HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: msmith%peruvian.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Matthew Smith)
Subject: .PCX file display program (part 2 - the return)
Date: 2 Sep 92 17:33:28 MDT
Organization: University of Utah CS Dept


.... or at least the filename... <*duh*>

disppcx.zip is the name of the file in /pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS on 
wuarchive.wustl.edu.

Don't flame me too hard, it's been a long day.


Matt Smith
msmith@peruvian.utah.edu
Student - University of Utah Department of Computer Science
From: goetz@acsu.buffalo.edu (Phil Goetz)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: UNIX share-ware games
Date: 1 Sep 92 22:55:27 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: State University of New York at Buffalo/Comp Sci

Shareware doesn't work, unless you have an angle (i.e. sell documentation or
hints, or a key to uncripple or extend the program).  I've distributed
Xasteroids for two years now, and asked people who like the game to send me $5.
I've received a great many email letters of appreciation, but only one person
has sent me $5.

I like the letters of appreciation a lot, but I like money even more.

Phil
goetz@cs.buffalo.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: schwaigr@news.weeg.uiowa.edu (Jim Schwaiger)
Subject: Character Set Editor / Space Ship Characters?
Organization: University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 1992 01:02:15 GMT

I am looking for a source of 2D (overhead) characters of spaceships
(such as "enterprise" style, etc.) for use in a game with multiple
teams (3-4).  I want a relatively small character (up to 30x30 bits)
and also need multiple angled projections (at least 0, 45, 90 degrees).

Also seeking a good character editor which allows the editing of fonts
(including editing the characters I described above).  Any help is
greatly appreciated.

Jim Schwaiger

Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: Ross Ridge <ross@zooid.guild.org>
Subject: Re: 3D Maze Algorithms
Organization: ZOOiD BBS
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 06:38:05 GMT

hewlitt8882@iscsvax.uni.edu (Robert W. Hewlitt Jr.) writes:
>        I was wondering if anyone has a good way to implement a 3-D maze
>algorithm like Wizardry, Bard's Tale, Eye of the Beholder, etc.

>        Any ideas of other (more faster) ways of doing this would be greatly
>appreciated.  Thanks.

	AABBCC   ^North
	DDEEFF
	GGHHII
 	JJKKLL

A very simple way to draw maps like these simply back to front.  In my
figure above you a person at KK looking North.  You'ld display this view
by drawing:

	- the north wall of AA, BB, CC
	- the east and west wall of BB
	- the north wall of DD, EE, FF
	- the east and west wall of EE
	- the north wall of GG, HH, II
	- the east and west wall of HH
	- the north wall of JJ, KK, LL
	- the east and west wall of KK

Now you'll likely waste time drawing stuff that will be completely
covered up by stuff in the foreground but this isn't much of a problem
for most applications.  If you want you can make various optimizations
like if DD and EE have a north wall (completely opaque, no windows or
anything), then you don't need to draw the north wall of AA.  Try to get
everything aligned on any hardware specific boundaries.  For instance
in C64 version of Bard's Tale for the C64 everything was aligned to a 
character (8 pixel) boundary because the picture was in fact made up
of characters of a custom character set. 

							Ross Ridge

-- 
Ross Ridge - The Great HTMU					     l/	 //
								    [OO][oo]
ross@zooid.guild.org						    /()\/()/
uunet.ca!zooid!ross						     db	 //
From: warwick@cs.uq.oz.au (Warwick Allison)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Wolf 3d by Id - this is how they did it
Date: 1 Sep 92 03:53:36 GMT
Reply-To: warwick@cs.uq.oz.au

benrg@ocf.berkeley.edu (Brn Rudiak-Gould) writes:

>I have right now some working C code that does 3D graphics that are quite
>similar to Wolf3d's walls (not the objects).  Compiled with DJGPP it's very
>fast--I don't remember the exact number of frames per second but it's a lot
>more than are needed.  I suspect that Id used used the same algorithm that
>I'm using, but I'm not sure since I haven't looked at their code.

> [excellent description of algorithm deleted]


An old Atari 8-bit game (running at under 2MHz) used this algorithm (I guess).
The game was called "WAYOUT".  All it was was a get-out-of-the-maze game, and
only drew up about 80x60 pixels, but it was full speed (60Hz).


