Zombeaver

April 8, 2019

The Terminator Double Pack has been updated to version 2.0. Details are in the "Special Notes" section of that page.

Updated versions of Abuse, Alien Legacy, Dreamweb, and Zomb's Obscura Vol. 1 are basically done, just have to finish up a couple last minor things and then compile new installers.

I'm also happy (and kindof surprised) to report that I've been able to get 3.1 games working in Retroarch DOSBox so I'll be able to apply this to all of those as well.

April 5, 2019

No problem!

I'm going to be going back and giving this treatment to a few of my previous packages.

I'm finishing up (re-)work on Dreamweb and, in the process, realized that it was one of the somewhat unusual instances of games that output 320x200 as actual 16:10, not 4:3 - in other words, was made with square pixels in mind. This isn't unheard of, but as I said it is a little bit unusual. You can find some more info here if you're interested.

To demonstrate what I'm talking about, this is the game in 4:3:

This is the same image in 16:10:

Squares and circles are a good guide to see whether or not your aspect ratio is correct. In this case, in 4:3 they're rectangles and ovals (stretched vertically), instead of squares and circles.

In the below image I highlighted in red with perfect squares to further illustrate this. In 4:3, none of these would match - they'd all be narrower than the highlights.

I honestly can't believe I never noticed this staring me in the face before - Dreamweb is one of my favorites, so I feel pretty stupid about it...

So anyway, fixed that, added in shaders, and it's awww yeeee...

No shader:

Neuromancer:

Razorgirl:

Decker:

No Shader:

Neuromancer:

Razorgirl:

Decker:

No Shader:

Neuromancer:

Razorgirl:

Decker:

Launcher/Configuration Panel:

April 4, 2019

Well, nobody ever said anything back, but I tried it again and it worked this time, so yay.

Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller has been added to Zomb's Lair.

I did a few new things this time. Firstly, I've setup the game with both Retroarch and DOSBox Daum - you can choose which you want to use. There are advantages and disadvantages to both, but I prefer Retroarch overall for the shaders and bezels. I've also added a configuration panel/launcher via the program ASuite. This is a nice little open source, portable, lightweight program launcher that works great for my purposes here. Some of these functions are added into the start menu, but once you start adding a lot of different options that can get kindof unwieldy, so this is a nice way to organize/access them. I've added emulated mouse input to controllers via Antimicro as well. Please read the "Special Notes" section on the site or the readme included with the installer for more info.

Launcher:

No shader / No Bezel:

Neuromancer Shader + Bezel:

Decker Shader + Bezel:

April 4, 2019

On 4/3/2019 at 5:42 AM, boon said:

I would like to change theme with the new built in theme manager for Bigbox, but I´m not sure how to do that with your custom entries. Is it as easy as just rename?

I'm not sure what you mean. They work with Big Box already.

On 4/3/2019 at 5:42 AM, boon said:

I also would like to have that controller explaining picture as a startup picture for a few seconds.. How to do that?

You'd have to create an .ahk script or something and add it as an additional app for all of these (and you can't bulk add additional apps) so unless you feel like doing that for over a thousand entries that's not going to happen.

It's not necessary though, because you can already display it in-game. You just press back+start and it will display. Press them again and it'll go back to the game. It shows that in the image - "Combo + Start = Show Controls"

April 4, 2019

So just FYI, Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller is done, but Archive is being stupid again. I'm not sure if it's because I've been uploading a lot lately, but the upload is getting marked as "spam" and it won't let me complete it. I've never actually seen it do this before. It said that you can email them with the error message if it's in error for assistance, so I did that last night. I'll give them the day to get it sorted out. If they don't, I'll just upload it elsewhere.

April 1, 2019

7 hours ago, MacGuyver said:

My DPI scaling in Windows is set to 100%. I found someone else having the same problem with Retroarch, and the solution which worked for me was to right click on the Retroarch.exe program in the C64 dreams folder, click "change high DPI settings", and select the checkmark "override high DPI scaling behavior performed by" and select "application". Now it works perfectly!

Awesome! I figured it was something along those lines.

I added a note about it in the screen resolution section above. Thank you for bringing that to my attention!

7 hours ago, MacGuyver said:

What a treat! I'm really impressed how you've got the zoom level perfect to crop out the borders, and the Retroarch rendering looks incredible as far as scanlines.

Thanks very much for the explanation of how hotkeys work on Retroarch. Makes sense.

Happy to help!

