[Sega CD --> Amiga] Heart of the Alien

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by Amigajay

Did you convert the mp3 files back to wav if you dl the version above?

Nope; that was my next step

Originally Posted by earok

You shouldn't need to use daemontools? If you're playing with winuae you should be able to drag the cue right into the interface

Yup; that does the trick and the intro plays with sound using the .MP3 files

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by earok

We're launching the CD32 version as currently is as a BETA. D.J.M has worked massively hard on the project for months on end and would like to retire the project, at least for now.

Hells yeah , this is fantastic!!!
Glad you found the WAV files useful. Can't wait to try this on my CD32!

[Sir_Lucas]

Originally Posted by earok

We're launching the CD32 version as currently is as a BETA. D.J.M has worked massively hard on the project for months on end and would like to retire the project, at least for now.

So what's in this version?
- Akiko optimised rendering, which gives a noticeable gameplay boost on the humble CD32
- Sega CD faithful controls:
- RED: Run
- BLUE: Whip
- GREEN: Jump Forward
- Patch for CD audio playback on a real CD32

We're releasing as BETA because it isn't fully tested and there are known issues (in particular the intro animation lagging behind the music)

As an aside, I've included the original game (US edition: Out of this World) which I've patched to have the password menu accessible from blue button, but is otherwise the same old Amiga edition (it's also based on an old cracked copy, so excuse the copy protection screen - just enter anything). The menu from the Sega CD edition has been ported to cater for selecting the two games. There's also a cover in the download by Steve.

Big round of applause for all of D.J.M's super hard work on this project!



Also thanks to Akira, I've nabbed his WAVs and ported to MP3 (for download size reasons).

DOWNLOAD:

https://mega.nz/#!BEJ0zaKQ!aykVjAPr0...bdiAVYEFJcB-08

Amazing work guys!!!

[s2325]

new video by zzielins:
[ Show youtube player ]

[Cobe]

Amazing work!

@earok
I tested it on my CD32. I saw how music ends up few secs before animation does. And the simplest thing to do would be just to stretch those first few wavs by those few seconds.

And if there's another freak like me that likes to have cd stickers on homebrew homeburnt cds here's the one:



I played it for a 15min lets say and it froze 3 times in random situations...

And if I press start for password entry screen fades to black and stays like that while the music is still playing.

[PortuguesePilot]

I think that it's with this sort of things that our community shines the brightest. Thanks for all you effort, mates! To all of you involved. Cheers!

[Retrofan]

Yes, it has been a surprise. Great work

[earok]

@Cobe I've had similar freezes myself, my worry may be that the CD music may be interfering with loading data from disc. I'll look at doing another build in the next 12 hours that plays back RAW audio to see if that makes a difference.

[earok]

I've made another upload, this includes a version with RAW audio. I'm not totally sure but this version might be more reliable, albeit at the cost of audio fidelity and maybe slightly decreased performance.

The upload includes both versions. It might be possible that the freezes are only on real CD32s (in which case the CD music version is preferable under emulation). I have not tested this second build on a real CD32 yet.

Burn the cue file if you want CD Music, otherwise just the ISO called "CD32Game-RAWMusic.iso"

https://mega.nz/#!5I4HiCaI!ZHK5WHbLG...vy5ieoDtOp1__4

Edit: Investigating the freezes, I've passed feedback back to DJM. I think that the crashes happen at the end of a song that's meant to loop, but I'm not certain of that - any help tracking the issue definitively would be appreciated.

Raw Audio version doesn't seem to crash but it introduces a slight lag every two seconds or so.

[Baboon]

Originally Posted by earok

I've made another upload, this includes a version with RAW audio. I'm not totally sure but this version might be more reliable, albeit at the cost of audio fidelity and maybe slightly decreased performance.

The upload includes both versions. It might be possible that the freezes are only on real CD32s (in which case the CD music version is preferable under emulation). I have not tested this second build on a real CD32 yet.

