JidaiGeki wrote:

Having progressed a P233MMX build to a reasonable state, just installed Need For Speed:Special Edition and started playing it in DOS (no Windows installed yet). Need to work out how to get high detail settings, as it looks terrible with current settings (10MB XMS just to get it going).

It's one of the Function keys, or adjust in the options menu.

Had a quick go on "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream" from GOG last night. Kind of a disturbing game!

bjt wrote:

Had a quick go on "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream" from GOG last night. Kind of a disturbing game!

Have you read the story too? Nightmarish stuff. I read it in a book called 'Microworlds', a collection of computer fiction short stories - i recommend getting a copy if you can.

I'm trying out Distance currently. It's in an unfinished beta state, but already very playable. I don't usually buy early access games, but since their previous (free) game was so amazing I felt like I owed them money anyway 😀

Still has a few physics bugs, somewhat inconsistent preformance, and it looks like the steamless version is slightly crippled. Other than that, it's really good so far! I especially like the dynamic music, fits the tracks really well and responds perfectly to your actions. Also, running into lasers beams and making it to the checkpoint with half a car is pretty cool! 🤣

I've been on a pinball sim binge as of late, and besides the usual suspects (Epic Pinball, Pinball Fantasies, Psycho Pinball, Silverball) I also rediscovered an oldie but goodie - Eight Ball Deluxe. I believe this is one of the first pinball sims to emulate a real pinball machine.

Back in my university days this pinball machine from Bally (along with Firepower from Williams and Black Hole from Gottlieb) was one of my secret addictions; I would go and play it every chance I got. And when I saw this pinball sim at a local Egghead Software store in 1995 I didn't hesitate at all and bought it on the spot.

Admittedly this game is not perfect - some voices are missing and at times the physics will go haywire (lazy flippers, unexpected ball bounces and sound effects). Still, it's a blast to play.

Here is a DOSBox video I made to show how this pinball sim plays (and the Magnet Ball as well 😁 😅 ).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ggeo80q3z4ymrz2/8ba … meplay.mp4?dl=0

Just finished another playthrough of Warcraft III - bought the legit edition through BattleNet because I couldn't get the official patches to work on either of my two original copies in Windows 7 64bit. About to purchase The Frozen Throne and work through that next.

Other titles I've played in the past few weeks are :

Warhammer 40K Final Liberation
Survarium (recently quit the game as around 30% of the players use Wallhack and Aimbot - kinda pointless playing) 😠
Starcraft II
Cradle
Text Twist (my kids have recently become addicted to this, not going to argue with that - much better than watching "Every Witch Way" on catchup) 😵
Age of Conan Unchained
Heroes of Might and Magic 4
Legend of Grimrock

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PeterLI wrote:

Tuesday I beat a player in AOE2HD: 2 hour war. He then wanted to try again: 5 hours later he gave up. The second war he caught me early but I was able to recover hiding in the vast map. I then slowly wore him down. Most players lose because I am great at macro. Their kill rate is awesome becuase of their great micro. In the end however macro wins most of the time: their economy cannot sustain a war of attrition. My economy is usually protected by 10/15 layers of walls: impossible to penetrate. They never wall their economy so I wipe it out.

Sounds like you simply bore your opponents to death 🤣 Patience is a virtue as they say.

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Would you say your strategy is vulnerable to rushing? Or that it works best on larger maps?

I don't play as often as I wish I did. When I play a game nowadays, it's usually Skyrim.
Thing is, it's getting to be a drag. I'm not enjoying it all that much anymore, but I feel determined that I should finish the game before I stop. It's the same thing that happens to me on pretty much every RPG I've ever played. I almost never finish them. I could make a long list of RPGs that I played but never finished, and comparatively few that I actually did finish.

I feel like installing other games, but I'm resisting. Maybe that's silly.

I did play some Unreal (from GoG) recently. Just when I thought I was getting decent, I tried playing a botmatch. I could only laugh at how badly the AI slapped me around. I've always sucked at multiplayer FPS games. I was dying so fast I was watching my own body hit the ground on respawns, and then dying again. Hopeless.

PeterLI wrote:

Tuesday I beat a player in AOE2HD: 2 hour war. He then wanted to try again: 5 hours later he gave up. The second war he caught me early but I was able to recover hiding in the vast map. I then slowly wore him down. Most players lose because I am great at macro. Their kill rate is awesome becuase of their great micro. In the end however macro wins most of the time: their economy cannot sustain a war of attrition. My economy is usually protected by 10/15 layers of walls: impossible to penetrate. They never wall their economy so I wipe it out.

Sounds a lot like when I try to play against my nephew. Originally, I taught him the game. Nowadays he kills me at it. I just can't deal with all his damn walls and defenses, it just gets ridiculous. I know I should rush him but I suck at doing that. The reason he turtles is because that's what he learned from me - I'm not a rusher. He's taken my play style and amplified it.

So I always end up in a late game situation with him buried behind a mountain of walls. I don't have the skill to sustain enough intensity for enough time to break through all his defenses and do any real damage, and I get frustrated trying. I've come to hate playing against him. 😀

I’m making an effort to get to know the Mega Drive / Genesis version Mortal Kombat II. The original MK – DOS version – has been a favourite of mine since it was released (I still play it!), but although I’ve owned the DOS version of MKII since the 90’s, I’ve never really gotten into it. It’s not a bad port, by all reports, but there’s something about it that doesn’t quite work.

