Problem with Magnetic Scrolls/RISC OS3
James MacArthur
Can anyone help me get some Magnetic Scrolls games working?
I have an A3000 with 2mb RAM (ARM2). I bought a copy of the Magnetic Scrolls
Collection at the same time and it worked perfectly.
Since then I have upgraded to Risc Os 3 and got a 30mb IDE Hard disc.
The Magnetic Scrolls collection now has severe trouble working - it displays
everything as though it thought the entire screen was twice the size. In other
words, dialog boxes which should be in the middle of the screen end up at the
bottom of the screen, with the bottom half clipped off.
Also moving the mouse cursor too close to the top of the screen causes the
game to crash completely.
The same problem occurs with Wonderland. What annoys me is that I'm sure I
remember getting both games to work ( I haven't played them for about 2 years)
with the Hard Disc and OS 3.
I have tried running both games from floppy and from the hard disc without any
change.
The IDE disc uses a funny filing system called IDEFS which Watford Electronics
supplied with it. I have tried *unplugging IDEFS and running from the floppy
without success.
Has anyone else had this problem, and does anyone know how to fix it? (Short
of ripping out the hard disc and putting the old OS2 chips back).
Thanks *very* much for any help anyone can offer. Replies via email would be
especially appreciated.
James MacArthur
Also emailable on jame...@arcade.demon.co.uk
Stuart Marshall
In article <545fu9$m...@gatekeeper.origin-at.co.uk>, James MacArthur
AFAICR the solution is relatively simple. All you need to do is use
an older version of the shared C library.
The tricky part is that the desktop on Risc OS3 doesn't like the
older version -
so I think you need to load it from the command line.
Basically, boot up in SUPERVISOR mode, load the old CLib (from your
original applications disks), then load the Magnetic Scrolls game -
which should then
work fine.
Hope this helps,
Stuart Marshall, http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/d.s.mars/
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Sandy Morton
It appears that several games may not be interchageable.
Is there a simple fix?
Paul Davidson
In article <545fu9$m...@gatekeeper.origin-at.co.uk>, James MacArthur
<URL:mailto:JMacA...@origin-at.co.uk> wrote:
>
> Can anyone help me get some Magnetic Scrolls games working?
> I have an A3000 with 2mb RAM (ARM2). I bought a copy of the Magnetic Scrolls
> Collection at the same time and it worked perfectly.
> Since then I have upgraded to Risc Os 3 and got a 30mb IDE Hard disc.
> The Magnetic Scrolls collection now has severe trouble working - it displays
> everything as though it thought the entire screen was twice the size. In other
> words, dialog boxes which should be in the middle of the screen end up at the
> bottom of the screen, with the bottom half clipped off.
> Also moving the mouse cursor too close to the top of the screen causes the
> game to crash completely.
> The same problem occurs with Wonderland. What annoys me is that I'm sure I
> remember getting both games to work ( I haven't played them for about 2 years)
> with the Hard Disc and OS 3.
> I have tried running both games from floppy and from the hard disc without any
> change.
> The IDE disc uses a funny filing system called IDEFS which Watford Electronics
> supplied with it. I have tried *unplugging IDEFS and running from the floppy
> without success.
> Has anyone else had this problem, and does anyone know how to fix it? (Short
> of ripping out the hard disc and putting the old OS2 chips back).
> Thanks *very* much for any help anyone can offer. Replies via email would be
> especially appreciated.
Well, I've just checked what happens on my copy. I recently installed it on the
scsi drive, not having used it since my os2 days (but my wife recently expressed
an interest in finishing corruption). The story with me is not as bad as you
describe, I have about 10 mm of the bottom of the screen wrapped to the top, and
its horizontally off centre. So three seconds of pressing buttons and twiddling
knobs round the back of the monitor and its perfectly positioned on screen. Thats
on a TAXAN 770+. Could it be you've changed your monitor since you last used it?
It should be a simple matter to resolve - well hopefully, since you'll have to
reset the vdu back when you return to the desktop.
best o luck
cheers
Paul
--
p.dav...@ic.ac.uk
p.dav...@zetnet.co.uk
Gareth Moore
Sandy Morton wrote:
>
> It appears that several games may not be interchageable.
>
> Is there a simple fix?
Yes. Buy two computers. One with and one without RISC OS 2.
