Doom 'MBF' for DOS, Maintenance release 2.04

[Danfun64]

Can this port play the Community Chest maps that can't be played on Boom due to going over SEG limits?

[gerwin]

Can this port play the Community Chest maps that can't be played on Boom due to going over SEG limits?

Someone has to try...

[Danfun64]

I did. It doesn't.

[gerwin]

cchest.wad, cchest2.wad, cchest3.wad are all Boom/MBF compatible, as they state in the readme.
AFAIK all that left is cchest4.wad, which states: requires a Boom-compatible source port with increased SEGS limits to play"...
MBF runs it as far as I can see. In which map on which location does MBF crash?, and what is the error message?

Edit: found this "although cchest2 MAP32: Sodding Death will not run in Boom itself due to passing the 32,768 seg limit"

[Scandy]

Gerwin, thank you so much for all your efforts on MBF: they reveal not only a sincere passion, but also a great technical knowledge and a positive pragmatism that are really a godsend.
Can't wait to try MBF on my new rig.

Two questions (sorry if yet answered)
- are Heretic and Hexen supported?
- is some kind of good classic Internet multiplayer feasible (e.g. on FreeDOS)?

Thanks!

[gerwin]

Thanks for your compliments! Glad there is still an audience for this.

- are Heretic and Hexen supported?
- is some kind of good classic Internet multiplayer feasible (e.g. on FreeDOS)?

Heretic+Hexen is not supported. Doom Legacy v1.41 DOS is a good port to play Heretic in DOS. As for Hexen, I haven't found a good port yet.
I haven't really looked into multiplayer. MBF should support LAN games. Then maybe DOSBOX can channel that through TCP/IP.

Upload no. 014:

• Backported Allegro 3.12 ESS Audiodrive Sound Driver. Tested OK.
• Backported Allegro 3.12 Ensoniq Soundscape Sound Driver. Unable to test, do not own one.
• Added Gravis Ultrasound PnP (InterWave) Sound driver. Tested OK. Actually already worked with WSS driver.
  Note that the GUS PnP Music interface is not included.
• Changed WSS environment variable. Example: SET WSS=A530 I7 D1
  GUS PnP now uses the ULTRA16 environment variable. Example (6=dma/5=irq): SET ULTRA16=34C,6,5

Pending: There is a memory issue in the WSS/GUS PnP Driver, giving minor problems when running MBF with these drivers in Windows 98.

[Scandy]

Wait a moment... just visited your website... Are you the author of that WONDERFUL "port" of Hero Quest? Can't believe it!!! I loved your game when I was a kid, and still I remember it as the best port of the boardgame! That's unbelievable! So many years passed!

About MBF: please keep it going! What about a github page (or an official project page) easier to consult?
I really hope you'll take a look to multiplayer and Heretic+Hexen in the future!

[Danfun64]

I highly doubt he is going to tackle Heretic and Hexen in this port. As for multiplayer, all you need is ipxboom with the -exe command and DosBox's ipxnet.

[gerwin]

Pending: There is a memory issue in the WSS/GUS PnP Driver, giving minor problems when running MBF with these drivers in Windows 98.

I worked on this, Improved the drivers again. Noticed it is not even driver specific. All that really got rid of the problems was to revert back to 1997 Compiler software. Game Performance stays nearly the same. So that is what was used for the new upload (14C). Source archive is up to date as well.

Are you the author of that WONDERFUL "port" of Hero Quest? Can't believe it!!! I loved your game when I was a kid, and still I remember it as the best port of the boardgame! That's unbelievable! So many years passed!

It is a small world. Yeah I worked on HeroQuest back then, 2000 to 2005 or something I don't change much.

About MBF: please keep it going! What about a github page (or an official project page) easier to consult?
I really hope you'll take a look to multiplayer and Heretic+Hexen in the future!

Actually I am content with the way it is now. More exposure is more expectations, and this is just a maintenance release with better sound and video hardware support. If I add in to much it will start to lag on slower systems. Not to mention Heretic+Hexen support would be a huge effort.

[Danfun64]

Are you at least willing to raise the SEGS limit and whatever other limits are necessary to be raised in order to play Community Chest 2 MAP32 and Community Chest 4? I doubt doing such a thing would be that problematic.

[Scandy]

It is a small world. Yeah I worked on HeroQuest back then, 2000 to 2005 or something I don't change much.

It is a small world indeed! Well, thank you very much also for HQ!

Actually I am content with the way it is now. More exposure is more expectations, and this is just a maintenance release with better sound and video hardware support. If I add in to much it will start to lag on slower systems. Not to mention Heretic+Hexen support would be a huge effort.

I understand, MBF it's great yet as it is.
About multiplayer in DOOM, it was originally based on IPX... so, to play via Internet (TCP/IP) a software like Doomwire (http://russell.mancubus.net/doomwire/) but DOS-based is needed, am I right? (excuse me for the off-topic).

[Danfun64]

To play MBF online, you need to use these instructions: http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/Connectivity

[Scandy]

To play MBF online, you need to use these instructions: http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/Connectivity

Thank you for the link, but I'd like to play on a real DOS (FreeDOS). So I suppose will I need some kind of IPX tunnelling software.

[gerwin]

Are you at least willing to raise the SEGS limit and whatever other limits are necessary to be raised in order to play Community Chest 2 MAP32 and Community Chest 4? I doubt doing such a thing would be that problematic.

Sure I will look at it, though this week's schedule is rather full.

[Danfun64]

Thank you.

[Danfun64]

Sorry for the bump, but it's almost been 2 months since the last post, and I am curious as to what is going on here.

[gerwin]

As soon as there is something to share, it will be shared.
My previous post gave the impression that I had the intention to look at it earlier on, but there were serious distractions. Pleasant and unpleasant ones.

[Malik]

Very nice! I just tested it today. Played it in Dosbox and everything is great!

Lots of options to tinker with and unadulterated look.

I'm sorry I didn't go through all the posts here yet, but is jumping being implemented? I know it will break the gameplay since the original design was not designed with jumping in mind, but still i wonder...

[Danfun64]

I have a bug to report. Demos recorded in MBF 2.04 do not play back in prboom-plus. If you attempt to do so, you get a segmentation fault.

More info on this issue can be found here.

[gerwin]

That is an unwanted regression, thanks for reporting it.

I'm sorry I didn't go through all the posts here yet, but is jumping being implemented? I know it will break the gameplay since the original design was not designed with jumping in mind, but still i wonder...

AFAIK it is not.