Of All Trades
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Buy, Not Buy.
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GOG News and Updates 2012
- Thread starter Minsc
- Start date
- Status
Buy, Not Buy.
CecilRousso
Member
Any of them actually worth playing today, or is it just fun nostalgia?
Ha, finally. I already knew about QfG, but I wasn't allowed to talk about it
I wonder what they did with QfG4. It's full of bugs.
And for anyone that buys those - ScummVM can run QfG1-3 flawlessly.
They are very much still worth playing, at least 1-4. They are a fantastic hybrid of adventure and roleplaying. 5...well, play through the first 4 then think about it. And they're pretty damn funny as well. And you can import your characters from one game to the next.
godofcookery
Member
yayayayay, qfg qfg finally!!
Joseph Merrick
Member
wow. awesome gog-day
zeus is superb. quest for glory :O
zeus is superb. quest for glory :O
Quest for Glory II also has a vga remake available for free here:
http://www.agdinteractive.com/games/qfg2/
It has import and export save file feature too.
http://www.agdinteractive.com/games/qfg2/
It has import and export save file feature too.
Dice
Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
It is the best city-builder ever made.
No, those are just scripted scenarios to carry out and watch for, like with Sim City games. It gives you objectives and while you are reaching them it throws some curveballs. It's not boardgame-like at all the way Civilization is.
Love how the GOG guy always says "free goodies". In his accent it's so adorable :3
Ha, that's a funny joke... asking whether or not you should buy the best game ever made. Literally the best game ever made.
The best thing ever made? Possibly... possibly.
kurtrussell
Banned
And it has a bonus that you don't get with GOG - Free DRM!
1C Sale this week:
CRYOSTASIS
$4.99
FANTASY WARS
$4.99
KING'S BOUNTY: THE LEGEND
$4.99
SPACE RANGERS
$4.99
SPACE RANGERS 2: DOMINATORS
$4.99
STAR WOLVES
$4.99
UFO: AFTERLIGHT
$4.99
UFO: AFTERMATH
$2.99
UFO: AFTERSHOCK
$4.99
May buy Cryostasis. Would have bought Space Rangers 2 as well, but apparently the Reboot version is better.
CRYOSTASIS
$4.99
FANTASY WARS
$4.99
KING'S BOUNTY: THE LEGEND
$4.99
SPACE RANGERS
$4.99
SPACE RANGERS 2: DOMINATORS
$4.99
STAR WOLVES
$4.99
UFO: AFTERLIGHT
$4.99
UFO: AFTERMATH
$2.99
UFO: AFTERSHOCK
$4.99
May buy Cryostasis. Would have bought Space Rangers 2 as well, but apparently the Reboot version is better.
GoG are matching that. Either the original Facebook post was wrong, or they updated their plans to compete with Steam.
Dice
Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
Hey guys, so I figure a lot of us are playing these old games, we all probably have plenty of games that are using midi for music. Right?
Windows 7 disables other midi options. The only way around it if you have an old Yamaha DB50XG or something is completely absurd registry hacking. However, I doubt many of us have any old stuff like that hooked to our computer, but does that mean we have to live with Microsoft's amazingly shitty wavetable? Not anymore!
http://www.mudlord.info/bassmididrv/
Get Bassmidi to take control of your midi configuration again, then either use WeedsGM3 from there, this one which I think is best overall or ChoriumRevA from Bassmidi is more thumping. These are the only 3 free soundfonts I can find. Anything else is pretty much going to come in a $500 professional midi composition suite.
Now, in the Bassmidi configuration, add the soundfont file and click apply then go to the advanced tab and switch from Microsoft to Bassmidi. You should now notice midis sounding 7423x better. I set GZDoom to use Bassmidi and it really made things a lot better, but then I played Descent 2 and it was hype as fuck!
Windows 7 disables other midi options. The only way around it if you have an old Yamaha DB50XG or something is completely absurd registry hacking. However, I doubt many of us have any old stuff like that hooked to our computer, but does that mean we have to live with Microsoft's amazingly shitty wavetable? Not anymore!
http://www.mudlord.info/bassmididrv/
Get Bassmidi to take control of your midi configuration again, then either use WeedsGM3 from there, this one which I think is best overall or ChoriumRevA from Bassmidi is more thumping. These are the only 3 free soundfonts I can find. Anything else is pretty much going to come in a $500 professional midi composition suite.
