Source:Eamon Adventurer's Log, August 1985
| This page is a verbatim reproduction of original source material and should not be edited except for maintenance. | |
| Description |
The Eamon Adventurer's Log newsletter, volume 2 number 1. |
|---|---|
| Source | |
| Date |
August 1985 |
| Author |
John Nelson (editor) |
| License |
Permission has kindly been granted by the copyright holder for this copyrighted item to appear in the not-for-profit Eamon Wiki website. Permission granted by Matthew Clark in email with Huw Williams on 22 November 2012. |
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Eamon Adventurer's Log — National Eamon User's Club
Volume 2 Number 1 — August 1985
Editorial
Last issue we discussed the removal of some Eamon adventures from our list and talked about replacing these adventures with other adventures. We have since decided not to replace these adventures on our lists, but to leave their numbers open so that our list does not become different from everyone else's.
We have received a few hate letters for taking our stand, but the vast majority of you stood behind us and we thank you.
We have received letters from some members wanting Adventure #32, stating they knew of the tasteless "erotic" content, but that they wanted it anyway and they were of legal age. They asked if they could get a copy of it.
If a person writes to us asking for a particular adventure, tells us they are aware of the type of material and says they are willing to take the adventure anyway and that they are of legal age, then we will sell them a copy on the grounds that we want to provide service to our readers.
Club News
by John Nelson
Over the past couple of months, things have been exceedingly hectic for us here at the club. With vacations and other things reducing our staff to a mere shadow of what it normally is, it is difficult to get all the things done that we want to do.
Item: Those of you who didn't heed Steve's advice last issue and are holding their breath waiting for the club to buy a photo-copier can release it now. We finally took the plunge and we are the proud owners of a new MITA copy machine. This will improve response time immensely for documentation orders, requests for adventure lists, etc.
Item: The notebook sales have picked up some, but we still haven't broken even on them yet. The notebooks are so great, we can't imagine anyone not wanting one to keep their Eamon newsletters, players manual, maps and other such vital information. If you haven't bought one yet, you're missing out of one of life's little pleasures.
Item: For those of you who are new to the club (or have spent the last year in a mining camp in outer Bohemia), the notebooks are standard size custom-made vinyl notebooks with the Eamon Dragon silk-screened on the front and the name Eamon in old English text on the cover and spine. They contain inside pockets and index holders on the spine for easy labeling.
Item: Steve is no longer copying diskettes for us. He has been very busy this summer and it is too hard to get a hold of him to get orders back and forth, so we have reclaimed that duty. Orders hopefully will be processed more quickly now (once we get caught up from summer vacation!).
Item: It appears we have temporarily (permanently?) lost the services of two of our staff for some reason. They have been making themselves quite scarce. We are hoping they'll come back.
National Eamon User's Club staff:
| John Nelson | — 
|
| Bob Davis | — Back in the saddle again |
| Tom Zuchowski | — Business adviser |
| Jeff Harris | — Lost in battle |
| Gary Flanagan | — Last seen doing bike cartoons |
| The Dover Boys | — The Dukes of Derangement |
Notices and Junk
Item: Please note: If you want to order an adventure that is no longer distributed by the club, you may do so by sending a letter stating:
- You are aware of the drug / sex / etc. content of the adventure in question.
- You are aware the club does not normally distribute this adventure.
- You are willing to accept the adventure as is and that you are over 21 years of age.
Item: We would appreciate it very much if you could complete an order form when ordering anything from the club from now on. It will help us keep the paperwork straight for us and help get your order out faster and more accurately. An order form is attached to this newsletter. When we send an order out to you, we will send you another order form and a current list of adventures.
Item: Since the club now has its own copier, we are able to get documentation orders out in record time. In fact, we make up copies of documentation ahead of time and can normally get documentation orders out the same day they are received.
Item: Also another advantage in having a copier is we can keep our adventure lists up to date easier. Therefore, between newsletters, if you would like to get the latest adventure list, send in either an order for adventures or a self-addressed stamped envelope and request the current adventure list.
Item: If you accidentally order an adventure that has been discontinued, you will receive a certificate for a free adventure and a notice that one of the adventures you ordered has been discontinued. You may sign and return this form with the certificate and receive that adventure anyway, if you like.
P.S.
Item: A reminder — the expiration date of your membership is printed on the label attached to your newsletter. If your expiration date is before October 14, 1985, this will be the last issue that you receive. If you would like to renew, send your $12.00 membership fee to:
National Eamon User's Club
2701 Arnold Road
Des Moines, IA 50310
Eamon News
by John Nelson
Eamon is still getting bigger by leaps and bounds. The last batch of adventures we have gotten have also improved in quality. The new adventures we have received for distribution are:
| 101. Ground Zero | by ? |
| 102. Eamon Railroad | by ? |
| 103. Top Secret | by ? |
| 104. The Lost World | by ? |
| 105. The Strange Resort | by ? |
| 106. Camp Eamon | by Bob Slemon |
| 107. The Last Dragon (two diskettes) |
by Roger Pender |
| 108. The Mines of Moria | by Sam Ruby |
| 109. The Forest of Fear | by Sam Ruby |
The last two adventures (108 and 109) are from Lord of the Rings, parts 1 and 2.
In addition to the adventures above, we have received our first entry to the "Un-contest", and another adventure for review only. These will not be released at this time. The "Un-contest" adventure will be released when the "Un-contest" is over. The other adventure will be released when the author gives us the go-ahead.
Roger Pender's latest adventure is another 2-diskette adventure. Please note that when you order two diskette adventures, count them as if they were two separate adventures.
IBM-PC / IBM-PCjr version
The IBM-PC version has made very little progress because of a lack of time to test it. We have tested the Main Hall and the main programs on the master diskette and they appear to be working pretty well. The displays have not been changed from 40-column to 80-column, in order to allow them to be more compatible with the PCjr.
As soon as the testing is completed on the main programs and The Beginners Cave, we are planning on writing some programs on the IBM-PC that will convert programs (or at least do sole of the conversions) for us. This will save us a lot of time when we start converting utilities and designer programs.
I think the IBM-PC version will be terrific. The IBM seems to have a lot more power than the Apple and more sophisticated adventures could be written for it. Also the diskettes are bigger, so we could create larger adventures.*
- P.S. IBM version is ready as this goes to the printer.
Commodore 64 version
The Commodore 64 version of Eamon has been temporarily placed aside. We at the club have taken a look at our work load, added up the estimates for each project, divided it by 1.5 (the number of people actively working on projects) and, making allowances for vacation, a movie here and there, and eating, have come up with a projected completion date of all projects — May 16, 1994. It was time to re-assess our position on certain items. Bob has spent considerable time learning the internals of the Commodore 64, but the club feels it must remain responsive to existing club policies and procedures before taking on extra work without making allowances (such as getting some help in here) for the time being shifted from other projects. This in no way reflects an attitude of dropping the conversion to the C-64 altogether.