Seriously, tho', RISC OS 3 has been out for years and
years now. You're a bit out of date...
Most new software needs at least RISC OS 3.10 to run, and
most RISC OS 2 software other than some very old games has
all been converted to run on RISC OS 3 (if it didn't in the
first place).
The question now is what will run on the StrongARM...
--
Gareth Moore gl...@eng.cam.ac.uk
Downing College, Cambridge
Sandy Morton
> Sandy Morton wrote:
>> It appears that several games may not be interchageable.
>> Is there a simple fix?
> Yes. Buy two computers. One with and one without RISC OS 2.
> Seriously, tho', RISC OS 3 has been out for years and years now. You're
> a bit out of date...
I do have RISC OS3.
I only wodered if there was a simple way of making programs which were
written under RO2 work under RO3 since my kids preferred some of the
older games.
Sandy Millport
on the Bicycle Island
Gareth Moore
> I only wodered if there was a simple way of making programs which were
> written under RO2 work under RO3 since my kids preferred some of the
> older games.
If the publisher still exists then you could try writing to them,
perhaps, since some (such as 4D) produced upgrades of their games.
Many incompatibilities were caused by a OS_UpdateMEMC call which
was easily removed (it just tried to speed things up). Some games
have an obvious call from BASIC which can be easily removed (as
long as the disc isn't protected, of course).
Alternatively, if it's a specific game you could always try asking
in this newsgroup to see if anyone knows the solution!
Gareth
--
Gareth Moore gl...@eng.cam.ac.uk
Downing College, Cambridge, CB2 1DQ Graduate student
32-bit Acorn Gaming WWW Pages http://www.doggysoft.co.uk/gaming
====== The longest running regularly updated Acorn WWW magazine ======
Simon Challands
Gareth Moore (gl...@eng.cam.ac.uk) wrote:
: Sandy Morton wrote:
: >
: > It appears that several games may not be interchageable.
: >
: > Is there a simple fix?
: Yes. Buy two computers. One with and one without RISC OS 2.
<plug>
I've got a RO2 computer for sale.
</plug>
What games are you having trouble with? None of the ones I had with RO2
fail to run on RO 3.10. Actually, I tell a lie. Interdictor doesn't appear
to.
Simon Challands
--
Simon Challands
http://www.york.ac.uk/~sgc102
http://www.york.ac.uk/~sgc102/EliteDir/Elite.html - a very nice page on Elite
James MacArthur
correctly, so clicking about halfway up the screen will select the buttons
which are now off the bottom of the screen.
Looks like I'll have to put the old chips back if I want to play it. Thanks
anyway.
Mac
Also emailable on jame...@arcade.demon.co.uk
Gordon Dunnachie
>In article <545fu9$m...@gatekeeper.origin-at.co.uk>, James MacArthur
><URL:mailto:JMacA...@origin-at.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>> I have an A3000 with 2mb RAM (ARM2). I bought a copy of the Magnetic Scrolls
>> Collection at the same time and it worked perfectly.
>> Since then I have upgraded to Risc Os 3 and got a 30mb IDE Hard disc.
The problem you have is the version of the Shared C Library which is in
ROM in RiscOS 3. An older version is supplied inside the application
IIRC, if not it should be in an old !System folder.
The instructions for doing this were in at least one of the Acorn
magazines, either Acorn User or Micro User/Acorn Computing a while back.
From memory the best solution is to make a copy of the games you want to
play on your hard drive and then edit their !Run files, by shift double
clicking on the App, and doing the same on the !Run file.
There will be a line in the file which reads
"RMEnsure SharedCLibrary [1] RMLoad [2].clib"
or something of that sort.
---------------------------------------------
[1] The version number of the library needed
[2] either <System$dir>[3] or <obey$dir>[4]
[3] you need CLib to be in the !System folder
[4] CLib is supplied
---------------------------------------------
Insert the following line immediately before the one mentioned above.
"RMKill SharedCLibrary"
I did this when I first upgraded to RiscOs 3 so my memory is failing in
some of the details, also I don't have my copies of Jinxster (?) and
Corruption with me at the moment.
HTH
P.S. If you have any more problems post them here or send them to me by
E-mail
--
Gordon Dunnachie
Turnpike evaluation. For information, see http://www.turnpike.com/