HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: baylor@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Baylor)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Xmode Scrolling
Date: 15 Nov 92 23:09:14 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX

>  What I am wondering is how games do scrolling (smooth) with a static 
>piece any other place on the screen, such as on the left.
>  
	Honestly, they do it completely different then the way you think.
	They don't scroll anything onto the screen. Virtual screens
are almost always to short for anything except demos and title screens
(at which point it looks very nice).
	They define an array of screen tiles for background (not
jill, alligators or such) and then do a putpic-type blit for each
visible screen, that is, they constantly redraw it!
	Ok, get yourself a scratch piece of video memory. Put down the 
background (can be done with movsw), each tile hopefully like 16*16
or 32*32. Then put down things that go over the background, keeping in 
mind their priority (if two things collide on the screen, like the
birds and alligators, which overlaps which? Depends on the order
they're put down, so keep that in mind). Then lastly draw the things that
masks everything else, like the words DEMO in keen or other words
on jill (or anything you can walk behind that masks you, like columns
and hidden tunnels).
	That's also how you can have teh score on top or on the side and
scroll in a window, like in duke pukem.
	Someday look at the intro to Ultima 6. Turn your machine down to
4mhz and use the pause button alot - you'll see that it doesn't scroll
smoothly and that you can catch it before it finishes a redraw, something
that doesn't happen by scrolling with the start address.
							- baylor
From: florian@wvnvms.wvnet.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Help!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Date: 21 Nov 92 09:07:29 GMT
Organization: West Virginia Network for Educational Telecomputing


   Well, I have tried long enough to look for sources of info on my own,
   I've been reading this Newsgroup for some time, and quite frankly,
   I'm sick of not knowing what the heck everybody is talking about.

   Anybody who could direct me towards FTPable info on graphics and game
   programming please do, I would appreciate it muchly.  Of course anyone
   who cares to work up a faq describing some of the basic terms used
   would most likely be appreciated.  Thanks.

*******************************************************************************
* Nicholas LaFlamme    *Florian@Wvnvms.Wvnet.edu *  You live and die for      *
* Vagrant, Programmer  *  Cis: [70742,1316]      *   freedom!                 *
* Poet, and Madman     *                         *       -Buzzkirk, Lensman   *
*******************************************************************************
                           But Dr. Pickering, in science as in morality the
                             Ends never justifies the means!.
                                         -The Docter (in Robot)
From: warwick@cs.uq.oz.au (Warwick Allison)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Advice needed for fastest sort algorthm
Date: 17 Nov 92 04:29:51 GMT
Reply-To: warwick@cs.uq.oz.au

I've got it!  The FASTEST sorting algorithm, I call it "TwoSort":


void TwoSort(int* data)
{
	if (*data > data[1]) *data^=data[1]^=*data^=data[1];
}


This works for all integer data, where the number of elements to be sorted is 2.


--
Warwick
--
  _-_|\      warwick@cs.uq.oz.au            /Disclaimer:
 /     * <-- Computer Science Department,  /  
 \_.-._/     University of Queensland,    /   C references are NULL && void*
      v      Brisbane, Australia.        /
From: isc10144@nusunix1.nus.sg (CHAN NICODEMUS)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Getting A Job Game Programming
Date: 20 Nov 92 13:19:56 GMT
Organization: National University of Singapore
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]

JAMES MCGINLEY (mcginle@obelix.gaul.csd.uwo.ca) wrote:
: I assume the following questions have been asked hundreds of times but I'm new
: to this group. Anyways, bear with me while I ask :
: 1. Has someone compiled a list of addresses of companies that make games?
:      If you could send it to me - or post it - I would appreciate it.
: 2. What are the chances of getting hired at these companies?
: 3. What is the standard background of most game programmers (i.e. Do you
:      need a computer science degree? Do you need an art background?
:      Are the big name programmers today the same people that started out
:      programming commercial Atari games?)
: 4. Do you need to have a shareware game to get looked at?
: 5. Are there any computer game making companies in Canada?
: 6. Do I have a hope in hell of getting into the video game industry?
: 
: Any information at all on anything (I'll even take unsubstantiated opinions)
: would be fantastique. I (along with everybody else here I presume) would
: love a job programming computer games.
: 
: Thanks a million,
: Jim 'I'm doomed to work at a bank' McGinley
: 
: P.S. Thanks for all the help everyone gave me about redefining characters!

