Dungeon Master for Pocket PC / Win CE

Discuss Chaos Strikes Back for Windows and Linux, an unofficial port of Chaos Strikes Back to PC by Paul Stevens, as well as CSBuild, an associated dungeon editor.

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Paul Stevens
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Post by Paul Stevens »

TOMi wrote:except for a little "chrck" after every sound
Paul wrote:It is not perfect; it discards
a few samples at the end.
CSBwinCE11_1.exe attempts to get it right.
It sounds better to me.
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Post by ChristopheF »

I tried CSBwinCE11_0.exe.

My updated config.txt file is here: http://dmweb.free.fr/Stuff/config.txt

The changes I made to your file, Paul:
- Removed the obsolete OVERLAPPEDTEXT attribute in configurations
- Added the key mappings to use the directional pad to move in the game
- Fixed windowRight and windowBottom values to 239 instead of 240 and 319 instead of 320
- Updated values for SCROLLING_TEXT in several configurations
- Renamed configuration "A 240x240 built for a particular player/machine" to "Portrait - compressed for 240x240 pixels with controls on bottom" which is more descriptive I think.


1) There is a text issue with the configuration "Portrait - compressed for 240x240 pixels with controls on top", the text seems to be displayed in the background but I do not see where is the problem or if it is a bug.
Here is a screenshot of the issue:
Image
Note the beginning of the text "SYRA ..." on the left.

2) Is it possible to hide or move the time counter on screen? ("3098,0" on the screenshot above)

3) The configuration made for Werwolf does not fit in 240x240 pixels. Does that mean some parts are displayed out of the screen? Or does that mean your screen is larger than 240x240?

In the 'Portrait' definitions (240x320) you put the text at X=8. That causes a few pixels to go off the right edge. Did you do this for a reason?
I put the text 8 pixels from the left in order to have it aligned with all other interface parts.
I found no issue with this configuration using version 11.0 and the above mentioned config.txt file. All the text is visible, so for me there isn't an issue here, am I right?
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Post by Paul Stevens »

Thanks. I will be looking into these
concerns. The time-counter is how
you 'Freeze' the game.
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Post by T0Mi »

CSBwinCE11_1 now works all fine. :-)

Sorry for my inobservance.
(I understood it the way there were particular sounds leftout, not a glitch with all of them)

For DM testing was mostly done at 01(18,15), a before crashcertain area:

Image


For Conflux (and I'm sure you're aware), a Debug Graphics "exception 2411" error accurs after the savegame has been loaded/entering the Dungeon.
The exception number seems random and up to 4096. Often the graphics are tattered.

As for the text:
I've been fiddling with this for the compressed screen with viewport at the top, too.
The workaround was to move the text a few pixels to the bottom / pushing the rest up, it then showed up completely.
The now obsolete and removed "Overlap text" should however behave like when it was ticked in previous version. (This will be -very- helpful for all the riddles in Conflux)

EDIT:
3) The configuration made for Werwolf does not fit in 240x240 pixels. Does that mean some parts are displayed out of the screen? Or does that mean your screen is larger than 240x240?
huu? It shouldn't extend the 240 pixels by more than 1 or 2 viewable pixels for the marching order for example. (202+39=241, that means 2 pixels hidden)
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Post by ChristopheF »

Sorry TOMi, I was confused. The configuration is fine for 240x240. I thought I was using it when in fact I was using the default settings used by csbwin when no display settings are defined in the config file.
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Post by T0Mi »

Never mind. :-)

Let us see what Paul conjures up next.

