Zork fixes from various places

[larsbrinkhoff]

Diffing our 1981 copy of Zork sources against http://www.russotto.net/~mrussotto/confusion/mdlzork.tgz, there are some updates.

[larsbrinkhoff]

Among those is a Y2K bug fix:

-        " 19" <UNPARSE <CHTYPE <GETBITS .N <BITS 7 27>> FIX>>
+;(      " 19" <UNPARSE <CHTYPE <GETBITS .N <BITS 7 27>> FIX>> Y2K issues)
+        " " <UNPARSE <WINDOW-YEAR <CHTYPE <GETBITS .N <BITS 7 27>> FIX>>>

I guess WINDOW-YEAR is something specific to Confusion, but we could adapt the change.

[eswenson1]

From where did the above zork sources come? Are they official sources from MIT/Infocom? Or are they modified by some user? What were they intended to run on -- what version of Muddle and on what OSes?

[larsbrinkhoff]

They come from Matthew Russotto, but it looks like a lightly edited version of the Supnik files. I believe the changes are to run bettter on the Confusion MDL interpreter.

[eswenson1]

But there is something really interesting here. In tell-repl.mud, there is a definition of a a PSTRING function. In our sources, I couldn't find one. And attempts to compile zork are failing due to a missing PSTRING function. In other words, I find nothing in our sources that allows <PSTRING "FOO">, but there are plenty of references to <PSTRING ,XXX> in the code. These cause the compiler to fail. I don't understand how this could ever work without this definition. Since PSTRING is a type defined by zork, it shouldn't be a case of some missing external function definition. I may try to incorporate this definition into an updated version of our sources to see if I can then get things to compile.

[atsampson]

Yes, that's the version that's modified for Confusion. I used some of its function definitions when I was first getting Zork to run interpreted on Muddle 56.

@eswenson1, the definitions of PSTRING (both a NEWTYPE and the assembly function to create them, which starts <TITLE PSTRING>) are in TELL - if you feed that file through the Muddle assembler then the output should include the NEWTYPE and an assembled RSUBR which is what's being called elsewhere in the code. The Confusion version does work in real Muddle but if you've got the assembler then you should be able to use the real one.

[eswenson1]

That's interesting. I saw the <NEWTYPE PSTRING WORD> in DEFS, but no definition for the PSTRING function. I didn't notice the function definition in TELL (but see it now). So I guess you can't compile DEFS until you have loaded TELL, or at least you can't use any of the macros defined in DEFS (such as needed to compile ROOMS), until you've loaded TELL.

I don't (yet) know how to assemble TELL. Do you just use PCOMP and it knows how to invoke the assembler? I think I tried that and it failed. I don't know how how to invoke the assembler. Do you?

[larsbrinkhoff]

There is a library called ASSEM. There is an FBIN, SAVE, and source UNDR88.

[larsbrinkhoff]

@hesam66 says he also has some fixes:

I've fixed som 39 year old bugs in the MDL version of Zork! Now it's possible to play the original game and type things like "PLAY VIOLIN", "PLAY THIEF" and "HELLO, SAILOR" without crashing the parser. It's also possible to save/restore the game during the thief melee and during the balloon ride. Se details at: https://github.com/heasm66/mdlzork

[larsbrinkhoff]

Maybe @jclaar fixed some things in his C++ translation.

[jclaar]

Maybe @jclaar fixed some things in his C++ translation.

@larsbrinkhoff Is this referring to a specific issue? I don't see what you might be referring to here.

[eswenson1]

I just ran into an issue where if you type "u" in the Loud Room (rather than what you need to do), you get a crash. The issue is that ECHO-ROOM (in ACT1 254) attempts to do a:

<NOT <EMPTY? >>

But in this case <2 ,PRSVEC> is a DIRECTION (not a structured type, but a NEWTYPE) and therefore, you can't call EMPTY? on it. EMPTY? only works on structured types.
I fixed this by changing this line to:

<OR <TYPE? DIRECTION> <NOT <EMPTY? >>>

Note: I'm using the ZORK sources from this (pdp-10/its) repository -- not your updated ones.

