This problem seems utterly stupid to me, and I find very little info online regarding this stupefying glitch. Basically, I have made it all the way to the point at which I can go no further than where I need the catapult to hit the target so that it fills in the pit which will allow me to the spot in the mountain pass where I can climb the mountain to gain access to the Grynz brothers, and the Guardian of the rock, etc... I repaired the catapult, loaded a boulder, fired it, and then there was no message either way in terms of a hit or miss. So I walked out to see if I could access the new spot to climb the mountain, and I could not. Naturally, in the meantime I was attacked by giants, dwarf, etc... and after killing them I rested & saved. But now I come to find out, that if by chance, you should happen to miss with the catapult, and then save after that point - you are completely screwed? I read in one walkthrough guide where they warn that you should save just before firing the catapult so that if you miss you can quit, reload, and try again. This implies that the catapult is one-time use, and that you may or may not hit. This seems impossibly stupid to me. How would any of the original gamers have known to do this? Does this always glitch like this, or is it only some of the original unpatched games or something? I can work the catapult as far as winding, latching & releasing, but I cannot load another boulder even though I have spare boulders. When I am in the catapult spot and select "use" and click on boulder, it just says "no effect" since I have fired it once already, which makes me think I have hit the target, but the pit is not filled in, so....? Am I basically screwed now and have to start the whole game over? I am playing via online DOSbox at XTdos.com, which works fine otherwise. I actually also remember this same problem back in 1992 when I was playing this game as a kid and I got stuck at the same place, but couldn't figure out why. It's too far into the game now to want to start over, so it's frustrating.

I don't know if it always does, but I have read some walkthroughs online which make mention of it, and even warn that you should save just before using the catapult for the first time so that you can retry if it fails to hit the target. This implies that at least some of the time for some users, the problem is irreparable if you miss, and then save after missing, meaning you would have to start the game over. In my personal experience it has happened in the current game I am playing via XTdos (which I presume is the most updated / patched version of the game?), and this seemed to have happened to me back in 1992 when I also got stuck playing an original game from 3.5" floppies.

does it happen = yes
but does it happen every time = no