BTW: The Encyclopaedia is great! Keep it up!
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Post by T0Mi »

'Fixed' that text issue for the "controls on top", using the further compressed movement arrows:
(still one pixel line swallowed for the viewport on real 240x240 screens, could be avoided)

Image

Code: Select all

; Portrait - compressed for 240x240 pixels with controls on top_2
windowTop = 0
windowLeft = 0
windowRight = 239
windowBottom = 239
CEDisplay HFULL_VCENTER     0   0   0   0 240 200 0 0 0  0
CEDisplay HCENTER_VFULL    40   0   0   0 240 200 0 0 0  1
CEDisplay PRISON_DOOR      80   0   0   0 240 200 0 0 0  2
CEDisplay PORTRAIT_A        0   0   0   0  64  28 1 0 0  6
CEDisplay PORTRAIT_B       69   0  60   0  64  28 1 0 0  5
CEDisplay PORTRAIT_C      138   0 120   0  64  28 1 0 0  4
CEDisplay PORTRAIT_D      207   0 180   0  64  28 1 0 0  3
CEDisplay VIEWPORT          0  33   8 104 224 136 0 1 1  7
CEDisplay SPELL_CONTROLS  233  33 153  30  87  42 0 1 0  8
CEDisplay ATTACK_CONTROLS 233  77  65  28  87  45 0 0 0  9
CEDisplay TURN_LEFT       233 124   0  29  22  21 0 0 0 11
CEDisplay MOVE_FORWARD    267 124  22  29  19  21 0 0 0 10
CEDisplay TURN_RIGHT      298 124  41  29  22  21 0 0 0 12
CEDisplay SLIDE_LEFT      233 147   0  50  22  23 0 0 0 14
CEDisplay MOVE_BACKWARD   267 147  22  50  19  23 0 0 0 13
CEDisplay SLIDE_RIGHT     298 147  41  50  22  23 0 0 0 15
CEDisplay SCROLLING_TEXT    0 169   0  73 200  31 0 0 0 16
CEDisplay MARCHING_ORDER  281   0 200  73  39  29 0 0 0 17


Generally I'd suggest to move the chars to the top, viewport in the middle, controls at the bottom:

Image

Code: Select all

; Portrait - compressed for 240x240 pixels with viewport in middle
;windowTop = 0
;windowLeft = 0
;windowRight = 239
;windowBottom = 239
;CEDisplay HFULL_VCENTER     0   0   0   0 240 200 0 0 0  0
;CEDisplay HCENTER_VFULL    40   0   0   0 240 200 0 0 0  1
;CEDisplay PRISON_DOOR      80   0   0   0 240 200 0 0 0  2
;CEDisplay PORTRAIT_A        0   0   0   0  64  28 1 0 0  6
;CEDisplay PORTRAIT_B       69   0  60   0  64  28 1 0 0  5
;CEDisplay PORTRAIT_C      138   0 120   0  64  28 1 0 0  4
;CEDisplay PORTRAIT_D      207   0 180   0  64  28 1 0 0  3
;CEDisplay VIEWPORT          0  33   8  29 224 136 0 1 1  7
;CEDisplay SPELL_CONTROLS  233  33 153 167  87  42 0 1 0  8
;CEDisplay ATTACK_CONTROLS 233  77  65 165  87  45 0 0 0  9
;CEDisplay TURN_LEFT       233 124   0 166  22  21 0 0 0 11
;CEDisplay MOVE_FORWARD    267 124  22 166  19  21 0 0 0 10
;CEDisplay TURN_RIGHT      298 124  41 166  22  21 0 0 0 12
;CEDisplay SLIDE_LEFT      233 147   0 187  22  23 0 0 0 14
;CEDisplay MOVE_BACKWARD   267 147  22 187  19  23 0 0 0 13
;CEDisplay SLIDE_RIGHT     298 147  41 187  22  23 0 0 0 15
;CEDisplay SCROLLING_TEXT    0 169   0 210 200  31 0 0 0 16
;CEDisplay MARCHING_ORDER  281   0 200 210  39  29 0 0 0 17
Last edited by T0Mi on Wed Apr 23, 2008 12:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Paul Stevens »

TOMi:

Why is the Scrolling Text so short? (width=153)
The Marching Order starts at x=200.

