I get an age verification warning for inner worlds, how stupid

Ancient DOS Games Episode 291 - Space Quest II is online!

I'd never actually played this particular AGI title before so I had no idea what to expect... but I kinda expected a longer game. This one goes by REALLY quick since it only really has two major areas, the second of which is mostly just padding, and has only a small number of items to acquire, almost all of which you'll need by the end of the game. What it lacks in gameplay though it makes up for with a LOT of cinematics, mostly piled near the front of the game. Definitely not the typical AGI experience! :o

Ancient DOS Games Episode 292 - Afterlife is online! (NOTE: HD might not be finished processing when you see this. I had to get this up ASAP due to approaching thunderstorms and the HD processing was taking WAY longer than usual.)

Now... to be fair, my expectations here were a little low to start with. I'd played other city-building-type games in the 90's NOT made by Maxis and all of them were disappointments, so I was expecting this one to disappoint too...

...and my expectations were only half-exceeded. The game has a good bit of wit and charm, but yeah, the gameplay is not up to the standards Maxis had set, resulting in a simulation model with a very specific crux which determines if you succeed or fail, though I don't reveal what this crux is until later in the video to see if anyone can figure it out before I explain it! ;)

Gemini000 wrote on 2021-10-09, 01:20:

Ancient DOS Games Episode 292 - Afterlife is online!

I think I got the jewel case and strategy guide at a garage sale.

You mention that the DOS and Macintosh versions are confusing to differentiate. That was a significant problem for me when I was looking for a copy of DarkSeed II.

Concerning resolution, this is from the game's README.TXT:

COOL THINGS YOU CAN DO If you have a really fast system with a really good graphics card and you have a good 17" or larger moni […]
Show full quote

COOL THINGS YOU CAN DO
If you have a really fast system with a really good graphics card and
you have a good 17" or larger monitor, you might want to run Afterlife
in a resolution higher than the the Install utility allows. You can do
this by editing the AFTERDOS.INI file located in the Afterlife
directory on your hard drive (usually C:\ALIFE). You can change the
"Resolution=" setting to reflect your desired resolution. Valid
choices are 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, and 1600x1200. You must make
sure that both your graphics card and monitor are capable of
displaying the resolution you would like to use.

Ancient DOS Games Pro 20 - Weaponry Analysis - Cyberdogs is online!

I always go back and give this game a run at least a couple times a year as it's just plain and simple fun! But... it's always bugged me what the best method for making money is, since it seems tied very closely to the weapons you decide to use, so I decided to put that question to rest by giving the weapons a detailed analysis, along with how it ties into earning cash in the game, to determine the fastest way to get rich quick! (Fictionally speaking of course!)

Also...

SKARDAVNELNATE wrote on 2021-10-10, 18:14:

Concerning resolution, this is from the game's README.TXT:

COOL THINGS YOU CAN DO If you have a really fast system with a really good graphics card and you have a good 17" or larger moni […]
Show full quote

COOL THINGS YOU CAN DO
If you have a really fast system with a really good graphics card and
you have a good 17" or larger monitor, you might want to run Afterlife
in a resolution higher than the the Install utility allows. You can do
this by editing the AFTERDOS.INI file located in the Afterlife
directory on your hard drive (usually C:\ALIFE). You can change the
"Resolution=" setting to reflect your desired resolution. Valid
choices are 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, and 1600x1200. You must make
sure that both your graphics card and monitor are capable of
displaying the resolution you would like to use.

That would technically make 1280x1024 possible, which would normally be the highest resolution you could expect out of a DOS system. (Not sure if VESA2.0 standards make 1600x1200 possible in DOS or not... hmm...)

Gemini000 wrote on 2021-10-23, 01:45:

That would technically make 1280x1024 possible, which would normally be the highest resolution you could expect out of a DOS system. (Not sure if VESA2.0 standards make 1600x1200 possible in DOS or not... hmm...)

Cyberbykes: Shadow Racer VR has 1600x1200 selectable in the setup program. I also recall getting Quake 1 running in 1600x1200. I was using a VM though, not sure if DosBOX even allows such a thing to happen unless you use one of those forks that allows configuring the VRAM to be high enough.

Official DOSBox should be 1280x1024. Real DOS highest I ever went was 2048x1536.

DosFreak wrote on 2021-10-23, 01:53:

Official DOSBox should be 1280x1024. Real DOS highest I ever went was 2048x1536.

Wait, what? VERY curious to know what kind of DOS-era monitor/hardware configuration would even make 2048x1536 possible! :O

Ancient DOS Games Episode 293 - BipBop Trilogy is online!