Graphics Master
We also received a new Eamon Master Diskette. The new master is being called Eamon Master 5. Rick Volberding created it and it contains a Graphics Main Hall. It is very well done and after testing, no bugs were found.
A couple of issues back, we announced a new Master diskette containing a special weapons shop. That master was stated as being written by Jim Tankard. Whoops — a slight mistake was made there. Jim Tankard wrote The Twin Castles and The Doomsday Clock. John Beaty wrote the special weapons shop version of the Eamon Master. Apologies to John for not giving him the proper credit. (And you guys thought we were perfect!)
Masters, masters everywhere
We thought it would be a worthy effort to identify, categorize and document the various masters that are floating around and try to assign some names to them. We talked to the people at 3A and came up with the names given here.
But first — A history on the Eamon Master —
In the beginning there was the Eamon Master. It was simply called the Eamon Master because there was no other version of it. (Donald Brown created all Eamon Masters to be equal.) There were a couple of drawbacks to the original Master, however. One of these drawbacks was that when you went to Hokas to learn a spell, the guy never gave you a chance to refuse the spell. If you had enough gold to buy the most expensive spell, you were stuck with buying one, even if you didn't like his prices. Another thing, albeit a very minor thing, was that the man at the desk sounded like a broken record. He always muttered about strange Saxon names. This was okay, but why couldn't he complain about other things too?
Revisions were made to allow you to select nothing from Hokas and a file of "Snappy" phrases was added to the diskette to allow the man to have a wider complaint range.
Then it came to pass that really lousy characters could be generated and you had to force yourself to live with them at least long enough to go on an adventure and kill them. This was corrected by adding a "suicide routine" to the program that regenerated your character if he fell below a minimum threshold.
This seemed to suffice for years until other ambitious programmer types decided their weapons were boring. One of these people, Bob Linden, added an unusual weapon routine to the weapons shop and sent us a copy of his special MAIN HALL. This diskette did not get too widely distributed, but has managed to find its way to a few Eamon households. Later, another enterprising programmer, Rick Volberding, I believe, wrote a special Main Hall in which you had a casino and some other fun things.
In order to easily access some utility functions from the Eamon Master and be able to train characters a new master was created and was named Eamon Master 2.0. At the same time, The Beginners Cave was expanded and the files were standardized.
We therefore ended up with a whole pile of Eamon Masters. Nobody is really sure what all the features, functions, differences, advantages and disadvantages were, so we had a mess.
To try to straighten out this mess, we must assign names to the Eamon Masters and document what they are so that everyone will know what's going on. (A very unique concept, I know, but that's us — innovative!)
We are working on a new system to keep track of update levels, as well as dates, so everyone can determine when their adventures or masters are up-to-date. This system will be discussed next issue.
The current versions of the Eamon Master are:
Eamon Master [1.0] — This is the original Eamon Master, the one Donald Brown created, and has not been muddled up by anyone's programming (except Don's!). This master was not distributed very widely. It remained pretty much local (within Des Moines) until after some of the programming was modified. Actually this might be a collector's item. (Like issue #1 of Spider-man!) This master is no longer distributed because there are better versions that have replaced it.
Eamon Master [1.1] — This master supercedes Master 1.0. It has been the most widely distributed master diskette and is the one we normally are referring to when we simply state the Eamon Master. It has the SNAPPY file on it for the Irishman at the desk to be a little more interesting. It has the ability to say N for nothing from Hokas and if you generate a really bad character, it allows you to "commit suicide" which really just re-rolls your character. This master contains the original non-standard text files for The Beginner's Cave. This master is also no longer distributed because it has been replaced by improved versions.
Eamon Master [1.2] — This master is the earliest version of the Eamon Master in current distribution. It contains the same features as Eamon Master 1.1 except the text files have been standardized. You may list The Beginner's Cave using the standard dungeon list programs.
Eamon Master [2.0] — This master boots to a utilities menu that allows you to perform operations on your characters file, such as listing names, displaying characters, resurrecting a character, moving a character to another diskette, going directly to an adventure with either a test character or a standard character, etc. It contains a standardized Beginners Cave, and there is a training center at the Main Hall. It also contains a special weapons feature at the Main Hall that allows you to buy some interesting new weapons. The unusual weapon routine was written by Bob Linden, author of Death's Gateway.
Eamon Master 3 (formerly called Eamon Master JB) — This master diskette was created by John Beaty, and contains a special weapons shop which allows you to buy weapons that other adventurers have sold. It works like this: You go into the special weapons shop and pay a copying fee for a weapon you have, plus a fee for the weapon you want to buy and you are allowed to buy duplicate copy of someone else's weapon. It is a nice improvement to the Main Hall. This master was erroneously dubbed Eamon Master JT in a previous issue of the Adventurer's Log.
Eamon Master 4 (formerly called Eamon Master RF) — Not distributed by the club. This master was written by Ragnar Fyri (pronunciation is anybody's guess). This master contains "champion" routines. This allows you to declare one of your characters to be a champion and allows you to go directly to an adventure without going into the Main Hall. This master is "unsupported" by the club because it contains altered programs with renumbered lines, merged programs, and other changes that make it non-standard. It also contains programs that alter adventures to be non-standard. It has no features that give it any advantage over existing Eamon masters or utilities. (There is no point in making more trouble for ourselves by messing up Eamon adventures beyond recognition!)
Eamon Master 5 — The Graphics Main Hall. This master contains a graphics Main Hall and is public domain. It was written by Rick Volberding. I have play tested it and have had no problems. It works, works well, is fun, and has every function you'll probably ever need in Eamon (for now).
Super Eamon — This master diskette is included here to help clear up some confusion regarding Super Eamon. Super Eamon is proprietary. The club does not and cannot distribute Super Eamon. It is copyrighted by Little Green Software and must be purchased from them. Super Eamon contains a graphics Main Hall with additional options. It uses a non-standard characters file, but allows a transfer function to allow you to bring over characters from your old master.
Bug Bytes
by John Nelson
Bug reports were still fairly scarce over the last couple of months. We went through a bunch of the adventures with a fine tooth comb looking for errors. Using a new tool from Nibble called APH, we located some adventures that contained undefined line numbers. Some of these adventures did not need the lines that were undefined and so they caused no real problem. They were fixed by the club anyway just to clean them up, but it wouldn't hurt anything for you to leave these fixes out. Therefore some of the fixes are optional.
