|
I picked up and played Homeworld all the way through recently, does that count? 
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2014 05:45
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 12, 2024 02:56 |
|
|
Sagacity posted:I had that same...reaction...when playing Kickman on the c64, circa 1987. Also I did not realize Electronic Arts' cluebooks were all of the "tell a story to explain how to beat the game" variety; I only ever had the Wasteland and Fountain of Dreams(!) cluebooks and I just sort of assumed it was to go with the genre, but now that I type that it just sounds stupid so this all makes perfect sense. Now I kind of want to collect every one of those cluebooks (well, and the games to match, naturally). Beyond that, I suppose my retrocomputergaming drug of choice lately has been occasionally checking this list to see if I have anything new that he wants: http://www.mocagh.org/needed.php (Though I am pretty sure "From Apshai to Zork" never actually came out... I tried to get in touch with someone at Simon & Schuster to inquire as to whether the book was ever released, but unlike many of my other Internet adventures that one never went anywhere)
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2014 01:21
|
|
|
Quarex posted:I just watched a playthrough of Kickman on YouTube and I think I can actually hear you screaming as a result. If you happen to get an extra copy of Deathlord and its cluebook give me first dibs! I am sure some of the old EA hintbooks weren't written like a story but so far every one I have had experiences with have. The Caroline Spector Ultima cluebooks and the Official Book of Ultima took this approach as well, though the in house Ultima cluebooks were more tip guides that were somehow written by characters within that universe somehow. Edit: And this is why sometimes Dosbox is bettah:  RetroUSB Genesis DB9 dongle. JoyToKey. 3 button plus Start Genesis Arcade Power Stick with a TurboStick ball topper instead of the enormous ball the stick normally uses. Back in the day it was analog sticks or the somewhat iffy Gravis Gamepad. But now? Any game with keyboard control can become as if the arcade. Even freebies on a disk you got for 4 bucks at a retro game shop that technically involved trading in 3 boxed N64 games you don't like and 3 loose carts someone gave you to get 125 bucks worth of retro goodies. This is also a neat trick for 8 bit computer games. 1 button control plus keyboard? gently caress THAT poo poo. If I had a 6 button Genesis stick I would be like a goddamned BOSS. Atari 8 bit command keys? B key on Ghostbusters? Main keys on C64 Microprose sims? Those RPGs that mostly wanted keyboard control? Hell, those odd rear end pre WASD games can now control good! (And since its a tabletop stick that means you can still mouse keyboard while playing! And my Logitech G710+ has 6 macro keys with 3 preset buttons.( And modern screens allow for messing with other dumb fuckery game devs did back then and sometimes still do:  Eliminage makes me want to use items to look at the automap? Hells no esse! Snipping Tool and scaling preview image means I am the master of my NOT WIZARDRY domain. (RPG Codex might call this decline. They are the dumb.) Sadly I can't use this sexy loving beast because my mobo is one of the many that hates it for no reason, and not even a USB hub will change it. (And really one doesn't generally find USB cards much any more at stores. Because we don't much need em!)  Yet it worked on my otherwise pain in the rear end Core 2 Duo Imac..  On the upside Episode 1 of Duke 1 is complete:  Unlike most shareware games I know of, this one requires you to load each episode as a single game. This is.. odd to me.  Now Episode 2 complete. Some of these levels were loving rear end. Luckily VGMaps helped there. Can I go through the entire Episode 3 in an hour and a half before bedtime? Captain Rufus fucked around with this message at 09:19 on Nov 20, 2014 |
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2014 01:36
|
|
|
 Always bet on EGA Duke. ALWAYS. (Gearbox Duke not so much.) I had to use some online maps because some of the levels are a pain in the identical rear end but overall it was a lot of fun. Muri on steam is a nice modern take on this sort of EGA 2d DOS platformer. Still EGA styled graphics but options for a lot smoother framerate and overall a much better level design. Duke 1 has a couple douche sections I could only imagine using an analog joystick of the day or a keyboard. Even with a Genesis joystick and digital keymapping there were a few very frustrating parts even with using stuff like turbofire and whatnot. Next week I don't have a lot of time off but I might try to at least get through the first Episode of Duke 2.
|
|
#
?
