[3dAnimation]

I stumbled across an old game that was a favorite of mine years and years ago: Armor Alley. I used to play it on my SE/30 in System 6 and compete with a friend over a 300 baud modem - the good old days.

Anyway, the trouble is that this game is written to check the monitor depth on launch and will only continue if the Display is set for Black and White or 16 Colors. Anyone have any thoughts on making this a reality in OS X? How about making only Classic think it's in b/w or 4 bit?

Thanks!
-3d (Wishing to play a VERY 2d game =)

[moonmonkey]

I don't think you can do it, 256 has been the minimum for a long time now.
I suggest using Vmac http://www.vmac.org/ and running System 6 or 7

[3dAnimation]

I'll give it a try. I've never heard of that program before! Thanks!

-3d

[moonmonkey]

OSX version here.

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/mo...;mode=feedback

[CharlesS]

What version of Armor Alley are you using? I think some versions of that existed that worked in 256 colors.

[3dAnimation]

I'm running 1.0 of Armor Alley. I used to have 1.1 (i think) it appears that I have lost the floppy :( I haven't had the chance to check out vmac yet - thanks moonmonkey! If I get it working I'll post some screen shots. I'd really love to get it color... maybe I'm asking too much :)

-3d

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by 3dAnimation

I'm running 1.0 of Armor Alley. I used to have 1.1 (i think) it appears that I have lost the floppy I haven't had the chance to check out vmac yet - thanks moonmonkey! If I get it working I'll post some screen shots. I'd really love to get it color... maybe I'm asking too much

-3d

Ah. I think version 1.1 is the one that works with 256 colors. Not sure what you can do...

[3dAnimation]

Got vMac working - it's really pretty easy. I wish it were in color though! I guess I could aways boot back into 9. Nah, I'd rather not =]

Here's two screen shots!





If anyone has any tricks to getting this in color, I'm all ears! I don't know if vMac will work in color, as it is emulating a Mac Plus. The ROM image file is really what makes that determination I would guess...

-3d

[olePigeon]

Aaah, good ol' Rescue Raiders. I forgot they ported it to the Mac. I need to go download that.

Hey, does the "zippy" code work with Armor Alley as it did with Rescue Raiders?

[Jim Paradise]

Can someone help me get vMac running? I have an old LC475 but I don't have the system disks anymore. However, I do have system 7 downloaded. Is there anyway to convert an image file so that it can work with vMac? I'd love to run The Incredible Machine again or some old HyperCard stacks that just run too bloody quickly on anything faster than an LC475.

[3dAnimation]

"Rescue Raiders?" I've never heard of it; but then I've never really owned a PC Anyhow, Armor Alley runs identical on vMac as it did on my SE/30 and IIci! Like I said, I'd really love to see it in color again.

As for getting vMac to work, I clicked on the Version Tracker link posted above and followed one of the reviewers' suggestions:

A simple google search for "vMac.ROM" reveals all you will ever require.

Apple provides Mac OS System 6 here:
http://download.info.apple.com/Apple.../System_6.0.x/

and who knows, you might even try system 7.x or later, which is available here:
http://download.info.apple.com/Apple.../Older_System/

I put vMac and the ROM file in a folder, launched vMac, got the Blinking Question Mark, chose "Open Disk Image" from the menu, and pointed it to the "System Startup" disk I downloaded.

I tried the 7.5.3 disk, but it's a no go. I get the Floppy with the X on it - "not a startup disk" symbol, for all you non-OS 6 users out there

Never thought to run my old HyperCard stack in vMac. I think that's a great idea! I never use it because I hate waiting for Classic to load. vMac is up in a flash!

Now back to that whole Color issue...

-3d

[Horsepoo!!!]

The color issue isn't easy to solve.

The 2 only other emulators that do color are BasiliskII and SheepShaver. I just cannot recommend SheepShaver to anyone because it doesn't have what I consider a user-friendly interface (if it even has one at all.) I can barely recommend BasiliskII for a few reasons:

1) It simply doesn't work well under 10.4 unless you use the full screen feature and unless you use clever workarounds for the disk images that you want to mount.
2) The interface is fugly as hell and while it is more friendly than SheepShaver's nearly-inexistant interface, it's still a far cry from being easy to use.
3) The official BasiliskII port does not have sound support.

Buuuuut...yesterday, I found, with the help of some dude on Emuscene.com, a BasiliskII port that has sound...none of the official BasiliskII ports ever had sound support. Apparently, this unofficial and fairly difficult to find port of BasiliskII has sound (a guy named Dave Vasilevsky added this long-awaited feature) and I've been testing a few games this morning...it works.

The link is http://emulation.victoly.com/macintosh/ .

Like I said though...the image output only seems to work well in full screen mode in 10.4.

To add a disk image to the mount volumes in BasiliskII on 10.4, you have to create one. This is because trying to add an existing one will crash BasiliskII (at least, it does on my computer...if it doesn't on yours, ignore the following). Name it exactly like the disk image that you want to add. If you have a disk image called 'startup.dsk', create one that is called 'startup.dsk'...then replace the *created* disk image by the real disk image you want to use via the Finder.

This is simply to establish the path of the mount disks.

You're on your own for creating or finding a mountable disk image and ROM for BasiliskII...although I can tell you they're very easy to find on the internet. Some places even offer the entire package (System 7.5.5 and Quadra ROM) in one download ready for use with BasiliskII.

[Eriamjh]

You can get Armor Alley from Macintosh Garden here. It might be a newer version or color. This game is networkable for up to 4 players? Weird!

[3dAnimation]

Horsepoo!! you rock! I haven't gotten the chance to check this out yet as I'm not on my own system. I can't wait to check this out.

I'll let you know :)

-3d

[CharlesS]

Horsepoo's link doesn't work, but a Google search for "Dave Vasilevsky Basilisk" turns up another link that does...

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by Horsepoo!!!

1) It simply doesn't work well under 10.4 unless you use the full screen feature and unless you use clever workarounds for the disk images that you want to mount.

To be fair, it mounts your home folder as "UNIX" on the Desktop. So if you just stick the apps you want to run in your home folder, you'll be able to run them from Basilisk from there.

[CharlesS]

dp 

[CharlesS]

tp 

[3dAnimation]

I'm not sure that Basilisk II will actually overcome the problem that I'm having with Classic. It appears that it too will not reduce it's bit depth to 4 bit.

I found the following quote on this page:
http://classics_for_x.macbay.de/macintosh/index.htm

"This is an 68k-Emulator for MacOS X. Basilisk emulates either an 68020-, 68030- oder 68040-Mac, so that "old" Macintosh software runs on modern Macintosh computers. Modern ones only can display 256 or more colors, while "old" software accept "only" up to 16 colors. Unfortunatelly, Basilisk II uses the same color palette as MacOS X."

Am I reading this wrong? BTW, this app has a bad rap for a good reason. It is NOT very intuitive!

-3d

[3dAnimation]

..........................................IT'S ALIVE!..........................................
COLOR and AUDIO! Haven't had a chance to play long, but it looks like it will be stable!




Basilisk's use of hard links is frustating, but once you get everything where you want it there's no problems.

Thanks to everyone for pointing me in the right directions!

-3d
Now enjoying a 15 year old game... again.