This issue, we change our format a little to include a problem block that will give you the problem that was encountered, the date the program was fixed, the cause of the problem and a fix, if possible. We also indicate whether the fix is required or optional. The required ones should be made, because they may cause trouble if you don't. The optional ones will not cause trouble, but may not work quite up to specifications or may be confusing if you dig into the code.
All revisions to programs refer to the main program (normally called MAIN PGM) for each adventure, unless otherwise stated.
Adventure #7 – The Devil's Tomb
| Problem: | UNDEF'D STATEMENT IN 290 |
| Date fixed: | 7-3-85 |
| Cause: | Line 290 had some unnecessary line number references. These were not being used for anything, so they would not cause any problem, but they were removed to clean up the code. |
| Fix: (Optional) | Remove ,20000,20500,21000 from line 290
|
Adventure #8 – Abductor's Quarters
| Problem: | UNDEF'D STATEMENT IN 290 |
| Date fixed: | 6-21-85 |
| Cause: | Line 290 had unneeded line number 20000 at the end of the line. |
| Fix: (Optional) | Remove ,20000 from the end of line 290.
|
| Problem: | Monsters were not reacting as stated in the Player's Manual. |
| Date fixed: | 6-21-85 |
| Cause: | Incorrect formula in line 3650 — should be multiply by 2 instead of divide by 2. |
| Fix: (Optional) | (very minor problem) 3650 change / 2 to * 2
|
| Problem: | Fresh Meat file was left on diskette |
| Date fixed: | 6-21-85 |
| Cause: | There was no delete being done for the file. |
| Fix: (Optional) | New line: 1055 PRINT DK$;"DELETE FRESH MEAT"
|
Adventure #9 – Assault on the Clone Master
| Problem: | Monsters not reacting as stated in Player's Manual. |
| Date fixed: | 6-21-85 |
| Cause: | Incorrect formula in 3650 |
| Fix: (Optional) | (very minor problem) 3650 change / 2 to * 2
|
Adventure #10 – Magical Kingdom
| Problem: | Monsters not reacting as stated in Player's Manual. |
| Date fixed: | 6-21-85 |
| Cause: | Incorrect formula in 3650 |
| Fix: (Optional) | (very minor problem) 3650 change / 2 to * 2
|
| Problem: | UNDEF'D STATEMENT IN 19020 |
| Date fixed: | 6-21-85 |
| Cause: | Incorrect line number was coded on line 19020. |
| Fix: (Required) | 19020 change 18025 to 18020
|
Adventure #12 – Quest for Trezore
| Problem: | UNDEF'D STATEMENT IN 290 |
| Date fixed: | 7-3-85 |
| Cause: | Some extra (and unnecessary) line numbers were coded on line 290. They do not need to be there and serve no purpose. You will never have a problem with this, but it was corrected anyway. |
| Fix: (Optional) | Remove ,22000,23000 from line 290.
|
Adventure #17 – Merlin's Castle
| Problem: | UNDEF'D STATEMENT IN 3160 |
| Date fixed: | 7-3-85 |
| Cause: | An oversight by author — no line number for 3200. |
| Fix: (Required) | Add line: 3200 REM
|
Adventure #23 – Temple of Ngurct
| Problem: | ?SYNTAX ERROR IN 13110 |
| Date fixed: | 7-4-85 |
| Cause: | Mission colon in front of REM |
| Fix: (Required) | Line 13110 insert a color (:) in front of REM
|
Adventure #27 – Revenge of the Mole Man
| Problem: | Extra command was only partially removed. |
| Date fixed: | 7-4-85 |
| Cause: | KILL command was to be removed after testing, but some parts of it are still there. |
| Fix: (Required) | Remove ,KILL from line 1930Remove ,22000 from line 290
|
Adventure #32 – House of Ill Repute
| Problem: | Characters were garbled upon returning to the Main Hall. This caused the Main Hall to run the program with the man behind the desk. |
| Date fixed: | 6-19-85 |
| Cause: | The Characters file was opened for a length of 200 instead of 150. |
| Fix: (Required) | Line 2550 change 200 to 150
|
Adventure #41 – Caverns of Lanst
| Problem: | Typing the command NORTH (or any other direction command, when spelled out) caused the program to bomb at 3030. |
| Date fixed: | 6-3-85 |
| Cause: | Program was not abbreviating the command properly. |
| Fix: (Required) | at end of line 3020 add this code:V$ = LEFT$(V$,1) + " ": GOTO 3020
|
| Problem: | When a command was typed without a subject, the wrong command was used for <command> WHAT? |
| Date fixed: | 6-3-85 |
| Cause: | Command pointer was being modified before the branch at line 290. |
| Fix: (Required) | Replace 285: 285 CP = C - 15: IF CP < 2 THEN CP = 1Change 290 ON C GOTO ... to 290 ON CP GOTO ...
|
Adventure #43 – Priests of Xim!
| Problem: | BAD SUBSCRIPT ERROR IN 2040 |
| Date fixed: | 6-4-85 |
| Cause: | Weapons table was not dimensioned large enough to contain all the weapons that it is possible to pick up and try to leave with. |
| Fix: (Required) | 1050 change NW = 15 to NW = 20
|
| Problem: | Adventure is very large, but there is no save game feature. |
| Date fixed: | 6-4-85 |
| Cause: | The adventure was written with an earlier version of the DDD that did not contain the save game routines. |
| Fix: (Optional) | If you would like this feature, please order a new copy from the club. The changes are too extensive to go into here. |
| Problem: | Adventure requires payment of an entry fee. If you do not have enough gold with you, you are killed. There was no way to check to see if you have enough to pay the fee. |
| Date fixed: | 6-4-85 |
| Cause: | No function to check how much gold you had. |
| Fix: (Optional) | The inventory command was changed to pint the number of gold pieces you have. Insert this code in front of GOTO 300 on line 10020: PRINT GOLD;" GOLD PIECES.":
|
Adventure #47 – FutureQuest
| Problem: | SYNTAX ERROR IN 13060 |
| Date fixed: | 7-4-85 |
| Cause: | Line is incorrect for some reason. |
| Fix: | Replace lines 13060 and 13070
13060 RR = INT (100 * RND (1) + 1): IF RR < 11 THEN PRINT : PRINT "THE SECTION OF TUNNEL YOU ARE IN ": PRINT " COLLAPSES AND YOU DIE.":DIE = 1: GOTO 2000
13070 IF RR < 86 THEN PRINT : PRINT "YOU HEAR A VERY LOUD SONIC BOOM": PRINT " THAT ECHOES THROUGH THE TUNNELS.": PRINT: GOTO 300
|
Adventure #48 – Picnic in Paradise
| Problem: | Program was running slow. |
| Date fixed: | 8-16-85 |
| Cause: | Inefficiencies in main loop and monster and artifact search routines. |
| Fix: (Optional) | Fix was to rewrite portions of the main loop and the search routines of DDD 6.0. Changes were too extensive to go into detail here for each adventure. Check the changes for DDD 6.0 Base Program listed later. |
Adventure #54 – Crystal Mountain
| Problem: | ?SYNTAX ERROR IN 24045 |
| Date fixed: | 7-4-85 |
| Cause: | Missing colon (:) |
| Fix: (Required) | 24045 insert colon (:) before GOTO 300
|
Adventure #58 – Land of Death
| Problem: | ?SYNTAX ERROR IN 15110 ?SYNTAX ERROR IN 20030 |
| Date fixed: | 7-4-85 |
| Cause: | Missing colons (:) |
| Fix: (Required) | 15110 insert colon (:) after printed string and immediately before second PRINT20030 change second semi-colon ( ;) to a colon (:)
|
Adventure #62 – Caverns of Doom
| Problem: | ?SYNTAX ERROR IN 520 ?SYNTAX ERROR IN 20030 |
| Date fixed: | 6-21-85 |
| Cause: | Typo errors |
| Fix: (Required) | 520 change MD%(0,) to MD%(0,1)20030 change ] to ?:
|
Adventure #64 – Modern Problems
| Problem: | Spells caused the program to blow on RETURN W/O GOSUB in 11530, 11540 or 11550. |
| Date fixed: | 7-22-85 |
| Cause: | Spells routine was heavily modified by designer incorrectly. Spells should have been disabled according to the changes in the program. |
| Fix: (Required) | Add a new line:11020 PRINT: PRINT "SPELLS DON'T SEEM TO WORK HERE!": GOTO 100
|
| Problem: | Trying to leave right away, you get "YOU CAN'T GO THAT WAY!" followed by ILLEGAL QUANTITY ERROR IN 3490 |
| Date fixed: | 7-22-85 |
| Cause: | Incorrect variable used when buying a ticket to go home. Program used ROOM and should have used R2. |
| Fix: (Required) | 12580 change ROOM = -99 to R2 = -99
|
Adventure #66 – Dungeons of Xenon
| Problem: | ?SYNTAX ERROR IN 7540 |
| Date fixed: | 7-4-85 |
| Cause: | There is an invisible CTRL-Z in the line. |
| Fix: (Required) | Replace line 7540:
7540 PRINT " WEAPON BROKEN!":AD%(MD%(OF,9),4) = 0:MD%(OF,10) = MD%(OF,10) - AD%(MD%(OF,9),5):MD%(OF,9) = -1:MD%(OF,4) = MD%(OF,4) / 2: IF RND(1) > .5 THEN PRINT : RETURN
[The first "4" was a CTRL-Z] |
Adventure #67 – Chaosium Caves
| Problem: | ?SYNTAX ERROR IN 7540 |
| Date fixed: | 7-4-85 |
| Cause: | There is an invisible CTRL-Z in the line. |
| Fix: (Required) | Replace line 7540:
7540 PRINT " WEAPON BROKEN!":AD%(MD%(OF,9),4) = 0:MD%(OF,10) = MD%(OF,10) - AD%(MD%(OF,9),5):MD%(OF,9) = -1:MD%(OF,4) = MD%(OF,4) / 2: IF RND(1) > .5 THEN PRINT : RETURN
[The first "4" was a CTRL-Z] |
Adventure #70 – Tomb of Y'Golonac
| Problem: | ?SYNTAX ERROR IN 16070 |
| Date fixed: | 7-4-85 |
| Cause: | Incorrect LEFT$ statement |
| Fix: (Required) | 16070 change S$(LEFT$,9) to LEFT$(S$,9)
|
Adventure #81 – The Rescue Mission
| Problem: | Creates an invalid character when leaving the adventure. |
| Date fixed: | 8-25-85 |
| Cause: | An extra field was printed into the character record. This was a leftover from the days when it was a tournament adventure. |
| Fix: (Required) | Line 2550 — remove PRINT 2 from this line in MAIN PGM program.
|
| Problem: | UNDEF'D STATEMENT IN 6110 |
| Date fixed: | 7-4-85 |
| Cause: | Line 4240 was missing. Reason unknown. |
| Fix: (Required) | Line 6110 has a GOSUB 4240. There is no 4240. It is unknown what this is supposed to do, so for now you may fix your adventure by inserting a new line: 4240 RETURN
|
Adventure #83 – The Twin Castles
| Problem: | ?SYNTAX ERROR IN 63003 |
| Date fixed: | 7-4-85 |
| Cause: | ?? |
| Fix: (Optional) | Delete line 63003 of the program THE TWIN CASTLES |
Adventure #87 – Caves of Hollow Mountain
| Problem: | UNDEF'D STATEMENT IN 3030 UNDEF'D STATEMENT IN 25610 |
| Date fixed: | 7-4-85 |
| Fix: () | Delete from the first colon (:) to the end of the line.Line 25610 change 25095 to 90
|
| Problem: | Character does not get back from the adventure correctly. |
| Date fixed: | 8-27-85 |
| Cause: | Variable REST destroyed contents of variable REC |
| Fix: (Required) | Change REST to RST on lines 520, 530, 1150, 27120, 28120, 28130
|
Please note — This adventure has the name John Roberts as the author because I was acting silly when I wrote it and was going to put out a generic adventure under an assumed name. The adventure was not going to have any special programming, but was going to use 6.0 features. Instead, I couldn't stand to have such a generic adventure and added a bunch of stuff to it. So much, in fact, that I decided to go ahead and put it out under my correct name. So much for plans...
Adventure #93 – Flying Circus
| Problem: | ?SYNTAX ERROR IN 11530 Not enough weapons dimensioned FRESH MEAT not deleted Monsters not reacting as stated in the Player's Manual |
| Date fixed: | 7-5-85 |
| Cause: | Typo repeated a portion of line accidentally. |
| Fix: (Required) | Line 11530 — remove 2nd S2%(S) < 0 THENLine 1055 — Set NW = 18New line 1052: PRINT DK$;"DELETE FRESH MEAT"3650 change / 2 to * 2
|
Adventure #94 – Blood Feud
| Problem: | ?SYNTAX ERROR IN 11530 |
| Date fixed: | 7-5-85 |
| Cause: | Typo errors |
| Fix: (Required) | 11530 S2%(S) = S2%(S) - 10: IF S2%(S) < 0 THEN S2%(S) = 0
|
Adventure #95 – Maze of Quasequeton
| Problem: | MAIN PGM was replaced by a bad program. We had to replace the entire program. |
| Date fixed: | 6-7-85 |
| Cause: | Unknown |
| Fix: (Required) | If you got a copy of the old, bad MAIN PGM, it won't play. A new copy will be required. When we replaced the main program, we also added the Save Game feature. |
DDD Version 6.0
MAIN PGM — enhancements were made to improve the speed.
