Soon

Microsoft Game Studio

I’m on an extended work trip, so I’ve been unable to do much of anything blog like the last few weeks. But as a bonus I have about 6 months worth of random crap from Ebay packed up to take back to Hong Kong to review.

And yes, It’s nearly been a year in the making for this one, but rest assured unless the disks are un-readable this will happen!

Otherwise, the Diablo thing with the release to mobile only went over like a proverbial lead balloon.  Kind of gutsy to host a convention to die hard PC fans and try to keynote on a re-skinned rip off phone app, that’s just been accepted as now ‘official’.  Talk about outsourcing gone wrong.

UPDATE: sad news I have a piece of luggage MIA.  This may not be happening now. 

UPDATE2: Bag showed up, loaded the disks, and after 7% of disk one, my 5 1/4″ drive just died.

:'(

Microsoft Game Shop

This one showed up on eBay of all places.  The original MSRP was $49.95 USD.

Microsoft Game Shop

Well it seems that back in the early 90’s Microsoft was transitioning their Basic offering from the QuickBASIC to Qbasic.  And one of the launch products was the Microsoft Game Shop, back from 1990.  This was a specialized version apparently without any compiler, but included a tutorial based around games to teach basic.

Microsoft Game Shop (back)

Which back in the day it looks like it would have been a good way to inspire kids, although I have never heard of it.  There is even a glowing review in Compute, issue 130.

 

From the packing list it contains:

QuickBasic went on to become the cut down QBasic that was later included in MS-DOS 5.0, Windows NT 3.1, and of course OS/2 2.00.

UPDATE:

There may be updates later in the year as these are waiting for me on the other side of the planet.  So I have to urge patience.

Microsoft Game Shop disks

Who knows, maybe they will even read!  The Windows/386 v2.03 I had recently ordered circa early 1988 read fine, so let’s hope these will too.

Usborne collection of 1980’s computer books!

usborne

Back in the 1980’s home computers were a new and exciting thing, and with these machines came very technical manuals.  But us young children wanted to program, and thankfully companies like Usborne filled the gap by providing programming books geared towards kids!  It was a golden age as every machine had a basic interpreter.  Then for some reason software companies (Microsoft/IBM) didn’t think it was a good thing anymore bundling in languages with their OS’s, or worse thinking that development tools should be a source of revenue and pricing amateurs out of the market (seriously SCO, $5000 for a C compiler?)  But now thanks to the common carrier network we all have (the internet) the rise of open and free software hackers have taken things into their hands, and we are back to empowering users.

So I thought it was interesting that Usborne opened up a bunch of it’s older books.  All available in PDF, free for personal use.

First computer library

Introductions to programming

Games

Adventure games

You can see their page with full details here.

 

Star Traders

While looking for various source code for TradeWars, I did stumble upon The Mushroom Cloud BBS which has source for the ancient Basic and Pascal versions.  They also have Star Traders & Star Traders 2 which apparently were some kind of inspiration to Trade Wars.  Those two were written for the HP 2100 times haring basic system which is… incredibly complicated.. Or too much so for my poor brain.

Some more searching did reveal STAR TRADERS, a port to Altair BASIC 4.0 by – S J Singer.  Now Altair BASIC, is Microsoft Basic!  So I figured I could probably try it with Quick Basic, and see if it runs, which it surprisingly did!  I went for the next step to compile it and it snagged on a few things.  There is about 4 things to correct and then I’ve got a MS-DOS executable!  But while this is all fun in emulation, It’d be far more cool, say if I could build a Win32 executable… Enter QB64!

The best thing is that it looks and feels just like QuickBASIC!

And while I did have to make a few more minor changes, I had it running as a 32bit exe in a few minutes!

For the two or three people who care, you can download the source & Win32 exe here.  QB64 supports Linux & OS X so you can run it on those platforms as well!