How have you been getting screen dumps???
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Post by T0Mi »

ah... I assumed the line break is still hard-fixed. It is not:
The width of the text area is determined
by the width of the 'Scrolling text' definition.
Image

using (changed it in my previous post)
CEDisplay SCROLLING_TEXT 0 169 0 210 200 31 0 0 0 16
(yes, it's still dirty)

Screen Shots can be taken easiliy. Here's a spamfree shareware tool I've found and uploaded:
http://hometown.aol.com/TToommii/DM/mis ... pc.arm.zip

Usage is simple: select programs from the Startmenu while in CSBwinCE, start pocket snap, close programs, (pop up the task manager if needed) and return to CSBwinCE.
You can adjust the delay for the shot to be taken if needed.
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Post by Gambit37 »

Has anybody really stopped to think about how amazing this is?

That we have DM running on a portable computer which is hundreds of times more powerful than the home computers of DM's day.

That pocket PCs of this power probably hadn't even been imagined as possible in 1987.

I think this is awesome. :D
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Post by Paul Stevens »

Gambit wrote:Has anybody really stopped to think
I certainly have. My first job was helping to build
Control Data 3600 computers. About 8 feet high.
About 40 feet long. About 3 feet thick. And
less powerful than my PocketPC with a removable
memory card.

Just wait until they harness light or quantum
effects to replace the old-fashioned electricity
that makes everthing so inefficient and hot.
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Post by Gambit37 »

Wow! What kind of clock speed did those things have? Or was it simply clockwork speed? ;)
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Post by Paul Stevens »

gambit wrote:What kind of clock speed
8 MHz. Took about 24 half-cycles (or 1.5 us) for
the simplest instruction.
TOMi wrote:(and I'm sure you're aware), a Debug Graphics "exception 2411" error accurs
I was NOT aware. My emulator is too small
to run Conflux so I never tested it. Thanks
for the heads-up.

See if CSBwinCE11_2.exe works better for you.
It works better for me.[/b]
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Post by ChristopheF »

For my screenshots, I used My Mobiler: http://www.mymobiler.com/
This is a great freeware, very simple to use, that allows you to remote control your Pocket PC from your PC, take screenshots, transfer files and more.
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Post by Paul Stevens »

Christophe:

Your text in the 240x240 disappeared
because you have overlapping windows.
Text overlaps viewport and text overlaps
attack controls. Just one pixel, I think.

The code that handles these overlaps
is very buggy. And confusing to me.
I will fix it as soon as I can figure it out.
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Post by Adamo »

Has anybody really stopped to think about how amazing this is?
Portable PCs are, of course, powerfull (I`m not sure how much), but they are (I think) much less powerfull than "ordinary" modern computers. CSBwin runs well on PPC only because Paul did an exact translation of the program wchich was written to run on a 7 Mhz Atari, so it was strictly intended to save the CPU time as much as possible. So, luckily, it fits well to PPC!
pocket PCs of this power probably hadn't even been imagined as possible in 1987.
I though I would like to get the time machine, set it to California 1988 and meet the FTL crew, saying: "hello, I came from 2008, your game (and CIII, a fan-made) are now (20 years later) playable on portable. All the ancient games from 80`s are deeply buried, but there are still people that love your masterpiece".
portable computer which is hundreds of times more powerful than the home computers of DM's day.
Gambit, I`m sure this is not the last word. Imagine portable computers for another 20 years; I bet one of them could easily beat whole today`s CERN grid...

___________________________________________________

I`m seriously starting to think about getting PPC just to play DMs on it... hmm
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Post by Gambit37 »

Scary, isn't it? The war of the machines isn't far off at all...
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Post by Paul Stevens »

Christophe wrote:text issue with the configuration "Portrait - compressed for 240x240
CSBwinCE11_3 makes this better.

