Viewing Issue Advanced Details
ID Category [?] Severity [?] Reproducibility Date Submitted Last Update
08322 Crash/Freeze Major Always May 22, 2022, 15:15 26 days ago
Tester ICEknight View Status Public Platform MAME (Official Binary)
Assigned To Resolution Reopened OS Windows 10/11 (64-bit)
Status [?] Acknowledged Driver
Version 0.243 Fixed in Version Build 64-bit
Fixed in Git Commit Github Pull Request #
Summary MESS-specific 08322: spec128 and clones [strider and clones]: System reset after finishing first level
Description The game reset's to the Spectrum's main menu instead of starting the second level. This also happens in the Erbe Software release from the TOSEC set (with turbo load for levels only).
Steps To Reproduce -Load spec128 or one of its clones like specpls2
-Load strider from softlist
-Press enter to enter Tape Loader
-Enable UI controls, press F2 to start tape, throttle until it finishes loading
-Start game, beat first level
-Once the Level Clear music ends, the emulated system will reset

Or just start specpls2 and load the attached snapshots.
Additional Information One thing that might be of note is that this game shows some "snow effect" on screen, on real 128K hardware.

Here's a video I recorded from a real UK Spectrum +2, showing how the game only resets (and proceeds to display a very noticeable snow effect) after finishing Level 4:


Here's some directly captured footage, also from a +2:


Points where a level is completed:
- 04:24 Level 1 Clear (MAME resets)
- 12.05 Level 1 Clear (MAME resets)
- 14:23 Level 2 Clear
- 16:58 Level 1 Clear (MAME resets)
- 18:42 Level 2 Clear
- 21:17 Level 3 Clear
- 23:43 Level 4 Clear (real hardware resets)

Note that, only after the "Level 1 Clear" card disappears, some of this snow effect always appears briefly on the HUD, momentarily freezes for a bit and then continues again before the "Level 2" message is shown. This momentary freeze doesn't seem to happen for the other levels, so it might be related to MAME resetting the emulation right there.

(I've also uploaded a few more gameplay videos to the same channel, but this one's the longest)
Github Commit
Flags Verified with Original
Regression Version
Affected Sets / Systems  spec128 and clones [strider and clones]
Attached Files
zip file icon strider_snapshot.zip (113,330 bytes) May 22, 2022, 15:15 Uploaded by ICEknight
Snapshots for Spectrum 128K/+2
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There are no relationship linked to this issue.
Notes
8
User avatar
No.20218
Haze
Senior Tester
May 23, 2022, 11:00
edited on: May 23, 2022, 11:02
There are a lot of Speccy disk games that still either don't boot or quickly fail (always have done)

It might be worth doing a single report with the test results for the listed software, see if any patterns emerge (eg. if specific types of copy protection are causing issues)

Outside of the disk games the compatibility is strong now, so it has to be something specific I think.
User avatar
No.20219
Haze
Senior Tester
May 23, 2022, 11:44
I did notice some odd things, like the Speccy+3 defaulting to having 2 drives, rather than a standard configuration, and I know from Amiga copy protections this can sometimes cause problems, although it didn't seem to change anything with the games I tested on the Speccy when removed the 2nd drive.
User avatar
No.21023
peterferrie
Developer
Jan 20, 2023, 04:52
This looks like a bug in the game. The game enables interrupts (at $A364) right before switching to bank 1 (at $A310) and calling into $C003. An interrupt occurs at $CC07, which reads the vector from bank 1 $F0FF instead of bank 0 $F0FF. The read vector address is $0000. That resets the machine.
User avatar
No.21025
peterferrie
Developer
Jan 20, 2023, 15:03
According to the game instructions, "please play in 48K mode".
User avatar
No.22403
peterferrie
Developer
Nov 4, 2024, 04:31
Playing in 48kb mode works perfectly. There is no bug here.
User avatar
No.22406
Robbbert
Moderator
Nov 4, 2024, 10:00
Closed with input from dev.
User avatar
No.22425
Robbbert
Moderator
27 days ago
Op says problem is not fixed, so reopening.
User avatar
No.22427
ICEknight
Tester
27 days ago
Just added some footage taken from real hardware, which shows that the reset shouldn't happen until Level 4 is finished.