The Icon Bar: General: Archimedes Software Preservation Project
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Archimedes Software Preservation Project |
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Jon Abbott |
Message #121259, posted by sirbod at 12:08, 18/10/2012, in reply to message #121257 |
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@ Inferno () (Paradise Games) I have this one. It has one of those infuriating copy protection mechanisms which require the original disk to be in the drive when you load it, which has had a direct impact on how much I've played it. AFAIK the disk is still fully working, and comes in original (albeit slightly graffiti'd) packaging.
All the more reason to image it! Provided the protection is supported by ADFFS, its a five min job with the right hardware.
@ Lemmings & Oh, No! More Lemmings [RPC version] (1991) (Krisalis Software) I think the original boxes for the RPC versions of both are in the house somewhere, although I'm pretty sure they were released separately.
AFAIK there were two versions, Lemmings RPC and a combined Lemmings and Oh No.. RPC. I'm not aware of an individual release of an RPC version of Oh No..., you can confirm this when you find your copy.
If you're offering to image / scan any of these games please eMail me.
Did one of them have a change of heart? It increased! I've been too busy coding to contact many, my research assistant should start doing that over the coming months. |
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VinceH |
Message #121260, posted by VincceH at 18:01, 18/10/2012, in reply to message #121259 |
 Lowering the tone since the dawn of time
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It increased! I've been too busy coding to contact many, my research assistant should start doing that over the coming months. Well I'll save her a little bit of effort: If you can find copies of the Soft Rock games, you are welcome to give them away.
Note: You'll need the versions that I actually supplied - I can't remember if Dave Holden made any modifications to the versions he put on CD, but if he did that complicates things because while the main bulk of the software is mine, the mods in those versions will be his copyright. (I suspect he did modify them so that they could be run straight from the CD, though I can't remember).
Also, as an afterthought - the list is slightly incomplete, because Escape from Exeria and Drop Rock both got rewritten at some point (mid 1990s?). They were still, in essence, the same games, but the graphics were improved for the RiscPC (and in Escape, there was an option to change the way the ghosts behave).
And I wish I could find copies here myself, because I really, really want to update them to work in the desktop. |
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Jon Abbott |
Message #121261, posted by sirbod at 18:16, 18/10/2012, in reply to message #121260 |
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Well I'll save her a little bit of effort: If you can find copies of the Soft Rock games, you are welcome to give them away. Could you please eMail me to that effect: jon at jaspp dot org dot uk
I also need your contact details: name, address, tel, eMail address etc. These are for our records, so we can both contact you later and provide you with complete images of your titles to verify / for your records.
I'll add the following to the list of missing:
Escape from Exeria [RPC version]
Drop Rock [RPC version]
It's the original floppy versions we're after, so no need to worry about the APDL versions. Updates to originals will be covered at a later date once ADFFS supports delta changes - allowing multiple revisions to exist within each image. |
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VinceH |
Message #121263, posted by VincceH at 22:29, 18/10/2012, in reply to message #121261 |
Lowering the tone since the dawn of time
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Could you please eMail me to that effect: jon at jaspp dot org dot uk Done.
You'll see in the email another game mentioned - Return to Exeria. I'd forgotten about that until I wrote the email.
Although, since what you're after is the original disks, that was actually supplied with Escape from Exeria on the same disk - but I thought it better to specify it formally when giving permission. |
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Stephen Scott |
Message #121268, posted by sa_scott at 00:55, 21/10/2012, in reply to message #121258 |
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It might be worth trying to find out who wrote 'Spitfire Fury' - there were screenshots published, although 4D never released it. It's a Chocks Away-like Spitfire flight sim. I believe it was Andrew Hutchings.
Andrew had started work on a simulator, but I believe it was too closely similar to Chocks Away, my guess is he abandoned it to work on Stunt Racer 2000 and later, Starfighter with his colleague Tim Parry.
I think it was a wise move - Chocks Away was a case of lightning in a bottle, and with his other work, made a nice trio of diversely playable games.  |
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Michael Drake |
Message #121293, posted by tlsa at 13:24, 22/10/2012, in reply to message #121252 |
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#+ Bubble Impact (1998) (Moving Pixels) I had this, but I can't find the floppy anywhere. It was just a floppy and didn't come in a box or anything.
