Omnimaga

Calculator Community => Discontinued => Major Community Projects => Elimination => Topic started by: Hot_Dog on December 30, 2011, 08:04:19 pm

Title: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Hot_Dog on December 30, 2011, 08:04:19 pm
For those of you who would like to test Elimination to see if it's too easy or too hard, you can download this Beta version below.  

The purpose of this release of Elimination is for you as the players to test the first five "easy" levels.  I want you to pretend you are a beginner and see if these 5 levels are too easy or too hard for beginners.  If a level is too easy or too hard, please post suggestions here.  This does not apply to secrets, I don't think that secrets should be "easy" to find

If you want to read the "readme / important information", you can click on this spoiler.  However, I know that you all know everything and don't need a readme  :P

EDIT3: New version, saves Calibration.  Also with more ammunition

Spoiler For Spoiler:


* Read the bottom of this spoiler for the keys to use.
* You start with all weapons except for the chaingun, which you have to pick up in level 3.  (Read below for weapon descriptions)  However, you do need to find ammunition
* Remember, you are testing for difficulty.  You don't need to try to break things and test for bugs.  However, if you come across a bug, please feel free to let me know.
* This game does not yet work on the Nspire.  Don't try it.
* When you reach the level five boss, don't try to get back to the locked door with the "III" on it, the one that you enter to get to the boss.  I forgot to have that area sealed off, and that's something I need to fix, but I feel that there will be bugs with other enemies if you "run away" to the main area.
* Please DO NOT report these bugs that I know about:
--Chaingun displaying an incorrect message when you pick it up
--Enemies and dead bodies appear in incorrect locations when a saved game is loaded.  This bug does not hamper gameplay, but if I were to try to fix it, saved games would be much too large
--Text in the menu appears gibberish.  I know that I have to fix this, but just remember that the first item is "New Game," and the last item is "Quit."
--Enemies in a line die to the same shot.  This requires too much effort to fix, so in the manual I'll use the excuse that the player has "piercing" weapons.  Besides, it adds more strategy :D
--Menu cursor displays black boxes when it moves up/down, and the text "Results" appears at the bottom
--Scoreboard at the end of a level appears over the game instead of a clean screen

Controls
-------------------------------

2nd / Mode -- Fire, Select Option from Main Menu
Alpha / XTThetaN -- Walk sideways
GRAPH -- Finish Calibrating
Enter -- Button you use to skip most screens
DEL -- Open a door or flip a switch on
APPS -- Bring up the lightsaber.  The lightsaber does 10 damage, and needs no ammo.  You must be close to an enemy to use it.
Y = -- Use the handgun.  The handgun does 3 damage.  It's semiautomatic, but it will fire as fast as you push the 2nd or mode buttons.  It does very little, if any, splash damage.
WINDOW -- Use the shotgun.  The shotgun does 12 damage with splash.  It needs time to reload.
ZOOM -- Use the chaingun.  Every time you hold the trigger, the chaingun requires time to warm up, so the first 8 bullets do only 2 damage each.  After that, bullets will do 3 damage each until the trigger is released.  The chaingun does some splash damage.
TRACE -- Use the rocket launcher.  Rockets do 40 damage with splash.  If you're too close to a wall, an object or an enemy, you'll get hurt, up to a maximum of 20 damage.
GRAPH (In Game)-- Use the Annihilator, the plasma gun.  Plasma cells do 1 damage each, but they will damage anything you can see on screen, and sometimes enemies right on the edge of the screen.
MATH -- Toggle the map on/off.  You can move while the map is on.
X-1 -- Toggle the HUD on/off.
+ -- Skip a level.  With this button, it will take about 2 seconds before the game is ready to move to the next level.  You MUST have the HUD on for this to work (a bug that will be fixed later)
1 -- Save your game.  Make sure you don't run applications that could erase page 3, such as Crabcake games or thepenguin77's chess game
4 -- Load your game.  You must be in-game to load a game.  If you exit after saving, select "New Game", then press 4 to load your previous game



Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on December 30, 2011, 10:23:48 pm
O.O

Wow I think I'm gonna try to test ASAP. Happy to see a version out because it seemed really great. First, Starcraft II is calling, though <.<
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Darl181 on December 30, 2011, 11:26:58 pm
First time I ran it, it froze in-game (as in, it started by not responding to keypresses then the grayscale froze :/)
Also walking right (XTΘn) doesn't work for me, however walking left does.
Mode brings up a map, and fires when you press it again to hide the map (and that fire consumes 2 ammunition), and 2nd toggles the HUD whilst firing. ???
Pressing apps brings up the light saber as it's supposed to, but only after displaying the map.
Also I'm not sure if it's supposed to be this way but initially only the handgun is accessible.  As in, pressing other top-row keys don't appear to switch weapons like in the screenies.