[eswenson1]

Ah, I see you fixed this in your version too! But your fix is simpler (and more elegant than mine). You changed the line to simply:

<PRSO>

which should work fine because it will either return #FALSE() or something else.

[larsbrinkhoff]

@jclaar, sorry for the confusion (no pun intended). I didn't mean any specific issue.

So to clarify, have you found and fixed any bugs when translating Zork from MDL to C++?

[larsbrinkhoff]

@eswenson1, where did you find the fix? There are potentially four places to check: Supnik, Rusotto, Claar, and Åsman.

[eswenson1]

I found the fix here: https://github.com/heasm66/mdlzork/blob/master/mdlzork_810722/patched_confusion/act1.mud

[heasm66]

@eswenson1 Just to be clear. The fix you found is done by Russotto. In my structure the "original_source" is in this case the files that Bob Supnik lifted way back and the "patched_confusion" for the 1981 files are mostly the patches that Russotto did to make it run under Confusion. Beyond that I did a couple of changes that I documented in the readme.md.

[eswenson1]

Thanks. I admit I couldn't figure out who fixed what. Thanks for the explanation.

[heasm66]

I'm thinking of doing a data analysis of the development (evolution) of Zork and matching it with the articles "History of Zork" in New Zork Times (found here and here).

Currently I know of four batches of source-files with hopefully a fifth batch coming soon.

I wonder about the usernames and timestamps of these files. If you look at the tape.999-file in the lcf-directory it looks like this:

 1 EJS    ACT1   253        1      4/12/80 09:27:58.5
 2 EJS    ACT2   92         1      4/12/80 09:28:42
 3 EJS    ACT3   198        1      4/12/80 09:29:13.5
 4 EJS    ACT4   231        1      4/12/80 09:30:23
 5 EJS    B      176        1      4/12/80 09:52:30.5
 6 EJS    BUILD  CMD        1      4/12/80 10:33:39
 7 EJS    DEFS   171        1      4/12/80 09:52:46
 8 EJS    DISP1  2          1      4/12/80 09:53:03
 9 EJS    DUNG   354        1      4/12/80 09:18:39
10 EJS    IMPL   123        0      4/12/80 09:53:16.5
11 EJS    MAKSTR 44         0      4/12/80 09:53:33.5
12 EJS    MELEE  137        0      4/12/80 09:53:46.5
13 EJS    PARSER 130        0      4/12/80 09:53:57.5
14 EJS    POINTS TXT        0      4/12/80 10:33:47
15 EJS    PPAPER TXT        0      4/12/80 10:33:55.5
16 EJS    PRIM   9          0      4/12/80 09:54:09.5
17 EJS    ROOMS  393        0      4/12/80 09:54:21.5
18 EJS    SR     54         0      4/12/80 09:54:44
19 EJS    SYNTAX 7          0      4/12/80 09:54:56.5
20 EJS    TELL   152        0      4/12/80 10:01:06.5
21 EJS    TYPHAK 16         0      4/12/80 10:01:20
22 EJS    UTIL   16         0      4/12/80 10:01:29 E-O-T

Is the username here the name of the one doing the backup, the one creating the file or the one last writing the file?

Is the timestamp from the last write to the file or the time of the backup?

Bonus question: Is there files, in this project, with more metadata than in the lcf-directory (Ex. The files I have from 1979 & 1981 only have the extension .mud, not the version number)?

EDIT: Looking in the lcf-directory (dung.354: row 5149, 5153) it says: "7/22/81" but the timestamps above says: "4/12/80". How is this possible?

[larsbrinkhoff]

@heasm66, that's great! I very much like people to do this kind of deep analysis.

The user name in the listing is also the directory name, and is the person doing the backup: @eswenson1. His account of the events is here: #813. The timestamps are from the time of the copy. The original "last write" timestamps for this set of files are lost.

As you can see in @taa01776's "History", he says the directory name for the source code was CFS. That could have been true for some time period, but all evidence I can see from the backup tapes point to the directory being LCF. CFS was only used for binary files.

The "7/22/81" date should be from Bob Supnik's fileset. The EJS copy has dates from /79.

Commit 1b55589 has the EJS files with original filenames.

