Patch:Game Speed

This page covers global game speed patches. That is, it covers patches that alter the speed of the entire game, or a general area of the game. Thus altering the speed of a single enemy would not be covered here, but altering the speed of the enemies in general would.

Keen Vorticons game speed

In Keen Vorticons a single variable controls the game speed. However this can only be used to speed up the game as the value of $01 is the normal slow speed. (Doubling the value will double game speed and so on.)

Keen 1

#Game speed
%patch $BFAF $01

Keen 2

#Game speed
%patch $B6C7 $01

Keen 3

#Game speed
%patch $CA25 $01

Keen Galaxy game speed

In Keen galaxy the game uses two internal rate values to determine the speed of (almost) everything. One is used while music is turned on, and the other while it's turned off (permanently, as toggled in the menus).

For consistency, the former value should be exactly four times the latter. The higher the values are, the faster are the games running globally. Some may recognize the former value to be the so-called "OPL rate", commonly associated with IMF music tracks.

Keen 4 EGA v1.4, Apogee Software release

#Game speed
%patch $18E79 $0230W #Rate used when music is toggled on
%patch $18E7E $008CW #Rate used when music is (permanently) toggled off

Keen 5 EGA v1.4, Apogee Software release

#Game speed
%patch $19E17 $0230W #Rate used when music is toggled on
%patch $19E1C $008CW #Rate used when music is (permanently) toggled off

Keen 6 EGA v1.4, FormGen Corporation release

#Game speed
%patch $18AE9 $0230W #Rate used when music is toggled on
%patch $18AEE $008CW #Rate used when music is (permanently) toggled off

Keen Vorticons: Tile animation speed

These patches control how fast tiles animate. All tiles animate at the same speed, in a loop that is four times this value long. (ALL tiles animate, those that don't appear to animate do in fact do so, but they use the same tile for all of their animation frames.)

There are three values, the first is for the game in general, the second is for the Main Menu level, that is, the level used as background before the player starts a game and the third has an unknown function. (Though it is not found in Keen 2 and is located around game window code.)

Keen 1

#How fast tiles animate
%patch $7CDE $03 #In-game
%patch $9080 $03 #Main Menu level (Intro, title, story screen, etc.)
%patch $15CE $07 #Mysterious value that doesn't seem do to anything

Keen 2

#How fast tiles animate
%patch $80EE $03 #In-game
%patch $8B14 $03 #Main Menu level (Intro, title, story screen, etc.)

Keen 3

#How fast tiles animate
%patch $8A8D $03 #In-game
%patch $995C $03 #Main Menu level (Intro, title, story screen, etc.)
%patch $151D $07 #Mysterious value that doesn't seem do to anything

Slow motion

These patches relate to the 'slow motion state' in Keen galaxy and Dreams. In this state the game runs slower than usual by a certain factor. (By default 14 times slower.) This makes the game appear increasingly 'tic-like' as nothing happens in the pauses between game cycles.

Slow motion is toggled with the slow motion cheat; patches relating to that cheat, its text and window are kept there.

Slow motion slowdown factor

This is by how much the game is slowed when slow motion is on. By default this is 14 times slower, but it can be anything greater than twice as slow (half the speed.)

Slow motion slowdown factor

#Slow motion slowdown factor - Keen 4
%patch $90B6 [$000EW]

#Slow motion slowdown factor - Keen 5
%patch $9021 [$000EW]

#Slow motion slowdown factor - Keen 6
%patch $8EA4 [$000EW]

Disable slow motion

These patches completely disable slow motion. While the slow motion cheat can still be used, turning on and off, this will not affect the game speed at all.

Disable slow motion

#Disable slow motion -Keen 4
%patch $90AE $EB $1F

#Disable slow motion -Keen 5
%patch $901E $EB $1F

#Disable slow motion -Keen 6
%patch $8E9C $EB $1F

What triggers slow motion

A specific variable triggers slow motion. By default this is a unique variable that is triggered only by the slow motion cheat, but this can be changed to any other game stat. See also Patch:Jump conditions.

Keen 4

#Slow motion check
%patch $90B0 {C62DW} [$00] {$74}

Keen 5

#Slow motion check
%patch $901B {BC95W} [$00] {$74}

Keen 6

#Slow motion check
%patch $8E9E {C7BBW} [$00] {$74}