05098: stdragon: Stage 3 , missing boss !!

ID	Category [?]	Severity [?]	Reproducibility	Date Submitted	Last Update
05098	Gameplay	Minor	Always	Dec 28, 2012, 15:39	Jan 11, 2014, 07:26

Tester	richardctvrty	View Status	Public	Platform	MAME (Official Binary)
Assigned To		Resolution	Bugs That Aren't Bugs	OS	Windows XP
Status [?]	Resolved			Driver
Version	0.147	Fixed in Version		Build	Normal
		Fixed in Git Commit		Github Pull Request #

Summary	05098: stdragon: Stage 3 , missing boss !!
Description	The game is Saint Dragon, the stage is the third stage, and the boss is among the missing at the end. The boss music starts up, but the screen just fades out and I go right on to stage 4! bad 3.stage , time 7:20 : good 3.stage , time 8:40 : &list=LLchu8kFfxpX2ZoJqK-w9oMQ&feature=mh_lolz
Steps To Reproduce
Additional Information
Github Commit

Flags
Regression Version
Affected Sets / Systems	stdragon

Attached Files	0003.png (21,925 bytes) Dec 29, 2012, 07:58 Uploaded by B2K24 0.147u4 stage 3 boss
Attached Files	stdragon.inp (206,062 bytes) Dec 29, 2012, 11:18 Uploaded by richardctvrty

