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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Uka
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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#46 Post by Uka » Fri Oct 29, 2021 3:45 pm

Alex wrote:
Fri Oct 29, 2021 3:23 pm
I extracted the weight of each object from the code. This might help in writing the best walkthrough. You can carry a total weight of 250
That's very interesting!
I wonder how we can take red substance? And what's the difference between holy water and blessed water?

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Alex
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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#47 Post by Alex » Fri Oct 29, 2021 3:58 pm

When you take holy water from the font with the carafe it is called blessed water.

I don't think it is possible to kill the spider or eat the meal. I've tested it by removing the spider from the room, but you still get killed by the spider when you enter EAT MEAL.
I did remove the web to test if you actually enter the throne room and that's correct. Wonder if we have to burn the web with the flamethrower or if there is another way like cutting it to pieces.

The red substance I also was wondering about. If you examine it it says something about dried blood. And you can't take it with your hands. Should we put something in it?

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Uka
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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#48 Post by Uka » Fri Oct 29, 2021 4:58 pm

Alex wrote:
Fri Oct 29, 2021 3:58 pm
When you take holy water from the font with the carafe it is called blessed water.
Ah, so we can't actually take holy water?
Alex wrote:
Fri Oct 29, 2021 3:58 pm
I did remove the web to test if you actually enter the throne room and that's correct. Wonder if we have to burn the web with the flamethrower or if there is another way like cutting it to pieces.
I still think that burning has better chances. The game says that the web can't be cut, and why there would be such verb as 'ignite'? Is there something to ignite besides the web? We use sword to cut the rope and scissors to cut the Elysian fields, but flamethrower does not sound like a red herring as we have to clean the nozzle.

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Alex
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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#49 Post by Alex » Fri Oct 29, 2021 5:26 pm

Uka wrote:
Fri Oct 29, 2021 4:58 pm
Ah, so we can't actually take holy water?
Its like the hot water which becomes the cool water when you take it with the carafe.
Uka wrote:
Fri Oct 29, 2021 4:58 pm
I still think that burning has better chances. The game says that the web can't be cut, and why there would be such verb as 'ignite'? Is there something to ignite besides the web? We use sword to cut the rope and scissors to cut the Elysian fields, but flamethrower does not sound like a red herring as we have to clean the nozzle.
I agree that it is more probable, but I don't now how to prevent melting the flamethrower. The stake might be useful for the zombie? But we also have the sphere which hasn't been used yet nor the cool water.
The verb ignite can be used to light the lamp.

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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#50 Post by Alex » Fri Oct 29, 2021 6:52 pm

one question more about DOSBOx the first time I mounted the image it worked fine, but when I try it now I get the message "cannot create drive from file" any idea what I'm doing wrong? Your file works fine but I can't use the file I've uploaded with the manure.

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Uka
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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#51 Post by Uka » Fri Oct 29, 2021 7:49 pm

Your Manure save disk works fine for me!
The error "cannot create drive from file" usually happens when you try to mount a 'read-only' file. Make sure that the disk image is not set to read-only.

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Alex
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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#52 Post by Alex » Fri Oct 29, 2021 8:25 pm

Strange I can upload your image without any problem, but each time I save something to the file, exit dosbox, relaunch dosbox and want to mount the image again I get the same error.
The files are not read only.

I compared your original file with my file and the game overwrites everything from the original file. After that I copied a file with xcopy to the file and there was no problem remounting it, but it didn't overwrite the info on the image. Strange however that you are able to mount my file without any problem. But this is all a bit off topic I'm afraid just a pity I can't save to disk. I'll just have to use the save states from DOSBox.

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Uka
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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#53 Post by Uka » Sat Oct 30, 2021 4:02 am

Well, then maybe that's because of the DOSBox version you are using, some old 2012, right? I never tried it (I use SVN Daum 2014), so it could be not fully compatible with later versions.
Here, try my latest disk - your Manure save 0 with my save 1 added.
Attachments
save.rar
(5.72 KiB) Downloaded 39 times

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Uka
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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#54 Post by Uka » Sat Oct 30, 2021 3:26 pm

Here is what the expert has replied to me:
In the case of Witch Hunt there was an apparently faulty pass/fail condition that could be traced to code; but with Catacombs it seems we don't (yet) have that. In other words, we don't know what is supposed to happen, only that -something- isn't happening.

The manure item is needed, and thus an encounter with the rider is presumed to be needed, but so far the rider isn't encountered. Some questions regarding this:

Is the encounter presumed to be random, or might there be some *reason* for it?

