Comments
Germanyhdc02 years ago

Today DxWnd v2.05.78 was released. It adds support for running the Win32 version of the game in non-fullscreen mode:

  • Open DxWnd
  • Enable Options -> Expert mode
  • Click Edit -> Add
  • Main tab:
    • Enter the path to ssgwin32.exe in Path
    • Set W to 640 and H to 480
  • Hook tab: check Inject suspended process
  • Video tab:
    • Check Force win resize
    • Check Initial resolution and set it to 640 x 480
  • Tweaks tab: enable win:LockSystemMenu
delan likes this
Germanyhdc02 years ago

If you're using Windows x64 you have to use a version that provides a Win32 exe since Windows x64 cannot run Win16 applications. Here's a list of versions that I found:

v1.1 English

  • 4shared: spslvgg
  • Win32 only (ssgwin32.exe)

v1.12 English

  • archive.org: SSGWINCD / SuperSolversGizmosGadgetsTheLearningCompany1997 / ssgwincd1998
  • Win16 (ssgwincd.exe) and Win32 (ssgwin32.exe)

v1.2 English

  • archive.org: SSGCD
  • Win32 only (ssgwin32.exe)

v1.2 German

delan likes this
Germanyhdc02 years ago

Ctrl+S should already toggle both sound and voice.

It seems there is no hotkey for toggling hints: in v1.2 the int16 at 0x462790 specifies whether hints are disabled and there are only 3 functions that modify its value:

  • 42AEC8 resets settings to their default values
  • 42B1D8 reads settings from ssgwin.dat
  • 43C4CF shows the toggle prompt

So the only way to disable hints via keyboard is to use the main menu: Alt+O, Down, Wait for prompt, Enter

delan likes this
Germanyhdc02 years ago

v1.1 and v1.12 also don't require a 9x VM. You just have to work around the MIDI error by creating an empty file at C:\Windows\SysWOW64\midimap.cfg (x64) or C:\Windows\System32\midimap.cfg (x32).

delan likes this
Germanyhdc04 years ago

I discovered some cheats in the Windows version. Might be useful for routing: Open SSGWINCD.INI in a text editor and add CheatKeys=1 to the [Gizmos & Gadgets! CD] section. Alternatively you can use a debugger and set the int16 at 0x461A9C (game version 1.2) to 1. Then you can use these keyboard commands:

Ctrl-A: Gives you the best of the required parts. Crashes the game if any of the required part slots is not empty.

Ctrl-B: Adds 5 bananas.

Ctrl-F: Toggle faster game speed.

Tab or Ctrl-I: Toggle god mode: chimps don't hurt you when enabled.

Ctrl-P: Increase score by 100 points.

Ctrl-U: Teleport upstairs.

Ctrl-Y: Unlock all doors.

Ctrl-Z: Toggle "Pick a Puzzle". When enabled, you can choose the puzzle when going through a door. You can also skip the puzzle.

delan and mcill like this
Germanyhdc04 years ago

There are at least 3 Windows versions of the game: v1.1, v1.12 and v1.2. It seems v1.2 doesn't need a Windows 9x VM: I successfully started the game and tested a few puzzles on Windows 7 x64.

delan likes this
thread: Croc 2
Germanyhdc06 years ago

Thank you. Please report any problems with the auto splitter: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hdc0/LiveSplit-asl/master/LiveSplit.Croc_2.asl

Bregermann and Thermospore like this
thread: Croc 2
Germanyhdc06 years ago

I'm currently writing an autosplitter for the PC version of the game and I need some clarification on the rules: >Timer starts on overwriting or creating in a save slot. Should the timer start as soon as you hit the enter key or should it start as soon as the slot selection screen faded out?

Paulmall and MasterLeoBlue like this
Germanyhdc07 years ago

If you don't want to use a ramdisk to make GTA load faster, you can use DxWnd instead:

  • Install DxWnd and enable expert mode (Options -> Expert mode)
  • Add GTA to the list and enable Fix buffered IO after Win98 in the I/O tab

Background: There is a bug in GTA Vice City that prevents certain files from being cached. One of the affected files is gta3.img. GTA reads from this file when loading the game or moving between Vice City beach and mainland. It is opened with the FILE_FLAG_NO_BUFFERING flag if the WinAPI function GetDiskFreeSpace returns a value less than 2048 for the lpBytesPerSector parameter. On my computer the value is 512. I don't know the reason for this behavior. Maybe it made sense when GTA was run on old Windows versions. When the DxWnd fix is used, the FILE_FLAG_NO_BUFFERING flag is ignored, allowing all files to be cached.

thaniel, dropkickas and 10 others like this
thread: Croc 2
Germanyhdc07 years ago

Hey, I made a list of cheats for the PC version of Croc 2. Maybe it's useful for practice:

  • Cheat Menu: Hold A, press T, Left, Left, Right, Space, Up, Up, Left, C
    • When enabled, pressing Page Up and Page Down simultaneously shows a cheat menu where you can teleport to a village or modify the inventory.
  • Position Bar: Hold S, press Space, Down, C, Up
    • When enabled, F7 toggles a bar at the top of the screen containing build date, level filename and position.
  • Infinite Lives: Hold A, press C, Down, Left, Up, Right, T, Down
    • Number of hearts never decreases.
  • Extra Heartpots: Hold S, press Left, Left, Down, C, Space, Space
    • Does not seem to work. (Even though DebugView prints "Extra Heartpots Activated")
  • Add 100 Crystals: Hold A, press Space, Space, C, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right
    • When enabled, Page Down + Space adds 100 crystals.
  • Music Select: Hold S, press Left, C, Up, Down, Space, C, Return
    • Adds a new entry to the "Sound Options" menu in the pause menu that lets you choose the background music by pressing A or S.
  • Credits Cheat: Hold A, press C, Right, C, C, Down, Left, Up, Right, T
    • Shows the game credits.

