--- ELITE 128 --- Version 1.0 by D.Braben & I.Bell (mostly) This is the third release of a hacked Elite version that utilizes the faster CPU of the C128, has experimental SuperCPU support and some more nice features. As you will note, some of them are inspired by A. Duggan's Elite-A or other Elite versions even if I did never see that games (or the source). Comments on the game: * I had to stop adding features, otherwise the release would have never been finished. I have some more ideas (bounty hunting and a "hidden" galaxy are my favourite ones), and if I ever do another release, maybe I will add one or the oher. There is still some space left... * I've asked both, Ian Bell and David Braben for permission to release Elite 128. There was a positive answer from Ian, and no answer from David. I will assume that there is no problem with the distribution of this version (which would make no sense to me since many other Elite versions, even hacked ones, are freely available from Ian Bells homepage - but who knows?). I will immidiately stop distributing this version and will ask anyone to remove it from the ftp servers if my above opinion shows to be wrong. I planned to release the source and all used tools (music compression/ conversion, string compression/conversion, macroassembler, disassembler etc.) together with the binary, to allow everyone to play with the code, but this seems to be too courageous in the current situation. * The data for the third music theme is taken from an old german C64 book named "Beherrschen Sie Ihren Commodore C64" by C. Lorenz (Hofacker Verlag 1983) and converted to Elite format by me (of course). * Some of the stuff could not be tested by me (NTSC and SuperCPU support), so it may not work as expected. * SuperCPU support: Regardless of the frame rate limiting code, there is some stuff in the game, that will run much faster than it should (the break pattern for hyperspace/station entry is one example). I will try to find a better solution than the current one, but this is not on top of my todo list. * Since I've changed large portions of the code, there may be errors. I've done thoroughful tests (which means, I've played Elite 128 for hours and hours:-), but you may run into problems. * You cannot use saved games from any other Elite version with Elite 128. * For kids and grandmas, I've provided a commander named "Fatty" on the disk. Fatty has already 1000 credits and a docking computer, but is still harmless. However, *real* men will probably not use this commander:-) * For the sidplay fans, I've added the music data in PlaySID format (the code is identical to that used in Elite 128, I've only added the header). It works fine with the windows version of SIDPlay, at least on my NT box. * Probably the worst thing in this release is the english translation. My english is not so good, and doing translations is much less fun than coding new features. Thanks to a friend of mine, Andreas Gerstlauer, at least the mission texts sound like real english:-) Anyone willing to improve the english translation (or add another language) is welcome. * A fastloader would be nice, but I don't have one. I've had a quick look at the one from "The Fridge", but unfortunately it is GPLed, which means, I have to release the complete Elite source - something I cannot do for reasons stated above. If someone knows about a really free fastloader code (public domain or with a BSD style license), I would be glad to hear about it. * SuperCPU again: I was thinking about how to use the additional horsepower. The problem is to find things, that can be added without giving up C64/C128 compatibility. One idea would be to fill the ships planes. This sounds stupid on the first glance since there are no colors, but it would remove the problem that you can look "through" ships and so add some more realism. With this feature, it would be possible to have a sun in station range (you *did* notice, that the sun is removed as soon as you come into station range, didn't you?). A second thing would be to allow more ships (currently the limit is 11, including planet and sun/station). Just a few ideas - I currently don't have a SuperCPU, so I will probably not write that code. * I'm not shure about my decision, to make the ship slower when the extra cargo bay is installed. It is realistic (I think), but it makes trading even more boring. On the other side, you are free, to sell the extra cargo bay, and sign a special cargo contract, do mining, bounty hunting, or whatever. Maybe I will remove it again, I don't know. * Elite-A allows you to buy new ships. It would be possible to add this to Elite 128, but I don't know if this feature is really worth the space. To get that right: It is a nice feature, and I think it should be added for shure on a platform with more memory, but on the C64, fighting for each byte of RAM, I can imagine things that add more to the playability than buying new