(Please Note: Some of the gameplay footage is at the borderline of what's considered safe for people who suffer from epilepsy, so you will find a link at the top of the video description over on YouTube to watch a special contrast-reduced version if you are such a person.)

I figured it was time to bring these nearly-forgotten games into the light once again after Ross's coverage of them a number of years ago when he was able to source and get the entire trilogy out there as freeware! Though ironically, things have developed since then and so I did my best to present information you might not have noticed or considered from Ross's coverage! ;)

This is also the last main ADG review for the year. There'll be one more ADG video, a filler later in the month to discuss what to expect for 2022 along with how absolutely stupid this year's been for me personally, and then I will be on hiatus from all videos (including Shovelware Diggers) for December, resuming things again at the start of January! :B

And here we go, everyone... my last Ancient DOS Games video of the year, ADG Filler #89 - 2021 is Finally Done is online!

The first third of this video is pretty much a rant covering just how insipid and stupid this year has been and why it was necessary to change ADG's schedule halfway through the year. I don't even remember most of this year given how little sleep I was getting and how messed up things were. Things are somewhat better now but there's still problems lingering which need to be sorted out if I want my life completely back on track. :/

However, the last two thirds of the video are much more positive, as I talk about a couple of games I've been looking forward to, talk about my own gamedev efforts, and what to expect in terms of ADG and Shovelware Diggers in 2022. The short of it though is that I'm resuming practical development work on my next game very, very soon, once I finish some script revisions which are 90% done on the main story, followed by doing alterations depending on your partner choices throughout the game.

I have high hopes for the future! ...I kinda need to in order to keep from slipping away into depressive states... and of course, having a giant plushie prince of darkness to cuddle up with helps too! :)

It's a new year and thus it's time to get back to more Ancient DOS Games, starting with Episode 294 - Links 386 Pro!

So, I'd played this particular golf game a lot at friends' places as a kid, as curiously, MOST of my friends owned a copy (or rather, their parents did) but I didn't, so I was pretty familiar with it already, but it was nice to see that it's not only available on GOG finally but that it comes with ALL of the extra courses originally made for both the original Links and Links 386 Pro. Certainly as DIFFICULT as I remember it being too, especially the putting. The rabbit hole got quite a bit deeper than I expected though as, back as a kid, since I didn't own the game I had NO IDEA that Access Software was requiring people to buy EACH, INDIVIDUAL, COURSE, SEPARATELY... >_>;;;

Thanks for this video! I enjoyed it 😀

Gemini000 wrote on 2022-01-01, 01:22:

It's a new year and thus it's time to get back to more Ancient DOS Games, starting with Episode 294 - Links 386 Pro!

So, I'd played this particular golf game a lot at friends' places as a kid, as curiously, MOST of my friends owned a copy (or rather, their parents did) but I didn't, so I was pretty familiar with it already, but it was nice to see that it's not only available on GOG finally but that it comes with ALL of the extra courses originally made for both the original Links and Links 386 Pro. Certainly as DIFFICULT as I remember it being too, especially the putting.

Once you chart distances for each club and dot on the swing meter, it gets easy, so long as you can reliably hit the 6'oclock position. L386 had exactly repeatable distance and ball travel for same-swing shots. If you hit a 12-6 shot multiple times and mulliganed each time, you'd see the ball travel and end up in EXACTLY the same place. I played competitively at the time and the best of us were consistently getting between 18 and 20 under par. Occasionally you'd see a score as low as 24 under.

When Links LS came out, one of its improvements was some slight randomization between identical shots. This had an effect on the best players, who were now shooting "only" 15 to 18 under par. Most of the top-50 players could shoot 10 under in their sleep.

Ancient DOS Games Episode 295 - Star Wars: Rebel Assault II is online!

Wholly geeze Content-ID has gotten oppressive... apparently, running the Star Wars theme for a mere ELEVEN SECONDS was enough to trip it. I had to trim it down to 4 1/2 seconds to get the video to upload and still retain control over monetization... not because I miss the ad revenue mind you, since it's only a few dollars for a channel as small as mine, but because when I DON'T have control over the ad revenue on a video YouTube's automatic placement of ads is just excessive to the nth degree! (This is actually how you can tell if I'm getting the ad rev or not on a video is if ANY mid-rolls appear, as I disable them manually on every upload.)

ANYWHOO, I kinda expected this sequel to the original Rebel Assault to be way better, and at least in terms of raw gameplay it is, but now that I got to play the full game I kinda noticed there were a lot of OTHER things wrong with this one which weren't technically an issue with the original. Don't get me wrong, this is still the better game just on account of being way more playable, but still... :/

I bypass a lot of monetization by downloading the entire video to RAM and viewing it locally after it finishes downloading.

