Exhumed / Powerslave Amiga port

[Havie]

Originally Posted by BSzili

I found the platforming in the PSX version relentless. That part in Cavern of Peril where you have to do very long jumps over green slime broke me. I've heard that on Saturn that level is bit easier, but I never got that far.
Anyway, if you have only played the console versions, this one will be a new experience.

Excellent - it's great to find new versions of games you like!

[BSzili]

The game is now available on Aminet:
http://aminet.net/package/game/shoot/pcexhumed

The information below may be outdated!


Time for public testing. Below is the tentative readme:

Requirements:
- 68060 processor with FPU
- Kickstart 3.0
- AGA chipset or RTG card
- 16 MB Fast RAM
- 30 MB disk space (+ more for the CD audio tracks)

Unsupported features:
- multiplayer

Installation:
The game data can be obtained from this site:
http://www.jonof.id.au/buildgames/ps.html
Both Exhumed and Powerslave is supported, but avoid the public betas of the game.
Copy the following files into the game's drawer:
- STUFF.DAT
- DEMO.VCR (attract mode demo, optional)
- BOOK.MOV (intro movie, optional)
The GOG release of the game doesn't contain BOOK.MOV in an extracted form, only on game.gog and game.ins which is a renamed bin/cue CD image. As an alternative you can obtain BOOK.MOV from the Powerslave Demo.
Do not copy SAVEGAMEA.SAV from the DOS version as it's incompatible, and will cause the game to crash when you try to start a new game or load an existing one.

If you have completed the original game, check out the fan-made Return to Ruins level pack:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/return-to-ruins

Performance considerations:
FFS is quite slow at seeking in large files which can lead to pauses in-game
when new data has to be loaded from the DAT file. It can be improved by adding
more buffers, but it's recommended to run the game from a PFS or SFS volume.
The texture/sound cache is also sensitive to memory fragmentation, so if you
have 32 MB or less memory, it's best to start the game after a clean reboot.
To enable the framerate counter open the console with [~], type "showfps 1",
then press Enter, and close the console by pressing [~] again.

Vampire V2 users:
If the 060 executable doesn't work, please use the included 040 executable.

Sound:
The game defaults to stereo Paula DMA audio, but AHI is also supported for
sound card users.
For AHI, after the first start open PCEXHUMED.CFG in a text editor, and in the
[Sound Setup] section set FXDevice = 8 and ReverseStereo = 1. The game will
use the Music Unit for sound playback, make sure it's properly configured in
the AHI prefs. To switch back to Paula, change both values back to 0.

Music:
For the CD audio music PCM WAV files are supported. I recommend 22 KHz
8-bit mono, which is a good balance between sound quality and size. The music
is streamed from memory, so it might not fit if you have less than 32 MB RAM.
Modern releases of the game come with the music tracks in Ogg Vorbis format,
which can be converted to WAV using various tools like FFmpeg, SoX or Audacity.
I have also uploaded a converted WAV music pack to my site:
http://bszili.morphos.me/stuff/exhumed-music.zip

In-game console:
The original game had very little in the way of settings, so this port mostly relies on console commands for configuration. The console can be opened with the Tilde [~] key by default. You can use the PgUp and PgDn keys on your numeric pad to scroll the text.

Changing resolutions:
To change resolutions, you can use the "vidmode <xdim> <ydim> <bpp> <fullscreen>" console command. Only 8 bpp modes are supported. Examples:
- "vidmode 320 240" changes the resolution to 320x240
- "vidmode 640 480 8 0" switches to 640x480 windowed mode
- "vidmode 320 200 8 1" switches to 320x200 fullscreen

Keyboard bindings:
You can use the "bind <key> <function>" and "unbind <key>" console commands to bind keys to various functions. Keep in mind that one function can only have two keys bound to it, so older binds will be overwritten.
Examples:
- "bind q jump": makes Q the jump key
- "unbind q": deletes the bind from the Q key
- "bind showkeys": list all the key names
- "bind listsymbols": list all the available functions
- "bind": list all the current key bindings
You can also view and change the key bindings in the [KeyDefinitions] section of PCEXHUMED.CFG with a text editor.

Keyboard and mouse controls, controllers:
The default keyboard mapping is a mix between the PCExhumed and original DOS controls, to facilitate both mouse + WASD and keyboard/controller only play styles.
To toggle Mouse Aiming, press the [U] key in-game.
To toggle Auto run mode, press the Caps Lock key.
The game also supports 7-button CD32-compatible controllers. It's recommended to turn off mouse aiming and auto run when playing with the controller.