100 REM = MAIN =
110 GOSUB 925
120 IF SPD THEN SPD = SPD - 1: IF NOT SPD THEN MD%(0,2) = MD%(0,2) / 2:MD%(0,10) = MD%(0,10) - 2 & MD%(0,2): IF RND (1) > .8 THEN PRINT "YOUR SPEED SPELL HAS JUST EXPIRED!": GOSUB 925
125 IF NOT LT THEN PRINT : PRINT "IT'S TOO DARK TO SEE.": GOSUB 920: GOTO 210
130 VZ = ( INT (V%(RO) / 2) = (V%(RO) / 2)): IF NOT VZ THEN PRINT DK$;"READ EAMON.ROOM NAMES,R";ROOM: INPUT A$: PRINT DK$: PRINT "YOU ARE ": PRINT " ";A$: PRINT
140 IF VZ THEN PRINT DK$;"READ EAMON.DESC,R";ROOM: INPUT A$: PRINT DK$: PRINT A$: PRINT: V%(ROOM) = V%(ROOM) + 1
145 FOR M = 1 TO NM: IF MD%(M,5) < > ROOM THEN NEXT : GOTO 170
150 IF MD%(M,15) = 1 THEN PRINT MN$(M);" IS HERE.": PRINT
155 IF MD%(M,15) = 2 THEN PRINT MN$(M);" IS LYING HERE.": PRINT
160 IF NOT MD%(M,15) THEN PRINT DK$;"READ EAMON.DESC,R";M + 300: INPUT A$: PRINT DK$: PRINT A$: MD%(M,15) = 1: PRINT
165 NEXT
170 FOR A = 1 TO NZ: IF AD%(A,4) < > ROOM THEN NEXT : GOTO 190
175 IF AD$(A,9) THEN PRINT "YOU SEE ";AN$(A);"."
180 IF NOT AD%(A,9) THEN PRINT DK$;"READ EAMON.DESC,R";A + 100: INPUT A$: PRINT DK$: PRINT A$: AD%(A,9) = 1: PRINT
185 NEXT
190 FOR A = A TO NA: IF AD%(A,4) = ROOM THEN PRINT "YOUR "; AN$(A) + " IS HERE."
200 NEXT
210 PRINT : INPUT " YOUR COMMAND?";A$:LP = 0
]list 910,950
910 LP = LP + INT ( LEN (A$) / 40) + 1: GOTO 940
920 LP = LP + 1: GOTO 940
925 PRINT
930 LP = LP + 2
940 IF LP > 20 THEN RETURN
950 PRINT : PRINT " (PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE) ";" GET A%:LP = 0: PRINT: RETURN
]list 4700,4899
4700 REM >>> MONST SEARCH
4705 WH = RO:HA = -1:EMB = RO
4710 FO = 0:SL = LEN (S$): FOR X = 1 TO NM: IF ( LEFT$ (MN$(X),SL) = S$ OR RIGHT$ (MN$(X),SL) = S$) AND (MD%(X,5) = RO OR MD%(X,5) = HA) THEN FO = FO + 1:M = X: IF S$ = MN$(X) THEN X = 9999
4750 NEXT
4760 RETURN
4800 REM >> ARTIF SEARCH
4805 WH = RO:HA = -1:EMB = RO
4810 FO = 0:SL = LEN (S$): FOR X = 1 TO NA
4820 IF ( LEFT$ (AN$(X),SL) = S$ OR RIGHT$ (AN$(X),SL) = S$) AND (AD%(X,4) = WH OR AD%(X,4) = HA OR AD%(X,4) = EMB) THEN FO = FO + 1:A = X: IF S$ = AN$(X) THEN X = 9999
4850 NEXT
4860 RETURN
Terminological Inexactitudes
Things appearing in this column must not be confused with actual facts.
Des Moines, Iowa, was again the sight for the 6th annual Eamon Founder's Day parade. Many people were disappointed that Father Eamon, Donald Brown, was not on hand for the opening ceremonies. However, he did make a surprise guest appearance as a float. After the Barbarian Table Manners contest (in which our own Dover Boys placed 1st through 3rd — capturing singles and doubles competition), hundreds witnessed the crowning of the new Miss Eamon, Isabelle Aringin, who rated tops in the categories of Antagonization, Knife Throwing and Most Likely to Become a Corpse.
Of course, no Eamon Founder's Day would be complete without the traditional Ale/Mead Guzzle-off. Winners will be announced once they stop drinking (expected sometime January).
Eamon Club for sale! Yes, you can own your very own Eamon Club, for just pennies per day! Be the envy of your friends, confuse the mailman, try to cash foreign checks! For only $.89 per day (or $49.95 per month) and if you are willing to risk your bank account, your health, your credit rating and all your spare time, you too can have your own Eamon Club! Don't delay, call today. 515-274-1992. That's 515-274-1993. Again that number 515-274-1994. Operators are standing by.
New! The 1986 Eamon Wanderlust Calendar — filled with your favorite Eamon scenes! Charlene in the Castle of Doom, Princess Marie chained to a four-poster bed in Mondamen's bedroom, 100 sex-crazed slaves milling about the altar of Molinar looking for the secret button, an interpretation of demon Vaprak in the latest French pink chiffon, and many more!
National Eamon User's Club spokesman John Nelson denied rumors that his famous King Mondamen was really named for a street in Des Moines, that his demon Vaprak was really pulled from a book of Advanced D&D, and that the Fantastic Four made a guest appearance in Assault on the Mole Man. He further denied he was overweight, Bob was short, Heather Thomas was good looking, and that the sky is blue. More details next issue.
Adventure Tips
by Bob Davis
#1) When your character dies, sometimes the files get closed before the program comes up with "PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE". Check lines 2000 - 2010. If the CLOSE is before the PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE, then the files are closed. To restart an adventure that has closed the files after your character has died, try this — first get into basic mode (with the bracket prompt) and check if the adventure has the SAVE game feature. If so, notice the line number the OPEN files command is on. (If not, you are probably out of luck.) Now type in the following commands:
POKE 51,0:DI=0:GOTO line#
The line number is where the SAVE game routine OPENs the files and restores the game (normally 19060). You should see the YOUR COMMAND prompt after that and be off and adventuring again.
NOTE: If your character has extensive damage and you would like to alleviate this problem before restarting, add the command MD%(0,13)=0 after the DI-0 command (separated by a colon, of course).
