Getting Red Mars to run on AmigaOS 4.1

Hello,

Has anyone managed to run Red Mars on AmigaOS 4.1? It seems there is a problem with destracker.library that comes with the game.

I can see with Snoopy that the library is loaded in memory but OpenLibrary() call fails.

@jap

Have you link of this game ?

@sinisrus

Here you are: Red Mars
It's a commercial game so I won't put my copy online.

Library's developer release can be downloaded from here: DES-TRACKER.LHA

It contains test programs for the library. I tried one of the test programs and it suffers from the same problem as the game: the library won't open.

@jap

This game is for Amiga 68k
You test with E-uae or direcly on OS4 ?

@jap

Well documentation does not say anything about ahi, so we can safely assume its not compatible, its likely fails to allocate cia timers, or something like that.

You can try to make a skeleton library, to fool the game.
A skeleton library might be used to forward calls to ptreplayer.library or ptplayer.library, or to just monitor what the games is tries to do.

@sinisrus

The goal was to run it on AOS4 (no E-UAE).

@LiveForIt

I just tried running the game with NallePUH. The game started but it jammed. It didn't crash since the system is still fully functional but the game seems to be in some sort of busy loop. There is no sound, nor did the game open its screen, but the game seems to be running.

It would be great to have a "fake" destracker library to get the game running properly. The game would probably work since it uses rtg library for the graphics.

I've tried creating a skeleton library with idltool before but with no success. The problem was that the code it generated could not be compiled without first modifying the code manually. As a library developer beginner, tweaking the code was too hard for me despite the instructions :(

@jap

Most likely it trys to busy loop for beam y position, or maybe mouse key press. have you tried to decompiled and look at the code, to see if you find anything that can look like a vertical blanking wait loop. and replace it with graphic.library/WaitTOF()

http://amigadev.elowar.com/read/ADCD_ ... anual_guide/node0045.html

https://ada.untergrund.net/?p=boardthread&id=1075

It should look similar to this:




http://amigadev.elowar.com/read/ADCD_ ... anual_guide/node0038.html

I don't have tools to modify the 68k game executable other than a hex editor.

@jap

http://os4depot.net/?function=showfil ... =development/misc/ira.lha

http://aminet.net/package/dev/c/vbcc_bin_amigaos68k

https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=102593

you need the lvo files..
to lookup function calls.

@LiveForIt

Thanks! I disassembled the game file and at least the game is not waiting for a mouse button to be pressed. There is one subroutine that does some calculations with the VPOSR register:

@jap

That code might need to be replaced, what it does I can’t see it from the small snippet. But I guess its used for some kind of time keeping.

Created a small tool, that can help you find where the game/program gets stuck.
now in the upload queue.

http://os4depot.net/index.php?function=uploads

Code can be found here:

https://github.com/khval/FrozenAt

@jap

Looks like a random number generator to me, with vposr being used not for timing but to get some extra entropy.

@LiveForIt

I tried your tool and it printed this:

Quote:
The game is in three parts: intro (psycheintro), game (psyche), and outro (psycheout).

I got the same address for psycheintro and psyche.

There is no such address in the psyche's assembler listing, so the address is not from the intro/game but perhaps from the destracker library that the intro/game is trying to use.

@jap

Quote:

try without the path.

You are using the tool wrong, its the Name of the Task/Process, it’s not the file name, program does expect a path. you can find name of the running program in Scout PPC, or SysMon, Ranger programs.

Make sure the game has not crashed, before you start it. it puts task into suspend and does not check if its already suspended.

@jap

Just curious but what happens if you run the game with this?

http://os4depot.net/?function=showfil ... mulation/misc/ciagent.lha

@LiveForIt

Ah, I assumed that FozenAt starts the program.

@hotrod

With the help of CIAgent the intro started!

All the graphics are okay and the intro runs but there is no music. At some point I can hear a short sound fragment and then AHI crashes and the intro halts (alert number 80000003).

If I wait long enough or ignore the crash, the intro continues and I can hear sound effects but still no music.

After a 3 minutes or so, the intro crashes again and this time the whole system jams.

I tried starting NallePUH before the intro but then the intro refused to start.

Also the game itself starts but it crashes after I've entered the correct copy protection code (Guru Meditation: 80000003).