--
Warwick
--
  _-_|\      warwick@cs.uq.oz.au            /Disclaimer:
 /     * <-- Computer Science Department,  /  
 \_.-._/     University of Queensland,    /      void (if removed)
      v      Brisbane, Australia.        /
From: bls@sector7g.Eng.Sun.COM (Brian Scearce)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Shortest Path Algorithm
Date: 26 Aug 92 01:53:50 GMT
Reply-To: bls@sector7g.Eng.Sun.COM
Distribution: world
Organization: Sun Microsystems
NNTP-Posting-Host: sector7g

I forget the official name of this algorithm, but:

struct path_element {
  Cell *indicator;
  int cost;
  Cell *previous;
};

Set struct path_element Reached;

if (start_cell == target_cell) return; /* already there */
create path_element start;
start.indicator = &start_cell;
start.cost = 0;
start.previous = NULL;
Reached = start;
for (;;) {
  for each cell in Reached {
    find cheapest cell reachable from it that isn't already in Reached;
  }
  if (cheapest == target_cell) return; /* found it */
  add cheapest to Reached;
}


And that's it.  Details of implementation left as an exercise for the reader.


---
Brian Scearce                               bls@sector7g.eng.sun.com
        The above does not necessarily represent Sun policy.
          It's easier to get forgiveness than permission.
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: infra@unixg.ubc.ca (Infrascan Inc.)
Subject: Re: Music Rights
Keywords: sound music rol adlib
Organization: UBC Pulmonary Research Lab., St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 02:34:42 GMT

In article <4852@news.duke.edu> kds@phy.duke.edu (Stokes Kevin) writes:
>
>  I have a very successful shareware game (Corncob 3D, aircombat flight
>sim).  My marketing guy insists that I put music in the title screen and 
>menu choices into the next release.  I implemented the code to play .ROL 
>music files, and that works fine.  I downloaded about 100 .rol files, and 
>choose the best of them.  
>  My problem is that I can't track down the original authors/musicians
>of the files.  The files came with little doc, and had nothing about
>copyrights; Just a list of what the music was.  Then I later found out that
>many of the tunes were those distributed by Adlib with the sound boards.
>  Many of the tunes are obviously right out becuase they are current pop
>music like 'Beat-it' and so on.  The classical stuff no one holds a copyright
>to, but what about the performer?
>  On the other hand, ADLIB is out of business.  However, my gut feeling is
>that even though the company may no longer around, someone still owns the
>rights to that music.
>  Does anyone have any experience or legal knowledge about these issues?
>
>                                             -Kevin
>
>-- 
>	Kevin Stokes
>	Duke University Dept. of Physics	kds@phy.duke.edu
>	Durham, N.C.      27706			

	Adlib has been bought buy some German company and expect to release the
Adlib Gold within the next couple of months.  I have no idea on the copyright
status of their music.  I'll have to look for your game and give it a try. Good
Luck!
--
Tim Roy
infra@pulmonary.ubc.ca
"My employer doesn't even know that I have opinions"
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: dpiponi@bach.mth.kcl.ac.uk (Daniele Piponi)
Subject: Re: Question: Rotating a small bitmapped image?
Organization: Columbia University Center for Telecommunications Research
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 09:20:19 GMT
X-Posted-From: bach.mth.kcl.ac.uk
X-Posted-Through: sol.ctr.columbia.edu

In article <1992Aug26.152939.4449@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu> mucds@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu  
(Corey D. Stinson) writes:
> 	Could someone help me with a problem.  I have a small sprite
> (bitmapped) and when animating, instead of re-drawing the picture over
> and over to repesent the rotation stages I would like to develop some
> algorithm to rotate the image.

There's a neat algorithm in Introduction to Computer Graphics by Foley,
van Dam et alia for rotating bit maps, or doing any linear operation.
If you're happy with matrices then write your rotation matrix as a product
of two shears, one preserving x-coordinates and one preserving
y-coordinates. Each one is then really easy to implement as it acts
only on a row or column at a time and so you only have to do a couple of
multiplications for the whole bitmap making it incredibly fast.
--
/\___/\    For further details mail --> udah001 @ elm.cc.kcl.ac.uk
\/o o\/
 \_._/ Dan Piponi  dpiponi @ maths1.mth.kcl.ac.uk
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: tmkk@uiuc.edu (Khan)
Subject: Re: Network Interactions
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 20:00:34 GMT