Btw how do you unpause, or is there a way?

Edit: if it matters, 84pbe, full 128k ram, 21k ram free when ran.
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Hot_Dog on December 30, 2011, 11:42:16 pm
First time I ran it, it froze in-game (as in, it started by not responding to keypresses then the grayscale froze :/)
Also walking right (XTΘn) doesn't work for me, however walking left does.
Mode brings up a map, and fires when you press it again to hide the map (and that fire consumes 2 ammunition), and 2nd toggles the HUD whilst firing. ???
Pressing apps brings up the light saber as it's supposed to, but only after displaying the map.
Also I'm not sure if it's supposed to be this way but initially only the handgun is accessible.  As in, pressing other top-row keys don't appear to switch weapons like in the screenies.

Btw how do you unpause, or is there a way?

Edit: if it matters, 84pbe, full 128k ram, 21k ram free when ran.

The calculator does matter, because none of this happened on my Ti-83+ SE. I'm sorry about that, and I'll see if I can find out what's wrong.

By the way, yes, at the beginning, you can only use the handgun.  The other weapons are empty of any ammunition, so you have to find ammunition.

EDIT: Maybe it has to do with Classic mode?  Just a thought
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on December 31, 2011, 01:22:02 am
Btw is it compatible with the regular 83+ too?

EDIT: Anyway I tried on my 84+ and could play the game fine, also it was pretty great so far. :D My suggestions, however, would be to:

-Change calibration confirm key to 2nd or Enter. Hadn't I not read the spoiler, I would have pulled a battery, thinking my calc is stuck there.
-Be more consistent with Enter and 2nd. Only use one of them, preferably 2nd, which is the standard in calc gaming. I noticed we have to constantly alternate between Enter and 2nd
-The ability to view a 15x15 minimap on the side of the screen while seeing the game normally. However maybe that would slow the game down too much.
-Slow down both gun and sword animations, else we barely see them on-calc
-Maybe change the enemy bars at the top of the screen to arrows or actual health bars. If they are meant to be health bars, in my test they were not working, although maybe that wasn't added yet
-The rest of the controls are pretty fine.
-make it so when you get hit, the entire screen (except the HUD) gets XOR'ed during 0.25 seconds then goes back to normal, so it's easier to notice. Another alternative could be to XOR the HUD for a few moments.
-Make the HUD visible by default.
-There's a glitch with the main menu arrow. It leaves a black trail behind it.

Difficulty-wise, I would say maybe have more ammos in the first level, but make enemies do a bit more damage. I ran out of ammo extremely fast, but enemies weren't very dangerous. I didn't test the other levels yet, though, since I couldn't figure out how to save and choosing resume after quitting caused a RAM clear on my 84+ (I have OS 2.55MP btw).

In general, however, the difficulty was quite good so far. Nice job so far on the game. :)
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Hot_Dog on December 31, 2011, 08:55:13 am
Darl181, try the new version found at the top of the page.  I added more delay between key presses, something I forgot to do

DJ_O, thanks for the feedback!

Quote
-Change calibration confirm key to 2nd or Enter. Hadn't I not read the spoiler, I would have pulled a battery, thinking my calc is stuck there.
-Be more consistent with Enter and 2nd. Only use one of them, preferably 2nd, which is the standard in calc gaming. I noticed we have to constantly alternate between Enter and 2nd

You're right on both of those.  There's a good reason I'm not doing it right now (and sorry for the trouble it adds), but in the next build I plan to make BOTH 2nd and Enter valid on any menu.

Quote
-The ability to view a 15x15 minimap on the side of the screen while seeing the game normally. However maybe that would slow the game down too much.

That's actually a very good idea.  It's low priority, however, one of those things I'll add if there's time.