7 hours ago, MacGuyver said:

By shortcuts, I was refererring to the fact that sometimes when I click on the C64 dreams copy of Launchbox.exe it would install it instead of running it, and the Launchbox shortcuts in my windows Start menu would launch the C64 Dreams version of Launchbox instead of my regular installation.

Yeah I don't know what to tell you there because that should not be possible. Launchbox.exe is not the installer for Launchbox. The installer is something like Launchbox-[version]-Setup.exe or somesuch which isn't included here. You can find examples in your own Launchbox\Updates folder. Launchbox.exe is just the program itself, which is portable. This is no different from you installing Launchbox on your computer, copying the folder and plopping it down on a different computer. Now, if your start menu is using something like recent applications to determine what to display, they're both named Launchbox.exe and would look the same, and it might only be able to display one of them at a time; that's about the only explanation I can think of. However, nothing here should overwrite an existing static shortcut to Launchbox in your start menu/desktop. When you install Launchbox and tell it to create start menu/desktop shortcuts, it will create ones with a path of C:\[blah blah]\Launchbox.exe (wherever you chose to install it). You starting Launchbox.exe here is not going to change that static path. The only thing that should be able to potentially change that is actually installing a new instance of Launchbox with one of the setup exes.

My suggestion would probably be to just create your own shortcut to Launchbox.exe in the C64 Dreams folder, name the shortcut C64 Dreams, and then put it in your start menu/desktop. Do the same thing for your actual Launchbox install and just leave the name of the shortcut Launchbox; that way there shouldn't be any confusion as to what you're looking at.

You can, of course, just import it into your existing library as well, though this requires some additional steps. I posted them above.

7 hours ago, MacGuyver said:

How can I change the alien type background on the sides?

Currently you can't. You can remove it if you want, by going into C64 Dreams\C64 Dreams\Retroarch\config\VICE x64\ then opening "VICE x64.cfg" and changing the line input_overlay_enable = "true" to input_overlay_enable = "false".

Eventually I'll make some more to give people more options to choose from, but currently it's just Project Firestart.

7 hours ago, MacGuyver said:

Do you plan on showing a tutorial for the process you go through for adding new games, so that I could add some more favorites of my own to this setup with the same care and attention that you have? Based on how careful and how you are actually doing custom setups for every single game, I totally believe that it's going to take you a few years to get through the entire library. You are doing this with the same level as an archivist, and for that I thank you!

I wasn't really planning on it, no. That said, if there's anything specific you're wanting, I'm all ears. My plan is to release updates as I progress; probably every couple hundred games or so. So if there's something specific that you want added, I can add it in for the next batch.

April 1, 2019

Is your DPI scaling in Windows something other than 100%? I'm not sure why it would be zoomed in like that on 1080p unless it's something like that. If the Retroarch UI itself isn't even fitting on the screen, something is very wrong. Scaling would be my first guess. Barring that, maybe try backing up the retroarch.cfg someplace and then deleting it.

ESC already quits, but you have to hold down the enable hotkeys key for it (or any other Retroarch hotkey) to work. In this case that's either numpad * (asterisk) or back/select on a controller. You cannot just press ESC by itself, because that would mean hotkeys were always on... Which you do not want on a platform that uses keyboard inputs, or else you'd be doing all kinds of stuff that you don't want to be doing while simply trying to type in a word, use the function keys, etc.

I'm not sure what you mean about the shortcuts. The package doesn't install anything, so it's not going to impact any existing shortcuts. If you actually *installed* a new instance of Launchbox (which isn't happening here) that could interfere with existing desktop/start menu shortcuts.

March 31, 2019

Zomb's Obscura Vol. 1 - Mecha Beat Em Ups has now been added to Zomb's Lair.

This is a collection of 7 (well more like 6 since both the DOS and x68000 versions of Genocide 2 are included) mecha-themed beat em ups. For 5 of the 7 games (all but Astrocounter of Crescents and Genocide 2 (DOS)) I've included my own custom bezels and shaders as well.

Please be sure to read either the "Special Notes" section on the website or the readme included with the install!

March 31, 2019

Yeah, I love Gley Lancer! Really underrated imo. Really nice graphics and music, and even has some voice samples. Cool weapons too and, like you said, the added customization is nice. I always liked it in stuff like U.N. Squadron, X-Out, Gradius, etc. where you could sortof choose your weapons/loadout to suit your own taste.

March 31, 2019

No problem! Let me know if you have any problems.

