I remember.

[sav112g 10]

oh this as an App would go down a storm.....but then Money is not everything.;)

[gadgetmind 10]

oh this as an App would go down a storm.....but then Money is not everything.;)

Golly, is the sad old fart market really that large? :)

I have been toying with writing an Android App, and I can see ways to have a lot of Carrier running under x86 emulation to avoid too much rewriting, but with calls up to Android for some of the drawing via OpenGL.

However, I have vowed to finish the book I'm writing before biting off any more semi-impossible projects!

Ian

[sav112g 10]

Old Fart Market- for us yes!

But you know how it goes before you know it your no1 in the App charts with the young lot claiming have you played this new game, like it is a new idea. just like most of the songs these days with backing tracks from old 80's songs but the new girl band or boy band pass it off as a new sound that they love lol.

Sugar babes – Gary Numan cars comes to mind!

“yeah we love this new backing track its so originalâ€

“So you’re a fan of Gary Numan then?â€

“Whoâ€

[skipped1 11]

Of course, there is always this.

http://androiddosbox.appspot.com/

Ian

Few hours with dosbox later:

Its early alpha -> dosbox is very unstable on my G1 - mainly because of low memory, i had to use memsize=4

Big problem is that after "converting sprites" is language select screen: F1..English but no way how to press F1 on android :) I cant launch dosbox with remmaping parameter nor press Ctrl+F1 for remap, so now im trying to find another way how to remap F keys somewhere else

[ajfarrell 10]

Hmmm, I have just documented the shape data structure/language, and it would be possible to parse this with some simple python. I'm happy to post (or PM) the details if anyone fancies a bash.

Alternatively, I could have a go with the dosbox debugger and try to dump the points array straight from memory.

Ian

---------- Post added at 02:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:47 PM ----------

Possible, yes, easy, no. I'd have to think long and hard about the best way to do it. Probably by ripping out lots of the existing input/cursor code, ditto all the audio and interrupt stuff, and then running the existing code in an 8086 emulator with input fed down and the 16 colour VGA buffer being copied and scaled up to the real display.

Of course, there is always this.

http://androiddosbox.appspot.com/

Ian

Hi Ian,

That's great, could you dump the co-ordinates (x,y,z) on screen for each craft so I can then generate 3d images directly in an ACAD package from which developments for creating models could be produced (i'll post photos online when done!).

You mentioned that you've now rebuilt PC Carrier Command from source (using wine on Linux) and have run the .exe in dosbox, have you resolved the major sound difference between amiga and pc version at all? If so could you make it available for download?

Cheers,

Anthony

[gadgetmind 10]

That's great, could you dump the co-ordinates (x,y,z) on screen for each craft so I can then generate 3d images directly in an ACAD package from which developments for creating models could be produced (i'll post photos online when done!).

It's really not that easy, but I'll see what I can do.

You mentioned that you've now rebuilt PC Carrier Command from source (using wine on Linux) and have run the .exe in dosbox, have you resolved the major sound difference between amiga and pc version at all? If so could you make it available for download?

Doing something about the sound is "on the list" but it will involve me writing Sound Blaster drivers from scratch, and (harder) creating the FM "instrument" patches. Sadly, the only version of the Battle Command source I can find is quite early and before anything other than Roland sound was added.

Ian

[Jace11 10]

Glad to hear your revamping the sound for the PC version. I fired up CC again recently. I tried the ST, Amiga and PC versions while looking through old games / ROMs etc and compared them to see which I liked best. I had a suspicion that there was a few minor differences in gameplay. The sound on the Amiga is clearly superior though, but I always found the AI too easy. I could set traps for the AI which it would walk into.

The ST is the same (and I have seen the enemy carrier cross an island). What you say about the DOS version having "improvements" is true....

Aside from the sound, it's definately the best version... in the DOS version the AI can be really nasty... (it does indeed hunt YOU!)

I recently played a couple of quick start games (action game??) and set the same trap I used to all those years ago for the amiga AI. Take hostile island that you start near then sit out at sea.. and wait for him to attack one of the three islands in that triangle..

Except on two occasions the enemy ambushed me in mid-ocean as I waited - I was nowhere near an island! (and sank me both times!). That never happened on the amiga version (and I played that a lot!). I was pretty mad at being surprised by a 22 year old game that I thought I knew inside out.... :)

Oh and enemy carrier can fire missiles at your planes too (I never saw this in Amiga or ST) and it's planes will follow you for greater distance. If it confronts you in mid-ocean and you back off, it will come after you!!!

So if you're a fan of the original, try the DOS version, though the sound may suck, but maybe that will be remedied one day...

