HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: cyberman@exucom.com (Stephen R. Phillips)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Mazes and Landscape Design.
Date: 26 Dec 92 19:13:45 GMT
Organization: ExuCom Multimedia Inc.
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8]


Clayten Hamacher (Clayten_Hamacher@mindlink.bc.ca) wrote:
: In the Maze FAQ there was a routine (#3) for generating mazes by a union find
: method. The algorythm was written by someone expecting you to know a fair
: ammount about this...ie 'the determine this you do a find' (not exact
: quote).. This left me wondering how to a find (determine if two points were
: connected)

: Can someone post some more info (or mail it to me) about how to use this
: method (explaining things a little more than the FAQ did please).

	Oh well, I can't help you there but ...

: Landscape Design.. Has this ever been discussed (in here) and what did
: everyone agree on? (if anyone has any of the info saved).

Yes EXTENSIVELY unfortunately I didn't save a bit (unintrested in it
at the time)  However if you get responses with inclusive information
I will make an attempt to include it into a FAQ (not the general one)
The FAQ should be retreivable soon by mail server.

Cyberman
-- 
This is my sig file!
Read rec.games.programer!
From: aiello@cps.msu.edu (Joseph C Aiello)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: VGA paint programs...
Date: 30 Dec 92 02:56:20 GMT
Reply-To: aiello@cps.msu.edu (Joseph C Aiello)
Organization: Dept. of Computer Science, Michigan State University
NNTP-Posting-Host: indian.cps.msu.edu
Originator: aiello@indian.cps.msu.edu

In article <1992Dec28.184431.25773@wixer.cactus.org> cat@wixer.cactus.org (Dr. Cat) writes:
>Deluxe Paint will do most of what you asked for.  It's the tool of choice for
>all of the professionals I've worked with in the Computer Game business.

Is Deluxe Paint being used for Sprite Creation/Animation as well as 
background painting, or am I better off using a (pd) sprite-editor ?

And if so is there a Sprite editor out there that treats parts of the
sprite image as objects (ie: let me grab an arm and rotate then paste
it back on as the opposite arm.) ?

reply to THOR@lcc.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: ppc1@cec2.wustl.edu (Peter Pui Tak Chiu)
Subject: 3D Maze
Organization: Washington University, St. Louis MO
Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1992 07:12:36 GMT

hi everyone,

just want to know what people usually do when they want to display a 2D
maze 3-dimensionally.  like in AD&D games, Ultima,... etc

Please email to ppc1@cec1.wustl.edu

thanks in advance

peter


Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: isc30108@nusunix1.nus.sg (AMBAT SASI S/O PALISSERY P)
Subject: Re: Copying whole screens for Page Flipping
Organization: National University of Singapore
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 06:54:14 GMT

 have to set the correct write mode for video to video transfer
 before copying over. check VgaDoc.zip in internet for details
 of which register (probably 3c4h index 2).

 sasi.
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: sci20194@nusunix1.nus.sg (NG CHIK KANG)
Subject: HiColor Pictures
Organization: National University of Singapore
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1992 03:34:16 GMT

I am interested in HiColor pictures.. or rather True Color pictures, ie
at 640x480 resolution with 32K colors would make any game much more
interesting. However, duee to the large amt of memory needed by such
pictures, and speed required to maniplulate them, perhaps a compression
technique is suitable?

I would be interested in hearing anyone working with HiColor for any
game programming.

From: Jacob.Hartog@f99.n121.z1.fidonet.org (Jacob Hartog)
Sender: FredGate@p0.f99.n121.z1.fidonet.org
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Plotting Pixels
Date: 01 Jan 93  10:17:26 EST

        I'm writing a wolf-3d/Ultima Underworld type game and have encountered 
something of a stumbling block.  My algorithms for stretching the bitmaps and those for finding where the images should be stretched, work fast enough, 
butthe time necessary to plot pixels to my virtual screen alone takes too much 
time for the game to work.  Any suggestions?


 * Origin: NineJackNine (1:121/99)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: wilsont@rahul.net (Timothy Wilson)
Subject: getting 386's+ into '386' mode
Organization: a2i network
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 21:40:34 GMT

how do i get my retched 386 out of 8086 emulation mode and into real
386 mode? (32 bit adressing etc)
is this a assembly trick? or are there libraries for C?

I have no need for compatiblity since this is my own project. 

what compilers are best for 386 code generation?

thanks for the info!

