Thanks for the info! I'm usually not very interested in that type of show, but I quite enjoy watching your videos. Interested in a little constructive criticism? (;

Any comments at all are welcome. It's the only way I'll know how well I'm doing! ;)

excellent video, thanks!

Stunts is the best old game there is for me! It has everything I love in a game, very good gameplay (with crazy driving and crazy crashes!) and the track&terrain editer was YEARS ahead of it's time!

I still regret to have lost all homemade tracks when my computer cought a virus and in the end I ended up formatting the drive as I needed the harddrive for another build. A year later I found out I had forgotten to extract the files 🙁

oh well I still have my memories.

Theres a way to cheat the track check thingy so you can make the CrAzIeSt tracks! Just make a small circle of road from start to finish and then build your cRaZy track around it. 3 and 4 story wide jumps ftw!!!!!!! 😁

Gemini000 wrote:

The call of SHODAN and the opener for Episode 10 of Ancient DOS Games! 😀

A very well done video review. I almost can't tell the difference between the video and a professionally-made promo video.

By the way, is it just me, or does your accent actually sound like that of Richard Garriot? 😀

I think it's amazing how in-depth the video content is. You obviously spend a lot of time preparing each episode, playing through the game, thinking about what to point out, etc. . This is not the usual "let's play a game and talk about it while we go" stuff. I also think the video editing is very good. Compared to the usual "MS Movie Maker" stuff your videos look very professional. I'm curious, what video editing software are you using?

Here's some points that sprang to my mind while watching the System Shock episode:

- this is probably nitpicking, but still: in the video(s) you're talking about the "Distributor" of a game. That should be "US Distributor" IMO. An estimated 90%+ of games have been distributed by various companies in different countries/regions. I've been working on a number of game-related database projects where i had to find solution(s) for this issue, so I think I know what I'm talking about here (; .

- the episodes I've been watching all had the game's FM synth music in the videos. I know that capturing video + MIDI using DOSBox is a lot of work because you have to record MIDI separately and mix it with the video manually. For many games MIDI would IMO sound so much better than synth though. If including MIDI for a whole video is too much work you could maybe add a brief sequence where you compare MIDI with synth. I'm not sure how important this info is for a "casual viewer", but it may be worth pointing out the differences.

- as I've said the video editing and quality is top-notch IMO, but the voice-over quality doesn't quite match that. I don't know what type of mic you're using, but your voice sounds tinny and has a rather low volume level. Maybe a better mic and/or different placement would give it more "oomph". I don't think this can be achieved by editing the audio, as the source signal seems to be pretty "weak" to begin with. It's also not a matter of compression I believe, as the volume level of your voice seems to be quite constant. Btw, you're talking very clearly and you're pretty easy to understand, which is a plus for non-native speakers. I have no troubles understanding what you're saying, contrary to many YouTube vids where some 12-year old with a horrible accent is mumbling into his cheap plastic mic (; .

That's about all I can think of right now. Keep up the good work!

I agree with ADDiCT on the midi thingy. I just want to say though that I really enjoy watching your show (System Shock, awesome!) and I'm already looking forward to next week's 'episode'!

EDIT: Forgot to respond to a couple things. I'm using Sony Vegas HD for video editing (since there's no decent free NLE video editors for Windows that had all the features I needed) and as for my voice... I don't actually know what Richard Garriott sounds like so I couldn't compare. I'm Canadian, but most people don't make that guess too quickly. *shrugs*

ADDiCT wrote:

- this is probably nitpicking, but still: in the video(s) you're talking about the "Distributor" of a game. That should be "US Distributor" IMO. An estimated 90%+ of games have been distributed by various companies in different countries/regions. I've been working on a number of game-related database projects where i had to find solution(s) for this issue, so I think I know what I'm talking about here (; .

*nods* I thought about that, but if I list every distributor/publisher/developer for a game I'm going to potentially confuse people if I don't know why those companies are involved. In System Shock's case, I know EA had something to do with the game but I couldn't figure out exactly what their involvement was which is why I didn't mention them.

It's difficult to find out exactly why certain companies are involved sometimes, and sometimes there's simply too little info to go on. For example, how many of you knew that Apogee actually helped out with Descent? (Proof is in the credits in-game, but beyond that, I have no idea what exactly they did to help.)

I have a corrections section on each video page on my website though so when I get more information I can add it in text form. ;)

ADDiCT wrote:

the episodes I've been watching all had the game's FM synth music in the videos. I know that capturing video + MIDI using DOSBox is a lot of work because you have to record MIDI separately and mix it with the video manually. For many games MIDI would IMO sound so much better than synth though. If including MIDI for a whole video is too much work you could maybe add a brief sequence where you compare MIDI with synth. I'm not sure how important this info is for a "casual viewer", but it may be worth pointing out the differences.

Yeah... this is because the system I'm doing this all on has an onboard audio chipset and its MIDI wavetable is awful. That said, many of us grew up only able to listen to the MIDI in its synth form so I suppose this is a point that may simply be a matter of taste... but still, if I get the audio card upgraded at some point to something with a decent wavetable I'll be sure to start using it more often. ;)

ADDiCT wrote:

as I've said the video editing and quality is top-notch IMO, but the voice-over quality doesn't quite match that. I don't know what type of mic you're using, but your voice sounds tinny and has a rather low volume level. Maybe a better mic and/or different placement would give it more "oomph". I don't think this can be achieved by editing the audio, as the source signal seems to be pretty "weak" to begin with. It's also not a matter of compression I believe, as the volume level of your voice seems to be quite constant. Btw, you're talking very clearly and you're pretty easy to understand, which is a plus for non-native speakers. I have no troubles understanding what you're saying, contrary to many YouTube vids where some 12-year old with a horrible accent is mumbling into his cheap plastic mic (; .

