Disk 4 of 12 - FrienDendum

From Homestar Runner Wiki

Revision as of 19:21, 14 May 2021

"And you know I gotta mess with that stuff!"

In an addendum to the previous episode, with some help from fans and Strong Sad, Strong Bad finally gets Sea Battle to work by injecting his own style into the code.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, Frank Benedetto, Homestar Runner, Strong Sad

Places: Strong Bad's Computer Room, Ship, Strong Sad's Room

Date: Friday, May 14, 2021

Running Time: 6:17

Page Title: Toptoastin' It!

Transcript

{A live-action monitor comes to life, showing a screen reading "Strong Bad's Disk 4 of 12". A disk reading noise plays. The word "Addendum" appears in white text.}

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) Okay, here's a—

{Cut to the title screen reading "Welcome to FriendlyWare".}

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) —quick addendum to my FriendlyWare playthrough.

{"FriendlyWare" is replaced with "FrienDendum" in the same block letters.}

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) A FrienDendum, let's call it.

{Cut to the Sea Battle game board: three levels consisting of an array of letters from A to X. An ASCII battleship is at the top of the screen. A prompt at the bottom of the screen reads, "Choose a Level 1, 2, or 3 and Strike Corresponding Key".}

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) 'Member how "Sea Battle" kept throwing that illegal function call in 330?

{A missile fires from the ship onto quadrant N on level 2. The game reports an "Illegal function call in 330".}

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) Thanks to some awesome commenters,

{Three YouTube comments appear on screen:}

The illegal call on line 330 is SOUND. I guess this version of basic doesn't support it. To fix, change the ending of line 330 to  CHR$(29)" ":RETURN

It is a matter of emulation speed. Pressing CTRL-F11 a few times to slow down DOSBox eliminates the error completely.

(I wrote this in another comment, but alas, it is buried.)

Dear Strong Bad: Try removing the SOUND commands from line 330. It might fix the error and you can replace it with your own DOOJ noises

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) —we've got a way to fix it so we can play the game!

{Cut to the programs menu.}

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) First, we gotta try and play it, and let it break.

{Sea Battle prompts him for his first name.}

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) This time, I'm gonna be Captain... {typing} Toptoast.

{The next screen asks if he wants instructions. He skips past it and loads the game board.}

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) So apparently, even this Compy's processor is too fast for FriendlyWare. So we can either slow the processor down, or go into the code again and start messin' with stuff.

{Strong Bad appears from the bottom of the screen.}

STRONG BAD: And you know I gotta mess with that stuff!

{He goes back down.}

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) So let's get it to throw that error,

{He selects level 3 and quadrant S. The game reports the illegal function call.}

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) —and {typing} EDIT 330.

{Line 330 of the source code prints:}

330 POKE (X-1)*160+Y*2-1,W:POKE (X-1)*160+Y*2-2,V:NEXT:PRINT CHR$(29)"█":FOR X=20 TO 500 STEP 10:SOUND X*2+22,.0001:NEXT:SOUND X,0:RETURN

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) Now all this "SOUND" biz is what's causing the problem, so we can just take it right out! {begins removing the text between "CHR$(29)"█":" and "RETURN"} Ooh, I also wanna make sure I keep my change to this variable over here,

{"*2-2" is highlighted with a light red box.}

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) —so the depth charges do that weird colored stripey scorpion thing. {changes "Y*2-2" to "Y*2-1"} That was pretty awesome.

{He enters the word "RUN" and the game prompts for his first name.}

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) Alright, sticking with {typing} Toptoast. That's the kinda officer that demands respect from his soldiers, but can also tell a hilarious... lawn-mowering anecdote at the Annual At-Ease Weekend!

{Strong Bad and Frank Bennedetto are seen wearing captain's hats and uniforms while on a ship. The life preserver to the right reads "S.S. TOTALBELOW".}

STRONG BAD: Then I looked over the fence at my neighbor, and said, {points at Bennedetto} "Stephenson, I'll never mulch again!" {chuckles}

{Bennedetto starts popping some popcorn.}

STRONG BAD: Oh, at ease, at ease. {chuckles} At ease.

{Cut back to the game as the board loads again. A couple bars of 8-bit "Anchors Aweigh" play.}

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) Okay, here we go. That sub is lurking somewhere in the depths below. Let's try... level 2-O!

{A series of ¥ characters with different-colored backgrounds prints in a vertical line above quadrant O. The letter O disappears from level 2.}

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) Pssshhh! Missed. I think he's still in level 2. I'm gonna try a different spot. 2-J!

{Another line of colorful ¥ characters reach the letter J, which disappears.}

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) Plssshhh!! Nothing. All right, even deeper. Let's go deeper! 3-N! {makes more cannonball sound effects}

{A third line of ¥ characters reaches the letter N on level 3. Cut to an ASCII periscope shot of the ship.}

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) Oh wait what's going on?! Is he shooting at us?!