Here is the Altair Basic Source

5 REM STAR TRADERS
10 REM – MODIFIED FOR ‘ALTAIR BASIC 4.0’ BY – S J SINGER
20 REM
30 REM
35 DEFINT C
36 DEFINT I
40 DIM M(10,13),S(5,4),N$(5),D1(5),S1(5),Q(5),M$(12),C$(25)
50 DIM C1$(25),C2$(25)
60 DATA 1,”‘ALTAIR STARWAYS'”
70 DATA 2,”‘BETELGEUSE,LTD.'”
80 DATA 3,”‘CAPELLA FREIGHT CO.'”
90 DATA 4,”‘DENEBOLA SHIPPERS'”
100 DATA 5,”‘ERIDANI EXPEDITERS'”
110 Z1$=CHR$(26)+CHR$(0)
120 CLS
130 FOR I=1 TO 5
140 FOR J=1 TO 4
150 S(I,J)=0: D1(I)=0: S1(I)=100: Q(I)=0: B(I)=6000
160 NEXT J
170 NEXT I
180 L$=”.+*ABCDE”
190 M$=”ABCDEFGHIJKL”
195 PRINT” ********** STAR TRADERS **********”:PRINT
197 PRINT:PRINT
200 INPUT “TYPE A 3 DIGIT NUMBER “;R1
220 R1=RND(-R1/1000)
230 FOR I=1 TO 9
240 FOR J=1 TO 12
250 IF INT(20*RND(R1)+1)<>10 THEN M(I,J)=1 ELSE M(I,J)=3
260 NEXT J
270 NEXT I
280 CLS
290 INPUT “HOW MANY PLAYERS (2-4) “;P1
300 PRINT:PRINT
310 INPUT “DOES ANY PLAYER NEED INSTRUCTIONS “;Q$
320 IF Q$ =”Y” THEN GOSUB 3410
330 CLS
340 FOR I=1 TO P1
350 PRINT “PLAYER”,I,
370 INPUT ” WHAT IS YOUR NAME “;P$
380 IF I=1 THEN P1$=P$
390 IF I=2 THEN P2$=P$
400 IF I=3 THEN P3$=P$
410 IF I=4 THEN P4$=P$
420 NEXT I
430 CLS
440 PRINT TAB(10),”…NOW I WILL DECIDE WHO GOES FIRST…”:: PRINT:PRINT
445 PRINT:PRINT
450 PRINT:PRINT:PRINT
460 I=INT(P1*RND(R1)+1)
470 GOSUB 490
480 GOTO 550
490 PRINT
500 ON I GOTO 510,520,530,540: REM – IDENTIFY PLAYER
510 PRINT P1$;:P5$=P1$: RETURN
520 PRINT P2$;:P5$=P2$: RETURN
530 PRINT P3$;:P5$=P3$: RETURN
540 PRINT P4$;:P5$=P4$: RETURN
550 PRINT ” IS THE FIRST PLAYER TO MOVE.”
560 FOR W=1 TO 2000: NEXT
570 K=0
580 P=I:GOTO 610
590 K=K+1: IF K=48 THEN 4450
600 P=P+1: IF P=P1+1 THEN P=1
610 FOR I=1 TO 5: REM SELECT 5 LEGAL MOVES
620 R(I)=INT(9*RND(R1)+1)
630 C(I)=INT(12*RND(R1)+1)
640 FOR I1=I-1 TO 0 STEP -1
650 IF R(I)=R(I1) AND C(I)=C(I1) THEN 620
660 NEXT I1
670 IF M(R(I),C(I))>1 THEN 620
680 FOR I1=1 TO 5
690 IF Q(I1)=0 THEN 870
700 NEXT I1
710 IF M(R(I),C(I)+1)>3 THEN 870
720 IF M(R(I),C(I)-1)>3 THEN 870
730 IF M(R(I)+1,C(I))>3 THEN 870
740 IF M(R(I)-1,C(I))>3 THEN 870
750 A1=M(R(I),C(I)+1)
760 A2=M(R(I),C(I)-1)
770 A3=M(R(I)+1,C(I))
780 A4=M(R(I)-1,C(I))
790 IF A1=2 AND A2<4 AND A3<4 AND A4<4 THEN 620
800 IF A2=2 AND A1<4 AND A3<4 AND A4<4 THEN 620
810 IF A3=2 AND A1<4 AND A2<4 AND A4<4 THEN 620
820 IF A4=2 AND A1<4 AND A2<4 AND A3<4 THEN 620
830 IF A1=3 AND A2<4 AND A3<4 AND A4<4 THEN 620
840 IF A2=3 AND A1<4 AND A3<4 AND A4<4 THEN 620
850 IF A3=3 AND A1<4 AND A2<4 AND A4<4 THEN 620
860 IF A4=3 AND A1<4 AND A2<4 AND A3<4 THEN 620