No.09173 Tafoid Administrator Dec 28, 2012, 21:32	Ok. Some facts: - The first video appears to be made via MAME with a version 0.143 or earlier and seems to have the problem of the missing boss. How can I tell - there is an scrolling of the text when player 1 starts his game which is not present in the other video. This scrolling is not present in version 0.144 of MAME. - The second video might be more recent - appears to be MAME and is made after changes have been made to MCU protection (before mame 0.144) and also doesn't have the moving text after hitting START. The video poster mentions too they use both autofire and invincibility making this NOT an arcade PCB recording (cheating like invincibility can only be done with an emulator) therefore adding on vital piece of info, that the fact that the boss exists in whatever version of MAME it was recorded from. Presuming 0.144 or later is correct, did you really play version 0.147 of this game, without cheats, to the end of the third level while recording an .INP (input file)? I'd say that is the next step - take version 0.147, playing to the end of level 3 to see if the boss is there. This is the only real proof Developers will take that something isn't working correctly. Please provide a playthrough to the point of error. Without this means of confirmation, we cannot start to look in to this. -record stdragon.inp would be the command-line snippet to add to your normal,startup. -playback stdragon.inp would playback your input. Please do this to ensure the game presents your bug as intended.
No.09176 Fujix Administrator Dec 29, 2012, 03:06	Fixed up the report around the affected set and description.
No.09177 B2K24 Senior Tester Dec 29, 2012, 07:58	It's nearly impossible to get through this game without resorting to cheats unless you slow the FPS way down. Anyway, I activated only invincibility and the 3rd boss appears for me on 0.147u4
No.09179 Fujix Administrator Dec 29, 2012, 09:03	richardctvrty, could you post your schematics here? It may help developing.
No.09181 richardctvrty Tester Dec 29, 2012, 11:22	I record stdragon.inp with bug.No autofire , no invincibility.
No.09184 Haze Senior Tester Dec 30, 2012, 12:49 edited on: Dec 30, 2012, 12:50	some people say the boss has appeared, some say it doesn't thoughts the boss is conditional on something? score? destroying certain objects in the stage? it's a buggy revision, does stdragona behave the same? Usually MS1 'interrupts aren't quite right' problem causing some ram flag to be wiped prematurely in certain conditions (ie an emulation bug) it's not very jaleco-like to insert protection checks at random points in a game (that's more something Irem and Taito do) as has been said I'm not convinced either YouTube video is an original recording, so if that's the only 'verified with original' source material the flag should be removed.
No.09185 NekoEd Senior Tester Dec 30, 2012, 17:12	I'll set this as acknowledged while it's investigated.
No.09186 Tafoid Administrator Dec 31, 2012, 09:04 edited on: Dec 31, 2012, 09:07	Confirmed recording to NOT show the 3rd level boss. There might be something related to continues - since the only variable I see (since the invinc cheat doesn't seem to effect it) is that you used continue. Perhaps the 3rd boss is a bonus or only available to people who haven't continued? Stranger things have happened. "Bug validated with PCB, technical note, schematics and other original reference."... The OP has not produced any original materials PCB recordings.. snapshots or schematics/otherwise to make this claim. Took off original reference flag.
No.09187 NekoEd Senior Tester Dec 31, 2012, 15:00	I've removed the Additional Information and the Verified with Original flag (You mentioned doing this, Tafoid, but I think you forgot) and added the Possible flag, as I really think we do need confirmation with an original board given that we, by Tafoid's info in the previous note, are still not completely sure about this one.
No.10159 rcoltrane Tester Jan 9, 2014, 16:07 edited on: Jan 10, 2014, 12:57	Tested it today with version 0.146 and the latest 0.152 version with cheats engine completely disabled and using coins only. The text of the 1p start screen in both MAME versions stays fixed on screen (it stopped scrolling left/right which is incorrect) and in both MAME versions the 3rd boss didn't show up after a dozen continues on the 3rd level. In latest 0.152 I even tested it in two different difficulty modes (easy and normal) and both had the same behavior (no 3rd level boss). I guess someone who actually have this game PCB will have to do a quick run on it to the 3rd level boss to make sure about this behavior. I can make it up to the beginning of the 3rd level with one single coin, but from that point to the 3rd level boss it's a nightmare. My advice to players to advance on the 3rd level is to catch the bouncing balls fire mode and stick to it until near the end of the level, it will make your life a lot easier. EDIT (10-01-2014): Confirmed with a guy who has the original PCB that the 1p start texts definitely should keep walking left/right on screen (current MAME verion 0.152 has a regression bug here, the texts are not moving like before). Also he told me about a PCB bug where the screen fades to black and comes back in the 1st stage while in FREE PLAY mode (unconfirmed by me though). Regarding the 3rd level boss, I've destroyed one of the big structures that 'teorically' would trigger the 3rd boss to show up, but it didn't work. Maybe one of them in particular can trigger it (or destroying all of them), but this still needs more tests. EDIT #2: GOT IT! The boss is in the game!!! I've made it to show up by using invincibility cheat and destroying all of those big structures. So I think it's confirmed that it's an in-game event that triggers the 3rd boss and this is not a bug. STILL, the 1p start screen scrolling texts needs to get fixed.
No.10160 rcoltrane Tester Jan 10, 2014, 12:55 edited on: Jan 10, 2014, 12:57	GOING WHERE NO TESTER HAS GONE BEFORE!! The trigger to the 3rd level Boss is the 6th big structure (the last before the Boss). Destroy it and the bastard will show up! You don't need to destroy all of them, just the last one. It's definitely not a bug (but if you have the PCB and want to confirm it anyway it would be cool). :) STILL, the 1p start screen scrolling texts needs to get fixed.
No.10161 Haze Senior Tester Jan 10, 2014, 15:55	this report should be closed as BTNAB / original behavior then. A new report should be added for the text thing, it's a separate issue, maybe a general interrupt problem or some kind of scanline irq / partial update thing (interesting you say it worked in an older version tho) Megasystem 1 isn't well understood really.
No.10165 Tenchi Tester Jan 11, 2014, 03:27 edited on: Jan 11, 2014, 04:27	B2K24, I'm sometimes able to finish it without even losing a life - for me it's actually pretty easy game compared to for example titles from Cave, you just need to memorize some of its behaviour. It's probably not necessary right now, but I can confirm the thing with the 3rd boss: the last big structure has to be destroyed for it to show up. I think I've tested it over a hundred times (no cheats and saves, always starting from scratch) on different MAME builds during last two years and it was always the same, so there's no doubt about it. I can't say if this is actual game feature, original PCB error or an emulation issue, but I think it shouldn't be like this.
No.10167 B2K24 Senior Tester Jan 11, 2014, 07:26	Closing per Developer request.