Bad/corrupt disk transfers (TACGR/CPC-POWER)

Xyphoe · 06:45, 01 June 10

Hi guys,

First let me preface this by saying I massively appreciate all the work and effort gone into transferring all the Amstrad games and making them publicly free to download - its such a massive work and undertaking and I'm eternally grateful.

OK so recently I've come across a few bad transfers, such as Alien Storm on the topic I posted and now recently Killer Cobra (which has corruption on section 6 making it impossible to progress) and Dynamite Dux (the water gun disappears after pickup against the 2nd fire boss again progress is impossible), etc.

I'm just wondering if there's a central point that 'bug reports' can be submitted to regarding these? Rather than posting a separate topic each time, but some way of tracking which eventually will need another go at. I stress eventually as everyone is busy and no-ones expecting anyone rush out and sort! (also it could be bad emulation which I'm not ruling out)

Cheers!

Gryzor · 07:41, 01 June 10

Well, I guess it comes down to the question of who did the original dump... But isn't CPC Power supposed to offer verified images?

CPCIak · 12:03, 01 June 10

There're 4395 games available: In my opinion ist's negligible that some have bugs.

MacDeath · 15:24, 01 June 10

That's a point : to veify a whole game you haave to play it completely to the end...

So a minor bug may occur as the original dump is on a magnetic stuff...

Xyphoe · 19:59, 01 June 10

Quote from: MacDeath on 15:24, 01 June 10
That's a point : to veify a whole game you haave to play it completely to the end...

So a minor bug may occur as the original dump is on a magnetic stuff...

Yea exactly, you're totally right. Killer Cobra being a good example as I've managed to progress past section 4 meteor storm which is *rock hard* and get all the way to section 6 and be confronted with a nasty bug!

There's no way every one of them can be checked like this, but if someone like myself comes across this I think it would be a nice idea to have a central point to submit these bugs and issues so in the future they can be corrected?

arnoldemu · 08:40, 02 June 10

Quote from: Xyphoe on 19:59, 01 June 10
Yea exactly, you're totally right. Killer Cobra being a good example as I've managed to progress past section 4 meteor storm which is *rock hard* and get all the way to section 6 and be confronted with a nasty bug!

There's no way every one of them can be checked like this, but if someone like myself comes across this I think it would be a nice idea to have a central point to submit these bugs and issues so in the future they can be corrected?

A special section on the forum would do it?

Gryzor or Markus, please create a seperate forum category for "games with bugs" which could list all bugs in games especially games that can't be completed because of bugs.

Gryzor · 12:23, 02 June 10

I'm not sure this warrants its own forum - yet. We could have a devoted thread maybe, but thus far, with only one instance I think it's not needed...

arnoldemu · 12:50, 02 June 10

Quote from: Gryzor on 12:23, 02 June 10
I'm not sure this warrants its own forum - yet. We could have a devoted thread maybe, but thus far, with only one instance I think it's not needed...

that was more what I was thinking of, a special thread.

Gryzor · 14:45, 02 June 10

Well... we're typing in it right now, no?

Ok, so maybe I could pin it, or rename it maybe? Any ideas?

Cholo · 21:50, 03 June 10

Quote from: Gryzor on 07:41, 01 June 10
Well, I guess it comes down to the question of who did the original dump... But isn't CPC Power supposed to offer verified images?

Indeed, But only the discs with the "100% Perfect" icon has been fulled tested error free. Even tho a lot of original discs has been redumped there aint that many games that has been tested fully yet. R-type is one of the few games i noticed has the "100%".

Definately should be very carefull with the "cracked" games on both sites. Lots of bad cracks out there especially with games that had a better than normal protection, like Jim Powers. Must be like 10 cracks of Platoon and only 2 of them actually loads at all.

MacDeath · 02:45, 04 June 10

QuoteDefinately should be very carefull with the "cracked" games on both sites. Lots of bad cracks out there especially with games that had a better than normal protection, like Jim Powers. Must be like 10 cracks of Platoon and only 2 of them actually loads at all.

Yet, in those cases, if the crack does feature a cracktro, it is worth keeping...

If not, well...

That also the point : perhaps getting nice original dumps, and the perfect cracked version, but also all the cracktros that were used for said game as it's completely part of the history of the game too...

Perhaps the cracked version of shinobi I had (in Valence) wasn't the same as the one elsewhere, both having a sweet cracktro...
Both working well...or not that well... but the amount of Data for CPC is theorically limited... We must fix most of it.
(And developp new of course...)

