Alternate Reality decompilation possibilities

[Dunk]

I've been reading a lot lately on the assorted atari forums about disassembly, and modifications to original games to run on cartridges, etc. I was looking at trying to disassemble alternate reality to learn more about what goes on behind the scenes in the game, like Kroah has done with MULE. Out of curiosity, I was wondering if anyone had ever considered combining the city and the dungeon? With the series always being planned as being modular, it could also open the possibilities of fan made expansions, seeing as Arena, Palace, Wilderness, Revelation and Destiny were never created.

http://www.eobet.com/alternate-reality/ is a useful resource, and describes a lot of what goes on behind the scenes of the game, as well as the plans that were made for the series.

[Andre]

I've been reading a lot lately on the assorted atari forums about disassembly, and modifications to original games to run on cartridges,

You are right, people talked about this topic recently. Unfortunately things are more complicated than people usually imagine; same applies to the cartridge conversion of AR.

I was looking at trying to disassemble alternate reality to learn more about what goes on behind the scenes in the game,

This task will become very difficult since AR uses self-modifying code (e.g., to boost execution time up) and encryption schemes to hide several things like disk access from the curious reverse-engineer's eyes...

like Kroah has done with MULE.

I dare to claim that AR is MUCH more complicated to fully understand than MULE is. But I am quite sure Kroah would be the right man for the disassembling AND the understanding of AR

With the series always being planned as being modular, it could also open the possibilities of fan made expansions, seeing as Arena, Palace, Wilderness, Revelation and Destiny were never created.

Yeah, an AR construction kit would be cool! I also dream of enhanced music built into AR...

[Kroah]

This task will become very difficult since AR uses self-modifying code (e.g., to boost execution time up) and encryption schemes to hide several things like disk access from the curious reverse-engineer's eyes...

Yeah, AR is a real pain to decompile. Not impossible, but lots of time and tries...

I dare to claim that AR is MUCH more complicated to fully understand than MULE is. But I am quite sure Kroah would be the right man for the disassembling AND the understanding of AR

You are kind but like you said, i think it will take too much time and effort. MULE was sufficiently difficult because of interlaced code compared to Gateway to Apshai or Return of Heracles...

With the series always being planned as being modular, it could also open the possibilities of fan made expansions, seeing as Arena, Palace, Wilderness, Revelation and Destiny were never created.

Mmh... even if the 2 games are similars in some way, they have lots of differences. And modifying the City or the Dungeon will give more a hack than an expansion IMHO, because of the work to be done. But if some people have time, it's always possible

Cheers,
Kroah

[Andre]

Yeah, AR is a real pain to decompile. Not impossible, but lots of time and tries...

Sounds like you already tried ...

Mmh... even if the 2 games are similars in some way, they have lots of differences.

I am not sure but as far as I remember Ken Jordan and Dan Pinal (lead programmers of AR2) re-wrote most of the '3D'-engine completely.