Heyley Adventures - BBC Versions

[leenew]

Hi,
As many of you will be aware, the lost adventure games from Heyley software were recently found, courtesy of Dave Hitchins.
What Dave actually found was the Electron versions of the 5 adventure games originally released a year or two before, on the beeb.
See this thread for further info: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5447
The original BBC versions of these games, running in Mode7 are still lost, apart from STRANDED! which can be found on the STH disc collection disc H1

I was recently looking at these games again, and re-reading the thread, when I noticed a couple of things:

Firstly, Howard Roberts said that the Electron versions were identical to the beeb versions, and secondly, it appeared that the code to print the coloured text in MODE7 on the beeb had been left in the Electron version.

However, simply changing the games to run in MODE7 from MODE6 still did not bring the colours back.
After a bit more digging, I discovered the print routines are contained in a file called MODULE. This file is used across all 5 of the games.
The Electron versions had had some of this code altered because the display was now in MODE6.

Therefore, I took the MODULE file from the existing BBC version of STRANDED! and patched it in to the Electron version.
This appears to have restored the games back to their original BBC look and feel.

The 4 missing games now all look exactly like the existing STRANDED! and are probably as close to the original BBC released code as we will ever get.

Here they are:

Heyley Mode7 Adventures.zip

(315.83 KiB) Downloaded 144 times

**EDIT: Updated versions can be found further down the thread, here: http://www.stardot.org.uk/forums/viewto ... 10#p114741

A few more notes:
I have slightly altered the intro screen (which may or may not have been included with the original BBC releases?) to display the original (C) date, and to remove the mention of PRES, as it definitely would not have mentioned PRES on the beeb releases.

The only other compromise is with STRANDED!
The version we have on disc H1 does not have the original loading screen, and so I have used the Electron one. The trouble is that it mentions the Electron in the scrolling text.
I could have used the Robico one, but I am not sure if the "wavy" text is original or not?
I have a feeling that I sold an original Heyley version of STRANDED! to BillCarr, so he may be able to confirm what the original loading screen should look like...

Also, I have left the file SOLVE1 on all of the discs.
If you start any of the games, and type SOLVE, it will automatically play through the game from beginning to end.
You may want to remove this file

Thanks,

Lee.

[lurkio]

Good work!

[flaxcottage]

Nice one, Lee.

[leenew]

Ironically, STRANDED! may be the only one that needs looking at.
All the others are from the original source, whereas STRANDED! is a combo of the BBC files from Disc H1 (someone's hack of the protected disc and the loader from the Electron version.

Having said that.... It works for me (just checked save/restore)

**The BBC version of the game was used as the Elk version loads all over the screen, and looks worse in mode7 than in mode6! - Hopefully we can get a better version from BillCarr if indeed he has my old disc?...


Lee.

[billcarr2005]

Hopefully we can get a better version from BillCarr if indeed he has my old disc?...

Haven't tested it exhaustively, but it loads up.
O.Boot contains the original code which loaded the main code to &A00, now just contained within Boot.
Didn't like Watford DFS 1.30, gave "Bad sum - file disconnected" error at line 3810, followed by "No such variable" at line 225. Whatever caused that was fixed in Watford DFS 1.44 though, because it loads fine. Also has no problem with Acorn 1770 DFS.

[leenew]

Hi BillC,
I have copied the SOLVE1 file onto your disc and run it.
However, the game bombs out halfway through solving the game and resets the computer (BeebEm).
I may just take the loading screen from your version and place it on the version of the game I uploaded earlier, which can be solved to the end.
I wonder why this happens??

Lee.

[leenew]

Hmmm... not that simple.
Bill, if I copy the boot file and the loader screen S file, I also have to copy the B file.
I think boot loads S and then decrypts B but something is going wrong...
I cannot copy just the loader screen S as this then attempts to decrypt my already decrypted B (which is called RUN on my disc).
It does not work if I rename my RUN to B or if I copy your B across, as it bombs out in the same place..

Could you either isolate the loader screen to a benign screen that just returns control to me rather than trying to do any fancy stuff? or try to figure out why it is bombing out?
Ta.

lee.

