Tau Ceti III on PCW

[GeoffB17]

Hello,


I downloaded a .DSK file for Tau Ceti, supposedly for the PCW.


I don't know if the files have been tampered with, maybe the thing has been 'cracked', anyway ...


When I tried the original .DSK within the Joyce emulator, it did seem to do something, although the screen was not quite right.   But the game was trying to work, and the screen was substantially like it was supposed to be, except for a bit of 'wrap around) I think.


Just checked back with the Joyce screen, and in fact it's pretty good.   May be fully correct


However, I really wanted to run the game on the actual, real, original PCW.   So I transferred the files to my PCW and created a disk.


Initial attempt just would not do anything.   I decided there was some residue of 'copy protection' there, so I re-created the PCW disk and this time made sure the files were on the disk in the exact same order ads they were on the original image.


Now, the program does do something, ir 'works', but the screen problem seems to be worse than on Joyce.   I tried again after using SET24x80, and this seems MUCH better, but still not quite perfect.   But, if the system is set up for the PCW, why should it need SET24x80?


Errata - just checked on PCW again, now looks a lot better.   No wrap, no garbage.   Ran SET24x80 first.   Maybe prog does not reset screen memory between runs?


I've found some instructions (actually for 'Academy', a later variant, still useful though) and been trying to see what the game will do, but going into the 'map' seems to hang the game?


Has anyone else tried to use this game?   Maybe the game HAS been 'cracked' but not fully.   One of the files (TAU.COM) if run produces a message about 'lock' and then hangs the machine, but I've been running the file TAUIII which does work (so far).


Geoff

[Ace]

Used CP/M Box, loaded TAUIII.COM within CP/M V1.1, V1.4 and V1.5 and displays as far as Map screen -with MAP command- just fine. Didn't use SET24X80 command.
CP/M V1.7 hangs though...

[GeoffB17]

Aha?


On my earlier try, I was, I think, using a later version of the system (associated with JonB's uIDE drive.  That was doing some strange things.


Later attempt, which does seem better, was with v. 1.1 - so YES, could be that the game is version dependant?


I tried the LAUNCH command, and went into another part of the system, and got shot/killed.   So that bit works.   Yes, I could get into the MAP bit, but doing anything with the map seems not to work, and getting out of the map is a struggle, this with 1.1 again.


Still, interesting.   I'll keep trying.


Geoff