sf3000 next gen - comp.sys.acorn.games

Message from discussion sf3000 next gen

cs99...@gmail.com

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More options 24 May 2008, 21:51

Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.games

From: cs99...@gmail.com

Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 13:51:26 -0700 (PDT)

Local: Sat 24 May 2008 21:51

Subject: Re: sf3000 next gen

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groups...@googlemail.com wrote:
> In message <6177b4964f.MThomp...@mt.riscos.org>
> Matthew Thompson <m...@REMOVETHISred-squirrel.com> wrote:

> > In message <d7644f964f.And...@no.reply>
> > groups...@googlemail.com wrote:

> >> In message <8a86ca884f.MThomp...@mt.riscos.org>
> >> Matthew Thompson <m...@REMOVETHISred-squirrel.com> wrote:

> >>> Thanks for this, finally got it working, however and I think this is
> >>> what I did, was load it up on my Iyonix using !CDROMFS which kept the
> >>> file names intact correctly then dragged it across to the hard-disc
> >>> and it worked fine from there, no editing of the !Run file.

> >>> My only problem is that I can only get it running in letterbox mode,
> >>> this maybe due to the fact I haven't got a proper MDF file for it, I
> >>> use a Samsung 15" LCD screen. Or maybe it can't work full screen on an
> >>> LCD screen?

> >> I can't get it running at all: the graphics at the start appear
> >> repeated in a row above the desktop, then the credits appear ok then I
> >> get an error "mode not available" (or thereabouts) and the machine
> >> crashes. (Also it says "Shared sound not found" despite it being
> >> present in Resources.System.310.)

> > I had this error message and the Shared Sound module, in my copy of
> > !System was called SSound ( or something similar) so I changed it to
> > what the error message wanted it called and put it in the place it
> > stated it should be and that seemed to cure it.

> > Perhaps you don't have the correct MDF available for Star Fighter
> > 3000?

> Yes, I've put a 320x256 from an AFK65 file as Doug Webb suggests and
> it's working! First impressions - interface not half as good as SF3000
> but presumably this is because it came from a console.

> You can see the difference in the graphics straight away but
> tri-linear filtering seems to reduce it unplayably.

> Wonder what Chris "SF3000" Bazley thinks?

I don't feel like I've lost my raison d'être, if that's what you mean!
As for the 3DO port back to RISC OS (if I guess correctly that is what
is being discussed), I had nothing to do with it and have never played
it. Nathan Atkinson sent me screenshots years ago, which somewhat
discouraged me from finishing the work I had begun to improve the
range of screen modes supported by the original ARM code version. I
decided to concentrate on a desktop version instead, possibly as the
result of a request on IRC (my memory of that is a bit vague).

The chapter of RISC OS history where games were written entirely in
assembly language was closed more than a decade ago, sadly. I guess it
is only natural that a compiled C version of Star Fighter 3000 should
take the place of the original version.

The decline in platform-specific games (and 'killer apps' in general)
might be a bad thing for minority computing platforms and decreasing
the diversity of computer games. However, the number of excellent
games written in high-level compiled languages that could be ported to
RISC OS from other platforms must, by now, be vast. There just seems
to be a shortage of people with the skills, time and inclination.

A lot of this posting is based on guesswork, because few concrete
details have emerged about the provenance of 'sf3000 next gen', that I
know of. I could be completely wrong.

--
Christopher Bazley

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