[larsbrinkhoff]

I see these two dates in the EJS fileset. Note the slight inconsistency.

"There is an issue of US NEWS & DUNGEON REPORT dated 3/17/79 here." and 12/11/79 Late G.U.E. Edition

[eswenson1]

I probably created a personal tape, and used the tape number 999. That is very much something I might do. I FTP'ed the files from DM to MIT-MULTICS, where I knew none of the DM implementors could find/delete my stolen files. This process destroyed the real file dates. At some future point (probably the next day or so, given that I was obsessed with the sources back then -- still am, I guess), I FTP'ed them back to ITS, encrypted them, and put them in an ITS archive. I think I renamed the archive to some non-standard name and made it look like a binary file so that no one could tell that it was an archive of Zork sources. At some time, I printed them all out on MC's XGP printer (I still have the printouts). I probably then created "tape 999" with the files and kept that tape for many, many years -- until my wife "encouraged me" to "throw out all that junk that you'll never look at again". I was a dutiful husband, alas, but I did manage to preserve my Zork maps and printouts. I have them in my home office and recently used them to play through the FORTRAN Dungeon on Multics and the ITS Zork I recently built on ITS.

[heasm66]

Fantastic story!

This is probably the only time since chilldhood I wish I was a couple of years older to have "been there" during this exciting times but I was only 10 years old at the time.

[heasm66]

I diff:ed the files that I have over at my "Confusion"-repo and the original files I had in the 1979 & 1981 folders are identical to the files here. I have now updaded them with the correct version-number instead of the generic ".mud"-extension they had.

[larsbrinkhoff]

As you may know, DUMP saves information about all backup tapes. TAPE 999 is no different, and the backup record is in .TAPE5; TAPE 999 dated 1979-05-16 on at least three ToTS tapes. My "tape-dir" tool doesn't handle it well, but enough to recognize some of the file names.

[eswenson1]

Yes, but it doesn't apply to the latest version of zork. Are you suggesting we try to back-port this to the old zorks?

[larsbrinkhoff]

No, just the latest. I don't immediately check all bug fixes whether they apply, just collecting pointers.

[heasm66]

@eswenson1 That explains it. Thank you!

[heasm66]

Trying the 616+100

*:zork
This Zork created March 3, 2023.
West of House
This is an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door.
There is a small mailbox here.
A rubber mat saying 'Welcome to Zork!' lies by the door.
>help
File not found.
>info
File not found.
>

These commands get the text from the external files MADADV HELP and MADADV INFO. There are versions of these files in MADMAN; and they seems to be contemporary with the 1981 files (I'm comparing the text with the text in Dungeon 3.2b (Bob Supnik's Fortran conversion). Are there any never versions of these files found on any newer tape that could be used?

EDIT: Copying the files to CFS; fixes 'help' and 'info'.

And then there's this (when you quit or restart), anya ideas why that is?

>quit

Your score would be 0 [total of 616 points], in 3 moves.
This score gives you the rank of Beginner.
Do you wish to leave the game? (Y is affirmative):
y
I'm sorry, you seem to have encountered an error in the program.
Please describe what happened:
Bug (terminate with altmode):

[eswenson1]

We changed the directory from MADADV to CFS to keep the two versions of zork separate. It would appear that the new zork is looking in CFS and since we didn't place a copy or link to the files in that directory, it is failing. I'll fix. Thanks for finding that.

I'm not sure that we really have better/newer versions of the MADADV HELP and MADADV INFO files than we used for the old MDL 54 zork. I've compared the latest ones I can find and while they differ a bit, there is no substantive changes. In fact the ones we have in MADADV are probably the best versions.

[eswenson1]

Regarding your "I"m sorry, ..." error, I cannot reproduce this. When I quit, I get this:

zork^K!
This Zork created February 27, 2023.
West of House
This is an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door.
There is a small mailbox here.
A rubber mat saying 'Welcome to Zork!' lies by the door.
>score

Your score would be 0 [total of 616 points], in 1 move.
This score gives you the rank of Beginner.
>quit

Your score would be 0 [total of 616 points], in 2 moves.
This score gives you the rank of Beginner.
Do you wish to leave the game? (Y is affirmative):
y

:KILL  MUD55$J
*

[heasm66]

I did a new build from latest sources on Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS with:

sudo make EMULATOR=simh

The terminating bug is still there for me. I tried starting both with:

:zork

zork^K

:mud55
<RESTORE "CFS;MADADV SAVE">

Do anyone else experience this?

