Star Control 2 palette \ VOGONS

Star Control 2 palette

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First post, by augnober

Posted on 2004-10-03, 03:09

augnober Offline

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I noticed that DOSBox (0.62) has a problem with the palette in Star Control 2. I think the quickest way to see this is to start up the game and fly to Earth, where you're intercepted by the Ur Quan probe. You'll see some messed up colours.

Anyway.. It turns out the game does some non-standard stuff when it's setting the palette. I've done a simple hack to make it work on any standard VGA card (including DOSBox 😉). If someone has an appropriate place to host it, let me know (to make sure I see your reply, it'd be best to PM me too). I've also created a development/bug thread for this, since support for this is potentially something that should go in the emulator -- it's not exactly VGA standard, but I've seen that this support would do no hard.

Reply 1 of 4, by augnober

Posted on 2004-10-03, 03:10

augnober Offline

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I should mention that the thing you'd be hosting would be a patch... not the full hacked executable. Just thought I better make that clear.. 😀

Reply 2 of 4, by priestlyboy

Posted on 2004-10-03, 03:32

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I reiterrate the quickest way to solve it is not by hacking but by using the switch "/g:bios" It's a documented problem with the game.

Ieremiou
----------
Helping Debug DOSBox.

Reply 3 of 4, by augnober

Posted on 2004-10-03, 03:52

augnober Offline

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priestlyboy's correct. This game uses some seriously screwed up code for the direct method and I'm surprised it ever worked on any cards (it really did work on my old 486's card - I swear! I think it was an ATI of some sort 😀)

He verified that the /g:bios flag works in DOSBox... so that should solve the issue for most people. If anyone has found that this flag doesn't work for them, I'd be curious to hear about it.. since I remember having some trouble getting it working properly on one of my old computers.

Reply 4 of 4, by augnober

Posted on 2004-10-12, 01:43

augnober Offline

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In a dosbox development thread, red_avatar added:

"One note: the /g:BIOS tag doesn't work with the popular abandonware version on the net - it has a starcon2.com crack that will run the game without the need for the starmap. Luckily, I bought the original Starcon 2 in mint condition (still in plastic wrap) on ebay for a dollar or two Very Happy and it works fine using the starmap."

So... If you're running a cracked version (maybe you don't want to deal with the map, or maybe you don't own the game), you may want to patch your exe to fix the problem or find another version of the game.

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