In article <17ds6oINN23b@columbia.ksu.ksu.edu> lyn@columbia.ksu.ksu.edu (Myself) writes:
>  Does anyone have ANY information on how to allow multiple-player interaction
>on a Novell (tm) Network? Or anything for multi-line BBS games, anything of the
>sort will help. Source code for Turbo Pascal(tm) is OK. Actually, ANYTHING is
>ok. The rambling, desperate programmer,

Pick up a copy of "Programmer's Guide to Netware" by Rose, publisher is
McGraw Hill. It's a bit pricey ($50) but includes a disk and has all
sorts of info (including sample programs) on how to write programs which
make use of Netware facilities.
From: baylor@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Baylor)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Group split
Date: 25 Aug 92 15:09:24 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX

>Rec.games.programmer is for the discussion of the implementation of
>computer games.  Questions like "What data structure is appropriate 
>for storing a game map" are probably appopriate.  A certain amount of
>PC hardware specific discussion (ie, "How is mode X more appropriate 
>for arcade games programming than mode 0x13"), with code examples, etc
>is probably appropriate.  I say probably, because many questions are
>of a hazy nature where they can't be pigeon holed.  The best we can do
>is for people to use some thought and consideration when adding 
>"rec.games.programmer" to the "Newsgroups:" line.  In the future, 
>please think about where your post really belongs, and do the other
>netters the courtesy of sending it there.  We all have made this

	Well i'm sure this must sound ok in theory, buty it doesn't
work very well. Those of us who have trie dother groups know how bad it
is over there.
	The lang groups like pascal rarley have anyone who either knows
or will answer questions on graphics.
	Lang groups like C send you 12,000 messages saying you geek, never
post ibm specific questions or we'll kill you, try games.programmer instead.
	I have never gotten an answer from any hardware group.
	Even if this group is inappropriate, it is one of the few groups
where i know i can find someone with the answers. Lets face it, there are
very few people who use these techniques (fast bit blts) except games, and the
market for support books is hideous. Even our local support groups here,
normally gurus, don't know half of what i can get from this group.
	Plus I've never seen it hurt anyone.
	I'm all for splitting the group to a new ibm-graphics group, but
i'm not going to keep wasting time on other groups where i know i won't
get an answer.
From: saxena@maxwell.physics.purdue.edu (Virendra K. Saxena)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Tile Map Animation
Date: 1 Sep 92 03:36:06 GMT


	I know people don't want IBM-graphics questions posted here, but 
	there's no other group to post to right now, so for those of 
	you who want to flame me, sorry :-)

	Anyways...I'm working on a computer game that is like the 
	Ultimas.  I'm using 640x350x16 Enahanced EGA mode.  I have two 
	problems right now:

	1) When I change modes to _ERES16COLOR(quick C 2.5), if I change the
	pallette to suit me, it is different on an EGA and VGA card.  How
	do I fix this problem???  

	2) What is the fastest way to do tile map animation like in
	the ultimas.  I have a two-d array in which each different tile
	has a different number.  When you move, the program checks the tiles
	around you and places the correct tiles at the correct location 
	on the 2nd video page, and then switches pages.  This is smooth,
	but it is VERY slow.  Considering that I have a 386-33...something is
	definetely WRONG!!! Is there a faster way to do this??  Does anyone
	have their own replacement to _putimage that is a lot faster?  

	3) Does anyone have code for loading PCX's that actually works?? I have 
	typed in code from a Lee Adams book and tried some code that I dl'ed.
	Didn't work.  Help?

	I have more then two questions...I'm just going to pour out all the     
	questions I have(I'm 16 so give me a brake :-) );

	4)  How does one access 640x480x256 color mode with QC? If I use
	the BIOS interrupt(forget the number) to change modes, will the
	_getimage and _putimage routines still work?  I can write my own
	pallette changing routines, but I'm not very familliar with 
	that kind of code.  

	5)Can someone explain screen panning to me?? I got the Hobbes ModeX
	library, but I couldn't get it to compile with QC.  If you have any 
	code, I'd be very interested in it.

	6) Any good books on graphics/game programming that would help me
	learn more???

	7) Anyone want to donate a PAS-16?? :-) I tried....