[eswenson1]

@heasm66 Which bug is the “terminating” bug? I don’t see reference to it here — with the term “terminating”.

[heasm66]

>quit

Your score would be 0 [total of 616 points], in 3 moves.
This score gives you the rank of Beginner.
Do you wish to leave the game? (Y is affirmative):
y
I'm sorry, you seem to have encountered an error in the program.
Please describe what happened:
Bug (terminate with altmode):

[eswenson1]

Oh, ok. I'm building from the HEAD of master branch (EMULATOR=klh10 -- since I find it the most stable and usable for networking). I'll try that out as soon as the build finishes.

It doesn't happen on my ES system, and didn't happen on my DB system (with the prior commit -- i.e. without the links to the MADADV INFO/HELP added to CFS). But I don't see why things should be any different with that commit. I'll let you know.

[eswenson1]

Still can't reproduce this. I built a new DB (KLH10) from the head of the master branch, started zork, and then:

>score

Your score would be 0 [total of 616 points], in 3 moves.
This score gives you the rank of Beginner.
>quit

Your score would be 0 [total of 616 points], in 4 moves.
This score gives you the rank of Beginner.
Do you wish to leave the game? (Y is affirmative):
y

:KILL
*

I'm wondering if you could TAR up your system that exhibits the issue and then I can run and debug it.

If you do this, I'll need both the "out" directory and the "build/xxx" directory (where xxx is the simulator directory).

If you like, I can do the same (TAR up my just-generated-system) and you could try it.

I"m doing a "sudo make EMULATOR=simh clean all" now to see if the simulator makes a difference.

[eswenson1]

Well, I don't know why I can't even boot ITS with that emulator, but I'm stuck. Why are you using simh rather than klh10?

eswenson@eswenson-ThinkPad-W520:/mnt/its/ITS/ws/its$ tools/simh/BIN/pdp10 out/simh/boot

PDP-10 simulator V4.0-0 Current        git commit id: e1db7dec
out/simh/boot-6> at -u dz0 10004
Listening on port 10004
out/simh/boot-8> at -u dz0 line=7,10018
Line 7 Listening on port 10018
out/simh/boot-10> at -u dz0 line=6,10019
Line 6 Listening on port 10019
out/simh/boot-12> at rp0 out/simh/rp0.dsk
RP: unit is read only

HALT instruction, PC: 777721 (HALT 777721)
sim> quit
Goodbye
eswenson@eswenson-ThinkPad-W520:/mnt/its/ITS/ws/its$ ls -l out/simh/rp0.dsk
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 316047360 Mar  4 14:37 out/simh/rp0.dsk
eswenson@eswenson-ThinkPad-W520:/mnt/its/ITS/ws/its$

[drboone]

You're logged in as eswenson, but the file is owned by root, and go=r?

[eswenson1]

Now how did that happen? :-). Thanks.

Using the SIMH build, I still don't have any issues with zork and quitting. Here is what happened for me.

*zork^K!
This Zork created March 4, 2023.
West of House
This is an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door.
There is a small mailbox here.
A rubber mat saying 'Welcome to Zork!' lies by the door.
>quit

Your score would be 0 [total of 616 points], in 1 move.
This score gives you the rank of Beginner.
Do you wish to leave the game? (Y is affirmative):
y

:KILL
*

This is running the build I just created from head of master branch with EMULATOR=simh.

[heasm66]

My problem solved...

I hadn't set the date and time. When date/time is correctly set it works perfectly. I think it's the RECORD function that can't handle time not set.

(When I first installed I didn't know what platform to use so SIMH was more at random. There was no platform recommended what I could see.)

[eswenson1]

We probably should make it so that Zork doesn’t start if the time isn’t set….

