Magic Lines WHDLoad Pack

README
Short:    HD-Installer for Magic Lines V1.0
Author:   Codetapper/Action (codetapper@hotmail.com), ICQ: 26051687
Uploader: Codetapper/Action (codetapper@hotmail.com)
Version:  1.0
Type:     game/patch

This patch applies to "Magic Lines" (c) 1990 Thalion - 1 disk.
Supported versions: - Original release (supplied by Alexander Holland)
                    - Skid Row crack

REQUIREMENTS:
- Slave requires WHDLoad V10+ and RawDIC
- Game requires 512k chip mem (+630k other memory for preload option)

FEATURES:
- Full load from HD
- Loads and saves high scores
- Copy protection removed (50 reads of flaky bit protection as well as 
  an rts check to detect cracking)
- Equal high scores will no longer beat the existing score
- Decruncher relocated to fast memory
- Hidden Grandslam intro re-enabled (see below)
- Empty dbf loop in sound player fixed (x2)
- Colour bits fixed (x3)
- Keyboard routine fixed (x3)
- Blitter waits added (x2)
- Snoop bugs fixed (invalid copperlist)
- Access fault in Grandslam intro fixed (illegal write to -$7dc0)
- RomIcon, NewIcon and OS3.5 Colour Icon (created by me!) and a nice OS3.5
  boxicon (created by Captain^HIT!)
- Quit option (default key is 'F10')

I found a hidden Grandslam intro on this game which had been disabled in
the code!  All Thalion's earlier releases were published by Grandslam, but
Magic Lines was an unusual title in that it was not done in-house.  The
game was shown to Thalion first who went for the usual Grandslam publishing
deal, but it was around that time that Grandslam stopped paying their bills
and Thalion dropped the Grandslam deal.

I have included the intro since I've never seen this intro in any other
game, but you can press the left mouse button at any time to skip it.

Once the game has loaded, press Space to toggle the difficulty setting.
The game is extremely hard because the tiles are setup in really stupid
positions.  You have to know exactly which tiles to move straight away,
otherwise you die within a few seconds.  The second level is very tough, as
one crucial piece is in a bad starting position near a block that cannot be
moved.  This game definitely needed some decent playtesting before it was
released and ended up being slammed in almost every review.

This game does have quite an interesting loader - it loads all even tracks
from 10 to 158, then switches sides and starts reading downwards from 159
to 103!  The protection was also quite interesting with a mixture of disk
checking (50 reads, each needing different data to succeed) and trying to
guess how the cracker would remove the protection by counting words until
an rts was found!

Special thanks to Alex of the Thalion Amiga Webshrine for sending this very
rare game!  Check out his website at http://thalion.amiga.tm/

Greetings to Alex, IFW/SPS, Wepl and the entire WHDLoad team!


Codetapper/Action (24-Oct-2005)


         Bug report form, full WHDLoad package and other installs:
                          http://www.whdload.de/

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