March 30, 2019

On 3/28/2019 at 10:15 AM, garbanzo said:

I really need to dig more into shmups from old PC systems. DOS, Amiga, C64, X68000... There's got to be some great stuff out there. I see a few on your list, so that's where I'll start.

As far as C64, specifically, all the ones I mentioned (and many more) are in my ongoing C64 Dreams project. Might want to check that out.

I plan on doing Amiga/DOS shmups collections for Zomb's Lair at some point.

March 28, 2019

17 minutes ago, John vault said:

So you 're working on a new package ..... any clue ? ?

is it an adventure game ? Action Game ?

I'm actually doing something a little different this time. I've had the idea for a while to package together some obscure games that have some kind of common theme.

Originally I was going to do one for Korean DOS games - Astrocounter of Crescents, Baryon, and Zyclunt - but then thought it might be more interesting to do one on robot/mecha focused beat em ups since two of those already fit the bill. So I dropped Baryon (will probably add that to something later) and added in some additional ones. It will contain:

Astrocounter of Crescents (English patched and scrolling fixed) [DOS]
Genocide [x68000]
Genocide 2 [DOS]
Genocide 2 [x68000]
Mad Stalker: Full Metal Forth [x68000]
Mad Stalker: Full Metal Force [PSX]
Zyclunt [DOS]

I've added controller support to all of them via Antimicro. The x68000 and PSX games have custom bezels made by me as well as shader support (I'm using Retroarch for those).

Some other ideas I have for future Zomb's Obscura volumes currently are DOS/C64/Amiga shmups and Scorched Earth (artillery game) clones.

March 28, 2019

13 minutes ago, John vault said:

I have discovered your website : amazing ! ?

I was teen at the end of 80ies .... I don't know how to run my old CD roms on windows 10 and you save the day !

Thanks ! ?

No problem! Glad you're enjoying it

13 minutes ago, John vault said:

Even if it's not the place for requesting a game ... it would be great to play - again - to hell a cyberpunk Thriller (1994).
It was a good one and we are still requesting for a GOG version.... without any success (I guess I'm must the only remembering this game....)

I have no problem with people making requests in here, that's perfectly fine. I've actually got Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller setup on my computer already. I'm not a big fan of the game, so it wasn't too high on my priority list, but I'll bump it up since you asked. I've got another package I'm working on currently, but should be able to do it after that.

March 28, 2019

9 hours ago, Dane said:

It is described as a bullet-hell shooter but its only resemblance to any kind of hell in my eyes is the difficulty in sighting enemy bullets, which is the one fatal flaw I mentioned above. I love the dark, gritty look of the game which has a lot of browns, greys and other earthly hues. Though the issue is that a lot of the enemies bullets are of a size and colour which clash with said background colours. Some of the enemy bullets are tiny in size, especially compared to the average shmup. They are also often a light brown or very dull yellow which makes them blend into their surroundings. I know one could view this as an element of challenge, but I do not consider that a good challenge. Unless it is a hidden puzzle type game you should be able to see what is happening on the screen with relative ease. You should only really die in a shmup if your skill and reaction time is not sufficient. I find even in the most chaotic of bullet-hell shooters that when I get hit I always saw it coming, it is just that I did not react in time. All they had to do to combat this was to make the enemy bullets a fluoro/neon type shade like in most shmups, just as they did in its 1999 sequel Battle Bakraid. They could have done this without increasing the bullet size too so as not to take away too much from the current look of the playfield. Battle Garegga is superior to Battle Bakraid in every way except for this one issue. No game should result in someone who has 20/20 vision wondering if they should be going to LensCrafters to have their eyes checked.

Yep, agreed! It's an otherwise nice looking/sounding game but that honestly ruins the whole thing for me.

9 hours ago, Dane said:

That is a ridiculously good memory off the top of your head!

I love muh shmups haha! I think it's because it's one of the few genres that have remained almost completely unchanged for 30+ years, and it's one of the few remaining genres that represents essentially pure gameplay. Little, if any, story and generally no cutscenes - just you, your hand eye coordination and manual dexterity, and a million glowing dots to dodge and space ships to shoot. I appreciate that in today's gaming world. If you take a look at your average RPG released today and one released 30 years ago, they bear very little resemblance to one another. Take your average shmup released today and compare it to Dominator on C64, released in 1989 - the skill set required and gameplay of both are nearly identical; and you can jump into basically any game in the genre spanning that period and acclimate yourself almost immediately.

