Zombeaver Posted October 25, 2020 Author Share Posted October 25, 2020 I had an interesting idea the other day while talking about text adventures on the Zomb's Lair Discord - many of them have no sound or music, so the thought occurred to me that maybe I could sortof pipe in my own appropriate background SID music to help set the mood a bit better. I found a nice tiny SID player that runs directly from CMD called libsidplayfp so I can basically start this as part of a game's .bat, tell it to start a specific SID track (which loops), use an AHK script to watch for Retroarch to close and then close it and the AHK script. I already have this working, at this point it's just a matter of getting tracks picked out. I've found four so far that I like and would be appropriate (below). I'll be looking for more and am open to suggestions. I want stuff that's 1) relatively slow and low-key/atmospheric and 2) are original compositions not from game soundtracks. If anyone wants to help look for more and make any suggestions, a good place to start is the Unepic SID Channel which has over 50,000 SID tracks (!) uploaded, which you can go through in a single playlist if you go here. Stars Are Us by Jammer Stolen Properties by TDM Ghosts by SIDwave Neon Haze by The Solution Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mordroc Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 Thank you for the advice. I used Notepad++ to made those changes (not forgetting the space before " (web version).url", which worked successfully. I checked and double-checked the new .xml and everything was updated to the .vbs. Unfortunately in LB the launch link is still the URL. For some reason even though the .xml has been updated, LB still wants to point to the .url. I am going to just fix the link for each magazine manually one by one in LB, which I know will solve the problem. No big deal. A small amount of time to take compared to the 1000's of hours you've clearly spent setting this up. And I actually just finished. Took about 10min. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombeaver Posted October 25, 2020 Author Share Posted October 25, 2020 7 minutes ago, mordroc said: Thank you for the advice. I used Notepad++ to made those changes (not forgetting the space before " (web version).url", which worked successfully. I checked and double-checked the new .xml and everything was updated to the .vbs. Unfortunately in LB the launch link is still the URL. For some reason even though the .xml has been updated, LB still wants to point to the .url. I am going to just fix the link for each magazine manually one by one in LB, which I know will solve the problem. No big deal. A small amount of time to take compared to the 1000's of hours you've clearly spent setting this up. And I actually just finished. Took about 10min. That's strange because I tested it and it worked fine here. Glad you got it sorted at least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mordroc Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 26 minutes ago, Zombeaver said: That's strange because I tested it and it worked fine here. Glad you got it sorted at least. Thanks. Yeah I tried it three times with a fresh .xml. Checked and doublechecked after replacing the text. There were still other instances of "(web version)" left over in the xml (not with the .url part), so I wondered if that might have something to do with it. But it worked for you so who knows. Maybe in a future update you could include an extra .xml with the changes done (calling it something like "magazines.localvbs"), so someone could just rename the current one to ".old" and name "magazines.localvbs" to "magazines.xml". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombeaver Posted October 26, 2020 Author Share Posted October 26, 2020 Found some more tracks that are appropriate for text adventure background music. It still doesn't quite cover everything I want, but between these and the previous ones it's a good start anyway. Astral Travel by G-Fellow Catalyst by Jammer Downward by Kruthers Illbient by Jammer (can't find a video of this one) Lighthouse in a Storm by Mibri Lost in the Night by MCH (I really love this one; added it to The Curse of Rabenstein and it's just so much better) Street of My Soul by Jammer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dampchimp Posted October 28, 2020 Share Posted October 28, 2020 Hi, I have an issue where everything is running really slowly when using your set-up. Standalone in a separate install, I get full speed without any problems. Isn't a performance limitation on my machine (I have a Ryzen 5 3600, so shouldn't be a problem running this). Any suggestions on any settings you are using in your emulators that might be causing my frame rate to run slowly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombeaver Posted October 28, 2020 Author Share Posted October 28, 2020 Read the performance section of the opening post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ransom2211 Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 I have nothing but respect for the time & effort that went into this project. This is quality at its finest and will keep the c64 Alive for years to come. I have come to the party late but intrigued and exciting for the times ahead with this project. Thank you Zombeaver ? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombeaver Posted November 2, 2020 Author Share Posted November 2, 2020 40 new games since the last batch. 2200 total. Spoiler Endless Greystorm Hall of the Things Halley Mission, The Halls of the Dwarven Kings, The Happiest Days of Your Life, The Helicopter Mission, The Helm, The Hermitage, The Heroes of Karn, The High Mountains, The Holiday Games Hollywood or Bust Hollywood Squares Holo Holocaust Hong Kong Phooey Hook Hopeless Hopper Copper Hopping Hoodlum, The Hopto Hostages Hot Pop Hot Shot Hot Wheels Hotel Alien House Case House of Usher House, The How to Be a Complete Bastard Human Race, The Humanoids Hummdinger Killed Until Dead Metal Dust Newcomer Soko-Ban Test Drive Test Drive II - The Duel 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maschine Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 18 hours ago, Zombeaver said: 40 new games since the last batch. 2200 total. Reveal hidden contents Endless Greystorm Hall of the Things Halley Mission, The Halls of the Dwarven Kings, The Happiest Days of Your Life, The Helicopter Mission, The Helm, The Hermitage, The Heroes of Karn, The High Mountains, The Holiday Games Hollywood or Bust Hollywood Squares Holo Holocaust Hong Kong Phooey Hook Hopeless Hopper Copper Hopping Hoodlum, The Hopto Hostages Hot Pop Hot Shot Hot Wheels Hotel Alien House Case House of Usher House, The How to Be a Complete Bastard Human Race, The Humanoids Hummdinger Killed Until Dead Metal Dust Newcomer Soko-Ban Test Drive Test Drive II - The Duel Thank you for all your efforts and for keeping us posted @Zombeaver Looking forward to the next release. The latest version is still 0.20, or did I miss something? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombeaver Posted November 2, 2020 Author Share Posted November 2, 2020 1 hour ago, maschine said: Thank you for all your efforts and for keeping us posted @Zombeaver Looking forward to the next release. The latest version is still 0.20, or did I miss something? Yes, v0.20 is still the current version. The next update will be v0.25. I'm in the process doing some auditing because a number of things changed with updates to the core, so that's slowed things down a bit but it needs to be done. I'm also in the process of testing out and adding autowarp where applicable - the current core now has this as an option and it's essentially the core's implementation of CCS64's "Maximum 1541 Speed" feature, which warps when it a disk attempts to load data. It only works when TrueDrive is enabled but that's the only time you'd really need it anyway so that's okay. It's a great feature and was basically the only remaining thing that CCS64, up to this point, held as an advantage. With that said, it's not something you can just use across the board since there are times where it's problematic - some games are in an almost constant state of loading, so you can't use it there and in cases where a game has frequent short loads and music you don't want to use it because it mutes the game while it warps (so it makes it sound like the audio is skipping). That said, there are a lot of cases where it's immensely beneficial. For example, there are a number of text adventures that have still images for each area that tend to take several seconds to load each time you move to another area - games like The Brew for example - and they have no music or sound (other than the SID music which I'm now piping in in the background with libsidplayfp, which is unaffected because it's external to Retroarch) - in these cases you're talking about going from 5-10 seconds per screen change to it happening virtually instantaneously. There are of course plenty of other good use scenarios for it as well, but testing is needed in all cases to verify that it doesn't screw anything up or make the game behave oddly. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombeaver Posted November 6, 2020 Author Share Posted November 6, 2020 Another 50 done: Spoiler Accolade Comics Around the World in 80 Days Hunchback - The Adventure Hunchback at the Olympics Hunt for Bubber's Bathtub Hunt for Red October, The Huntress of Midgard Hybrid Hydra Hydrax Hypa-Ball Hyper Active Hyper Circuit Hyper Space Warrior Hyper Viper Hyperbowl Hyperion II Hyperrace Hyperspeed Hyperthrust I Play 3D Soccer I Play 3D Tennis I-Alien I-Ball I-Ball II - The Quest for the Past Ice Island Ice Palace [Creative Sparks] Ice-Mania ICUPS Ihanpaska Ikari III - The Rescue Ikari Warriors II Ikarus Iketa Ikkiuchi Illgen Illusions Imagination Imaginator Imperium Imperoid Implosion Imshi Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade Lord of Dragonspire, The Mars Mean Streets Munsters, The Shadow Over Hawksmill Snap Snake 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozzers101 Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 Hi @Zombeaver, I'm watching this collection come together and it is really amazing the work you are putting in. It's things like this that enrich this community and it is fantastic. I will be adding the project into my setup when it is further along but have used the standalone version and it is great. Many thanks for all your hard work. I have a request for a game if I could be so forward? It is Andy Capp by Mirrorsoft. Once more, bravo and thanks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombeaver Posted November 9, 2020 Author Share Posted November 9, 2020 3 hours ago, Mozzers101 said: Hi @Zombeaver, I'm watching this collection come together and it is really amazing the work you are putting in. It's things like this that enrich this community and it is fantastic. I will be adding the project into my setup when it is further along but have used the standalone version and it is great. Many thanks for all your hard work. You're very welcome! 3 hours ago, Mozzers101 said: I have a request for a game if I could be so forward? It is Andy Capp by Mirrorsoft. Absolutely! Things are moving along nicely with the next version but there's still room for requests (which I always encourage). I'll add it into the next batch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombeaver Posted November 11, 2020 Author Share Posted November 11, 2020 50 more done. That puts it at 2300 currently! I've made it through all of "I" as well. Spoiler 3-D Skramble Andy Capp C64 Snail Maze Elevator Eric Ewe Woz 'Ere Fallen Indoor Soccer Indoor Sports Indy Heat Inertiania - Land of Motion Infection Infinite Inferno Infinity Worlds in the Space Infodroid Ingrid's Back Inherits of the Throne Inner Space Inner Space Plant Attack Insanity in San Francisco Insects in Space Inspector Gadget Interceptor Base Interchange Intergalactic Cage Match International 3D Tennis International 5 A-Side International Basketball International Ninja Rabbits International Speedway International Sports Challenge International Team Sports International Truck Racing Interview Into the Nature Intrigue! Intruder - The Game Intruder - The Space Quest Invader Invasion Invasive Action Invasor Invert Invest IQ Island of the Dragons Iznogoud - The Grand Vizir Run Demon Run Snake-A-Space Successors of the Throne, The - War for the Crown II Survival Messenger Adventure I've also made a new generic bezel (with a couple variations) which people might like. I'm still making my way through and adding music to text adventures (and a few other games that just have no sound). 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maschine Posted November 14, 2020 Share Posted November 14, 2020 On 11/9/2020 at 10:46 PM, Zombeaver said: You're very welcome! Absolutely! Things are moving along nicely with the next version but there's still room for requests (which I always encourage). I'll add it into the next batch. Kaiser is one of my all time favorites: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_(video_game) Thanks for considering Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombeaver Posted November 14, 2020 Author Share Posted November 14, 2020 9 hours ago, maschine said: Kaiser is one of my all time favorites: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_(video_game) Thanks for considering Kaiser's actually in the collection already 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombeaver Posted November 19, 2020 Author Share Posted November 19, 2020 50 new games since the last batch: Spoiler Alien Garrison Gateway to Apshai I-Wizard I-Xera Ice Temple, The Impossible Game, The Incredible Laboratory, The Inheritance, The Inheritance, The - Chaos in Scotland Inheritance, The - Panic in Las Vegas Institute, The Iron Horse Island of Dr. Destructo, The ISS - Incredible Shrinking Sphere Issuar It's a Knockout It's Only Rock n' Roll Italy 1990 Jack and the Beanstalk Jack Bullet Jack Charlton's Match Fishing Jack Nicklaus Championship Golf Jack The Ripper Jackal (Imagine) Jackal (Konami) Jackal II Jahangir Khan Squash Jai Alai Jail Break Jail War Jailbreak (Michael Lalonde) Jam It! James Bond JANI JANI 2 Jara-Tava - The Isle of Fire Journey to the Centre of the Earth, A Last Fight, The Lurking Horror, The Muncher Eats Chewits, The Neptune Lander Elite Over The Net Planetfall Puffy's Saga Tau Ceti Ultima V Where in Europe is Carmen Sandiego Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego More significantly, however, is a lot