Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

LamerDeluxe · Unread post by **LamerDeluxe** » Sat Feb 13, 2021 1:02 pm

Maybe an infinite lives cheat rom patch for development would be an idea.

alanswx · Unread post by **alanswx** » Sat Feb 13, 2021 1:35 pm

We can edit the high scores file in a hex editor. That is what I did with centipede when I originally wrote the high score save code. Everything about this has become long and monotonous!

LamerDeluxe · Unread post by **LamerDeluxe** » Sat Feb 13, 2021 11:37 pm

alanswx wrote: ↑Sat Feb 13, 2021 1:35 pm We can edit the high scores file in a hex editor. That is what I did with centipede when I originally wrote the high score save code. Everything about this has become long and monotonous!

But very much appreciated. It makes the arcade games much more authentic and it adds a sense of progress when playing them.

jimmystones · Unread post by **jimmystones** » Mon Feb 15, 2021 9:41 am

Bomb Jack now has high score support and I added a pause button as well (needed to support pause for the upcoming Sega System 1 high score support so I thought I might as well add it on my travels through the cores where it doesn't cause issues).

Alkadian · Unread post by **Alkadian** » Tue Feb 16, 2021 5:10 pm

alanswx wrote: ↑Fri Feb 12, 2021 1:54 am I added it to irem 62. Can someone test it? I can’t get a high score.

Thanks a lot for this fantastic implementation!

I have tested joujyudn, where I am relatively good at..lol..but my score wasn't saved. I made sure that the High Score Save was set to manual.

Thanks!

alanswx · Unread post by **alanswx** » Tue Feb 16, 2021 11:29 pm

Alkadian wrote: ↑Tue Feb 16, 2021 5:10 pm
alanswx wrote: ↑Fri Feb 12, 2021 1:54 am I added it to irem 62. Can someone test it? I can’t get a high score.
Thanks a lot for this fantastic implementation!

I have tested joujyudn, where I am relatively good at..lol..but my score wasn't saved. I made sure that the High Score Save was set to manual.

Thanks!

Did you do save settings after you got the high score? it doesn't auto-save. It is possible it doesn't work.

Alkadian · Unread post by **Alkadian** » Tue Feb 16, 2021 11:40 pm

alanswx wrote: ↑Tue Feb 16, 2021 11:29 pm
Alkadian wrote: ↑Tue Feb 16, 2021 5:10 pm
alanswx wrote: ↑Fri Feb 12, 2021 1:54 am I added it to irem 62. Can someone test it? I can’t get a high score.
Thanks a lot for this fantastic implementation!

I have tested joujyudn, where I am relatively good at..lol..but my score wasn't saved. I made sure that the High Score Save was set to manual.

Thanks!
Did you do save settings after you got the high score? it doesn't auto-save. It is possible it doesn't work.

Yes, I did save the settings. I have tried several times.
Thanks.

Alkadian · Unread post by **Alkadian** » Wed Feb 17, 2021 3:01 pm

I have now tested UniWar S and my high score has been saved!

Moon Patrol, as reported by another member, doesn't seem to save either. I am not very good at Lode Runner but I will try to improve my skills and try to beat at least the lowest score and report back

catenaccio · Unread post by **catenaccio** » Wed Feb 17, 2021 5:42 pm

Kung fu Master high score saving didn´t work for me. I made sure that the High Score Save was set to manual, and then save settings after set the high score

jimmystones · Unread post by **jimmystones** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 8:34 pm

Evening,

Sega System 1 caused me some headaches, but it's finally done!

That gives you high score save/load and pause for:
- 4-D Warriors
- Block Gal
- Bullfight
- Flicky
- I'm Sorry
- Mister Viking
- My Hero
- Pitfall II
- Rafflesia
- Regulus
- Sega Ninja
- Spatter
- Star Jacker
- Swat
- TeddyBoy Blues
- Up'n Down

Enjoy

retrodroid · Unread post by **retrodroid** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 9:12 pm

jimmystones wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 8:34 pm Evening,

Sega System 1 caused me some headaches, but it's finally done!