As you guessed, my mic is lousy but I haven't the money to replace it. I'm doing a considerable amount of audio editing after recording to improve bass, hand-normalize the waveform, remove background noise, add compression... which doesn't seem to do much >_>;

I do agree though, I need a better mic. That'll be the first thing I upgrade for the sake of the show once I can afford to!

I enjoyed your 30 minute System Shock video. Well done, congrats! 😀

did the format somehow changes ? since number 9, I can't watch them anymore. Just a black screen.

I was looking forward to system shock review.

Yeah... this is because the system I'm doing this all on has an onboard audio chipset and its MIDI wavetable is awful.

Onboard with MIDI wavetable? I don't think so (; . You're probably using the Windows built-in MIDI softsynth (if you have configured games to use MIDI, that is). You don't need a new audio card, you could use Timidity. I'm using it for all DOSBox games, and it works very well and sounds awesome with a good soundfont. You'd still have to record MIDI seperately and mix it with the video though. I guess synching the two streams could be a bit problematic.

Qbix: probably not too helpful, but works fine here in Win7 x64. Codec/flash player/plugin update maybe (dunno which distribution you're using)?

Qbix wrote:

did the format somehow changes ? since number 9, I can't watch them anymore. Just a black screen.

I was looking forward to system shock review.

Blip.tv recently updated their player and I've noticed you need Flash to be fully up-to-date for the new player to work. Anything less than that and the player simply doesn't load. x_x;

Kinda annoying since Blip.tv used to have one of the most compatible players around. At least when Blip.tv makes changes they get things ironed out relatively quickly. Other places like YouTube can take months to get things working properly when they introduce new changes.

If you update Flash and still can't get it working, try asking Blip.tv what might be wrong and make sure to give them your system stats and Flash version number as well.

Yeah... this is because the system I'm doing this all on has an onboard audio chipset and its MIDI wavetable is awful.

Have you considered installing Roland Virtual Sound Canvas?
This is quite a good choice for modern Windows Systems if you can't plug the real hardware.

elianda wrote:

Yeah... this is because the system I'm doing this all on has an onboard audio chipset and its MIDI wavetable is awful.

Have you considered installing Roland Virtual Sound Canvas?

Are they still selling it? I got mine from ebay, and it was not an easy find.

Well I haven't checked for a while, but as easy option: Exchange the DirectX Soundfont gm.dls in the system32/drivers directory with some better suited one. For example airfont 340. Then choose Microsoft SW Synth. It is this way still better than most Software Synths of integrated sound solutions.

I've just discovered your "Ancient DOS games" videos. Awesome gem! Thank you! 😉

I've played SS2 a lot of times, but System Shock 1 is harder/longer (no cyberspace in SS2, for example). The HUD is also more "complicated" (to me).

I loved watching Acantophis3rd's let's play (a serious one without silly jokes) of the CD version on Youtube, from start to end! But for some reason, I just can't beat SS1 myself. I'm at the third level, but this game gives so much infos (lots of stuff to do, to take, etc...), minus a "what to do" list (present in SS2) that I'm lost after stopping playing it for a while. 🙁

I could have written down that "to do list" rather than trying to find it in-game. 😒

Anyway, I still have a lot to watch, it would seem. =)

System Shock 2 was great too, but I find the original to be far more entertaining. I like the music in SS1 better, I like the sound and art design better, I like the style of gameplay better, even though SS2 is easier, and yes, I've beaten SS2 on quote "impossible" skill. :P

SS1 is for me, a better game, but SS2 is still awesome.

On the flip-side, when I tried Bioshock, I wasn't too terribly impressed with the gameplay. I admit, the story and atmosphere was superb, but the gameplay itself felt a bit too simple. I still feel SS1 had the best balance of complexity, and I still remember when I first met SHODAN in SS2... I had the lights off and I nearly wet myself 'cause I was not expecting it in the slightest... o_o;

To compare the gameplay of the two games, SS2 is easier to get into. It has WASD controls, mouse-look, a simple inventory, easier to use weapons and more detailed and differentiated environments and full 3D spaces.

SS1 was still innovating in this regard. It takes a while to master the controls, interface and weapons. The lower detailed graphics make it more difficult to figure out exactly where you are. On the other hand, the game is more forgiving. Weapons don't break, hacking and reconstruction do not cost nanites, you don't face the issue of spending cyber modules on poor upgrades, recharge stations abound for energy weapons.

I really appreciate this episode of Ancient DOS games. The words on the proper resolution 640x400, (not 640x480), are spot on.

You guys know there's a Mouselook/WASD mod for SS1, right?

I find it very useful. It binds 'E' to toggle between mouselook mode and normal mode. Normal mode is like the normal game, and mouselook mode freezes the cursor to the center of the screen and makes it directly control the view.

http://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=1719.0

So if you were avoiding this game because you couldn't get used to the controls, use this.