[larsbrinkhoff]

It occurs to me that the TOPS-20 directory <ZORK> (from XX?) has a full copy of the source code with possibly correct file versions (or they could have started over from 1). #832 (comment)

[eswenson1]

@larsbrinkhoff but we already have a full copy of the source with version numbers. I’m confused….

[heasm66]

Regarding the Zork documentation.

There is one file missing, CFS; MADADV DOC. Reading this in the currently namned CFS; MADADV HELP

 b. Help

    Info:        Prints a file which might give some idea of
                 what the game is about.

    Help:        Prints a short summary of useful commands.

    Doc:         Prints this.

The most logical namning for me would be:

1. Rename currently CFS; MADADV HELP to CFS; MADADV DOC
2. Keep CFS; MADADV INFO as is.
3. Include CFS; MADADV HELP from https://github.com/MITDDC/zork-1989-01/blob/main/zork/cstacy/madadv.help (text below)

     Commands to ZORK are simple sentences: <verb>, <verb> <object>,
and <verb> <object> <indirect object> are examples.  Only the first five
characters of a word are looked at.  Simple line editing commands include
<rubout> to delete the last character, <ctrl-U,X,or@> to delete the
entire buffer, and <ctrl-D> to redisplay the buffer.  Commands terminate
with <cr> or <altmode>.  Long typeouts can be flushed with <ctrl-S>.
     Some useful commands are:

<direction>	Walk in that direction.  Common directions
		are N, S, E, W, NE, NW, SE, SW, U(p), and D(own)
L(ook)	   	Describe the surroundings.
I(nventory)	Describe your possessions.
Diagnose	Describe your state of health
Score		Print your score & number of moves
Q(uit)		Leave the game
Save/Restore	Directory owners only - save/restore state of game
Bug		Report a bug		
Info		Describe the goals of the game
Doc		Game documentation (complete)

[eswenson1]

I confirmed that the contents of MADADV DOC is correct -- or rather the link points to the correct contents. I confirmed this by looking in ToTS at a couple copies of this file.

There are multiple files called MADADV HELP in ToTS. One has this contents, which does't jive with "Prints a short summary of useful commands.":

You are near a large dungeon, which is reputed to contain vast
quantities of treasure.  Naturally, you wish to acquire some of it.  In
order to do so, you must of course remove it from the dungeon; to
receive full credit for it, you must deliver it safely to the "living
room".  In addition to valuables, the dungeon contains various objects
which may or may not be useful in your attempt to get rich; you may need
sources of light, since dungeons are often dark, and weapons, since
dungeons often have unfriendly things wandering about.
To determine how successful you have been, there is a score kept.  When
you find a valuable object (i.e., pick it up), you receive a certain
number of points, which depends on the difficulty of finding it.  You
receive extra points for transporting the treasure safely to the living
room.  In addition, some particularly interesting rooms have a value
associated with your entering them.
Of special note is a thief who likes to wander around in the dungeon (he
has never been seen by the light of day).  He likes to take things;
since he steals for pleasure rather than profit, and is sadistic, he
only takes things which you have seen.  Although he prefers valuables,
sometimes in his haste he may take something which is worthless; from
time to time, he examines his take and discards objects which he doesn't
like.  He may occasionally stop in a room you are visiting, but more
often he just wanders through and rips you off (he is a skilled
pickpocket).

Another copy has this content (also doesn't match the info on the HELP command in MADADV HELP document:

Welcome to Zork!

    You are near a large underground labyrinth, which is reputed to
contain vast quantities of treasure.  Naturally, you wish to acquire
some of it. In order to do so, you must of course remove it from the
caverns; to receive full credit for it, you must deposit it safely in
the trophy case in the living room.

    In addition to valuables, the cave contains various objects which
may or may not be useful in your attempt to get rich; you may need
sources of light, since caves are often dark, and weapons, since
dungeons often have unfriendly things wandering about.  Reading material
is scattered around as well; some of it is rumoured to be useful.

    To determine how successful you have been, there is a score kept.
When you find a valuable object (i.e., pick it up), you receive a
certain number of points, which depends on the difficulty of finding
it.  You receive extra points for transporting the treasure safely to
the living room, and placing it in the trophy case.  In addition,
some particularly interesting rooms  have a value associated with
your entering them.  The only penalty is for getting yourself killed,
which you may do only twice.

