Thanks, ashdoublev, you solved a great mystery for me. I always wondered why the opening screen’s background changes when the game is cracked (I even asked about it here but got no response).
[for those of you who don’t know what we’re talking about, click here to see the original screen and here to see how it looks after using the crack]
I was told on the adventuregamers forum that the scene that appears when the game is cracked is from the stagecoach journey to the west. I don’t remember that, because I played the game a long time ago, but I guess it was still showed in the correct scene, and wasn’t replaced with the missing background from the opening, right?!
As for your timer bug solution, it’s problematic for two reasons: 1. You have to play the entire game in debug mode, there may be problems because of it. 2. How can you know what value should be given var166? This value will determine the speed of the in-game clock’s advancing, so it’s important. Is the value supposed to be related to the speed of the computer your using?
And I have a more general question about this bug – does it happen on all systems? Because I did finish the cracked game on a 486 once, and I almost positive I used the fast speed settings (normal is just too slow!).
One last thing – the MacNeill bros are still selling this game on the Software Farm, and they said this copy don’t have the copy protection. Does anybody know if it has this bug?