I think that I quite agree with him.  But what is the competition and
marketableness of people like us?  I'm sure there are a lot of people
out there looking for these type of jobs.  



Nico.
Department of Information Systems and Computer Science,
National University of Singapore.
From: warwick@cs.uq.oz.au (Warwick Allison)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Advice needed for fastest sort algorthm
Date: 16 Nov 92 02:37:32 GMT
Reply-To: warwick@cs.uq.oz.au

dank@calvin.usc.edu (Dan King) writes:

>Quoting from The Art of Computer Programming, Volume 3 (pp176-178):
>"[r]adix sorting is usually more efficient than any other known
>sorting method for internal sorting."

Is that the first edition (1968), or second edition (1973).
I hope the references haven't dated too much :-).

Seriously, it's these exact statement that I'm arguing against.  Saying that ANY
algorithm for sorting is the best, or "usually more efficient than any other" is
simply crazy.  Each algorithm has strengths and weaknesses.  Radix sort isn't
even APPLICABLE in most cases.


>Speaking about his example program, Knuth says,
>"A p-pass version of the program would take (11p-1)N+O(pM) units of
>time." [p is the number of keys and M is the number of radix piles]

ie. if p is too large, forget it.  too large = O(N)... or even O(sqrt(N)).
(where N is the EXPECTED number of items for sorting)

--
Warwick
--
  _-_|\      warwick@cs.uq.oz.au            /Disclaimer:
 /     * <-- Computer Science Department,  /  
 \_.-._/     University of Queensland,    /   C references are NULL && void*
      v      Brisbane, Australia.        /
From: mfh@math.chalmers.se (Martin Hansson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Hexmaps and LOS?
Date: 22 Nov 92 14:13:44 GMT
Organization: Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg Sweden

I have two questions. Both have been discussed here previosly but I wasn't
interested at the time, and I havn't found neither a FAQ or an archive for
this group.

1. Are there any routines for handling hexmaps out there?
   If not, how do I handle such a map?

2. How do I calculate LOS in such a map (or in any map)?

Thanx!
	Martin



--
Martin Hansson  mfh@math.chalmers.se or d8hanma@dtek.chalmers.se
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: intruder@pioneer.unm.edu (David Aaron Kennedy)
Subject: MODEX, ???????
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 92 19:30:03 GMT
Organization: Space and Planetary Image Facility
Summary: 320x240, assembly, quick code. 
Distribution: all
Keywords: assembly, hack modes, vga, mode 13h

Ok here is the scoop: i really want to know about mode x.

i have the source that makes the pixels square but i dont think it
is really mode x
 the source is :
  mov dx, 03e2h
  mov al, e3h
  out dx, al

 dont think this is real mode x.  please help!  e mail asap.

i really need this info by friday about 5:00 pacific. thanks
dave
From: bobp@hal.com (Bob Pendleton)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: X-MODE info
Date: 16 Nov 92 17:40:27 GMT
Organization: HaL Computer Systems, Inc.

From article <19058.2b06d3dc@ecs.umass.edu>, by nllopis@ecs.umass.edu:
> Recently I've heard of that X-Mode deal (I used to do all
> my stuff in 320x200x256)... and I guess I was really missing
> some good stuff!
> Could anybody please post/e-mail me with the numbers of the 
> Dr. Dobb's journal that had info on that X-Mode for VGA?
> Any info on other sources concerning X-mode would really be
> appreciated.
> 
> Thanks...
> 
> 	Noel Llopis
> 	nllopis@ecs.umass.edu

from the readme file:

This is the source for the X-Sharp 3-D animation package, as
presented in the Graphics Programming column in Dr. Dobb's Journal,
as of the April 1992 issue.  A couple of bugs in the code from the
April 1992 column are fixed in this archive.  The code has been tested
with Borland C++ 3.0 and TASM 3.0.  To make X-Sharp, run K.BAT.

You can find the whole thing on wuarchive.wustl.edu and many other
fine anonymous ftp sites in file /mirrors/msdos/ddjmag/xsharp15.zip.

