How to activate Amiga cheats?

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David
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How to activate Amiga cheats?

Post by David »

According to http://www.popuw.com/amiga.html (and some other sites), the Amiga version has some cheats similar to the DOS version.
However, it seems that nobody tells how to *enable* them.
Note that this is a booter game, so there is no command line where I could type "megahit"... ;)
Perhaps I have to press some keys at startup, like in PoP2 Mac?

This site has some weird text below the cheats that looks like a secret code. Maybe it would answer my question? (Or maybe not...)

I'm using the version from here: http://princeofpersia.ppa.pl/down.html
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Norbert
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Re: How to activate Amiga cheats?

Post by Norbert »

From what I can find, you'd need to pause the game and then apply the codes.
I haven't tested this though.

Update: someone in ##amiga at Freenode writes:
(about the version cracked by Angels) <Scali> It's a non-dos disk, so no way to start from the commandline
<Scali> I guess the info about cheats is either wrong, or it's some specific trainer they failed to specify.
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Norbert
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Re: How to activate Amiga cheats?

Post by Norbert »

Alright, I've just e-mailed the author of FS-UAE about this.
If I hear back from him, I'll post the answer in this thread.
e-mailed wrote:From: "popot.org" <info TA popot TOD org>
To: frode TA fs-uae TOD net
Subject: question
Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2014 11:34:11 +0200

Hi Frode Solheim,

I'm playing Prince of Persia with FS-UAE, and it works very smoothly
when I use the Amiga 4000 with the AGA patched game.

The configuration I'm using is:
-----
[config]
amiga_model = A4000/040
floppy_drive_0 = PoP1_Amiga_AGA.adf
keyboard_key_lshift_w = action_key_shift_left_w
keyboard_key_lshift = action_none
-----

As you can see, I'm trying to emulate Shift+w input. This should allow
the prince to levitate when falling long distances.

In-game, I tried pressing Shift+w and RightCtrl+w (since the right
control key appears to do what Shift does in the DOS version of the
game). Neither starts the levitation sound(/sequence).

Do you have any ideas on how I could proceed?

By the way, action_none not yet mentioned at
http://fs-uae.net/input-actions

Best regards,
Norbert
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Norbert
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Re: How to activate Amiga cheats?

Post by Norbert »

His reply:
reply wrote:From: Frode Solheim <frode TA fs-uae TOD net>
To: "popot.org" <info TA popot TOD org>
Subject: Re: question
Date: Thu, 05 Jun 2014 12:04:24 +0200

Hi, action_key_shift_left_w is not a valid action. There's no support in
FS-UAE for binding a host input event to multiple/combined) Amiga
actions (shift left and w are two separate Amiga key presses / actions).

However, even if that worked, binding host left shift + w to Amiga left
shift + w is pointless, because that works out of the box anyway. By
default, host left shift is mapped to Amiga left shift, and host w to
Amiga w.

So simply remove these two lines:
keyboard_key_lshift_w = action_key_shift_left_w
keyboard_key_lshift = action_none

... and you should be able to press shift+w normally.

(PS: I've added action_none to the list :))

Best regards,
Frode
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Norbert
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Re: How to activate Amiga cheats?

Post by Norbert »

I think Amiga never had those cheat codes, neither out of the box, nor as part of a cracked version.
With the exception of CapsLock/Shift+l. I'm writing that based on all information I could find on the subject, and how reliable I think the sources are.
Still need to look into it further though; may e-mail the websites that mention the cheat codes.

Someone here (Lemon Amiga) writes "other keys found on web (from game manual): [...]".
Someone here (English Amiga Board) writes "fragment of the manual: [...]".
here (Ami Cheats)
here (GameFAQs Amiga)
here (Cheating Dome Amiga)
here (GameWinners.com)
here (Lemon Amiga)
here (PoPUW Amiga)
here (Amiga Format CD Collection at TextFiles.com) (Sweet Cheater; 1995)
here (Amiga ACS Coverdiscs at TextFiles.com) (Cheat Collection; 1997)
Old page on Internet Archive here (Every Amiga Game Ever Released)
+ attached scan of Amiga Action 23
Attachments
Amiga Action 23, page 74 (Aug 1991)
Amiga Action 23, page 74 (Aug 1991)
David
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Re: How to activate Amiga cheats?

Post by David »

Wow, you did some serious research!
It seems that most sites quote each other, or the Apple II (!) keys. (ctrl-X and ctrl-Y work only on the Apple II.)
Seems like they didn't even try the codes.

Meanwhile, I disassembled the game, and found out how to enable cheats. (And that which keys do something.)
First, make sure you're not in the intro.
Then, press both (left and right) Amiga keys and shift-Q (all at the same time) to enable cheats.
The status bar will show "MEGA DRIVE ENGAGED" if you did it right. (Is this a reference to SEGA Mega Drive? Or MEGAhit?)

First, the regular (non-cheat) keys:
esc: pause
space: show remaining time
ctrl-A: restart level
ctrl-Q: quit/reboot (also in intro)
ctrl-R: return to intro
ctrl-S: sound on/off
ctrl-V: show version
ctrl-G: save game (on levels 3..13)
shift-L: next level (until level 4, decreases remaining time to 15 minutes)
ctrl-L: load game (in intro)
"|" (shift-\): pause (also in intro)

Now, the cheat keys:
shift-W: slow fall
shift-I: toggle upside down
w: show good ending
d: show bad ending
,: decrease music index
.: increase music index
m: play selected music/sound
(available indexes are 0..56)
-: decrease remaining time with 1 minute
+ (shift-=): increase remaining time with 1 minute
1..9: skip 1..9 levels
F1..F10: displays "NO ACTION" (?)
r: revive (if dead) or get more HP (if alive) like a big potion
s: toggle hiding non-animated objects (buggy)
h: show DHEAP USED (amount of allocated memory?)
c: show numbers of current and adjacent rooms
shift-C: show numbers of diagonally adjacent rooms
k: kill guard
arrows: look at other room
(You might need to change the settings of the joystick for this last one.)

Finally, I searched the web for "MEGA DRIVE ENGAGED" and the only result was this:
http://www.elfqrin.com/docs/FreePlay.php -- FreePlay - Cheats, Tips and Tricks for classic games (in Italian)
It seems to have a different list of cheats than the other sites. It's incomplete, but at least it shows that the author tried them.

Extra: you can skip levels until you get to the demo level.
You can't control the kid, but you can use the cheats.
If you kill the guard with k, the kid will start to turn around endlessly. :)
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Norbert
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Re: How to activate Amiga cheats?

Post by Norbert »

David wrote:Seems like they didn't even try the codes.
Yep; they were a bit sloppy/careless.
David wrote:Meanwhile, I disassembled the game, and found out how to enable cheats.
Very nice, and a cool solution to the challenge!
Both Amiga keys and Shift+q, who would've guessed. :D
Fun to see that only a single (Italian) website mentions the "MEGA DRIVE ENGAGED" stuff.
I'll definitely be checking out some of those codes.
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Norbert
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Re: How to activate Amiga cheats?

Post by Norbert »

I've e-mailed a bunch of those websites about the cheat-combo (see below) and I've also added it to popot.org (here).
e-mailed wrote:From: "popot.org" <info@popot.org>
To: jalaln TA gmail TOD com, kim.lemon TA gmail TOD com, staff TA fireball.gamewinners TOD com, marcel TA cheatingdome TOD com, trep4 TA hotmail TOD com, tim TA trep4 TOD com, gamefaqs TA gamefaqs TOD com, cjayc TA gamefaqs TOD com
Subject: suggestion
Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2014 19:15:37 +0200

Hi folks,

Your websites mention the cheat codes for Prince of Persia 1 for Amiga,
but you do not yet mention how to ENABLE cheats. How to make sure the
cheats actually work.

You mention the cheat codes here:
-----
http://www.trep4.com/amicheats/classics ... ersia.html
http://www.gamefaqs.com/amiga/924275-pr ... sia/cheats
http://www.cheatingdome.net/amiga/princ ... cheats.htm
http://www.gamewinners.com/Cheats/index ... 28Amiga%29
http://www.lemonamiga.com/games/cheats.php?id=865
http://www.popuw.com/amiga.html
-----

To enable cheats, make sure you're not in the intro, and then press
four keys simultaneously (all at the same time): the left and right
Amiga keys, Shift, q. (In some emulators, the Amiga keys are the
Windows keys.)

Source/credits: a post by David on the Princed forum:
viewtopic.php?p=14745#p14745

I've (also) tested this, and it works. :)

Best regards,
Norbert
David
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Re: How to activate Amiga cheats?

Post by David »

I found a site with many versions of PoP1 Amiga:
http://www.oldgamesfinder.com/?q=persia&m=-2
David wrote:Then, press both (left and right) Amiga keys and shift-Q (all at the same time) to enable cheats.
What I wrote works in the [cr Angels] versions, but in the non-cracked versions [IPF] you need to press "-" (minus) instead of "Q".

Also, there is an extra key combination in the [IPF] versions that you can press in the intro:
Ctrl-E: Clear hiscore table.
I found this in the German manual: http://www.popuw.com/files/pop1_de.pdf

I made memory dumps of the cracked and the IPF versions and compared them.
The cracked version is most similar to the USA IPF, but it's different from all IPF versions, because it does not contain the texts needed for Ctrl-E.
They are not just overwritten, they were never there:
Everything after the place where the Ctrl-E messages would be, is at smaller addresses than in the IPF version.
It seems that the original of the cracked version is not in the list. I wonder why?
Perhaps it was an earlier version, maybe it was a beta/leaked version before release?
We know it happened with PoP2 IR: http://www.popuw.com/problems.html (so they say)
David
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Re: How to activate Amiga cheats?

Post by David »

I *might* have found why do many sources say that level skip is "Caps Lock+L".
Here: http://popuw.com/images/magazines/amiga ... ng/095.jpg (bottom right)
It says "hold down Caps Shift and press L". (Caps Shift, not Caps Lock.)

Now, the ZX Spectrum really did have a "Caps Shift" key for capital letters (as opposed to the Symbol Shift).
But on the Amiga keyboard, the shift key has only an up arrow. I don't think it was officially called Caps Shift.
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