-- 
Timothy Wilson <wilsont@rahul.net>
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: collins@blkbox (Chad R. Collins)
Subject: Re: Triple Buffering: Maybe..
Organization: The Black Box, PO Box 591822 Houston, TX 77259-1822 
Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1992 16:34:36 GMT
Keywords: buffering

	Well, I was originally looking at triple buffering as a way to 
elimate that damn strobing affect, but I kinda gave up on it for the simple
reason that if your draw rate is faster than the flip rate, you will
eventually be waiting for the flip or if it is slower you will eventually
fall behind. But how about this as an alternative:

	Instead of using all three screens in a show/draw sequence, use
two of them for a show/show sequence and the third for drawing. When the
third screen is done being drawn, you copy the page to the visible screens,
first to the one that is currently hidden and after the page flip
to the formerly visible screen.
	Now, of course you are going to loose a bit of time copying the
screens, but 32-bit copying is pretty darn quick. The question is, would
this elimate the strobing effect? Or, as a more memory efficient way,
just use one visible screen and do the copying during the vertical retrace,
elimating the page flipping all together.
	What I am mainly looking for is a way to generate frames using more
time than the vertical retrace without strobes- I mean, if you can keep
things above 30 frames/sec, it should look pretty good. I wanted to get
some more input on this stuff as the only way I have found to stop the
images strobing is to keep the frame rate around 60.... :(

Chad R. Collins
collins@blkbox.com
From: wilsont@rahul.net (Timothy Wilson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: The new 'online games networks', how? techniques? (discussion wanted)
Date: 24 Dec 92 06:47:04 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: a2i network

I noticed 2 major game networks spring into being in the past couple of
months, (MPG-NET, and Sierra network).
While Genie has had a few games with graphic front ends and a couple on 
COmpuserve, there hasn't been much discussion on 'how' its all done.

I've looked at MUD code, and found a client-server model good only for 
small  (under 100) people playing. (or less) 
There is a max of 4 players (for example) in combat in MultiPlayer battletech.
(actually a crude hack from what i hear and seen of the game)

I read in the local paper (San Jose Mercury), that serria uses 10 networked
clock doubled 486-66's, they mentioned a figure of "10,000 users"

Some things I'd like discussed:

What data is being sent?
{eg. Deltas, map data, each swipe of the sword?}

Is it a 'server' idea, or mearly a 'relay' 
{eg. requests by clients to the server/"game master" vs. each 'host' program 
sends data to a relay, and the hosts handle most of the game themselves}

Is the market still open? is this a trendy thing?

How would ISDN or commercial internet traffic effect the state of network 
gaming? {obvious speed increase of course)

i'd be happy to do email conversations or posts.

How 'bout it?

 
-- 
Timothy Wilson <wilsont@rahul.net>
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: Clayten_Hamacher@mindlink.bc.ca (Clayten Hamacher)
Subject: Mazes and Landscape Design.
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1992 14:04:36 GMT

In the Maze FAQ there was a routine (#3) for generating mazes by a union find
method. The algorythm was written by someone expecting you to know a fair
ammount about this...ie 'the determine this you do a find' (not exact
quote).. This left me wondering how to a find (determine if two points were
connected)

Can someone post some more info (or mail it to me) about how to use this
method (explaining things a little more than the FAQ did please).

Landscape Design.. Has this ever been discussed (in here) and what did
everyone agree on? (if anyone has any of the info saved).


--

Clayten_Hamacher@Mindlink.bc.ca                 Land of the rising snow.
From: jmunkki@vipunen.hut.fi (Juri Munkki)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: The Correct Way to Control Game Speed
Date: 21 Dec 92 10:38:40 GMT
Reply-To: jmunkki@vipunen.hut.fi (Juri Munkki)
Organization: Helsinki University of Technology

In article <1992Dec19.190258.15117@midway.uchicago.edu> greg@dent.uchicago.edu (Greg Kuperberg) writes:
>On the Mac, the Toolbox, which is a very good RAM/ROM OS library, can
>easily provide you with 60 clock ticks per second.  They at
>least used to be synchronized with the monitor's raster refresh.  It's
>better to work with the Toolbox than to work around it, and whatever
>you do, don't work against it.

On most modern macs, the "TickCount" clock has nothing to do with video
update, but it still works at approximately 60 ticks per second. It does
skip ticks when there are a lot of interrupts (like LocalTalk activity),
so it's not advisable to use the tick clock for accurate timing.

The Time Manager provides drift-free millisecond and microsecond timers
and should be much better suited for timing tasks once you learn how to
use it.

