HunterZ wrote:

It annoys me that GOG picks only one version of each game and ships it with only one configuration. I had to read forums to figure out how to hack WC1 to run in MT-32 mode, and I had to dig up starflt.com's (now hard-to-get) copy of the non-EGA version of Starflight 1.

I understand why they do it, though: it's good enough for 99.9% of their customers, so why waste the extra time and effort (and possibly make things more complicated for end users who don't care)?

There is only one way DOS games should be distributed digitally, on floppy disk images or CD-ROM images with full document scans, including reference cards. Most DOS games install very smoothly when you follow the instructions on the reference card (or manual). Of course, it is advisable to include an installed directory just in case the game's installer refuses to work with DOSBox.

My copy of Starflight supports EGA graphics, but also CGA, CGA Composite, Tandy and Hercules. Is the earlier version somehow different, other than a lack of EGA support? Tandy looks funny in this late version.

So many things to reply to... ^_^;

Kosmonaut wrote:

Can you please do another video sometime like the 2000 shareware games video? One of my most cherished memories as a kid was browsing through shareware compilation disks, magazine cover disks and what not, running random games I find and not having a clue what to expect, sometimes being pleasantly surprised and sometimes being horrified. For me, that was what DOS gaming was all about! I would love to see another improv video where you just randomly run some games from a compilation disk, maybe you could do some more from that 2000 shareware games cd.

Personally, I found that episode kinda boring, but there's been a few requests to do such a video, and I'm a bit more comfortable speaking without a script now than I used to be. (The ScummVM filler was unscripted.) So it's a possibility. ;)

Kosmonaut wrote:

Regarding youtube, honestly it should be fine, worst that can happen is that after a year or so you get a lot of views and youtube start to scrutinize and possibly take down a few videos (although I think this is unlikely), in which case you can just return to blip and you would have still benefited from the much increased exposure which you can direct to your pixelmusement site if they want to watch the rest of the series, which makes you better off overall. You should also be able to disable comments on your videos if you want.

Yeah... as much as I don't like YouTube I've been giving a TON of thought to just about every scenario that could happen. It'll be a lot of work to get all my videos up there, even with Blip's auto-YouTube syncing, but that's just more procrastination I guess.

I'd much prefer people watch the show on Blip due to the ad revenue that would generate which goes towards the cost of webspace and occasional games. I don't make epic, livable amounts off of it yet, nor do I really ever plan to, which is why I'm working on making games again. (It's just going very slow because of how much work it is to make ADG episodes.)

Kosmonaut wrote:

Also, I am not sure if anyone has mentioned this already, but you should watch your habbit of saying "like I mean" between sentences/clauses, it sounds a bit off, sorry to be a nitpick, your commentary is still great!

That's... kinda the way I've talked for years now. XD

I say it more often unscripted than I do scripted, but it's a natural mode of my thinking and speaking because I tend to decribe things in brief fragments, then I elaborate.

HunterZ wrote:

I wish your Wing Commander video came a couple months sooner, as I made the exact mistake you showed of ramming into the Tiger Claw while trying to dock with it!

You can tell your game is TOO immersive when... XD

HunterZ wrote:

I really dislike the use of sprites to create a pseudo-3D effect in space combat games.

Considering when Wing Commander and other such games were released, it was the only way to achieve even moderately acceptable framerates with typical hardware. That, or write your game entirely in assembly. (IE: LineWars II)

That said, space sims lack the need to render world environments, so you can cram more polygons into your game objects without killing the framerate. This is why the polygon counts on space sim games tend to be higher per object compared to other games of the same time periods.

HunterZ wrote:

Sierra actually gave it away for free on their web site at one point, but only for a limited time and without redistribution permissions. This created a lot of confusion as to the legal status of the game, but technically it wasn't free except to those who had downloaded it directly.

There's been a number of games where this has happened and it does get confusing as a result. Other games that have had "free" releases for short periods of time include Descent, Star Control II and Grand Theft Auto. (Actually, I think GTA may STILL be free. Last time I tried to check though I had trouble navigating their website.)

