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Should I stop making my RPG?

Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 5:14 pm
by coma8coma1
I started making an graphical turn-based RPG about 11 years ago in QB45 on Win95. I've dabbled with it on and off over the years and I've put alot of sweat and tears into it and it's finally starting to look like something, but I've noticed that it doesn't seem to run on anyone's computer with Vista.

Last fall I just plain gave up. I figured what's the point in finishing the project if it's not going to run on anyone's computers. My compiled code gives errors when run. I forget what it complains of, specifically, off the top of my head.

I'd love to share my game with the world, but is there any chance that my compiled QB games will run on the computers of tomorrow? Is it possible to simply port my game to a more modenr language, or will I have to recode everything from the ground up? (not somethni I'm looking forward to doing)

What is everyone's opinions and experiences with QuickBASIC and Vista, etc?

Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 6:06 pm
by burger2227
Check out QB64. It is a Qbasic to C compiler that has almost all of the QB commands. The only major things missing have to do with multiple module commands like CHAIN and COMMON SHARED. They should be done later this year.

It can load most kinds of image files such as BMP, JPEG and GIF straight to the screen without extra code. See the link below.

Ted

Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 11:07 pm
by coma8coma1
downloading it now from http://www.qb64.net/qb64v0840-win.zip

thanks bro. i hope my code doesn't choke on it :) The though of no size limit gives me that tingly feeling i get when i get the itch to program :OD :O D:OD :OD

Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 11:30 pm
by burger2227
Hope you can get your code to run on it. You can use Print Screen with QB64.

Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 12:14 am
by coma8coma1
that so true!

i haven't installed QB64 yet, but I bet I could even run just the display engine code if any other parts of the program give me any trouble

Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 2:37 am
by coma8coma1
Well, I'm playing my game now and it looks like the only glitch is in the DRAW command (which i understand won't be fully functional until v0.841) as it seems to draw everything in a bright yellow, almost white, making my on-screen text and menu selections that use my custom text routines unintelligible. no big deal.

my program size is maxed out (BAS file is about 140kB) and loads up TONS of files containing graphics and other information, and i'm literaly at the edge of how much memory I can use, both in the code itself and for variables. and i thought for sure I'd be spending weeks picking thru the code and fixing various incompatibilities.

nope!

soon as it compiled my program popped up all tiny and windowed and i just hit Alt-Enter and began hacking and slashing monsters!

this is very promising. I can't wait to give out the new compiled EXE to people who couldn't get it going on their machines.

Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 1:03 pm
by burger2227
The new update should be out soon as he is promising a new Linux version too. That is running late. DRAW is already available in the latest version, but it may have a problem.

Do you want the program to be fullscreen at start? I've mentioned that option to Galleon before.

Report any problems to the Discussion forum!

Ted

Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 2:47 pm
by coma8coma1
burger2227 wrote:...Do you want the program to be fullscreen at start?...
I do. I use SCREEN 13 almost exclusively and my games look like ass until you Alt-Enter them lol. If it's an easy fix then it would be a useful feature to have some kind of switch at compilation or a meta command.

I recognize that maximum compatibility with QBASIC code is Galleon's number one priority right now, and until that is finished I don't expect any favors or special requests, but thanks for petitioning. I plan on joining the forums over there soon; I spent an hour or two late last night digging through them trying to get familiar with the project, and I must say I'm terribly impresed. I'll join the forums at qb64.net if only to thank Galleon and everyone involved for doing more for the QB community that anyone else in probably a decade! lol

As for the DRAW command, i noticed that one character in my custom font which utilizes it doesn't get mangled. This one character, which happens to be the uppercase "B" is the only character which doesn't begin with a PSET STEP(x,y), color, as the B just starts drawing. They way my 'Text' routine works is an x,y coord is defined when it's called and the position is PSETted before DRAWing begins. There's a few other places where DRAW command works fine too. So I'm guessing it's the PSET command that's not implemented yet, not DRAW as I'd previously thought. It just seems to be changing the color of my DRAWings to offwhite for some reason.

In the meantime I'll continue to work on levels and graphics, mosnters and items and junk, using my existing QB71 compiled editors (I've got 3 separate editors) which still work fine for now.

I'm stoked. I hope this means I can continue my project. :thumbsup:

Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 2:58 pm
by angros47
If you need a better dos emulator than the one included in winXP, use dosbox http://www.dosbox.com, it allow you to run your old programs in the original qb (so even external libraries can be used).
Should work even in vista (even 64), and emulates 16-bit modes even if the os doesn't support them. Of course, there is even a linux and a mac version.

Be careful: it's an emulator, so if you make exe files, they will have to be run in the emulator, too, otherwise all the problems you experienced will come back. Don't use it to develop programs/games for masses, because many peopla don't know how to use dosbox.

There is also another dos emulator, called JPC, written in java and working as a browser app: you can use it to embed your final game in a web page (altough a bit heavy, java+dos emulator+dos+game)

Dosbox is free and open source.

Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 3:25 pm
by coma8coma1
angros47 wrote:If you need a better dos emulator than the one included in winXP, use dosbox http://www.dosbox.com,..
Dragon Stone Quest never ran in DosBox. Somethign to do with it being required to CHAIN from module to module, which was nessecary due to memory limitations on QuickBASIC. It couldn't recognized certain folders that weren't mounted or something, I forget. But, now that I plan to continue development in QB64 this apparently fix both problems. :)

+1 for DosBox though. We used it to play some old AD&D DOS games recently on a Vista machine.

Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 5:19 pm
by coma8coma1
So if there's no forum for QB64 here at Pete's, and I'm not allowed to ask support questions about QB64 over at QB64.net, then where do I ask about the PSET problem I'm having?

Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 7:09 pm
by burger2227
Please don't tell me that Harry Potter is keeping this place alive! You are doing a DAM good job yourself! :P

You CAN ask ANY questions at the QB64 Forum, but.......

The number 1 Forum is: http://www.network54.com/Index/10167

But please mention QB64 and PSET in your post title, like you would do here.

Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 12:06 am
by coma8coma1
i've posted my question over at qb64, but the more i think about it I don't know if it's the PSET command causing it because I have plenty of PSET graphics in that game, and *only* the Text routine is boogered up.

I'll probably be up all night experimenting with it to see if i can help get to the bottom of it.

Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 1:29 am
by burger2227
You should post some of your code there for Galleon to try.

He may have missed something!

Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 3:16 am
by coma8coma1
burger2227 wrote:You should post some of your code...
I've posted a snippet of code here http://www.qb64.net/forum/index.php?topic=345.0

Please ignore the first two posts. it's just me blathering about trying to figure out what's wrong.

in the 3rd post i quote a few lines of code i was playing with that generate three red lines with PSETs and DRAWs. In QB64 the last line is white. I think I understand why.

Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 3:26 am
by bungytheworm
burger2227 wrote:The new update should be out soon as he is promising a new Linux version too. That is running late. DRAW is already available in the latest version, but it may have a problem.

Do you want the program to be fullscreen at start? I've mentioned that option to Galleon before.

Report any problems to the Discussion forum!

Ted
You happen to know does next *nix version provide compile.exe too, or does the code need to be load/compiled throught to IDE? I think i di dread somewhere that it should be in next version, but not sure.