SPOT: The Videogame VGA/MCGA video modes \ VOGONS

SPOT: The Videogame VGA/MCGA video modes

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First post, by zerker

Posted on 2017-03-11, 21:53

zerker Offline

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So I have a (admittedly minor) issue that's been bothering me since I first picked up this game back in the 90s. The setup menu contains an option for MCGA/VGA graphics, but I've NEVER, EVER gotten this to work.

No matter what machine I am on (my original 386 and 486 machines back in the day, DosBox, the current Celeron retro machine), the game simply refuses to start and just switches to a completely blank, black screen and stays like that forever.

So, is this a known issue with this game? Were there some bad versions released to retail at some point? I noticed on MobyGames that there are VGA screenshots, so at least SOMEONE got it working. My version came with both 3.5" and 5.25" floppy disks, but I remember getting the same result no matter which I tried.

Here is the directory listing of my SPOT install folder, for reference:

1 Volume in drive C is RHO        
2 Volume Serial Number is 4852-8512
3 Directory of C:\GAMES\SPOT
4
5.            <DIR>     03-02-16   4:30p
6..           <DIR>     03-02-16   4:30p
70        LZD     11405 05-05-07  12:44a
81        LZD     11820 05-05-07  12:44a
92        LZD      8662 05-05-07  12:44a
103        LZD      8138 05-05-07  12:44a
114        LZD      7956 05-05-07  12:44a
125        LZD      8827 05-05-07  12:44a
136        LZD     10014 05-05-07  12:44a
147        LZD     33827 05-05-07  12:44a
158        LZD      8255 05-05-07  12:44a
169        LZD      8258 05-05-07  12:44a
17A        LZD      8586 05-05-07  12:44a
18ADLIB    DVR      7840 05-05-07  12:44a
19B        LZD      7627 05-05-07  12:44a
20C        LZD     10278 05-05-07  12:44a
21CMS      DVR     12450 05-05-07  12:44a
22CONFIG   VM          3 03-02-16   5:23p
23COVOX    DVR      6208 05-05-07  12:44a
24IBM      DVR      3027 05-05-07  12:44a
25MUSICDVR             8 03-02-16   5:23p
26NULL     DVR       188 05-05-07  12:44a
27ROL      DVR      1468 05-05-07  12:44a
28SETUP    EXE     16283 05-05-07  12:44a
29SPOT     EXE    343451 05-05-07  12:44a
30TANDY    DVR      3584 05-05-07  12:44a
31       26 file(s)     538163 bytes
32                   183500800 bytes free

And yes, the game is not particularly graphically intense and runs fine in EGA mode, but it's been bothering me for entirely too long 😀

Reply 1 of 6, by leileilol

Posted on 2017-03-11, 23:23

leileilol Offline

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CONFIG.VM marked read only?

As far as I can tell you're not missing any files. Those 2007 dates though hmm (they should really be in a range between May and August 1990)

long live PCem

Reply 2 of 6, by zerker

Posted on 2017-03-12, 00:16

zerker Offline

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Joined: 2016-02-11, 01:34

Naw, no files are read only. The dates are likely just an artifact of me coping around the same post-install version from a couple machines, including in and back out of a DosBox setup or two. Here's the listing from a fresh install from floppy:

1 Volume in drive C is RHO        
2 Volume Serial Number is 4852-8512
3 Directory of C:\GAMES\SPOT2
4
5.            <DIR>     03-11-17   6:55p
6..           <DIR>     03-11-17   6:55p
70        LZD     11405 05-29-90  11:56p
81        LZD     11820 08-16-90   5:51p
92        LZD      8662 08-07-90   8:57p
103        LZD      8138 08-13-90   5:22p
114        LZD      7956 08-13-90   1:06p
125        LZD      8827 08-13-90   1:07p
136        LZD     10014 08-24-90   3:52p
147        LZD     33827 08-12-90   1:50a
158        LZD      8255 08-19-90   3:29p
169        LZD      8258 08-19-90   3:30p
17A        LZD      8586 08-19-90   7:47p
18ADLIB    DVR      7840 08-17-90  10:46p
19B        LZD      7627 08-19-90  10:03p
20C        LZD     10278 08-19-90  10:04p
21CMS      DVR     12450 07-27-90   3:37p
22CONFIG   VM          3 03-11-17   6:56p
23COVOX    DVR      6208 07-10-90   5:20p
24IBM      DVR      3027 08-10-90   9:46p
25MUSICDVR             8 03-11-17   6:56p
26NULL     DVR       188 08-10-90   5:04p
27ROL      DVR      1468 08-17-90  11:49p
28SETUP    EXE     16283 08-27-90   2:40p
29SPOT     EXE    343451 10-15-90   7:31p
30TANDY    DVR      3584 07-12-90  10:21p
31       26 file(s)     538163 bytes
32                   182730752 bytes free

The re-installation was, of course, no more successful. I did a compare of the two folders for sanity's sake (thanks 16-bit Beyond Compare!), and they are binary identical -- excluding, of course, the two config files: musicdvr and config.vm because I was using different options.

Reply 3 of 6, by Ampera

Posted on 2017-03-13, 03:52

Ampera Offline

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Try it in DOSBox.

Reply 4 of 6, by leileilol

Posted on 2017-03-13, 04:05

leileilol Offline

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Tried hexing the first two bytes in CONFIG.VM to 13?

long live PCem

Reply 5 of 6, by zerker

Posted on 2017-03-13, 20:51

zerker Offline

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Joined: 2016-02-11, 01:34

As I said, I have tried it in DosBox to no avail. I retested it just now to ensure I wasn't insane 😀

As for CONFIG.VM: don't you mean the first two nibbles? My config file, with VGA enabled, was written as 130202. I edited to 131302 for the heck of it, but no change.

I'm considering searching for a decompiler or something...

Reply 6 of 6, by zerker

Posted on 2017-03-25, 15:34

zerker Offline

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Posts: 231
Joined: 2016-02-11, 01:34

So just to follow up, I pirated an 'abadonware' copy of my own game just to see what was up. One Beyond Compare hex editor session later and it looks like my copy of 6.LZD and SPOT.EXE differ quite dramatically from that version. It appears that there were multiple revisions of the game then. I ran the other one in DOSBOX just to confirm, and yeah, VGA works there.

.. and pirate version deleted again. I guess I'm okay with EGA 😁

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