Now, in the Bassmidi configuration, add the soundfont file and click apply then go to the advanced tab and switch from Microsoft to Bassmidi. You should now notice midis sounding 7423x better. I set GZDoom to use Bassmidi and it really made things a lot better, but then I played Descent 2 and it was hype as fuck!
I can also recommend (for Vista, at least, I dunno about 7) the Roland MT-32 emulator, Munt.
Makes Dark Forces and Monkey Island 2 et al sounds gorgeous.
Dice
Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
D'oh, I just edited that to be more accurate.
SGM-V2.01 is amazing for those while ChoriumRevA is good for pounding soundtracks like Doom and Descent.
Dice
Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
Oh you can just set any pre-GS game to MT-32 Port 330 IRQ 2 and it will use your midi settings for windows. These soundfonts can do better than that emulator (it does in MoO1) unless the game was made specifically for it with .SYX files like Sierra games.
Anyway, I played Giants: Citizen Kabuto and I think it's skipping videos or something. Nothing was making any sense and seemed to be jumping around. I start playing and within 10 mins I have the following questions: Who are we? Why am I looking for this guy? Why is he so short and seemingly my boss? What are these monsters? Where did the monster that was chasing us go? Why are we suddenly out of the hole that we jumped in? Who are these hanging guys? Why is it a suprise that they are real?
Basically it's not explaining anything that it is presenting and even the way it's playing out isn't making any fucking sense.
Anyway, I played Giants: Citizen Kabuto and I think it's skipping videos or something. Nothing was making any sense and seemed to be jumping around. I start playing and within 10 mins I have the following questions: Who are we? Why am I looking for this guy? Why is he so short and seemingly my boss? What are these monsters? Where did the monster that was chasing us go? Why are we suddenly out of the hole that we jumped in? Who are these hanging guys? Why is it a suprise that they are real?
Basically it's not explaining anything that it is presenting and even the way it's playing out isn't making any fucking sense.
I played it a while back on a system with much lower specs than that and it ran ok. The main problem is it uses PhysX for a lot of effects, if you're using a Nvidia card you should be fine but AMD cards are going to have issues unless you turn it off.
Dice
Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
And for something people might be able to reference a bit easier, Doom 2:
Bam.
(not knocking that video... it sounds awesome but I can't use it as a reference point
After hearing it... would love to look up some REALLY old stuff like early Sierra AGI stuff just to hear how it sounds. I bet the Jones in the Fast Lane music sounds AMAZING.
Another good video (not in-game stuff) that compares "regular" and enhanced midi
Quick question: In this vid, would it be reasonable to expect something sounding as good as the real MT-32 as demonstrated, or *better*?
Bam.
(not knocking that video... it sounds awesome but I can't use it as a reference point
After hearing it... would love to look up some REALLY old stuff like early Sierra AGI stuff just to hear how it sounds. I bet the Jones in the Fast Lane music sounds AMAZING.
Another good video (not in-game stuff) that compares "regular" and enhanced midi
Quick question: In this vid, would it be reasonable to expect something sounding as good as the real MT-32 as demonstrated, or *better*?
Dice
Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
Yeah, it's the shit for Doom 2 because it's kind of a heavy soundtrack but has some light jazzy (in the sci-fi sense) synth elements the require some range. For Doom 1 I prefer Magic Sound Font v2.0 because it has growlier guitars and more punch and reverb on the drums, but it kind of sucks/gets weird when you stray from a standard rock band setup.
Here, see for yourself/find out how good you can get:
http://www.queststudios.com/quest/pq2.html
Munt isn't perfect, but it's closer than other options for those games.
The only way you'll even get close is with Munt. You can do better than MT-32 on some games, but those old Sierra games were programmed specifically for it in that they even included specific configuration data for each song that it sent to the MT-32.
Here, see for yourself/find out how good you can get:
http://www.queststudios.com/quest/pq2.html
Munt isn't perfect, but it's closer than other options for those games.