Controller mapping:
For controllers this is the default button mapping used in-game:
- Red: fire
- Blue: strafe
- Double Blue: use inventory item
- Green: run
- Double Green: jump
- Yellow: open
- Double Yellow: crouch
- Play: next inventory item
- Reverse: previous weapon
- Forward: next weapon
- D-pad: movement

Fullscreen:
The game asks the OS for the best Mode ID for a given resolution, but this
can lead to unexpected results if there are unused monitor drivers in
Devs:Monitors. I recommend putting these away into Storage:Monitors, but if
this is not possible, you can use these tooltypes to force specific modes:
- FORCEMODE: filters the available modes via the mode name. possible values:
PAL, NTSC, DBLPAL, DBLNTSC, EURO36, EURO72, SUPER72, MULTISCAN
- FORCEID: forces a specific mode, the value is a Mode ID in hexadecimal format
Keep in mind that palette #0 is a bright color in Exhumed's palette, so depending on the monitor driver you cab end up with off-white areas outside the game's screen. Depending on the resolution this can be quite large on RTG if the driver doesn't emulate border blanking.

Windowed mode:
You can play the game in window on high color (15-bit) or better RTG screens.
The game will still render in 8-bit color, the higher color depth is required
to avoid the expensive color remapping necessary on paletted screens. This is
not a issue in fullscreen, as the game can freely change the palette of its
custom screen.
To release the mouse pointer bring up the in-game console. This is bound to
the Tilde [~] key by default. To override which public screen the window opens
on, you can set the "PUBSCREEN" tooltype.

The public test version is now available on my site. Once I worked out the quirks I'll upload it to Aminet, so please don't don't mirror it.
http://bszili.morphos.me/ports/pcexhumed.lha

[DanyPPC]

Many thanks I will test it on V4

[AMIGASYSTEM]

Thanks BSzili, tested Powerslave 060 on WinUAE at a resolution of 1024x768 set in the file pcexhumed.cfg, I attach video test.

I will also test the game on Aros One 68k

Question: in the file pcexhumed.cfg I noticed that you can set the "Gamma" I tried the values 0,1,2 and I did not notice any difference.

Also I tried to set in the pcexhumed.cfg file "vidmode" but I couldn't, probably I'm wrong to set the command !

Noticed on the net that there is an SDL version of Powerslave


[ Show youtube player ]

[BSzili]

In Exhumed the gamma value doesn't set the screen brightness, but the distance shading. I recommend leaving this on the default 2 value, otherwise the lighting will look too dark or flat. If there's enough interest I can look into adding actual gamma correction to the game.
"vidmode" is a console command, so you can't enter it into the cfg file, you can only type it into the console. I'll clarify this in the readme. In general I don't recommend mucking around in the cfg unless you know what you are doing, for most people it's better to use the console commands.

[rabidgerry]

I will give this a shot also using my Apollo 1260@80mhz.

Is it me or does the video at the start of this thread look really smooth on that blizzard 1260? Seems to run better than ShadowFighter and Duke Nukem 3D do on my system. It actually looks amazing in that video.

[DanyPPC]

It works flawlessy on V4 !

Well Done !

[Solo Kazuki]

@rabidgerry
Yes, it's recorded from B1260. On 80MHz You should have ~18-20FPS.

[kriz]

Excellent, got the files ready for later today!!

[AMIGASYSTEM]

@BSzili

Thanks, Powerslave works well also on AROS One 68k, I attach video test.

About Windows mode, can you write the right command to write in the console because I'm not riuescendo to do it, thanks


[ Show youtube player ]

[Nobby_UK]

On my emulated 1200 (040)
'Fast as Possible' = 50 fps
'Cycle Exact' = 8 fps

Out of curiosity ran the 060 version
and it worked ?

[AMIGASYSTEM]

I have successfully used 060 on both OS3.9 BB4 AfAOne and AROS One 68k and have not experienced any problems.

[BSzili]

Originally Posted by AMIGASYSTEM

@BSzili

Thanks, Powerslave works well also on AROS One 68k, I attach video test.