870 NEXT I
880 GOSUB 2060
890 PRINT
900 I=P
910 GOSUB 490
920 PRINT “, HERE ARE YOUR LEGAL MOVES FOR THIS TURN”
930 PRINT
940 FOR I=1 TO 5
950 PRINT R(I);MID$(M$,C(I),1);” “;
960 NEXT I
970 PRINT:PRINT
980 INPUT “WHAT IS YOUR MOVE “;R$
990 IF LEN(R$)=0 THEN R$=”S”
1000 IF LEFT$(R$,1)=”M” THEN R$=”” ELSE 1030
1010 GOSUB 2060
1020 GOTO 900
1030 IF LEFT$(R$,1)=”S” THEN R$=”” ELSE 1060
1040 GOSUB 3230
1050 GOTO 900
1060 IF LEN(R$)<>2 THEN 1110
1070 IF ASC(MID$(R$,2,1))-64<1 THEN 1110
1080 IF ASC(MID$(R$,2,1))-64>12 THEN 1110 ELSE 1120
1090 IF VAL(R$)<1 THEN 1110
1100 IF VAL(R$)>9 THEN 1110
1110 PRINT “I DIDN’T UNDERSTAND THAT – TRY AGAIN “: GOTO 980
1120 R=VAL(LEFT$(R$,1))
1130 C=ASC(RIGHT$(R$,1))-64
1140 FOR I= 1 TO 5
1150 IF R=R(I) AND C=C(I) THEN 1190
1160 NEXT I
1170 PRINT “THAT SPACE WAS NOT INCLUDGD IN THE LIST…”
1180 GOTO 980
1190 A1=M(R-1,C)
1200 A2=M(R+1,C)
1210 A3=M(R,C+1)
1220 A4=M(R,C-1)
1230 IF A1<=1 AND A2<=1 AND A3<=1 AND A4<=1 THEN M(R,C)=2 ELSE 1250
1240 GOTO 1760
1250 IF A1>3 AND A2>3 AND A2<>A1 THEN GOSUB 2220:REM – LINE 2090 IS
1260 IF A1>3 AND A3>3 AND A3<>A1 THEN GOSUB 2220:REM THE MERGER SUB.
1270 IF A1>3 AND A4>3 AND A4<>A1 THEN GOSUB 2220
1280 IF A2>3 AND A3>3 AND A3<>A2 THEN GOSUB 2220
1290 IF A2>3 AND A4>3 AND A4<>A2 THEN GOSUB 2220
1300 IF A3>3 AND A4>3 AND A4<>A3 THEN GOSUB 2220
1310 IF A1<4 AND A2<4 AND A3<4 AND A4<4 THEN 1410
1320 IF M(R,C)>3 THEN 1760
1330 IF A1>3 THEN I=A1-3
1340 IF A2>3 THEN I=A2-3
1350 IF A3>3 THEN I=A3-3
1360 IF A4>3 THEN I=A4-3
1370 Q(I)=Q(I)+1
1380 S1(I)=S1(I)+100
1390 M(R,C)=I+3
1400 GOTO 1570
1410 FOR I=1 TO 5
1420 IF Q(I)=0 THEN 1460
1430 NEXT I
1440 IF M(R,C)<3 THEN M(R,C)=2
1450 GOTO 1760
1460 CLS
1470 GOSUB 3370
1480 PRINT “A NEW SHIPPING COMPANY HAS BEEN FORMED !”
1490 PRINT “IT’S NAME IS “,
1500 RESTORE
1510 READ N,C$
1520 IF I<>N THEN 1510
1530 PRINT C$
1540 S(I,P)=S(I,P)+5
1550 Q(I)=1
1560 PRINT:PRINT:PRINT:PRINT
1570 IF A1=3 THEN S1(I)=S1(I)+500
1580 IF A2=3 THEN S1(I)=S1(I)+500
1590 IF A3=3 THEN S1(I)=S1(I)+500
1600 IF A4=3 THEN S1(I)=S1(I)+500
1610 IF A1=2 THEN S1(I)=S1(I)+100 ELSE 1640
1620 Q(I)=Q(I)+1
1630 M(R-1,C)=I+3
1640 IF A2=2 THEN S1(I)=S1(I)+100 ELSE 1670
1650 Q(I)=Q(I)+1
1660 M(R+1,C)=I+3
1670 IF A3=2 THEN S1(I)=S1(I)+100 ELSE 1700
1680 Q(I)=Q(I)+1
1690 M(R,C+1)=I+3
1700 IF A4=2 THEN S1(I)=S1(I)+100 ELSE 1730
1710 Q(I)=Q(I)+1
1720 M(R,C-1)=I+3
1730 IF S1(I)>=3000 THEN T1=I ELSE 1750
1740 GOSUB 3100
1750 M(R,C)=I+3
1760 FOR I=1 TO 5
1770 B(P)=B(P)+INT(.05*S(I,P)*S1(I))