Quote
-Slow down both gun and sword animations, else we barely see them on-calc

I can do that :D

Quote
-Maybe change the enemy bars at the top of the screen to arrows or actual health bars. If they are meant to be health bars, in my test they were not working, although maybe that wasn't added yet

They're like health bars in RTS games: Health bars with less fill in the middle are enemies with low hit points.  As you play levels 2-5 you'll see enemies with more hitpoints, and then you'll really see the health bars in action

Quote
make it so when you get hit, the entire screen (except the HUD) gets XOR'ed during 0.25 seconds then goes back to normal, so it's easier to notice. Another alternative could be to XOR the HUD for a few moments.

XORing the HUD will be faster, and I will do that.  If the HUD is off, I'll blacken the bottom of the screen.


Quote
-Make the HUD visible by default.

Good idea

Quote
-There's a glitch with the main menu arrow. It leaves a black trail behind it.

You're right about that, and that's a bug I'm aware of.




Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on December 31, 2011, 11:52:05 am
Ah I see about the enter/2nd alternating. I guess having both as confirm keys would be a good idea too in future versions :)

As for the health bars, I guess I was just missing the enemy then. :P I thought even if I hit them the bar didn't decrease and that it was a bug. :P

-Actually now comes another suggestion: When hitting the enemy, have a different frame show up for a while or some sort of blood splash (or if it's already done and the animation was just too fast, slow down that animation too). Another idea is to make it XOR'ed, but like the extra frame that would require an extra sprite per enemy.
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Darl181 on December 31, 2011, 12:58:15 pm
Ok,I'll try the new version.
I've never really played any FPSes before, unless wolfenstein on the 9860 counts...:P
Anyway I kept running out of ammunition, and stuck with the light saber.
(also when I pressed Apps to bring up the light saber one time, it brought up the pause menu..:/)

Forgot to say, but I'm using OS 2.43: no mathprint.
Tho I do have zstart installed...?

Edit: ok I uninstalled zStart and it acted like the first time I ran it-fine through the menus then unresponsive at game-time.  Second run it acts the same, with keys swapped and etc
Now sending the new version.

Edit1: New version has same problems as the old version D:
Tried in wabbit (wabbit version from 12/22) and wabbit froze completely.  I can't get any of my old 83pse roms working so I can't check if it works for that.
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Hot_Dog on December 31, 2011, 02:16:13 pm
Quote
-Actually now comes another suggestion: When hitting the enemy, have a different frame show up for a while or some sort of blood splash (or if it's already done and the animation was just too fast, slow down that animation too). Another idea is to make it XOR'ed, but like the extra frame that would require an extra sprite per enemy.

Another good suggestion, and that one won't be hard to add.

Quote
Anyway I kept running out of ammunition, and stuck with the light saber.

I will add more ammunition.  DJ had the same problem, and of course since you've never played FPSes before, you're a perfect one to tell me if these are too hard

Quote
Edit1: New version has same problems as the old version

Ugh...Last time I waited 8 T-States for the keyport, and in this version I waited 21 T-States.  If that's not the what's causing the problem, I don't know what is, but I don't have access to an 83+ BE to find out what's wrong.  Let's see what other responses come in, because now I have no clue what to do.

By the way, when I ran this through my Ti-83+ SE, I also had a problem with no response time.  But I can't yet duplicate the error consistently, so I don't know where to look for the problem.


Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on December 31, 2011, 02:20:22 pm
Actually, I think Duke Nukem 3D had the same ammunition problem, now that I think about it. :P
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: ben_g on December 31, 2011, 03:11:47 pm
I tried it in easy difficulty, and it isn't to difficould nor to easy. And I think I found a bug: when you're standing in front of a  closed door, the robots can go through the closed door when they walk around you, and they can still shoot at you through the closed door.
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Hot_Dog on December 31, 2011, 04:11:30 pm
Ben_g, which calculator are you using?  I still have to fix the bug with enemies walking into doors, but I thought I had fixed the problem of them shooting through doors.  I'll have to look into that

Also, I forgot to tell everyone: When shooting at a monster, the monster should be in the center of your screen for the weapon to aim properly.  All weapons shoot at the center of the screen.



Quote
I can't get any of my old 83pse roms working so I can't check if it works for that.

