Gateway to the Skies

Games for Spectrum, C64, Amstrad, Amiga, Apple ][ and the rest of the 8-bit and 16-bit platforms. Pleas for help, puzzles, bug reports etc.

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Doreen B
Posts: 398
Joined: Thu Dec 16, 2004 5:25 pm
Location: Yorkshire, England

gateway to the skies

#16 Post by Doreen B »

Rubbing the lamp does not work here. Only in the cupboard with the oilstone.

Once you have dropped the ladder and climbed down, there appears to be no way back to that area from the dwarf 'area'.
terri
Posts: 1250
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2004 5:08 am
Location: Canada

#17 Post by terri »

Interesting.

I used the rope to go down into the mine, and the ladder in the bedroom (to get the bar of silver).

However neither Doreen nor I can make it out with the pickaxe.

Is there another tool that can be used to get the diamond? Either with or without "DIG"?

While this game abounds with mazes, surely there would be something in each of them?

Is the diamond a red herring? That way one could still have the pickaxe. Maybe fight the orc with it?

There is still a wraith to meet up with somewhere.

And what does the clue in the spell book mean?

Seems like there is more than one way to get to places (and maybe to kill things?).
dave
Posts: 606
Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:20 pm

#18 Post by dave »

terri wrote:I used the rope to go down into the mine, and the ladder in the bedroom (to get the bar of silver).
That's what I used.
terri wrote:However neither Doreen nor I can make it out with the pickaxe.

Is there another tool that can be used to get the diamond? Either with or without "DIG"?
I suppose my question is; can we deal with the dwarf before we go into the mine?

It looks like the diamond is given to the wizard to get a pill to get out of mazes - and I'm not 100% certain the pill does anything.
terri wrote:Is the diamond a red herring? That way one could still have the pickaxe. Maybe fight the orc with it?
I haven't got as far as the orc yet so I'm not certain how you deal with him!
terri wrote:And what does the clue in the spell book mean?
It's used to deal with the wraith.
Last edited by dave on Tue May 12, 2009 2:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
dave
Posts: 606
Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:20 pm

#19 Post by dave »

Looks like I made a mistake with the Dwarf; you need the sword to kill him. Unfortunately that random number means he kills me before I can kill him.

I'm not certain how to get 'round this.
dave
Posts: 606
Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:20 pm

#20 Post by dave »

Okay, I finally managed to kill the dwarf with the sword. It's convoluted, but we have to work around a flaw in the Spectrum and the tzx format.

The spectrum generates pseudo-random numbers using an algorithm. Normally the algorithm starts based on the time the system has been up, but because we're loading as a .tzx, this means that the start of the sequence (or, its seed) is the same each time.

The program only looks for a random number is 3 places:
  • When the dwarf tries to hit you
  • When you rub the lamp, not in the cupboard
  • When you try to hit the dwarf
So there is no opportunity to advance the number sequence without dying. But, with some emulators you can edit the random number seed within memory, by altering memory location 0x5c76, from the .tzx value of 0x4A to 0xFF.

I can do this for somebody if they want to send me a copy of their .tzx or .sna file.
Alastair
Posts: 1151
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2005 12:21 am

#21 Post by Alastair »

Dave, regarding random numbers would saving a game to a fresh tzx file, dying at the hands of the dwarf, then restoring your save game from the tzx work?

P.S. I'm not playing this game, just reading through the comments, so don't ask me for help.
dave
Posts: 606
Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:20 pm

#22 Post by dave »

Alastair wrote:Dave, regarding random numbers would saving a game to a fresh tzx file, dying at the hands of the dwarf, then restoring your save game from the tzx work?
That should work; but I couldn't get the in game saving and loading under emuzwin. Better success may work with other emulators.

To re-iterate, we're talking about doing a SAVE in the game, not a save through the emulators save snapshot facillity.
terri
Posts: 1250
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2004 5:08 am
Location: Canada

#23 Post by terri »

Can someone tell me how to do this in Spectaculator?

I frequently run into this problem. I follow the steps from the help file, but often it doesn't work. I'll keep trying.
terri
Posts: 1250
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2004 5:08 am
Location: Canada

#24 Post by terri »

OK I played again without getting the diamond, but it didn't work at the dwarf.

OK - I'll send you the .tzx file (from the beginning of the game right?)
dave
Posts: 606
Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:20 pm

#25 Post by dave »

Ignore the stuff I said about the axe and diamond, I misunderstood that bit of the source. You need to use the sword to kill the dwarf.

You can send me the .sna or .ezx file (not .tzx as I said above - I'm only human and make mistakes). I'd prefer it if you sent me just before you enter the maze so that I can test that it will work (as I've already done for Doreen).

I'll have a look at Speculator and see whether I can provide simple instructions of how to reset the random number seed.
dave
Posts: 606
Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:20 pm

#26 Post by dave »

You can do this with Speculator directly. Once the game's loaded and at the point where you're in the room with the dwarf, go to Tools->Poke Memory... A new dialogue box will appear.

Enter '23670' in Address and '210' in Value, then click 'Apply' and 'Close'. Then you can KILL DWARF and when prompted enter SWORD and it should kill him on the first blow. If it doesn't, try again GET SWORD, then KILL DWARF, then SWORD. 210 should work on the first try, if not, try different numbers between 0 and 255.
terri
Posts: 1250
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2004 5:08 am
Location: Canada

#27 Post by terri »

Thanks Dave. It worked!!!

Don't beat yourself up about making mistakes. We are all human. The fact that you are spending all this time to help us is very much appreciated.

I'll save this to include in the solution, if and when we finish.
dave
Posts: 606
Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:20 pm

#28 Post by dave »

It looks like you're nearly at the end at this point, so I don't think it'll take too long :-)
terri
Posts: 1250
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2004 5:08 am
Location: Canada

#29 Post by terri »

Ha - nada.

Although I have made progress, I can't get the key from the room with the ladder. I know what to do with the treasures I have (at least I think so). Are the cards a red herring? I can figure out what to do at the carpet and the lepers. I have a pego but can't get past the door.

I think that I need to get the key first though though.

Help please.
dave
Posts: 606
Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:20 pm

#30 Post by dave »

terri wrote:Although I have made progress, I can't get the key from the room with the ladder. I know what to do with the treasures I have (at least I think so). Are the cards a red herring? I can figure out what to do at the carpet and the lepers. I have a pego but can't get past the door.
Strangely enough the door seems to be opened by "WAVE WAND" (that's if I'm reading it right). The wand is found in the "Hall of Wizardry".

I can't find a use for the cards (doesn't mean that there isn't one - the sources aren't the easiest to read).

The lepers is strange; when you're in "This is the bustling Market Square." you should be able to "PAY POTION" to get rid of them. It looks like this is what the pego is used for.

For the carpet, repeat what you do with the door.
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