of other work that's gone on since the last update. All the audits are complete. New SID (+40 / total of 100), Demonscene (+10 / total of 60), Magazines (+19 / total of 110) and Diskmags (+25 / total of 25) are now complete. I've also come up with a way to enable quick-swapping between the game and manuals with a key/button combo (numpad minus + numpad enter or back + R3) and navigate them with either keyboard or controller so that's pretty exciting. I have to enable this on a game by game basis one at a time though. I've gotten 150 manuals added so far. I'm not sure how many I'll do for the release but I'm sure it'll be at least 200. At the very least I want to get all the SSI, Origin, Infocom, and a few other outfits that tended to include fairly elaborate documentation. It wouldn't be quite as time consuming were it not for the fact that I'm parsing through about 5 different sources to find the best version of a manual available and then to make matters more difficult (because why wouldn't I?) I've been converting most of them from .pdf to .cbr (which involves extracting all the pages and then combining into an archive) because they look noticeably better in the reader (CDisplayEx) in the majority of cases. This also allows me to combine multiple docs like manual + reference card + story booklet etc. into a single doc. It's time-consuming but, as they say, anything worth doing... You have to view these at full size to see the difference but it's clear as day if I have both open and alt-tab between the two. For some reason it just handles scaling a lot better with .cbrs and makes it much sharper. PDF: CBR: 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombeaver Posted November 29, 2020 Author Share Posted November 29, 2020 50 new games since the last batch, bringing the total to 3400. A lot of Origin stuff in this one. Spoiler Adventureland Army Moves Aussie Games Autoduel Breakthru Centauri Alliance Crush, Crumble & Chomp Darkhorn Demon's Winter Destruct Jasg Jason of the Argonauts Java Jim in Square Shaped Trouble Jaws (Box Office Software) Jaws (Outlaw-Emix Software) Jaws (Screen 7) Jax Jed's Journey Jeep Command Jeep Command II Jeffy Jessy the Worm Jet Power Jack Knights of Legend Macbeth Mask of the Sun, The Maxwell Manor - The Skull of Doom Moebius Moebius - The Orb of Celestial Harmony Nightwalker Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less Omega - Neural Cybertank Design & Simulation Phantasie Phantasie II Phantasie III Questron Questron II Robin of Sherwood - The Touchstones of Rhiannon Robots of Dawn Rogue Saracen Sentinel Worlds I - Future Magic Silicon Warrior Standing Stones, The Tangled Tales - The Misadventures of a Wizard's Apprentice Ultima I - The First Age of Darkness Ultima II - The Revenge of the Enchantress! Ultima VI - The False Prophet Windwalker - A Tale from Moebius Wizard's Crown I've also spent a lot of hours over the last week improving the code for the manuals and custom music and adding more features. You can see a quick demonstration here: I've also continued to convert, clean up, and add more manuals. 279 have been added so far. Thanks to @jophran I've got a couple new sources for these as well. I also created an additional watchdog app which essentially functions as a failsafe in case something goes wrong with Retroarch's launch for any reason. It waits 15 seconds for Retroarch to start, and if it hasn't started by then it closes any running scripts/apps that were launched - I thought this was prudent since there are a number of scripts and apps that are launched in conjunction with Retroarch now to facilitate the manuals and music. These ordinarily close upon Retroarch closing but, in the event that something weird happens and for some reason Retroarch doesn't start to begin with, they don't have that trigger and will otherwise remain open; the watchdog acts as a failsafe for this so that you don't have a bunch of stuff still running in the event that Retroarch doesn't start correctly for whatever reason; if Retroarch is open once the 15 seconds are up (and it certainly should be, that's plenty of time) the watchdog closes itself; in case your PC is just an absolute potato and it takes it longer than 15 seconds for Retroarch to start, I've included an alternate version that waits 30 seconds in C64 Dreams\C64 Dreams\Retroarch\!Startup Watchdog - it takes about 2 seconds on my PC and it's about 7 years old now so I can't imagine many/any people needing this but you never know. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozzers101 Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 Another request for the list please, I would love it if you could add Hover Bovver by Llamasoft. It's a great, quirky, Jeff Minter game. As always, many thanks for your efforts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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