You can download TI Flash Debugger, and just change the file Ti83ps.clc into Ti83ps.rom by chaning the name.  It will work with Wabbitemu.  If this causes Elimination to work, I'll know it's a Ti-84+ problem
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Darl181 on December 31, 2011, 04:17:08 pm
The game itself runs great, it's just those keys :\

Quote
I can't get any of my old 83pse roms working so I can't check if it works for that.

You can [hidden =P].  It will work with Wabbitemu.  If this causes Elimination to work, I'll know it's a Ti-84+ problem
I think that's what I did :P but then again that was a year or so ago.  Think original ti-boy XD/me wonders if he could find the old flash drive again...
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Hot_Dog on December 31, 2011, 04:28:35 pm
Ok Darl, I'm going to be daring and insane.  Try this one--for keypresses, not for freezing problems.
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: ben_g on December 31, 2011, 05:11:23 pm
Ben_g, which calculator are you using?
I'm emulating a normal 84+ with wabbitemu with OS 2.55MP and boot code 1.02 (rom comes from a real calculator).
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Darl181 on December 31, 2011, 07:55:38 pm
Ok Darl, I'm going to be daring and insane.  Try this one--for keypresses, not for freezing problems.
Still there..
Do you know what kind of apps would conflict with this?  Otherwise idk, unless it's related to the hardware somehow.
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: TIfanx1999 on January 02, 2012, 10:12:16 am
Nice to see a test version. I'm gonna test this (probably tomorrow) on several different models and give ya feedback. =)
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Camdenmil on January 02, 2012, 12:32:15 pm
Every time I run the game, it forgets my grayscale calibration. Can you at least add it to the main menu because it doesn't ask me to re-calibrate it until I delete the appvar? Also, when I press clear in the game and select one of the first two options, it freezes.
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Hot_Dog on January 02, 2012, 03:45:58 pm
Every time I run the game, it forgets my grayscale calibration. Can you at least add it to the main menu because it doesn't ask me to re-calibrate it until I delete the appvar? Also, when I press clear in the game and select one of the first two options, it freezes.

I'm sorry, I thought it saved the calibration.  I will fix that, because I'm about to re-release the test version with more ammunition.

So when you press CLEAR and select "New Game," does it freeze?  Don't mess around with "Resume" for right now, I'm actually planning on getting rid of that option.
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Hot_Dog on January 02, 2012, 07:49:14 pm
A new version is up, with more ammunition to all levels except level 5 (I want to wait and see feedback for that level.)  Please don't report if you are "occasionally" running out of ammo.  However, if you are still having ammo trouble, like running out over and over, please show me a screenshot of the area you are having trouble with.  

The new version also saves calibration settings.
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on January 02, 2012, 07:57:48 pm
Cool to hear. I don't know if I'll have to test the other levels but I'll try to at least test the first when I get some time.
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Darl181 on January 02, 2012, 08:08:58 pm
How do you unpause, btw?  I can't seem to figure it out :P
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Hot_Dog on January 02, 2012, 08:22:26 pm
How do you unpause, btw?  I can't seem to figure it out :P

Actually, I haven't really implemented "pausing."  When you press CLEAR, you end your game.  I'll add pausing in the next version.  Don't forget that you can save your game for mess-ups such as this
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Camdenmil on January 03, 2012, 10:18:24 pm
Every time I run the game, it forgets my grayscale calibration. Can you at least add it to the main menu because it doesn't ask me to re-calibrate it until I delete the appvar? Also, when I press clear in the game and select one of the first two options, it freezes.

I'm sorry, I thought it saved the calibration.  I will fix that, because I'm about to re-release the test version with more ammunition.

So when you press CLEAR and select "New Game," does it freeze?  Don't mess around with "Resume" for right now, I'm actually planning on getting rid of that option.

In the actual game, when I pressed clear, I get a menu that lets me choose between: Factory, Ground, [Difficulty], Storyline On/Off, and Quit. If I select the first two (which seem like a bug anyway) it freezes. If I change difficulty, it doesn't remember it on next startup but it does remember storyline. I messed with this in level one.
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Hot_Dog on January 03, 2012, 11:07:25 pm
Every time I run the game, it forgets my grayscale calibration. Can you at least add it to the main menu because it doesn't ask me to re-calibrate it until I delete the appvar? Also, when I press clear in the game and select one of the first two options, it freezes.

I'm sorry, I thought it saved the calibration.  I will fix that, because I'm about to re-release the test version with more ammunition.