Nov 20, 2014 11:05
|
|
|
Captain Rufus posted:Edit: And this is why sometimes Dosbox is bettah:
|
|
#
?
Nov 20, 2014 11:29
|
|
|
It's another way to do it sure. But JoytoKey lets me set up poo poo for multiple things as opposed to just DOSBOX. Which is handy. Other emulators, retro game collections... poo poo even flash games. Why fiddle with things for one program when it handles dozens?
|
|
#
?
Nov 20, 2014 23:59
|
|
|
Those of you who love the old C64 music may want to check out Matt Gray's Kickstarter. He's doing an album of remixes from his SID days along with a full remix of the Last Ninja 2 score. For the next few days you can find a sample track here. Failure to rock will be punished by death.
|
|
#
?
Nov 22, 2014 02:38
|
|
|
Captain Rufus posted:And modern screens allow for messing with other dumb fuckery game devs did back then and sometimes still do:  So now I have PostScript maps for Poolrad tetralogy. Not as cool as my period-correct Bard's Tale maps hand-drawn on taped-together engineering paper. Or the hilariously incoherent star map I made when originally playing Star Control 2. But a lot more legible.
|
|
#
?
Nov 22, 2014 03:14
|
|
|
SubG posted:Along those lines, several years ago when I was replaying some of the original Gold Box games I wrote a little standalone mapping widget that generates PostScript output (click for bigger): A couple years back I was doing a Dragonlance Gold Box run. I just had the cluebook PDF open in a side window. All the maps all the time. Explore every square with a number in it. I'm sorry. I haaate mapping. I can do it. I don't want to. Because it sucks. The only reason my eyes should ever be leaving the screen is when I am getting up to make another cup of coffee or to take a break from the game. Etrian Odyssey is really the only one I give a pass to since it's computer assisted and you are just looking down at the second screen. (Making tabletop RPG maps I enjoy however. Motherfuckers will get my AdnD Core Rules 2.0 cd with its awesome over world map maker when they pry it from my cold dead hands. So about 30 years from now I guess since I'm 40.) Sometimes I almost want a bigger monitor or a second one just for poo poo like maps and IRC and watching video review shows while gaming. But that's loving stupid and a 22" monitor at 1080 is more than adequate. And I do have this iPad if I want to dual screen, not that I have the desk real estate to set it out with the computer layout. That being said there are a couple of Atari 800 war games that come with counters and a map board where the micro is basically the AI and tell you where to move its dudes. And I kind of want them all. Vv v. Well I do NOW thanks. Course I wouldn't mind having a full SSI collection anyhow sooo... Captain Rufus fucked around with this message at 23:11 on Nov 23, 2014 |
|
#
?
Nov 22, 2014 22:01
|
|
|
Captain Rufus posted:That being said there are a couple of Atari 800 war games that come with counters and a map board where the micro is basically the AI and tell you where to move its dudes. And I kind of want them all.
|
|
#
?
Nov 23, 2014 12:52
|
|
|
Navaash posted:Was one of them Computer Ambush? And there were things like The Dark Tower, which was a board game that came with an electronic gizmo that kept track of the game state. The gizmo was in the shape of the Dark Tower (the object of the players' quest) and it sat in the centre of the board. Players entered information on a membrane keypad, and it displayed things like combat results via an LED display and by backlighting images printed on a rotating cylinder inside the device (here's a random youtube video showing the thing in action).
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2014 02:22
|
|
|
I'm not sure electronic board games count. Though I would dearly love to have Electronic Detective again because that game kicked rear end. Not to mention Stop Thief. And not really electronic board game but the Coleco tabletop arcade games were the poo poo. The problem is most of them go for entirely too much money for the amount of gameplay you get out of them, so they have become things for the show off collectors with way more money than sense. But Pix's Origin Adventures has a really cool post about a neat bit of hardware folks might want to take a look at. http://www.pixsoriginadventures.co.uk/apple-ii-adaptive-firmware-card/ This is kind of rad if you are a dirty Apple person.
