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Smuggler says "I've been robbed!"

Battle BunnyBattle Bunny
edited July 2011 in Infoseek database
Apart from some minor changes, mostly for dishonourable reasons, all of the code in Trader (1990), allegedly by Ford Shillito, has been pinched from Smuggler (1983) by T Hainsworth (CCS).

Also, Smuggler has the wrong start LINE. It starts at 9986, which jumps straight into the menu, whereas it should start at 1 so it presents the map then a tune then the CCS copyright screen then the difficulty setting before the menu.
Post edited by Battle Bunny on

Comments

  • Einar SaukasEinar Saukas
    edited July 2011
    Battle Bunny wrote: »
    Also, Smuggler has the wrong start LINE. It starts at 9986, which jumps straight into the menu, whereas it should start at 1 so it presents the map then a tune then the CCS copyright screen then the difficulty setting before the menu.

    The main menu includes option 7 for "SAVE Game". If you choose this option, it saves the current game state executing the following line:
    9982 SAVE "SMUGGLER" LINE 9986

    It's too unlikely that the author would choose to skip the game intro and difficulty setting screen, and that CCS would release the game skipping its own copyright notice and piracy warning. Clearly the tape version at WoS is not a proper image of the original game release, but instead a savegame from someone playing it.

    An appropriate image of the original release would certainly be just like Battle Bunny mentioned, starting at the beginning and probably without initialized variables. I uploaded corrected versions for both the TZX and TAP images that are very likely faithful to the original release. I suggest replacing the files at the game's page with these ones for now, until a proper exact image can be generated from the original release tape.

    However, if we find out later that the files currently available at WoS are proper images of the original release (which is unlikely but possible), then the files I'm providing now should be renamed to "BUGFIX" and so I will write a proper "known errors" entry for this game describing Battle Bunny's findings.
    Creator of ZXDB, BIFROST/NIRVANA, ZX7/RCS, etc. I don't frequent this forum anymore, please look for me elsewhere.
  • Einar SaukasEinar Saukas
    edited July 2011
    BTW here's a full list of changes from Smuggler to Trader:
    • Title changed from "SMUGGLER" to "TRADER";
    • All copyright messages changed from "T.R.A.HAINSWORTH" or "CASES COMPUTER SIMULATIONS LTD" to "FORD SHILLITO";
    • Removed 2 in-game music tunes;
    • Removed superfluous message at line 9690;
    • Goal to win the game increased from 250,000 to 6,000,000 (although he forgot to update the congratulations message accordingly, which still mentions the original goal of 250,000).

    You can break the game and RUN it to see an interesting warning that he "will rigorously protect the copyright of TRADER"!

    Since there's absolutely nothing relevant about this robbery, I suggest simply removing it from the WoS archive.
    Creator of ZXDB, BIFROST/NIRVANA, ZX7/RCS, etc. I don't frequent this forum anymore, please look for me elsewhere.
  • Battle BunnyBattle Bunny
    edited July 2011
    There's a Smuggler tape on eBay now, which I wouldn't have minded buying to check it out - if it hadn't been priced at an extortionate 12 quid. I've put it on my wants list in case someone offers one at a sensible price.
  • mheidemheide
    edited July 2011
    Einar Saukas wrote: »
    Since there's absolutely nothing relevant about this robbery, I suggest simply removing it from the WoS archive.

    Indeed, so it has now gone.
  • Battle BunnyBattle Bunny
    edited July 2011
    I got an original tape of Smuggler - at a quarter of the price that was being extorted by that other guy - and, rather unbelievably, the tape does run from a saved game position rather than from the start, so all the introduction is missed. You only get to see the intro if you restart the game. So the TZX & TAP on WoS are right - even though they're wrong!
  • Einar SaukasEinar Saukas
    edited July 2011
    The suggested bugfix entry:
    Bugfix provided by Battle Bunny (JimG):
    • The official release was produced by saving a game in progress, thus it starts at line 9986 skipping the game intro and difficulty settings. To see the entire game from the beginning, choose option 8 on the main menu.

    Modified "BUGFIX" file provided by Einar Saukas.

    The bugfix files are Smuggler(BUGFIX).tzx.zip and Smuggler(BUGFIX).tap.zip.

    EDIT: Fixed text above according to following post.
    Creator of ZXDB, BIFROST/NIRVANA, ZX7/RCS, etc. I don't frequent this forum anymore, please look for me elsewhere.
  • Battle BunnyBattle Bunny
    edited July 2011
    That wasn't me - I only pointed out that "Also, Smuggler has the wrong start LINE. It starts at 9986, which jumps straight into the menu, whereas it should start at 1 so it presents the map then a tune then the CCS copyright screen then the difficulty setting before the menu.". You don't need to BREAK to restart, as Smuggler has its own "Concede and restart" option 8 on the main menu.
  • Einar SaukasEinar Saukas
    edited July 2011
    Battle Bunny wrote: »
    That wasn't me - I only pointed out that "Also, Smuggler has the wrong start LINE. It starts at 9986, which jumps straight into the menu, whereas it should start at 1 so it presents the map then a tune then the CCS copyright screen then the difficulty setting before the menu.". You don't need to BREAK to restart, as Smuggler has its own "Concede and restart" option 8 on the main menu.

    Ops! I have just edited my post above to fix this.

    Incidentally that was my 1000th post here at WoS. Hey!
    Creator of ZXDB, BIFROST/NIRVANA, ZX7/RCS, etc. I don't frequent this forum anymore, please look for me elsewhere.
  • mheidemheide
    edited July 2011
    The (updated) text has been added to the known errors database and the 2 fixed files are queued for the next archive update.
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