Burn the cue file if you want CD Music, otherwise just the ISO called "CD32Game-RAWMusic.iso"

https://mega.nz/#!5I4HiCaI!ZHK5WHbLG...vy5ieoDtOp1__4

Edit: Investigating the freezes, I've passed feedback back to DJM. I think that the crashes happen at the end of a song that's meant to loop, but I'm not certain of that - any help tracking the issue definitively would be appreciated.

Raw Audio version doesn't seem to crash but it introduces a slight lag every two seconds or so.

Using cd32 config on uae4arm on the previous beta build of this game I was getting random freezes but it didn't seem to be when any audio tracks were ending? Also the controls on cd32 seem a bit slugish reacting sometimes when either pressing buttons for running or jumping?

I'll try this new beta later though - so thanks in advance!

[Amigajay]

Don't forget the redux version was made to run on alot newer hardware specs, i see there are versions for gp32, pandora, pc etc the lowest of those uses a 133mhz cpu, so to get it working on a 020 14mhz cpu is very impressive!

And there will be a slight lag i doubt anything can be done about that, but its alot better than the non-Akiko version.

[zeGouky]

Any chance to use the prisma to play the audio track?

[roomeo]

Worked nicely on my a4000. I run Picasso96/PIV so the game is not limited to cybergraphix as the settings/docs apears to say.

[ExiE]

Originally Posted by roomeo

Worked nicely on my a4000. I run Picasso96/PIV so the game is not limited to cybergraphix as the settings/docs apears to say.

CyberGraphX is just RTG API used by this port as one of the possibilities. Picasso96 includes emulation of CGX, so the game works fine (as expected).

[earok]

I haven't heard from D.J.M in awhile but I've uploaded another version that (for now) I consider the final beta.

It uses CD music and it has a workaround for the freezing issue - when the game freezes, lift the lid for a brief moment and it should come back to life (CD32 will not reboot). I know it's not ideal but it should allow you to (hopefully) play the whole game without needing to reboot. So far as the exact executables go, it's the same as before, just with a utility added to prevent the CD32 from rebooting upon lifting the lid.

https://mega.nz/#!EB5wWYgQ!INhHEHPI4...FWSIEvHv3TstIU


EDIT:

There are parts of the game (such as falling down the hole near the start) where the game will freeze with a black screen, and opening the lid will not fix this issue. When this happens, just leave the console running until the current CD track finishes, then it'll resume.

In short, if the game is frozen in the middle of action and the music has stopped playing, lift the lid. If you've got a black screen and the music is still playing, wait for the game to resume. I know it's all very messy but it's the best I can provide for now.

EDIT:

Ok, the waiting for resume didn't work on a real console.. DJM has gotten back in touch, I won't post another beta unless we can get it running all the way through (presuming I'm able to beat the thing!)

[earok]

Removed all previous download links, a properly fixed version (no freezes between levels, no freezes when music attempts to loop) should be on it's way in the next day or so.

[wmsteele]

Amazing... lost for words on this one, thanks to all involved.

[Reido]

Great work all involved, initial release and CD32!

[Amiga1992]

Looking forward for the full version!

[earok]

Updated HOTA again, I can confirm it's playable start-to-end without freezes or crashes as I just did play through the whole game in a single playthrough on real hardware (occasional random freezes are still a risk, as they are with literally any CD32 software, and music will lag behind in the three major cutscenes).

https://mega.nz/#!hVJATTZB!8X-uvtD6S...XX_p_POzMVJsnU

Note that there are known issues with the included version of Another World, in particular it may freeze triggering the final cutscene. But also there's something else AW related in the works. So while this includes (likely) the final version of HOTA, AW fans might be in for a special treat soon.

(Also I suppose I could investigate Cobe's idea of slowing down the cutscene music tracks so they better align with the playback speed of the cutscenes..)

Edit: Almost forgot, big thanks to DJM for persevering through and fixing all of the CD32 specific issues.