Author Topic: Zelda: Dark Link Quest now TI-Connect compatible  (Read 7410 times)

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Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Zelda: Dark Link Quest now TI-Connect compatible
« on: October 14, 2007, 09:11:00 pm »
3 years after The Legend Of Zelda: Dark Link Quest release, it is finally compatible with TI-Connect.

Tonight I am releasing version 1.01 of the game, which can be sent without any problems to a TI-83+, TI-83+SE, TI-84+ or TI-84+SE calculator, providing you follow instructions carefully. This was almost mission impossible to get the game TI-Connect compatible, which explains why it took so long before such version is released. This is because the game use hacked picture files, which cannot be sent individually using TI Connect, thus, they need to be grouped. Also while grouped files containing such picture data can be sent fine using TI-Connect from a PC to a calculator, the opposite is impossible, thus, you need to send those groups using an old software called TI-Graph Link. However, groups sent from calculator to PC using this old software are not compatible with TI-Connect. The first program of each group will corrupt when sent to the calculator, altough it won't corrupt picture files if there is no program present. So the installation process is slightly more complicated than with the original TI-Graph link version, altough it may end up taking less time because files send faster using TI-Connect and TI-Graph Link always randomly crash unless you run Windows 95 or 98.

If you wanted to play the game but couldn't because you could only use TI-Connect (as TI-Graph Link didn't supported USB link cable nor the 84+ models) you can now. Just download the update in TI-83+ calculator RPG section or Our work section!

Offline Speler

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Zelda: Dark Link Quest now TI-Connect compatible
« Reply #1 on: October 15, 2007, 08:19:00 am »
That's awesome!  It's nice to see you updating your games :)smile.gif.

MechaTech84

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Zelda: Dark Link Quest now TI-Connect compatible
« Reply #2 on: October 15, 2007, 12:26:00 pm »
I can't find it.... Can you post a link?

Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Zelda: Dark Link Quest now TI-Connect compatible
« Reply #3 on: October 15, 2007, 12:29:00 pm »
Darn... it shouldn't be that hard. Did you even visited the Omnimaga website at all? o.oblink.gif

It should be clear that it's in the download section, right? I even mentionned it was in both our programs and calc rpg and programming tools section and since it's for the TI-83+ series it should be in this section

MechaTech84

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Zelda: Dark Link Quest now TI-Connect compatible
« Reply #4 on: October 15, 2007, 12:31:00 pm »
but it says it was updated june 2007, is it that one?

Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Zelda: Dark Link Quest now TI-Connect compatible
« Reply #5 on: October 15, 2007, 12:37:00 pm »
could you quote exactly or show a screenshot of where it says "Updated June 2007"? Because i don,t see this anywhere. If you mean the post date then it means nothing, as I just uploaded a new zip file of the game and didn't edited the post

MechaTech84

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Zelda: Dark Link Quest now TI-Connect compatible
« Reply #6 on: October 15, 2007, 12:45:00 pm »
go to this url:

http://omnimaga.dvrdns.org/index.php?showtopic=153

then scroll down... and then post the link I SHOULD be using if this isn't it.

Edit: never mind, I get it now.....

Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Zelda: Dark Link Quest now TI-Connect compatible
« Reply #7 on: October 15, 2007, 12:49:00 pm »
first, it's july, not june, and it is the file info last update. The zip file was replaced with the new one, so you got the right file. Next time you read a news about a new file updated check the news article title or the first few sentence, as it generally contain the program name x.x

And the archive forums aren't even supposed to show "this post was edited by membername on mm/dd/yy I will check what's wrong with this  

MechaTech84

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Zelda: Dark Link Quest now TI-Connect compatible
« Reply #8 on: October 18, 2007, 09:30:00 am »
First off, I did read the whole news article, I just didn't understand how you updated the file; I thought there would be a new post in the archive for the file.

Secondly, the edited post confused me further and I didn't think it was updated recently....

My Bad!!! --Mecha

Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Zelda: Dark Link Quest now TI-Connect compatible
« Reply #9 on: October 18, 2007, 09:47:00 am »
It's ok. Actually I didn't reposted a new topic in the archive because there was alerady the previous version in the archive since the original release. I still have no clue why the edit notice still appears though :Swacko.gif

tama

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Zelda: Dark Link Quest now TI-Connect compatible
« Reply #10 on: October 21, 2007, 12:43:00 am »
The previous versions couldn't be sent via TI Connect ?

Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Zelda: Dark Link Quest now TI-Connect compatible
« Reply #11 on: October 21, 2007, 05:03:00 am »
It could, but it required the user to do some tweakings with the sending process and for almost all of them some files were corrupted when sending to TI-Connect

Offline kalan_vod

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Zelda: Dark Link Quest now TI-Connect compatible
« Reply #12 on: October 22, 2007, 02:51:00 pm »
Happy to see this done, as it was something that kept me from playing this several times! :Ptongue.gif

Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Re: Zelda: Dark Link Quest now TI-Connect compatible
« Reply #13 on: January 29, 2023, 03:38:16 pm »
Version 2.00 has been uploaded to the Cemetech archives. It should be available at https://www.cemetech.net/downloads/files/2165/x2731 soon. As it turns out, version 1.01 from 2007 was improperly packaged, preventing it from being installed. Here are the changes that I've made:

-Removed several unnecessary line breaks in the game code, although some might still remain.
-Skeletons can no longer move diagonally.
-Swapped the menu opening and item usage keys. Menu opening is now DEL and item usage or switching to hookshot is 2nd.
-You can now switch between the sword and hookshot with the item usage button (2nd) if you have no other item equipped.
-You can no longer turn the calc off in the menu, as it crashed TI-84 Plus models.
-Hopefully it works with modern linking softwares this time around. It takes longer to install the picvars, though (four steps just for those alone).
-Added Doors CS 7 icon (although the game hasn't fully been tested in it yet)
-When launching the game for the first time or after deleting List CONT, the player can now set the game's contrast.

However, I was unable to locate the code for when you take damage from bosses. All code I saw referenced losing half a heart of life, even though bosses cause far more damage, so I am unsure what's up with that. The game was written almost 20 years ago and there are so many files that some stuff is buried very deep in it.

This is why, despite the game being nearly impossible to beat even with 10 heart containers and 4 fairies, I have left the difficulty as is. It was not too hard to beat when I was 18 but I guess I became slower and less reactive over time. The game is also incredibly hard to "hack", and some tampering with the save files could cause them to vanish from the list and trigger a new game instead, and at best it could prevent the final battle from triggering.