$Dir>.!Sprites

4. Create a run file:
   

   | Run SF3000
   Set Star3000$Dir <Obey$Dir>.!Star3000
   Echo StarFighter 3000 System boot-up...
   Copy ADFS::Star3000_1.$.!Star3000.Code.3DV_Handle <Star3000$Dir>.Code.* ~C~VF
   Copy ADFS::Star3000_1.$.!Star3000.Code.CMP_Handle <Star3000$Dir>.Code.* ~C~VF
   Run <Star3000$Dir>.!Run

5. This should solve the problem.
6. For key-clash problems, either redefine the keys within the game, or use my SubSpace module:
   http://www.kennedys.demon.co.uk/nick/software/downl.html

• !Taipei V1.00 by Andrew Fergusson & Alex Hopkins [1]
  
• !Taipei V1.00 by Simon Lockhart
  
• !Taipei V1.01 by Alex Hopkins
• !Taipei V1.00 by Andrew Fergusson (non-desktop)
• !Shanghai V2.00 by Wynand Thompson [2]
• !Shanghai (several unnumbered versions) by Julian Jiggins [3]

If anyone out there wants to try this for themselves, then you need to make a backup copy of the !Xenon2.Xenon2 file, and then modify the original (using !Zap or similar), so that address &1D720 = &E1A00000 (MOV R0,R0). This appears to fix the problem (for some reason, Xenon 2 seems to be writing to the vector table, which causes a data abort on RPCs, but not older machines).

Note : We take no responsibility for any consequences of doing this, and don't modify your original copy of the file - make a backup!

Please let me know by e-mail if this works on your system (or doesn't)!

Note 2 : This won't fix the SA sprite glitches, which are an unrelated problem.

# Patch for Xor
Application:!Xor &2000
Description:Xor
Patch:'Improved' scrolling
File:!Xor.!RunImage
Location:&11138
ChangeByte:2 4
Location:&1117C
ChangeByte:2 4
Location:&11190
ChangeByte:5 3
Location:&111A4
ChangeByte:5 3

• Addesses &11138 and &1117C: change #2 to #4
• Addresses &11190 and &111A4: change #5 to #3

First build two spice refineries to give you a fairly good cash supply coming in. Follow up with a radar, a couple of rocket turrets, a factory, a hi-tech factory and a heavy vehicle factory, leaving a 3x2 space for a repair facility. A few more rocket turrets and you're ready to go.

Somewhere around this point you'll be attacked, and things get hectic for a few minutes. Build that repair facility, and keep a strong defensive line at the north end of your base.

When the attacks begin to die down, build yourself a starport, and set up an assault force containing five siege tanks and five rocket tanks (Harkonen can replace a couple of the siege tanks with devastators, and Atreides should replace all the rocket tanks with sonic tanks). Head for the far right hand side or the far left hand side - both these construction yards are fairly weakly defended. As soon as you destroy any buildings, start building something yourself - this gives you another building yourself and prevents the enemy rebuilding.

Once you take out the construction yard, demolish that enemy. It's worth going for the Harkonen palace quickly (if you're not the Harkonen yourself) to cut down on the number of missile strikes.

On each side of the central complex (the Emperor's) there's a fairly easily accessible construction site, so once you've dealt with the other houses the Emperor shouldn't be much of a problem. Again, go for the palace ASAP to get rid of the missiles.

To which Martin Ward (Martin.Ward@durham.ac.uk) added (12/6/97):
Another construction yard and a few rocket turrets on the little island of rock to the NE will keep off most of the attackers.

This is all very well, but what about the poor old Ordos who can't build rocket tanks? I find them to be essential for taking out rocket turrets (did you know that if you aim a few rocket tanks at the patch of earth just in front of a turret, they will all stay out of range of the turret, but their rockets will still damage the turret enough to take it out?)

Fortunately there is a Harkonen heavy factory near the NW corner: if you can capture this, then you can start making rocket tanks. A good way to capture it: make a WOR in the extreme NW corner, build a few heavy trooper units, surround the factory, and move them all in at once. The first few damage the factory to the red level, the next one captures it, and the rest don't move.

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