HunterZ wrote:

a bit of a shame that they only peddle the CD version, as it has a great MT-32 soundtrack

OK, here's the crazy thing. I've heard that the sample sets used in typical Windows wavetable emulation right now are based on a Roland sample set. When I noticed the mistake of having the game in MT-32 mode with CD-audio disabled, and switched the CD-Audio on, the music sounded almost EXACTLY the same! :O

As I also mentioned in the video, outdoors, you can hear birds chirping. Also, when you open the Moredhel chests with the word-locks, you hear appropriate thunking sounds on the locks, plus magic effects have a very retro-like sound to them. Clearly the sample sets of the MT-32 and Windows wavetable have some similarities!

HunterZ wrote:

Betrayal at Antara was billed as a sequel, but was really only related in that it used the same engine.

That's why I called it a "pseudo-sequel". :P

cdoublejj wrote:

IS there and ADG thread on GOG.com forums yet?

If there is, I didn't make it. I don't participate on the GOG.com forums.

Great Hierophant wrote:

I'm glad you recommended the MT-32 sound track. Did some generous fan finally donate something nice to Gemini?

I listened to some actual MT-32 + Wing Commander stuff on YouTube and was like, "Dude, it's like a completely different soundtrack." :O

HunterZ wrote:

It annoys me that GOG picks only one version of each game and ships it with only one configuration. I had to read forums to figure out how to hack WC1 to run in MT-32 mode, and I had to dig up starflt.com's (now hard-to-get) copy of the non-EGA version of Starflight 1.

I understand why they do it, though: it's good enough for 99.9% of their customers, so why waste the extra time and effort (and possibly make things more complicated for end users who don't care)?

Actually, I personally DON'T understand why they do this, since it would be EASIER to just configure the game and throw in all the files it's supposed to come with. Then again, seeing how they handle CD-Audio with OGG conversions... :P

Incidentally, not all of their games are crippled like this. I got Populous working in Hercules mode and that came from GOG.com. ;)

Gemini000 wrote:

Considering when Wing Commander and other such games were released, it was the only way to achieve even moderately acceptable framerates with typical hardware. That, or write your game entirely in assembly. (IE: LineWars II)

How do you know for sure that Wing Commander wasn't written in assembly? If it were in 100% C it wouldn't have been very playable on the 386s of the time.. Making it in entirely in assembly doesn't necessarily make things faster.

Gemini000 wrote:

Kosmonaut wrote:

Also, I am not sure if anyone has mentioned this already, but you should watch your habbit of saying "like I mean" between sentences/clauses, it sounds a bit off, sorry to be a nitpick, your commentary is still great!

That's... kinda the way I've talked for years now. 🤣

I say it more often unscripted than I do scripted, but it's a natural mode of my thinking and speaking because I tend to decribe things in brief fragments, then I elaborate.

The ScummVM video was great.

Also, I got so used to hearing you saying "there's not much else I have to say about it" at some point, and I'm almost positive you played on my expectation of that when launching into the tips section of the Wing Commander 1 video 😀

HunterZ wrote:

I really dislike the use of sprites to create a pseudo-3D effect in space combat games.

Considering when Wing Commander and other such games were released, it was the only way to achieve even moderately acceptable framerates with typical hardware. That, or write your game entirely in assembly. (IE: LineWars II)

That said, space sims lack the need to render world environments, so you can cram more polygons into your game objects without killing the framerate. This is why the polygon counts on space sim games tend to be higher per object compared to other games of the same time periods.

Did it come out that much earlier than X-Wing, Lightspeed/Hyperspeed, Epic, etc., which were all polygon based? I think the relationship between polygons and space sims goes back to Elite (and maybe the Star Wars arcade game's vector wireframe graphics?), which certainly predates the Wing Commander series.

Flight sims also went for the polygon approach early on from what I've seen.

