(SOLVED) Extremely Obscure Problem with World Class Leader Board \ VOGONS

(SOLVED) Extremely Obscure Problem with World Class Leader Board

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First post, by Gemini000

Posted on 2013-09-07, 05:18

Gemini000 Offline

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OK, so one of the things I ended up talking with Trixter about while discussing Echelon, the game I just reviewed on my web show, was Access Software and their RealSound system, which led to me mentioning that I've always had this problem with World Class Leader Board in that the putting metre doesn't draw properly on every system I've ever tried to play the game on using DOSBox, even though it works fine on my old Tandy 1000 SX.

Then, Trixter said he had no problems whatsoever with the game and even sent me a quick little video, recorded from DOSBox, proving this. :O

So, I figured it must've been a config setting or a version difference of some kind, so I had him send me his DOSBox config file, along with his copy of the game, since it was a slightly different version than mine... and I STILL had the same problem! o_O

I'm gonna put this in bold because it explains the problem in a nutshell:

Same game, same game version, same game files, same DOSBox config settings, same version of DOSBox, yet the putting metre works for Trixter and not for me.

This is how it's supposed to look:

...and this is how I've seen it on all three of the computers I've ever played this game on with DOSBox:

What makes this even more bizarre is how little these computers all had in common. One was Windows 98 SE with a GeForce FX 5200, one was Windows XP SP3 with a GeForce 9800 GTX, and my current system is Windows 8 Pro with a GeForce 660 GT. So... I guess nVidia is common between all three systems. Also, all three have been AMD CPUs, whereas Trixter's was Intel.

I've tried different versions of DOSBox and numerous config settings and nothing fixes it for me. I should also note that when not putting but swinging, the metre works fine, mind you, it's a different metre then. I've also found and tried a copy of the game from way before it had RealSound implemented and had the same problem there too. :o

So either this is an extremely obscure bug in DOSBox, or some graphics/system setting that's been identical on all three of my systems is the culprit. Anyone have any ideas at all what this problem might be or how to go about narrowing down the possibilities further?

Last edited by Gemini000 on 2013-09-07, 19:09. Edited 1 time in total.

--- Kris Asick (Gemini)
--- Pixelmusement Website: www.pixelships.com
--- Ancient DOS Games Webshow: www.pixelships.com/adg

Reply 1 of 5, by Dominus

Posted on 2013-09-07, 06:33

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My guess would have been output or emulated graphics card AND some incompatibilty with the host's graphics drivers. But... hmm... no idea ;(

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Reply 2 of 5, by ripsaw8080

Posted on 2013-09-07, 09:35

ripsaw8080 Offline

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I haven't been able to reproduce the glitch; please provide some additional details:

What specific version(s) of the game have you tried? The version should be displayed at the top of the startup text display.

What DOSBox machine types and corresponding graphics options (Hercules, CGA, Tandy, EGA/VGA) have you tried? Do they all have the issue?

Amount of fixed cycles used in DOSBox?

Are you choosing "full sound" and max volume at game startup, or some other options?

Joystick or keyboard control?

Does the issue appear in demo mode as well as when playing?

Reply 3 of 5, by ripsaw8080

Posted on 2013-09-07, 16:24

ripsaw8080 Offline

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Well, the different putt power meter behavior seems to be a feature of the (P)rofessional difficulty setting. In the (K)ids and (A)mateur difficulty settings the meter behaves as you're expecting. As to the exact purpose of the different meter behavior for Pro difficulty, I leave that for you to research, but I suspect it's to make putting more difficult where you have to estimate the power level as a function of how long you hold the wind-up, and the single red line is the power level you ended up with.

Reply 4 of 5, by P4R4D0X

Posted on 2013-09-07, 17:29

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Unfortunately this is not a bug and it's intentional just like ripsaw says. I remember that from the past and I still have memories playing this beast! It's the same on version 1.10, 2.00 and 5.50. All of them have the same behavior. Even the manual of the game mentions this, that it's up to your decision what power you use. You don't need that if you are using the Professional difficulty. So yeah Trixter and Dominus are just newbies and they are scared to play the game on the highest difficulty level. 🤣

Here's a snippet from the manual just to clarify stuff. All your machines are fine! So yay! No DOSBox bug here...

The attachment leaderboard.png is no longer available

Reply 5 of 5, by Gemini000

Posted on 2013-09-07, 19:08

Gemini000 Offline

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I've never had the manuals for this game, just the disks, and it never occurred to me that this might be the issue... It also means that by some freak coincidence, every time I've played the game on my Tandy 1000 SX, I've only played on less than Pro mode, and every time I've played in DOSBox I've only played in Pro mode...

That... is ridiculous. XD

--- Kris Asick (Gemini)
--- Pixelmusement Website: www.pixelships.com
--- Ancient DOS Games Webshow: www.pixelships.com/adg

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