By command line parameters or by creating a prefs file. "maniac tandy" e.g. starts the game in Tandy mode.

Note however that the game can not use Tandy sound with non-Tandy graphics.

OK, thanks! Is there an "un-mofied" (unplayed, an image created purely off of the floppy diskettes) on the web? The ones that I have, are the versions that have saved files or preferences in them.

Thanks!

Can't say, as I own the original game and never downloaded it from the web.

However, just delete all files apart from maniac.exe and *.lfl and it should be back in "unplayed" state.

Did you try the patched exe from oldskool.org?

ftp://ftp.oldskool.org/pub/TandySoundPatches/ … /LUCAS/MANIACM/

root42 wrote:

Did you try the patched exe from oldskool.org?

ftp://ftp.oldskool.org/pub/TandySoundPatches/ … /LUCAS/MANIACM/

No, I have not! What does this patch do?

Runs Maniac with EGA graphics and Tandy sound on any PC with a Tandy soundcard on 0C0h.

root42 wrote:

Runs Maniac with EGA graphics and Tandy sound on any PC with a Tandy soundcard on 0C0h.

I see. Well, unfortunately I have an AWE64 GOLD.

But, just out of curiosity:

I copied MODIAC.EXE and MANIACTE.EXE into my game folder:

When I run MODIAC.EXE, I see the EGA graphics, but no music/sound. The MANIACTE.EXE hangs my system (black screen)

I am using SetMUL L2D to reduce the speed of my PIII system.

Start the game, in the selection screen you can
switch to tandy mode by pressing SHIFT+T then save it by SHIFT+W
Then start you game with: MANIAC P next time around.

Or

1. Create a new folder, copy original files there.
2. Start maniac.exe
3. Press "SHIFT+W" in the kid selection screen, it will say preferences saved.
4. Edit the PREFS file to what you want.
5. Make a batch file called maniac.bat

1@MANIAC.EXE P

6. Start MANIAC.BAT

Good luck!

derSammler wrote:

By command line parameters or by creating a prefs file. "maniac tandy" e.g. starts the game in Tandy mode.

Note however that the game can not use Tandy sound with non-Tandy graphics.

Interesting, is there a specific reason as to why the Tandy Sound mode is linked to the Tandy Graphics mode?

Akuma wrote:

Start the game, in the selection screen you can switch to tandy mode by pressing SHIFT+T then save it by SHIFT+W Then start you […]
Show full quote

Start the game, in the selection screen you can
switch to tandy mode by pressing SHIFT+T then save it by SHIFT+W
Then start you game with: MANIAC P next time around.

Or

1. Create a new folder, copy original files there.
2. Start maniac.exe
3. Press "SHIFT+W" in the kid selection screen, it will say preferences saved.
4. Edit the PREFS file to what you want.
5. Make a batch file called maniac.bat

Copy code to clipboard

1@MANIAC.EXE P

6. Start MANIAC.BAT

Good luck!

I have an 1988 version of the game, and my only *functional* options in the game are:
SHIFT V = MCGA Mode
SHIFT E- EGA Mode
SHIFT C = CGA mode
SHIFT B= CGA Black and White mode

When I press SHIFT T, nothing happens, same with SHIFT H (for Hercules)

Interestingly, on a 1987 version of the game, non of these keys work at all! (except Alt-X, which quits the game!).

Thanks!

jaZz_KCS wrote:

derSammler wrote:

By command line parameters or by creating a prefs file. "maniac tandy" e.g. starts the game in Tandy mode.

Note however that the game can not use Tandy sound with non-Tandy graphics.

Interesting, is there a specific reason as to why the Tandy Sound mode is linked to the Tandy Graphics mode?

Back in the day only PC Jr and Tandy machines had the 3 Voice sound. They also had the (originally PCJr) Tandy graphics mode (320x200x16). So it made sense to couple the two together.

C0deHunter wrote:

I have an 1988 version of the game, and my only *functional* options in the game are: SHIFT V = MCGA Mode SHIFT E- EGA Mode SHIF […]
Show full quote

I have an 1988 version of the game, and my only *functional* options in the game are:
SHIFT V = MCGA Mode
SHIFT E- EGA Mode
SHIFT C = CGA mode
SHIFT B= CGA Black and White mode

When I press SHIFT T, nothing happens, same with SHIFT H (for Hercules)

Interestingly, on a 1987 version of the game, non of these keys work at all! (except Alt-X, which quits the game!).

Thanks!

You can only switch to tandy mode if machine=tandy
Try this config:

1[dosbox]
2machine=tandy
3memsize=31
4
5[cpu]
6core=dynamic
7cycles=5000
8cycleup=500
9cycledown=500
10
11[mixer]
12nosound=false
13rate=44100
14blocksize=2048
15prebuffer=10
16
17[sblaster]
18type=none
19
20[speaker]
21pcspeaker=true
22tandyrate=44100

BTW: The patch MANIACTE.EXE is for the enhanced version: MANIAC Tandy Enhanced is my guess.
It will allow you to switch to tandy but since dosbox is not configured for tandy it will hang.

Afaict you cannot seperate tandy music from tandy graphics in dosbox. So that patch wont work anyway.

Try the config, it works fine here 😁

I think he isn’t talking about Dosbox. After all this is the regular software forum.

C0deHunter wrote:

I see. Well, unfortunately I have an AWE64 GOLD. […]
Show full quote

root42 wrote:

Runs Maniac with EGA graphics and Tandy sound on any PC with a Tandy soundcard on 0C0h.

I see. Well, unfortunately I have an AWE64 GOLD.

But, just out of curiosity:

I copied MODIAC.EXE and MANIACTE.EXE into my game folder:

When I run MODIAC.EXE, I see the EGA graphics, but no music/sound. The MANIACTE.EXE hangs my system (black screen)

I am using SetMUL L2D to reduce the speed of my PIII system.

Without a Tandy sound card (such as the one from matze79 or the one from lotech) you won’t get any sound. And yes, the maniacte.exe is for the enhanced graphics version. So you probably have the original unenhanced version.

root42 wrote:

I think he isn’t talking about Dosbox. After all this is the regular software forum.

My bad 😁

Try this, I translated the patch from the MANIACTE version to the 1988 one.
Haven't tested it but afaict it should work. (make a backup)

EDIT: It allows me to switch to tandy mode whilst in VGA (in dosbox), so this should work.

jaZz_KCS wrote:

Interesting, is there a specific reason as to why the Tandy Sound mode is linked to the Tandy Graphics mode?

Yes, because there never was a system that could do *only* either Tandy graphics or Tandy sound. The Tandy 1000 and the PCjr had both and neither Tandy sound nor Tandy graphics existed as an ISA card for putting into other systems. It's actually more interesting that some later games broke with that linking - most likely because at some time, many developers expected that Tandys were upgraded with VGA.

Well, I am playing this on my real retro computer (see my signature for the specs), so the DosBox does not apply to me! But I really appreciate your awesome input!

Try the patched version of 1988 release above, that should only work on real hardware 😁

Akuma wrote:

Try the patched version of 1988 release above, that should only work on real hardware 😁

I will, after I finish playing the Enhanced version, and I am currently in the middle of!

QUESTIONS:

1) What about the Tandy voice, that is the only thing I was interested in, when I originally posted this thread, how can I choose a sound option, *other* than the built-in PC speaker?

2) Also, can someone tell me the release date for various versions of the PC format?

1987, 1988, and 1998 for enhanced?