	Thanks in adavance,
		Deepak

	PS: Use deepak as the subject for E-Mail replies since this is my 
	dad's account.
From: ron@zooid.guild.org (Secret Mud)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Hackenstein
Date: 31 Aug 92 12:38:01 GMT

From: urbndv8@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (Bleeding Rivets)
>
>In article <713975014.17374@zooid.guild.org> ron@zooid.guild.org (Secret Mud) writes:
>>
>>But after playing it for a little while, didn't your soul ache for the really
>>wonderful games that could have been done with the graphics/sound engine?
>>
>What my soul aches for is Nethack with a Wolf3d front end ....
>
>Unfortunately it might be difficult to fit into anything even _near_ 640K
>for DOS.  (for the code, never mind the data files).
>You would probably want a couple of dozen images per monster, too; 16
>rotations and 3-4 attack images and some running images too.
>The best way to go for that would be to make little clay figurines,
>photograph them with an electronic camera and convert the images.
>Or is there an easier way to go with some kind of solid modeling program?
>
>So any thoughts on this, anyone?
>
>urbndv8@ucscb.ucsc.edu
>

Why not use a 32 bit extender?  (Or at least a 286 extender if you're
squeemish about chopping off anything below a 386sx.)

Don't forget the multiplayer options.  (Modem links might be a bit dodgey even
with minimum data transfers, and sync'ed 'random' number generators.)

One thing about using figurines or clay figures, is that you could cheat a bit
on the light source.  Hang one where you want it to be.  (It would increase
the graphics processing, but imagine a fireball streaking down a dark
corridor.  Ultima must do that, have to give it a try.)

 - Ron Sharp.
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: galt%peruvian.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Greg Alt)
Subject: Re: Console game Programmers
Date: 27 Aug 92 01:21:12 MDT
Followup-To: rec.games.programmer 
Organization: University of Utah CS Dept
Distribution: world

In article <1992Aug25.180338.14296@crash> maddie@crash.cts.com (Tom Schenck) writes:
>It would also be nice to hear from any OTHER console programmers out there. I don't expect to hear from
>any Apple ][, Commodore 64, or other 8-bit programmers, but for those who
>do Nintendo, Lynx, GameBoy and other low-end consoles.

I'm planning on doing some programming for the Atari 2600.  I found some
tech docs on the net (I'll email them or post them here if people want them).
Also, there's going to be a mailing list for people interested in programming
the 2600.  This list is only for people who are serious and understand the
difficulties involved (2600's have no frame buffer--you have to send data
out for each scan line as the electron gun is scanning them, and you have to
do everything in 6507 (a crippled 6502) assembly optimized for space and
speed.  I know it might sound silly wanting to program the 2600, but it 
should be a fun challenge. 
 
Greg
----
"Dwayne Dibly?!" - The Cat (I've seen 5th season.  Have you?)
----
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: drew@ophelia.cs.colorado.edu (Drew Eckhardt)
Subject: Group split
Organization: University of Colorado at Boulder
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1992 21:28:17 GMT

As an obsolete, and no longer used newsgroup, I feel that 
rec.games.programmer should be removed from the hierchy.  In its 
place, we should provide alt.flame.whine-about-newsgroup-content so 
that an appropriate newsgroup exists for all of the recent traffic 
discussing  "why the IBM programers should or shouldn't find a different 
news group."   Only by removing rec.games.programmer can we insure
that future posts end up on the appropriate new group, otherwise 
the posters will continue to flood this group with inappropriate articles.

You people complain that "The IBM programmers are 
taking up all the bandwidth, with discussions belonging elsewhere."
Then you hypocritically generate at least as many inappropriate 
postings "condemming the IBM offenders," or suggesting a newsgroup 
split, when posting to the right existing groups would probably solve 
the problem.  

The IBM newsgroups comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware, and comp.os.msdos.programmer
are appropriate for  general PC hardware / programming questions.
Comp.programming exists to cover general things like data structures.  
'C', pascal, and other language specific questions belong in the appropriate 
comp.lang group.  Design questions belong in rec.games.design.

