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mod for Taipan (Apple II) to start game


brizalti

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There are a few games on the Apple II that require the use of the Escape key.  Some are not a big deal -- it may just be used to access an unimportant menu.  One of the games, Taipan, actually requires you to press the "Escape" key to start the game!  All of my Hyperspin stuff uses the Escape key to exit back to the menu (actually it is a multiple button press on my cocktail table) and I wanted to keep it uniform.

So basically, I modded the game so you would press the space bar instead of the Escape key to start the game.  I thought I'd share this with others so that you could do this also if you are a big fan of Taipan.

First, I googled Taipan and found a site that has a nice browser based version of the game.  At the bottom of the webpage, it had a link to the original BASIC source code.  I found the code that needed fixing:

10060  FOR I = 1 TO 400:CH% =  PEEK

       ( - 16384):X =  USR (0): IF

       CH% < 128 THEN  NEXT

10062  VTAB 20: HTAB 31: PRINT I

       V$;CA$;"'ESC'";: FOR I = 1 TO

       20:X =  USR (0): IF  PEEK ( -

       16384) <  > 155 THEN  NEXT :

       VTAB 20: HTAB 31: PRINT NV$

       ;CA$ + "'ESC'";: FOR I = 1 TO

       20:X =  USR (0): IF  PEEK ( -

       16384) <  > 155 THEN  NEXT :

       GOTO 10062

The code highlighted in blue needed to be changed to what I highlighted in yellow:

10060  FOR I = 1 TO 1:CH% =  PEEK

       ( - 16384):X =  USR (0): IF

       CH% < 128 THEN  NEXT

10062  VTAB 20: HTAB 31: PRINT I

       V$;CA$;"SPACE";: FOR I = 1 TO

       20:X =  USR (0): IF  PEEK ( -

       16384) <  > 160 THEN  NEXT :

       VTAB 20: HTAB 31: PRINT NV$

       ;CA$ + "SPACE";: FOR I = 1 TO

       20:X =  USR (0): IF  PEEK ( -

       16384) <  > 160 THEN  NEXT :

       GOTO 10062

By changing the number 400 to 1, it appears faster on the screen.  The rest of the changed code switches the intended keypress from Escape to Space.

Unfortunately, the Apple II version is not in BASIC on the dsk file.  So I used Copy II Plus (v5) to use the Sector Editor to make the changes.  I found the unwanted code on Track $0D, Sectors $0F & $0E of my dsk file (it may vary on yours).  Here is the final code with my changes highlighted in yellow:

SECTOR EDITOR                  DISK B

78- 00 87 70 42 27 B9 C9 31  @.0B'9I1

80- 36 33 36 38 2C 30 00 B4  6368,0@4

88- 70 4C 27 81 49 D0 31 C1  0L'.IP1A

90- 30 30 31 3A 43 48 25 D0  001:CH%P

98- E2 28 C9 31 36 33 38 34  b(I16384

A0- 29 3A 58 D0 D5 28 30 29  ):XPU(0)

A8- 3A AD 43 48 25 D1 31 32  :-CH%Q12

B0- 38 C4 82 00 35 71 4E 27  8D.@51N'

B8- A2 32 30 3A 96 33 31 3A  "20:.31:

C0- BA 49 56 24 3B 43 41 24  :IV$;CA$

C8- 3B 22 53 50 41 43 45 22  ;"SPACE"

D0- 3B 3A 81 49 D0 31 C1 32  ;:.IP1A2

D8- 30 3A 58 D0 D5 28 30 29  0:XPU(0)

E0- 3A AD E2 28 C9 31 36 33  :-b(I163

E8- 38 34 29 D1 CF 31 36 30  84)QO160

F0- C4 82 3A A2 32 30 3A 96  D.:"20:.

F8- 33 31 3A BA 4E 56 24 3B  31::NV$;

 

TRACK $0D, SECTOR $F    DOS 3.3

--------------------------------------------

SECTOR EDITOR                  DISK B

00- 43 41 24 C8 22 53 50 41  CA$H"SPA

08- 43 45 22 3B 3A 81 49 D0  CE";:.IP

10- 31 C1 32 30 3A 58 D0 D5  1A20:XPU

18- 28 30 29 3A AD E2 28 C9  (0):-b(I

20- 31 36 33 38 34 29 D1 CF  16384)QO

28- 31 36 30 C4 82 3A AB 31  160D.:+1

30- 30 30 36 32 00 5A 71 56  0062@Z1V

38- 27 B9 32 33 36 37 2C 32  '92367,2

40- 33 36 3A B9 C9 31 36 33  36:9I163

48- 36 38 2C 30 3A BA 4E 56  68,0::NV

50- 24 3B 46 53 24 3B 48 4D  $;FS$;HM

58- 24 00 AA 71 7E 27 A2 38  $@*1>'"8

60- 3A 96 31 3A BA 43 47 24  :.1::CG$

68- 3B 22 5B 22 3B 3A AF 34  ;"[";:/4

70- 35 2C 33 38 3A BA 22 5D  5,38::"]

78- 22 3B 3A 81 49 D0 31 C1  ";:.IP1A

80- 38 3A BA 22 21 22 3B C0  8::"!";@

TRACK $0D, SECTOR $E    DOS 3.3

 

Hopefully this helps somebody.  If you need more help with this, feel free to message me.

-brizalti

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  • 2 weeks later...

Another game on the Apple II that requires the ESC key to start is Pitfall II.  This was more difficult to track down.  On the dsk file that I'm using, I found the code that needed to be changed on Track 0D, Sector 6 (but this may vary depending on your dsk file).  The code that indicates ESC is highlighted in blue:

SECTOR EDITOR                  DISK B

00- 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 A2  @@@@@@@"

08- FF 9A 20 2A 61 A2 FF 9A  _. *!"_.

10- 8D 10 C0 8D 50 C0 8D 52  [email protected]@.R

18- C0 8D 57 C0 20 E0 AD A2  @.W@ `-"

20- 00 20 ED 62 20 E2 62 A9  @ m" b")

28- FF 85 00 85 E1 A2 17 A9  [email protected]"W)

30- 00 85 01 20 1E 64 A9 60  @.A ^$)

38- 85 01 20 1E 64 CA 10 EF  .A ^$JPo

40- A2 B0 A9 00 85 01 20 14  "0)@.A T

48- 64 A9 60 85 01 20 14 64  $) .A T$

50- E8 E0 C0 D0 ED 20 89 62  h`@Pm ."

58- A5 25 30 15 C9 1B D0 11  %%0UI PQ

60- A2 0D 20 ED 62 20 E2 62  "M m" b"

68- A9 00 85 00 85 E1 20 EB  )@[email protected] k

70- AE A5 01 F0 05 8D 55 C0  .%ApE.U@

78- D0 03 8D 54 C0 49 60 85  PC.T@I .

80- 01 A5 28 0A B0 02 49 91  A%(J0BI.

TRACK $0D, SECTOR $6    DOS 3.3

I changed this to 20 so that the space bar starts (and restarts) the game when pressed.  If you don't want to use the space bar (because you're afraid you might bump it too easily), you could instead enter 0D which would then require a Return (Enter) keypress.

Once again, if you need more help, message me.

-brizalti

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