I did forget some other noteworthy stuff though, as I knew I would

Baryon (DOS)
Battle Bakraid
Catalypse (C64)
Fantasy Star Soldier (PCE CD)
Gekirindan
Guardian Force
Harmful Park (PSX)
Highway Hunter (DOS)
Katakis (C64)
Raiden Fighters
Raiden Fighters 2
Raptor: Call of the Shadows (DOS)
Shienryu
Super Star Soldier (PCE)
Twin Cobra II
Tyrian 2000 (DOS)
UN Squadron (SNES)
Viper Phase I
X-Out (C64)
Zynaps (C64)

March 27, 2019

1. Esp Ra. De.
2. Armed Police Batrider

...then in no particular order:

Mushihimesama
Espgaluda
Espgaluda II
Dodonpachi
Einhander
Gradius V
R-Type Delta
R-Type Final
Gunbird 2
Dangun Feveron
Batsugun
Guwange
Deathsmiles
Thunderforce IV
Thunderforce V
Cyvern
Gley Lancer
Gunbird 2
Radiant Silvergun
Dimahoo
Gigawing
Darius Gaiden
Mars Matrix
Jamestown
Truxton 2
Raiden Fighters Jet
Dominator (C64)
Enforcer: Fullmetal Megablaster (C64)
SWIV (C64)
Cho Ren Sha (x68k)
Dragon Blaze
Ikaruga
Terra Diver
Hyper Duel
Dogyuun
Cybattler
Philosoma
Grind Stormer
Agony (Amiga)
Battle Squadron (Amiga)

I'm forgetting a bunch because this is from memory. Would have to look at my library once I got home to list more.

...also I've never understood why that board has such an obsession with Battle Garegga. That game is super overrated. Hope you like tiny, barely visible bullets on a bunch of brown backgrounds

March 26, 2019

Apparently Archive.org doesn't like that one for some reason - I don't know why, the same game is there multiple times over - it got auto-removed. The game is in the public domain for shit's sake...

I've put it on Mega instead.

March 26, 2019

Abuse has now been added to Zomb's Lair.

It's probably worth noting that this is the full version - 2.0f specifically - which has music for all levels; not the shareware version that you typically see floating around (that doesn't have background music).

March 25, 2019

Gadget Collection has now been added to Zomb's Lair. This includes Gadget: Invention, Travel & Adventure and Gadget: Past as Future. It also includes a bunch of extras:

Gadget - Past as Future Webdoc - story and behind the scenes info
Gadget Trips: Mindscapes - an animated film based on Gadget
Resonance of Gadget - the extended OST
Inside Out with Gadget - the artbook for the game
Four-Sight - This is an additional game that, while not directly related to Gadget, was also developed by Synergy Inc, plays much the same as Gadget, and is highly surrealistic, like Gadget. It's highly obscure and was released only in Japan. No Japanese comprehension is required for play.

March 20, 2019

Just now, SpiffyJUNIOR said:

Also can anybody confirm if OGL HW + High blending accuracy fixes the black eyes in Jak? A video on YT showed it but I don't believe it.

The last time I had tried it, you had to switch to software and then back to hardware for them to render correctly.

March 20, 2019

On 3/16/2019 at 3:10 PM, Synergy said:

Hi Zombeaver, any plans for Ar Tonelico configs?

Eventually, yeah. I've just had a lot on my plate lately with various projects. Only so many hours in the day :(

March 20, 2019

Blade Runner has been updated to fix the crash when a disc drive (physical or virtual) wasn't visible when the game launched, thanks to a patch made by The Uploader on abandonware-forums.org. Thanks to Biffman 101 of The Collection Chamber for bringing it to my attention and @neil9000 for helping me do a bit of testing to make sure it was working okay.

March 19, 2019

DOSBox Daum supports zipped games. Normal DOSBox does not. It adds some additional complications, however, and some games don't work correctly.

Check out this post:

March 18, 2019

1 minute ago, dmjohn0x said:

Oh the era of FMV Adventure games. I loved these. Like B-movies only it was a cutting-edge video game with awful acting. ❤️

Yep haha. I've got a real soft spot for that stuff.

March 18, 2019

It's probably also worth mentioning here, in case anyone missed it, that the C64 Dreams collection I made a while back has been completely reworked and vastly expanded. I have a thread about it here:

March 18, 2019

Frankenstein: Through the Eyes of the Monster has now been added to Zomb's Lair.

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