				Bob P.
-- 
Bob Pendleton             | As an engineer I hate to hear:
bobp@hal.com              |   1) You've earned an "I told you so."
Speaking only for myself. |   2) Our customers don't do that.
                   <<< Odin, after the well of Mimir. >>>
From: rgasch@nl.oracle.com (Robert Gasch)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Landscaping
Date: 18 Nov 92 13:28:37 GMT
Organization: Oracle Europe

I dimly remember many years ago a game on the ZX Spectrum (it IS a
long time ago) called "Lords of Midnight" which used a technique
called landscaping to generate pictures of a landscape as the
player moved through it. 

Does anybody out there know what this exactly entails? The only 
practical ways of doing this (that I can come up with) are using
a set of predefined bitmaps and putting them into place as you
interprete the landscape around you.

Any pointers at algorithms, tricks and other useful hints will be
well appreciated. If you know any (Unix) software out there that
achives this or a similar effect, please let me know where I can
get it from.


Thanks a lot
--> Robert

 
******************************************************************************
* Robert Gasch	       *         Ich will einmal nach Saarbruecken           * 
* Oracle Engineering   *           Ja Saarbruecken waere nett                * 
* De Meern, NL	       *          Ich will Haare auf dem Ruecken             *
* rgasch@nl.oracle.com *             Und ein rosa Gummibett     - Die Aerzte *
******************************************************************************
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: ssalter@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (-=[SLS]=-)
Subject: Re: Getting A Job Game Programming
Organization: OFSA
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 19:35:33 GMT

vputz@nyx.cs.du.edu (Victor Putz) asks:


>Actually, anyone know how well shareware works?  Can one make a living at
>it?  Jay Wilbur?  Apogee guys?  Whaddya have to say?

The track record isn't good for shareware authors but yes, you CAN
make a living at it. Takes an excellent project and enthusiasm and
great marketing techniques.

Steve
From: stone-andy@cs.yale.edu (Andy Stone)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: vga mode 13
Date: 19 Nov 1992 00:03:43 -0500
Organization: /homes/majors/stonea/.organization
NNTP-Posting-Host: tiger.zoo.cs.yale.edu
In-reply-to: 00rbspelman@leo.bsuvc.bsu.edu's message of 17 Nov 92 17:15:13 GMT

You can switch pages by writing to the VGA Set Start Address register.  It's
pretty easy.

		
-- 
                                                  |  Andy Stone |      
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: s026@brems.ii.uib.no (Paal K Holmberg)
Subject: redirecting video ram??? (in mode 13)
Organization: University of Bergen, Norway
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 92 11:35:38 GMT

 i just read that someone hinted it was possible to tell the vga-card to 
fetch it's display data from an arbitrary memory location in normal ram.
is this really possible, if it is it would be a great help. Does anyone know 
anything about this ?

-- 
 Paal Krebs Holmberg
 UiB
 Norway
 
 "To program, or not to program - thats not a question " ;-) 

                               |                          
                               |                           
                               |              
                              (n)             
                   X-----====(.i.)====-----X  
                      X       +++       X    
                               ~             
  		   Good flying,and check six
From: nllopis@ecs.umass.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Playing map....
Date: 22 Nov 92 23:26:52 GMT

In article <50217gb@rpi.edu>, woodam@aix.rpi.edu (Matthew G. Woodard) writes:
> I'm making a war game, but I don't want to use a "hex" or "square" territory
> setup for the maps.  Instead, I'd like to use a map similar to that used in
> board games such as risk, or Axis and Allies (ie. non-uniform shape).  I 
> believe this might be done using a hard-coding technique, but I want the
> game to have much more versatility than that (I'd eventually like to create
> a map-generator to create custom battlefields).
> 	One idea I've had would be to implement an object-oriented approach,
> but I haven't been able to think up a really good way to represent the map.
> 
> 						Any advice would be a help,
> 						Matt (woodam@aix.rpi.edu)
> 
Hmm... the easiest way I can see out of it would be to implement
it with "small" squares. That way it would not look like the
typical board games but if done well enough the user would not
be able to tell the difference from "irregular" shapes.

There's probably a better way though :)

Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: millerje@CS.ColoState.EDU (Jeff Miller)
Subject: Re: Getting A Job Game Programming
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 16:20:26 GMT
Organization: Colorado State University, Computer Science Department

The feeling I get from many companies I've talked too at shows, there are
VERY FEW game programmers who are full time staffers.  Your best bet would
be to write a game, copyright it (at get proper protection, etc), send it
to some companies (perhaps a non-disclosure statement?), and then see what
they say.  If it's marketable, they'll buy it, and you get royalties.  Pretty
much the same as working on site, except you must have a working or finished
project, instead of expecting the company to teach you what to do.

