LEADLIGHT GAMMA

You can play Leadlight on an emulated Apple IIe in a browser window thanks to the Apple2TS project. Just check these four notes before you click the PLAY button.

(1) Read the player guide!

Don't forget to read the game's PDF Player Guide and keep it handy.

(2) Saving your game.

The software supplies three manual save slots and one autosave slot (use described in the Player Guide). These always work within the current tab/session, but to have these software saves persist beyond the current session, you must record a SAVE STATE using the emulator itself.

This is how: With the game running, press Command-S on a Mac or ALT-S on Windows to capture a save state. You'll get to name the file and put it somewhere on your hard drive.

To load a state later, or on another day, press Command-O on a Mac or ALT-O on Windows while the game's running. Loading a state takes you to the exact situation you were in when you pressed Command/ALT-S to create it, and any software-saved games from that session will become available.

Try capturing one save state as soon as the game has booted, and reloading it! Some Windows browsers absorb presses of the ALT key, and other browsers (e.g. Safari) may not permit a save state file to be reloaded. Unless both functions work in your setup, you won't be able to save games which last beyond a session.

With both functions working, It's up to you whether you want to manage your saved games using a combination of the game's SAVE commands and the emulator's save states, or purely with the save states.

(3) Don't press the emulator setting buttons.

At the bottom of the emulator window, you'll see some buttons which let you fiddle with the emulated Apple's features. My advice is: Don't touch them. This is because changing certain emulator settings during a session can prevent save state files created under different circumstances from loading.

(4) Want hints?

Leadlight uses ProDOS 8 2.0.3 and so requires an Apple II model with a 65C02 CPU as a minimum. In general, this means you’ll need an enhanced Apple IIe, an Apple IIc or an Apple IIGS. It won’t run on a straight Apple II or II+.

You will also need TWO 5.25-inch floppy drives OR one 3.5-inch floppy drive OR a ProDOS-formatted hard drive.

Click here to download the Apple II emulation bundle to your computer: This zip file contains the disk images, Player Guide PDF and hints.

Unzip the bundle and consult the Player Guide for instructions about which disks to put in which drives, or how to install the game to a hard drive. Be sure to read the Leadlight Player Guide for instructions. You’re unlikely to get the most out of the game, let alone survive, without it. Check the hint sheet when and if you need hints.

The only other issue is how to physically copy the Leadlight disk images from the bundle back to real floppy disks in the first place. There are many ways to do this and the full breadth of the topic is beyond the scope of this website, but I can suggest one well known method: Use ADTPro. This free software, available for many platforms, lets you copy Apple II disk images from a modern desktop computer onto real floppies in the drives of an Apple II computer – and the other way around – if you first connect the two computers with the appropriate cable(s).