One problem with the DOS version that isn't present in the Amiga and ST versions is the scaling of the sea dots... they are scaled close together from the tank viewpoint and far apart for the ship and planes, its very noticiable when looking out the dock while your ship is moving fast, then look out the bridge... you should be able to spot the scale difference - maybe it was a deliberate change?

Edited April 1, 2011 by Jace11

[gadgetmind 10]

Ah, yes, the enemy carrier on the island. That bug was mine, 100% all me, end to end and top to bottom. But we were under massive pressure to finish the game (or at least to release what we had!) and both the company and ourselves as individuals were under serious financial pressure of the "no bills or wages paid for several months" variety. Those weren't good times.

Once the 68k versions were out of the door, and Rainbird saw the strong sales, we managed to get more advances, and really got stuck into the PC version. The work was technically difficult as when you're hitting the PC at the metal level (no libraries to help in those days!) it's a varied and complex beast, but it was pastures new and a chance to fix all that was broken. The enemy carrier was the last code to be completed in the 68k versions, and the most hairy and critical part of the whole thing in many ways, so we didn't just fix it, we ripped it out and totally rewrote it.

I would like to tackle the sound on the DOS version, but it's not a quick job and I'm a busy guy(1). As for the sea dots, this might have been deliberate, but I'd have to "read the source, Luke!" to be sure.

Ian

(1) If anyone knows someone who tackled SB16 and/or Gravis Ultrasound on the PC from 16-bit assembler, then please let me know! The code is easy enough (I can hack around the 68k logic and recode in x86) but the patches/instruments for the SB16 could take me a long time to get right.

[ajfarrell 10]

Hi Ian,

Can you post/pm your documented shape data structure/language, I'll try parsing it.

[bfcrusader 10]

Out of curiosity, did anyone find any use for the fuel transfer pod Walruses use to refuel another Walrus? I didn't really, although the concept was cool.

I just didn't believe that the Walrus was fast enough to be useful in extended travel and their range were limited. Although... was the signal thingy Mantas use able to widen the signal range for Walruses? I thought it was only supposed to widen the range for other Mantas.

What was the idea, Ian?

[skipped1 11]

Out of curiosity, did anyone find any use for the fuel transfer pod Walruses use to refuel another Walrus? I didn't really, although the concept was cool.

I just didn't believe that the Walrus was fast enough to be useful in extended travel and their range were limited. Although... was the signal thingy Mantas use able to widen the signal range for Walruses? I thought it was only supposed to widen the range for other Mantas.

What was the idea, Ian?

I did, my best / most crazy mission was using four walruses and three mantas. One manta with telemetry booster, one with laser, all other pods full of rockets. One walrus with ACCB, three with refuel, main pods loaded with rockets and laser. Mission target: lonely neutral island which was too far to waste fuel of carrier.

All vehicles on route to first, walruses at full speed, mantas at lowest speed (they were still a bit faster, so they needed to wait for walruses a few times). Mantas refueled on airport of first island, two warluses refueled other two so only two were able to continue their travel with full tanks, one refuel remained. Second island and only one walrus remained with full tank. I lost laser manta here ... damaged while landing, so it was using more fuel and was unable to reach last island.

Last island, CC builded, about twenty seconds after planting ACCB manta with telemetry booster ran out of fuel and crashed, folowed by other manta and last walrus :)

I was exhausted maintaining carrier (which took course another way) and seven vehicles :D But it was worth it :-)

I know i had two mantas and most weaponry useless, but i had plenty of those, only limited resource was carrier fuel and i didn't know if i meet enemy carrier :)

[bfcrusader 10]

Cool, a proverbial task force of Mantas and Walruses. Just because of that I feel like playing it again, lol

[.Taffy 10]

I did, my best / most crazy mission was using four walruses and three mantas. One manta with telemetry booster, one with laser, all other pods full of rockets. One walrus with ACCB, three with refuel, main pods loaded with rockets and laser. Mission target: lonely neutral island which was too far to waste fuel of carrier.

All vehicles on route to first, walruses at full speed, mantas at lowest speed (they were still a bit faster, so they needed to wait for walruses a few times). Mantas refueled on airport of first island, two warluses refueled other two so only two were able to continue their travel with full tanks, one refuel remained. Second island and only one walrus remained with full tank. I lost laser manta here ... damaged while landing, so it was using more fuel and was unable to reach last island.

Last island, CC builded, about twenty seconds after planting ACCB manta with telemetry booster ran out of fuel and crashed, folowed by other manta and last walrus :)

I was exhausted maintaining carrier (which took course another way) and seven vehicles :D But it was worth it :-)

I know i had two mantas and most weaponry useless, but i had plenty of those, only limited resource was carrier fuel and i didn't know if i meet enemy carrier :)

Am I sad for thinking that actually sounds kind of cool? :D