#2) If your character has no magic abilities and finds himself/herself in an adventure where a spell is absolutely necessary to survive (such as #7 Devil's Tomb), here is what you can do; type CTL-C then RETURN at the YOUR COMMAND prompt. This will get you into basic mode. Change the variables SA%(x) and S2%(x) where x is:
1 - BLAST
|
2 - HEAL
|
3 - SPEED
|
4 - POWER
|
To do this, type in SA%(4)=90:S2%(4)=90 and press RETURN. This will change the adventurer's power spell expertise to 90%. Remember that the spell expertise is decreased by 50% of the current value every time the spell is cast successfully unless the adventure has been modified not to do so. If you list these variables later in the game, do not be surprised if they have been lowered.
To get back into the adventure, type in GOTO 210 and the YOUR COMMAND prompt should re-display. You are now ready to continue on.
Utility Lines
by John Nelson
This column appears in the newsletter at times to help keep you informed on utilities and how to run them and when to run them.
There have been some questions as to when Utilities V will be available. In order to answer this question, I would like to explain a little history behind the utility programs and what they were intended for.
The utility programs were written as a need for them arose. No one ever sat down and said, "I think I'll write a dozen utility programs, or so." Most of them were written because either some information was wanted about adventures, or some corrections, enhancements or conversions were wanted.
The first utility diskette was put out when, through the natural accumulation, a disk full of them built up. The second was created when the first was filled, etc.
Utilities V contains programs useful mostly to club personnel only. When it has been mostly filled with programs that are useful to a lot of people, we will release it to the public. Normally we like to go through the programs and make them more user-friendly and bullet-proof before releasing them. It could he another year or two before we release it. In the meantime, it will be removed from our list.
Adventure Log
Now that we have over 100 adventures, "Adventure Log" no longer works on adventures over 99. While working on upgrading this program, we discovered it was getting too big to be a single program anymore. We therefore had to split the program up into several smaller programs. One of the programs is used for maintaining the file of adventures, one is used for listing the adventures, one is used for label printing, etc.
Lack of time has prevented us from completing the operation, however. For those of you who would like to continue to use the Adventure Log program to keep track of adventures greater than 100, you will have to make the following changes to the program:
1610 IF SS THEN PRINT SPC( 3 - LEN ( STR$ (A)));A;". ";SN$(A):LP = LP + 1: RETURN
1630 PRINT SPC( 3 - LEN ( STR$ (A)));A;". ";AN$(A)
1710 IF SS THEN PRINT SPC( 3 - LEN ( STR$ (A)));A;". ";SN$(A); TAB( 40);SC$(A):LP = LP + 1: RETURN
1730 IF NOT RGHT THEN PRINT SPC( 3 - LEN ( STR$ (A)));A;". ";AN$(A);:RGHT = 1: RETURN
1810 IF SS THEN PRINT SPC( 3 - LEN ( STR$ (A)));A;". ";SN$(A); TAB( 28);SAU$(A):LP = LP + 1: RETURN
1830 PRINT SPC( 3 - LEN ( STR$ (A)));A;". ";AN$(A); SPC( 57 - LEN (AN$(A)) - LEN (DN$(A)) - LEN ( STR$ (A)));DN$(A)
1910 IF SS THEN PRINT SPC( 3 - LEN ( STR$ (A)));A;". ";SID$(A);" ";SN$(A); TAB( 34);SAU$(A): PRINT " ";SC$(A): PRINT : LP = LP + 1: RETURN
1930 PRINT SPC( 3 - LEN ( STR$ (A)));A;". ";AN$(A); SPC( 57 - LEN (SN$(A)) - LEN (DN$(A)) - LEN ( STR$ (A)));DN$(A); SPC( 10 - LEN (ST$(A)));ST$(A)
2030 PC = 0: HOME: FOR A = 1 TO NA: PRINT SPC( 3 - LEN ( STR$ (A)));A;". ";AN$(A); SPC( 29 - LEN (AN$(A)));ST$(A): GOSUB 2500: NEXT
2200 PC = 0: HOME : FOR A = 1 TP NS: PRINT SPC( 3 - LEN ( STR$ (A)));A;". ";SN$(A); SPC( 29 - LEN (SN$(A)));SID$(A): GOSUB 2500: NEXT
10010 DIM AN$(255),DN$(255),ST$(255),SN$(20),SID$(20),SAU$(20),SC$(20):TH$(0) = "ADVENTURES":TH$(1) = "SPECIAL DISKS"
Designer's Den
by Bob Davis
Hello Dungeon Designers! This issue we will start with something easy — adding commands to your new dungeons.
Using the Dungeon Designer 6.0 MAIN PGM, there are 3 basic (no pun intended) lines to be concerned with: 1910, 1920 and 290. First, let's cover lines 1910 and 1920. They should appear as follows:
1910 DATA 30
1920 DATA NORTH,SOUTH,EAST,WEST,UP,DOWN,GET,TAKE,
DROP,LOOK,EXAMINE,ATTACK,FLEE,GIVE,
INVENTORY,BLAST,HEAL,POWER,SPEED,SMILE,
WAVE,SAY,READ,READY,SAVE,LIGHT,OPEN,
PUT,DRINK,FREE
Line 1910 has the number of commands that will be valid for this adventure. If you add three new commands to the adventure, then you will need to add three to the number of commands. Line 1920 is a list of the actual commands that will be used in the adventure. To add new commands, simply place them at the end of this list separated by commas — or, you may start a new line directly after line 1920.
Let's add three new commands to a hypothetical adventure. They will be EAT, DIG and SLEEP. First we will need to update lines 1910 and 1920 (I will use a new line number) to look like this:
1910 DATA 33
1920 DATA NORTH,SOUTH,EAST,WEST,UP,DOWN,GET,TAKE,
DROP,LOOK, EXAMINE, ATTACK,FLEE,GIVE,
INVENTORY,BLAST,HEAL,POWER,SPEED,SMILE,
WAVE,SAY,READ,READY,SAVE,LIGHT,OPEN,
PUT,DRINK,FREE
1925 DATA EAT,DIG,SLEEP
Line 290 decides what line number each command will execute. It should be as follows:
290 ON C GOTO 3000,3000,3000,3000,3000,3000,
4000,4000,5000,6000,6000,7000,8000,9000,
10000,11000,12000,13000,14000,15000,15000,
16000,23000,17000,18000,19000,20000,21000,
22000,24000
Notice there is a line number for each command, or 30 line numbers in all. When a command is entered, it is used to search against the command list and is converted to a number and assigned to the variable C.