1780 NEXT I
1790 FOR I=1 TO 5
1800 IF Q(I)=0 THEN 2040
1810 PRINT:PRINT “YOUR CURRENT CASH= $”;B(P)
1820 PRINT:PRINT “BUY HOW MANY SHARES OF “;
1830 RESTORE
1840 READ N,C$
1850 IF I<>N THEN 1840
1860 PRINT C$;
1870 PRINT ” AT $”;S1(I)
1880 PRINT TAB(5); “YOU NOW OWN “;S(I,P);
1890 INPUT R3$:IF LEN(R3$)=0 THEN R3$=”0″
1900 IF R3$(1,1)=”M” THEN R3$=”” ELSE 1930
1910 GOSUB 2060
1920 GOTO 1810
1930 IF R3$(1,1)=”S” THEN R3$=”” ELSE 1960
1940 GOSUB 3230
1950 GOTO 1810
1960 R3=VAL(R3$)
1970 R3$=””
1980 IF R3*S1(I)<=B(P) THEN 2010
1990 PRINT “YOU ONLY HAVE $”;B(P);” – TRY AGAIN”
2000 GOTO 1810
2010 IF R3=0 THEN 2040
2020 S(I,P)=S(I,P)+R3
2030 B(P)=B(P)-(R3*S1(I))
2040 NEXT I
2050 GOTO 590
2060 CLS: REM SUBROUTINE – PRINT MAP
2070 PRINT TAB(22);”MAP OF THE GALAXY”
2080 PRINT TAB(21);”*******************”
2090 PRINT TAB(13);” A B C D E F G H I J K L”
2100 FOR R2=1 TO 9
2110 PRINT” “;R2;” “;
2120 FOR C2=1 TO 12
2130 PRINT” “;
2140 Z2=M(R2,C2)
2150 IF Z2=0 THEN Z2=Z2+1
2160 PRINT MID$(L$,Z2,1)” “;
2180 NEXT
2190 PRINT
2200 NEXT
2210 RETURN
2220 F1=A1-3: IF F1<0 THEN F1=0:REM SUBROUTINE – CALCULATES THE
2230 F2=A2-3: IF F2<0 THEN F2=0:REM SURVIVOR IN THE EVENT
2240 F3=A3-3: IF F3<0 THEN F3=0:REM OF A MERGER
2250 F4=A4-3: IF F4<0 THEN F4=0
2260 T=Q(F1)
2270 T1=F1
2280 IF Q(F2)>Q(F1) THEN T=Q(F2) ELSE 2300
2290 T1=F2
2300 IF Q(F3)>T THEN T=Q(F3) ELSE 2320
2310 T1=F3
2320 IF Q(F4)>T THEN T=Q(F4) ELSE 2340
2330 T1=F4
2340 IF F1=T1 OR A1<4 THEN 2370
2350 X=F1
2360 GOSUB 2470
2370 IF F2=T1 OR A2<4 THEN 2400
2380 X=F2
2390 GOSUB 2470
2400 IF F3=T1 OR A3<4 THEN 2430
2410 X=F3
2420 GOSUB 2470
2430 IF F4=T1 OR A4<4 THEN 2460
2440 X=F4
2450 GOSUB 2470
2460 RETURN
2470 CLS
2480 GOSUB 3370: REM SUBROUTINE – PERFORMS CALCULATIONS
2490 RESTORE: REM TO ACCOMPLISH A MERGER
2500 READ N,C$
2510 IF X<>N THEN 2500
2520 C1$=C$
2530 PRINT C1$;
2540 PRINT ” HAS JUST BEEN MERGED INTO “;
2550 RESTORE
2560 READ N,C$
2570 IF T1<>N THEN 2560
2580 C2$=C$
2590 PRINT C2$;”!”
2610 PRINT “PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING TRANSACTIONS.”
2620 PRINT
2630 PRINT TAB(3);”OLD STOCK = “;C1$;” NEW STOCK = “;
2640 PRINT C2$
2650 PRINT
2660 PRINT “PLAYER”;TAB(10);”OLD STOCK”;TAB(22);”NEW STOCK”;
2670 PRINT TAB(34);”TOTAL HOLDINGS”;TAB(53);”BONUS PAID”
2680 FOR I=1 TO P1
2690 GOSUB 490
2700 PRINT TAB(10);S(X,I);TAB(22);INT((.5*S(X,I))+.5);
2710 PRINT TAB(34);S(T1,I)+INT((.5*S(X,I))+.5);
2720 X1=0
2730 FOR I1=1 TO P1
2740 X1=X1+S(X,I1)
2750 NEXT
2760 PRINT TAB(53);” $”;INT(10*((S(X,I)/X1)*S1(X)))