So when you press CLEAR and select "New Game," does it freeze?  Don't mess around with "Resume" for right now, I'm actually planning on getting rid of that option.

In the actual game, when I pressed clear, I get a menu that lets me choose between: Factory, Ground, [Difficulty], Storyline On/Off, and Quit. If I select the first two (which seem like a bug anyway) it freezes. If I change difficulty, it doesn't remember it on next startup but it does remember storyline. I messed with this in level one.

Strange, I have never, ever had a problem with the first menu item ("Factory", or "New Game").  Which calculator are you using?
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Darl181 on January 04, 2012, 01:07:05 am
The same has happened to me, I guess it sticks the level name in the "pause" menu :P
Tho for me, on a 84pbe, it didn't freeze when I selected the first option..haven't tried loading yet.

Actually I haven't tried the newer version with more ammo yet..aside from calibration being saved did anything else change?
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Hot_Dog on January 04, 2012, 11:00:48 am
Whatever the case, I'm well aware that the menu items become corrupted, and I know exactly why.  The reason I don't fix it is because it's easier said than done the way the program is laid out.  The game requires that some sections of code be located exactly where they are, and if I add or take away more code, I have to reset all the code positions...I didn't want to fight with that for this release.  

However, the menu corruption should not cause the game to freeze when the option at the very top is selected.  Whenever I select that option, it starts a new game and I see "LEVEL 1  THE UNDERGROUND FACTORY."  I have no idea why it would freeze on other calculators.

Actually I haven't tried the newer version with more ammo yet..aside from calibration being saved did anything else change?

Nope, just more ammunition
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Hayleia on January 06, 2012, 02:46:24 pm
Bug report D:

So I ran Elimination, played a little then quit.
Then I did many things on my calc, and here, I can't be explanative (because I do a lot of different things with it, I can't remember everything)
But when I ran Elimination again, it froze in the raycasting part (read: not in the menu).
So for no reason, I tried all of the keys and then the calc turned off. I expect a RAM Clear.
The RAM Clear comes, but my screen is also upside down (not rotated 180 degrees, just upside down, with leftside left and rightside right).
To set it back to normal (normal RAM Clear again didn't work), I had to RAM Clear with [Clear] kept pressed, then cause crash by launching an app.

If you need more information, you can ask of course, but I don't think I could give more :-\
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Nick on January 06, 2012, 02:49:34 pm
Bug report D:

So I ran Elimination, played a little then quit.
Then I did many things on my calc, and here, I can't be explanative (because I do a lot of different things with it, I can't remember everything)
But when I ran Elimination again, it froze in the raycasting part (read: not in the menu).
So for no reason, I tried all of the keys and then the calc turned off. I expect a RAM Clear.
The RAM Clear comes, but my screen is also upside down (not rotated 180 degrees, just upside down, with leftside left and rightside right).
To set it back to normal (normal RAM Clear again didn't work), I had to RAM Clear with [Clear] kept pressed, then cause crash by launching an app.

If you need more information, you can ask of course, but I don't think I could give more :-\

woooo i love those moments xp then you're like in a dilemma: bad for calc, or nice, something special xp

but it still is weird
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Hot_Dog on January 06, 2012, 03:08:28 pm
Bug report D:

So I ran Elimination, played a little then quit.
Then I did many things on my calc, and here, I can't be explanative (because I do a lot of different things with it, I can't remember everything)
But when I ran Elimination again, it froze in the raycasting part (read: not in the menu).
So for no reason, I tried all of the keys and then the calc turned off. I expect a RAM Clear.
The RAM Clear comes, but my screen is also upside down (not rotated 180 degrees, just upside down, with leftside left and rightside right).
To set it back to normal (normal RAM Clear again didn't work), I had to RAM Clear with [Clear] kept pressed, then cause crash by launching an app.

