analysis of the differences from v1.01, v1.04, and v1.05

[nicodex]

I got my hands on a complete v1.04 original floppy disk set:
https://gitlab.com/ambermoon/research/-/tree/master/data/df/v104-1993-11-18-german

v1.01 -> v1.04 checksum diff of the floppy disk contents:

a39c8d8f7212ae7cf851cc5a615e5f3b *AMBER_A/AM2_BLIT                   |  9bb53a553df9e6a9b7cd49d357b968b7 *AMBER_A/AM2_BLIT
7f9d0db08d3fe83faaf90f133ad7cc6b *AMBER_A/AM2_CPU                    |  accb5855accd5337576252edd51faf15 *AMBER_A/AM2_CPU
1ce8f9e51477d3fa46b912127b61365f *AMBER_A/Ambermoon                  |  35ed630dcd977b5bcf91bc74060c8c75 *AMBER_A/Ambermoon
31193beb407c41f2d38f2830022e184b *AMBER_B/Ambermoon_intro            |  40eebd75a1b9779a410578e29b407c70 *AMBER_B/Ambermoon_intro
0b27cc13b2ee9d1699bdb4fb96bbefd9 *AMBER_B/Fantasy_intro              |  8f522725cd04f13573314ed4aa5a1cab *AMBER_B/Fantasy_intro
ce7e1f9be854d3f8bd40a8a5563f71bd *AMBER_G/Event_pix.amb              |  bcee95c9346c75080eac0dfa4c3b8f55 *AMBER_G/Event_pix.amb
dda8b58b068714fe0c03678f1144a470 *AMBER_G/Layouts.amb                |  8d1cee3c11be284fd9d34975a526eb19 *AMBER_G/Layouts.amb
76710b853f0e625e993f882ea2836c11 *AMBER_G/NPC_char.amb               |  c9fdfb921188ad7554fdf8ef2a4d0763 *AMBER_G/NPC_char.amb
d0f172b6d354bf52214ac5ad76143e39 *AMBER_I/Ambermoon_extro            |  874792b97eee95254ec3b0337f9723bd *AMBER_I/Ambermoon_extro

The interesting parts might be the changes on AMBER_G. However, it might be only the compression and/or random values in pad bytes. Maybe someday someone has time for a detailed analysis...

[a1exh]

Where did you get it from? Was this an official release? I've never see v1.04

[a1exh]

v1.05 (which I never understood if it was an official release, or where it came from) I got from here :

http://aminet.net/package/game/patch/amber

(I'm sure you know this)

[Pyrdacor]

Someone on discord lately even provided a pre-release 0.99 which looks quiet different from what we know.

[nicodex]

Where did you get it from? Was this an official release? I've never see v1.04

Someone cleaned up old boxes and sold it on Ebay. The world map was not included, but the color of the disks made me wonder (gray instead of blue). I'll probably scan the disks next week.
No, it wasn't cheap :)

(I'm sure you know this)

Yes, I think my collection is quite complete. I already knew TOSEC's AMBER_A v1.04 - but now I know, that the root block differs from the originals that I have (disk timestamps and no garbage after the volume name).

[a1exh]

What type of checksum is this?

[a1exh]

The following files are the same on v1.04 as v1.05

*AMBER_A/Ambermoon
*AMBER_B/Ambermoon_intro
*AMBER_I/Ambermoon_extro

[Pyrdacor]

Where did you get it from? Was this an official release? I've never see v1.04

Someone cleaned up old boxes and sold it on Ebay. The world map was not included, but the color of the disks made me wonder (gray instead of blue). I'll probably scan the disks next week.
No, it wasn't cheap :)

My original disks also are gray. But I never checked the version. I thought they were always gray.

[a1exh]

v1.04 18-11-1993
v1.05 06-12-1993

Not much between the two.

[Pyrdacor]

v1.04 18-11-1993
v1.05 06-12-1993

Not much between the two.

0.99 is from 27-08-1993 by the way.

[Pyrdacor]

http://www.oldgamesfinder.com/?q=Ambermoon+pre&m=-2

[a1exh]

AMBER_G/NPC_char.amb

There is only one change in this file between v1.01 and v1.05. Subfile 005. SANDRA.

Only 2 bytes different.

File offset 0x011c : 0x20 -> 0x00
File offset 0x01e7 : 0x02 -> 0x01

[a1exh]

0.99 is from 27-08-1993 by the way.

If you install it, the installer says "1.0 / Date 25-8-1993"

http://thalion.atari.org/games/ambermoon/resource/capture.png

[nicodex]

0.99 is from 27-08-1993 by the way.

This would be the version used for the manual screenshot. Do the binaries include a version string? The PDY release does not - see https://gitlab.com/ambermoon/research/-/wikis/versions

[a1exh]

Do the binaries include a version string?

Yes but you must depack them with Imploder first.

[Pyrdacor]

AMBER_G/NPC_char.amb

There is only one change in this file between v1.01 and v1.05. Subfile 005. SANDRA.

Only 2 bytes different.

File offset 0x011c : 0x20 -> 0x00
File offset 0x01e7 : 0x02 -> 0x01

0x011c is part of the character name so this is just the replacement of a space by a null byte which does not matter.

But 0x1e7 is the very last byte of the inventory item section. Which is the lower byte of the item index in inventory slot 24. I doubt that this is correct. Maybe it is 0x1e9? Then it would affect the NPC event section (the amount of events).

[Pyrdacor]

The manual contains screenshots of 0.99.

[Pyrdacor]

Do the binaries include a version string?

Yes but you must depack them with Imploder first.

You can also read it from the imploded files. But then it is at the end of the file and backwards.

[nicodex]

Personally I don't care much about pre-releases and cracks, just documented them for identification.

[a1exh]

http://www.oldgamesfinder.com/?q=Ambermoon+pre&m=-2

Are you sure this are the same files as in Discord? This is a crack. Has version 0.00 in the binary and version 1.0 in the installer.

[a1exh]

Maybe it is 0x1e9?

I double checked. It is file offset 0x1E7.

[Pyrdacor]

No I am not sure. I didn't check it. Maybe it is a different version and someone faked it, etc.

[nicodex]

My original disks also are gray. But I never checked the version. I thought they were always gray.

You might have a look at the back of the floppies for production timestamps. Mine are between 1993-10-31 19:27 and 1993-11-05 05:26 (brand new, right before the v1.04 release).

If you have some spare time you might inspect your floppies. A second dump would verify my ADFs.

[Pyrdacor]

Finally I had a look at my floppies. Disks B to I are all from 01.11.93 between 00:41 and 02:34. Disk A has a different timestamp font and is from 05.11.93 03:45.

[nicodex]

Finally I had a look at my floppies. Disks B to I are all from 01.11.93 between 00:41 and 02:34. Disk A has a different timestamp font and is from 05.11.93 03:45.

Please make backups of your disks and send me the ADFs :)
Known v1.01 are 22.10.1993/20.10.1993 and known v1.04 are 18.11.1993/11.11.1993.