Lode Runner Online: Mad Monks' Revenge

[crimson jasper]

This project is a fan-made cross-platform clone of Lode Runner Online: The Mad Monks' Revenge. Thanks to mmr.quarkrobot.com !

Download port package here. Games files included: #1209407049759334410 message

For the CD soundtrack, download the DLC here: https://mmr.quarkrobot.com/manual/get-started#soundtrack, and place the LR_AUDIO.PRS file in the port's savadata folder.

UPDATES:

• Slayer336 helped fix ArkOS compatibility issues (RG503/ArkOS confirmed)
• Slayer366 corrected my stupid spelling mistake (load... --> lode...)
• Received permission from creator to distribute game (game files now bundled and includes license)

KNOWN ISSUES:

• Mouse cursor gets lost and never returns if the cursor crosses the screen right or bottom edge
  (although you can navigate menus without a mouse) REMOVED MOUSE INPUT
• No way to input text (for save file names, etc.) ADDED PLACEHOLDERS SAVE FILES TO SAVE OVER
• Netplay doesn't work

| Button     | Action                         |
|------------|--------------------------------|
| D-PAD      | Menu navigation                |
| LEFT STICK | Directional movement and mouse |
| R2         | Mouse click & Zapper right     |
| L2         | Zapper left                    |
| L1         | Lose a life and restart        |
| A          | Pick up/drop tool              |
| B          | Use tool                       |
| Y          | Use bomb                       |
| SELECT     | Menu                           |

**NOTE:** you can change controls in the options (cog) menu, but you must **plug in a mouse to assign the gamepad inputs.**

Testing <@&1123159718874058882>

- [x] OGA ArkOS (issues but confirms 320×480)
- [x] RG351V AmberELEC
- [x] RG353VS ArkOS
- [x] RG503 ArkOS
- [x] RGB30 ArkOS
- [x] RGB30 JELOS
---
- [x] AmberELEC
- [x] ArkOS
- [x] JELOS
- [x] 480x320
- [x] 640x480
- [x] 720x720
- [x] Higher Res

@urban pilot or anybody else who can advise --
how do i map controls for f.n.a games?

[urban pilot]

What does work currently? Gamepad or only keyboard? I always suggest connecting a keyboard first

[crimson jasper]

native device controls actually work just fine, lol
but it would be nice to swap L1 with L2, and R1 with R2. and maybe add the unused Y/A buttons as alternatives

(t.b.h, i'm shocked i got this running this well so easily my first time venturing into an f.n.a port)

[urban pilot]

I'm afraid not possible, has to be done ingame

[crimson jasper]

okay -- well it's fine. i'd just prefer a different configuration. any ideas about the mouse bug?

[urban pilot]

Does it happen with a real mouse also?

[crimson jasper]

hmm, haven't tried. i'll look into it

[topaz sky]

last ArkOS 353P

[crimson jasper]

does shipwreck run on your device? http://portmaster.games/detail.html?name=shipwreck

[topaz sky]

NO
The log is very similar
Possibly a problem with ArkOS

[crimson jasper]

i did base this on the shipwreck port
what about other f.n.a games? chasm, celeste, capsized, bleed 1 & 2, axiom verge, etc (https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Engine:FNA)

if one/many of those works, i could try swap out libs

[urban pilot]

Shipwreck works on ark 100%

Mono runtime installed?

Also the ark installation is it a fresh install or upgraded from stock

[topaz sky]

chasm, celeste, capsized, bleed 1 & 2, axiom verge WORK

[urban pilot]

can you run it with export MONO_LOG_MASK=dll
and
export MONO_LOG_LEVEL=debug and post logs

[topaz sky]

I need some information on how to do this

[urban pilot]

Just add the lines to your .sh where the other export line sare

[trim rose]

On RG503 (ArkOS) got a crazy error message about mono not installed... I'm investigating.

ark@rg503:/roms2/ports$ ./Load\ Runner\ Online.sh
p-cores: 0,1,2,3 (@1992.0000mhz)
cmd: taskset -c 0,1,2,3
umount: /opt/system/Tools/PortMaster/libs/mono-6.12.0.122-aarch64.squashfs: no mount point specified.
mount: /home/ark/mono: special device /opt/system/Tools/PortMaster/libs/mono-6.12.0.122-aarch64.squashfs does not exist.
'/home/ark/.local/share/Lode Runner Online/savedata' -> '/roms2/ports/loadrunneronline/savedata'
taskset: failed to execute mono: No such file or directory
umount: /home/ark/mono: not mounted.
Joystick 0 has game controller name 'retrogame_joypad'

Ok interesting my other mono games fail too... TimeSpinner, TMNT Shredders Revenge... something is not write.

