This is very interesting.........

Thanks for sharing it with us!

Hello @olivier,
I'd like to run some tests. Can you please share more data about your player and the discs?

1. Full player model from the sticker and the long number from the Gereral Options/Copyright screen
2. Do you have a DVC installed and if yes, which one? (9956/xx)
3. The full ring code of the disc that doesn't work and from the fixed disc (e.g. 8100049 50313238 05>)
4. The version number that you can find in the abstract file on the discs (with IsoBuster)

Thanks in advance!

Hello Rosewood,

1. Full player model from the sticker and the long number from the General Options/Copyright screen

Cdi450/00

150511-200454-315

1. Do you have a DVC installed and if yes, which one? (9956/xx)

22er9956/40 this game don't need the DVC, but yes perhaps the faulty Can be here.

1. The full ring code of the disc that doesn't work and from the fixed disc (e.g. 8100049 50313238 05>)

The faulty CD : 8100049 50313 238 03 / (with the face of the monster shown on the CD

The good CD totally green : 8100049 50313238 05 >

On the good CD, I saw the password choice on the main menu, instead of the faulty CD.

No password choice seen on the manual for both versions. But the manual start at page 3 for the good CD, and page 1 for the bad CD.

1. The version number that you can find in the abstract file on the discs (with IsoBuster)

Sorry I can't, I don't have a CD player on my PC at this time.

À lot of Ebay sellers don't test their games, so they can't tell to me if they have the same trouble.

Hope it Will help !

Bye

Last picture show the level 5 played With the bad CD. Here the background became dark, then freeze. Sometimes, at this level, the player reboot himself.

@cdifan what do you think about it?

Did you knew this bug and the existence of the other version to correct it?

Hello,

I found here what has been done by Philips to Compensate the peoples who bought the first version of this game : https://cdii.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-first-version-of-alien-gate-on-cd-i.html?m=1

This was a pretty cool idea 🙂

Quote from omegalfa on 02/10/2021, 23:24

@cdifan what do you think about it?

Did you knew this bug and the existence of the other version to correct it?

I have some vage recollections, nothing specific. Hey, this is almost 28 years ago!

Thanks for all the data, @olivier!

150511-200454-315
-> This is the first known release of the CDI450 system ROM (R1.1)

22ER9956/40
-> This is usually* an IMPEG 6.x DVC that's also causing the bug in The 7th Guest (see https://retrostuff.org/2017/02/12/the-7th-guest-cd-i-dvc-compatibility-cake-puzzle-bug/)
* one 22ER9956/40 from March 1996 is known to have the previous VMPEG 5.3 chipset that doesn't cause any bugs.
Even if the game doesn't require it, does the bug appear when you run it without DVC?

8100049 50313 238 03 /
-> V1.06 according to redump ( http://redump.org/disc/77546/)

8100049 50313238 05 >
-> V2.09 according to redump ( http://redump.org/disc/79416/)

I haven't found the time yet to run some tests with other hardware. Hopefully, next week...

Hello @rosewood,

I tested with another DVC, the 22er9956/20, it's worse : visual bugs at the beggining of the game, on the main menu.

I tested without DVC, the CD load, then after the Philips cd-i logo, the TV don't show image or sound.

Regarding this test without a DVC, I'm really surprised !

Bye.

Hello @olivier,

I did some tests with my V1.06 disc and a 450 without DVC and didn't encounter any problems. So far, I only went to level 4 and then decided to build a gamepad with rapid fire using the CD-i Controller Library by @twburn .

I'll keep you updated when I finally reach level 5 on several machine configurations.