The Mega Drive version though, I like. It looks great, sounds great, and the controls never frustrate me like they did on the DOS version. I haven’t gotten very far to be honest, I’m still getting used to the different timing (MK 1 timing is burned into my synapses), and the special moves, of which there are more than there were in the first game.

I also have Street Fighter II for the Mega Drive, which I’ve also tried to get into, but I always come back to Mortal Kombat.

badmojo wrote:

I’m making an effort to get to know the Mega Drive / Genesis version Mortal Kombat II. The original MK – DOS version – has been […]
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I’m making an effort to get to know the Mega Drive / Genesis version Mortal Kombat II. The original MK – DOS version – has been a favourite of mine since it was released (I still play it!), but although I’ve owned the DOS version of MKII since the 90’s, I’ve never really gotten into it. It’s not a bad port, by all reports, but there’s something about it that doesn’t quite work.

The Mega Drive version though, I like. It looks great, sounds great, and the controls never frustrate me like they did on the DOS version. I haven’t gotten very far to be honest, I’m still getting used to the different timing (MK 1 timing is burned into my synapses), and the special moves, of which there are more than there were in the first game.

I also have Street Fighter II for the Mega Drive, which I’ve also tried to get into, but I always come back to Mortal Kombat.

That Megadrive looks like it rolled off the shelf only yesterday! Superb condition.

We played MK1+2 a lot on the 16-bit SEGA back in the day. It was a good port. Scorpion was the weapon of choice, although in the arcades I prefered to use Sub-Zero. I have fond memories of many Megadrive games. RoadRash series, Mercs, Kid Cameleon and Sonic 2. There was an old bookstore near me which also sold second hand cartridges and I bought a few obscure japanese carts from them which turned out to be amazing games, although the writing was all in japanese. I could only get them to work through a Game Genie too.

I like the way this looks in 40-column over composite. And aaargh this game is too addictive.

My best so far, who can beat me? 😀
(Epyx v1.49 btw)

Startrek 25th Anniversary, Privateer, and some Tie Fighter. I now have the full set of hardware I didn't the first time round - AWE64, Sound Canvas, MT32 and VESA support.

Getting sound and MIDI working at the same time has for some reason been a chore. I've resorted to an SB16 with the gameport and IDE disabled running MIDI - port 330, then an AWE64 doing sound, gameport and mixing (Needs to be A220/I5/D1/H5). It works well with most games, with the exception of Sam and Max (later version refuses to run MIDI, early version hangs) and Keen 4/5 (must be ignoring the BLASTER environment variable, performing its own detection and somehow not working)

Privateer is lots of fun, although after playing a few hours it seems the way to get ahead at the start is with lots of missiles. Judging the shoot ahead point without a scanner is tricky.

Been playing through the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight series again. I'm just finishing up Mysteries of the Sith. I'm using the Jedi Knight Enhanced mod for both JK and MOTS but in the latter many of the textures are all screwed up for models and it doesn't replace textures in the world at all.

Anyway, still fun. Though I'd forgotten how absolutely infuriating the physics are in JK. Can't wait to get past it. DF holds up very well, on the other hand, and was a blast to play. I wish the later games had managed to capture more of its feel and atmosphere. Fantastic level designs it had.

ynari wrote:

Getting sound and MIDI working at the same time has for some reason been a chore. I've resorted to an SB16 with the gameport and IDE disabled running MIDI - port 330, then an AWE64 doing sound, gameport and mixing (Needs to be A220/I5/D1/H5). It works well with most games, with the exception of Sam and Max (later version refuses to run MIDI, early version hangs) and Keen 4/5 (must be ignoring the BLASTER environment variable, performing its own detection and somehow not working)

Why two sound cards?

Privateer has this slowdown bug if you're not playing with a joystick, just something to keep in mind. To get ahead early you can turn on invulnerability and do lots of trades. Get an afterburner and configure power distribution for unlimited burning, so you can outrun any fight.

ynari wrote:

Keen 4/5 (must be ignoring the BLASTER environment variable, performing its own detection and somehow not working)

Keen 4 and up really only has AdLib support, no BLASTER environment necessary.

Two sound cards is primarily because of Tie Fighter. I can't get it to play digitised sound, MIDI music, a joystick and have no pausing bugs (the AWE32 slowdown bug) on one AWE64/AWE32. Privateer also struggles with running sound and MIDI at the same time off one card, although it's fine with sound and OPL3.

Thanks for the Privateer slowdown heads up - I'm only using joystick at the moment, so I'll leave it that way. I've got an engine upgrade, extra shields and two of the tachyon cannons so combat is becoming manageable. My biggest mistake early on was bothering with the Neutron gun. To my mind the only decent guns are laser, neutron gun and tachyon cannon. I'm waiting for the next shield upgrade before departing the Troy system; last time I tried it early on, and life is a tad difficult if you do that!

I figure this way I probably also miss the hanging note bug, because there isn't a digitised sound and MIDI sent off the same sound card.

Yeah, Keen 4/5 is Adlib, but it still doesn't work! I'll run it on my 486 system, alongside the Ultima games and Sam N Max, through an AWE32. I suppose I could run it through DOSBox, too, as I can't really see or hear any difference between it and bare metal so far.

Do you use the AWE for General MIDI from within Windows?

I highly recommend going with an external GM unit. The AWE doesn't have the hanging note bug, and with an external GM device, be it Roland or Yamaha or something else, you got a solid combo.

Another alternative is going with an ISA Yamaha card, like the Audician 32. Also no hanging note bug, real OPL3 and great compatibility. But this might be something for another thread 😀