Keen: Modding

General :: re: Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure II: The Humanizer Thread

Author: T-Squared
Posted: Sat May 25, 2013 6:16 pm (GMT 0)
Topic Replies: 172

I needed a small hiatus from this to get my artistic motivation back. I do have a question. Is it possible to rearrange the sprite list simply by rearranging the code and modifying the pointers?

General :: re: Modulation

Author: levellass
Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 6:02 am (GMT 0)
Topic Replies: 23

You will want to check out this page: http://www.shikadi.net/keenwiki/Patch:Game_errors especially this section: http://www.shikadi.net/keenwiki/Patch:Game_errors#Other_limits.5Cproblems It sounds increasingly likely that what you are suffering is not a sprite problem but a TILE problem. These are TOTALLY seperate, fiddling with sprites will not even SLIGHTLY fix a tile problem. To quote the above page 'There is a limit to how many 16x16 tile squares can be updated via scrolling onscreen, having a sprite pass in front of them or animating. Only 90 tiles may do this in any one game loop.' Again are you absolutely SURE that the error you are getting is 'No free spots in Objarray' OR 'No free spots in Sprite array ' and NOT something like RF_MarkTileGraphics?

General :: re: Modulation

Author: stayfrosty82
Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 8:07 am (GMT 0)
Topic Replies: 23

Ah the animated foreground tiles (ice platforms) How many of the 128 sprites does one platform take up?? Is it 8 (4 across, 2 down?) or more than this as the platform changes I think 4 times from invisible to solid? I took out a few more slugs, as well as all but one disappearing ice platform. Went to the play the game. Didn't get the error message at least but the game message said &quot;One moment please&quot; as per normal and then froze everytime. (on normal and hard difficulty) I'm still going to muck around a little with it tomorrow when I get the time, hopefully will be able to fix this, but when you look at the original Chrysalis level on Keen 4 it has a heap of ice platforms and sprites! My level so far is a horizontal strip comprising of two large rooms, and two little rooms. There's barely any enemies left. (and yes, I'm absolutely positive that all my candy are foreground tiles, not sprites) I may be asking the stupidest of questions.... but my computer isn't a 386 like the old days... is it possible to somehow change the game to allow more than 128 sprites now? I'd really like to make an enemy-filled level that's ultra hard. I'm just going to keep experimenting. If I get frustrated enough I'll wipe all the candy and enemies from the level and start again, making sure I count as I go...

General :: re: Modulation

Author: levellass
Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 3:42 am (GMT 0)
Topic Replies: 23

Really? That's rather unusual, I thought they caused an animating tiles error? (Tilearry not objarray.)

General :: re: Modulation

Author: Ceilick
Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 12:24 am (GMT 0)
Topic Replies: 23

Check animating foreground tiles, particularly the vanishing ice platforms. Too many will cause this problem.

General :: re: Modulation

Author: Gridlock
Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 11:27 pm (GMT 0)
Topic Replies: 23

First, check your point items. There are two types of point items: tiles and sprites. If you select all your point items and they're in layer 3 (the sprite layer), then you've got your problem. Unless you are placing points in, say, a secret passage, you should use the foreground tile version of the point items (they're located near the middle of the foreground tiles on the left). Point items placed in layer 3 count towards the sprite count and can cause this error to happen even if you don't have many enemies. If this isn't the problem, then I'm not sure what's going on. When I loaded level 5 in the game it crashed with &quot;too many horizontal scroll blocks&quot; (the max is 3 I believe). You might want to check that.

General :: re: Modulation

Author: stayfrosty82
Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 7:32 am (GMT 0)
Topic Replies: 23

ARRRGGGGHHHHH!!! Keen fans and modders! I'm having trouble. Getting the error message to do with: No free spots in Objarray! Yes I know the deal. 128 level 3 objects. I've taken out object after object and still get the same bloody message!! Here's the link to my game file... http://www.filedropper.com/keenmean The exact level is between the Cave of Descendants and Chrysalis Caves. (5th level in the editor) There's hardly any level 3 sprites left now. No idea what I'm doing wrong.

Vorticons Requests and Discussion :: re: Patch request: No pre-jump pause

Author: levellass
Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 5:08 am (GMT 0)
Topic Replies: 17

I never really let a patch go, it's always there in a special window in my web browser.