ships. Any comments on this? How to get the game: I've uploaded the archive to Arnold (http://arnold.hiof.no/). Since the the last version stayed in the incoming directory for several weeks, I've also put it on our ftp server: ftp://ftp.musoftware.com/uz/elite128-1.0.zip I will remove it as soon as the archive is available on Arnold. Ok, here's the feature list for Elite 128: - Will run in 2MHz mode on the C128 while outside the visible area of the screen. This means that the CPU will run with 2MHz for about 40% of the time, giving an increase of 40% in speed. - Default device is the disk, no need to switch from cassette. - Switch between fast and slow possible when game stopped. Hit Inst/Del to stop the game, then press 'T' (you will hear a beep). Press Clr/Home to continue with the game. - Joystick/keyboard handler changed to allow parallel working of both. No need to take your hands from the joystick when accelerating, activating a missile or similiar things. The original version did not accept any keys when the joystick was active. - Keep settings when ship gets destroyed or the game is restarted. - Enabled three previously hidden keys that control music and sound. In addition to the 'T' key mentioned above, there are now three more keys available: 'B' --> Allow sounds *and* music. Do you remember your enemies killing you because you did not hear them while the docking computer was active? 'C' --> Continous music. The music starts when leaving the station. Rather boring but you may give it a try... 'E' --> Switch between the original docking music and the intro theme. All keys are toggle keys. Press them once to enable the feature, press them a second time to disable it again. * Switchable frame rate limiter should make the game playable on systems equipped with accelerator cards (SuperCPU). The frame rate limiter is on by default, since it has very little effect on a stock C64 or 128: the frame rate limit is almost never reached. You can disable the frame rate limiter: Hit Inst/Del to stop the game, then press 'L' (you will hear a beep). Press Clr/Home to continue with the game. This is a toggle key! To enable the function again, use the same procedure. * Should detect a SuperCPU and switch it into fast mode. Note: The SuperCPU must be configured to allow software clock switching for this. * When saving a commander file, a file with the same name is scratched before saving the new one. You don't need to use the dangerous '@' feature or constantly change your name. Beware: This means that *any* file with the same name is scratched from disk. If you want to know, what that means, try to save a commander named "elite128" on your game disk:-) All filenames on the disk except the loader (named "elite128"), and the "fatty" commander start with a funny character to avoid overwriting them when saving commander files. * Removed the checksum code when saving and loading a commander file. This means, you can patch your commander files if you really want to. To ease this task (for kids and grandmas :-), I've included the source for the "fatty" commander in the Elite 128 archive. * Does work with other devices than #8. The device, from which Elite is loaded is remembered by the game and used for all other loads and saves. + Corrected some minor problems with the graphics/text and some obviously wrong code (e.g. a missing "rts" so an unwanted subroutine was executed [which had no effect in the given situation, but it was wrong anyway]). + Spent some time to insert new problems and not-so-obviously wrong code. + Reworked the status display. It looks somewhat better now (I think). + Improved the music routines (added three more opcodes). This allowed me to compress the music data much better, resulting in more than 3K additional space, which is now occupied by an additional music theme, and there's still some space left for improvements. + RLE compressed the console graphics data: Even more room (1KB) for improvements. + There is an additional piece of ship equipment: The autopilot is an advanced version of the docking computer and availabe on worlds with tech level 10 and above. The 'E' key mentioned above now swaps the music themes for the autopilot and the docking computer. There is no way to get the intro music while in space. Autopilot specification: The LiCorn SpaceLock S&F System is a much improved version of the Xexor/Hikan docking computer. It is mainly a software upgrade based on the famous L** operating system. The fast and bug-free base system allows the control of the ship even when flying with full speed. Advanced Sens-O-Grape pilot interaction allows the software to disable itself as soon as the human pilot touches the controls. When equiped with an autopilot, the ships compass display may be switched between sun and planet (use the 'F' key in flight mode to toggle). The flight to the sun may also be done unter autopilot control. This feature is disabled