-- 
  Juri Munkki					       Windsurf: fast sailing
 jmunkki@hut.fi					      Macintosh: fast software
From: cbusch@ub.d.umn.edu (Chris)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: xlib04 & scrolling
Date: 22 Dec 1992 20:50:44 -0600
Organization: University of Minnesota, Duluth
NNTP-Posting-Host: ub.d.umn.edu


   Is "real" scrolling available thru xlib04 graphics library.  My
question boils down to this:  is there 4 different VRAM move routines,
one for each direction?  Instead of just a showpage(int) routine that
respositions the virtual screen.

-cbusch@ub.d.umn.edu
From: Jacob.Hartog@f99.n121.z1.fidonet.org (Jacob Hartog)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re:Skewed map
Date: 26 Dec 92 00:16:16 GMT

Page 220 of what?

 * Origin: NineJackNine (1:121/99)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: stc7@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Steven T Chiang)
Subject: Re: Why are PC graphics so horrible?
Reply-To: stc7@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Steven T Chiang)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Sat, 2 Jan 1993 06:50:23 GMT

In article <9014@dirac.physics.purdue.edu> saxena@bohr.physics.purdue.edu (Virendra K. Saxena) writes:
>
>	I rented a Super Nintendo for a couple of days and was totaly amazed 
>by its graphics capabilities.  The question I have is why can the PC not do
>the same things that the SNES can.  The SNES double and triple
>scrolls with no  slow down, and it easily moves large sprites around
>the screen(street fighter 2 and tmtm 4).  The SNES is based on an 8
>bit proccessor, while most pcs this day are based on 32 bit
>processors.  Why don't we see such high quality games on
>PCs?  The CPU is definetely powerfull enough, and the resolution is
>higher then the S

	With that in mind, consider the SNES basically uses 256 x 224
(resolution) and has a color range of 32k colors.  And people say
resolution is everything... :)

	The double and triple layer scrolling is built into the
hardware.  The SNES can have up to 4 background planes, and variable
number of colors (in general 16 colors per sprite)...

	The processor isn't everything, and I'll leave it at that.

Steven Chiang                  Order - DreamGrafix:  The ONLY 16/256/3200
stc7@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu       color paint program for the Apple IIGS.
America On_Line:  DWS Steve
Genie:  S.Chiang4              Apple IIGS Forever!
From: tfinn@crash.cts.com (Aaron Grier)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Why are PC graphics so horrible?
Date: 2 Jan 93 20:21:50 GMT
Organization: CTS Network Services (crash, ctsnet), El Cajon, CA

In article <9014@dirac.physics.purdue.edu> saxena@bohr.physics.purdue.edu (Virendra K. Saxena) writes:
>
>	I rented a Super Nintendo for a couple of days and was totaly amazed 
>by its graphics capabilities.  The question I have is why can the PC not do
>the same things that the SNES can.  The SNES double and triple scrolls with 
>n slow down, and it easily moves large sprites around the screen(street 
>fighter 2 and tmtm 4).  The SNES is based on an 8 bit proccessor, while most 
>pcs this day are based on 32 bit processors.  Why don't we see such high 
>quality games on PCs?  The CPU is definetely powerfull enough, and the 
>resolution is higher then the SNES.

	Sure the CPU is more powerful than a PCs, but look at all the
other support chips a SNES or Genesis has! The PC has no hardware for
sprites. The PC has no background music non-cpu interventionist music
players. Everything has to be done by the CPU.

	Now if you take another machine, like... say an Amiga? Then
you've got some serious competition... :)

agrier@gompers.gompers.edu (real internet addy)
tfinn@crash.cts.com (UUCP address)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: giglio@betsy.gsfc.nasa.gov (Louis Giglio)
Subject: Re: Triple Buffering: NOT!
Keywords: buffering
Reply-To: giglio@betsy.gsfc.nasa.gov (Louis Giglio)
Organization: NASA/GSFC
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1992 20:22:30 GMT

In article <1992Dec24.185505.27786@mprgate.mpr.ca>,
vanderby@mprgate.mpr.ca (David Vanderbyl) writes:
|> eker@loria.fr (Steven Eker) writes:
|> >If your frame redraw code takes longer than one video frame, one way
of speeding
|> >things up is to use triple buffering rather than double buffering.
|> [explanation deleted]
|> 
|> Triple buffering is completely useless. (Almost) Here's why.
|> 
|> Let's say your screen redraw takes 0.9 of the frame rate time.
|> No problem, right?  You simply draw each frame and wait for
|> the vertical retrace.
|> 
|> Now let's say your screen redraw takes 1.1 of the frame rate time.
|> If the frame rate is 1/30 second per frame then your redraw takes
|> 1.1/30 of a second.  So in 1 second you need to draw 30 frames for
|> a total of 1.1/30 * 30 = 1.1 seconds.  It doesn't matter how many
|> buffers you use, you can't do 1.1 seconds worth of drawing in 1
|> second.
|> 
|> To the person who posted their triple buffering idea:
|> Please state that you idea is just that, an idea. (and in this
|> case not a very good one.)  It will save a lot of people from
|> being misled.