It will run fine. Just turn off the in game AA since its broken. Also leave the PhysX off unless you want to cut off 30 fps. I can run it at about 50 fps with physx on a gtx 580.
Get it. Cryostasis is one of the most brilliant games ever made. There is literally nothing else like it. In terms of story it is in many ways above and beyond classics like Planescape Torment and Deus Ex. Rather than trying to portray
a big expansive world with many characters, it takes one small ship and three characters and then gives the player an opportunity to quite literally examine the inner thoughts and workings of their mind.
This is a awesome song. Descent 1 and 2 have one of the best soundtracks to a game.
I was referring to the level of detail put into the story rather than the style of it. In Planescape it would be all the great conversations you could have, and in Deus Ex it was all the various books and assorted items that added to the world.
All this talk about MIDI and MT-32 makes me feel old....
I think my first game really using the MT-32 was Space Quest 3. I still can remember hearing the music from the intro, and my friend (the original owner) asking "what the hell is a buckazoid?"...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApX60Y8djPI
As Dice wrote, in the case of the MT-32, you will need emulators. Problem is the ROMs can't be distributed and I don't think munt has been updated in a long time, so the emulation is... not so good.
The MT-32 and it's equivalent LAPC-1 were not completely compliant with the "General Midi" standard, so in order for a game to sound good on it, it had to support them specifically, either by selecting the instruments from the internal bank, or in the case of the better sounding games (like the Sierra ones), uploading custom sounds in their specific language. That wasn't a problem until around 1990, since aside from the default adlib music, they were probably the most supported "sound module". After that, until it all when "full digital", most games supported only generic MIDI devices.
So... if a game was made with the MT-32 in mind for MIDI support, munt is probably the best we can do. If it supports General Midi standard, then it is possible to use soundfonts today to make it sound really good, if not better, than when it was released.
Sierra probably had the best support for sound cards at the time, specially the MT-32. I was lucky to had one during those days, and it made really painful to listen to adlib music that was so common.
I think my first game really using the MT-32 was Space Quest 3. I still can remember hearing the music from the intro, and my friend (the original owner) asking "what the hell is a buckazoid?"...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApX60Y8djPI
As Dice wrote, in the case of the MT-32, you will need emulators. Problem is the ROMs can't be distributed and I don't think munt has been updated in a long time, so the emulation is... not so good.
The MT-32 and it's equivalent LAPC-1 were not completely compliant with the "General Midi" standard, so in order for a game to sound good on it, it had to support them specifically, either by selecting the instruments from the internal bank, or in the case of the better sounding games (like the Sierra ones), uploading custom sounds in their specific language. That wasn't a problem until around 1990, since aside from the default adlib music, they were probably the most supported "sound module". After that, until it all when "full digital", most games supported only generic MIDI devices.
So... if a game was made with the MT-32 in mind for MIDI support, munt is probably the best we can do. If it supports General Midi standard, then it is possible to use soundfonts today to make it sound really good, if not better, than when it was released.
Ohhh... so BASSMIDI's used for when using General MIDI, but if the game specifically supports MT-32 then you're probably better off trying MT-32 (but with the idea that it's likely it'll be inaccurate)? I didn't realise there was actually a difference b/w the two.
There ya go!
There ya go!
Dice
Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
I wouldn't say inaccurate so much as unrefined.
Police Quest 2 intro on munt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFpeBUvKU7s
Some tracks hold up better than others. More comparisons: http://www.sierrahelp.com/Utilities/Emulators/Munt.html
And yet more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRdKeI3VRGo
Police Quest 2 intro on munt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFpeBUvKU7s
Some tracks hold up better than others. More comparisons: http://www.sierrahelp.com/Utilities/Emulators/Munt.html
And yet more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRdKeI3VRGo
I bet you haven't heard a current version of MUNT in a while. It's not quite MT-32 but it's a lot closer than it was before.
It has been a couple of years. Using the examples from above I'd say it does sound a lot better, but not quite there. Not that the MT-32 was top of the line even at the time in terms of sound quality when compared to other midi synthesizers/keyboards available.