{A short thick vertical line appears from the bottom of the screen and scrolls up to the ASCII ship. Several ° degrees symbols appear on the middle of the ship. Text at the bottom of the screen reads, "A Torpedo Broadside Captain TOPTOAST".}

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) Ohh, torpedo broadside! Is this, like, the sub's periscope view?

{Homestar Runner appears from the bottom right corner.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Would it help if I stood here and went...?: {mimicking sonar noises} ...Boo... ...Boo... {goes back down}

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) No that wouldn't help! Ugh, and what kinda sorry excuse for an explosion is that, anyway?

{A light red box appears around the cluster of degrees symbols.}

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) Bunch of black rectangles with the degrees symbol in it? Looks like we're jumping back into code to inject more of my style into Sea Battle.

{He presses a key. The source code of the game scrolls for a while before ending on line 1000.}

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) Alright, so first, we gotta find those graphics in there.

{Cut to Strong Sad reading a green book titled "Jung Adult Fiction".}

STRONG BAD: (offscreen} Hey, cobalt chloride!

STRONG SAD: Uh, do I even wanna know why you're calling me that?

{Cut back to the source code.}

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) No, shut up! What's the, like, Code Page 437 number {a box of ASCII characters appears} for the degrees symbol?

{Cut to Strong Sad.}

STRONG SAD: Ugh, it's 248!

{Cut back to the source code.}

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) Okay, cool, gotta find 248 in here. {types "LIST"} Just a quick scan...

{The source code scrolls again.}

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) {mumbles} There! {typing} LINE 560!

{Line 560 of the source code prints:}

560 GOSUB 930:E=248:A=1674:POKE A-162,E:POKE A-150,E:FOR A1=1 TO 100:NEXT:SOUND50,.001:POKE A-10,E:POKE A-328,E:SOUND 50,0:FOR A1=1 TO 100:NEXT:SOUND 50,.001:POKE A,E:SOUND 50,0:FOR A1=1 TO 100:NEXT

{A box highlights "E=248" in the code.}

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) E equals 248. {types EDIT 560} 'Kay, so let's edit 560.

{Cut to Strong Sad, still reading.}

STRONG BAD: (offscreen} Hey, cardamom pod!

STRONG SAD: Ooh, I'll take that one. What?

STRONG BAD: (offscreen} What's the code for—

{Cut to the source code.}

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) —the little smiley face?

{Cut to Strong Sad, with his hand on his forehead.}

STRONG SAD: How many times do we have to go over this? {raises his fingers} It's 1 or 2 depending on which color you want!

{Cut to the source code.}

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) Okay! We're gonna change it to 2. {moves the cursor onto the 2 in "E=248" and types "002"} Oh, oh, two! Yes! Alright, what else can I do to make these explosions more exciting?

{"LIST 500-560" and lines 500-560 are now on screen.}

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) Let's {types "EDIT 550"} spruce up some of these torpedo messages.

{Line 550 prints:}

550 IF MISS THEN PRINT"Torpedo Missed Captain "CAPT$;:GOTO 580 ELSE PRINT"A Torpedo Broadside Captain "CAPT$;

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) {reads:} IF MISS THEN PRINT Torpedo... {deletes "Missed" then types "WHI", overwriting the C in "Captain"} Whiff-- Oh no! Uh, how do I insert? It's just typing over! {while typing} Uhh... Torpedo... Whiffa! Yyyyyyu?

{The torpedo-missed message now reads, "Torpedo WHIFFA YU".}

STRONG BAD: (voiceover) There we go! That's good, that's... descriptive. Alright, then let's go over here to... {moves the cursor to} Torpedo... {overwrites "Broadside"} Broacheth! Right? If it broaches you, that's— that's like a direct hit. I'm gonna make a few more modifications but I'll keep those as a surprise.

Fun Facts

Remarks

• Frank Benedetto appears to be alive once more after being memorialised in Strong Badia the Free.
• In BASIC, pressing the Insert key before entering text will prevent overwriting it.

Inside References

• Homestar offers to make fake sonar noises for the submarine, which he previously did in Date Nite.
• Dooj is heard as one of the sound effects Strong Bad makes, and appears as "DOOJ!!" and "DOOJ2!!" in the ship damage he modded into the game.
• Strong Bad previously dressed as a ship's captain in pizzaz and modeling, though now he has a uniform.

Real World References

• The game is played similarly to Battleship.
• "Jung Adult Fiction" is a cross between Young Adult Fiction and Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung

External Links

• watch "Disk 4 of 12 - FrienDendum"
• watch "Disk 4 of 12 - FrienDendum" on YouTube