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I tried putting the patch in on a Populous ROM found on the cheat section on your site using Windhex but I couldn't find the address 0305 (at least not on the populous ROM I have) to change 305B to 81.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Never mind, I got it working. I only had to change 305B to 8 not 81 and it worked. If I changed 305B to 8 and 305C to 1 the game reset itself after I typed a password in.

OK. I can put in world names up to 10000 but 15000 and higher won't work. Any help?

You need to enter hex value 81, not text '81'. In a hex editor, the hex values usually go in the middle section.

Thanks a lot Maxim. Wonderful site by the way. I've been coming on here for nearly a decade! Although I've only just joined the forum!

OK. I did the last world on the list: SHISODING 32768 and strangely it looked exactly like GENESIS except it was rock and lava. I do this one and it takes me onto SCOQUEMET which it said was 32773. SCOQUEMET is normally number 5 and 32773 is 5 up from 32768 so it makes sense. The new SCOQUEMET was rock and lava also. Am I right in assuming the game loops indefinitely every 32768 worlds and the attributes change slightly (landscape, starting population, Evil rating etc.) as I did some more afterwards and it took me to other previous passwords such as BUGQUEEND 19 which had a new number of 32787.

I think if you got up to level 65536 (16 bits) the game would display GENESIS identically to how it normally looks, because this is the true upper limit for the level number representation. It uses the level number to generate the level itself, and as you can see there are similarities when you get up to these high numbers which were never intended to be available.

When it generates the passwords, it is wrapping over at 15 bits, because it uses three five-bit word part sets. In theory, if you were good enough at the game, lucky enough and spent way too much time, you could play the original game all the way up to level 65536 and wrap aroud, playing indefinitely.

How absolutely fascinating. I've been playing Populous for 20 years now and have long wondered at an ending. I wrote the guide on GameFAQs too and was wondering if I could quote your last reply on it and link to this site on it too in my next update.

Have you seen the 5995 world (NIMINGTORY) and every x995-x999 after that? They're completely glitched and they make the game crash. Is that why the programmers stopped the passwords from working so that the player couldn't get up to that easily or is there another reason?

Also it says on the glitch worlds that the Landscape is OUT. Is this intended do you think as the rest of the info screen gives normal attributes.

I hadn't noticed that. I guess it is a glitch in the game, using an invalid landscape type; it could have been something they intended to use (a new landscape type at higher levels) or it might just be a bug. It is possible they never tested those level numbers, because of the cutoff, so it doesn't matter; or it's possible they added the cutoff because of the bug (although you can play up to those levels in the game if you can avoid losing).

You are welcome to use my words in your FAQ, and linking is free :)

Thanks for everything Maxim.

Here are some screenshots that I link on my updated FAQ for anyone who reads this thread. They're of World 5995 NIMINGTORY.

World Information Screen

Close Up Map 1

Close Up Map 2

5995NIMINGTORYinfoscreen.png (56.73 KB)

Attachment fairy

5995NIMINGTORYmap.png (189.68 KB)

Attachment fairy

5995NIMINGTORYmap2.png (195.27 KB)

Attachment fairy

Author	Message
edwithmj Joined: 30 Aug 2012 Posts: 33	Populous patch help Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 2:18 pm
edwithmj Joined: 30 Aug 2012 Posts: 33	I tried putting the patch in on a Populous ROM found on the cheat section on your site using Windhex but I couldn't find the address 0305 (at least not on the populous ROM I have) to change 305B to 81. Any help would be much appreciated.

edwithmj Joined: 30 Aug 2012 Posts: 33	Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 2:29 pm
edwithmj Joined: 30 Aug 2012 Posts: 33	Never mind, I got it working. I only had to change 305B to 8 not 81 and it worked. If I changed 305B to 8 and 305C to 1 the game reset itself after I typed a password in.

edwithmj Joined: 30 Aug 2012 Posts: 33	Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 2:37 pm
edwithmj Joined: 30 Aug 2012 Posts: 33	OK. I can put in world names up to 10000 but 15000 and higher won't work. Any help?

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14735 Location: London	Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 3:54 pm
	You need to enter hex value 81, not text '81'. In a hex editor, the hex values usually go in the middle section.

edwithmj Joined: 30 Aug 2012 Posts: 33	Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 8:28 am
edwithmj Joined: 30 Aug 2012 Posts: 33	Thanks a lot Maxim. Wonderful site by the way. I've been coming on here for nearly a decade! Although I've only just joined the forum!

edwithmj Joined: 30 Aug 2012 Posts: 33	Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 9:29 am
edwithmj Joined: 30 Aug 2012 Posts: 33	OK. I did the last world on the list: SHISODING 32768 and strangely it looked exactly like GENESIS except it was rock and lava. I do this one and it takes me onto SCOQUEMET which it said was 32773. SCOQUEMET is normally number 5 and 32773 is 5 up from 32768 so it makes sense. The new SCOQUEMET was rock and lava also. Am I right in assuming the game loops indefinitely every 32768 worlds and the attributes change slightly (landscape, starting population, Evil rating etc.) as I did some more afterwards and it took me to other previous passwords such as BUGQUEEND 19 which had a new number of 32787.

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14735 Location: London	Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 11:06 am
	I think if you got up to level 65536 (16 bits) the game would display GENESIS identically to how it normally looks, because this is the true upper limit for the level number representation. It uses the level number to generate the level itself, and as you can see there are similarities when you get up to these high numbers which were never intended to be available. When it generates the passwords, it is wrapping over at 15 bits, because it uses three five-bit word part sets. In theory, if you were good enough at the game, lucky enough and spent way too much time, you could play the original game all the way up to level 65536 and wrap aroud, playing indefinitely.

edwithmj Joined: 30 Aug 2012 Posts: 33	Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 1:35 pm Last edited by edwithmj on Fri Aug 31, 2012 4:21 pm; edited 1 time in total
edwithmj Joined: 30 Aug 2012 Posts: 33	How absolutely fascinating. I've been playing Populous for 20 years now and have long wondered at an ending. I wrote the guide on GameFAQs too and was wondering if I could quote your last reply on it and link to this site on it too in my next update. Have you seen the 5995 world (NIMINGTORY) and every x995-x999 after that? They're completely glitched and they make the game crash. Is that why the programmers stopped the passwords from working so that the player couldn't get up to that easily or is there another reason? Also it says on the glitch worlds that the Landscape is OUT. Is this intended do you think as the rest of the info screen gives normal attributes.

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14735 Location: London	Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 3:41 pm
	I hadn't noticed that. I guess it is a glitch in the game, using an invalid landscape type; it could have been something they intended to use (a new landscape type at higher levels) or it might just be a bug. It is possible they never tested those level numbers, because of the cutoff, so it doesn't matter; or it's possible they added the cutoff because of the bug (although you can play up to those levels in the game if you can avoid losing). You are welcome to use my words in your FAQ, and linking is free :)

edwithmj Joined: 30 Aug 2012 Posts: 33	Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 4:04 pm
edwithmj Joined: 30 Aug 2012 Posts: 33	Thanks for everything Maxim. Here are some screenshots that I link on my updated FAQ for anyone who reads this thread. They're of World 5995 NIMINGTORY. World Information Screen Close Up Map 1 Close Up Map 2 5995NIMINGTORYinfoscreen.png (56.73 KB) Attachment fairy 5995NIMINGTORYmap.png (189.68 KB) Attachment fairy 5995NIMINGTORYmap2.png (195.27 KB) Attachment fairy

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