[urban pilot]

That's called you don't have the mono runtime installed

[trim rose]

But they used to run...

😦

[urban pilot]

Check portmaster/libs 🙂

[trim rose]

cp /roms2/ports/PortMaster/libs/mono-6.12.0.122-aarch64.squashfs /roms2/tools/PortMaster/libs resolved the issue with the others, Load Runner Online still doesn't run

SIGSEV running once that file was copied trying to run Load Runner

I think it needs OpenGL, which is not available on ArkOS

😦

Attempting to patch...

=================================================================
Native Crash Reporting

Got a SIGSEGV while executing native code. This usually indicates
a fatal error in the mono runtime or one of the native libraries
used by your application.

Really wanted this to run... I added "TRS-80 Coco" support to ArkOS so I could run a port of the original Lode Runner!

[urban pilot]

No we don't have opengl on the most devices

[urban pilot]

Can you put these lines in the top of the .sh

#!/bin/bash
if [ -d "/opt/system/Tools/PortMaster/" ]; then
controlfolder="/opt/system/Tools/PortMaster"
elif [ -d "/opt/tools/PortMaster/" ]; then
controlfolder="/opt/tools/PortMaster"
elif [ -d "/roms/ports" ]; then
controlfolder="/roms/ports/PortMaster"
elif [ -d "/roms2/ports" ]; then
controlfolder="/roms2/ports/PortMaster"
else
controlfolder="/storage/roms/ports/PortMaster"
fi

Remove the others

There seems to be an issue with roms2

[trim rose]

Still crashes.

Did I install the gamefiles improperly?

gamedata contains "DATA", "lib64", "LOCALE" folders and other files.

Maybe I installed it wronf

wrong too

[urban pilot]

And the .exe file

LODERUNN.exe

[trim rose]

like the sauce... it's in there

let's see who was born before 1989 with that reference. 🙂

[neon bough]

I decided to humor myself and I got the same result on my RG503 with ArkOS - LODE RUNNER did not start even with mono properly installed

[neon bough]

@crimson jasper I fixed it to work on RG503/ArkOS - go ahead and compare my changes. I fixed the spelling, too 😛
@trim rose See if this does the trick for you, too.

[crimson jasper]

thanks, buddy! will update the link in the intro with this one 😄

[neon bough]

Cool beans. It's all yours, bro!

[crimson jasper]

also -- you forgot to add your name to the porters, fool 😜
i'll do it for ya 😄

@warped falcon Just to confirm, we're doing this now http://portmaster.games/packaging.html#new-port-structure
instead of this --

gamename.screenshot.png
gamename.port.json
gamename.md

Lode Runner Online: Mad Monks' Revenge

[neon bough]

Lol I know. I wasn't too worried about it tbh

You could've taken the credit for all I cared 😛

[urban pilot]

What was the fix? People complained shipwreck also not working

[warped falcon]

Yes

Wait

Yes

😄

[neon bough]

I haven't looked at shipwreck to make a comparison, but the fix baffles me a bit.
Some time ago I tried to get one of my favorite indy-games working; Axiom Verge... I failed.
Someone later ported it and got it working with mono, but... but... I tried that and it didn't work. What did they do differently?
Mono is aarch64/ARM64, but a number of the libs appear to be 32 bit and the exported LD_LIBRARY_PATH points to lib32... and it works like this!? What kind of sorcery is this!?
Trust me, I'm just as confused as you might be.

So I set the LD_LIBRARY_PATH to the lib32 folders, then deleted and replaced the files from both 'dlls' and 'libs' folders from the Axiom Verge package and it fired right up.