-- 
 _____________________________________________________________________________
|                                                                             |
| "Nuke the unborn gay whales!" |  millerje@cs.colostate.edu  |  Jeff Miller  |
|_____________________________________________________________________________|
From: stone-andy@cs.yale.edu (Andy Stone)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: GAME.MAKER
Date: 20 Nov 1992 13:33:18 -0500
Organization: Yale University Computer Science Dept., New Haven, CT 06520-2158
Distribution: rec
NNTP-Posting-Host: hare.zoo.cs.yale.edu


In article <19NOV199208260875@trentu.ca>, tsullivan@trentu.ca (God) writes:
|>   You mentioned that Game Maker can output .EXE files, for shareware-type 
|> distribution. Could you point me in the direction of a good sample program 
|> that could show off the abilities of the program?
|> 
|> 
|>    Tim Sullivan
|>    tsullivan@trentu.ca
|>    cstes@blaze.trentu.ca
|> 
|> A Disclaimer? Yeah, and people BELIEVE what I write, too...
|> ---
|>  "Virtual Reality has NOTHING on Calvin."
|>        - Suzy, from Calvin and Hobbes
|> 


This thanksgiving we will be uploading demo games to various BBSes.  SIMTEL
does not allow games, so we are wondering where to put them.
Please e-mail me your favorite BBS number and where it is located, or the name
of a IBM FTP which allows games.  We will hit a smattering around the country,
and let them spread.
-- 
                                                  |  Andy Stone |      
					     stonea@minerva.cis.yale.edu
From: s921878@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au (Daniel John Lee Parnell)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Redefining Characters in Text Mode
Date: 17 Nov 92 00:24:42 GMT
Organization: RMIT Computer Centre
NNTP-Posting-Host: minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au

Hi,
	A friend of mine and I have written a character set editor.
If anybody is enterested I could post the source to here.  It is written
in turbo pascal and will work on both EGA (which is all I have at home) as
well as VGA screens.  It allows you to modify any character using a simple 
editor and you can also save them to disk if need be.  The process of reading
them back is as simple as coppying the procedure I use to load back fonts into
your own program.

	It is incredably badly written in bits, and I have tried to make it
semi-readable, but I am too lazy to fix up all the yuckieness of the bits
my friend did.

	If anybody is interested I'll post it here.


				Daniel

-- 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My e-mail address is s921878@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au    131.170.20.80 (it think)
Theres no point in being grown up if you cant act childish sometimes : Dr Who
From: pcellik@axion.bt.co.uk (Peter SPHINX Cellik)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: DM256
Date: 18 Nov 92 11:45:52 GMT
Reply-To: pcellik@axion.bt.co.uk (Peter SPHINX Cellik)
Organization: British Telecom Research Labs


In article <1992Nov13.213659.2425@dbsun.uucp>, urciuoli@dbsun.uucp (urciuoli) writes:
|> Does anybody know if modex or modey will work on 256 color LCD screens?
|> -Steven Urciuoli

modex works fine on my 8 shades of grey LCD, but you never know until
you try.

   SPHINX

==================================================
=== ?include "DISCLAIM.H--"                    ===
===                                            ===   
=== Kill others only if you wish to be killed. ===
==================================================
From: spurcell@galadriel.mcd.intel.com (Stacy Purcell ~)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: GAME.MAKER
Date: 18 Nov 92 08:12:51 GMT
Article-I.D.: galadrie.SPURCELL.92Nov18001251
Reply-To: spurcell@mcd.intel.com
Distribution: rec
Organization: Memory Components Division

Have any of you ever used GAME MAKER from Recreational Software
Designs? It is supposedly software to aid in creating arcade games
and adventure games, sort of a video game construction kit.

It seems like it might be useful for amateurs like myself who are
interested in game design. According to the ad opposite page 54 in the
November 92 issue of Computer Gaming World,

  "GAME.MAKER requires an IBM AT compatible 286, 386, or 486 with a color
   VGA monitor and mouse. Joystick optional."

The ad also offers the following information.

  "A technological breakthrough by Recreational Software Desings lets you
   do the impossible. Now you can create 256 color VGA computer games
   without programming.