Vorticons Requests and Discussion :: re: Patch request: No pre-jump pause

Author: troublesomekeen
Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 12:07 am (GMT 0)
Topic Replies: 17

Sweet meat! And you have a version of the patch for Keen 2 and 3! Bravo! Thanks so much, Dr. K and levellass! I have need of just such a patch in my Keen2mod project!

Vorticons Requests and Discussion :: re: Patch request: No pre-jump pause

Author: levellass
Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 1:17 pm (GMT 0)
Topic Replies: 17

Ok, so based on Dr K's comment I have found a patch that makes Keen jump the very soon after the button is pressed. (Instant jumping doesn't work.) The first line is the length of the pause, the second line is the jump speed. The product of the two is Keen's jump height.

Code:

#Keen jumps instantly - Keen 1 %patch $3BAC $0023W %patch $3C25 $0004W $7C #Keen jumps instantly - Keen 2 %patch $69EE $0023W %patch $6A67 $0004W $7C #Keen jumps instantly - Keen 3 %patch $7251 $0023W %patch $72D3 $0004W $7C

Huzzah!

Vorticons Requests and Discussion :: re: A few Keen 1 patches

Author: levellass
Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 10:17 am (GMT 0)
Topic Replies: 13

5b. You want this:

Code:

#Disable Enter High Scores Window entirely -Keen 1 %patch $8055 $90 $90 $90

With this Keen is never asked to enter a high score when he wins or quits the game. The high score screen still exists, but you can alter that to do whatever you want. The following patch removes all those pesky high score entries so it's just a screen with some bitmaps and tiles on it:

Code:

#Number of entries in high scores - Keen 1 %patch $9A18 $00

It is of course possible ton re-purpose the high scores screen for other things and indeed make it totally unreachable in the game, but this is trickier.

Vorticons Requests and Discussion :: re: A few Keen 1 patches

Author: Flyingmouse
Posted: Sat May 18, 2013 12:12 pm (GMT 0)
Topic Replies: 13

This is neat! About some of the other patches though... 1. Why am I even suprised anymore 3. I meant that after playing the yorp stunned effect, the vorticon goes to its standing pose instead of the yorps. Come to think of it, I think that already exists somewhere... 5a. I think it'd be better if Keen was moving actually, so scratch this one. 5b. It might actually be better to remove the high scores completely; I seem to remember someone already did that.

Vorticons Requests and Discussion :: re: A few Keen 1 patches

Author: levellass
Posted: Sat May 18, 2013 8:08 am (GMT 0)
Topic Replies: 13

1.) World map: KeenRush knows how to do this. Refuses to tell anyone. 2.) Ice canons don't make noise, 4-frame Garg animation for icecube: Done. (The sound patch is actually quite compact.)

Code:

#Ice cannon fire sound disabled %patch $209A $EB $07

2b Frozen Keen stuff. Simple. This is the animation patch, though the exit is proving more problematic.

Code:

#1 loop in frozen sequence %patch $2705 $09 #Animation speed 16x slower &#40;Approx&#41; %patch $468E $0300W #Frozen time

3. Don't know what the 'standing up behavior' is. Have a patch that makes the Vorticons 'stun' temporarily when shot (Time is adjustable.) then return to chasing Keen. 4. Getting to the next level via teleporter is proving problematic. The rest is ok. 5 Not sure on this one, do you want a level where Keen cannot be controlled at all in a single level? What would he do, just stand there? 5b. Game quits right after endtext. Also done. Disables getting a high score for a completed game though. 5c. Yeppers.

Code:

#Endtext appears sound disabled %patch $88F6 $EB $07

So yeah.

Vorticons Requests and Discussion :: re: A few Keen 1 patches

Author: Dr. Kylstein
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 1:22 am (GMT 0)
Topic Replies: 13

What have you tried so far?

Vorticons Requests and Discussion :: re: A few Keen 1 patches

Author: levellass
Posted: Sun May 12, 2013 6:56 am (GMT 0)
Topic Replies: 13

The level stuff has proven problematic, especially with KeenRush being the mean sod he is. Without that I am not sure if you'll even want the other patches.

