A82: Game Wizard v2.0 Internal Secrets

To: CALC-TI@LISTS.PPP.TI.COM
Subject: A82: Game Wizard v2.0 Internal Secrets
From: "Thomas J. Hruska" <thruska@tir.com>
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 1997 22:37:56 -0400
Cc: assembly-82@lists.ticalc.org
Reply-To: assembly-82@lists.ticalc.org

I am releasing some of the internal secrets of Game Wizard so that
programmers will know what to work around in the APD buffer.

NOTE:  THESE "SECRETS" ARE TO BE USED TO HELP AVOID CRASHES...NOT TO MAKE
THEM.  Programmers, if you purposely use variables in the APD buffer to
crash calcs, you are not only being unfair and stuck-up, but you will have
bad karma :).

********************* Game Wizard v2.0 Secrets Released *********************

I.  Introduction
II.  Detecting Game Wizard
III.  Safe Areas Of The APD Buffer
IV.  Credits
V.  Conclusion



I.  Introduction
  Game Wizard is a very sensitive program.  All programmers need to know what
some of it's internal secrets are to avoid their programs from crashing under
Game Wizard.  Since, Game Wizard is a cheating program, I must order that no
one take advantage of this data to stop Game Wizard users from using this
program.  Only use it to avoid possible crashes.  Only those programmers who
use the APD buffer extensively need to understand this document.



II.  Detecting Game Wizard
  If your program uses most of the APD buffer, I will, under some
circumstances, add the detect feature to locate Game Wizard into your source.
This means that you will have to entrust me with your source.  Once I've
added the feature, I will compile it, send it to you via e-mail, and delete
the source off of my hard drive.  However, under most situations, you can
just include variable space at the end of your program.  I was going to
include the source on how to do this, but I realized that most programmers
hate cheaters using programs like Game Wizard.



III.  Safe Areas Of The APD Buffer
  The APD (Automatic Power-Down) buffer is where Game Wizard is situated.
However, the entire buffer isn't used.  This means, you can work around Game
Wizard's reserved areas of RAM.  Here is the layout of the APD buffer:

8228-825D     (Reserved for Game Wizard)
825E-8281     (36 bytes)
8282-84CF     (Reserved for Game Wizard)
84D0-8527     (88 bytes)

The free space totals 124 bytes (or 62 words).  Game Wizard uses the rest of
the 768 byte buffer.  There are a couple cushions of space, but I don't
recommend using them since I could use the rest of the space in later
versions of Game Wizard.



IV.  Credits
  Name                     E-mail Address
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Thomas J. Hruska         thruska@tir.com



V.  Conclusion
  This information that I have released is for reference only.  You may NOT
duplicate this document, tear down the program specified, or do anything else
that could hurt this company's reputation.  This information is not to be
used against those who do use the program.
  This information is being released because of the many complaints I have
received over the past few days about the program.  This is just one more way
that Shining Light Productions is meeting the needs of fellow programmers.

Signed,
Thomas J. Hruska
thruska@tir.com

Shining Light Productions
"Meeting the Needs of Fellow Programmers"
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                 Thomas J. Hruska -- thruska@tir.com
Shining Light Productions -- "Meeting the needs of fellow programmers"
         http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Heights/8504
                    http://shinelight.home.ml.org