Errors

Errors

In this section, I have detailed the errors that either Your Sinclair or Dennis Publishing made when they originally published the Smash Tips partwork back in 1988. Since I have tested each and every hack via tzx tape images of the original ZX Spectrum cassettes for each game, I've been able to weed out the wheat from the chaff as to which hacks work, and which do not. Your Sinclair did release an ERRATUM detailing some mistakes and how to correct them, but these errors unfortunately, slipped through the net and were never corrected. Some I have fixed myself, others I do not have any fixes for.

Any hacks I do not have fixes for would of also appeared previously in Your Sinclair magazine, so the chances are if anyone has any old issues laying around, then have a look through them and see if you can find versions of these hacks which do actually work and then send them to me (either in photocopied form or saved in any popular Spectrum emulator format). I will then endeavour to include a fixed version of the hack and everyone will benefit. At the moment, I have found some 57 hacks which were featured in the original Smash Tips booklet which do not work due to printing errors. Out of these 57 hacks which do not work, I have managed to fix 17 of them myself, but still 40 of them remain which I am unable to fix because Your Sinclair never printed any corrections for them.

Many of the hacks have a final checksum, so when you run the hack, it adds up the total amount of all the numbers for each data line. If this does not match the final CHECKSUM, you will get the dreaded DATA ERROR or CHECKSUM ERROR message. This is to ensure you have not made any typing errors in any of the data lines whilst typing the hack in.

Unfortunately, due to printing errors, some of the hacks do have checksum errors. In this instance, I either delete the checksum, or recalculate it. This allows me to test the game and to rule out the reason why a hack doesn't work. If for instance Your Sinclair or Dennis Publishing made a printing error in the checksum, but not in one of the data lines, then in theory, after recalculating the final checksum the hack will work (In which case, it gets moved to the list of hacks I have fixed). If however, after I recalculate the checksum, the game crashes or has no effect, I then know for sure that it is due to an error they introduced in one of the data lines, in which case it gets bined and added to the does not work list.

The page numbers refer to what page in the 'Smash Tips' paper partwork where the hack or poke can be located. With regard to the amount of publication errors I have found so far, it is hardly surprising, since Your Sinclair had a magazine to run, as well as getting each monthly section of this partwork completed, and then their are also risks of introducing errors when everything is passed on to the typesetters. Anyhow, hopefully I have helped to point out the vast majority of the errors for all you Speccy fans...

The following hacks do not work

Agent Orange Checksum error. Page 1.
Arkanoid Checksum error. Page 3.
Athena Checksum error. Page 4.
Avenger Crashes game once loaded. Page 5.
Ballbreaker Doesn't work. Page 5.
Batty Second hack has checksum error. Page 6.
Bazooka Bill Crashes game once loaded. Page 6.
Bounder Checksum error. Page 7.
Brainstorm Checksum error in line 340. Page 67.
Chronos Integer out of range error. Page 9.
Cliffhanger Checksum error. Page 10.
Cobra Checksum error. Page 10.
Cop-out Checksum error. Page 10.
Cybernoid Crashes once game has loaded. Page 68.
Daley Thompson's Supertest 128K Crashes once game has loaded. Page 11.
Denizen Out of memory, 10:2 error. Page 68.
Earthlight Line 104 has not effect. Page 68.
Everyones a Wally Nonsense in BASIC error. Page 16.
Exolon Crashes game once loaded. Page 16.
Flash Gordon FOR NEXT loop error, hack has no effect! Page 17.
Frost Byte Checksum error. Page 18.
Greyfell Crashes just before loading screen. Page 21.
Highway Encounter Nonsense in BASIC error. Page 24.
Jet Set Willy II Crashes game once loaded. Page 27.
MarioBros Checksum error (line 420). Page 29.
Oriental Hero Out of memory error. Page 34.
Paperboy Only gives you 1 life ! Page 35.
Pyjamarama Hack refuses to load the game in. Page 37.
Renegade Checksum error. Page 39.
Rockman Checksum error. Page 40.
Rogue Trooper Crashes once game has loaded. Page 40.
Runestone Checksum error. Page 41.
Shadowfire Integer out of range, line 1140 is missing! Page 44.
Through The Trapdoor Checksum in line 50 is wrong! Page 55.
TLL Hack crashes when run. Page 57.
Trapdoor Checksum in line 50 is wrong. Page 71.
Triaxos Checksum error. Page 58.
Uridium Checksum error. Page 59.
Wizball Game refuses to start! Page 61.
Zoids (Integer out of range, comma in line 100 missing, wrong checksum). Page 63.

