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Starfighter |
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Wrath (18:02 24/8/2008)
andrew (20:48 24/8/2008)
Wrath (09:09 25/8/2008)
vanpeebles (09:26 25/8/2008)
Wrath (08:06 26/8/2008)
vanpeebles (11:28 26/8/2008)
flibble (11:49 26/8/2008)
vanpeebles (12:30 26/8/2008)
VincceH (12:35 26/8/2008)
andrew (18:58 26/8/2008)
vanpeebles (20:32 27/8/2008)
andrew (22:43 27/8/2008)
Wrath (23:14 27/8/2008)
vanpeebles (10:44 28/8/2008)
andrew (19:56 28/8/2008)
flibble (10:06 29/8/2008)
Wrath (20:12 30/8/2008)
tlsa (14:04 4/9/2008)
Wrath (21:16 5/9/2008)
andrew (19:09 11/9/2008)
Wrath (10:07 13/9/2008)
andrew (00:40 27/11/2008)
Wrath (23:42 8/12/2008)
andrew (20:54 9/12/2008)
swirlythingy (18:21 22/3/2011)
Wrath (20:02 1/4/2011)
swirlythingy (10:02 2/4/2011)
arawnsley (10:08 2/4/2011)
Wrath (15:34 4/4/2011)
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Nathan |
Message #108143, posted by Wrath at 18:02, 24/8/2008 |
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Posts: 155
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Just wanted to make it clear, particularly to Andrew that I only recently found out that SF TNG had been released. I would have found out much sooner if I had kept my old wrath.voti email address but that is pretty much dead.
So apologies to Andrew (I've been reading an old csa.games thread) for not contacting him before release but I knew nothing. |
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Andrew |
Message #108146, posted by andrew at 20:48, 24/8/2008, in reply to message #108143 |
 Handbag Boi
Posts: 3439
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That's weird. I don't know where APDL got it from (they didn't say exactly when I spoke to them). It was just amazing it finally appeared! Drobe should have an article I wrote about the history of it (from what I saw) and a review but the website is indefinitely down. |
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Nathan |
Message #108148, posted by Wrath at 09:09, 25/8/2008, in reply to message #108146 |
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Posts: 155
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APDL had it for a few years. Lee Noar had actually completed it just before I left the RO scene but there were a few issues that needed ironing out. At that stage I had boxed up my RPC so handed it onto APDL seeing as they were really the only possible outlet.
I assume it had taken them a while to release it as one of the issues was a bit of a stumbling block.
Overall though, I'm glad it's out. From what I recall, the source code was fine but the way the 3DO worked was to pass on graphical references to it's video chip and Lee basically had to redirect these references so that it worked. The music and sound was also a problem as the formats are protected so a fair amount of guesswork was required.
Out of all the conversions Lee did, this was by far the most impressive. I recall looking at the 3DO version pictures in Acorn Computing many years previous and wanting it to be released on RISC OS, well eventually I did it, pity there are far fewer users now to appreciate it.
And I thought making a player for the Chaos Engine music was difficult  |
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vanpeebles |
Message #108149, posted by vanpeebles at 09:26, 25/8/2008, in reply to message #108148 |
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Posts: 198
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Where can I get this new Starfighter game? |
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Nathan |
Message #108150, posted by Wrath at 08:06, 26/8/2008, in reply to message #108149 |
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Posts: 155
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Where can I get this new Starfighter game? It's on a RiscWorld subscription CD. April 2008:
http://www.riscworld.co.uk/contents/issue49/index.htm |
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vanpeebles |
Message #108154, posted by vanpeebles at 11:28, 26/8/2008, in reply to message #108150 |
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Posts: 198
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Ah looks like I'll have to stump up for a subscription. It's a shame its not for sale on its own. |
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Peter Howkins |
Message #108155, posted by flibble at 11:49, 26/8/2008, in reply to message #108154 |
Posts: 892
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Ah looks like I'll have to stump up for a subscription. It's a shame its not for sale on its own. If I remember, at various shows you can get multiple issues on one disc without having to subscribe, I might have a look at the upcomming SE show. |
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vanpeebles |
Message #108156, posted by vanpeebles at 12:30, 26/8/2008, in reply to message #108155 |
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Posts: 198
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Any chance someone could pick me up a copy? Pretty please It would nice to try and get the TNG on my youtube gaming videos. |
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VinceH |
Message #108157, posted by VincceH at 12:35, 26/8/2008, in reply to message #108155 |
 Lowering the tone since the dawn of time
Posts: 1600
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If I remember, at various shows you can get multiple issues on one disc without having to subscribe, I might have a look at the upcomming SE show. http://www.riscworld.co.uk/shop.htm - probably cheaper at shows, though. |
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Andrew |
Message #108158, posted by andrew at 18:58, 26/8/2008, in reply to message #108157 |
Handbag Boi
Posts: 3439
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Please be warned (Nathan probably won't know about this - if he did it wouldn't likely be released), the save-game feature doens't work and needs patching.