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2014 19:51
|
|
|
There was also Oil Barons by Epyx for the C64, Apple II, and I believe Atari. The game had each player running a company trying to find oil around the globe. The game came with a giant board that was an abstraction of the world (with about 4000 "properties" in a 40x100 grid). Each property had an identifiable terrain type that would influence the odds and value of striking oil (desert had the best chances but the lowest value). The box came with a metric poo poo ton of markers of various types that were used to note where you struck oil, hit a dry well, owned land, where national parks were declared, and special events like natural disasters. The computer handled each persons turn, ran auctions, special events (elections, congressional sessions, investigation), and tracked whether you struck a gusher or your well ran dry. The computer back end program was surprisingly complex in all the random bullshit that it could track and randomly inflict on players. We used to have giant family games of that while growing up (some of which lasted 6+ hours) and it was one of the first games I grabbed when I started collecting Apple II games and systems.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2014 16:14
|
|
|
If anyone is still wavering, there's 10 hours to go on the Reformation Kickstarter and it's £1k away from the last digital download, £2.5k from the fifth physical CD. Currently the digital download option is getting you five CDs worth of music for £15, which is an absolute bargain.
|
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2014 00:41
|
|
|
Speaking of Crowdfunding (Don't do Crowdfunding, Early Access, or Preorders as I so ably have described here: http://wargamedork.blogspot.com/2014/08/kickshart-my-heart-or-why-kickstarter.html ).... You can now Indiegogo a Spectrum emulation thingie for 150 pounds (50 for a book and the honor of giving them a hundo pound for the unit) here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/sinclair-zx-spectrum-vega This.. seems like a terrible thing and a terrible idea for a terrible price. Maybe even dumber than that C64 PC thing a couple years back. And at least it gave you a nifty little semi portable PC with USB ports and the like and could be a computer for LAN parties and such. vvv No loving clue. I'm American so don't really care. I would hope so. And that's another stupid bit. It is more obsessed with OMG NOSTALGIA than being useable. Besides, the +2 is a much better design. I'd pay 150 or so USD for a RaspPi type machine with a +2 design and useful full keyboard and USB ports for controllers. I am not sure WTF this thing is supposed to be. Captain Rufus fucked around with this message at 05:10 on Dec 5, 2014 |
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2014 04:51
|
|
|
Captain Rufus posted:Speaking of Crowdfunding (Don't do Crowdfunding, Early Access, or Preorders as I so ably have described here: http://wargamedork.blogspot.com/2014/08/kickshart-my-heart-or-why-kickstarter.html ).... Does it even have a way to support games that used different keys?
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2014 05:01
|
|
|
Captain Rufus posted:Speaking of Crowdfunding (Don't do Crowdfunding, Early Access, or Preorders as I so ably have described here: http://wargamedork.blogspot.com/2014/08/kickshart-my-heart-or-why-kickstarter.html ).... 
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2014 06:38
|
|
|
Captain Rufus posted:Speaking of Crowdfunding (Don't do Crowdfunding, Early Access, or Preorders as I so ably have described here: http://wargamedork.blogspot.com/2014/08/kickshart-my-heart-or-why-kickstarter.html ).... Nothing, because it doesn't exist. Whenever you see "flexible funding" on a tech project, it's a scam.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2014 09:19
|
|
|
Jedit posted:Whenever you see "flexible funding", it's a scam.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2014 11:55
|
|
|
Pierzak posted:Fixed. Pretty much. But I might recommend folks listen to this month's Retro Gaming Roundup podcast. Scott S. has a nice overview of replacing one's floppy drives with drive emulator devices with a focus of upgrading Amigas with them. But he is scary smart and scary rich so his thoughts on things don't always match normal people. (Dude has TWO 80s robots. A Heathkit and one from Nolan Bushnell's old company. So jealous. I have always wanted a cool utility type robot. The old ones go for stupid amounts and need serious work and nowadays modern ones just don't seem to do gently caress all other than be cute or expensive in the case of Robosapiens or Lego Mindstorms.) Apparently its pretty loving cheap to get a drive emulator and not too hard to make it work with the Amigas, albeit a bit more mechanical effort and some time required. Next month he will cover virtual HD solutions. Though he is upgrading an Amiga 1200 to actually do work stuff for the podcast so what he is doing isn't exactly something non EU folks actually give a gently caress about. If anyone else has a good overview of flash and virtual type solutions to replace one's floppy or hard disks it is probably something this thread ought to have in it.