I thought I had said this once before
but I don't see it. :?
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Post by ChristopheF »

Thanks Paul for finding the mistake in my configuration. I replace the 74 by 73 in my config to fix the issue:

Code: Select all

; Portrait - compressed for 240x240 pixels with controls on top
CEDisplay SCROLLING_TEXT    0 169   0  [b]73[/b] 200  31 0 0 0 16
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Post by Paul Stevens »

Christophe wrote:finding the mistake in my configuration
'Tain't necessarily a mistake. It might be
useful to have overlapping areas. I used
them in one of my configurations. Just
as you use overlapping windows on your
computer display. It is supposed to work
the same way....that the latest area to
be touched gets put on top.

What are we going to do to provide
the 'escape key' capability to quickly
switch to 'Game Frozen' mode? Do we
have to add another video area? Can we
utilize some sort of 'gesture' with the pointer?
Tap on the far top left corner of the
vieport? Any ideas? I'd be more than
happy to conceal the timer unless selected
by menu option.
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Post by ChristopheF »

I suggest that a tap anywhere on the scrolling text area should switch to 'Game Frozen' mode? This is an area where you never click during normal gameplay, so it should not cause any trouble.

About the timer, I'd like to be able to move it on screen, because currently, it can only be seen in portrait modes, in landscape modes I believe it is not visible because of hard coded coordinates that put it out of screen.
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Post by Paul Stevens »

Certainly, we can move the timer around
and have a menu selection to show/hide.

The trouble with using the text area as
a 'freeze game' is that in some configurations
the text area is overlapped with other
windows and tapping in the text area brings
it to the top.

Perhaps a 'Right-Click' in the text area.
I'll see if that seems to work on my device.

See you later!
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Post by Paul Stevens »

CSBwinCE11_4 allows you to turn
the timer on/off at runtime and to
position it via config.txt.

Also, a 'TOUCH' rather than 'TAP'
in the text area freezes the game.
How are we going to let people
know about this??
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Post by T0Mi »

Ah... PPCs are a great addition for busy people!
For about 50 Euros you can get one on ebay capable of smoothly running CSBwinCE.

AND:

you can create custom graphics for CSBwin while on the train, in traffic jam, at work, in bed, wherever.

Image

about pausing:
Till now I used the Disk Symbol to pause the game. It's also fine to allow the game to continue (training fighter levels) while doing other tasks. (pixel pushing for example. ;-))

With CSBwinCE11_2 (havn't tried the updated versions yet) now Conflux is fully playable and all original. The only thing is parts of the game screen are becoming part of the desktop after switching tasks.

Image

Easy workaround. In modern games this would not be even called a bug. (Gothic III anyone?)

greetings
T0Mi
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Post by Zyx »

Bad conjugation spotted.
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Post by ChristopheF »

Thanks Paul for your continued support with our small issues. We often don't say thanks enough.

Here is my next batch of minor issues (these ones are not really annoying):

- There is no check mark on the left of the "Hide Time" menu option when time is hidden.

- When you "right click" (long press) on the text area, the game is now paused, but the layout goes back to the original game layout (the 320x200 layout with controls on the right)

- In the config.txt file you attached to version 11.4, the SCOLLING_TEXT options are still there although they are now obsolete, and the key mappings to use directional pad is missing.
My fixed the file is here: http://dmweb.free.fr/Stuff/config.txt

To inform the user about the ability to use a 'touch' on the text area, maybe you could add a 'Help' option in the menu showing a dialog box with information?
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Post by Paul Stevens »

To do:
1) Check Mark on "Hide Time" (thought I did that)
2) 'Game Paused' format. (just a detail)
3) Replace config.txt
4) Menu 'Help' (A pious* idea!)
5) Show task bar when dialog box is active.
6) ?any more?

Then I will release a DM with the latest version.
I already have a complete DM movie to include
with the release (made on a PC but playable
on the PPC). Is anyone willing to play a
comlete game of CSB? If so get in touch with
me to coordinate the version to use on what
platform. Also, is anyone willing to try replying
my DM movie on a platform other than PC or
PocketPC? Perhaps one of these Nokia devices
or whatever.