2770 NEXT I
2780 FOR I=1 TO P1
2790 S(T1,I)=S(T1,I)+INT((.5*S(X,I))+.5)
2800 B(I)=B(I)+INT(10*((S(X,I)/X1)*S1(X)))
2810 NEXT I
2820 FOR I=1 TO 9
2830 FOR J=1 TO 12
2840 IF M(I,J)=X+3 THEN M(I,J)=T1+3
2850 NEXT J
2860 NEXT I
2870 A1=M(R-1,C)
2880 A2=M(R+1,C)
2890 A3=M(R,C+1)
2900 A4=M(R,C-1)
2910 F1=A3-3
2920 IF F1<0 THEN F1=0
2930 F2=A2-3
2940 IF F2<0 THEN F2=0
2950 Q(T1)=Q(T1)+Q(X)
2960 S1(T1)=S1(T1)+S1(X)
2970 IF S1(T1)=>3000 THEN GOSUB 3100
2980 F3=A3-3
2990 IF F3<0 THEN F3=0
3000 F4=A4-3
3010 IF F4<0 THEN F4=0
3020 S1(X)=100
3030 Q(X)=0
3040 FOR I=1 TO P1
3050 S(X,I)=0
3060 NEXT I
3070 PRINT:PRINT
3080 M(R,C)=T1+3
3090 RETURN
3100 GOSUB 3370: REM SUBROUTINE – CALCULATES STOCK SPLITS
3110 PRINT “THE STOCK OF “,
3120 RESTORE
3130 READ N,C$
3140 IF T1<>N THEN 3130
3150 PRINT C$,
3160 PRINT ” HAS SPLIT 2 FOR 1 !”
3170 S1(T1)=INT(S1(T1)/2)
3180 PRINT:PRINT
3190 FOR I1=1 TO P1
3200 S(T1,I1)=2*S(T1,I1)
3210 NEXT I1
3220 RETURN
3230 CLS
3240 PRINT
3250 PRINT “STOCK”;TAB(30);”PRICE PER SHARE”;
3260 PRINT TAB(50);”YOUR HOLDINGS”
3270 FOR I3=1 TO 5
3280 IF S1(I3)=100 THEN 3340
3290 RESTORE
3300 READ N,C$
3310 IF I3<>N THEN 3300
3320 PRINT C$,
3330 PRINT TAB(30);S1(I3);TAB(50);S(I3,P)
3340 NEXT I3
3350 RESTORE
3360 RETURN
3370 PRINT CHR$(7)
3380 PRINT TAB(22);”SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT !!!”:PRINT
3390 PRINT
3400 RETURN
3410 CLS
3420 PRINT ” STAR LANES IS A GAME OF INTERSTELLAR TRADING.”
3430 PRINT “THE OBJECT OF THE GAME IS TO AMASS THE GREATEST AMOUNT”
3440 PRINT “OF MONEY. THIS IS ACCOMPLISHED BY ESTABLISHING VAST,”
3450 PRINT “INTERSTELLAR SHIPPING LANES, AND PURCHASING STOCK IN”
3460 PRINT “THE COMPANIES THAT CONTROL THOSE TRADE ROUTES. DURING”
3470 PRINT “THE COURSE OF THE GAME, STOCK APPRECIATES IN VALUE AS”
3480 PRINT “THE SHIPPING COMPANIES BECOME LARGER. ALSO, SMALLER”
3490 PRINT “COMPANIES CAN BE MERGED INTO LARGER ONES, AND STOCK”
3500 PRINT “IN THE SMALLER FIRM IS CONVERTED INTO STOCK IN THE”
3510 PRINT “LARGER ONE AS DESCRIBED BELOW.”:PRINT
3520 PRINT “EACH TURN, THE COMPUTER WILL PRESENT THE PLAYER WITH”
3530 PRINT “FIVE PROSPECTIVE SPACES TO OCCUPY ON A 9X12 MATRIX”
3540 PRINT “(ROWS 1-9, COLUMNS A-L). THE PLAYER, AFTER EXAMINING”
3550 PRINT “THE MAP OF THE GALAXY TO DECIDE WHICH SPACE HE WISHES”
3560 PRINT “TO OCCUPY, RESPONDS WITH THE ROW AND COLUMN OF THAT”
3570 PRINT “SPACE, I.E., 7E, 8A, ETC. THERE ARE FOUR POSSIBLE”
3580 PRINT “MOVES A PLAYER CAN MAKE.”:PRINT:PRINT
3590 PRINT
3600 GOSUB 3620
