Catacombs

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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Alex
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Location: Netherlands

Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#76 Post by Alex » Sun Nov 14, 2021 1:27 pm

I also already tried that, but I was more thinking of doing it in combination with an object. I tried several other things yesterday, but I'm afraid I have no idea how to solve the last puzzles.

It seems that there is no real end to the game. When you have put all the treasures on the altar and you have 250 points, the game does not stop. Every 25 points you get a different rating:

0 giving you a rating of President of the U.S.A.
25 giving you a rating of Granny.
50 giving you a rating of Failure.
75 giving you a rating of Gonzo.
100 giving you a rating of Pedestrian.
125 giving you a rating of Explorer.
150 giving you a rating of Adventurer.
175 giving you a rating of Winner.
200 giving you a rating of Magic.
225 giving you a rating of Timelord.
250 giving you a rating of Super Granny.

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Uka
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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#77 Post by Uka » Sun Nov 14, 2021 1:34 pm

Alex wrote:
Sun Nov 14, 2021 1:27 pm
It seems that there is no real end to the game.
That's normal, as that is the case in other Classic Quests games, too. We get the idea that we have finished the game by getting all the points possible.

Canalboy
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Joined: Tue Feb 18, 2020 10:31 pm

Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#78 Post by Canalboy » Mon Nov 22, 2021 2:01 pm

Alex wrote:
Tue Oct 26, 2021 10:02 am
I now know how to get 223 out of 250 points, but for some reason my Dosbox stopped working properly this morning :( Can't load or save states anymore. No idea what went wrong.
Hello Alex

My session of Catacombs crashed a couple of days ago too. I have found that downloading DOSBox-X is better. The screen looks cleaner, you can create and also mount a floppy drive to save multiple game states and it doesn't crash the game either. It's a shame that there seems to be a bug in it as was impressed by the game so far.

Canalboy
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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#79 Post by Canalboy » Mon Nov 22, 2021 2:09 pm

Strident wrote:
Mon Sep 20, 2021 7:14 am
Anyone up for a real challenge?

The DOS versions of the long-lost games Catacombs and Cornucopia have been finally been found and archived. These games, in the Classic Quests series, were based on some of the very first UK-authored adventure games, originally produced for Commodore PET.

The archivist is keen to have the files tested thoroughly before he shares them more widely with the community, so is looking for a few people to try and solve them.

These aren't for the faint-hearted. They're very tricky games (billed as such back in the day, so I'd expect lots of locations and deliberately difficult puzzles).

So, if you're up for a challenge then let me know and I'll hook you up with the files (not to be shared elsewhere at this point).

You can read about the history of Catacombs (and the other Classic Quests games) here: http://8bitag.com/info/catacombs.html
Is the version of Catacombs you have the same as the one on the https://www.old-games.ru/site? I have managed to mount a floppy in DOSBox-X to save multiple game states in that version. And is Cornucopia still unavailable?

Regards

Canalboy

Canalboy
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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#80 Post by Canalboy » Mon Nov 22, 2021 2:26 pm

Uka wrote:
Sun Nov 14, 2021 1:34 pm
Alex wrote:
Sun Nov 14, 2021 1:27 pm
It seems that there is no real end to the game.
That's normal, as that is the case in other Classic Quests games, too. We get the idea that we have finished the game by getting all the points possible.
That sounds very unusual. I can't think of another text adventure that doesn't have some form of congratulatory or valedictory message at the end. Infidelhas a strange ending of course but you can still bring closure to the game.

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Alex
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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#81 Post by Alex » Mon Nov 22, 2021 10:56 pm

Canalboy wrote:
Mon Nov 22, 2021 2:26 pm
that sounds very unusual. I can't think of another text adventure that doesn't have some form of congratulatory or valedictory message at the end. Infidelhas a strange ending of course but you can still bring closure to the game.
Unfortunately it isn't , I've played several games where there is no ending and you just can reach the maximum score without ending the game. Regarding this game if you look at the text in the code there is no message for an ending.

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Alex
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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#82 Post by Alex » Mon Nov 22, 2021 10:59 pm

Canalboy wrote:
Mon Nov 22, 2021 2:01 pm


Hello Alex

My session of Catacombs crashed a couple of days ago too. I have found that downloading DOSBox-X is better. The screen looks cleaner, you can create and also mount a floppy drive to save multiple game states and it doesn't crash the game either. It's a shame that there seems to be a bug in it as was impressed by the game so far.
Hi, nice to have another person trying to solve the game.
Yes I also switched to DOSBOX-X. but I'm still having problems loading games from a mounted image.

Alastair
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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#83 Post by Alastair » Mon Nov 22, 2021 11:06 pm

Welcome Canalboy.
As you can see, we are all stuck!

I'm uploading my latest decryption of the text, but it doesn't add much over my previous upload in that it offers no further clues on how to progress with the web or plug.
Attachments
Catacombs_Text.zip
(14.92 KiB) Downloaded 26 times

Canalboy
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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#84 Post by Canalboy » Mon Nov 22, 2021 11:15 pm

I used the mount c c:\dosbox\catacombs and mount a c:\dosbox\catacombs -t floppy commands then changed to c: from z: and it seems to save and load ok from and to one of the ten available slots.