Hacks I have fixed

Arc of Yesod 128k (error in line 40. Missing USR to start the game. Fixed). Page 3.
Batty (Error in line 20. FOR NEXT loop. Fixed). Page 5.
Bounder (Error in line 100. Changed the number 178 to 78. Fixed. Page 7.
Critical Mass (error in line 20: poke does not work. Fixed). Page 11.
Earthlight Line 104 has not effect. Deleted this line. Fixed). Page 68.
Elevator Action (Error in line 120: wrong checksum. Fixed). Page 15.
Elite (error in line 30: (Wrong checksum. Fixed). Page 15.
Head Over Heels (Error in line 420: wrong checksum. Fixed). Page 22.
Locomotion (checksum routine is busted. Removed checksum routine. Fixed). Page 28.
Mag Max (Has a checksum error. Luckily it was reprinted on page 69 without the error). Fixed
Mooncresta (Error in line 50: wrong checksum. Fixed). Page 30.
Plot, The (Missing checksum at end of line 340. Fixed). Page 36, Page 70.
Sir Fred (Error in line 50: wrong checksum. Fixed). Page 45.
Skooldaze (wrong checksum. Fixed). Page 46.
Toad Runner (error in line 30. FOR NEXT loop. Fixed). Page 57.
Trailblazer (error in line 20: integer out of range. Fixed). Page 58.
Wonderboy (wrong checksum, line 190 removed. Fixed). Page 61.

Multiface pokes which do not work
Head Over Heels (immunity poke does not work. Fixed).

Appendix I errors

Speedlock 1 hacker. Renamed it to Speedlock two hacker, since that is the version you use it on! Corrected.
Speedlock 2 hacker Renamed it to Speedlock three hacker, since that is the version you use it on! Corrected.
Speedlock 3 hacker. Renamed it to Speedlock four hacker, since that is the version you use it on! Corrected.
Speedlock 4 hacker. Renamed it to Speedlock five hacker, since that is the version you use it on! Corrected.

I decided to add some information regarding the various turboloaders and how to identify them in Appendix I. Although Your Sinclair never printed this in the original Smash Tips partwork, I deemed it quite useful for those wishing to identify the different types of turboloaders as used on many Spectrum games. Part of this information was borrowed from RamSoft's MakeTZX documentation (I hope they do not mind me including it).

Other publication errors

3DC This game was listed under T previously. (page 51). It is now listed under 0. Corrected.

1942 This game was listed under T previously. (page 31). It is now listed under 0. Corrected.

720° This game as listed under S previously. (page 41). It is now listed uner 0. Corrected.

Arkanoid 2 This is not the full title for this game. It should be named Arkanoid II: Revenge of Doh. (Page 67). Corrected.

Big Sleaze, The This game was listed under T previously. It is now listed under B. (Page 53). Corrected.

Bosconian This is not the full title for this game. It should be named Bosconian 87. Page 7. Corrected.

Cybernoid This is not the full title for this game. It should be named Cybernoid The Fighting Machine. (Page 68). Corrected.

Dr. Jackle and Mr Wide This game was spelt wrong, because Your Sinclair originally spelt this game as 'Jackle and Wide'. This is not the full title for this game. The correct title for it is Dr. Jackle and Mr Wide. It is now listed under D as apposed to J (which it was originally). (Page 26). Corrected.

Happiest Days of Your Life, The This game was listed under T previously. (Page 53). It is now listed under H. Corrected.

IBall, II This is not the full title for this game. It should be named IBall, II - Quest For The Past. (Page 69). Corrected.

Legend of Kage. This game was marked as being a simulation game! It is not, it is an arcade game! (page 28). Corrected.

Living Daylights, The This game was listed under T previously (page 53). It is now listed under L. Corrected.

Ninja Scooter This is not the full title for this game (page 33). It should be called Ninja Scooter Simulator. Corrected.

Nosferatu This is not the full title for this game (page 33). It should be named Nosferatu The Vampire. Corrected.

Oblivion This game is marked with the hack sumbol and therefore their should of been a hack printed for this game. However, no hack for it was printed in the original partwork. Only a cheat for the game. (page 34). Hack symbol removed. Corrected.

Rebel This game was released by Virgin games, not Ariolasoft (page 39). Corrected.

Terra Cresta This game was released by Imagine, not Incentive! (Page 52). Corrected.

Trantor This is not the full title for this game. It should be called Trantor The Last Stormtrooper. Corrected.

Transmuter This game was released by Codemasters not Mastertronic! It is also stated it is a platform game, it is not, it is a shoot 'em up!. I know this because Mastertronic never released a game called 'Transmuter'. (Page 58). Corrected.

Plot, The This game was listed under T previously (page 36). It is now listed under P.

Star Runner This game was released by Codemasters not Mastertronic! I know this because Masteronic never released a game called 'Star Runner'. Oh well, they got the year right, as the game was indeed released in 1987. (Page 47). Corrected.

Voidrunner. Arrrgh! This game was released by Mastertronic not Ariolasoft!. The release date for this game is stated as August 1986 this is wrong, because it was in fact released in 1987 ! (page 60). Corrected.

Wulfan It is stated this game was released by Ocean, and the release date is December 1987. The release date is correct, but it was not released by Ocean, it was released by Mastertronic! Also the correct title for this game should be Wulfan The Barbarian. (Page 61). Corrected.

Xecutor This game was released by ACE and not Firebird. (Page 62). Corrected.

Xeno This game was released by A 'n' F and not Mastertronic. (Page 62). Corrected.

Yabba Dabba Dooo This game they spelt slightly wrong: It should be spelt as Yabba Dabba Dooo (with an extra o on the end of the word 'Doo'). (Page 62). Corrected.

Yeti It is stated this game was released in 1987 by US Gold. Wrong! It was in fact released in 1988 by Destiny. (Page 62). Corrected.