About Windows mode, can you write the right command to write in the console because I'm not riuescendo to do it, thanks


[ Show youtube player ]

Great to see it's running on AROS as well!
I think something got lost in translation, and I misunderstood you. So you have already tried the vidmode examples from the readme? What happens when you type them in? Maybe a short clip could help me to figure this out, as "doesn't work" is the most difficult problem to solve.

Originally Posted by Nobby_UK

On my emulated 1200 (040)
'Fast as Possible' = 50 fps
'Cycle Exact' = 8 fps

Out of curiosity ran the 060 version
and it worked ?

The 060 version will run on 040 processors and vice versa, just somewhat slower. With JIT-enabled emulation won't make much difference though.

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by BSzili

Installation:
The game data can be obtained from this site:
http://www.jonof.id.au/buildgames/ps.html
Both Exhumed and Powerslave is supported, but avoid the public betas of the game.
Copy the following files into the game's drawer:
- STUFF.DAT
- DEMO.VCR (attract mode demo, optional)
- BOOK.MOV (intro movie, optional)
Do not copy SAVEGAMEA.SAV from the DOS version as it's incompatible, and will cause the game to crash when you try to start a new game or load an existing one.

Weird, I've got the GOG release [setup_powerslave_1.0_(42515).exe - 386MB] but it's missing the file "BOOK.MOV"...

Could someone please upload for me?

[BSzili]

I forgot about the GOG release. If you rename game.ins to game.cue, and mount/open it you'll find BOOK.MOV on the disc image. It's just a regular bin/cue pair, but they renamed it for some reason.

[AMIGASYSTEM]

Originally Posted by BSzili

Maybe a short clip could help me to figure this out, as "doesn't work" is the most difficult problem to solve.

I'm the one who doesn't understand if I have to type the whole string, if I have to add the quotes or the hyphen before the command, I would just need you to write here an example of the command, thanks and sorry my 67 years are starting to show.

[manossg]

BSzili on fire! Got the files and looking forward to trying the game out!

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by BSzili

I forgot about the GOG release. If you rename game.ins to game.cue, and mount/open it you'll find BOOK.MOV on the disc image. It's just a regular bin/cue pair, but they renamed it for some reason.

Thanks

Did this but when trying to mount with "Daemon Tools Lite" I get this error:

Renamed .CUE file looks fine though i.e:

FILE "game.gog" BINARY
  TRACK 01 MODE1/2352
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "music\Track02.ogg" MP3
  TRACK 02 AUDIO
      INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "music\Track03.ogg" MP3
  TRACK 03 AUDIO
      INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "music\Track04.ogg" MP3
  TRACK 04 AUDIO
      INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "music\Track05.ogg" MP3
  TRACK 05 AUDIO
      INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "music\Track06.ogg" MP3
  TRACK 06 AUDIO
      INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "music\Track07.ogg" MP3
  TRACK 07 AUDIO
      INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "music\Track08.ogg" MP3
  TRACK 08 AUDIO
      INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "music\Track09.ogg" MP3
  TRACK 09 AUDIO
      INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "music\Track10.ogg" MP3
  TRACK 10 AUDIO
      INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "music\Track11.ogg" MP3
  TRACK 11 AUDIO
      INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "music\Track12.ogg" MP3
  TRACK 12 AUDIO
      INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "music\Track13.ogg" MP3
  TRACK 13 AUDIO
      INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "music\Track14.ogg" MP3
  TRACK 14 AUDIO
      INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "music\Track15.ogg" MP3
  TRACK 15 AUDIO
      INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "music\Track16.ogg" MP3
  TRACK 16 AUDIO
      INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "music\Track17.ogg" MP3
  TRACK 17 AUDIO
      INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "music\Track18.ogg" MP3
  TRACK 18 AUDIO
      INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "music\Track19.ogg" MP3
  TRACK 19 AUDIO
      INDEX 01 00:00:00

Also tried renaming "game.gog" --> "game.bin" but same error... I'll keep trying different things.

Or if someone could kindly just upload the file "BOOK.MOV" it might be easier

[mrv2k]

Originally Posted by DamienD

Weird, I've got the GOG release [setup_powerslave_1.0_(42515).exe - 386MB] but it's missing the file "BOOK.MOV"...

Could someone please upload for me?

It's in the zone for you.

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by mrv2k

It's in the zone for you.

Thanks

...but just worked it out i.e. removed all the .OGG rubbish from the .CUE file, could then mount and copy the file "BOOK.MOV"