Unpacking Civilization AGA
Andrew Clayton
CIVILIZATIONAGA, which would make it run faster.
The article author mentioned that CIVAGA was a crunched
executable, and needed to be uncrunched before you could modify
it. Using Bob Rye's utility "CFX", I was informed that it was
packed with PowerPacker 4.
I subsequently downloaded about 50% of the aminet/util/pack
directory, trying to find something that would unpack CIVAGA into
something that I could edit. I was 100% unsuccessful.
Either I'm doing something amazingly naive and stupid, or the
packed program is somehow prevented from being unpacked.
Here's the original article I am referring to:
/// begin repost
From: cran...@garnet.msen.com (Chad Randall)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.games
Subject: Re: Civilization AGA
Date: 29 May 1994 02:05:22 GMT
Organization: Msen, Inc. -- Ann Arbor, MI (account info: +1 313 998-4562)
: There are two versions of Civilization one for all Amigas and one for AGA only.
: The AGA version beats seven bells out of the non-AGA version and runs at the
: same speed. Don't get the non-AGA version unless you have to.
I *purchased* both versions. IMHO, the ECS version does run a bit faster.
I was able to patch the ECS version to run 2 to 3 times as fast. The
patch is quite simple:
Ues a disk/file editor (Deksid?) to search for the following hex sequence:
4EAEFEF2 (in asm, JSR -$10E(A6) )
You will find two (2) of these. Change one of the sequences to
4E714E71 (in asm, NOP NOP )
Run the program. If the graphics flicker wildly, then you changed the
wrong sequence. Restore the executable, and try the other sequence!
I have been unable to try changing the AGA version, as it's powerpacked
with version 3.0 (commercial?) It should work. But maybe the sequnece
could be :"4EAEFEB6" (SetWindowPointerA)
/// end of repost.
My copy of Civilization AGA is packed with Powerpacker 4. It is
as slow as a wet week compared to the ECS version [which I
purchased years ago]. I would REALLY like to get some speed out
of this program.
The incredibly slow FADES during screen changes _really_ annoy
me, and I was hoping there was a fix to this too. I am
incredibly disappointed with the AGA version of Civilization. It
offers no significant improvements and runs like a dog [even on a
A4000/40 with 28Mhz Warpengine!]
However, I cannot continue until someone can tell me how to
unpack the crunched/packed file so that I can look for actual
instructions!
Help?
Email appreciated. Reply in comp.sys.amiga.games if required.
Dac
--
David Andrew Clayton.
Canberra, Australia.
d...@prolix.apana.org.au
A Caring Prolix Bastard.
Alan L.M. Buxey
: it. Using Bob Rye's utility "CFX", I was informed that it was
: packed with PowerPacker 4.
: I subsequently downloaded about 50% of the aminet/util/pack
: directory, trying to find something that would unpack CIVAGA into
: something that I could edit. I was 100% unsuccessful.
to unpack a powerpacker4 file to something editeable (ie unpacked), you
will need to use powerpacker 4.
alan
From Alan, replies appreciated!___ __ _ __ ___ _ WWW - soon
.----------------------. ///\\ |\\ /| || // ' /\\ __ __ 32
| Alan Buxey | __ /// \\ | \\ /|| ||(( __ / \\ // ||\\
|kc...@uk.ac.susx.solx1| \\\///----\\| \/ || || \\_||/----\\ \\_ ||//
`-I use PGP...do you??-' \XX/Amiga - Now There's A Reason For Not Owning A PC.
-------I also read the InterNet Amiga magazine, "Amiga Report", do you?-------
Andrew Clayton
> Andrew Clayton (d...@prolix.apana.org.au) wrote:
>
> : it. Using Bob Rye's utility "CFX", I was informed that it was
> : packed with PowerPacker 4.
> to unpack a powerpacker4 file to something editeable (ie unpacked), you
> will need to use powerpacker 4.
A large number of people emailed me about this problem, and quite a few
of them mentioned a program called DLD, which is available in the
VirusZ package in Aminet [util/virus].
Indeed, DLD was able to unpack Civilization AGA, and I'm now able to
apply some modifications to the code so that it doesn't run like a dog
[we're talking major league slow!]
A public thankyou to those people who aided me with my problem.
The net is a great place to be!
John C. Alexander
speed up the program, make it reside in Fast Ram & stop pointer
flicker.
Is there anything similar that I can do to the regular OCS version
of Civilization? I thought whne I bought a 25mhz VXL30-030 w/ 2megs
of 32-bit Fast Ram & 68882, that it (among other things) would speed
up Civilization. Alas, it didn't, I'ld actually love this game if it
weren't so d*mn slow. :-)
--
afo...@cabell.vcu.edu -Topher-
"If all the ignorance in the world passed a second ago
What would you say? Who would you obey
I am here to say that Peace is now" - E.Kowalczyk