Another newbie finds Oolite.

[Pangloss]

I'm an Englishman in New York. OK, near New York. North East Pennsylvania to be exact. Christmas is coming, and my wife and I decided on a combined Xmas pressie this year ...new iMac 2GHz, to replace the old G3 PowerPC Mac (8 years old), and the new iMac won't be taken out of the box until the 24th. So wasn't I just the happiest person to search for free OS X games and find a version of Elite for nowt!

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I remember the BBC Model B version, played by kids in school, and how impressed I was by the 3D 'vector' graphics. Remembering the talk about how it might look different on the Acorn Electron because the Acorn "didn't do Mode 7", whatever the Hell that was. Getting the game for the C64 was great a few years later. I had an Atari ST in the 90s and found a copy of the game for sale (and spent a few evenings running crops to high-tech anarchies).

In under two weeks, I get to strap myself into a Cobra Mk.III and see if I remember some stuff. Skimming the sun to get a free 7ly of fuel after buying the scoops. Forgetting how full my cargo hold already was as I tried to pick up the remains from an attacker (THUD!). Remembering that pirates liked to hang out near the sun and pretend to be asteroids, tumbling slowly in place until you got too close before missiling the bejesus out of you. Thargoid ships attacking you in witchspace, spending nearly an hour beating them but then having to destroy the Tharglets to continue onwards because you had a full cargo hold again (THUD!).

I even had my own technique for docking. Get to S-space, point my ship directly between the planet and the station and make sure the station was going to be exactly to my right-hand side. Then I would fly with front-view on until the icon from the station went to the far right of the scope and turned from 'in front but way right' to 'behind you but way right'. Cut thrusters, turn the ship through 90 degrees so the station was either above (or below me), then pull up (or rotate down) to be face-on to the opening. Who needs automatic docking? Who needs to look out the side window to see how accurate I was?

So this Christmas, I get back into it. And once again, thank you. I see there's a 'design your own ad' thread. I might have a go.

[AndySlater]

Ive only been here for just over a week so I'm no expert but you'll notice quite a few differences, mostly for the better, but don't rely too much on your past knowledge. Be prepared to relearn it becasue there are some nice new things you might miss otherwise.

[Pangloss]

Ive only been here for just over a week so I'm no expert but you'll notice quite a few differences, mostly for the better, but don't rely too much on your past knowledge. Be prepared to relearn it becasue there are some nice new things you might miss otherwise.

I've been reading through the stuff online (Elite Wiki). New weapons, ability to pilot other craft, and I see that pirates can't pretend to be asteroids anymore (colour-coded IFF). Nice.

[johnsmith]

You need to watch out for irate hockey fans. And runaway felines. And deposed dictators. The variety in the add-on packs is staggering.

[Judebert]

Well, there is a pirate cove in the OXPs. That appears to be a giant asteroid, until pirates start spewing out of it. Does that count?

[winston]

Mode 7 was unimportant for Elite - Mode 7 is text only teletext mode on the BBC or Master.

Elite IIRC used a combination of Mode 4 (for the main view out of the front window) and Mode 2 for the instrument panel, relying on a routine that switched modes when the TV/monitor scanline was in the right place.

[Pangloss]

Mode 7 was unimportant for Elite - Mode 7 is text only teletext mode on the BBC or Master.

Elite IIRC used a combination of Mode 4 (for the main view out of the front window) and Mode 2 for the instrument panel, relying on a routine that switched modes when the TV/monitor scanline was in the right place.

I just checked it on Wiki, and they're looking for citation for the phrase "The precise timing required for this makes it difficult to write a BBC B emulator which will run Elite correctly" (to do with the switch in Modes). I think the loading screen (the one wih the copyright) was Mode 7. It had a nifty (for BBC 'B') trick where the text was mirrored and in perspective, like a shadow.

One week. I think I had better start d/ling the OXPs now and burn them to CD so I get the full range of ships and swish planets from the get-go.

Thanks, all.

[drew]

Don't forget to visit the famous Tianve Pulsar.....

Welcome aboard!

Cheers,

Drew.

[reills]

Hello, my name is Reills and I am an Oolite-a-holic. It has been 2 hours since I last played Oolite. I was addicted to Elite on my C=64 in college and now...

I've got my Oolite on a memory key so I can take it with me wherever I go (a little interstellar trading during lunch at work anyone?) I just had to modify the batch loader to point to the proper drive.

Three cheers for Oolite!

[Star Gazer]

..."Let's all give reills a big hug for his honesty. It's not easy to come here to Oolite Obsessives, and be so open on your first visit. Hi reills, welcome to OO, just kick those trumbles off that cargo pod and have a seat!"

[Rxke]

I've got my Oolite on a memory key so I can take it with me wherever I go (a little interstellar trading during lunch at work anyone?) I just had to modify the batch loader to point to the proper drive.

Hi Reills, and welcome aboard!


Interesting... this should be put up at Berlios... Oolite-on-memorycard 1.65, would be great to show off when visiting friends...

[Captain Hesperus]

[quote="Rxke]Interesting... this should be put up at Berlios... Oolite-on-memorycard 1.65, would be great to show off when visiting friends...[/quote]

And break up the tedium of those seasonal 'family get-togethers'.

Captain Hesperus
"Stepan, set blasters to FUN!"