|
|
#
?
Dec 12, 2014 10:37
|
|
|
Haven't been keeping up with my retro computer gaming lately. Meaning I have missed out on this: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/231654-dungeon-hunt-a-new-game-for-the-atari-8-bit/ 20 dollars for that is a loving STEAL. We just have to hope for a digital download or a LE version. Also if you like the Apple 2 such as Genpei Turtle does for some reason this month's Player Missle Podcast is a pro listen. http://www.playermissile.com/ You wanna know about Apple 2 graphics modes and converting Sabotage, a game that many DOS heads might know as Paratrooper over to the Atari with just minimal 6502 Assembly code changes? Well then you WANT to listen to this podcast! Captain Rufus fucked around with this message at 19:38 on Dec 22, 2014 |
|
#
?
Dec 22, 2014 09:06
|
|
|
Good lord, that is an amazing piece of work. I also enjoy thinking about how the technical "end of life" for retro computers has been functionally extended indefinitely--I mean, what do you want to bet that this game sells more copies than more than a handful of initial-release commercial Atari 8-Bit games of the 1980s? Definitely increasing my temptation to drag my Atari XE back with me, and once again be able to play any game I have ever owned on original hardware.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2014 04:32
|
|
|
A new year and Lazy Game Reviews starts out with a free or buy able if you want Apple 2 game. About collecting old retro computers. http://youtu.be/e22-Ca7D17c Sadly I haven't had much retro computer stuff to talk about as my main project as of late has still been my Master System project which is going well. I should have a bit over half the US library of titles by the end of Winter! How much depends on if I splurge for either a Wii U, an MCC (multiple classic computer. Like a fpga box for Amiga and C64), or a Sio to SD solution for my Atari 800 family. Because 30 bucks a repro/original cart for fan hacks of Atari 5200 games to run on a superior platform is not exactly my jam.
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2015 10:30
|
|
|
Well, I hope this thread isn't tired of talking about the Sharp X68000. I've got a lead on one and I want to go ahead and start getting my ducks in a row since nothing is simple with this machine. Thanks to d0s for this helpful post. I have some follow-up questions.
|
|
#
?
Jan 7, 2015 22:11
|
|
|
McCracAttack posted:
For the XPC-4, you would probably need to track down a Sanwa AD-D15NE adapter to convert the video interface from the weirdo RGB-15 interface natively used by the X68000 into a standard PC VGA one. You would also appear to need a VGA to DVI-I adapter from there, since it appears the XPC-4 only accepts that as an input. Going the PVM route might be a bit cheaper, but it might not be, and it has other caveats. First, PVMs can be pretty bulky and heavy. 8"/9" and 13"/14" aren't too bad, I guess, but can still ask for plenty of desktop space. A 19"/20"? Yeah...CRT battleship, yo. Second, you'd need one that can handle both 15 khz and 31 khz modes, which isn't common from what I've seen. It's the inverse of the "Why can't I use my SNES on my PC monitor?!" issue - PC monitors can't talk down at the lower rate the SNES needs and a PVM supports, and PVMs can't talk up at the higher rate many computer systems demand. Third, if you found one that handled both modes, you'd need to adapt it to the PVM's interface. Most PVMs support RGB, but some are only composite and S-Video. You also have to watch out when looking at the back; some might have what looks like a VGA port, but it's practically always a 9-pin RS232 serial connector for whatever purpose you might use one of those for with a PVM. Most PVMs use four BNC connectors (one each for RGB, plus one more for composite sync) or some proprietary Sony 25-pin CMPTR plug, but adapters from SCART (Euro format, not JP21) to those interfaces are available. I guess this item might be an actual X68000 to SCART cable from a Spanish vendor of all places? Overall, I'd say you'd be better off with the XPC-4, because finding a CRT PVM that supports the modes you need could be tricky and just as expensive (shipping alone would be a gut punch, to say nothing of cost!).
|
|
#
?