    Of special note is a thief (always carrying a large bag) who likes
to wander around underground (he has never been seen by the light of
day).  He likes to take things; since he steals for pleasure rather than
profit, and is sadistic, he only takes things which you have seen.
Although he prefers valuables, sometimes in his haste he may take
something which is worthless; from time to time, he examines his take
and discards objects which he doesn't like.  He may occasionally stop in
a room you are visiting, but more often he just wanders through and rips
you off (he is a skilled pickpocket).

    Have Fun!

In fact all copies I can find, save one, has similar content. None has a list of commands. One copy is the same as MADADV DOC.

But I agree with you, we should match that description of the HELP command. I'll see if there is any file that has those content, and if not, we can use your suggested contents.

[heasm66]

I looked through all MADADV HELP/INFO I could find at MITDOC, but I didn't find one with the exact text as the one currently in MADMAN; MADADV HELP. Is there any other place to look?

[eswenson1]

In ToTS, there are different versions of madadv.info, 7 versions of madadv.help, and 2 versions of madadv.doc. The dates range from 1977-1989 and one outlier with a date of 2001. Send me an email at eric at swenson.org if you want more details.

Some of the madadv.info files start with "Welcome to Zork", others with "Welcome to Dungeon", and two with no heading.

One of the madadv.help files starts with:

All commands should be terminated with altmode, due to an
implementation restriction.
You are talking to an extremely stupid parser.  It understands sentences
of the following types:
one word:  must be a direction ("North" or "N", "Down" or "D", etc.;),

Another starts with:

     Commands to ZORK are simple sentences: <verb>, <verb> <object>,
and <verb> <object> <indirect object> are examples.  Only the first five
characters of a word are looked at.  Simple line editing commands include
<rubout> to delete the last character, <ctrl-U,X,or@> to delete the
entire buffer, and <ctrl-D> to redisplay the buffer.  Commands terminate
with <cr> or <altmode>.  Long typeouts can be flushed with <ctrl-S>.
     Some useful commands are:

And a third starts with:

Useful commands

    The 'brief' command suppresses printing of long room descriptions
for rooms which have been visited.  The 'unbrief' command turns this
off.  The 'superbrief' command suppresses printing of long room
descriptions for all rooms; 'unsup' turns this off.
    The 'info' command prints a file which might give some idea of
what the game is about.
    The 'quit' command (or ctrl-G) prints your score, and asks whether
you wish to continue playing.

Two of the ones called madadv.help are variations on madadv.info.

Both of the copies of madadv.doc are very similar and match what we have in madadv.help in DB.

[heasm66]

These examples feels like "earlier" versions (june-december 1977, maybe).

[larsbrinkhoff]

but we already have a full copy of the source with version numbers. I’m confused.

We recently discussed the version numbers, and if I remember correctly the numbers are invented by me based on the 1979 versions, plus one. E.g. see this: #800 (comment)

[heasm66]

@eswenson1 I checked the different versions of HELP/INFO/DOC text-files that exists and tried to line them up with the known executables and snapshots of source code that I know of. The result is here: heasm66/mdlzork#34

I short. My opinion is that, for the Zork in CFS, the files should be:

CFS;MADADV HELP    The one with date 790317 (madadv.help.5)
CFS;MADADV INFO    The one with date 790317 (madadv.info.4)
CFS;MADADV DOC     The one with date 790406, ver 2 (madadv.doc.2)

There are some TAB characters in the text but I think the text aligns as intended on PDP-10 ITS (even though I probably would have to replace them with spaces to work with Confusion on different platforms).

[eswenson1]

Hmmm…. The version numbers are almost identical to the ones I had in my archive on MC, increased by one or two for those couple files changed. So i think they’re good as they are, but feel free to propose changing them if you think you can make them more accurate.

[eswenson1]

@heasm66 Great! Do you want to update the help/doc/info files in CFS or do you want me to?

[heasm66]

@eswenson1 I prefer you (I'm not comfortable pull requesting into this great project yet). I'll send you an email momentarily with more clarifactions.

[eswenson1]

@heasm66 ok!