for security reasons when in station range. The autopilot device is a must for the serious combateer! Note: You can only have one of both, the autopilot or the docking computer! If you have the docking computer and want to upgrade, you have to sell if first (see below under "Selling Equipment"). + Reworked the "ship destroyed" screen. The game waits for a keypress before continuing. There was originally a fourth music theme that was played here, but the music was not very good and I needed the space, so I removed it again. + When your ship gets destroyed, you start over at the last system visited with all equipment you had, when you left the station (not at the last save position as before). This means that you have to save your game less often. + Cheats: I've added god mode, all other cheats have been removed in the non debug version. The "forced witch space" cheat did not work anyway with the new hyperspace entry behaviour. + Removed the cassette code. Since the game needs a loader program anyway, running it from cassette makes no sense. I will probably remove the b/w support (blinking controls) too, but currently it's still in. + From the diskette menu, you can now go back to BASIC (I had some bad feeling about switching my system repeatedly off and on). + Translation into english. The original version was in german (I used this version because it had some extensions like a second music theme). The translation has some edges, mainly in the planet descriptions, but it is hopefully not too bad. The desired language is selectable from the loader. If you have any recommendations for improvements, please contact me. + Available for PAL and NTSC. This is a thing I could not test since I don't own a NTSC system, but I converted the music data to the best of my knowledge. The sounds are not translated, however. I've decided against auto-detecting PAL/NTSC, even if this is easy, because I don't know if the NTSC code works. Therefore PAL/NTSC is selectable from the loader. This may change if I get some positive feedback about the NTSC stuff. + While approaching the station under docking computer or autopilot control, other civilian crafts are not permitted to leave the station to prevent collisions. Note: This is not true for military crafts or viper police ships! + It is possible to pay a small docking fee (25 credits) to be allowed to stay in the station until market prices change. Triggered by Ctrl-7. + Ship equipment may be sold if no longer needed. Since the equipment was in use for some time, you will not get your full money back. However, it's a fast way to get some money if you need it. Prices for used equipment are not controlled by the GalCop, so the offers may vary. It is usually better to sell high tech equipment on worlds with a low tech level, but must not always be true. Note: Since selling equipment is now available, equipment is no longer quietly replaced when buying new stuff (e.g. pulse laser got replaced by beam laser in the original Elite). You have to sell old stuff to make room for new things. This is true not only for the lasers but also for docking computer vs. autopilot. The list of offers does only show equipment you have and equipment you can sell. Sometimes you cannot sell some pieces equipment, for example the extra cargo bay cannot be sold if not at least 15 tons of cargo capacity are free. Beware: Think twice before selling anything! For several reasons, you may not be able to get the equipment back if you need it! Press Ctrl-3 to get offers for your used equipment. + As in Elite-A, preparation for hyperspace jump will deactivate all controls and the autopilot, since the ship computers are dedicated to calculating the jump parameters. For this reason, a hyperjump is not a good way to get out of trouble. Use the hyperspace unit instead (see below). + Other ships and space junk do no longer appear in fixed positions (in original Elite there were only 4 positions, where pirate ships could appear). All space objects now appear randomly somewhere in front of your ship. + As in Elite-A, the energy bomb has been removed for symetry reasons. No one else in the Elite Universe has an energy bomb, so why should you? + A hyperspace unit is available. This piece of equipment was developed on some pirate world, but became common in the known universe very quickly. It is a small additional circuit that connects to the hyperspace drive and will force it to mis-jump when activated. That is, it will activate the drive without proper setup, forcing a jump to a random location in the galaxy. This will *not* work without fuel, and will blow up any fuel you have. Ctrl-J will trigger a hyperspace mis-jump. Beware: This device may rescue your life (and your cargo), but it's use is inherently dangerous. Hyperspace drives are very complex and an abuse (as with the hyperspace unit) may cause them to fail or even to explode. There are also interferences between the