[billcarr2005]

Are you sure the SOLVE1 solution will work properly with the BBC version of the game?
Did you run SOLVE1 and then put the emulator speed to 100?
I did that and discovered that one of the WAITs was killing me on the tracks, and then eventually N was being issued for "North" but was taken to be "No" for Another game?, so the computer resets, as usual.
If you shorten the length of SOLVE1 to 5C4, then WAIT & WAIT again, you should (hopefully) see the bombing out in real time.
Also, I made another disk image, just in case i'd overwritten anything important by saving off BOOT.

I'll have a look at the opening screen in case the solution (SOLVE1) is the correct solution - otherwise, it appears that the games might be slightly different?

[leenew]

Hi Bill,
Yes the Solve file works both on the Electron version and on the BBC version from the STH archive which is the source for my version that I posted above.
I will have another play...
Lee.

[billcarr2005]

I have a feeling that SOLVE1 isn't fully compatible... there's a part with
GET ENGINE
PUSH ENGINE
which results in something like "You don't see an engine", since only a "trolley" is around.
I've stopped dying when on the tracks by moving UP then DOWN (twice), but now die of starvation later on.

[leenew]

Hmmm... I think it may be helpful to make Howard Roberts aware of this and see if his memory may be jogged, or he may have found some notes in that large attic find he had.
I will try and contact him myself in the first instance.
Lee.

[billcarr2005]

The official helpsheet (here) http://www.stairwaytohell.com/gamehelp/ ... tsheet.zip - provided by Howard Roberts - mentions food... but there's no specific mention of it in SOLVE1.

Edit: Just found the EAT FISH command a few lines from where I died of starvation

Yes the Solve file works both on the Electron version and on the BBC version from the STH archive which is the source for my version that I posted above.

Perhaps the BBC version with the Electron loader is actually the Electron version which has been tweaked to display in MODE7... and then the handiwork is lost in the mists of time...

Have now altered SOLVE1 and managed to get 410 points before being killed by the mine carriage (again) - will take another look later

[leenew]

GAME SPOILERS AHEAD. GAME SPOILERS AHEAD GAME SPOILERS AHEADBill, if you open the SOLVE1 file in notepad you can see a few errors.
I think it is this that is affecting it.
I reckon there is a slightly different version of the interpreter (parser) in our versions.
The worst one I have seen gives:
GET MEMORY
N
On my version
but gives:

GET MEMORYN on your version....

The game starts to go wrong when you fail to get the engine
It must be somewhere after:
PUT ENGINE ON TROLLEY
and the
GET ENGINE a bit further along where you see the TROLLEY but without the engine...

[leenew]

Bill I think this is definitely something to do with the way the Solve file is being parsed.
I have edited it in notepad++ and made what I thought would be improvements e.g removing unneeded spaces etc. Somehow this breaks it. Don't understand why!!

Lee.

[leenew]

Or!! Do you think there could be some protection left in the game?
The action that fails is a crucial one to solving the game.
I have played both games side by side at slow speed and there is no difference right up to the point where you try to GET ENGINE. My version succeeds but yours fails at that crucial command, even though you clearly put it in the trolley earlier. ....
Lee.

**EDIT**

Lurkio has sent me transcripts of both versions of the game being played with the SOLVE1 script.
(I Don't know how but thanks anyway...) and the outputs are identical, word for word, comma for comma (apart from what is probably a glitch, where an inconsequential line of description is missing) right up to GET ENGINE.
It's all down hill from there when you are informed you don't have it.
Who nicked our engine???
Could it be protection Bill?

[billcarr2005]

S is the screen, and can be loaded fine with */S (select MODE4 first)
B is the BASIC program, the same as RUN, just EOR'd with &FF, then requires &1903 = 7 (from &F8 EOR &FF, inside BOOT).
On "your" disk, RUN line 2550 has - IF?&83<>1 y=FALSE:PROCall ELSE PROCU
whereas from the original disk it has - IF?&7B<>1 etc. Can't see any other differences!
The protection loop (Copy!!!) which was removed concerned the sector headers being in the correct place, taking skew into account.