Having said that I was also playing an old game called Castle Hornadette and some game states will restore while others give an i/o error which is odd as they are identical file formats.

The pain experienced getting forty years old software running in a modern emulator is somewhat analogous to fitting a forty year old stomach in to a pair of trousers designed for a teenager.

Alastair
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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#85 Post by Alastair » Mon Nov 22, 2021 11:15 pm

Alex wrote:
Mon Nov 22, 2021 10:59 pm
Yes I also switched to DOSBOX-X. but I'm still having problems loading games from a mounted image.
In regular DOSBox I have to mount the floppy image with the following command:

Code: Select all

imgmount 0 [path to image]\save.ima -fs none
(that's a zero, and obviously [path to image] is whatever it is on your system) as the normal imgmount -t floppy command does not work on the image.

Canalboy
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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#86 Post by Canalboy » Mon Nov 22, 2021 11:21 pm

Alastair wrote:
Mon Nov 22, 2021 11:06 pm
Welcome Canalboy.
As you can see, we are all stuck!

I'm uploading my latest decryption of the text, but it doesn't add much over my previous upload in that it offers no further clues on how to progress with the web or plug.
Yes Alastair this is a real toughie and I am a Phoenix mainframe veteran so I know a tough challenge when I see one. I tend to have a high patience threshold with these games but my tenacity has been somewhat compromised by the news of the bugs and lack of any proper denouement to the game. Being commercial you would have thought that it had undergone thorough testing before being released, especially considering the amount of work that has obviously been put into it in the first place.

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Strident
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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#87 Post by Strident » Mon Nov 22, 2021 11:53 pm

Canalboy wrote:
Mon Nov 22, 2021 2:26 pm
That sounds very unusual. I can't think of another text adventure that doesn't have some form of congratulatory or valedictory message at the end.
As Uka has said, many of Brian Cotton's other games are the same. See Jacob's solution for Goblin Towers or Dorothy's for Witch Hunt. These are based on incredibly early Commodore PET adventures and I just guess that the author didn't think it was worth wasting the memory coding in the end text. (It's not like most games have a decent ending anyway! :) )

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Uka
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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#88 Post by Uka » Tue Nov 23, 2021 5:56 am

Canalboy wrote:
Mon Nov 22, 2021 2:09 pm
Is the version of Catacombs you have the same as the one on the https://www.old-games.ru/site?
Yes, sure! That's the only version available.
Although I've heard that in 1991 Supersoft has re-published at least "Witch Hunt" with bugs cleaned and digitized sounds added - but that could be just a press-review version that was not released commercially.
Canalboy wrote:
Mon Nov 22, 2021 2:09 pm
And is Cornucopia still unavailable?
No, as I wanted to solve all the problems with "Catacombs" first... I have not even tried to play "Cornucopia" yet, as that game is reported to be the most complex and difficult of all the five - so if we can't even solve the fourth one, is it worth to try out the fifth? :)
But if you are interested, here it is attached!
Canalboy wrote:
Mon Nov 22, 2021 2:26 pm
That sounds very unusual. I can't think of another text adventure that doesn't have some form of congratulatory or valedictory message at the end. Infidelhas a strange ending of course but you can still bring closure to the game.
Infocom games did have some clear endings, but that's not the case with all the others. Especially early games created by a single author, like all the five Classic Quests.
Canalboy wrote:
Mon Nov 22, 2021 11:15 pm
The pain experienced getting forty years old software running in a modern emulator is somewhat analogous to fitting a forty year old stomach in to a pair of trousers designed for a teenager.
Why, everything is very easy and simple in DOSBox! In fact, it is much easier to run forty-years-old DOS software today then to run some twenty-years-old Windows games.
Attachments
Cornucopia.zip
(52.4 KiB) Downloaded 45 times

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Strident
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Re: Catacombs

#89 Post by Strident » Tue Nov 23, 2021 8:23 am

Uka wrote:
Tue Nov 23, 2021 5:56 am
Infocom games did have some clear endings, but that's not the case with all the others. Especially early games created by a single author, like all the five Classic Quests.
No, that isn't quite true. The Brian Cotton games *are* fairly unusual in not having at least some ending text. Canalboy is an expert on the very early mainframe adventures.

It's worth reading Jason Dyer's blog if you want to get an idea what other adventures at the time that Catacombs originally came out, were like: https://bluerenga.blog/all-the-adventures/.

(If people do start playing Cornucopia, it would be worth making a new thread for that.)

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Uka
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Re: Catacombs

#90 Post by Uka » Tue Nov 23, 2021 9:28 am

Strident wrote:
Tue Nov 23, 2021 8:23 am
No, that isn't quite true. The Brian Cotton games *are* fairly unusual in not having at least some ending text. Canalboy is an expert on the very early mainframe adventures.
Ah, OK. I am rather a specialist on point-and-click adventures - I did not play many text adventures besides Infocom and Classic Quests.
And of course I meant the games by Brian Cotton - they are very similar to each other.
Strident wrote:
Tue Nov 23, 2021 8:23 am
(If people do start playing Cornucopia, it would be worth making a new thread for that.)
But this topic used to be named "Catacombs/Cornucopia"?

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