hyperspace unit and the drive that may destroy the hyperspace unit. Use this device on your own risk. You have been warned! + As an additional piece of High-Tech hardware, an I.F.F. system is available on worlds with tech level 10 or higher. This unit will establish a TS ComDirect connection to the nearest Federal GalCop Space Authority Database. Using the data link, it is able to identify nearly all known ship types. The names will be displayed in the lower part of the screen when the object is in the crosshairs. This may help you to adapt your tactics to the capabilities of your enemies. In the flight grid scanner screen of a ship equiped with the I.F.F. (Identification Friend or Foe) system, the display will change according to the type of the object. For ships, the legal status of the owner will be looked up in the GalCop Database. The scanner display will show the information using different colors for head and tail of the bar: Object Head Tail --------------------+---------------+---------------------- Missiles | Green | Green + Red Station related | Green | Green Debris | Green | Yellow + Green Police/Military | Green | Yellow Clean | Yellow | Yellow Offender/Fugitive | Yellow | Yellow + Red Most wanted | Yellow + Red | Yellow + Red Asteroid/Boulder | Red | Red Unknown | Yellow | Yellow + Red Hints: - Ships shown as clean may occasionally be bounty hunters or viper police ships and may attack you. This is even more true if your legal status is not clean. - Ships marked as offender/fugitive are often pirates. Danger! - "Most wanted" ship owners are wanted by the police for terrorism or other highly criminal acts. They often hide near worlds where law enforcement is weak and human life is cheap. Some of them are known to have modified shields and/or laser equipment. Even if GalCop police pays a high bounty for a kill, you are strongly advised to flee (if you can) and to notify the nearest police headquarter. + Because of the greater equipment count, I had to remove the equipment display from the Commander status screen and put it into a screen of it's own. It will also show the Extra Cargo Bay and the count of missiles, you have. Press '0' (that is, zero) to access the ship equipment list. + Changed the way, the legal status is calculated. Several things that were accepted by the authorities in the original Elite will now get you into trouble. Shooting harmless traders or ramming ships are two examples. In the original Elite, no one cared if you shot dozens of innocent traders to raise your combat rating. In Elite 128 all this is considered a crime by the Federation Crime Monitoring Authority (as it should be). As an addition, criminal acts accumulate (this was not true in original Elite) and will get you into trouble very fast. So be careful! Maybe, shooting peaceful family fathers for breakfast was fun in Elite, but it's definitely not the way to go in Elite 128! + If your reputation is *really* bad, the space station will launch fighters for attack if you come in sight. Hint: With a reputation like this, you will not make it anyway... + As an extension, special cargos are available. These are low bulk cargos like photos or tapes that have to be delivered to their destination as fast as possible. Press Ctrl-1 for a list of contract offers. You may only carry one special cargo at a time. The inventory screen shows the type of the cargo and the destination. If you have a special cargo contract, you may use the 'W' in the charts to put the cursor on the destination system for the special cargo and display the current distance to the target. The deposit for the contract is 25% of the contingent fee that is shown in the offer screen. If you take too long to deliver the cargo, you won't fulfill the contract, will loose you deposit *and* gain a criminal record for contract breaking. Here are some recommendations for new pilots regarding special cargo: - You have to pay 25% of the contingent fee for the contract as a deposit, but you get this money back, when (and if) you deliver the special cargo. - Be shure to plan your route before signing the contract! Some routes are much more difficult than others. Have a look at the systems that you plan to visit. Systems heavily infested by pirates will cost you time and - maybe - your life. - Some cargos are illegal. Randomly, drugs or spy films are offered for transport. Unfortunately, it is not always clear from the offers, which cargo is illegal. If the payment offered is unusualy high, the cargo may be illegal - or the offer is a bargain. Be careful! Fighting police ships all your way long will not speed up delivery. - You get payed to deliver the cargo as quickly as possible. So don't even think about doing a little trading at the same time (there's one exception to that: You may take some other goods with you to to sell at the destination of your journey). Avoid space stations. Hanging around in the space station