I'm convinced JohnnyOnFlame is one of the certified magicians in our crew

[warped falcon]

Absolutely

[crimson jasper]

query for our legal team @urban pilot @warped falcon
what's your take on this -- distributable ready-to-run, or not?

[warped falcon]

HAhaha, legal team. 😄

uhhhhhhh

Do they distribute the assets for the game?

[crimson jasper]

you can download it, and it's all ready to rock and roll

so, yeah, i guess

[warped falcon]

What is their license? 😄

[crimson jasper]

hmm. nothing bundled with the download. just this on the footer of the website --
"Lode Runner is a trademark of Tozai. Presage LR titles owned by Activision/Sierra.
This project has no association with either company."

[warped falcon]

HRMMMmmmmmm

tricky 😐

Is there a source repo?

[crimson jasper]

nope

basically, they remade the game from scratch

looks like they ripped all the sprites

[warped falcon]

Seems iffy

Multiverse?

😄

[crimson jasper]

but then who hosts those files?

[warped falcon]

github 😄

[crimson jasper]

... whose github account ...

[warped falcon]

PortsMaster-MV 😄

[crimson jasper]

👍 took a quick look. same process for p.r i guess, and all that?

[warped falcon]

Yeah it should be...

I'm 99% sure it works the same. 😄

[crimson jasper]

cool. port will probably need some refining still. but i'll try that when it's ready 😄

[warped falcon]

No worries. 😄

This is what the multiverse repo is for, legally dubious ports. 😄

But not pirated 👍

[crimson jasper]

UPDATE (includes game files / ready-to-run format)
https://download-directory.github.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Ftabreturn%2FPortMaster-MV-New%2Ftree%2Flode.runner.online%2Fports%2Floderunneronline

[trim rose]

Whoo hoo. It works! RG503 w/ ArkOS full screen.

[jagged fern]

This works on RGB30/arkos!

But the mouse issue remains i guess?

[crimson jasper]

yeah ... not sure what to do about this. will explore further

[crimson jasper]

okay -- tried plugging in a normal mouse. it works fine and isn't affected by the edge bug

[urban pilot]

then it about the default sdl mouse placement or something

often upper left corner

[crimson jasper]

it's wierd. works fine, then as soon as you cross the edge of the screen, you lose it

(with the stick, not mouse, of course)

and when you lose mouse control, you lose keyboard navigation
it might be better/simpler to disable the stick-controlled mouse altogether
keyboard nav is fine for just about everything, it think

[crimson jasper]

good news is you can change all the key bindings in the config menu (cog icon)
i found d-pad for movement and Y/A for left/right zap far more sensible (but this is subjective)

[crimson jasper]

tested the game on my p.c with a gamepad, using the stick to control the mouse cursor
you can actually see the mouse cursor change from the game theme one to system one when crossing the right/bottom of the game window
but it's able to recover on the p.c, but not a handheld

[raw anchor]

I tried that, also want to use the dpad in game. But can't get it to change (does nothing when I click in the icon or the supposed control area to give another input.

[crimson jasper]

did you click on the button entry icon using L2 ?

[raw anchor]

Let me try that, I maybe only used all face buttons just for sure to try haha.

Thanks it works, was that easy!

[crimson jasper]

nice. haha, those default controls really don't work out nicely for the average vertical handheld

[raw anchor]

It was for rgb30, if a game plays well with dpad I prefer it highly above these tiny joysticks (even with a cap on it, giving it a bit of color and enlarged movement) .

[crimson jasper]

arkos or jelos, if i may ask? (for the testing checklist)

[raw anchor]

Latest Jelos, rgb30 all works fine!

[crimson jasper]

update: i reached out the creator about the mouse issue (which seems to go a pixel too far right/down against those edges). hopefully this can be fixed in the next release, then i will update here.

for now, if you can avoid the right/bottom edge with your cursor, the port seems to run great

[spare sail]

It would be nice if this port's install came with the music by default. Right now you have to download the music as a DLC via the website and insert it into the game audio file directory

With full music!

Hopefully the dead mouse issue can be fixed soon

On a R36S with remapped controls

[spare sail]

Have also tried to do Netplay with the port, but it shows uploading errors when Hosting and downloading errors when joining and will not start

I can join a game room, but not start a game

[split estuary]

This is a bug with Mono and SSL certificates with Linux/macOS. Still working on a fix.