Normally we could just tack on the line numbers of the new commands at the end of this line. If too many command line numbers are entered however, the total length of the line becomes too long and the line will not be properly saved. To avoid this, I always add another line directly after 290 with the line numbers of the new command routines — in this case:
295 ON C – 30: GOTO 25000,26000,27000
When the command is one of the three new ones (EAT, DIG or SLEEP), the command number (C) will be greater than 30. Since there are only 30 line numbers on line 290, control will fall through to the next line number — 295. The number of commands previously defined (30) is then subtracted from C and the ON GOTO works perfectly.
That's the easy part, now comes the fun part — making your new commands work. As always, the more you know about the Eamon MAIN PGM and its variables, the easier it is to make your new commands work the way you want.
If the dungeon had rhino meat that, when eaten, would toughen an adventurer's skin, one (or both) of two variables could be changed to simulate this. One would be the hardiness MD and the other is the armor rating MD%(0,8) of the adventurer, either of which could be increased a reasonable amount (1 or 2). But let's say if a religious band of rhino worshipers witnessed the consumption of the rhino meat, they would begin attacking unmercilessly. How would this be programmed?
First, a few basic things must be checked. Whenever the adventurer tries to eat anything, it must be found in the artifact table and it must be in the room or in the adventurer's possession. This can be accomplished by using an existing routine in MAIN PGM of DDD 6.0 at 4800 — the artifact search routine.
Once the rhino meat has been found, the room number of the meat must be set to zero to simulate it being eaten. The adventurer's attribute(s) may then be changed to simulate the thicker skin and the check for the presence of the rhino worshipers can be made. If they are present, the worshipers must be made unfriendly and must be re-evaluated (routine at 3600).
This might sound like a lot of coding, but with several of the needed routines easily accessible the amount of coding is reduced substantially. This is one of the advantages of using DDD 6.0 for designing adventures. The actual code to perform the above simulations is as follows.
25000 REM --- EAT RTN ---
25020 GOSUB 4900:GOSUB 4800: IF NOT FOUND THEN ?:?"YOU CANNOT EAT THAT!":GOTO 100
25040 IF A=6 THEN AD%(A,4)=0: MD%(0,1)=MD%(0,1)+l: MD%(0,3)=MD%(0,8)+1:?:?"YOU FEEL YOUR SKIN THICKEN AND BECOME":?" HARDER!"
25060 IF A=6 AND MD%(12,5)=ROOM THEN MD%(12,3)=0: MD%(12,4)=0 :R3=ROOM:?:?"THE RHINO WORSHIPERS ARE SHOCKED AND":?" ATTACK, BELIEVING YOU ARE EVIL ITSELF!":GOSUB 3600
25080 GOTO 300
25020 — The routine at 4900 makes sure an item was entered with the EAT command. If not, it will prompt for one. The routine at 4800 searches the artifact table for the item entered (RHINO MEAT) with the EAT command. If it is not found in the artifact table, the variable FOUND (FO) will be set to zero. If the artifact is found and either it is in the room or the adventurer is holding it, the variable A will contain the number of the table entry — in this example 6; the supposed number of RHINO MEAT.
25040 — If the item found is RHINO MEAT, the room number AD%(A,4) is set to zero, the adventurer's hardiness MD%(0,1) and armor MD%(0,9) is increased by 1 and a message prints explaining what has happened.
25060 — If the RHINO WORSHIPERS (monster #12) are in the room and the RHINO MEAT was eaten, the WORSHIPERS' friendliness MD%(12,3) is set to zero, their reaction MD%(12,14) is set to zero, a message is printed informing the adventurer of the WORSHIPERS new attitude and the monsters are re-evaluated (routine at 3600). Anytime one monster's reaction is changed, a GOSUB 3600 must be performed to re-calculate the system variables such as the "IN BATTLE" flag.
25080 — line 300 is where all successfully executed commands should go. If a command is unsuccessful, control may be returned to line 100 (as in line 25020).
Spotlight On
(Ratings are given on a scale 1 to 10 with 10 highest. Format is R:D where R = rating for quality; D = difficulty, problem solving and survivability.)
Eamon Master 5 — Graphics Master
Reviewed by John Nelson
Extra features (since commands are not applicable here): Training for weapons, armor, spells; the ability to increase Hardiness, Agility, Charisma; a Casino, and other fun stuff.
If we had ratings for Master diskettes, this would receive a 10! Congratulations to the author, Rick Volberding.
When I received this diskette, I saw "Graphics Main Hall" and I thought another version of the master — no big deal. Not so!! This master is very well done and was lots fun to explore! I thoroughly enjoyed taking my little guy wandering around the Hall looking for trouble.
The fist stop, I had to get a weapon and some armor. The graphics showed the little guy carrying the weapon and I thought he was so cute (until I realized it was me!). When I bought a shield, I looked so much more experienced and ready to go out and tame those dragons!!
After gambling away all that I earned in the Casino, I started getting hooked on the new master and decided it was the one for me.
I discovered a lot more than the standard features found at the Main Hall. There is a warlock that teaches applied spellology. This is the science of becoming more proficient at casting spells you know. You must first hire Hokas to teach you the spell. Then there is a witch that will mystically enhance your hardiness, agility or charisma, but she is very expensive. Once you get oodles of gold, maybe you won't mind.
One of my favorites was the friendly giant who teaches armor training. He's good at thrusting and parrying and can really put you to the test. I was knocked down many times before I started getting the hang of it.
Some of the fun is discovery, so I won't go into some things found in the new Main Hall. You'll enjoy finding them for yourself.
I tried everything I could find (and afford) and was very impressed. This is going to be my new master from now on.
The Beginner's Cave for this master is the standard (unexpanded) one, and is text. Transfer to and from the Beginner's Cave went without a hitch. I borrowed the same horse and went down the same road I had in previous lives.
All-in-all, I think the Graphics Master is the nicest addition to Eamon since DDD 6.0 (and maybe better).
#91 – FutureQuest II (8:10)
by Roger Pender
Reviewed by Bob Davis
Extra commands: SAVE
Special features: 10 directions, 2 diskettes
Playing time: 4 1/2 hours
You have once again been chosen to perform a great deed in the 35th century. Since your successful assassination of the Krell emperor, much progress has been made in liberating Earth's former space colonies but the fighting is bitter and the advances slow. A Krell scientist, Mordir Kang, has developed a doomsday device — the Zontar ray machine. This ray machine generates an anti-matter field which, when it touches matter, produces a dimensional inversion sucking matter into the 8th dimension with cataclysmic results. Your mission is to locate Mordir Kang's secret base, kill him, steal the plans to the ray machine and destroy the device.