   +Design unlimited number of animated monsters and good guys
   +Animated characters walk, run, fly, hop, pop from scene to scene
   +Design your own sounds
   +Make arcade and adventure games as unique as your imagination
   +Modify and enhance GAME.MAKER games"

So, has anyone tried this product? If so could you comment on its
good and bad points.

thanks,
-stacy
--
Stacy Purcell                                MCD Design Systems Support
Voice:     (916)-356-4005                    Intel Corporation
FAX:       (916)-356-6795                    1900 Praire City Road, MS FM3-100
Internet:  spurcell@mcd.intel.com            Folsom, Ca 95630
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: mnewnam@eos.ncsu.edu (MARK  NEWNAM)
Subject: Autodetect SB
Originator: mnewnam@c00475-224wi.eos.ncsu.edu
Reply-To: mnewnam@eos.ncsu.edu (MARK  NEWNAM)
Organization: North Carolina State University, Project Eos
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 18:37:43 GMT


Could someone tell me how I can auto detect which port and IRQ the
Sound Blaster is set to?  Also, can I auto detect whether or not the
installed card is a SB or an Adlib?

Thanks,
Mark

-- 
**************************************************************
**************************************************************
* Mark Newnam                        * N    N CCCC SSSS U  U *         
* InterNet: mnewnam@eos.ncsu.edu     * NN   N C    S    U  U *   
* FidoNet : Coming soon              * N N  N C    SSSS U  U *     
************************************** N  N N C       S U  U *   
* "Programmers get overlayed"        * N   NN C       S U  U *  
* "Protect your right to arm bears!" * N    N CCCC SSSS UUUU *       
**************************************************************
**************************************************************
From: egg@dstos3.dsto.gov.au
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: XLIB04 now available from wuarchive
Date: 17 Nov 92 11:53:57 CST
Organization: Defence Science and Technology Organisation


XLIB 4.0 is now out at wuarchive.wustl.edu in the directory pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS.
I am not posting the uuencoded library here because its getting rather large.

For anyone new to this group XLIB is an extensive, game oriented VGA Mode X
graphics library.

This release contains lots of enhancements and a bug fixes. You'll have to
download it for more details.

Thanks to
   Matthew MacKenzie
   Shane Hyde
   Sam Thompson
   Lloyd Pique

and others (Apologies for forgetting your names, I recently wiped my mailbox)
for your contributions however small. Every little bit helped.

Enjoy...
Themie Gouthas

PS: Now works with all VGA cards including ATI (I hope!)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: jas37876@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (John A. Slagel)
Subject: Re: speedup PutBlock
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 08:30:39 GMT

blaisdel@ucrengr.ucr.edu (james blaisdell) writes:

>however the table lookup is much more flexible and faster, the only
>possible argument against the table look up is that it requires 400 bytes

   One point--- If you're using ModeX on a 386, remember this:
   1. The Y-coordinate can be greater than 256.
   2. There are several X-modes that have different resolution.
   3. Most people using ModeX have a 386 or higher.

   My point---
   Remember the early-out feature for multiplication on a 386.  If the
   argument to the MUL instruction is small, the multiply routine times
   out, so the MUL takes much less time on a 386.


   My 2nd point---
   ModeX addressing uses the X-width divided by 4 to multiply by
   to find the pixel offset.  This will always be less than 256, so
   enter the early-out feature on 386s.   

   My main point---
   MUL works almost as fast as shifts on a 386 with VGA, but has the
   potential, unlike shifts and adds, to be used across many different
   ModeX resolutions. 

   The point of this note--
   Please, please, please, keep code portible between different modes.
   There is *ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE* in writing shift and adds to save 2 or
   3 clock cycles per sprite at the sake of code portability.  Just always
   use the X width divided by 4 as the argument for MUL, and your ModeX
   routines will *NOT* be significantly slower than shifts and adds.

   Forgive me for taking a long time to drive a point home.... Its
   just that a lot of people keep saving a few clock cycles per
   sprite on a 386 at the expense of portability.   Figure-- If you
   have 50 sprites miving around, and save 10 clock cycles per sprite,
   you save 500 clock cycles, which is insignificant, compared to the
   delays necessary for page-flipping, collision detecting, Z-sorting,
   etc...



   Think about global, not local, optimizations.

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 John A. Slagel              "My old man used to tell me, before he left this
 j-slagel1@uiuc.edu           shitty world, never chase buses or women- you
 (217) 337-7930               always get left behind." -The Marlboro Man
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer