Running different versions of games?

[Mr Angry]

"Fuzzball [Preview]" in the Gamebase64 collection has a single entry but the .T64 Game File has 2 files on it:
- FUZZBALL-+ V1
- FUZZBALL-+ V2

I haven't played through them but upon loading, it's clear they're different levels and music.

Is it possible to play these from within Gamebase without changing the "Game File..." entry to the required version each time? Right clicking on "Play Game" just shows the emulators I can use. "Extras" has the "Original Tape" which seems to be version 1, but I'm looking for a generic solution just in case there's other similar game entries.

Thanks!

[Magnate]

I don't think that's possible, GameBase can specify one file per entry to autostart. You can change it or pick another file from the emulator itself.

[Mr Angry]

That's what I figured. It's a shame because only by chance did I find out there were multiple versions of the game available. Who knows how many other games I've missed out on extra features like that?

[Magnate]

I developed a habit of checking images for any additional files (docs, standalone intros, additional versions, etc.) that'd be missed if I had relied solely on the autostart feature. Too bad that VICE and Hoxs64 are pretty darn terrible when it comes to providing access to the attached image -- the interface does not have any shortcut for that. That's pretty annoying as it requires navigating from the directory of the last manually autostarted image to the temp directory containing the image, and the "Image contents" box, which could be used for the currently attached image until another one is selected, is left unused this entire time.

[.mad.]

you could use...

If QUESTION

in combination of index file numbers stored in the GEMUS

;load the selected file from the stored GameBase fileindex (file number) on T64 or D64.
Add_CLP( "%gamepathfile%,%imageindex%")

but that's a lot of work to do, for a very limited solution.
*All your editing work would be lost in the next gamebase version release.

if you know which T64's have multiple files?.
you don't need to start navigating emulator menus.
do it the old original way.
hard reset and type LOAD to load the next file on the tape image.

in my copy, i used dirmaster to list all file names on the T64's
a put all the multi-file ones (with docs/alt versions) on D64's.
they are much easier to navigate and load alternate versions.

i suppose you could even have multiple loose PRG/p00 files zipped up now.
Then navigate to the rezip folder for the alternate game file you want to load.
This would be much easier to maintain and swap out files for better versions, without the need for editing or creating new T64 images with each gamebase version.

i could do the update in a day, but it's not my gamebase.
Michael would need to adopt the idea.

[Mr Angry]

Yeah, there's a few ways of getting it done but it shouldn't be necessary IMHO.

I've been using Gamebase64 since version 1 (I remember wanting the offical GameBase64 CD :p) and although I've noticed the version comments, this might be the first time that I really took notice of it. Now think about all of the other users that might not have ever seen the comments and are blindly pressing "Play Game".

In an ideal world you would click "Play Game" and it would prompt you to pick a version. For example, "The Great Escape" might prompt with:

- Trained & Dox
- Faster with music and unofficial loading screen

But I'm not seeing how that would be possible with the current version of GEMUS.