VOGONS


First post, by Shadou81

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When I was a kid, my dad used to have an old apple atari computer, and we used to play this little shoot-em-up/puzzle game together called Time Bandit. Here I am, 25+ years later, trying to take a trip down memory lane after his passing.

Problem is, I can't get it to be playable. I'm able to run the game just fine; the game start in dosbox, I can start a round of play, and while I'm not happy with the sound output, I can troubleshoot the soundblaster settings on my own. But once I enter one of the levels in the game, I find that the enemies, which under normal start-of-game circumstances take only one shot from the player's weapon to kill, seem to be invulnerable.

I've tried various CPU settings, slowing down the cycles to almost nothing (the monsters did get stronger over time in the game), but at this point I'm wondering if I'm hitting some kind of copy protection. Does anyone have any ideas for getting this game to play right?

Reply 1 of 3, by ripsaw8080

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Shadou81 wrote:

I'm not happy with the sound output, I can troubleshoot the soundblaster settings on my own.

The PC version of the game only supports speaker sound, so don't bother about SB settings.

Shadou81 wrote:

I find that the enemies, which under normal start-of-game circumstances take only one shot from the player's weapon to kill, seem to be invulnerable... I'm wondering if I'm hitting some kind of copy protection.

Yes, the game authors are having their revenge on you. Acquire a legit copy with the protection intact (on eBay or the like) and you will find the game far less frustrating to play.

Reply 2 of 3, by Jorpho

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Shadou81 wrote:

When I was a kid, my dad used to have an old apple atari computer

There's no such thing as an "Apple Atari" computer. If https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Bandit is any indication, you had an Atari ST.

The Atari ST version is probably much nicer than the PC DOS version (as is the case for many PC games from 1983). There are numerous emulators that will let you play Atari ST games on your PC; I suggest you use one of those instead.

Reply 3 of 3, by Shadou81

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Jorpho wrote:
Shadou81 wrote:

When I was a kid, my dad used to have an old apple atari computer

There's no such thing as an "Apple Atari" computer. If https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Bandit is any indication, you had an Atari ST.

If I'm miscommunicating what the system really was, it's because I was too young at the time to really know. Or, at least, 7-10 year old me didn't pay attention to such details. I don't even really remember what happened to it. What I do remember, though, is that it was an Atari, and it was branded with an apple symbol. So, I got Apple Atari from that. *shrug*

The Atari ST version is probably much nicer than the PC DOS version (as is the case for many PC games from 1983). There are numerous emulators that will let you play Atari ST games on your PC; I suggest you use one of those instead.

Thanks, I'll check it out.