Defend or Die - hidden message

[Matthew]

Hello people.


I have been desperately trying to confirm that about 25 years ago when my brother and I last played 'Defend or Die' on the CPC6128, we amazingly (by hammering the keyboard randomly) stumbled across a hidden message from the programmer (Nick Vincent), congratulating on anybody finding the message.  I remember something said that he would take the lucky finder out to dinner or something.


I have searched for Nick on the internets, tried some random keyboard-bashery and an emulator, looked into reading the game source code, but all to no avail.


Please can anybody help, it's driving me mad!


Thanks!


Matthew

[arnoldemu]

Run the game in an emulator. (use dsk or cdt from cpc-power.com - put the title into the search box at the top-right)

Save a version 2 snapshot of it. (In winape it gives you this option)

Use a tool like xvi32 (which shows data as hex and as text/ascii characters).

Open it with xvi32 (the snapshot .sna) file.

Search through it.
Not much, 64k so would not take long, especially with 16k will probably be screen, so reducing your search to around 48k at most I would think.

[Gryzor]

Tried the disk version, didn't find anything except for two references to "Good Shit". Maybe we should try the uncracked version?

[EDIT] Nahh just tried the uncracked tape version as well, still nothing...

[Bryce]

25 years is a long time to wait to be invited to dinner (Wife just said "I know how he feels") Do you think he'll still accept the bet?

Bryce.

[Gryzor]

It'd be nice... I'd do it, if I were him!

[Bryce]

Depends on his situation today. If he currently lives in a cardboard box under a bridge, he may not think it's all that nice.

Bryce.

[Gryzor]

I would guess so, but


a.then probably he won't be reading any of this anyway, or won't have access to any easy means of communication, and
b.who said the dinner's on him?


And it wasn't a bad game either, so I really hope not

[arnoldemu]

Tried the disk version, didn't find anything except for two references to "Good Shit". Maybe we should try the uncracked version?

[EDIT] Nahh just tried the uncracked tape version as well, still nothing...

if this is not the message he was thinking of then perhaps it is encrypted, (maybe a simple XOR of the data ) in which case it can't be found using this method. It may be possible to identify something that looks like it's text but XORed, or maybe that is something I've just learned to do over many years.
So it still may not be the end to this.

[Gryzor]

Yes, I thought of that of course, but my superior cryptanalytical skillz (not) didn't show me anything that looked like a simple crypto as I was browsing through it. There's only a section where ALIGATA is repeated again and again with some garbled text following it, which might be it, but it could be something in the title screen as well...

[McKlain]

This made me remember about the hidden message on the Green Beret loading screen that you could see if you changed the ink values.


I'm not totally sure that it was green beret. If not, it's one of the games on the konami pack (yie ar kung fu, ping-pong or green beret). I found it when switching tapes after the loader was in memory

[AMSDOS]

This made me remember about the hidden message on the Green Beret loading screen that you could see if you changed the ink values.


I'm not totally sure that it was green beret. If not, it's one of the games on the konami pack (yie ar kung fu, ping-pong or green beret). I found it when switching tapes after the loader was in memory

I know the loading screen to Space Harrier is like this (even on it's Encore Budget Release), so it's quite possible Green Beret might have it, though I haven't checked it out.

[SyX]

We usually document these things in CPC-Power

[Gryzor]

Here are the snapshots for anyone willing to try, btw.

[SyX]

Using the python script that i made for decode the texts in The Prayer of the Warrior, i have got these texts in the snapshot uploaded by gryzor:

Code Select Expand

ALLIGATA SOFTWARE  LIMITEDQSOFTWARE PROTECTION SYSTEM  PLEASE ENTER THE LETTER IN BOX G3 ON           YOUR MASTER CODE GRID NOW ENTER THE FIRST LETTER OF THE COLOUR            IN THE SAME BOXGPLEASE TRY AGAING                   R RED  M MAGENTA  W WHITE  Y YELLOW               B BLUE  G GREEN

AFTER THE ENTERPRISE OPERATING SYSTEM ANYTHING EVEN ANOTHER Z4  MACHINE EVENVTHE CPC 02 BLOODY 0 IS A RELIEF THE PRIZE FOR FINDING THIS HIDDEN PAGE IS THE NIGHT OF YOUR DREAMS WITH MISTER JOHN PAUL YOUNG FLYNN  GREMLINS HOT SHIT LOW PAID ALTERNATIVE TO TONY CROWTHER HELLO TO THE SOUTH MANCHESTER CROWD AT ARDWICK BANFF ROAD AND LONGFORD PLACE I CAN OFTEN BE FOUND SLUMPED IN A CORNER OF THE WHITWORTH HOTEL AND YOU ARE ALL WELCOME TO DROP IN WHENEVER YOU LIKE AND BUY ME AS MANY PINTS OF PEDIGREE AS YOURPBANK MANAGER WILL LET YOUNPRESS ENTER TO CONTINUEBBORAG THUNGX      PROGRAMMING BY NICK VINCENT COPYRIGHT  941 BY ALLIGATA SOFTWARE LTDN             R TO RESET GAMEW        F TO FREEZE AND UNFREEZEQALLIGATA SOFTWARE PRESENTS2SCORESELANDER      -1EMUTANT      31EBOMBER     -1 EPOD           ESWARMER     1 EBAITER      319GAME OVEROATTACK WAVE    COMPLETEDBBONUS X    OPRESS SPACE BAR TO START