Also the different versions may work for some CPC and not on others...
Sort of : the cracktro using CRTC effects ? but actually only working on some versions ? but not on Emulators or some others CRTCs ?

dlfrsilver · 21:06, 07 June 10

Ok guys, see it like this : Many games have bugs natively. We have a bug report you can use on the website.

Please report any games failing in order for us to check or correct them.

About Killer Cobra, what is the emulator used ?

About Alien storm what version is involved ? D7 or K7 ? What emulator used ?

About Dynamite Dux what version is involved ? D7 or K7 ? What emulator used ?

for bug reports in english : dlfrsilver AT hotmail DOT fr please

!

Gryzor · 07:46, 08 June 10

There... I guess this answers Xyphoe's question?

Xyphoe · 12:18, 11 November 10

Quote from: dlfrsilver on 21:06, 07 June 10
Ok guys, see it like this : Many games have bugs natively. We have a bug report you can use on the website.

Please report any games failing in order for us to check or correct them.

About Killer Cobra, what is the emulator used ?

About Alien storm what version is involved ? D7 or K7 ? What emulator used ?

About Dynamite Dux what version is involved ? D7 or K7 ? What emulator used ?

for bug reports in english : dlfrsilver AT hotmail DOT fr please !

Bringing back this topic, see my next post.

I think for now it would be good to keep in the forum so other people can contribute their own tests. I don't have the time to test variations in WinApe (with/without Plus features, etc), other emulators, etc especially for games that crash really late into the game like my next one after playing for 20 odd minutes.

That way everyone can contribute their own part of the testing for a game dump and submit as a full bug report.

Well ... that's how we do things at work when submitting bug reports to the Developer team - a half finished bug report is thrown right back at us with much anger!

Unless that's ok with you then I/we can email to you direct ....

Xyphoe · 12:22, 11 November 10

Outrun Europa

http://cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=1581

On this dump - Outrun Europa (UK) (2 faces) (1991) [Original].zip
Level 3 - the race in France with the white Porsche after the speedboat section - graphics totally corrupted.
Tested in WinApe, both on 6128 Plus and 6128 modes.

On this dump - Outrun Europa (UK) (1991).zip (XOR cracked version)
Game crashes on one of the very last levels. *unconfirmed* as of now, this happened to me playing it a year ago on an older version of WinApe. Can't remember what settings.

dlfrsilver · 22:30, 16 November 10

Ok, outrun europa disk dump is rubbish, noted to be removed !

Also, it won't be really surprising about X-or crack, because the place where the poke is changed in the latter levels, if not adapted, it makes a memory overflow and then crash !

Xyphoe · 16:31, 19 February 11

Does anyone have the image for side B of New York Warriors?

http://cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&onglet=dsk&num=1507

I got all the way to level 4 for it to spaz out! DOH!

dlfrsilver · 00:26, 17 March 11

The answer is easy for this one : the duplicator has forgotten to master side B on every copies of New york Warriors sold on disk !!!!

As a result you can't have access to the levels after level 4.

Try to contact the amstrad CPC coder of the game, to see if he has still the master !

Gryzor · 09:21, 17 March 11

Quote from: dlfrsilver on 00:26, 17 March 11
The answer is easy for this one : the duplicator has forgotten to master side B on every copies of New york Warriors sold on disk !!!!

As a result you can't have access to the levels after level 4.

Try to contact the amstrad CPC coder of the game, to see if he has still the master !

How on earth do you know that?

Xyphoe · 12:01, 19 March 11

Quote from: dlfrsilver on 00:26, 17 March 11
The answer is easy for this one : the duplicator has forgotten to master side B on every copies of New york Warriors sold on disk !!!!

As a result you can't have access to the levels after level 4.

Try to contact the amstrad CPC coder of the game, to see if he has still the master !

OMG! Really? That's pretty awful

That's a real shame, although the game is not the best in the world the 128K version has lots of cool extras the tape 64k version doesn't have - such as the helicopter flying you in at the start, in game music, etc.

I have found my disk version at home now, and will be checking out to see if Side B contains any data or not.

Xyphoe · 12:03, 19 March 11

MASK 1!

Two days ago I contacted Kukulcan that the Mask game failed to load level 3, he has now already created a new dump that should work! WOW! Fantastic quick turnaround - well done guys! New version available here of course -

http://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&onglet=dsk&num=1364

I'll be doing a longplay vid shortly

dlfrsilver · 12:03, 19 March 11

Quote from: Gryzor on 09:21, 17 March 11
How on earth do you know that?

1) because i bought 3 different copies with no side B written !

2) because any other guys out there having the game encountered the same problem as i did.

3) The only crack available is also blocked to level 4. This means the later levels were not mastered in the duplication factory.

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Bad/corrupt disk transfers (TACGR/CPC-POWER)