[split estuary]

175mb would be added to the download size and the DLC doesn’t change per update.

[split estuary]

I’ve added a workaround that will be in the next update at the end of the month.

[split estuary]

All the original game artwork and sounds are untouched from the Windows 95 release. All new resources use the same 1994 Presage formats.

[spare sail]

175 mb isn't really a lot given that people run 64-256 gb cards

[split estuary]

I meant more to do with downloading - the entire game is only 14mb for the Windows version compared to 175mb for the audio.

[spare sail]

I see

I guess instructions on how to install the music would be nice to add to the description then

[crimson jasper]

this is fantastic news! i reckon the port is ready for release when that happens
tbh, the netplay seems more like a nice-to-have, whereas the mouse bug is a deal-breaker

[spare sail]

I guess an announcement on the Lode Runner discord once the full version is up and running would be nice too - given all the requests for a mobile port

[split estuary]

Patch to try, replace the execute and upload a screenshot of what you see on the screen, plus let me know if the mouse is allowed to wander outside the game.

[crimson jasper]

unfortunately, still losing mouse cursor once it crosses lower/right edges of the screen

[crimson jasper]

no luck -- when cursor gets lost over right edge, the last readout is x:639, and over the bottom y:479

[split estuary]

If the cursor leaves 640x480, it is reset to 639x479. It looks like the game window looses focus when the mouse goes outside this,
Screenshot above above shows it is running in a 640x480 display.

Which is odd since the shot show the mouse within the game bounds.

[crimson jasper]

yeah -- screenshot is within bounds still

[split estuary]

Any other FNA based games affected?

[crimson jasper]

here's a lost cursor screenshot

[split estuary]

Is the black bit up the top right and strip down bottom usually present?

[crimson jasper]

yes -- it's like the background graphic doesn't quite touch sides. everything else does, though

[crimson jasper]

not sure which of them use mouse input. will have to check

[crimson jasper]

@split estuary i checked the other f.n.a ports -- anodyne, axiom verge, bleed, bleed 2, chasm, owlboy, shipwreck, stardew valley, steel assault, timespinner
none of those uses a mouse cursor

@tardy wharf would you know why this f.n.a game loses the mouse cursor if it crosses the right- or bottom edge of the screen? or how to fix this?

[tardy wharf]

haven't used mouse for any of the ports yet, so I'm afraid not

[split estuary]

You can use the DPAD keys to move sequentially through UI buttons. I’ll keep looking at the mouse issue. Not sure why the cursor doesn’t come back since the display size is the same as the game window.

[crimson jasper]

yep -- i've noted that one can use the d-pad. but don't want to release the port if it's susceptible to 'crashing' (if the mouse cursor moves off the screen, the player loses all input). another option might be a version without the mouse, specifically for these devices? (if you cannot solve the issue)

[split estuary]

Patch to try

[crimson jasper]

thanks. unfortunately, mouse issue persists

[split estuary]

Can you attach a screenshot of the main menu with the mouse cursor at the bottom right corner of the background.

[split estuary]

Thanks!

[split estuary]

Disables mouse input with stick.

[crimson jasper]

great! thanks. i'll release this version. then, if we find a mouse fix, we can release an update

UPDATE (removed mouse input)
https://download-directory.github.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Ftabreturn%2FPortMaster-MV-New%2Ftree%2Flode.runner.online%2Fports%2Floderunneronline

<@&1216123318122577972> anybody please able to test this on a 480x320?

[upper roost]

In about 10 hours.

[neat moth]

some of the text is understandably harder to read, but important stuff is easy to get and game obviously plays fine. Good on both 353VS/OGA Arkos. A menu input is broken on Ace (I had to use the touch screen), but a lot of things are broken on Ace, so dont worry about that 😄

[spare sail]

one issue with the current version is that I can no longer remap the buttons from within the game

unless I hook up an external mouse

Otherwise seems fine minus the online MP

[crimson jasper]

yep -- i've added this to the instructions
kind of a tricky one here. if we use the stick for the mouse cursor, it's a game-breaking bug (edge issue); if we remove the stick input, one can only configure by plugging in a mouse, but the default keys will work
so, i figure, we can release the port if we disable the mouse input via the stick
keen to hear your thoughts ...

