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Degrader.doc
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1992-10-17
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Degrader V1.21 © 1991-92 Chris Hames. All rights reserved.
-----------------------------------------------------------
You upgrade your system and what happens? The idiots who wrote your
favorite program didn't follow the guidelines and it no longer works. This
is where degrader comes in, it will try to degrade your system so that the
old brain dead program will work on your machine. You can also just use it
to boot off floppy drives other than DF0:, force your machine to PAL or
NTSC, turn the audio filter on or off and other things.
***************************************************************************
When you run the program from workbench you are presented with
various option buttons which you can toggle on(down & highlighted)/off:-
50Hz Changes the screen refresh rate to 50Hz (PAL).
You can use this to view the extra lines a PAL
machine has that a NTSC machine normally doesn't.
Requires ECS Agnus and a appropriate monitor.
60Hz Changes the screen refresh rate to 60Hz (NTSC).
Requires ECS Agnus and a appropriate monitor.
50HzSystem Modifies GfxBase to give values that will make
some programs think this machine is PAL.
Useful in Kickstart 1.2/1.3.
60HzSystem Modifies GfxBase to give values that will make
some programs think this machine is NTSC.
Useful in Kickstart 1.2/1.3.
AudFilterOff Most Amiga's have a audio filter which can be
switched off and the power light usually
dims as well.
AudFilterOn Most Amiga's have a audio filter which can be
switched on and the power light usually
brightens as well.
NoFastMem What this does depend on whether you selected
for the machine to reset.
If reset, it will stop any memory besides chip
memory from being added to the system during
reset.
If you don't select a reset option it will patch
the system so no Fast memory will be allocated
by programs.
HalfMegChip Sets the amount of chip memory your system has to
512K. Some programs don't like it if you have
1 or 2 meg of chip memory so use this option
to trick the program into thinking you only have
512K of chip memory.
If you don't select a reset option it resorts
to some nasty memory list manipulation.
OneMegChip Sets the amount of chip memory your system has to
1024K. Some programs don't like it if you have
2 meg of chip memory so use this option
to trick the program into thinking you only have
1024K of chip memory.
If you don't select a reset option it resorts
to some nasty memory list manipulation.
NoMemAt Allows you to stop a certain memory block from
being added to the system memory list. If you
don't select a rest option it just gives that
memory block a priority of -128 so it is not
allocated until you run out of other memory.
NOTE: you must turn the Button "ON" as well as
enter value.
AddMem Adds memory to the memory list. Useful if you
have a non-autoconfig memory board and want
your memory added at reset time so it is used
a lot more instead of your chip memory.
NOTE: you must turn the Button "ON" as well as
enter values.
NoCache Turns off your Cache & Burst modes of 68020 or
higher processors.
Privilege Changes move SR,<ea> to move CCR,<ea> and
changes move CCR,<ea> to move SR,<ea>.
MOVE SR,<ea> is privileged on processors 68010+.
If a program gives a 00000008 GURU consistantly
this might help. Very few programs read the
status register directly, even fewer get it wrong
as well.
TimeWaste Slows down your machine based on the value you
give 65535 to 1. The smaller the number the
slower your machine gets.
Won't work with many programs as they take over or
turn off the interrupt I use.
NOTE: you must turn the Button "ON" as well as
enter value.
BlockDevice Stops programs from opening a specified device.
DF0: is -> DF0:
DF1: is -> DF1:
DF2: is -> DF2:
DF3: is -> DF3: Use these to swap drives around. Set a drive to
DF4: to make it unuseable. Hence it won't take
up precous chip memory.
Only works with a reset operation.
After you have selected the options you want you have a choice of
three buttons at the bottom of the screen. To do it now only, to survive
one reset only or to survive resets until the left mouse button is held
down at reset.
If you do a reset selection your machine will reboot and at reset
time your screen will go dark blue->light blue->dark orange->light orange.
Note the reset features of this program is Kickstart specific but should
work with at least:-
Kickstart 1.2 ROM.
Kickstart 1.3 ROM and A3000 Kickstart 1.3 file.
Kickstart 2.04 ROM and A3000 Kickstart 2.04 file and zkicked 2.04.
***************************************************************************
If you start degrader from a Shell/CLI you can all the keywords shown in
the window display as described above, except the DF0: stuff.
And there a few more:-
Floppies This is the Shell/CLI interface to changing
floppies. Give it 4 numbers with values 0-4
SurviveReset Reset then do all the goodies.
SurviveResets Reset then do all the goodies. And still be
there to do it next reset. Keep it up until
the user press the left mouse button at reset.
NoEditOp Don't bring up the window to edit options.
***************************************************************************
Examples of using Degrader from a Shell/CLI:-
"Degrader AUDFILTEROFF"
Bring up option window with audio filter selected.
"Degrader AUDFILTERON NOEDITOP"
Turn the audio filter on. The option window is not used.
"Degrader 60HZ 60HZSYSTEM"
Bring up option window with 60HZ and 60HZSYSTEM selected.
"Degrader ADDMEM $100000 5 10 $400000 SURVIVERESETS NOEDITOP"
Add 1 meg of memory at $400000 at each reset from now on.
"Degrader TIMEWASTE 50 SURVIVERESET NOEDITOP"
Reset with hopefully a lot slower machine.
"Degrader FLOPPIES 0444 SURVIVERESETS NOEDITOP"
Reset and only have DF0: available.
***************************************************************************
The most common way to get a brain dead game to work is to try this
"Degrader NOFASTMEM NOCACHE PRIVILEGE FLOPPIES 0444 SURVIVERESET NOEDITOP"
***************************************************************************
Please note this program uses the ColdCapture, KickTagPtr and
sometimes patches LVOAddMemList, LVOAllocMem, LVOAvailMem, LVOOpenDevice so
good virus detectors, like mine :-), will give you warnings.
This program may be copied as long as it is accompanied by this doc file
both unaltered & no money is charged (except for a reasonable copying fee
such as what Fred Fish charges). All use of this program is at your own
risk & I assume no responsibility or liability for any problems that occur.
If you want to contact me to give me a porsche or similar,
Chris Hames
Internet: bytey@werple.apana.org.au
bytey@phoenix.apana.org.au
Fido Net: 3:633/353
If the above addresses don't work, get the latest version of one of my
other programs such as DirWork or PC-Task which are updated more
frequently.