Lee knows what the problem is and so do APDL. Also the optimsied graphics slow the game down terribly and it occasionally crashes (hence the need for a save-game).
Cheats work so you can play any level however in mitigation. |
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vanpeebles |
Message #108162, posted by vanpeebles at 20:32, 27/8/2008, in reply to message #108158 |
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Posts: 198
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Final few questions, how does it play, what specs are needed and what do people think of it? |
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Andrew |
Message #108167, posted by andrew at 22:43, 27/8/2008, in reply to message #108162 |
Handbag Boi
Posts: 3439
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With lowest gfx resolution plays easily on an Iyonix but the enchancements destroy it. |
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Nathan |
Message #108168, posted by Wrath at 23:14, 27/8/2008, in reply to message #108167 |
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Posts: 155
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So is there any RO hardware out there that can play SF:TNG at max?
My test SA RPC ran it....just. |
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vanpeebles |
Message #108176, posted by vanpeebles at 10:44, 28/8/2008, in reply to message #108168 |
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Posts: 198
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Oh, sounds like it won't be upto much on my RPC  |
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Andrew |
Message #108182, posted by andrew at 19:56, 28/8/2008, in reply to message #108176 |
Handbag Boi
Posts: 3439
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Doubtful I'd say unless it was optimised to use NVidia. |
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Peter Howkins |
Message #108191, posted by flibble at 10:06, 29/8/2008, in reply to message #108182 |
Posts: 892
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Hmm, sounds like I'll give TNG a miss too. I already have the PC and PS1 versions, and they both use the rubbish crystal collection (rather than the shop) system of upgrades that TNG has
And now you say it's performance is crap and save game doesn't work ... |
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Nathan |
Message #108201, posted by Wrath at 20:12, 30/8/2008, in reply to message #108191 |
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Posts: 155
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Can someone let me know how it plays on the RPC? Just interested to know. |
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Michael Drake |
Message #108298, posted by tlsa at 14:04, 4/9/2008, in reply to message #108201 |
Posts: 1097
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Nathan, there is a thread on csa.games asking about Super Foul Egg, the Java version and for how to contact Owain Cole. Is the VOTI stuff still on the web anywhere?
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.sys.acorn.games/browse_thread/thread/6a69eeeeff0c606e |
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Nathan |
Message #108308, posted by Wrath at 21:16, 5/9/2008, in reply to message #108298 |
Member
Posts: 155
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Nathan, there is a thread on csa.games asking about Super Foul Egg, the Java version and for how to contact Owain Cole. Is the VOTI stuff still on the web anywhere? Thanks Michael. I've emailed Rob direct on what I think his email address is
Apart from the odd web-site here and there of which we have no control of, the answer is no, I pulled down the VOTI site years ago. I was meaning to set it up again but some greedy git has nicked the old web domain and not done anything useful with it. I'd also have to dig out all the software again and that means rooting around in my loft and firing up the RPC and...dare I sound lazy...it's too much of a chew. |
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Andrew |
Message #108350, posted by andrew at 19:09, 11/9/2008, in reply to message #108308 |
Handbag Boi
Posts: 3439
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Don't suppose you have VirtualRiscPC Nathan? |
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Nathan |
Message #108356, posted by Wrath at 10:07, 13/9/2008, in reply to message #108350 |
Member
Posts: 155
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Don't suppose you have VirtualRiscPC Nathan? I've seen it working but alas do not have it. |
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Andrew |
Message #108873, posted by andrew at 00:40, 27/11/2008, in reply to message #108356 |
Handbag Boi
Posts: 3439
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Suppose you've seen the article now:
http://www.drobe.co.uk/beta/minimal/article.php?id=2338 |
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Nathan |
Message #108974, posted by Wrath at 23:42, 8/12/2008, in reply to message #108873 |
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Posts: 155
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Suppose you've seen the article now:
http://www.drobe.co.uk/beta/minimal/article.php?id=2338 Good article and the first indepth one I have read. Well done Andrew! |
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Andrew |
Message #108987, posted by andrew at 20:54, 9/12/2008, in reply to message #108974 |
Handbag Boi
Posts: 3439
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Thanks Nathan
I've replied to your comment by the way, but the article's now off Drobe's radar.