Has it occurred to you or Alex that the rider is the Grim Reaper? (The executable somewhat supports the idea because "death" follows "rider" in a list of words, so perhaps treated as synonymous by the game. Anyway, if true there could be reason behind the encounter.)
But I do not know how to answer that question - yes, probably the rider IS that "Angel of Death", but there are so many ways to die in the game, and we never meet that rider there?
Well, maybe someone would find that solution (?) to the other version of this game in 'Adventure Probe'.

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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#55 Post by Alex » Sun Oct 31, 2021 2:17 pm

Sorry for the late reply but yesterday I was visiting a comic convention.

About the rider, yes the rider is the angel of death. See below screenshot. Note I just put the rider in a random place I did not meet him here nor do I know how to meet him:
cq_003.png
cq_003.png (10.1 KiB) Viewed 1162 times
You have four turns before he leaves the room. He doesn't do anything, but you get killed if you examine him.

The code contains the words : assails nostrils rider's horse whoopsie. I guess something should happen to make the horse do its “whoopsie”

I thought maybe he is the shadowy figure behind the translucent wall in the cube room. But I don’t know how to remove the wall and if that is possible. (actually now if I think about it, I can remove the wall cheating. I'll give that a try and I will let you know)

Did the expert say something about solving the error with the zombie? The error has to be somewhere where the code checks if the sphere is in you possession and you pass the room with the zombie.

Concerning the web I tried a different approach. If you use CUT it says the web can’t be cut, If you try IGNITE is says the web can’t be lit.

EXAMINE WEB: You will need to clear it away to get past

If you try to CLEAR WEB with or without something you get too close to the web with one exception:

CLEAR WEB WITH SWORD
The web must be somewhat acidic as the sword dissolved on its first touch of the web.

We didn’t use the verb SPIN/TWIRL/ROLL yet. I was thinking should we cover the sword with something to protect it from the acid?

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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#56 Post by Alex » Sun Oct 31, 2021 2:25 pm

Alex wrote:
Sun Oct 31, 2021 2:17 pm
actually now if I think about it, I can remove the wall cheating.
Unfortunately that does not seem to work.

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Uka
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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#57 Post by Uka » Sun Oct 31, 2021 7:52 pm

Alex wrote:
Sun Oct 31, 2021 2:17 pm
About the rider, yes the rider is the angel of death. See below screenshot. Note I just put the rider in a random place I did not meet him here nor do I know how to meet him:
Thanks for the screen, very interesting!

I think that the problem is that if the rider not appearing IS a bug, then we can't know where he should appear, how and when. He just does not appear - and there is no other game version to compare the PC with and to check it this encounter is random or not.

We only have that note from Dorothy (from "Probe" magazine?) saying that the rider does not appear in PC version and that it is a bug... And we do not have any reason not to believe it, unfortunately.
Alex wrote:
Sun Oct 31, 2021 2:17 pm
The code contains the words : assails nostrils rider's horse whoopsie. I guess something should happen to make the horse do its “whoopsie”
Hmm. What could we have that smells so bad for the Death Rider's Horse? Holy Water? Or maybe that's what the flamethrower is for?
Alex wrote:
Sun Oct 31, 2021 2:17 pm
Did the expert say something about solving the error with the zombie?
Not yet - I've asked him about it.
Alex wrote:
Sun Oct 31, 2021 2:17 pm
If you try to CLEAR WEB with or without something you get too close to the web with one exception:

CLEAR WEB WITH SWORD
The web must be somewhat acidic as the sword dissolved on its first touch of the web.

We didn’t use the verb SPIN/TWIRL/ROLL yet. I was thinking should we cover the sword with something to protect it from the acid?
I tried "CLEAR WEB", but with other items you just get too close to the web and die. And I tried covering the sword with blood or holy water, but that did not work.

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Alex
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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#58 Post by Alex » Mon Nov 01, 2021 7:22 pm

Uka wrote:
Sun Oct 31, 2021 7:52 pm
Hmm. What could we have that smells so bad for the Death Rider's Horse?
I thought about the body in the torture room, but did not succeed in finding a way.

I'm afraid that I'm out of ideas at the moment with this game.

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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#59 Post by Alastair » Mon Nov 01, 2021 10:32 pm

Uka wrote:
Sun Oct 31, 2021 7:52 pm
Alex wrote:
Sun Oct 31, 2021 2:17 pm
The code contains the words : assails nostrils rider's horse whoopsie.
Hmm. What could we have that smells so bad for the Death Rider's Horse?
I may be wrong but I read it as the smell from the "whoopsie" is assailing your nostrils.

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Re: Catacombs/Cornucopia

#60 Post by Alex » Mon Nov 01, 2021 10:57 pm

Alastair wrote:
Mon Nov 01, 2021 10:32 pm
I may be wrong but I read it as the smell from the "whoopsie" is assailing your nostrils.
Yes that's also a possibility.

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