Blown Away - The Interactive Game
Technical Analysis and Fan Page

Content for everyone

Technical stuff

Links

YouTube Videos

(German or English)

Known bugs


Compatibility
=============

The game is very incompatible with various computers and graphics cards.
Please see my notes in regards to compatibility to make the game work.

It does not work on WinNT+

To make it work on Win9x when error 0000:0002a4e4 comes:
Decrease Hardware Acceleration from 3/3 to at least 1/3.

Sometimes, the transparent embedded graphics (IPMA) don't work,
As well as the intro video "IVI" (which is also saved in the IPMA codec).

More information about compatibility here


Palette problems in windowed mode (wrong colors)
================================================

This happens because the 256 colors needs to be "shared" between all applications currently on the screen.

Therefore:
Change your desktop wallpaper to solid black color,
close all other programs and minimize the taskbar.

Change resolution to 640x480 if the problem still exists.


Smaller sound issues
====================

There are some smaller issues with overlaying or stopped sounds.

Examples:

At the living room, if you click an item, e.g. the motorcycle or the handcuffs,
the sound effect will stop the background ambient soundtrack (because it is also a WAVE).

The hospital ambient soundtrack will continue playing if you are opening
the puzzles (options) menu and play a game e.g. the phone game.


Phone game solutions (FIXED in my patch; see also technical explanation)
====================

The phone game (first puzzle at the bomb van) has 16 different variants.
The puzzle can be solved by either finding the missing integer rotation,
or by taking the average. The solution is hard coded, meaning sometimes
you need to try multiple solutions to find the correct one.

Example for a rotation solution:
349 ... 934 . The solution is 493, because this is one of the missing rotations.

Examples for an average solution:
532 ... 990 . The solution is 761, because this is the average between 532 and 990.

However, there are 4 variants which do not fit into any of these two schemes.
I am not sure if this is intended, or if the author made some errors
while writing down the average numbers.

Problems:
001 ... 263 . The solution is 122, but the average would be 132.
145 ... 327 . The solution is 237, but the average would be 236.
281 ... 821 . The solution is 441, but the average would be 551.
134 ... 314 . The solution is 225, but the average would be 224 (or alternatively one of the rotations 143, 341, 413, 431).

This will be fixed in my inofficial patch!


Score related bugs (FIXED in my patch; see also technical explanation)
==================

Bug 1: If the video poker was solved with a cheat, you won't be rewarded with 50 points for ending the living room chapter
later in the game.

Bug 2: If you are in a room (e.g. hospital, toystore etc) and load a savegame with the
switch room or helicopter room, then your movements at that savegame will be added to the
room you played previously. This means that too many moves in the switch room or helicopter room can
lead to decrease of your score.
Example: You have a savegame where you absolved the hospital room with 20 points because you did not move often.
Restart the game so you are in a hospital room (the game remembers the room number), load the savestate,
move in the switch room many times. It will lead to the loss of the 20 points you have initially earned in the hospital room.


Broken images (cut off) and black screens at German version (FIXED in my patch)
===========================================================

This only applies to the German version of the game.

Broken images (cut off half screen). Applies to all German versions.
- At the toy store (at the entrance, turn left)
- At the tunnels (after passing the water, then turn right)

Black screen (only applies to the censored German version):
- Sam's room at the toy store
- Bomb van
- Patrick's room


Helicopter codeword (FIXED in my patch; see also technical explanation)
===================

The helicopter codeword (found in the template game) is saved in the savegame file (BLOWNAWY.SAV),
but it won't be read from it. If you exit the game (so that the memory is cleared) and reload the
savegame, the codeword will be "JAW".


Laboratory Room Maze (FIXED in my patch)
====================

Rooms 120 and 117 both lead to a room with number 135.
Room 130 leads to that same room, but the door label is 147.
So, it is not clear if the room number is 135 or 147.
In my patch, I changed the door label to 135.


Missing sound effects
=====================

* SW11A98.WAV is missing. This sound plays at the 1357 switch game when you lose and click the blinking button.
Due to the missing WAV file, the Windows "default" sound will be played instead.
SW11A95.WAV (reset sound) should fit very well to SW11A98.WAV, so you can replace the missing WAV file.

* TO BE CHECKED: LB03A12.WAV ("UBLlb03a12.wav") is referenced in the EXE file, but not existing. It is unknown where this sound would play?!
And it is unknown if a Windows "default" sound is played or not.
Isn't area 03 the living room? LR03A12.WAV exists (Sound of starting a new round of the gambling machine), but is
NOT referenced in the EXE file?! Does the string "UBLlb03a12.wav" somehow get changed to "LR03A12" and used for the
gambling machine?


Tunnels valve looking direction
===============================

At the tunnels, you have to turn a valve to turn off the water.
Although the valve is perfectly visible when walking towards the water, you cannot click it.
You can only click it when you go to the water and then turn back.
In my opinion, this is a bug, because the valve is perfectly visible and should be clickable.


Various smaller bugs
====================

Studio: Concentration game. After each video, if you click without moving the mouse,
the click will be buggy. (Only in fullscreen video mode)

The game might have a memory leak that reserves too many GDI resources until the game crashes.
The game (as well as the whole system) WILL crash if you play too long. After exiting the game,
the system resources will not be freed, so you need to actually reboot your computer.
If you want to play very long, you should run the game with a resolution bigger than 640x480,
so you can see the task bar, and let RSRCMTR.EXE (Windows 95+) run in the background,
so you can monitor the system resources in the tray bar while the game is running.

Toystore marble maze: If you play the marble maze first and immediately press the cheat keystroke,
the game will freeze and you have to restart your computer. Therefore, make sure to lose at least
one marble before pressing the cheat keystroke, or play the train game first.

Image error in ART file. The image is shown when switching to another window and back
switched to BA. However, the embedded IPMA graphic will still not be displayed
(e.g. Patrick, Sam or daughter).

When you play the Detonator 2 and wait too long in the menu, and you try to load a game, you will
then see the death animation instead of the loaded game.

© 2024 Daniel Marschall - - www.daniel-marschall.de

Please also see my pages for other Imagination Pilots games:
Blown Away | Panic in the Park | Waldo at the Circus | Waldo Exploring Geography | Eraser Turnabout | Virtual K'Nex