If you sit down with a piece of paper and pencil I think you will see
that you are actually wrong.  Look at it this way:  with your double
buffering scheme the CPU sits around and does *nothing* while it waits
for the next frame.  With triple buffering the CPU starts drawing the
next
frame, so it effectively has a head start.

Get some paper and start a sequence like this:

display         (double buffer)               (triple buffer)
.03333 sec       draw frame 0.03666 sec       draw 0.03666 sec
.03333 sec       DO NOTHING 0.03 sec          start next frame 0.03 sec
FLIP
.03333 sec       draw frame 0.03666 sec       finish frame 0.00666 sec
                 {still drawing/waiting}      {can flip next page here}
.03333 sec       DO NOTHING 0.03 sec          start next frame 0.06 sec
                 {now flip}

I know this "chart" is a confusing mess, but if you work it out
yourself,
you'll see the point.

The triple buffered display gets slightly ahead of the double buffered
display, yielding a higher frame rate.
From: ewebber@access.digex.com (Eric Sean Webber)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: What rez are these games in
Date: 27 Dec 1992 00:59:43 GMT
Organization: DIVERSIFIED ETC. P.O. BOX 952 Greenbelt, MD 20770 USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.com
Keywords: Wolf 3D Lemmings Vistapro Fastgraph xlib xblt

Several questions:

        1.  What rez (320x200x256 for example) are the following games in:
            
                a. Wolfenstien 3D
                b. LEMMINGS VGA

        2.  Who makes the best or near best game design libs and tools for
            80386+ platforms and C compilers.  Looking for the closest to 
            professional quality if not professional.  Currently use BORLAND
            C++ v3.0 and an excellent game design lib that unfortunately only
            supports 320x200x256 and does not support EMS yet.

        3.  Where can I find out more about
           
                 a. XLIB
                 b. XBLT
                 c. Vistapro
                 d. Fastgraph, 
  like where to 
  buy them and what they are.

 Thanks in advance, Eric Webber   ewebber@access.digex.com




Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: boutell@isis.cshl.org (Tom Boutell)
Subject: PC: Reprogramming Timer?
Organization: Cold Spring Harbor Labs
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 15:01:04 GMT

OK, my game is coming along just lovely, I've got the keyboard reprogrammed
(thanks to whoever posted that Pascal snippet for keyboard status, I
ported it to Turbo C), Xlib is (mostly) cooperating. Now I need to get
the timing right, but 18 ticks a second probably isn't going to suit
my nefarious purposes. How can I reprogram the clock timer for a different
rate? (I know I need to make it a multiple of the normal rate so I
can invoke the normal handler every-so-many interrupts, but I don't
know how to reprogram the timer, and I suspect I need to talk to the
ports a bit at the end of the routine as well, etc.) Anyone have a 
code sample? Pascal, assembly, C, swahili, whatever. Whatever it is,
I'll port it. (:

-T

-- 
Tom Boutell, boutell@cshl.org

Clausthaler is the best non - alcoholic beer in the known universe.
From: saxena@bohr.physics.purdue.edu (Virendra K. Saxena)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Why are PC graphics so horrible?
Date: 2 Jan 93 04:51:58 GMT
Organization: Purdue University Physics Department


	I rented a Super Nintendo for a couple of days and was totaly amazed 
by its graphics capabilities.  The question I have is why can the PC not do
the same things that the SNES can.  The SNES double and triple scrolls with no  slow down, and it easily moves large sprites around the screen(street fighter 2 and tmtm 4).  The SNES is based on an 8 bit proccessor, while most pcs this day are based on 32 bit processors.  Why don't we see such high quality games on 
PCs?  The CPU is definetely powerfull enough, and the resolution is higher then the SNES.
From: wang@cs.uiuc.edu (Eric Wang)
Subject: Re: Empire History (was: Strategy algorithms)
Reply-To: wang@cs.uiuc.edu
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Distribution: inet
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1992 22:08:11 GMT

draper@ais.org (Patrick Draper) writes:
>So, do you know how the enemy algorithms work? I've always imagined that
>they were some sort of weighting system, with high risk/threat grid areas
>getting the lions share of troop allocation.