*A common expression of my aunt which
is still a part of me although I have not
heard it for 60 years.
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config.txt changes?

Post by sp3nx0r »

Question: how do you modify the config file to effect different portrait/landscape settings? I'm copying your suggested portrait/landscape settings into config.txt via Notepad. But on run of DM or CSB, I get a "Bad Config File" error.

Running on a Tilt (240x320), I get cutover screen in Utility, and going landscape gives crazy, not-good display. Any help? Thanks crew
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Post by Paul Stevens »

Perhaps I don't understand exactly what
you are doing. But here goes.

You say 240x320. That implies to me
that it is 240 wide by 320 high. That
would mean you have to run in
'portrait' mode. Using landscape
parameters would probably cause a
lot to be missing or to wrap-around
from the right side to the left side.

CSBwin has no way of 'turning' the image
to support 320x240 on a 240x320 screen.
When you say 'Going landscape' it makes
me think this is what you are trying.
Doing this would not be impossible but
it has not been done. Perhaps your
device has a way of doing this?

I guess I need clarification as to what
you are trying and what is happening.
A screenshot and listing of config.txt,
perhaps.
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Post by sp3nx0r »

Ah sorry for the confusion. I do mean 240 height and 320 width. The game rotates when I slide my device open (keyboard is underneath), but it's basically a 240x240 chunk that's left centered.

So ideally, if I set the config.txt to say 320x240 (landscape) then I'd be super bomber. But then I think about the placement of objects on the screen (movement icons, status text box, graphical interface, etc) and that might cause a problem. But I'll worry about that when I get it to fill the screen.

The real issue, I have some difficulty editting the config.txt file. Maybe you guys have an FAQ for this, couldn't find one? But I'm using this code segment just copied and pasted into my config.txt, provided by a poster above.

Code: Select all

; Landscape - Original game layout
windowTop = 0
windowLeft = 0
windowRight = 319
windowBottom = 239
CEDisplay HFULL_VCENTER     0   0   0   0 320 200 0 0 0  0
CEDisplay HCENTER_VFULL     0   0   0   0 320 200 0 0 0  1
CEDisplay PRISON_DOOR       0   0   0   0 320 200 0 0 0  2
CEDisplay PORTRAIT_A        0   0   0   0  67  29 0 0 0  6
CEDisplay PORTRAIT_B       69   0  69   0  67  29 0 0 0  5
CEDisplay PORTRAIT_C      138   0 138   0  67  29 0 0 0  4
CEDisplay PORTRAIT_D      207   0 207   0  67  29 0 0 0  3
CEDisplay VIEWPORT          0  33   0  33 224 136 0 1 1  7
CEDisplay SPELL_CONTROLS  233  33 233  33  87  42 0 1 0  8
CEDisplay ATTACK_CONTROLS 233  77 233  77  87  46 0 0 0  9
CEDisplay TURN_LEFT       233 124 233 124  29  22 0 0 0 10
CEDisplay MOVE_FORWARD    262 124 262 124  28  22 0 0 0 11
CEDisplay TURN_RIGHT      290 124 290 124  30  22 0 0 0 12
CEDisplay SLIDE_LEFT      233 146 233 146  29  23 0 0 0 14
CEDisplay MOVE_BACKWARD   262 146 262 146  28  23 0 0 0 13
CEDisplay SLIDE_RIGHT     290 146 290 146  30  23 0 0 0 15
CEDisplay SCROLLING_TEXT    0 169   0 169 320  31 0 0 0 16
CEDisplay MARCHING_ORDER  281   0 281   0  39  29 0 0 0 17
CEDisplay TIME              0   0   0 200   0   0 0 0 0  0
But when I run DM/CSB, I get a "Bad Config" error message saying that windowTop=0 is causing the error, and I'm assuming not processing the rest. So, if there's an explanation of how config.txt is read by the program, that'd be a tremendous start.
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