3610 GOTO 3660
3620 INPUT “PRESS RETURN TO CONTINUE”;X2$
3650 RETURN
3660 CLS
3670 PRINT ” 1. HE CAN ESTABLISH AN UNATTACHED OUTPOST- IF HE”
3680 PRINT “SELECTS A SPACE THAT IS NOT ADJACENT TO A STAR, ANOTHER”
3690 PRINT “UNATTACHED OUTPOST, OR AN EXISTING SHIPPING LANE, THIS”
3700 PRINT “SPACE WILL BE DESIGNATED WITH A ‘+’. HE WILL THEN PROCEED”
3710 PRINT “WITH STOCK TRANSACTIONS, AS LISTED BELOW.”:PRINT
3720 PRINT ” 2. HE CAN ADD TO AN EXISTING LANE- IF HE SELECTS A”
3730 PRINT “SPACE THAT IS ADJACENT TO ONE – AND ONLY ONE EXISTING”
3740 PRINT “SHIPPING LANE, THE SPACE HE SELECTS WILL BE ADDED TO”
3750 PRINT “THAT SHIPPING LANE AND WILL BE DISIGNATED WITH THE FIRST”
3760 PRINT “LETTER OF THE COMPANY THAT OWNS THAT LANE. IF THERE ARE”
3770 PRINT “ANY STARS OR UNATTACHED OUTPOSTS ALSO ADJACENT TO THE”
3780 PRINT “SELECTED SPACE, THEY, TOO, WILL BE INCORPORATED INTO THE”
3790 PRINT “EXISTING LANE. EACH NEW SQUARE ADJACENT TO A STAR ADDS”
3800 PRINT “$500 PER SHARE, AND EACH NEW OUTPOST ADDS $100 PER SHARE”
3810 PRINT “TO THE MARKET VALUE OF THE STOCK OF THAT COMPANY.”
3820 PRINT:PRINT
3830 GOSUB 3620
3840 CLS
3850 PRINT ” 3. HE MAY ESTABLISH A NEW SHIPPING LANE- IF THERE”
3860 PRINT “ARE FIVE OR LESS EXISTING SHIPPING LANES ESTABLISHED,”
3870 PRINT “THE PLAYER MAY, GIVEN THE PROPER SPACE TO PLAY, ESTABLISH”
3880 PRINT “A NEW SHIPPING LANE. HE MAY DO THIS BY OCCUPYING A SPACE”
3890 PRINT “ADJACENT TO A STAR OR ANOTHER UNATTACHED OUTPOST, BUT”
3900 PRINT “NOT ADJACENT TO AN EXISTING SHIPPING LANE. IF HE”
3910 PRINT “ESTABLISHES A NEW SHIPPING LANE, HE IS AUTOMATICALLY”
3920 PRINT “ISSUED 5 SHARES KN THE NEW COMPANY AS A REWARD. HE”
3930 PRINT “MAY THEN PROCEED TO BUY STOCK IN ANY ACTIVE COMPANY,”
3940 PRINT “INCLUDKNG THE ONE JUST FORMED, AS DESCRIBED BELOW.”
3950 PRINT “THG MARKET VALUE OF THE NEW STOCK IS ESTABLISHED BY”
3960 PRINT “THE NUMBER OF STARS AND OCCUPIED SPACES AS DESCRIBED”
3970 PRINT “IN #2 ABOVE.”
3980 PRINT:PRINT
3990 GOSUB 3620
4000 CLS
4010 PRINT ” 4. HE MAY MERGE TWO EXISTING COMPANIES- IF A PLAYER”
4020 PRINT “SELECTS A SPACE ADJACENT TO TWO EXISTING SHIPPING”
4030 PRINT “LANES, A MERGER OCCURS. THE LARGER COMPANY TAKES OVER THE”
4040 PRINT “SMALLER COMPANY – (IF BOTH COMPANIES ARE THE SAME SIZE”
4050 PRINT “PRIOR TO THE MERGER, THEN THE SURVIVOR IS DETERMINED BY”
4060 PRINT “ALPHABETICAL ORDER OF THE TWO COMPANY NAMES – THE EARLIER”
4070 PRINT “SURVIVES). THE STOCK OF THE SURVIVING COMPANY IS”
