American Laser Games (Mad Dog McCree and others)

[Retrofan]

Originally Posted by emufan

you dont have to watch the video - just insert some coins and start the game.
you should see some kind of menu , with 4 possible game frames. just choose one.

I see. Why shouldn't I watch the video if everything is ok? It's a game made with videos.

I've downloaded the video again and it finishes where it hangs on UAE, so in my opinion the video isn't complete, you can see that if you open it with Windows Media Player.

Edit: Toni was right from the start, like always :

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

Thats the end of video file, I guess it is truncated or something. (Intro sequence is the very last piece).

EDIT: It does not prevent game play.

[emufan]

Originally Posted by Retrofan

I see. Why shouldn't I watch the video if everything is ok? It's a game made with videos.

you can watch the video when the game starts, it is just an intro to the game, it will skip forth and back. like the intro screen of standard games.

I've downloaded the video again and it finishes where it hangs on UAE, so in my opinion the video isn't complete, you can see that if you open it with Windows Media Player.

if the video has a length of 27 mins 06 second, than you have all you need.

#1) I just restarted the game and just let it run - you were right with the freezing video, after maybe 30 seconds.
it is a cowboy scene with a big gun. it really stops here.
but you can push F3 ( insert coins) and F2 to start the sub-games itself. the game does not freeze,
it is just the intro sequence which gets stoped after 30+ seconds.
the video continues after you push F3 or F2!

so ensure you remap the correct keyboard and the correct mouse.

[Retrofan]

Ace Player says the duration is 27:05

Edit: Yes, I see your edit. But I'm thinking in trying more games, and I wouldn't like that the first one was incomplete like this.

[emufan]

Originally Posted by Retrofan

Ace Player says the duration is 27:05

Edit: Yes, I see your edit. But I'm thinking in trying more games, and I wouldn't like that the first one was incomplete like this.

since every game needs it's own video we are stuck with Gallaghers Gallery.

##################

basically you could use any video instead of the game specific video file.
^^^^ that is not true. maybe you have to have a video with the exact length
or the specific game video has some special frames which are analyzed by the laserdisk player ?

[Retrofan]

I want to try Mad Dog. I've got the CD for the Mega-CD if it's useful for the video.

[emufan]

Originally Posted by Retrofan

I want to try Mad Dog. I've got the CD for the Mega-CD if it's useful for the video.

yep, we need to rip the video part from it.

[earok]

Mega CD version should be a last resort if every other version doesn't work! 16 colours and low resolution.

[emufan]

Originally Posted by earok

Mega CD version should be a last resort if every other version doesn't work! 16 colours and low resolution.

the cd can be found on the net already - is this the one?

[Amigajay]

I think it would be more fitting if the video was in cdxl format, what being an Amiga video format on an Amiga emulator? Or as I mentioned earlier, the mpeg1 full screen standard as what the fmv cd32 cartridge was capable of playing?

[earok]

I've updated the original post with all the info you need to get Gallagher's Gallery working. Thanks all

[emufan]

Originally Posted by emufan

the cd can be found on the net already - is this the one?

the cd contains a 200mb file, which starts with some asci text (scene description) followed by binary data, without a known header :/

Originally Posted by earok

I've updated the original post with all the info you need to get Gallagher's Gallery working. Thanks all

good idea

[earok]

Has anyone beaten that bloody Toast level on Gallagher's Gallery? I could swear it's rigged!

[emufan]

Originally Posted by earok

Has anyone beaten that bloody Toast level on Gallagher's Gallery? I could swear it's rigged!

it's tricky, i can max hit 3x, but not finish this level

#1) btw: some alg service manuals can be found a resource.cx.

#2) running the intro-sequence until the video stops, the logfiles lists this as last video event:

16-235 [1457 000=000]: VIDEOGRAB EVENT 0000000E 00000000 00000000
19-488 [1652 000-000]: VIDEOGRAB EVENT 0000000E 00000000 00000000
19-622 [1660 000-000]: VIDEOGRAB EVENT 0000000E 00000000 00000000
57-711 [3942 000-000]: VIDEOGRAB EVENT 00000001 00000000 00000000

"00000001" end of file, as toni wrote above.

#3) how do they do the timing? are there some hidden frames or is it the filelength?
i thought we could just use any video file, but this does not work, why not?

==> unMAMEd has some technical details:

the machines rely on the frame number of the CAV laserdiscs to find the correct video to display, and there can be over 60000 frames (individual images that play to create the video, or pause for a still screen) on a LD

#4) here you can see the end title of the game, which is missing from the video we have - skip to 22min 20 secs
[ Show youtube player ]

[earok]

I've asked on the original youtube video about the length, even on that it appears the video cuts off mid scene.

Anyway, I guess finding a usable video for Mad Dog McCree 1 is the next logical step. Here are some potential sources, I'll keep track of what people have and haven't tired. Hopefully there's at least one out there with the exact same video in the exact same order with the exact same timings.

- Wii version (gunslinger pack)
- PS3 version
- MS DOS version
- Remastered Windows version
- CD-I version
- Sega CD version
- DVD player version
- iOS version
- 3DO version

[earok]

Ripped the CD-I footage of Mad Dog McCree, it looks like a no-go. Order appears to be wrong so it's unplayable. If anyone wants the footage anyway I can upload to Mega.

Edit: It also seems to have CD-I specific credits in the video, suggesting that they've at least inserted footage.. and FFMPEG threw all sorts of errors converting it, but also in VLC it seems to be very unstable near the end of the video. I'm getting the feeling trying to rip from home conversions will be a waste of time.

Edit 2: I'm throwing in the towel.. I thought the 3D0 version might be more suitable, but it appears that they've split the footage into numerous different files (100 or so). Maybe someone else can have more luck ripping video.

[Toni Wilen]

Yes, it is purely frame number based. Game tells LD player to seek to frame number x and then play video or show still image. Then it asks LD player for current frame number multiple times per second to keep game logic and video in sync.

Very very simple.

[Retro1234]

Bit of a piss take them not doing a CD32 version.

[Amigajay]

Originally Posted by Retro1234

Bit of a piss take them not doing a CD32 version.

Well i'm sure they would have done if Commodore lasted more than 6 months after it came out!

[Retro1234]

I dont know if CDTV could of handled it? would of made a lot of difference these games in the catalogue.

Ive not had a chance to try these can the screen be dragged or Amiga Key and M key? just curious - serial port redirected to a text file or something.

Still think these games are possible like I say CDXL Screen overlayed with Another screen at the bottom with the score etc. Cough any ideas cough earok.....

Also there was an old old Sega Arcade machine game like this might have been VHS I mean really old anyone can remember the name????

[Amigajay]

Wont load for me, the extended rom, you say use the 256k one, but in the zip file in the zone the biggest one is 128k?