Jan 8, 2015 09:18
|
|
|
Kthulhu5000 posted:Overall, I'd say you'd be better off with the XPC-4, because finding a CRT PVM that supports the modes you need could be tricky and just as expensive (shipping alone would be a gut punch, to say nothing of cost!). I'm sorry, I didn't set that question up properly. I already have a Sony BVM which is why I was asking. My thinking was the x68's menus and such were mostly in 31 khz while the games were run in 15 khz. So, I was wondering if I could use a down-coverter to navigate the 31 khz menus and then run the games in their native 15 khz which he BVM can handle just fine. But then again, maybe I'm not understanding the spread of 15 khz and 31 khz content correctly. Here's my current plan:
|
|
#
?
Jan 8, 2015 14:44
|
|
|
I haven't had a ton of time for retro computing lately, but I have had some time. And it got me the BEST COMPUTER BOOK (cover) EVER: http://wargamedork.blogspot.com/2015/01/retrocomputing-why-bother-quickie.html Can someone add in like 6 more hours to the day or something?
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2015 08:14
|
|
|
Ladies and gentlegoons, the best $3 you will ever spend on retro game music. The best part is, you don't have to take my word for it - you can stream before you buy.
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2015 18:59
|
|
|
Hey, I finally have something interesting to post in this thread! I found this little guy sitting on a curb yesterday.  I can't really describe the sound I made when it actually powered on.  It looks like the hard drive is either dead or wiped. Good money is on dead. So now I need to buy a screwdriver, and a mouse and keyboard. Then find a SCSI drive somewhere that is small enough to fit this. Then I can play Oregon Trail like I'm in Elementary School again.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2015 15:21
|
|
|
This may be easier: https://duxbridge.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/creating-ssd-for-my-macintosh-se30/ e: those scsi adapters run about 100usd. Maybe not. the wizards beard fucked around with this message at 15:42 on Jan 30, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2015 15:40
|
|
|
Nativity In Black posted:Hey, I finally have something interesting to post in this thread! Congrats! It's like my early 90s votech electronics class nemesis all over again to torment me with vile fonts as electronic symbol suffering all over again. And pt 109 which kicked rear end. But for those out there who liked Rare's Jetpac Speccie game have it redone on the superior 8 bit platform: http://rgcddev.itch.io/rocket-smash-ex Polaventris covered it on his channel today but I won't be able to give it a shot till Monday evening or Tuesday afternoon depending on weather and a date situation. This looks about as gorgeous as the recent DK Jr C64 remake.
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 00:51
|
|
|
Nativity In Black posted:Hey, I finally have something interesting to post in this thread! Nice find! I'd love to get my SE set up again if I had the space. It's hard to tell from the photo, but are both floppy drives accessible, or is one covered by a plate? If both are open then it likely has no internal hard drive unless using one of the third-party mounting brackets that were popular. If one is covered there is a factory hard drive behind it. It also doesn't have the "FDHD" badge on the case so unless the ROM was swapped by a former owner the floppy drives only read 400/800k GCR encoded disks which are not writable in normal PC MFM drives. A newer classic Mac with a SuperDrive or a PC with one of these can do it. The SE can take up to 4MiB of RAM and will be happiest running System 6 
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2015 07:29
|
|
|
Congrats on the SE, Nativity. Thats my favorite Apple computer line right there. Also if you plan on opening it up, keep in mind there's screws in the carrying handle, so you need a driver long enough to reach in there.
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2015 09:29
|
|
|
Only Shallow posted:Nice find! I'd love to get my SE set up again if I had the space. It's hard to tell from the photo, but are both floppy drives accessible, or is one covered by a plate? If both are open then it likely has no internal hard drive unless using one of the third-party mounting brackets that were popular. If one is covered there is a factory hard drive behind it. It also doesn't have the "FDHD" badge on the case so unless the ROM was swapped by a former owner the floppy drives only read 400/800k GCR encoded disks which are not writable in normal PC MFM drives. A newer classic Mac with a SuperDrive or a PC with one of these can do it. Yeah there's an plate there with an HDD light. I'm having an internal dialogue to decide if I want to get this or my TG16 running first.
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2015 23:36
|
|
|
Nativity In Black posted:Yeah there's an plate there with an HDD light. I'm having an internal dialogue to decide if I want to get this or my TG16 running first. Well the real question is, what's wrong with your TG16? (Maybe more a question for the retrogame thread, but )If your TG16 doesn't require literal PCB surgery, it'll probably be easier to get that going first. An HDD swap and OS reinstall (how the hell do OS flattens/reinstalls even work on Macs of this era? Will it boot-priority to a System 6 install disc?) is going to likely be at least a full afternoon's project. Of course you should also get some Windex or something plastic-safe to clean it off. Look at that top, where was that poor sucker before it was put on the curb 
|
|
#
?
Feb 3, 2015 00:42
|
|
|
IMHO that's just dirt and will come right off. An cheaper way to supply a SCSI system with a modern harddrive instead of getting one of those SCSI-IDE Adapters and then tracking down an IDE-Harddrive which are sometimes not that easy/cheap to get anymore either is getting a SCSI/SCSI-SCA adapter and just plugging in a modern server SCSI drive. If you shop carefully you can probably do that for a bit more than 10-20 bucks and have a modern harddrive (~2008-2011 vintage) that'll have more capacity than you'll probably ever need for that system. These SCA-drives are very reliable and not a big risk to buy used, too. Just be aware that they might have heightened power requirements and might produce slightly more heat. Also not all of them are backwards compatible to older SCSI interfaces (even though that's in the SCSI Spec) so not every drive might work with every system. Over here in germany a 70 GB SCA drive runs you about 6-9 Euros on average. Some of them never used, too.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2015 20:39
|
|
|
 Bought this little guy for some good old retro pc gaming on the go, and for just general computer stuff. I find myself playing more modern games less and less, and I can't be arsed to sit by the desk where my gaming rig is all day play some dusty old CRPG, especially considering I also work at home at sit at that desk all day anyway. Packing an Intel Centrino Dual Core @ 2GHZ and an NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M, this baby should run every good old game I have barring any modern stuff.
|
|
#
?
Feb 10, 2015 01:36
|
|
|
Starhawk64 posted:
Make sure you do this, since you're running XP on it: http://www.zdnet.com/article/registry-hack-enables-continued-updates-for-windows-xp/ Takes a minute, and it ensures you can continue getting updates for a while yet.
|
|
#
?
Feb 10, 2015 02:27
|
|
|
I haven't been putzing around much with old computers lately sadly. Bills and the like kept me from getting a Lotharek Atari 800 SIO to SD card doohickey. But have an LGR Oddware video covering a really stupid mouse joystick thing for the Windows 3.0 era: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxesirLI488 And it reminds me I never really got to play around much with EA's "Birds of Prey" fight sim on my Amiga and makes me want to hunt down the DOS version.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2015 07:34
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 12, 2024 02:56 |
|
|
Does anyone know if there's been any recent developments on the CRT emulation front for DOSBox/non-DX9 games front? I've got SVN Daum, and I really like how...uh...I forget the name of the shader that alpha-blending to simulate phosphor decay, but I like how animations are pretty much as smooth as I remember them being on my family's crappy old CRT screen from the mid-80s. But that one looks a little muddy.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2015 07:50
|
|
