Impossible Mission

shteev · Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 3:34 pm Post subject: Impossible Mission

<I've split this topic off from Games Competition 2007 - Round 1 - Blue Max>

Predator wrote:

Blue Max was a good start to 2007, although I think Ive played it to death now and probably wont look at it for another 10 years!

I leave this round with the following observations and unanswered questions...

- Similar to Impossible Mission, there seems to be a set pattern of game layouts, and you need to get lucky with planes etc to get a nice set of marked targets

There's a set pattern of game layouts in Impossible Mission? I've never noticed that. Some copies will always give you the same layout on the first game you play, but I thought that after that they were pretty much random.
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www.gb64.com · Groupie in Training Joined: 27 Jul 2003 Posts: 120

shteev wrote:

There's a set pattern of game layouts in Impossible Mission? I've never noticed that. Some copies will always give you the same layout on the first game you play, but I thought that after that they were pretty much random.

The "same pattern scenario" could be an emulator problem. If you autostart an image with the emulator the internal time will always be the same when the game starts. As the function to generate random numbers depends on the C64 system time - randomized calculations may always be the same!

/Michael

Predator · Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 11:54 pm Post subject:

Maybe its the emulator then...

Im sure that there is a certain pattern of rooms which is the easiest to complete i.e. the tricky rooms have duff robots etc. It is recognisable by a certain room being in a certain location. And if you die/restart around 8/9 times you can get back to this set up.

Maybe Im going mad but Im sure I remember this being the case.

Maybe this would make it unsuitable for competition?
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shteev · Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 1:08 pm Post subject:

Predator wrote:

Maybe its the emulator then...

Im sure that there is a certain pattern of rooms which is the easiest to complete i.e. the tricky rooms have duff robots etc. It is recognisable by a certain room being in a certain location. And if you die/restart around 8/9 times you can get back to this set up.

Maybe Im going mad but Im sure I remember this being the case.

Maybe this would make it unsuitable for competition?

If this is the case, it would... which would be a shame, since I'm quite looking forward to a round of Impossible Mission.

If it IS the emulator, then if we can track down WHICH emulator and/or version of the game gives us a problem, then we can play around it. I know it'd be a pain to make people play on an emulator they aren't used to but for a top flight game like this it'd be worth it. Plus, it might give those of us who only ever use one emulator a taste of what we're missing!

Can you tell me which emulator and version of IM you're using in this situation, Predator? And, indeed, give me some details as to which room I'm looking out for and where it is on the map?
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Hey, you. Dumbass. Yeah, you in the tank. Cosy in there?

www.gb64.com · Groupie in Training Joined: 27 Jul 2003 Posts: 120

The problem I described is not related to a specific emulator version.

If you autostart a game with an emulator the internal C64 time will always be the same because the time will be initialized when the emulator is started and the loading of the program (game) takes exactly the same time.

The random function generates "random" numbers based on the C64 system time. That means random calculations within a game may always lead into the same result because they occur at the same time.

If you auto start a game with a crack intro this effect should not occur because you have to skip the intro with a key and I doubt that you always press the key at the same time.

/Michael

shteev · Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 2:12 pm Post subject:

www.gb64.com wrote:

The problem I described is not related to a specific emulator version.

If you autostart a game with an emulator the internal C64 time will always be the same because the time will be initialized when the emulator is started and the loading of the program (game) takes exactly the same time.

The random function generates "random" numbers based on the C64 system time. That means random calculations within a game may always lead into the same result because they occur at the same time.

If you auto start a game with a crack intro this effect should not occur because you have to skip the intro with a key and I doubt that you always press the key at the same time.

/Michael

If this is the problem, then it can easily be circumvented by starting a game, and then restarting with the restore key.
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Hey, you. Dumbass. Yeah, you in the tank. Cosy in there?

Predator · Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 5:56 pm Post subject:

I will check out my theories again tonight and update this screen with some evidence if it comes to anything...
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shteev · Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 4:13 pm Post subject:

I've just run a quick test myself, running the Remember version under CCS V3.0. Restarting the game using the restore key, I made a note of the patterns of the corridors off the first elevator on 20 separate games, and I didn't find any patterns repeating.
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Hey, you. Dumbass. Yeah, you in the tank. Cosy in there?

Predator · Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 6:12 pm Post subject:

Shteev, I think you're right. I also did some testing today and didnt find any repeating patterns.

Maybe it was a cheat on a version many moons ago.

If IM wins this month, we'll use the Remember version just to be sure eh?

I must be cracking up or something!
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If it bleeds, we can kill it