I think Moving Pixels was the developer, but the publisher was something like "Owl Art".
Edit: Just found the web site:
http://www.owlart.co.uk/Bubble/index.html
[Edited by tlsa at 14:29, 22/10/2012] |
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Jon Abbott |
Message #121294, posted by sirbod at 13:49, 22/10/2012, in reply to message #121293 |
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#+ Bubble Impact (1998) (Moving Pixels) I had this, but I can't find the floppy anywhere. It was just a floppy and didn't come in a box or anything.
I think Moving Pixels was the developer, but the publisher was something like "Owl Art".
Yes, I updated it yesterday to "#+" (floppy scan / floppy image - no manual/box etc)
I believe Owl Art are the UK distributor, the publisher being Moving Pixels themselves.
It probably shouldn't be in the list, as it's Shareware. I'll leave it there for the time being.
[Edited by sirbod at 14:51, 22/10/2012] |
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Michael Drake |
Message #121295, posted by tlsa at 14:15, 22/10/2012, in reply to message #121294 |
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It probably shouldn't be in the list, as it's Shareware. I'll leave it there for the time being. It's a good game, and one of the most polished releases for the platform. Better than many fully commercial offerings.
IIRC, the free demo had only about 10 levels. The full version had many more. Maybe 100. It's ages since I played/completed it. |
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Martin Bazley |
Message #121296, posted by swirlythingy at 15:39, 22/10/2012, in reply to message #121294 |
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It probably shouldn't be in the list, as it's Shareware. I'll leave it there for the time being. I don't know if Bubble Impact ever had a box, or a floppy for that matter. The shareware version (which could be distributed as far as you pleased) contained all the code of the full version, and all you 'bought' from Owl-Art was the code to unlock it.
Quite modern by 1990s standards, really!
Incidentally, Owl-Art still sell these codes, or did a few years ago when I ordered one. I'm sure they won't have a problem with you distributing the shareware version though. |
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Michael Drake |
Message #121299, posted by tlsa at 16:24, 22/10/2012, in reply to message #121296 |
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I definitely ordered it on floppy from Owl-Art. I just can't find the disc. |
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Michael Drake |
Message #121300, posted by tlsa at 16:37, 22/10/2012, in reply to message #121299 |
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@ Pocket Money (2001) (Paradise Games) This was never released. |
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Jon Abbott |
Message #121301, posted by sirbod at 16:46, 22/10/2012, in reply to message #121300 |
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I definitely ordered it on floppy from Owl-Art. I just can't find the disc. Don't worry, I'm sure someone else will provide it. Yes, you would have ordered from Owl-Art.
@ Pocket Money (2001) (Paradise Games) This was never released.
Updated and removed from the list, thanks. |
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Matthew Thompson |
Message #121302, posted by Matt at 17:12, 22/10/2012, in reply to message #121258 |
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Spitfire Fury never existed, I can't remember who told me now, but they were just mock up screen shots, and it never happened.
Although just to confuse matters there is a game called Spitfire Fury on one of the APDL CDs.
Gumshoe - the sequel to Wimp Game never happened either, nor did The Thing Of Darkness from Eterna. |
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Jon Abbott |
Message #121303, posted by sirbod at 21:25, 22/10/2012, in reply to message #121302 |
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Spitfire Fury never existed Already removed
Gumshoe - the sequel to Wimp Game never happened either, nor did The Thing Of Darkness from Eterna. Noted |
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Jon Abbott |
Message #121344, posted by sirbod at 19:12, 27/10/2012, in reply to message #120548 |
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ANNOUNCEMENT:
R-Comp Interactive and the Archimedes Software Preservation Project (JASPP) sign a landmark agreement at the London RISC OS show, granting distribution rights to JASPP for previous commercial titles published by Krisalis and Gremlin Graphics.
Both parties have agreed to collaborate going forward, on the preservation and updating of titles to run on modern machines. Previously unreleased titles will also be looked at and where feasible, revived to continue development.