From considerable empirical evidence, I hypothesize (but it's ONLY a
guess) that WGB's Interstel Empire's computer opponents are
reductionistic "peephole" automata that react to their immediate
surroundings according to hard-coded response tables that are written to
maximize local "combat results" (in terms of city-turns of production
(CTP) killed versus CTP risked), with only the most rudimentary levels
of higher-order behavior, such as "look-ahead", communication,
co-operation, co-ordination, etc.  For instance, an enemy army adjacent
to a city ALWAYS attacks the city.  (OK, I guess; so do I.)  Enemy
fighters always attack any adjacent enemy units; if multiple enemy units
are adjacent, they seem to attack transports, armies, and other ships,
in that order.  Destroyers always attack any adjacent ships, favoring
transports; transports always run from anything.  Basically, it appears
that there's no real "computer opponent", but rather a set of tables,
one for each type of unit, that lists for every adjacent enemy unit the
appropriate response.  When no enemy units are adjacent, the computer's
units mill about with only the most general guidelines; armies tend to
move to the shore, or in the direction of your latest beachhead;
fighters swarm in the general direction of the front line, going on
search-and-destroy missions that usually end up costing the computer
2-for-1 in CTP losses; destroyers wander around, looking for your
transports; the computer's carriers have absolutely no idea what's going
on.  The foremost reason Interstel Empire lost all attraction for me was
that I could not for the life of me detect any hint of a single
"computer opponent" mastermind that was marshalling all of its forces in
a coherent struggle against me; instead, it was like thousands of
virtually independent battles against individual ants.  Even when I gave
the computer opponent 2:1 production and 3:2 combat advantages, my
advantage in cooperation between my forces proved to be insurmountable,
and I still steamrolled the computer flat from the word go (very slowly,
granted, but absolutely relentlessly).

Still dreaming about an open-architecture Empire that allows us to write
our own plug-and-play computer opponents ...

Eric Wang
wang@cs.uiuc.edu


Lines: 8
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 92 10:13:37 MST
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: curtisn@SAS (Curtis Nelson)
Subject: VGA Editors
Organization: BYU

Hi all!
I'm about to begin work on a graphic/adventure game, and I already need some 
help.  Is there a good shareware package out there that will allow me to 
create and edit VGA images ( using 256 colors )?  
If anyone could help me, I would greatly appreciate it.

Curtis
curtisn@sasb.byu.edu
From: cbusch@ub.d.umn.edu (Chris)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: where is WGT and xlib04b.zip?
Date: 29 Dec 1992 03:30:21 -0600
Organization: University of Minnesota, Duluth
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: ub.d.umn.edu

   Where is the WGT library and where is the updated xlib04b.zip ??
(Also xlib is a horrid name since it is easily confusable w/ x windows. 
vgax04b.zip would be a better name.)

--
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Chris Busch     cbusch@ub.d.umn.edu =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
 C(o_o))        _                        "The use of COBOL cripples the
   (=)         (_ -|- -|- is the         mind; its teaching should, 
  --|--        language of choice.       therefore, be reguarded as a
   /^\      Protest the use of BASIC!    criminal offense." -E.W. Dijkista
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
From: vac133m@nella8.cc.monash.edu.au (Richard Jones)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Trailblazer
Date: 23 Dec 92 02:16:24 GMT
Organization: Monash University, Melb., Australia.

nllopis@ecs.umass.edu writes:

>In article <1992Dec15.205804.21794@hou.amoco.com>, zklf0b@gs144.hou.amoco.com (Fergason) writes:
>> In article <1992Dec15.160623.22219@ugle.unit.no> gardabr@unix1 (Gard Eggesbo Abrahamsen) writes:
>> This is certainly not always true.  Does anyone remember a game called
>> Trailblazer?  I want to say it was published by Mindscape, but I am
>> sure i will be corrected if that wasnt the case.  I got to see it at
>> Epyx before Mindscape got it.  Needless to say, Epyx rejected it, but
>> Mindscape didn't.   Just all depends on the company, the game, the mood
>> of the guy who is reviewing submissions that day... 
>Funny... I remember Trailblazer being published by Gremlin Graphics.
>It was a long time ago and it was for the AMSTRAD CPC though... I
>guess they might also have different companies for different versions
>back then :) (good old times!! sniff...)
  Yeah, trailblazer was around on the 64 too. It's been PD released by Alchemy
Software for the Amiga. It's in the amiga.physik.unizh.ch ftp site.


    Richard.
-- 
/--------------------------------------------------------------------------\
|Richard Jones, Robotics and Digital Technology, Monash University.     ///|
|  please send all e-mail to .. ... .. drat@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au   \\\/// |
|                                                                    \///  |
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer