Ram It game selection locations

[neotokeo2001]

I am trying to make the default game selection on Ram It be game selection 3 (slow/one) instead of the children's version. I want to rearrange them so the two children's versions will be selection 7 and 8 instead of 1 and 2. I normally can find these pretty easy on my own but have had no luck with Ram It. Anyone know where these are located in the code or have an idea how to find them?

 

https://www.atariage.com/software_page.php?SoftwareLabelID=396

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I suggest using Stella's "savedis" command. This will generate a nice assembly file.

 

The RAM location you are looking for is ram_C7. It is changed at Lfeae and used at several places in the code. Also interesting is the table at Lf1be. You probably have to change the table byte order, the special checks for the kids mode (<2 -> >5) and the difficulty maxing out (7 -> 5).

Edited September 15, 2022 by Thomas Jentzsch

[neotokeo2001]

I was able to change the difficulty with the table at Lf1be but I don't understand how to change the kids mode. The regular mode introduces flashing bars that can be shot that disappear that don't show up in the kids mode.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

The code at Lfce6 and after Lfe89 seems to check for kids mode. Or did you change that already?

[neotokeo2001]

Thanks that did it. I changed it to db at both locations and have verified the flashing bar on all levels with the correct speeds. Thanks. I just could not get that straight and was going in circles.

 

[Thomas Jentzsch]

How did you solve the code at Lfe13? 

    lda     ram_C7                  ;3
    ldx     ram_FA                  ;3
    beq     Lfe13                   ;2/3
    lda     #$07                    ;2   =  38 *
Lfe13
    lsr                             ;2
    clc                             ;2
    adc     #$02                    ;2
    cmp     #$03                    ;2
    bcs     Lfe1f                   ;2/3
    lda     #$03                    ;2         *
    bcc     Lfe1f                   ;2/3 =  14 * superfluous!
Lfe1f

This will make the normal games less difficult and the kid games much more difficult.

 

Wouldn't it be much simpler (and less risky) to change the initial game variation from 1 to 3?

[neotokeo2001]

I did not change the code at Lfe13. I never really learned how to use a disassembly unless it was commented. I do everything with hack-o-matic.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

5 hours ago, neotokeo2001 said:

I did not change the code at Lfe13. I never really learned how to use a disassembly unless it was commented. I do everything with hack-o-matic.

Unfortunately that won't be sufficient for reordering the game variations correctly. You will most likely create a wild mix of the original variations.