Edit: Changed that line and all appears to work OK!

[leenew]

Excellent!, I guess that PEEK may have been protection after all!

(I will check what those locations are on the beeb and the electron shortly...)

Now I have seen your original disc, I will re-do the other 4 discs as close as I think they would have been originally, and re-post them all tomorrow.
Thanks for the big effort BillCarr!!

Lee.

[billcarr2005]

Think both locations &7B and &83 are just BASIC workspace. I've checked my original logs from transferring the disk over, and it's definitely &7B... but i can't find any reference to that in any code in BOOT, so not sure how / when it would be triggered. Perhaps it was just a bug!
70CB in Module2 has LDA#01 : STA&7B

[leenew]

Ha Ha, maybe the first BBC release was unsolvable?
Who knows!
Anyway, I have decrypted 'B' and changed that peek on line 2550 and as you say, it works perfectly

I feel a bit like Michael Brown here re-posting disks, but I am gonna do it anyway

Here are the 5 games re-done.
I have removed the initial text as I am almost certain that would have been only used on the Electron versions, and I have removed the SOLVE files, as they would not have been on the retail versions for obvious reasons...
*I have included a disc called "solutions", which contains the 5 SOLVE files.
Solve1S for Stranded, Solve1U for Ultimate prize, I will let you guess the rest.
They need to be renamed to SOLVE1 if you wish to put it back on its respective disc.

Heyley Beeb.zip

(390.33 KiB) Downloaded 155 times

Thanks,

Lee.

[billcarr2005]

I shall have to work my way through typing SOLVE1 manually next time i have the Stranded! disk out of storage, and when i can get into my BBC room!

[leenew]

Well, that's something to look forward to

Lee.

[richardtoohey]

So is this <cough> SOLVEd?

[leenew]

I would say so Richard, yes.
I have (with the help of the Solve file) completed all of these games many times now with no problems.
Now that Stranded works and is fully solvable I reckon that's it.
We really needed the beeb version of Stranded because the compromises made to the Electron version make it a bit err... Unpretty because data is loaded onto screen memory.
Until the originals turn up in the distant future, I reckon these are perfect replicas.
I declare this case closed.
Lee.

[billcarr2005]

Finished work early enough to waste some more time on this...
Cleared a way to my BBC, then realised Watford DFS 1.30 isn't suitable, decided to use a BBC Master instead, got an error when B is decrypted and run. Tried a BBC with DFS 1.20 - still an error.
Discovered the catalogue had an illegal character in one of the filenames, must have fixed it on the FSD but left as normal on the disk.
Tried again and got it running. Starved a few times because i was attempting to HIT VARDEN although he kept leaving the location.
Finally got to the appropriate location, with the engine on the trolley and...

The same error!

So it would appear that either it was released with a bug, or it's been modified at some time during it's life
At least I can be sure there was nothing wrong with the FSD transfer or subsequent protection removal
Can I get a refund Lee?

[leenew]

Eeek!
Surely the intellectual challenge of fixing this long lost game is worth its weight in gold?
... TAXI!


Lee.

[PitfallJones]

Hi Lee,

Superb job on resurrecting these lost games -

A very ingenious method you came up with to bring them back from the dead.

Thanks (and for all the efforts on the missing archive thread as well)

PJ

[leenew]

Thanks PJ it's appreciated
Though it was a team effort to get it fully solved...
Lee

[davidb]

Just thought I post a couple of links to an article about Heyley in Electron User that I found while looking for something else: first and second pages.

[lordroberts]

Necrobump to this thread...

I haven't logged in here for years so it was great to see the amazing work on these games. I had a final dig around in my loft a few years ago and the original BBC discs aren't there so it's awesome to see the original MODE 7 versions out there. I think that's as close as we'll ever get.

Just as a reminder for anyone playing the games, there are full hintsheets for all of them here:
http://www.stardot.org.uk/forums/downlo ... hp?id=6942

Cheers, Howard.

[leenew]

Thanks Howard!
It was a pleasure bringing them back to life

Lee.