[Edited by andrew at 20:56, 9/12/2008] |
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Martin Bazley |
Message #117000, posted by swirlythingy at 18:21, 22/3/2011, in reply to message #108148 |
Posts: 460
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And I thought making a player for the Chaos Engine music was difficult Hmm, this seems to be a bit of a common thread on Nathan's posts. I suppose it would be a bit unkind to mention that, AFAICT, the RISC OS conversions were oddly flawed in ways I never bothered to investigate properly, but the main symptom I remember is that the volume slides in the treble part of the tune for the first world glitched horribly.
With nothing more than a disassembly of the original 68K source, I've managed to reconstruct a fairly faithful rendition of the music in ScreamTracker 3 format (plus Digital Symphony for development purposes). Attached is an example.
The format was quite widely used elsewhere, most significantly in both Cannon Fodders, a couple of James Ponds and Diggers. I could upload the converter if anyone's interested; IME, the most reliable place to get the song data is UnExoticA.
Music usually seems to be the first thing to get lost in translation to RISC OS (think Flashback), but the Chaos Engine seems to have got off quite lightly - certainly nothing on the scale of the horrendous shitpile of schoolboy errors that was Fire and Ice. |
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Nathan |
Message #117091, posted by Wrath at 20:02, 1/4/2011, in reply to message #117000 |
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Posts: 155
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We did have issues with the Chaos Engine player as nothing existed at that moment in time to play these tunes so we had to make a player from the 68K sources bearing in mind we couldn't take too long as it would delay release.
Flashback was a stupid error, the original tunes are Protracker format and could never understand why the coder for the conversion tried to make his own player when there were loads out there. Thank God for QTM doing their Flashback bolt on player. |
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Martin Bazley |
Message #117098, posted by swirlythingy at 10:02, 2/4/2011, in reply to message #117091 |
Posts: 460
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Ooh, hello!
Do you still have any of the original files left over from the Chaos Engine, or do you know where to get them?
I ask because each of the four worlds had 37 subsongs, plus 21 each for the menu and end of game music, and AFAICT only a tiny proportion of all these were ever used. Most are self-evidently junk, but a smaller, still significant, number are fully-fledged tunes which I have never once heard played in the game.
Examples: world 1, subsong 12 and menu, subsong 8 (both attached).
Is there a list of the subsongs which were actually passed to the player from the game code - embedded as trigger points in the level data, for example?
Thanks, much appreciated. |
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Andrew Rawnsley |
Message #117099, posted by arawnsley at 10:08, 2/4/2011, in reply to message #117098 |
R-Comp chap
Posts: 600
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I must admit I'm a bit confused about this Chaos Engine music thread, because IIRC we pretty much had to bolt the main game theme across the whole lot, in order to get a finished product. We may have done music for each world, I can't recall, but the game was basically silent when we were testing.
Would be nice to do a deluxe edition, though!
Interestingly, since we're BitMap Brothers' "Archimedes" outlet on their website somewhere, we regularly get emails and phonecalls from people trying to contact the Bitmaps, or thinking that we are they! |
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Nathan |
Message #117128, posted by Wrath at 15:34, 4/4/2011, in reply to message #117099 |
Member
Posts: 155
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Now my memory may be giving me the run around. I thought the finished article did successfully implement the music but now I think about it...I know Nigel Gilbert looked at the VectorDean player and I think we ran into trouble finding the original source music. Maybe we didn't action the player as it didn't play them correctly. I thought we did though.
Can anyone check for definite to straighten out my memory? |
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