If you need more information, you can ask of course, but I don't think I could give more :-\

That's quite unusual.  Until I am able to consistently force the bug where the game freezes on the raycasting part, I'm stumped
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Hayleia on January 06, 2012, 03:12:02 pm
Wait there is something I didn't precise. It froze just after the menu.
Yet, I can't even remember if it froze for real or if keys weren't responding or if greyscale was still here or not :-\ All I can say is that moving was impossible, and it turned off approximately when I pressed [tan] (don't know if the key is the problem or if it took time before crashing)
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: squidgetx on January 06, 2012, 03:28:03 pm
i tried this on wabbit briefly:

I know this would be a huge pain to deal with, but I feel like the graphics are too indistinct...? Idk how to explain it...
One solution: maybe make the textures less complicated...It's just that it's hard to discern what the walls are. It's playable fine, but I feel like if I was actually in a legit firefight I would want to be able to know my surroundings without having to guess at them
Edit: it's definitely the textures: here's an example place where I had difficulty figuring out where I was. The path forward is directly in front of me, but it's hard to see. Maybe you can scale the walls less extremely?
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Hot_Dog on January 06, 2012, 03:59:41 pm
Wait there is something I didn't precise. It froze just after the menu.
Yet, I can't even remember if it froze for real or if keys weren't responding or if greyscale was still here or not :-\ All I can say is that moving was impossible, and it turned off approximately when I pressed [tan] (don't know if the key is the problem or if it took time before crashing)

It seems that most of the time, it's just an infinite loop.  Every time someone has had this error, including myself, the grayscale was working.  If the calculator continues to show grayscale, the calculator has not crashed.  Like I said, I need to be able to repeatedly duplicate the bug.  I'll make that a priority.

I know this would be a huge pain to deal with, but I feel like the graphics are too indistinct...? Idk how to explain it...
One solution: maybe make the textures less complicated...It's just that it's hard to discern what the walls are. It's playable fine, but I feel like if I was actually in a legit firefight I would want to be able to know my surroundings without having to guess at them
Edit: it's definitely the textures: here's an example place where I had difficulty figuring out where I was. The path forward is directly in front of me, but it's hard to see. Maybe you can scale the walls less extremely?

I know that it's frustrating for some people, but I don't think there's going to be anything I can do about it.  It's a low resolution 2-color screen, and some people complain about lack of full screen, which can only be fixed by rewriting the engine (blah) or with scaling the walls the way they are.  Perhaps less complicated textures are the way to go, but I would not be pleased with the game if I were to "dim the textures down."  

EDIT: It's probably easier to tell the difference with actual hardware.  At least I found that to be true.
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Darl181 on January 06, 2012, 06:41:21 pm
I'm not sure what caused Hayleia's crash, but I'm wondering if it has to do with this (http://ourl.ca/6348)?
Spoiler For img:
(http://www.omnimaga.org/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=3751.0;attach=2294;image)
http://ourl.ca/6348.msg48106#msg48106
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Hot_Dog on January 07, 2012, 12:23:42 am
Things aren't looking hopeful, because I can't for the life of me find out what's breaking the startup sequence.  Every time I run programs and stuff and then run Elimination, everything is as smooth as clockwork.

I will somehow find a way to fix this bug, but moving on, has anyone besides ben_g gotten past level 1?
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Darl181 on January 11, 2012, 03:07:53 pm
Just tried the new version, with more ammo.  Every time I ran the app I had to re-calibrate, and when I got to the actual game it was stuck on the map, rather than the FPS view.
Same calc.
:/
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Hot_Dog on January 11, 2012, 03:17:42 pm
Darl181, two suggestions:

1. There are some programs that require ram page $83, and they might be erasing the saved data for the values you chose for Calibration.
2. If you keep seeing "It looks like you're playing for the first time", make sure the appvar for Elimination isn't being erased constantly.

Other than that, I'm going to have to re-release this test version sometime.  Pretty much every single bug here is something I've never experienced before.  You guys can play for fun, but since gameplay isn't 100% acceptable, please don't report levels as too easy or too hard.
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Darl181 on January 11, 2012, 03:22:50 pm
The appvar's still there, and I ran the app twice, one time right after the other, and both times it asked to calibrante.
It's still freezing sometimes too... x.x

I guess it just doesn't want to work on my calc or something :P
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Hot_Dog on January 11, 2012, 03:28:37 pm
It might be the fact that it's an 84+.  But I don't have one to test with
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Darl181 on January 11, 2012, 03:32:13 pm
Maybe if you made a test program using the routine you use to get the keypresses that does something like this (https://http://ourl.ca/7652), we might be able to find out what's going on?
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Hot_Dog on January 11, 2012, 03:34:17 pm
Well, that's not the big problem.  The problem is how the calculator isn't saving calibration and how it always seems to freeze.  I've rarely had the latter, never had the former happen to me.
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: calc84maniac on January 12, 2012, 12:40:25 pm
Hot_Dog, what extra RAM are you using, exactly? And, are you using it to store any values between runs?
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Hot_Dog on January 12, 2012, 02:15:42 pm
Hmmm...that's a good question.