Rec.games.programmer is for the discussion of the implementation of
computer games.  Questions like "What data structure is appropriate 
for storing a game map" are probably appopriate.  A certain amount of
PC hardware specific discussion (ie, "How is mode X more appropriate 
for arcade games programming than mode 0x13"), with code examples, etc
is probably appropriate.  I say probably, because many questions are
of a hazy nature where they can't be pigeon holed.  The best we can do
is for people to use some thought and consideration when adding 
"rec.games.programmer" to the "Newsgroups:" line.  In the future, 
please think about where your post really belongs, and do the other
netters the courtesy of sending it there.  We all have made this
mistake in the past. A little thought in the future will prevent these
errors, keeping rec.games.programmer a clean and happy place.  For those 
repeat offenders, a "warm" greeting in email explaining the situation is
more appropriate than agravating the situation by sending your flames here.

There are a lot of talented and knowledgeable programmers sharing a
wealth of information with the rest of us in this newsgroup.  We'd like
to see that information, but not necessarily in an inappropriate  newsgroup.
Everybody, please keep this in mind in the future, using the
"Followup-to:" line to steer inappropriate discussions away.

-- 
Microsoft is responsible for propogating the evils it calls DOS and Windows, 
IBM for AIX (appropriately called Aches by those having to administer it), but 
marketing's sins don't come close to those of legal departments.
Boycott AT&T for their absurd anti-BSDI lawsuit.
From: sje@xylos.ma30.bull.com (Steven J. Edwards)
Subject: SAN Kit: chess programming source kit freeware
Reply-To: sje@xylos.ma30.bull.com
Organization: Bull HN, Worldwide Information Systems, Billerica, Mass., USA
Distribution: rec
Date: 26 Aug 92 11:21:49

This is an announcement of a freeware chess programming package
written in portable C for experimenters.  Although this package has
been already announced in rec.games.chess and gnu.chess, I was asked
to place it here also.  This is because the sources can be modified to
support other games such as checkers/draughts (a little overkill),
Chinese chess, shogi (Japanese chess), and other two-person board
games with rectilinear coordinate systems.  It is probably not very
helpful for go, however.

This announcement also appears in the Coherent newsgroup as the
software is an example of C development under the MWC Coherent
operating system.  (From: mwcbbs!zipper!sje)

I have just sent out the first copies of the SAN Kit freeware chess
programming package.  (SAN: Standard Algebraic Notation.)  It is about
53 Kbytes long, so it may possibly choke a few mailreaders.  If there
are e-mail distribution problems, perhaps someone can put the package
on an ftp site.

If you are a prospective chess software author interested in receiving
a copy, send me some e-mail with a subject line of "Send SANKit" and
it's on its way.  I hope that the README file and the sources provide
sufficient help as I do not have the time to offer much in the way of
personal assistance.  Like the README says: no warranty and use at
your own risk.

I will hazard a guess by suggesting that a skilled C programmer could
use some of the SAN Kit routines provided and have his/her own
chessplaying program running in a week or so.  Just code a search and
an evaluation function and you're on your way!  Similarly, programmers
with interests in Chinese chess, shogi, and the like could have a
player up and running in an additional week or so.

 [The above opinions expressed are my own; not necessarily held by others.]
      == Steven J. Edwards           Bull HN Information Systems Inc. ==
      == (508) 294-3484              300 Concord Road         MS 820A ==
      == sje@xylos.ma30.bull.com     Billerica, MA 01821          USA ==
"That Government which Governs the Least, Governs Best." -- Thomas Jefferson
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: dpiponi@bach.mth.kcl.ac.uk (Daniele Piponi)
Subject: Sun4
Organization: Columbia University Center for Telecommunications Research
Keywords: sun keyboard
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 08:56:33 GMT
X-Posted-From: bach.mth.kcl.ac.uk
X-Posted-Through: sol.ctr.columbia.edu

I was thinking of trying to rewrite some arcade game type programs
that I have written for various 'toy' computers for a Sun4. (Defender on a  
large screen would be pretty neat!)

To get the speed I want to write at a fairly low level so I use the  
pixrect routines to write to the screen. Is there an equivalent low
level way of reading the keyboard state? I don't want to read the
keyboard as a stream but test to see if a key is pressed at any moment.
We have a distinct lack of documentation here so almost everything I
know about the Sun is gleaned from (a minimal set of) man pages and
deciphering include files. I guess I use ioctl() on /dev/kbd but I
can't seem to get it to work.

Maybe I shouldn't be doing this sort of thing...

--
/\___/\    mail --> udah001 @ elm.cc.kcl.ac.uk
\/o o\/
 \_._/ Dan Piponi  dpiponi @ maths1.mth.kcl.ac.uk
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer