Documentation is key. I have the utmost respect for people who document stuff, anyone who bashes text books, FAQ's, etc. etc. Mostly have no clue as to what it takes to document something. It's TOUGH.
The worst about writing docs/faqs is the ignorance of some people. you can write a thousand times that people should read those first before posting but they will do so anyway 🙁
Originally posted by Dominus (that's how I became the Documents/FAQ writer of Exult)
You have my sympathies...
The worst about writing docs/faqs is the ignorance of some people. you can write a thousand times that people should read those first before posting...
and to make matters worse, you usually have to write the documentation at the lowest reading level possible (explaining every tiny detail, step-by-step). The more you presume the user already knows, the faster people will give up and start posting questions that are already answered in the documentation.
I never cease to be amazed at people who complain bitterly that running games in DosBox is too hard, only to find out that they don't know anything about DOS in the first place (treating DOS executables like Windows programs that have no icons. Double-clicking the EXE and expecting it work automatically [for example]).
I'm in the process of writing an official, comprehensive FAQ about Magic Engine (especially about the 'audio CD problems' encountered by many newcomers under XP), so I know how you all feel about it 🙄
Why isn't this in Deep Thought yet?
wrote:Why isn't this in Deep Thought yet?
No-one's written up documentation?
What's there to say? Put in AUTOEXEC and enjoy. 😜
Yes, it’s my fault.
What are you waiting for, then?
Put it in Deep Thought !! 😀
OK. 😉
updated to 1.0.0.5.
Yes, it’s my fault.
what is new?
Some time ago I noticed that all of the CloneCD Images I took of my games had bad audio. I noticed this about a year ago. Re-imaging with Alcohol the audio was as clean as the original CD. So I am going to go through all of my CD Images of all of my games and note which have CD audio or not. This will be a very quick process since all I have to do is open 'em up with WinISO. Will probly take about an hour or so. Once that's done I'll have a full list of all my DOS games with CD audio.....which isn't many....
Hmm, I seem to have deleted Sauro's email (oops) but basically there was a problem in the code that caused CD audio to not work in XP. Heh.
Yes, it’s my fault.
Approximately 19 months later.....
Finally have all of my games with CD audio identified. Might begin testing 'em soon. (That means 12-24 months later....) 😉
Sorting through the forums identifying stuff for Deep Though and integrating into Deep Thought forums.
Also searched the web for SapuCdex and noticed a number of people using it to fix problems so I'll likely include those too.
We'll probably be using sapucdex in Longhorn too,assuming that MS doesn't FSCK up NTVDM compatibility more than it already has with DOS programs, so I guess it isn't that much of a waste of time.
I'm sure the NTVDM will become progessively more broken until it is ultimately abandoned. That is, unless Microsoft makes the highly unlikely decision at some point to chuck everything and write a new OS completely from scratch, including a new DOS emulator.
Eventually programs like DOSbox will become the only viable solution to running old DOS games on any platform - PC or otherwise.
They already are, as there is no NTVDM in 64-bit Windows. (From what I'm reading, anyway. That also means no execution of 16-bit code, even programs that ARE for Windows. This sucks a lot since many 32-bit apps used 16-bit installers.)
Yes, it’s my fault.