HunterZ wrote:

a bit of a shame that they only peddle the CD version, as it has a great MT-32 soundtrack

OK, here's the crazy thing. I've heard that the sample sets used in typical Windows wavetable emulation right now are based on a Roland sample set. When I noticed the mistake of having the game in MT-32 mode with CD-audio disabled, and switched the CD-Audio on, the music sounded almost EXACTLY the same! 😳

As I also mentioned in the video, outdoors, you can hear birds chirping. Also, when you open the Moredhel chests with the word-locks, you hear appropriate thunking sounds on the locks, plus magic effects have a very retro-like sound to them. Clearly the sample sets of the MT-32 and Windows wavetable have some similarities!

That's really unexpected, as the Microsoft wavetable synthesis is based on Roland GS samples and not MT-32, and the instrument set of the MT-32 family is completely different from that of General MIDI.

The only explanations I can think of are:
1. Maybe the CD version of B@K has music that was rearranged for General MIDI, and putting it MT-32 mode just causes it to program MT-32's to be as General MIDI compatible as possible (this was common with the last group of DOS games that still had "support" for MT-32).
2. Maybe the Microsoft synthesizer has an MT-32 patch bank and the CD version of Betrayal at Krondor could be issuing a bank switch command, but that still depends on B@K using the vanilla MT-32 patch set when most DOS games program in custom stuff that only works on real devices (or emulators of them).

Incidentally, not all of their games are crippled like this. I got Populous working in Hercules mode and that came from GOG.com. 😉

Well, they don't go out of their way to cripple games either. The problem is that a lot of old games save disk space by only installing files for one graphics/sound mode, and/or they don't include a means of changing modes after you've initially installed them. GOG seems to install with graphics set to the most "modern" graphics mode supported by DOSBox and a given game and the sound set to Adlib/Soundblaster, and then ships that configuration.

As someone else mentioned, it would be great if they'd also consistently include floppy images and/or ISOs for the few of us who would appreciate it. They do ship ISOs for games that have simple disc checks, but they try to hide them by giving them funny filenames ("game.gog" or somesuch).

GoG is hardly the first company to re-release only a so-called "ideal version" (I call it a crippled version) of their DOS games. Sierra did that, as did Interplay and other companies in the 1990s.

OGG can support lossy vorbis, lossless FLAC or uncompressed PCM. I assume that GoG's rips are lossy. That sucks.

Well, they don't go out of their way to cripple games either. The problem is that a lot of old games save disk space by only installing files for one graphics/sound mode, and/or they don't include a means of changing modes after you've initially installed them. GOG seems to install with graphics set to the most "modern" graphics mode supported by DOSBox and a given game and the sound set to Adlib/Soundblaster, and then ships that configuration.

This actually reminds me of my King's Quest collection CDs, which did NOT come from GOG.com. In them, the early KQ games are set up by default to use EGA graphics and PC Speaker sound and music with DOSBox, so by manually setting up their DOSBox config you're able to get the superior Tandy sound and music.

Quite a number of non-retro gamers forget that there was a whole period of the 80s where the PCjr/Tandy graphics and sound standards existed and were highly supported, thus the people in charge of making these KQ CDs happen were probably a part of that crowd. :P

Yes. It's the same thing with Adlib versus General MIDI in later games (MT-32 is more problematic because the ROMs are not legal to redistribute, and MT-32 emulation is not an official part of DOSBox), although Windows is the only major OS that ships with a General MIDI software synth out of the box as far as I know.

OK, I'm probably going to set up a YouTube account in the next few days, once Blip fixes a minor bug with replacing videos so I can get the re-rendered versions of Episode 101 through 107 uploaded, however, from what I understand, YouTube may still have a time limit in place which would prevent me from uploading the vast majority of my videos. Anyone have any thoughts on this or information on how true this is, or if it is true, if there's possibly a way around it, considering I have a show that's well established on another video hosting platform?

Also, anyone have any advice on dealing with YouTube in general? My own experience as a non-member, coupled with the experiences of my friends who are/were signed up, has me a bit worried as to how I'll even be able to get anywhere with the YouTube system.

