VOGONS


Reply 20 of 26, by reenigne

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Errius wrote:

I'm intrigued by this "Dragonfly" game. Who made it? I assume (from the file date) it was produced in 1994?

It's older than that - I changed the file date at some point. I don't have any more information about it I'm afraid. I think it came from a friend but I don't remember which one and I'm not in contact with any friends I was swapping disks with back then either. Even if I was I doubt they would remember where they got it from. The file doesn't contain any copyright or authorship information, and appears to have been written in assembly (it's very small and doesn't seem to use C calling conventions or typical C library bits). It's quite simple and could easily have been just someone's hobby project, though the title screen does look really nice for an amateur game.

Errius wrote:

I assume it supports the Amstrad digital joystick too?

The in-game text mentions joystick support. However, the digital joystick just generates the same scancodes as the cursor keys so games didn't really need "support" (and indeed lots of games not designed for the digital joystick just worked with it anyway).

Reply 21 of 26, by Errius

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Text adventures. Some of the Magnetic Scolls adventures, like Knight Orc (1987), have an "Amstrad PC 1512" video option which I assume renders the graphics in 16 colors.

Edit: No, what the game calls "MGA" aka "Amstrad PC 1512" mode is just monochrome CGA. It's intended for Amstrads with monochrome monitors and does not display any color.

Is this too much voodoo?

Reply 22 of 26, by Uka

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reenigne wrote on 2008-04-13, 16:05:

In 7 years of PC1512 usage, I only came across two pieces of software that used the mode (other than programs written in BASIC 2 and programs I had written myself).

Resurrecting an old thread, but that's an interesting topic!
There are two more games that support PC 1512 mode, while not supporting anything else except CGA: 'Top Gun' and 'Les Ripoux'.
And there could be more of them...

Reply 25 of 26, by Ignatus

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_Rob wrote on 2021-04-25, 19:52:

DOSBox-X has a machine=amstrad mode.

Yes, DOSBox-X uses the Amstrad patch from DOSBox Daum (as far as I know) from the link I put in my first message, but that patch doesn't work in latest DOSBox SVN without modifications.

Reply 26 of 26, by Ignatus

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As Uka said, Top Gun is a game that displays 16 colors only with PC1512 mode, but when testing 'Top Gun' it I have found errors in current DOSBox's Amstrad mode emulation patch.

As a comparison, I show how the game is displayed with DOSBox-X (as its the most recent dosbox enhanced build using the Amstrad patch) and how it appears when emulating it with MAME, where the game is displayed correctly:

Start screen in DOSBox-X:

Top1.png

Start screen in MAME:

Top0.png

Mission's start in DOSBox-X:

Top2.png

Mission's start in MAME:

Top1.png

Flying in DOSBox-X:

Top3.png

Flying in MAME:

Top3.png

As you can see, the current patch has problems when it comes to clearing the screen and the OCEAN logo is still visible on the second screen, but it is more present on the third screen, where the image of the aircraft carrier continues to be displayed.