I also recall VWestlife doing a video about the "minimum time required" to copyright claim something, of course, ContentID being a automated system and there's very little if at all any possible interaction with staff at YouTube and/or Google... it's pretty much a moot point to even try to point out the unfairness of it.

On topic with the game though: I really never understood the appeal of Rebel Assault. FMV games seemed like such a humongous gimmick with little gameplay value to be had. I only owned the first Rebel Assault and never got far with it because of how frustrating it is to deal with it.

I had more fun with a game like Backlash: A Turret Gunner Simulator!

DracoNihil wrote:

FMV games seemed like such a humongous gimmick with little gameplay value to be had.

A lot of them are really good. The Command & Conquer series, the Tex Murphy series, ...

xcomcmdr wrote on 2022-01-15, 09:17:

A lot of them are really good. The Command & Conquer series, the Tex Murphy series, ...

Yeah but those are cutscenes in videogames.

Cutscenes are fine. It's the "interactive movie" stuff I dislike.

Basically if the entire game is just one huge FMV with very limited options in what to do in them, it's just boring to borderline frustrating to play through. That's all the Rebel Assault series seems to be for me.

Rebel Assault II has interesting cheat codes, many bloopers are included along a parody covering the entire footage mst3k-like which is quite funny, talking about boot sales all the way.

Gemini000 wrote on 2022-01-15, 07:43:

Ancient DOS Games Episode 295 - Star Wars: Rebel Assault II is online!

Wholly geeze Content-ID has gotten oppressive... apparently, running the Star Wars theme for a mere ELEVEN SECONDS was enough to trip it. I had to trim it down to 4 1/2 seconds to get the video to upload and still retain control over monetization... not because I miss the ad revenue mind you, since it's only a few dollars for a channel as small as mine, but because when I DON'T have control over the ad revenue on a video YouTube's automatic placement of ads is just excessive to the nth degree! (This is actually how you can tell if I'm getting the ad rev or not on a video is if ANY mid-rolls appear, as I disable them manually on every upload.)

ANYWHOO, I kinda expected this sequel to the original Rebel Assault to be way better, and at least in terms of raw gameplay it is, but now that I got to play the full game I kinda noticed there were a lot of OTHER things wrong with this one which weren't technically an issue with the original. Don't get me wrong, this is still the better game just on account of being way more playable, but still... 😒

I bought YouTube premium years ago and have never once regretted that decision, IIRC a fair amount of YT premium money goes back to the creators you watch so its how I support them over the shitty ads and monetisation YT uses, I also throw a couple of months of patreon at my best YT channels if they have it, just to say thanks for the content.

I treat YT as my TV pretty much so I support my favourite creators how I can.

Just checked your channel out, and I like watching people mess with old DOS games ...working around the bugs is fun to watch !

Got a new Sub !

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-01-15, 15:43:

I bought YouTube premium years ago and have never once regretted that decision, IIRC a fair amount of YT premium money goes back to the creators you watch so its how I support them over the shitty ads and monetisation YT uses, I also throw a couple of months of patreon at my best YT channels if they have it, just to say thanks for the content.

Yeah, I bought into Premium as well once I did the math and realized I was losing FIFTY MINUTES of my life every month to ads on YouTube, and that's taking into account that I skipped any and all which give me the button to do so! :P

Ironically though, when I went to ask YouTube how much of the premium cash goes back to content creators and how much they keep, they couldn't give me an answer, even though they know the exact numbers for virtually everything else... >_>;

Still, since 90% of my revenue is from Patreon, and because I retain control over where the ads go so long as I stay on the good side of Content-ID, I make an effort to appease that part of the system so that I can just plop ads at the start and end of a video so that they don't interrupt anything right in the middle. If you let YouTube automatically put ads on something it's OPPRESSIVE, often giving you your first mid-roll after just ONE MINUTE, the next mid-roll three minutes following, the next about six-to-eight minutes following, then another ad every additional eight or so minutes; it's effectively WORSE than broadcast television. >_<

Basically, if you ever come across a video with mid-rolls on my channel, rest assured, they're there because it's a video YouTube claimed control over and thus I'm not getting any of that ad rev. I think there's presently around three videos in that state, though I could be wrong.

Sorry this went up late, ended up getting sick before I could get the video editing done and it took a few days to recover, BUT, Ancient DOS Games Pro 21 - Mechanics Investigation - Sim City 2000 is online!

This is something I'd been curious about for awhile and wanted to look into, but wasn't quite sure how to pull it off at first, until I realized I could just make sure to keep plenty of save states and make sure to establish how much random chance factors into everything. I knew I wasn't going to get SUPER accurate results...

...but I definitely did not expect just how much of this game DOESN'T ACTUALLY MATTER... o_O