Titles covered by this agreement will be available through JASPP as soon as possible, and include:
Alone In the Dark
Battle Chess
Cannon Fodder
Champions
Chuck Rock
Fire & Ice
Gods
Heimdall
Hero Quest
Jahangir Khan World Championship Squash
James Pond
Krisalis Collection, The
Lemmings
Lemmings 2: The Tribes
Lotus Turbo Challenge 2
Mad Professor Mariarti
Magic Pockets
Manchester United
Manchester United Europe
Nebulus
Oh, No! More Lemmings
Omar Sharif's Bridge
Pac-mania
Populous
Premier Manager
Quest For Gold
Revelation
S.W.I.V.
Sensible Soccer
Sim City
SimCity 2000
Speedball 2
World Championship Boxing Manager
World Class Leaderboard
Zool - Ninja of the 'Nth' Dimension
Commenting on the agreement, RCI's Andrew Rawnsley said - "We're very happy to be working with JASPP on these games, as they clearly have a huge love for the titles, as well as the technical skills needed to do them justice. We look forward to these titles giving RISC OS gamers many more hours of pleasure in the years to come."
Speaking on behalf of JASPP, Jon Abbott remarked - "The titles covered by this agreement are some of the most notable games from the Archimedes era, and JASPP are thankful to RCI for making this agreement possible. The Archimedes Software Preservation Project's aim is to make many more commercial titles available for free, and hope to arrange similar agreements with other rights holders in the future." |
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Michael Drake |
Message #121345, posted by tlsa at 21:05, 27/10/2012, in reply to message #121344 |
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Awesome, thanks RCI & JASPP. |
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Patric Aristide |
Message #121346, posted by Tin Hat at 21:59, 27/10/2012, in reply to message #121344 |
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This almost leaves me speechless, fantastic news and well done RCI & JASPP! <3 |
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Jeffrey Lee |
Message #121347, posted by Phlamethrower at 22:05, 27/10/2012, in reply to message #121346 |
 Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot stuff
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Is it Christmas? |
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Alex Macfarlane Smith |
Message #121348, posted by aardvark at 22:33, 27/10/2012, in reply to message #121347 |
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Incidentally there's still a whole bunch of patches at http://www.archifishal.co.uk/~aardvark/prohosting/patches.html - I actually did quite a few more than this IIRC (which ended up on some Acorn User CD that Paul Johnson put together - circa 2000 I guess), but as I didn't officially own those games to test that the patches worked, they didn't end up on the website version.
Diggers was mentioned earlier in the thread, and definitely worked on my Risc PC after some tweaking other than the 16-bit vs 8-bit sound issue - I suspect this is fixable if someone knows how the sound system works (I read something the other day about there being an 8-bit sound buffer in the OS as well as a 16-bit sound buffer, so perhaps it's just a case of changing some base pointer in the code).
Also Darren Salt's patches on http://old-www.moreofthesa.me.uk/progs.patches.html - IIRC I did get Cannon Fodder running reliably on RISC OS 4. I think Theo's patch site has vanished though.
I wonder if there's a way to make Iconbar forums email you when someone replies to one of your posts...
[Edited by aardvark at 23:41, 27/10/2012] |
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Michael Drake |
Message #121350, posted by tlsa at 22:53, 27/10/2012, in reply to message #121348 |
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We should make a compatibility table, listing all the games, indicating which RISC OS versions they run on, and also which emulators they work with. |
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Señor Nueces |
Message #121351, posted by gaula92 at 01:32, 28/10/2012, in reply to message #121350 |
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We should make a compatibility table, listing all the games, indicating which RISC OS versions they run on, and also which emulators they work with. I've tried quite a number of classic Risc OS games under Risc OS 5.19 on OMAP4 Pandaboard ES.
I'd be very happy to contribute to souch a list or table with my findings.
I can also repeat tests with the Raspberry Pi. |
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Jon Abbott |
Message #121352, posted by sirbod at 09:57, 28/10/2012, in reply to message #121350 |
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We should make a compatibility table, listing all the games, indicating which RISC OS versions they run on, and also which emulators they work with. The project holds a master database of game compatibility, which will be made public once the website is available. At that point the metadata will be open to the public to update.
*The project itself is currently only checking compatibility up to RO3.71 and StrongARM on physical Acorn machines. Beyond that, the community will have to assist as there's just too many variations of CPU, chipset and OS.
If you have a newer machine and have tested games, I would be more than happy to hear from you so I can update the tables.
