Discussion:
Strange game behavior
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g***@aol.com
2024-07-14 23:38:20 UTC
Permalink
I have been playing Bookworm Deluxe 1.13 a 32 bit game written for XP
(way too much) . All was going better than I expected when my score
outgrew the box, it just colored outside the lines. Scores got higher
as you progressed but I never got to the 6 letter or 7 letter bonus
words and I think they give up when you get "Bookworm" when asked.
The problem is you never get there. The scoring itself keeps rolling
along but the levels go haywire at 2.141,xxx,xxx. I know there is a 32
bit application limit of <nominal> 2 gig but I am not sure how that
would affect the game. I am guessing some table stops at 32 bits.
This is abandonware so I doubt there will be a fix coming any time
soon..
OTOH the failure did not happen right at 2147483648, it was early so
the scoring might go wonky at that number.
Ed Cryer
2024-07-15 08:19:34 UTC
Permalink
Post by g***@aol.com
I have been playing Bookworm Deluxe 1.13 a 32 bit game written for XP
(way too much) . All was going better than I expected when my score
outgrew the box, it just colored outside the lines. Scores got higher
as you progressed but I never got to the 6 letter or 7 letter bonus
words and I think they give up when you get "Bookworm" when asked.
The problem is you never get there. The scoring itself keeps rolling
along but the levels go haywire at 2.141,xxx,xxx. I know there is a 32
bit application limit of <nominal> 2 gig but I am not sure how that
would affect the game. I am guessing some table stops at 32 bits.
This is abandonware so I doubt there will be a fix coming any time
soon..
OTOH the failure did not happen right at 2147483648, it was early so
the scoring might go wonky at that number.
I used to love that game; with its falling fiery tiles. I played it on
iPads. It's been deleted from the Net by PopCap Games. I don't know why;
maybe a court ruling for naming rights?

How does your score match against this guy's?
https://www.reddit.com/r/BookwormAdventures/comments/or6woh/5_months_of_bookworm_deluxe_work/

There will be similar games available, Bookworm having been so popular;
Try;
https://alternativeto.net/software/bookworm--by-popcap-/

Ed
Ed Cryer
2024-07-15 13:12:29 UTC
Permalink
Post by Ed Cryer
Post by g***@aol.com
I have been playing Bookworm Deluxe 1.13 a 32 bit game written for XP
(way too much) . All was going better than I expected when my score
outgrew the box, it just colored outside the lines. Scores got higher
as you progressed but I never got to the 6 letter or 7 letter bonus
words and I think they give up when you get "Bookworm" when asked.
The problem is you never get there. The scoring itself keeps rolling
along but the levels go haywire at 2.141,xxx,xxx. I know there is a 32
bit application limit of <nominal> 2 gig but I am not sure how that
would affect the game. I am guessing some table stops at 32 bits.
This is abandonware so I doubt there will be a fix coming any time
soon..
OTOH the failure did not happen right at 2147483648, it was early so
the scoring might go wonky at that number.
I used to love that game; with its falling fiery tiles. I played it on
iPads. It's been deleted from the Net by PopCap Games. I don't know why;
maybe a court ruling for naming rights?
How does your score match against this guy's?
https://www.reddit.com/r/BookwormAdventures/comments/or6woh/5_months_of_bookworm_deluxe_work/
There will be similar games available, Bookworm having been so popular;
Try;
https://alternativeto.net/software/bookworm--by-popcap-/
Ed
Thinking some more about your post, it's occurred to me that you're
really more interested in computer architecture rather than just the game.
What you report as happening strikes me as an example of bad
programming. Buffer overflow; or memory misuse; or transfer between
different architectures.

An example. A 32-bit fixed-word machine will have 16 bits for the
address; binary 1111111111111111= 65,536 (64 K). Bill Gates once asked
the early computer world "Who would need more than a 64 K chip?".
20 bits can hold 1,048,576 (1 M)
32 bits can hold 4,294,967,296 (4 G)
Those maximum addressing sizes loom large in the history of computers.
And that of Windows with them.

An additional possible area of error with your reported problem would be
in memory-mapping. If the same physical memory is used in a program for
different purposes at different times, then you have to be very careful.
Early Assembler-programmers had to know a lot about basic CPU buffering,
Boolean algebra, logical shifts. And before them machine-coders must
have had the arithmetic capabilities of Kurt Gödel or John von Neumann (:-

At all events, because Bookworm has been abandoned and removed now, the
only way you'll get that error corrected is if some kind retired
programmer will take it on. It's probably written in C++, but where
would he get hold of that source? He could get a version of the compiled
object exec
g***@aol.com
2024-07-15 19:55:33 UTC
Permalink
Post by Ed Cryer
Post by Ed Cryer
Post by g***@aol.com
I have been playing Bookworm Deluxe 1.13 a 32 bit game written for XP
(way too much) . All was going better than I expected when my score
outgrew the box, it just colored outside the lines. Scores got higher
as you progressed but I never got to the 6 letter or 7 letter bonus
words and I think they give up when you get "Bookworm" when asked.
The problem is you never get there. The scoring itself keeps rolling
along but the levels go haywire at 2.141,xxx,xxx. I know there is a 32
bit application limit of <nominal> 2 gig but I am not sure how that
would affect the game. I am guessing some table stops at 32 bits.
This is abandonware so I doubt there will be a fix coming any time
soon..
OTOH the failure did not happen right at 2147483648, it was early so
the scoring might go wonky at that number.
I used to love that game; with its falling fiery tiles. I played it on
iPads. It's been deleted from the Net by PopCap Games. I don't know why;
maybe a court ruling for naming rights?
How does your score match against this guy's?
https://www.reddit.com/r/BookwormAdventures/comments/or6woh/5_months_of_bookworm_deluxe_work/
There will be similar games available, Bookworm having been so popular;
Try;
https://alternativeto.net/software/bookworm--by-popcap-/
Ed
Thinking some more about your post, it's occurred to me that you're
really more interested in computer architecture rather than just the game.
What you report as happening strikes me as an example of bad
programming. Buffer overflow; or memory misuse; or transfer between
different architectures.
An example. A 32-bit fixed-word machine will have 16 bits for the
address; binary 1111111111111111= 65,536 (64 K). Bill Gates once asked
the early computer world "Who would need more than a 64 K chip?".
20 bits can hold 1,048,576 (1 M)
32 bits can hold 4,294,967,296 (4 G)
Those maximum addressing sizes loom large in the history of computers.
And that of Windows with them.
An additional possible area of error with your reported problem would be
in memory-mapping. If the same physical memory is used in a program for
different purposes at different times, then you have to be very careful.
Early Assembler-programmers had to know a lot about basic CPU buffering,
Boolean algebra, logical shifts. And before them machine-coders must
have had the arithmetic capabilities of Kurt Gödel or John von Neumann (:-
At all events, because Bookworm has been abandoned and removed now, the
only way you'll get that error corrected is if some kind retired
programmer will take it on. It's probably written in C++, but where
would he get hold of that source? He could get a version of the compiled
object exec easily enough, and root his way through that.
Ed
I guarantee nobody beat this score. This is where it stops counting,
it didn't even add in all the score from that last word. and the next
word will start reducing your score. It isn't quite the 32 bit 2g
application max of 2,147,483,648 but close enough to see the problem.

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I guess I squeezed all the juice out of this game.
Never did see the 6 and 7 letter bonus words so I guess the programmer
just had them in there for some future version or he just screwed up
somewhere along the line.

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