Gemini000 wrote:

OK, I'm probably going to set up a YouTube account in the next few days, once Blip fixes a minor bug with replacing videos so I can get the re-rendered versions of Episode 101 through 107 uploaded, however, from what I understand, YouTube may still have a time limit in place which would prevent me from uploading the vast majority of my videos. Anyone have any thoughts on this or information on how true this is, or if it is true, if there's possibly a way around it, considering I have a show that's well established on another video hosting platform?

Also, anyone have any advice on dealing with YouTube in general? My own experience as a non-member, coupled with the experiences of my friends who are/were signed up, has me a bit worried as to how I'll even be able to get anywhere with the YouTube system.

If you are talking about the 10-minute video rule, I think YT got rid of that in 2009. One of my videos is 43 minutes long and in 720p.

If you think YT is treating you like a red-headed stepchild, then feel free to take your videos down.

My account can upload past 10 minutes too, however if you get a copyright strike, that'll be revoked.

It might help to avoid frames of ordering information so you don't get flagged for a scam/deceptive video. With some games that really promote it (like Orion Odyssey) this is troublesome

Info on video time limits: http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/answer. … en&answer=71673

Sounds like it's 20GB if you've verified your account, or 15 minutes otherwise.

I've only ever uploaded one video, which was a fraps recording of a Mozilla Thunderbird issue that I linked to on their bug tracker. The process was extremely painless. I just uploaded the file, and Youtube automatically converted it to various quality levels and such.

According to that page, you MUST verify your account using a mobile phone to exceed the 15 minute time limit.

...I don't HAVE a mobile phone... o_O

...

>_>;;;

Gemini000 wrote:

According to that page, you MUST verify your account using a mobile phone to exceed the 15 minute time limit. […]
Show full quote

According to that page, you MUST verify your account using a mobile phone to exceed the 15 minute time limit.

...I don't HAVE a mobile phone... 😮

...

>_>;;;

*Audible gasp*

I am a bit shocked you don't have a mobile phone, but anyway, can't you just ask your family or a good friend to borrow theirs for the code? It is just for verification. I've not been bothered after I plotted in my number to Youtube.

luckybob wrote:

Gemini000 wrote:

According to that page, you MUST verify your account using a mobile phone to exceed the 15 minute time limit. […]
Show full quote

According to that page, you MUST verify your account using a mobile phone to exceed the 15 minute time limit.

...I don't HAVE a mobile phone... 😮

...

>_>;;;

*Audible gasp*

Neither do I. Sometimes I don't even have a working house phone.

We're all retro-gamers here, they are apparently retro-phoners.

I really don't think there is an excuse to NOT have a mobile phone anymore. I've personally sold 100's of $15 pay-as-you-go basic mobile phones, when I worked at wal-mart.

When you click https://www.youtube.com/verify, it gives you the option of confirming by voice or by sms, but this link https://support.google.com/youtube/bin/answer … &answer=1628029 seems to make it clear that only mobile phones are supported. I would suggest trying the voice option with the house phone, but whether it will work or not seems iffy.

There is always Tracfone or other throwaway cell phones.

Well, so long as there's no rule that says, "You must use a mobile device that is registered in your name", then I can just get virtually anyone I know offline to help me out with that one... maybe... I guess it depends on how quickly the verification goes through, whether it's something that happens almost instantly or if you have to wait several hours. :P

I don't have a cell phone because for me, personally, there's no point in having one. I don't need the mobility, nor do I want to be interrupted by people at random when I'm out and about doing things or hanging out with friends. It would just be one more thing to have to pay for and maintain. :/

Also, music stuff is going well and should be up on Saturday. :3

No wonder I was so reluctant to go through all my music and prep it for uploading to my website. I just finished transposing everything from Impulse Tracker format to WAV. The final count on the number of MP3 files I'm gonna be uploading: SIXTY ONE o_o

Seriously. Over three straight hours of music. Mind you, about 1/4 of it is either outdated, superceded by improved remixes and being included to demonstrate how my skills have evolved over time, or the lowest quality stuff I'm willing to let people hear, since any lower in quality and your ears would probably bleed. ;D

Another 1/4 is all the music from PixelShips Retro. ;)

...I'm also hoping this doesn't put a massive dent in my website bandwidth usage... I guess we'll see.