Coding :: re: Chocolate Keen (a "port" of Commander Keen 1-3)

Author: NY00123
Posted: Sun May 12, 2013 9:19 pm (GMT 0)
Topic Replies: 27

Thanks to Lemm's assistance yet again, Chocolate Keen supports the whole Invasion of the Vorticons trilogy now! Technically, there are some more changes. See the change log for details. To play Keen 2 or 3 you need a copy of the desired game. Version 1.31 is supported. Note that while it may get reverted later, a single unified chocolate_keen.exe file is bundled supporting all three episodes beginning with this version. Windows executable (with Keen1): https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/17169616/chocolate-keen/chocolate_keen_src_20130512.tar.bz2 Source code (and Keen1): https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/17169616/chocolate-keen/chocolate_keen_win32_20130512.zip Changelog May 12th, 2013 (v0.8.0): In a similar fashion to what has recently been done for v0.7.0, support for Commander Keen 3 v1.31 is now built-in! As a result, Chocolate Keen has full support for the Invasion of the Vorticons trilogy. - Even before the addition of Keen 3 support, some more code restructuring has been added in regards to multiple episode support (and possibly more). - An example for an experimental decision out of this restructuring: For now a single executable is used, supporting all episodes. It is still possible to compile one per episode. Maybe it will be the default setup again later, similarly to the situation with the source codes for Wolfenstein 3D and various source ports of it. For now, though, it is not the case. - An icon is now set for the Chocolate Keen applications. Thanks to Lemm for suggesting the chocolate bar! - A few changes have been applied in regards to the timing yet again. As a side note, it worths to mention that (also applying to earlier releases), if Chocolate Keen is being run for sufficiently long (let's hope it implies, say, 12 hours at least), then there IS the possible risk of a timing overflow glitch occurring at some point. Not sure there's an easy way to take care of that. Maybe such a way will be found at some point, though. - A new command line argument has been added: &quot;-uselastinputdevice&quot;. On vanilla Keen 1-3, if you setup a joystick within the game (including calibration), use it for a bit, quit the application and then restart it, keyboard input will be forced. Since Chocolate Keen aims to act like vanilla Keen, by default it does the same thing. With the above argument it will rather use the last selected input device stored in the CTLPANEL file, if it is found. - In what may seem to be a controversial decision, the (host) mouse cursor is now LOCKED in the application's window by default, when fullscreen is toggled on. To release, use the key combination Ctrl+F10 (also the default in DOSBox for the same functionality). This works for a non-fullscreen window as well. You may further (re)lock the cursor by clicking on the window or using the key combination Ctrl+F10 (again as usually done in DOSBox). There are a few reasons for doing this. A later point may describe one of them. - A new &quot;-nocursorlock&quot; argument has been added. When passed to Chocolate Keen, the mouse cursor will NOT be locked on startup, nor when toggling fullscreen on/off. As usual it can be locked using the Ctrl+F10 key combo or by clicking on the window. - Another related argument, &quot;-alwayshidecursor&quot;, has further been added. If one wants the mouse cursor to not appear in the application's window even while it is unlocked, this can be used. - For convenience and/or a case of emergency, the keyboard combination Ctrl+F9 (again familiar for DOSBox users) can be used for shutting down Chocolate Keen now. - A bit of an obscure fact: The vanilla Keen 1-3 executables do contain some code for (possibly not-comfortable-to-use) mouse input. It might be a variation of the code from the PC version of Dangerous Dave. While it is possible to manually edit the CTLPANEL file to use a mouse as the input device, keyboard input is always forced on startup as mentioned above. Now, however, Chocolate Keen has the -uselastinputdevice argument. So, similar mouse support has been implemented. Chances are you wouldn't like to use it every day, though, so no special command line argument has been added for enabling the mouse. If you want it, open the CTLPANEL file with a hex editor and set bytes 4-5 (counting from 0) to the values of 01 00 (i.e. the Little Endian 16-bit value of 1). Afterwards, load Chocolate Keen with -uselastinputdevice. - It should be noted that, while not commonly used by a single individual, a secondary game controller can also be used now, again with the help of -uselastinputdevice. A simple change of the controller type (to 3) in the CTLPANEL file is possibly not sufficient, though, as a few calibration-related values should be set. Furthermore, the secondary controller's buttons can NOT be used to halt the discussion during the encounter with the Grand Intellect in Keen 3 (which IS vanilla behavior). - Chocolate Keen can now be compiled in a different &quot;mode&quot; for debugging. Basically, using the current Makefile, when running an executable built with something like &quot;make DEBUG=1&quot;, the mouse cursor is NEVER locked. Furthermore, in such a case the cursor is ALWAYS displayed, unless -alwayshidecursor is added as an argument. The usual cursor lock toggle still works as a toggle for using the mouse in-game at all, though. - Fixed a bug or two in regards to joystick support. - More bug fixes, here and there.