4080 PRINT “INCREASED IN VALUE ACCORDING TO THE NUMBER OF SPACES”
4090 PRINT “AND STARS ADDED TO ITS LANE. EACH PLAYERS STOCK IN”
4100 PRINT “THE DEFUNCT COMPANY IS EXCHANGED FOR SHARES KN THE”
4110 PRINT “SURVIVOR ON A RATIO OF 2 FOR 1. ALSO, EACH PLAYER”
4120 PRINT “IS PAID A CASH BONUS PROPORTIONAL TO THE PERCENTAGE”
4130 PRINT “OF OUTSTANDING STOCK HE HELD IN THE DEFUNCT COMPANY.”
4140 PRINT “NOTE: AFTER A COMPANY BECOMES DEFUNCT THROUGH THE”
4150 PRINT “MERGER PROCESS, IT CAN REAPPEAR ELSEWHERE ON THE”
4160 PRINT “BOARD WHEN, AND IF, A NEW COMPANY IS ESTABLISHED.”
4170 PRINT:PRINT
4180 GOSUB 3620
4190 CLS
4200 PRINT ” NEXT THE COMPUTER CDDS STOCK DIVIDENDS TO THE PLAYER’S”
4210 PRINT “CASH ON HAND (5% OF THE MARKET VALUE OF THE STOCK IN HIS”
4220 PRINT “POSSESSION), AND OFFERS HIM THE OPPORTUNITY TO PURCHASE”
4230 PRINT “STOCK KN ANY OF THE ACTIVE COMPANIES ON THE BOARD.”
4240 PRINT “STOCK MAY NOT BE SOLD, BUT THE MARKET VALUE OF EACH”
4250 PRINT “PLAYER’S STOCK IS TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT AT THE END OF THE”
4260 PRINT “GAME TO DETERMINE THE WINNER. IF THE OARKET VALUE OF A GIVEN”
4270 PRINT “STOCK EXCEEDS $3000 AT ANY TIME DURING THE GAME, THAT”
4280 PRINT “STOCK SPLITS 2 FOR 1. THE PRICE IS CUT IN HALF, AND”
4290 PRINT “THE NUMBER OF SHARES OWNED BY GACH PLAYER IS DOUBLED.”
4300 PRINT
4310 PRINT “NOTE: THE PLAYER MAY LOOK AT HIS PORTFOLIO AT ANY TIME”
4320 PRINT “DURING THE COURSE OF HIS TURN BY RESPONDING WITH ‘STOCK'”
4330 PRINT “TO AN INPUT STATEMENT. LIKEWISE, HE CAN REVIEW THE MAP”
4340 PRINT “OF THE GALAXY BY TYPING ‘MAP’ TO AN INPUT STATEMENT.”
4350 PRINT:PRINT
4360 GOSUB 3620
4370 CLS
4380 PRINT:PRINT:PRINT:PRINT:PRINT:PRINT:PRINT:PRINT
4390 PRINT TAB(16);”** GAME ENDS AFTER 48 MOVES **”
4400 PRINT:PRINT:PRINT:PRINT
4410 PRINT “PLAYER WITH THE GREATEST NET WORTH AT THAT POINT IS THE WINNER.”
4420 PRINT:PRINT
4430 FOR W=1 TO 2000:NEXT W
4440 RETURN
4450 CLS
4460 GOSUB 3370
4470 FOR W=1 TO 500:NEXT W:PRINT CHR$(7)
4480 FOR W=1 TO 500:NEXT W:PRINT CHR$(7)
4490 PRINT TAB(10),” THE GAME IS OVER – HERE ARE THE FINAL STANDINGS”
4500 PRINT:PRINT:PRINT:PRINT
4510 PRINT CHR$(7)
4520 PRINT “PLAYER”;TAB(10);”CASH VALUE OF STOCK”;TAB(33);”CASH ON HAND”,
4530 PRINT TAB(50);”NET WORTH”
4540 PRINT
4550 FOR I=1 TO P1
4560 FOR J=1 TO 5
4570 D1(I)=D1(I)+(S1(J)*S(J,I))
4580 NEXT J
4590 NEXT I
4600 FOR I=1 TO P1
4610 GOSUB 490
4620 PRINT TAB(10);”$”;D1(I);TAB(33);”$”;B(I);
4630 PRINT TAB(50);”$”;D1(I)+B(I)
4640 NEXT I
4650 PRINT:PRINT:PRINT:PRINT
4660 END