AppData
RamCode
AppBackUpScreen
TempSwapArea
SmallEditRAM
CmdShadow
TextShadow (I fix it before quitting)
StatVars
savesscreen
All of page $83, except for the two areas that could contaminate the 84+ OS

The only permanent information is for saving games, this should not affect anything except calibration

EDIT: Games will save to an appvar in the next version for more permanent results.  However, this doesn't explain why games freeze at startup from time to time
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Hot_Dog on January 17, 2012, 09:22:16 pm
Darl181, can you tell me exactly what you use zStart for and what settings you have turned on?  I know that after you uninstalled zStart you still had trouble running the game the first time, but I am still trying to recreate the situation.  After 50 test runs I still cannot force the game to crash on startup :banghead:
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Darl181 on January 19, 2012, 12:14:34 am
Sorry, missed the post :/
Same calc but I'll say it anyways: 84pbe, OS 2.43, 128k ram (rev. B)

zStart 1.3.005

Using Omnicalc 1.26 through zStart: Entries menu, RAM recovery, Base conversion, lowercase letters, thousands separators, quick apps, hide finance app
Run on ram clear
Program that runs on ram clears is a small BASIC menu that uses omnicalc to recover ram if confirmed
Shell: MirageOS (1.2)
Run programs from Homescreen

Also have Usb8x+Msd8x, tho I doubt those hooks would interfere with much..?

Edit: it didn't crash on startup, it would get through calibration and etc then, say, one time out of ten it would freeze when you get to the game part.

Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Deep Toaster on January 27, 2012, 06:25:37 pm
I haven't tested too much yet (or read the posts in this thread so far, so I apologize if someone's already said this before), but I really like it so far ;D

Couple things:
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Darl181 on January 27, 2012, 06:45:53 pm
Random idea: Maybe have the walls draw as solid black (or maybe white, so there can be black lines to show borders) after a certain distance?  The close-up walls would still have the textures.
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Deep Toaster on January 27, 2012, 06:50:43 pm
Or gray with black borders, since the game's in grayscale anyway? I have no idea how that would complicate the code, though.
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Darl181 on January 27, 2012, 07:43:36 pm
I thought of that, but it might look weird because the wall texture is black and white.
Tho maybe the texture could "blend" into gray :P
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on January 27, 2012, 08:59:02 pm
Hmm I forgot to bring this up before but the recent return of Coelurus reminded me that Gemini was created in the days of Mirage OS 1.1, Ion and OS 1.12.

You should maybe check the code to make sure it's compatible with OS 1.19, because I know a lot of old games from 1999-2002 tend to crash regularly on OS 1.14 or above. While your game might crash sometimes, Gemini itself crashed more if I used something else than MirageOS 1.1 and/or OS 1.12.
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Deep Toaster on January 27, 2012, 09:06:07 pm
I don't think Elimination is for TI-83 Plus models at all ???
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on January 27, 2012, 09:11:49 pm
Oh right I forgot OS 1.12 doesn't run on the 15 MHz models. :P Still, problems started to occur in OS 1.14, though (not just with Gemini. I know ARPGCS for instance crashed every exit or close), and OS 1.13 runs on 15 MHz models (I really don't recommend it though lol)
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: Deep Toaster on January 27, 2012, 11:41:22 pm
Oh right I forgot OS 1.12 doesn't run on the 15 MHz models. :P Still, problems started to occur in OS 1.14, though (not just with Gemini. I know ARPGCS for instance crashed every exit or close), and OS 1.13 runs on 15 MHz models (I really don't recommend it though lol)
Actually, I forgot that the other 1.1x OSes run on 15 MHz calculators too. I completely forgot about the 83PSE line, though they're disappearing now too.
Title: Re: Elimination Test Version #1
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on January 27, 2012, 11:47:08 pm
Yeah the 83+SE ran OS 1.13 through 1.19 while the 83+ ran 1.12 through 1.19. The 83+SE was discontinued since July 2004, though. Not sure for how long the 83+ will be available, since certain countries no longer have them for sale individually for students.