There is a caveat though, the games have to be tested as originals, in their original release format, unpatched. The reason for this is that many patches are specific to certain versions of the game or particular OS's / chipsets. What works for one setup, may not work for another.
To work around this limitation, a patching system will be implemented in the near future, that allows for multiple patches specific to OS / CPU requirements.
* The reason for this, is down to the project requiring hardware to test on. |
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Trevor Johnson |
Message #121353, posted by trevj at 12:04, 28/10/2012, in reply to message #121344 |
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Sounds like good news - thanks for making this possible! I'll look forward to reliving the Amiga days, not to mention the bulk of home-grown stuff I've never played before. |
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Martin Bazley |
Message #121354, posted by swirlythingy at 15:00, 28/10/2012, in reply to message #121352 |
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There is a caveat though, the games have to be tested as originals, in their original release format, unpatched. The reason for this is that many patches are specific to certain versions of the game or particular OS's / chipsets. What works for one setup, may not work for another. Does this mean you're not going to be updating the original codebases of any of these games? Much as old games are impressive technical achievements given the hardware available at the time, binary hacking can really only get you so far. |
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Jon Abbott |
Message #121355, posted by sirbod at 15:58, 28/10/2012, in reply to message #121354 |
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Does this mean you're not going to be updating the original codebases of any of these games? Much as old games are impressive technical achievements given the hardware available at the time, binary hacking can really only get you so far. For testing compatibility no, otherwise you're getting into testing the patch compatibility. Long term, the aim is to get games working on modern kit.
Every piece of software needs testing as it was supplied, with protection etc intact. Once we know what doesn't work, then it's down to either a wrapper that emulates the correct environment or patches that then also need testing and altering where they don't work on newer OS/hardware. |
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Martin Bazley |
Message #121356, posted by swirlythingy at 17:36, 28/10/2012, in reply to message #121355 |
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Long term, the aim is to get games working on modern kit. ...But how is this in any way feasible at such a large scale by crude reverse engineering? And as for compatibility wrappers, best case scenario is that maybe 10% of games will mostly work on a BeagleBoard or Pi with Aemulor and ADFFS loaded.
You did include the original source code of the games in those rights you bought, right? |
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Jon Abbott |
Message #121359, posted by sirbod at 20:06, 28/10/2012, in reply to message #121356 |
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You did include the original source code of the games in those rights you bought, right? We need to locate it, along with the unreleased titles. If anyone has contact details for the Krisalis founders, or any of their developers, drop me an email please.
It's unlikely that we'll locate it, but we'll certainly try.
EDIT: We've tracked down the founders, so just need the developers.
[Edited by sirbod at 20:25, 28/10/2012] |
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Alex Macfarlane Smith |
Message #121361, posted by aardvark at 09:54, 29/10/2012, in reply to message #121359 |
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You did include the original source code of the games in those rights you bought, right? We need to locate it, along with the unreleased titles. If anyone has contact details for the Krisalis founders, or any of their developers, drop me an email please.
It's unlikely that we'll locate it, but we'll certainly try.
EDIT: We've tracked down the founders, so just need the developers.
[Edited by sirbod at 20:25, 28/10/2012]
Yeah, I think I found the founders too, but they ignored me when I contacted them Nigel Little (Swiv, Revelation, probably others) I found on LinkedIn, but haven't actually been in touch with him.
Having been fiddling with Cataclysm/Inferno myself, I suspect this would be relatively straightforward to get running natively on newer hardware. |
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Trevor Johnson |
Message #121363, posted by trevj at 10:28, 29/10/2012, in reply to message #121361 |
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Nigel Little (Swiv, Revelation, probably others) I found on LinkedIn, but haven't actually been in touch with him. LinkedIn profile |
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Michael Drake |
Message #121448, posted by tlsa at 11:12, 12/11/2012, in reply to message #121252 |
Posts: 1097
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Missing / incomplete:
@*!#+ Skirmish (2000) () This was by Kindred Software. It was never released, sadly. It looked excellent:
http://www.acorn-gaming.org.uk/index.php3?p=Previews/Skirmish/index
http://www.acornarcade.com/forums/viewthread.php?newsid=965
The Acorn 32-bit Gaming preview said, "Kindred Software are hard at work on various releases, including a port of a well-known 16-bit game". I wonder what the port was going to be. |
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