There is another cheat called "Magazine Cheat", however, it cannot be activated unless you use Cheat Engine or a debugger and I don't know what it does.

Cheats can only be toggled in main menu. You can verify that a cheat has been toggled by running DebugView while entering a cheat: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/debugview.aspx

Cheftoad, Thermospore and 2 others like this
Germanyhdc07 years ago

Last week I saw a run die from an accidental cheat for the first time and I was curious how frequently this happens and how such a run would be treated. So I read a few discussions in this forum on how to deal with accidental cheating. Some people wrote that those runs should be accepted, but others were against it, even if it is clearly accidental and does not give the player any advantage. The reason I did this mod was that I thought it could be a solution everyone agrees with, especially since it blocks the last key that would activate a cheat, instead of simply disabling cheats, so players using the mod would not be able to perform movements other players couldn't without activating a cheat. However, since I'm not a speedrunner, I don't care if this mod will be allowed, used only in a separate category or not used at all.

S.: The last key of a cheat is only blocked in GTA and only if the game is not paused. This is how it works: Whenever the string that contains the recent key sequence is about to be changed, the mod makes a backup of the string. When the hash of the updated string would match a cheat, the cheat is not activated. Instead, the backup is restored and in the global array containing the state of all keys, the key that would have finally activated the cheat is set to "not pressed" to prevent the game from handling it (e.g. by moving to the right when "D" was blocked).

Derpeth likes this
Germanyhdc07 years ago

This is a mod that helps you prevent accidental use of cheats. When the mod is used and you press a key that would activate a cheat, this key press is ignored. E.g. if you enter DDDDDDDAAAAAADWD, the cheat won't be activated and the last "D" is not evaluated, which means CJ can't move to the right until you press a key other than "D".

It will disable cheats for the specified GTA process until GTA is closed. The mod should work with v1.0 and v1.01, but I only tested it with v1.0

https://github.com/hdc0/Cheat-Blocker-SA/releases/download/v1.0/cheat_blocker_sa.exe

Derpeth, ult1matum and 2 others like this
Germanyhdc07 years ago

Open buzz.exe in a hex editor, go to B35DB and replace 75 10 F6 C5 01 with E9 18 01 00 00.

Germanyhdc07 years ago

cheeseandcereal: Just a small fix for toy2reg.bat: 32-bit applications running under 32-bit Windows use the HKLM\Software key while 32-bit applications running under 64-bit Windows are transparently redirected to HKLM\Software\WOW6432Node. reg.exe will take care of this automatically if a 32-bit key is specified along with the /reg:32 switch. So better use HKLM\Software\TravellersTalesToyStory2 instead of HKLM\Software\WOW6432Node\TravellersTalesToyStory2, otherwise the command will only work on 64-bit Windows.

Germanyhdc07 years ago

So the installer fails, not the game. Try to install it manually: Copy ToyStory 2 PC Installer.zip\Setup\Toy2\HD to a directory you have write access to (e.g. C:\Users<Username>) and rename the HD directory to ToyStory2. Then start a command prompt as administrator and run these commands (replace C:\Users\<Username>\ToyStory2 with your game path first): http://pastebin.com/kYEZ5TTE

Germanyhdc07 years ago

cheeseandcereal's video shows how to run the game on Windows 10.

At which time in the video do you get the error? You said that your game hangs at "Starting up... please wait". I never got this message so I don't know at which step your game fails to load.

Germanyhdc07 years ago

That's strange. I tested all missions and never had this bug.

Germanyhdc07 years ago

It's like playing with 1 health and 0 armor.

Germanyhdc07 years ago

There is an OHKO mod for SA, but none for VC. So I made one: https://github.com/hdc0/OHKO-VC/releases/download/v1.0/ohko_vc.exe

It will enable OHKO for the specified GTA process until GTA is closed. Works with v1.0, v1.1 and the Japanese version. Steam version is not supported.

Germanyhdc07 years ago

The game only enumerates 8bpp and 16bpp modes and it looks like your graphics card only supports 32bpp modes. There is a registry setting to make the game accept 32bpp modes too: Run reg.exe add HKLM\Software\TravellersTalesToyStory2 /reg:32 /v allow32bit /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f and try again. If you always want to enumerate the 32bpp modes regardless of the registry setting, go to offset 0xACA44 in toy2.exe and replace 0x74 with 0xEB.

I think it would be best to skip the whole code in the mode enumeration callback function that filters out incompatible modes. To do so, go to 0xAC9EB and replace 0x75 0x10 0xF6 0xC5 0x01 with 0xE9 0x18 0x01 0x00 0x00. If you do this, you don't have to use the 2 GB or 32bpp patch.

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