NeXTSTEP audio & mod files…

Well I’ve been looking for a way to get some audio out of Quake for NeXTSTEP… and it’s incredibly complicated. I found some ‘smallish’ program for the m68k black hardware that is a MOD player, modPlayer 2.5 which also included source!

However, for me I can’t run it as the monitor to my cube is busted… But I was able to compile it to verify the source ‘works’. I then built it on my white box (P4 2.4Ghz 1GB of ram, and a real soundblaster 16!) and, after removing the reference to the decrunch routine it produced.. noise, and lots of it. But I did feel like I was getting *somewhere*.

I figure the main reason it’s exploding is that the m68k port uses the same CPU as the Amiga for these MOD files, so no doubt there is some bit flipping needed to go from big endian to little endian, but I know *nothing* about the MOD format.. So after a quick google search on basic mod players, I found qmod, a module player written in Quick Basic!!

So I looked around for a copy of Quick Basic 4.5, and tried to build the program, and it was all crash & burn.

At work we have a copy of PDS, the Professional Development System, also known as Basic 7.1 .. This thing is still useful, it will target OS/2 so you can write these massive programs (and run them under Windows 2000). So I figured I could use that to get the thing to build.. And I ran into the same errors about overflows, and all kinds of crap.

So the next thing to try was a copy of Visual Basic 1.0 for DOS that I got from ebay a while back.. I made images of the disks, which was fun, installed the thing to get.. the exact same errors. But I have to say VB for DOS was cool in that the output window can be in a windows (although text one) and you can trace and see at the same time… If only this was on store shelves in 1992!!!!

Anyways after looking at the command line options for VB for dos, I spotted this…

/Ah Enable huge dynamic arrays

I was surprised! So it would seem the answer was in the compiler, not the nice interface.. I just has ‘assumed’ that the interface would provide all the options.. Not so.

So I re-extracted the qmod source as I’d hopelessly altered it, then ‘fixed’ the one line that prevented compilation…

DEF SEG = VARSEG(mixarea(0))

I just removed that line, and ran the compiler & linker.. and it runs!

C:\TEMP>bc /Ah /O qmod.bas

Microsoft (R) Visual Basic (TM) for MS-DOS (R)
Compiler – Professional Edition Version 1.00
Copyright (C) 1982-1992 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Object Filename [qmod.obj]:

Source Listing [nul.lst]:

42555 Bytes Available
33278 Bytes Free

0 Warning Error(s)
0 Severe Error(s)

C:\TEMP>link qmod.obj

Microsoft (R) Segmented Executable Linker Version 5.31.009 Jul 13 1992
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corp 1984-1992. All rights reserved.

Run File [qmod.exe]:
List File [nul.map]:
Libraries [.lib];
Definitions File [nul.def]:

C:\TEMP>

Now this program does require a sound blaster card, and it also requires the blaster environment variable set properly… So for Virtual PC it’s simply

SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 T4

Then run qmod and the supplied mod file, and away it goes!

Qmod under Virtual PC

Qmod under Virtual PC

And I have to say it’s really cool to listen to this thing work, only using peek/poke (ok it’s inp/out in the new syntax…) but it’s playing the soundblaster, and it sounds GREAT.

So going back to PDS & Quick Basic 4.5 they all support the /Ah flag.. So it’ll build on any of them.

So for those who aren’t inclined to play compiler games, here is a pre-built version of Qmod, and it includes a mod file.

Now for those of you who don’t have Virtual PC, or not running on Windows, the program will run on DOSBox as well!

I just found I had to tweak the cpu config a little to make it run.. This is my CPU block in the configuration file.

[cpu]
#core=auto
core=simple
#cputype=auto
cputype=486_slow
cycles=auto
cycleup=500
cycledown=500

Now when you launch DOSBox, it’ll pick some low cpu cycle number and stay there when you launch qmod.. And it’s too low so it’ll sound horrible. So hitting CTRL+F12 will increase the cycles. Set it to 25000, and it’ll run fine. If you set it too high, CTRL+F11 will bring it down. DOSBox already sets the blaster environment variable for you, so it should ‘just work’.

From there I’d recommend sites like Amiga Music Preservation, or Mod Archive. Qmod can play quite a few of the files with the MOD extension, but not all.. But it’s a great small example program.

As luck would have it, my whitebox is having some weird boot issue, so I can’t go any further on this… But I figure I’d share this much with the world…