Can't test right now, but one place it did fall apart was on the less... "flashy" part of the games, when trying to make some ambient music and sound effects, so I hope they did improve support.
Still, if munt is still being updated I'm happy. Several games of the time had really amazing, creative and original music and most people only ever heard through the crappy adlib module.. which was the point that started this discussion on the first place (and thank you guys for the bassmidi tip).
Do I have to do anything to dosbox to get it to use the mt32 emulator? I installed the emulator but my Wing Commander still does not sound like this.
Emulator is installed according to this.
Edit: I give up. Neither MT-32 emulator nor bassmidi work on my system. Everything still sounds like low quality midi. I'll try creating a winxp partition hopefully I'll have better luck there.
Emulator is installed according to this.
Edit: I give up. Neither MT-32 emulator nor bassmidi work on my system. Everything still sounds like low quality midi. I'll try creating a winxp partition hopefully I'll have better luck there.
Do I have to do anything to dosbox to get it to use the mt32 emulator? I installed the emulator but my Wing Commander still does not sound like this.
Emulator is installed according to this.
Edit: I give up. Neither MT-32 emulator nor bassmidi work on my system. Everything still sounds like low quality midi. I'll try creating a winxp partition hopefully I'll have better luck there.
If you're using the discs, you can use the installer to set it to mt-32 iirc. If it's the gog version, you need to change WINGCMDR.CFG to
Code:
v r816 c25 d1Dice
Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
You can directly edit the config as above, but for times you don't have someone telling you the codes to modify, you run the setup file for the game through dosbox (I change game.exe to setup.exe at the end of the game's conf file then set it back) and configure it to use the MT-32 there, port 330. You have to set up each game individually like this.
I am having such a nerdgasm right now. Not only with the MT-32 stuff above, but I've just found a custom DOSbox build that has this patched into it:
Everything all in one. Like, holy fucking shit. 3DFX and Glide support! Finally I can play everything in ultra-low, blurry, 3D-accelerated goodness
http://ykhwong.x-y.net/xe/dosbox_data/143
Everything all in one. Like, holy fucking shit. 3DFX and Glide support! Finally I can play everything in ultra-low, blurry, 3D-accelerated goodness
http://ykhwong.x-y.net/xe/dosbox_data/143
Alexios
Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
I played Silver on the Dreamcast, it wasn't bad but it wasn't anything special either.
The graphics make it look like, what if FFVII was a CRPG instead of a JRPG, lol.
Edit: I don't think the comparison goes beyond that visual similarity, it's just the untextured low polygon 3D characters on top of pre-rendered backgrounds. The latter wasn't uncommon or anything, but combined with the former it was strikingly similar.
The graphics make it look like, what if FFVII was a CRPG instead of a JRPG, lol.
Edit: I don't think the comparison goes beyond that visual similarity, it's just the untextured low polygon 3D characters on top of pre-rendered backgrounds. The latter wasn't uncommon or anything, but combined with the former it was strikingly similar.
B_Rik_Schitthaus
Banned
Pretty much all of them would be people calling in the western FF7.
Joseph Merrick
Member
silver is pretty fun from what I remember. urr. haven't played it since it came out though.
Animation-Imp
Member
Ah Silver,
Still have the original case and all..
It's an action RPG, more an Action adventure actually.
You command a team of Hero's and controll the attack of 1 character directly.
It's fun, light but nice on the story department, but has it's flaws.
Fully orchestrated soundtrack if I recall correctly and a lot of different environments.
For 5,99 you can't go wrong.
Still have the original case and all..
It's an action RPG, more an Action adventure actually.
You command a team of Hero's and controll the attack of 1 character directly.
It's fun, light but nice on the story department, but has it's flaws.
Fully orchestrated soundtrack if I recall correctly and a lot of different environments.
For 5,99 you can't go wrong.
Danne-Danger
Member
I've had a lot of trouble trying to get Silver running on a modern PC, it's a really fun game with good combat when it works!
Good on ya, GOG.
Good on ya, GOG.
hardcastlemccormick
Banned
Is ARMA worth $4? Sale price.
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