That gives you high score save/load and pause for:
- 4-D Warriors
- Block Gal
- Bullfight
- Flicky
- I'm Sorry
- Mister Viking
- My Hero
- Pitfall II
- Rafflesia
- Regulus
- Sega Ninja
- Spatter
- Star Jacker
- Swat
- TeddyBoy Blues
- Up'n Down

Enjoy

Cool! How does the Pause feature work?

jimmystones · Unread post by **jimmystones** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 9:53 pm

If you mean how do you use it, it's on a mappable button like any other control - it should show up on the OSD popup with the other controls

If you mean how does it work, I'm just putting the main Z80 into a wait state, and luckily it works

An interesting bonus of the system 1 using a separate Z80 for sound is that the music will usually keep playing while it is paused.

retrodroid · Unread post by **retrodroid** » Fri Feb 19, 2021 8:41 pm

Okay, had a chance to try out "pause" - fantastic!

Would be nice if the screen could be dimmed as well while paused, I guess that would require some kind of MiSTer system-level function to pull off?

jimmystones · Unread post by **jimmystones** » Fri Feb 19, 2021 9:52 pm

I know what you mean, it would be nice to have a visual indication that it is paused - although that would mess around with the ability to take screenshots and things of that nature.

I haven't really looked at how the OSD works but it might be possible to do something similar to show a pause symbol in a corner, or something like that. Any other ideas welcome!

retrodroid · Unread post by **retrodroid** » Sat Feb 20, 2021 3:11 pm

Well my concern was I run on either an arcade CRT monitor or a plasma HD TV, and either will have burn-in concerns if you leave it up for too long. So ideally some option to dim the screen significantly while paused would be a nice-to-have.

I can see your point about screen-shots though. In any case, having the ability to pause at all is huge step forward in my book.

jimmystones · Unread post by **jimmystones** » Sun Feb 21, 2021 9:54 am

Would half brightness be enough to stop the burn-in being an issue? Should be easy enough to rig up a timer that shifts right the rgb values after 30 seconds or something similar, catering for both scenarios.

jimmystones · Unread post by **jimmystones** » Thu Feb 25, 2021 3:59 pm

Added high score and pause support to Phoenix and Pleiads (Tehkan) - pause now dims to half brightness after 10 seconds. Let me know your views

retrodroid · Unread post by **retrodroid** » Thu Feb 25, 2021 9:07 pm

jimmystones wrote: ↑Thu Feb 25, 2021 3:59 pm Added high score and pause support to Phoenix and Pleiads (Tehkan) - pause now dims to half brightness after 10 seconds. Let me know your views

This is perfect, thanks!

...delay could be longer too if some folks want that (30s)?

jimmystones · Unread post by **jimmystones** » Thu Feb 25, 2021 9:11 pm

Cool - I'll give people a day or so to chip in before I start applying this to any further cores

Alkadian · Unread post by **Alkadian** » Tue Mar 02, 2021 3:33 pm

Alkadian wrote: ↑Wed Feb 17, 2021 3:01 pm I have now tested UniWar S and my high score has been saved!

Moon Patrol, as reported by another member, doesn't seem to save either. I am not very good at Lode Runner but I will try to improve my skills and try to beat at least the lowest score and report back

@alanswx,

Right, my skills at Lode Runner II improved a lot. In fact, I have managed to score more than 69000 points

Sadly, I was not able to save my high scores.

Thanks!

jimmystones · Unread post by **jimmystones** » Wed Mar 03, 2021 5:32 pm

Afternoon,

I've found the bug in the IremM62 highscores, should be fixed as of today's release.. For reference that covers:
- Battle Road
- Horizon
- Kid Niki - Radical Ninja
- Kung-Fu Master
- Lode Runner II
- Lode Runner III
- Lode Runner IV
- Lode Runner
- Spelunker II
- Spelunker
- Youjyuden

Turns out I'm terrible at Lode Runner.. and Spelunker.. and most of the others, so only managed to get a real high score on Horizon!

Alkadian · Unread post by **Alkadian** » Wed Mar 03, 2021 6:11 pm

jimmystones wrote: ↑Wed Mar 03, 2021 5:32 pm Afternoon,

I've found the bug in the IremM62 highscores, should be fixed as of today's release.. For reference that covers:
- Battle Road
- Horizon
- Kid Niki - Radical Ninja
- Kung-Fu Master
- Lode Runner II
- Lode Runner III
- Lode Runner IV
- Lode Runner
- Spelunker II
- Spelunker
- Youjyuden

Turns out I'm terrible at Lode Runner.. and Spelunker.. and most of the others, so only managed to get a real high score on Horizon!

That's simply awesome newa jimmystones !!! I just cannot wait to test them all!! As mentioned earlier my skills at Lode Runner II and actually Youjyuden improved a lot..lol..so I will be more than happy to test all of them all night long

Thanks a lot!

Alkadian · Unread post by **Alkadian** » Thu Mar 04, 2021 2:39 pm

@alanswx, @jimmystones,

Many thanks for the new update for the Irem62 core. Very much appreciated.

I have just tried Lode Runner II and Youjyuden but I was not able to save my High Scores. I have also noticed that the option is not visible anymore in the OSD menu.

Thanks a lot for looking at it!

jimmystones · Unread post by **jimmystones** » Fri Mar 05, 2021 8:58 am

I took the menu option back out because it was flawed in a way that I can't quite explain! Do you get a nvm file created in /media/fat/config/nvram/ when you press Save Settings in one of those games? (Wondering if it is save or load that is the problem)

Alkadian · Unread post by **Alkadian** » Fri Mar 05, 2021 10:12 am

jimmystones wrote: ↑Fri Mar 05, 2021 8:58 am I took the menu option back out because it was flawed in a way that I can't quite explain! Do you get a nvm file created in /media/fat/config/nvram/ when you press Save Settings in one of those games? (Wondering if it is save or load that is the problem)

I see, thanks confirming re the menu option.

Yep, the .nvm files are saved correctly in that location. I can see them all. Please let me know if I can check something else.

Thanks!

jimmystones · Unread post by **jimmystones** » Fri Mar 05, 2021 10:24 am

Can you attach your Lode Runner nvm so i can test it out? (Also let me know what score / initials you would expect to see)

Alkadian · Unread post by **Alkadian** » Fri Mar 05, 2021 10:48 am

jimmystones wrote: ↑Fri Mar 05, 2021 10:24 am Can you attach your Lode Runner nvm so i can test it out? (Also let me know what score / initials you would expect to see)

Please see attached. Thanks for looking at it!

I am afraid I don't remember the high scores as I was just trying to get the minimum score just enough to populate the high scores panel. Let me try to get a new high score and will provide you with them including my initials!

catenaccio · Unread post by **catenaccio** » Fri Mar 05, 2021 12:43 pm

Hi, here is my .nvm from Kung Fu Master. I think is empty

Alkadian · Unread post by **Alkadian** » Fri Mar 05, 2021 12:45 pm

@ jimmystones,

I have just made 13200 points at Youjyuden, not so great score but still I am first

My initials are ALB. Please see attached.

Thanks!

EDIT
I have opened the .nmv file with a text editor and I can see my initials in there followed by others.

jimmystones · Unread post by **jimmystones** » Fri Mar 05, 2021 1:18 pm

Can you confirm what the modified date on your Lode runner / Youjyuden / Kung-fu Master MRAs are? It looks like the updater might not have pulled the latest version for me, wonder if it's the same for you

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Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

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