bar may be fun, but it costs time. - Sell your extra cargo bay if you have one. This will make your ship faster (see below). - If you stay in the station for some time (Ctrl-7, see above), other contract offers may become available. - If the cargo is overdue, you will be notified and the cargo is dropped. You will loose your deposit in that case, earn a criminal record for contract breaking, and - if the cargo was illegal - the criminal elements that were your contract partners may get upset. - The prices paid seem to be high. But remember that you take several risks when signing a contract: * The cargo may be illegal. * You may not deliver in time and loose your deposit. * There's not much time to visit space stations, so you cannot save your game often. + Added an additional mission ("mission" is not the correct word, it's more like the trumble stuff but much less funny :-). + Since memory was getting tight again, I began putting the larger messages on separate files on the disk. This means that some messages must be loaded from the game disk. If you don't have the game disk in the drive, you are prompted for it. The messages on disk are the ones for the missions, you see them usually only once in the complete game. The delay and the need to insert the game disk in the drive is a small inconvenience, but the messages are eating memory like cornflakes. The advantage is that more missions or features may be added without much memory penalty. + Changed the trigger and working for the constrictor mission. You may get this mission now in 4 of the 8 galaxies, but the trail in galaxy 1 is gone (as far as I could tell, it did not work anyway in the german version - some of the messages were not even translated). + On worlds with tech level 8 and above, the Rent-A-Dock service is available. When in station range, you can request this service for a mere 25 Credits by pressing Ctrl-C. The station will establish a DockDirect connection and control your ship using its own docking computer devices. This is a nice feature and useful for ships that got damaged in combat. It may even be better to sell the docking computer, freeing one ton of cargo space and to use the Rent-A-Dock service instead. Note: This service is suspended during attack. + Ship equipment now has a weight. In original Elite, you could load tons of equipment into your ship without loosing cargo capacity. This is no longer true. Have a look at the following table to determine, how much precious cargo space each item will take: E.C.M. System 1t I.F.F. System 1t Fuel Scoops 2t Hyperspace Unit 0t Energy Unit 1t Docking Computer 1t Autopilot 1t Galactic Hyperdrive 2t Escape Capsule 2t Extra Cargo Bay 0t Military Laser 1t Other lasers 0t Missile (each) 1t This means that selling or buying equipment when preparing for a special job (trading, special cargo delivery) is much more an option. Note: It may be impossible to buy new equipment, if you have no space left for the new device. You have to sell cargo or other equipment first. + The extra cargo bay now causes a slowdown of your ship. Equipped with an extra cargo bay, it will now reach only ~65% of it's speed without the cargo bay. The cargo itself does not influence the maximum speed (as before). For missions, where you need the full power of your ship (special cargo delivery, bounty hunting), it is now advisable to sell the extra cargo bay. + Reworked the inventory screen. It will no longer show the available fuel and money (since this is duplicated from the status screen), but type and destination of any special cargo carried and the current ship capacity. The latter is displayed as follows: Full capacity/Useable capacity/Capacity left were - Full capacity is the full weight, your ship can carry. - Useable capacity is the capacity left for cargo. - Capacity left is the capacity currently free for cargo or new equipment. + Missiles do no longer destroy other ships on the first hit but cause severe damage (that is: a missile will kill one of the small ships but the bigger ones need several hits). + Most wanted pirates: These mean guys come in different ships and have often modified shields and or lasers. If today is your lucky day, you get a few seconds to pray before you die. + New font: One of my +4 machines has a nice second font. I could not resist, ripped it and put it into the Elite code. The old C64 font was designed with low res TV sets in mind - and it looks like that. The new font is the default, if you don't like it, select the original C64 font from the loader. I've not tested the new font on a TV set, but on my 1901 it looks great. + Several minor changes (single dot stars, sqeezed out a few clycles here and there, ...) Legend: - = new feature in 0.8 * = new in version 0.9 + = new in version 1.0 My special thanks go to: * Ian Bell and David Braben for writing the original game. * Andreas Gerstlauer for translation of the mission texts. Have fun!