Boulder Dash Forum

I've been trying to play BD4 at all 5 difficulty levels. (BD3 - I/4 and A/5 are impossible, so I moved on) After checking the BDCFF, I've noticed quite a few mistakes (or things that seem like mistakes...). Here's a list of them.
BTW, I'm playing the real one, not the watered down No One, inc. version.

A - There's a random seed, but all 5 levels have the same value.

B - Same here, all 5 levels have the same random seed value.

C - Level 1 has a random seed of 54. Levels 2-5 are all set at 3.

D - All levels have the same random seed value.
- Level 5 has a timer or 50, which seems quite impossible to work with.

Int 1 - None

E - None

F - All levels are exactly the same (diamonds required, time limit, random seed) except for the speed, which increases by default.

G - Same problem as F.

H - All 5 levels have the same random seed value.

Int2 - There's 3 colors set up in the BDCFF. However, it all appears purple with some form of vertical scanlines...

I - All 5 levels have the same random seed value.
- It's possible to open the door twice. (This is actually the 2-digit counter's fault, not the cave's)

J - None

K - It's possible to open the door twice.
- There is a randomfill and a randseed set up, but it's covered by the preset objects.

L - None - The 5 randseed values are all finally different!

Int3 - It's possible to open the door twice.

M - None

N - All 5 levels have the same random seed value. (not again!)
-The amoebatime seems too fast, but that may just be me...

O - The level 2 diamond requirement is 7, while Levels 1,3-5 are 80 or above.
- There is a randomfill and a randseed set up, but it's covered by the preset objects.

P - None

Int 4 - None

BTW, school's out tomorrow and I'm starting an RTAD5, which will have a few special effect caves (like AD13)

----> MAPS + NoOne's version.

The equal random seeds are strange indeed (not only in the BDCFF, but also in the game itself). It seems like dr. Watson didn't really care about the higher levels.

About the color setup in Int2, this is because colors 1...4 are coded (in the memory) by a number between 0 and 15. For color 5 there are only 8 colors available and these are coded by a number between 8 and 15. However, in BD4 Int2 a number between 0 and 7 was inserted, which results in the appearance with scanlines. (In the BDCFF file I have changed the numbers so that the BDCFF-converter could read it.)

Also in cave J there are titanium walls which behave like walls: they can be destructed by firefly explosions. And of course the multiple rockfords in Int1 and Int2 are probably used for the first time in this game. And I think that the amoeba in cave K can grow up to more than 200 pieces, before it converts to boulders, which is also quite exceptional (but I'm not absolutely sure about that...)

Overall, Dr. Watson's BD4 is a strange game in my opinion... for this reason I prefer the No One version (although the Int2 "bug" still appears there). Note BTW that cave P is a totally different cave in the No One version, I wonder why No One changed that....

Cave P Dr. Watson:


Cave P No One:

Arno wrote:And I think that the amoeba in cave K can grow up to more than 200 pieces, before it converts to boulders, which is also quite exceptional (but I'm not absolutely sure about that...)

Nope, but you can enclose it at 199 squares for maximum production. The box the amoeba starts in (11x18 = 198), plus the one space between the walls equals 199 spaces. Therefore you can get that many diamonds by standing just outside the walls. BTW, this makes the door flash twice because the counter "turns over" after 99. If you stand outside this space it will grow one square beyond it and then become boulders.

Arno wrote:(In the BDCFF file I have changed the numbers so that the BDCFF-converter could read it.)

Instead of gray, I recommend "Colors=Purple Purple Purple"

Arno wrote:Note BTW that cave P is a totally different cave in the No One version, I wonder why No One changed that....

It's because they changed nearly every cave's physical design to make it easier. I won't list them now, but let me know if you want me to go through all the changes they did. I guess the original cave P was just way too hard because you had to release groups of fireflies by snapping instead of dropping rocks. Their cave P is the Easiest. Cave. Ever! You need to collect 10 diamonds and avoid a single firefly, which is already covering a large path, plus you have a whole minute to do this. Why?!

Arno wrote:And of course the multiple rockfords in Int1 and Int2 are probably used for the first time in this game.

In Watson's version multiple Rockfords are in all intermissions

RTADash wrote:Nope, but you can enclose it at 199 squares for maximum production.

OK!

RTADash wrote:Instead of gray, I recommend "Colors=Purple Purple Purple"

Or even better, I implement the scanline appearace in the converter...

RTADash wrote:In Watson's version multiple Rockfords are in all intermissions

True! I was mixing up with the No One version (which I'm much more into).....

Arno wrote: Or even better, I implement the scanline appearace in the converter...

Don't worry about it - this intermission is the only time I've ever seen the scanlines in over 150 games, so it's not an important feature. It was a design (or programming) error, I bet.

Arno wrote: the No One version (which I'm much more into).....

OK, I'll stop complaining about it No One's Cave P is easy.

in an earlier post Arno wrote:Also in cave J there are titanium walls which behave like walls: they can be destructed by firefly explosions.

I'm pretty sure these were intentional, specified in the BDCFF as "WALL2". I think they were available since the very first BD engine, but weren't implemented until this game (and never used again after it). Any ideas on this?

RTADash wrote:I'm pretty sure these were intentional, specified in the BDCFF as "WALL2". I think they were available since the very first BD engine, but weren't implemented until this game (and never used again after it). Any ideas on this?

I remember the WALL2 was used in a few other games too, one example is Brutalo Boulder Dash cave I (although it doesn't really make a difference in this cave).

RTADash wrote:BD3 - I/4 and A/5 are impossible, so I moved on

There is a patch: http://www.gratissaugen.de/erbsen/BD3FIX.ZIP

Since Dr. Watson's BD4 is probably the first MOD ever, you shouldn't be too hard on him, as there are things not understood by the public at that time. Keep in mind that all knowledge is reverse engineered, and there never was a source code released. At least, his game is playable. The only things, I did on my fixed version is disabling the sprite y-expansion and switch the animation of the amoebas on where it is used.

Int2 - There's 3 colors set up in the BDCFF. However, it all appears purple with some form of vertical scanlines...

Multicolor is disabled there. It doesn't prevent from playing, though. When connected a TV set using RF out, those vertical lines become colorful due to clashing with the color carrier. I don't know, if this was the intention, though.

I - All 5 levels have the same random seed value.
- It's possible to open the door twice. (This is actually the 2-digit counter's fault, not the cave's)

A well known limitation of the old BD1 engine. It doesn't affect gameplay.

Arno wrote:Also in cave J there are titanium walls which behave like walls

No, they don't. On normal walls, boulder and diamonds can slide off, on destructible titanium wall, they won't.

And I think that the amoeba in cave K can grow up to more than 200 pieces, before it converts to boulders, which is also quite exceptional (but I'm not absolutely sure about that...)

That is a comon appearance in BD, any engine version. This is because the amoeba pieces are counted during a scan, and only at the end, the engine checks if it reached 200. Though since the amoeba could grow more then one peace per scan, there can be slightly more boulders then 200. For example, if the last scan counted 199 amoeba pieces, and during the next, 5 new amoeba pieces grow, you end up with 204 amoeba pieces converting to boulders.
Also note that this behavior sometimes causes an overflow when using the Diego Effect Kit and set the maximum size to 250. Often, the amoeba converts at 506, 762 or never to boulders, but a cave full of diamonds.

Note BTW that cave P is a totally different cave in the No One version, I wonder why No One changed that....

The No One series should be understand as remixes. Also there are a lot differences between the Final Boulder releases itself.

RTADash wrote:It's because they changed nearly every cave's physical design to make it easier.

Actually the reason for that particular replacement is that No One changed the destructible titanium wall to the non eatable dirt by changing the graphics index in his engine. That change would make the original cave rather annoying.

LogicDeluxe wrote:It doesn't prevent from playing, though.

None of them do...fortunately - it's just an interesting topic to discuss.

LogicDeluxe wrote:There is a patch: http://www.gratissaugen.de/erbsen/BD3FIX.ZIP

http://www.boulder-dash.nl/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19
Yes, I'm almost through with the whole game now. Thanks for taking the time to make that fix.

LogicDeLuxe wrote:Actually the reason for that particular replacement is that No One changed the destructible titanium wall to the non eatable dirt by changing the graphics index in his engine. That change would make the original cave rather annoying.

I just recently thought about this...why couldn't they just replace the walls with regular destructible walls like they did in cave J?

BTW, I wouldn't double-post so much, but edited posts don't show up as new, and are therefore quite hard to notice.

Arno wrote:Note BTW that cave P is a totally different cave in the No One version, I wonder why No One changed that....

I just found a standalone BD4 version from No One (or Blockheads?) here: http://noname.c64.org/csdb/release/?id=54849
Some of those changes are there, but most of the game is still intact, including cave P.