I first started playing this adventure with a wimpy guy and lasted 15 minutes. Well, says I, a hardier character is needed. How about the Mad Haranguer, hardiness 23, agility 28, charisma 16 — dead in 30 minutes. Uh-oh. Methinks this calls for drastic measures; in from the Stone-age walks Fred, hardiness 32, agility 17, charisma 4. (What he lacks in speed he makes up for in good-looks.)
Between getting lost in the desert, getting lost in the jungle, getting lost in the swamp (Fred isn't the greatest at directions) and having the entire Krell empire after his buns with weapons ranging from rockets launchers to missiles (alas, poor Fred has a rock, a club and a big stick), Fred decided he wasn't having a very good day. If it weren't for luck, a few tricks of Eamon and an altered heal spell, Fred would have been back in the Stone-ages as a fossil.
This adventure kept my interest during play, always having to get out of a tight situation. Some special effects are present, most notably the SAY command which is used to activate machines. Interaction with these machines is sometimes quite interesting.
I do have a couple of "gripes" with the adventure. The short descriptions do not have directions in them so when a room is re-entered, a LOOK must be done to find the exits (unless you can keep flawless maps). The names of the monsters are not in the long descriptions so something must be done (such as trying to leave) to get the short descriptions to print without getting attacked first. And last, but most frustrating of all, the POWER routine is unchanged from the original MAIN PGM (i.e., you hear sonic booms, tunnels collapse, the dead are brought back to life and all wounds are healed). Realizing these may be personal pet peeves, I did not take them into consideration when rating the dungeon.
Overall, this is a tough adventure. Not so much tough in problem solving as tough in surviving. One hint because I think you'll need it: an XM-68X device will heal you once you acquire it, however it has a limited number of uses. This is indicated by a warning message that the unit is beginning to short-circuit. I discovered by method of flawless deduction that I could perform a certain technical adjustment (not documented in the owner's manual) by using normal, standard commands that would remedy this problem as often as needed. Good luck.
Super Eamon by Little Green Software (no rating)
Re-reviewed by Bob Davis
I originally did a review on Super Eamon, a graphics version of the Eamon Master, in the March issue of the newsletter. Since then I have been on ten weeks' vacation (yes, count 'em — 10!) and have not done a thing with it until just before the printing of this newsletter. For those of you who missed the March issue, here is a quick recap.
The graphics are very professional and I enjoyed the pictures of each shop, the movement of the townspeople and my character, and the format of the informational displays. Some of the extra features of the Eamon Master are:
- Informational help upon request.
- Special weapons training.
- Acquiring better made weapons.
- Resurrection of dead characters.
- And others you need to discover yourself.
In the March issue I stated that some bugs were crawling around the Super Eamon programs. These have since been taken care of and I was impressed with the notification I received explaining how to fix the program or, at my option, how to send in my diskette for Little Green to fix for me. After applying the changes, I did not have any further problems with the Super Eamon diskette.
Now for the things I didn't like:
- Having to transfer my characters from my old master to the Super Eamon master and having them deleted from the old master.
- Being pick-pocketed by thieves to the point of having no money and not being able to do anything to prevent it.
- Having to type in
READat the place where my name is to be typed to get a list of the names of all my characters on the disk. Something more appropriate (like typing inWHAT?) and easier to remember would be good for me.
Aside from these items, I like Super Eamon. It has very responsive people standing behind it. And, to answer a question some of you undoubtedly have, it does have better graphics than the previously reviewed Eamon Graphics Master.
Super Eamon is not public domain, so please don't try to order it from us. To get a copy, send $20 plus $2 postage/handling to:
Little Green Software
PO Box 459
Glenwood Landing, NY 11547
You will receive the Super Eamon master diskette, The Beginner's Cave (not available as a graphic adventure, but it does have a graphics map that can be called up at any time), and the Super Eamon manual.
It is rumored that version 2 of Super Eamon will include adjustment of the thriving pick-pockets, extra things to do in the bar and other items. It is not known when these revisions are planned.
Customizers Corner
by John Nelson
This column contains material for customizing your Eamon adventures / Masters / utilities. Making these changes will normally make your diskettes non-standard. You should make back-up copies of your diskettes before making any modifications. Most of the changes suggested in this column should be done only by experienced programmers.
Changing the character record
Changing the format or length of the character record is normally the last thing you would want to do to your Eamon diskettes. It will make your adventures and master non-standard and incompatible with the rest of the system or the rest of the world.
The time is coming where this may become necessary, however. The record length of the CHARACTERS file is only 150 characters. With 37 characters needed just for return characters between fields, this is frequently not enough.
Some people have reported that their character records have been getting "trashed". I myself had this happen with Galahad when returning from SwordQuest.
If the total length of all the fields in the record, plus return characters, exceeds 150, you will over-write the next character on your file. When this happens, your file becomes somewhat like unto trash.
To combat this, you could change your characters file to use a record length higher than 150. I would recommend 256, because this makes the record an even 1 sector per character record.
The problem is, if you change your master diskette to use a length of 256 for the CHARACTERS file, you become non-standard and have to convert every adventure you have (as well as every adventure you ever get) to use the non-standard length before you could use it. It would be nice if everyone in the world could convert at once and we could make 256 the standard all over.
Since this is not practical, there must be a better way. — Hmmm... maybe there is!
I have devised a sneaky little trick where you can customize your master diskette to use larger records by using an alternate "extended" file. This file will have a different name than the CHARACTERS file. (I have used "CHARACTERS.EXT".)
Using this sneaky trick, only the programs on the master diskette will need to be changed. The adventures themselves will not.
To do this, here is the plan: since the adventures always write the updated character into the CHARACTERS file upon completion of a mission and then run MAIN HALL, all you have to do is replace the MAIN HALL program with a program that will read the character from the standard CHARACTERS file and write him into the extend characters file. It will then run the "real main hall" (we will call it "VILLAGE").
Note: All the characters will be copied from the old characters file into the extended file during installation of this change.
The standard Characters file will be used only as a temporary work file. The adventures will always write into record slot 1. Therefore if record slot 2 is accidentally overwritten by too long a character, it won't matter.
The VILLAGE program will read the character from the extended file, instead of reading it from the old characters file.
The VILLAGE program will always use "1" for the record number written into FRESH MEAT. This insures that the adventure will write the record into the work slot (slot number 1). The "real record number" will be written to another new file called REC.NUM. The MAIN HALL program (the new one we will write) will pick up the record from slot one, read the real record number from REC.NUM and write the character into the proper record slot of the extended characters file.
The program changes and specifications are given below. Be sure you back up your master diskette before doing this and test thoroughly when finished. Keep your old back-up around forever, since it is still your standard master.
Master Program Changes:
[Omitted]
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