Of course, it would need a clean (and i should use the correct algorithm, because Prayer was special), but you can see that more than a dinner, he wanted that you buy him a few pints

[Gryzor]

A bit more readable, I hope:

ALLIGATA SOFTWARE  LIMITED
SOFTWARE PROTECTION SYSTEM 
PLEASE ENTER THE LETTER IN BOX G3 ON           YOUR MASTER CODE GRID
NOW ENTER THE FIRST LETTER OF THE COLOUR            IN THE SAME BOX
PLEASE TRY AGAING                   
R RED  M MAGENTA  W WHITE  Y YELLOW               B BLUE  G GREEN

AFTER THE ENTERPRISE OPERATING SYSTEM ANYTHING EVEN ANOTHER Z4  MACHINE EVEN THE CPC 02 BLOODY 0 IS A RELIEF
THE PRIZE FOR FINDING THIS HIDDEN PAGE IS THE NIGHT OF YOUR DREAMS WITH MISTER JOHN PAUL YOUNG FLYNN  GREMLINS HOT SHIT LOW PAID ALTERNATIVE TO TONY CROWTHER


HELLO TO THE SOUTH MANCHESTER CROWD AT ARDWICK BANFF ROAD AND LONGFORD PLACE
I CAN OFTEN BE FOUND SLUMPED IN A CORNER OF THE WHITWORTH HOTEL AND YOU ARE ALL WELCOME TO DROP IN WHENEVER YOU LIKE AND BUY ME AS MANY PINTS OF PEDIGREE AS YOUR BANK MANAGER WILL LET YOU


PRESS ENTER TO CONTINUE
BBORAG THUNGX      PROGRAMMING BY NICK VINCENT
COPYRIGHT  941 BY ALLIGATA SOFTWARE
LTDN             R TO RESET GAMEW        F TO FREEZE AND UNFREEZE
ALLIGATA SOFTWARE PRESENTS
SCORES
LANDER      -1 MUTANT      31 BOMBER     -1 POD           SWARMER     1 BAITER      319
GAME OVER
ATTACK WAVE    COMPLETED
BONUS X   
PRESS SPACE BAR TO START

Nice script you got there Now, the tricky part would be to find how this text is accessed...

[SyX]

Sorry but i don't have time now, it's a local holiday in town (when we were a little Asterix village and we stop the Napoleonic troops of making us learn french  ) here and i will go to lunch out... but if anybody want to take a look the message is in $7421 and the routine is showing the text is $57AF and in the few lines before that they key combination is checked

[Gryzor]

Nice screen! Thanks for providing it...


My boss is in the room so I'm not opening any emulators for a while If anyone can check that address the mystery will be completely revealed (all in a morning's time!).

PS Oh, and enjoy your holiday!

[Johnny Olsen]

The Key's is

Ctrl+Shift+v+joystick 1 fire 2

[SyX]

You have beat me Johnny!!! xDDD

Just when i have returned and i was testing before to publish it, as he says pressing those keys during the main menu and you will get the hidden message 

[Johnny Olsen]

You have beat me Johnny!!! xDDD

Yes but you beat me to show the screen first 

[TFM]

1. This message is not in ASCII (which would be really stupid, if you intend to keep it hidden).
2. You need the right S-E-Q-U-E-N-C-E of keys 
3. Good luck!

[Matthew]

You guys...

My wife is so grateful that now she doesn't suffer the nightly torment of being beaten about the face for failing to provide me with the answer to this 25 year old enigma that has so haunted my brother and I.

Genuinely I have sporadically (once a year, late in the evening after a few pints of nostalgia) tried to find the original message that we stumbled upon, once, back in 1987 or so, I was 9 and my brother 8.  We were blown away by the message which we only found once, without even knowing it existed, for some reason we must have been bashing at the keyboard and happened to hit the correct sequence of keystrokes.

All I remember from the message is a promise of a free meal from the programmer, but on subsequent analysis, and through adult eyes, the message is not so philanthropic.

Still, like with most memories from our 'yoof', the memory itself is better than the modern reality.

But this soiree, my head will rest upon my pillow like a feather upon snow, and the smile on my face will be testament to these forums, and those who inhabit it.

In no particular order, my thanks to:

Johnny Olsen for the keystrokes required
SyX for the first copy of the text
Gryzor for tidying up the text a bit
Nicholas 'Nich' Campbell for pointing out that you chaps on this forum had answered my question.

All in all boys (and girls?) I'm really grateful for all your efforts, it may have been simple for you guys, but to me it wasn't, so thanks.

Love all round,

Matthew

[Gryzor]

(this must be the most useless thing I've ever been thanked for )


So good to know somebody got help But it was an interesting thing to go after anyway.


Hope we'll be seeing you around. Do give our regards to your wife and sleep tight

[rexbeng]

This is the nicest, most adorable thread ever!


rb

[Gryzor]

Hahaha! Yeah, good times