[crimson jasper]

thanks!

[urban pilot]

Makes sense

[spare sail]

Makes sense, but I think it would be better if the default keymaps matched the PSX version.

E.g. Square and Circle for Left and Right blast respectively, and dpad for movement

[crimson jasper]

cool -- that's pretty much my configuration. so i should be able to include my config file

(an it's also also good for devices without sticks)

[spare sail]

would be good for devices with no sticks

yeah, exactly my thinking

[upper roost]

Super tiny on 480x320. Makes me feel like that grandma in front of a PC meme.

[nova lark]

👋 I wanted to share some feedback and ask some questions about this port, @crimson jasper you're one of maintainers, right?

[crimson jasper]

I did initially port it. Been a long time since I've looked at it, but I can try to answer 🙂

[nova lark]

🙂 one is very simple, the instructions indicate that the CD audio file should be place in savedata, but it should actually be gamedata/DATA/

the one issue I was having is that my savedata folder was being wiped on every launch, which removed control mappings and any in-game save files. I solved that by commenting out this line in the launch script
ln -sfv "$GAMEDIR/savedata" ~/.local/share/Lode\ Runner\ Online

[crimson jasper]

Thanks for the feedback. If you're able, it's probably easiest to submit a fix via pull-request to this repo -- https://github.com/PortsMaster-MV/PortMaster-MV-New

[nova lark]

aah nice, I can definitely do that

the savedata thing is weird, I thought I may be doing something wrong if it's only affecting me

[crimson jasper]

Nice. Feel free to add yourself as a porter in the port.json --

    "porter": [
      "tabreturn",
      "Slayer366", 
      "Grandbear"
    ],

I think there are newer releases of the game, so you might even take a crack at updating the port. Unfortunately, I've got zero time for doing ports right now (and I'm likely slammed for months). If you want anybody to test any changes you've made, just share a link here and request testing 🙂

[nova lark]

👍 perfect, I will, I believe there'll be an updating quite soon. In order to share that here, should I provide a zip file?

[crimson jasper]

Yeah, if it's small enough. Personally, I share GitHub directory download links to my branches. Kinda like this: https://download-directory.github.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2FPortsMaster-MV%2FPortMaster-MV-New%2Ftree%2Fmain%2Fports%2Floderunneronline

[nova lark]

got it!

[lavish wedge]

I can't change the language. Do I need to add a font?

[crimson jasper]

To which language? Looks like the game supports English, Deutsch, Spanish (https://mmr.quarkrobot.com/#features)

[lavish wedge]

I tried to change the Japanese to Korean, but there is no Korean font..^^

[timid thorn]

Beary Cool of you to update this one! 😎

[nova lark]

lol 🐻 I think I'll wait until the new version is out

@crimson jasper I figured out the issue with the savedata folder: my SD card format doesn't support symlinks. I'll look around to see if there's a standard way other ports are handling the same problem in a different way

ah, I think I'll find what I need here: https://knulli.org/guides/portmaster-and-exfat/

[nova lark]

alright, here is the update, only with the symlink and instructions fixes:

• https://download-directory.github.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fjipumarino%2FPortMaster-MV-New%2Ftree%2Fmain%2Fports%2Floderunneronline
• https://github.com/PortsMaster-MV/PortMaster-MV-New/pull/137

[sleek plover]

Thanks for the update, started a review. Just a small change for merging 🙂

[nova lark]

Thank you, got it! I'll remove that change. Should I do anything about the version number?

[sleek plover]

No you can the rest as is

[sleek plover]

Btw if you do want some credit you can add a line in the readme. Something like: Thanks to xxx for updating the port etc

[nova lark]

Oh, no need!

when the update for the base game comes out and I update the port, should I change the version or is that used for something else?

[sleek plover]

The port.json version?

[nova lark]

yeah

[sleek plover]

Thats just for the portmaster installer internally

We added and changed the json format over the years

[nova lark]

ah it's the format's version, got it

[sleek plover]

The update detection is done based on md5 checks afaik