Re: Bad Machine pause (was Re: [IF Book Club] Call for suggestions)

[Charles Gerlach <cagerlac@merle.acns.nwu.edu>]

Stephen Granade wrote:
> 
> "Avrom Faderman" <Avrom_Faderman@email.msn.com> writes:
> 
> > chadschultz@my-deja.com wrote in message <7ph1ic$rkc$1@nnrp1.deja.com>...
> > >In article <uNx4iIi6#GA.117@cpmsnbbsa05>,
> > >  "Avrom Faderman" <Avrom_Faderman@email.msn.com> wrote:
> > >>
> > >> Big second to that one from me.  It seemed to me that Bad Machine
> > >>
> > >> 1)  was a great game and
> > >> 2)  suffered massively from an awkward release date (just before the
> > >> holidays, IIRC) that I think may have deprived it of a lot of well-
> > >> deserved recognition and discussion.
> > >
> > >It kept locking up on me. Was I the only one with this problem?
> >
> > How patient were you with it?  There is a spot in the beginning with an
> > unexpected timed delay, which might (?) be different on different
> > machines.
> 
> As I understand it, this is due to the large number of objects which
> are dynamically created at that point. This delay will depend on how
> fast the TADS virtual machine can pedal on your computer, and is as
> noticeable as it is because the TADS 2 VM is rather inefficient about
> creating objects on the fly.

I've tried Bad Machine on my 486 at home with several different
versions of interpreters, and at several points have given it 
20 minutes or so to start up. Nothin'. Ctrl-C doesn't kill it, 
so I call it hung and re-boot. Since I dislike re-booting my 
system, I gave up on playing it at home. 

OTOH, I've compiled TADS on the HP workstations in my lab (shhh!)
and Bad Machine runs fine. I just can't play it in good 
conscience.
-- 
Charles Gerlach doesn't speak for Northwestern. Surprise, surprise.