Wow, I never expected this to make it onto a PSP.
KrocCamen wrote: the download for v4 is being flagged as Firefox as malware and so refuses to save it
I don't have that problem with Safari or FireFox on a Mac, have you been able to download v.4 some other way, or stuck on v.3 ?
KrocCamen wrote: I understand that ELITE-A uses colour wireframe graphics when running on MASTER 128, but I cannot get ELITE-A/B to work on BeebEm on Windows / PSP in MASTER 128 mode. The title logo loads and the machine hangs with the raster split flickering more than normal.
I haven't seen ELITE-A work on a MASTER 128, I know ELITE-A has a 2nd processor option but I don't know if that gives colour wire-frame graphics or only speeds it up.
The original Elite had a MASTER 128/enhanced Tube version which did have the coloured wire-frame graphics. If someone knows how to get ELITE-A to work on a MASTER 128 and it has coloured wire-frames then I could figure out what to do about Elite-B. (As a complete aside, Elite-B does have green and pink wire-frame graphics sometimes, have you encountered that 'arcade mode' yet?
).
Just to check, you can can get Elite-A/B to work on BeebEm for Windows in BBC Model B mode, but not MASTER 128 mode?
KrocCamen wrote:
Please provide single-key shortcuts for all commands that use key-combos such as CTRL+F6.
Most of the ctrl+ key combos are already duplicated? To get to the Guide you can use '?' and to get from the Guide back to the Trading pages you can use 'T'. Here's the list from v.4
Code: Select all
Keys when Docked Keys in Flight
f0 V Launch from Station f0 V Forward View
f1 B Buy Cargo f1 B Rear View
f2 Sell Cargo f2 Left View
f3 Equip Ship f3 Right View
f4 Galactic Chart f4 Galactic Chart
f5 Short Range Chart f5 Short Range Chart
f6 Data on Planet f6 Data on Planet
f7 Market Prices f7 Market Prices
f8 Status Page f8 Status Page
f9 I Inventory f9 I Inventory
Space Speed up
? Help Guide ? Slow down
X Climb
ctrl-f2 S Sell Equipment S Dive
< Roll left
> Roll right
@ A Disc Access A Fire Laser
E Activate E.C.M.
ctrl-f6 T Leave Guide T Target Missile
ctrl-f0 M Extended Stay M Launch Missile
ctrl-f4 U Unpaid Fines U Unarm Missile
ctrl-f5 J Local News J In-system Jump
H Hyperspace
ctrl-H Galactic Hyperspace
Tab Implode Shield unit
Esc Escape pod
ctrl-f1 C Special Contract C Docking on
ctrl-f3 N Buy New Ship N Docking off
P Compass to Planet
L Compass to Sun
K Next Compass target
Arrow keys on chart move cursor to Hyperspace target
O Home cursor on chart O Home cursor on chart
D Distance to system D Distance to system
W Contract destination W Contract destination
F Find system
Copy Freeze Game. While frozen can toggle the following
S Sound on
Q Sound off
A Keyboard auto-recentering
Caps-Lock Keyboard damping
Y Reverse joystick Y channel
J Reverse both joystick channels
K Keyboard or Joystick control
X Extra startup message display
F Flashing console bars
Esc Start new game
Delete Unfreeze Game
Your comment raises the point about the Galactic Hyperspace, ctrl-H. Do you have access to that on the PSP? Assuming not, then moving that to 'G' is probably an important thing to do.
KrocCamen wrote:
On the galactic and local system charts, please allow the flight controls "<SX>" to move the cursor, as otherwise I have to map another 4 buttons just for the arrow keys (in my case, L+D-pad). The Commodore 64 already works in this way. Though be careful that if the flight controls are flipped so that dive is up and climb is down, you want to normalise those so that up/down/left/right is always logical on the chart screens
I am bit confused, I usually only play using a keyboard but on BeebEm I just hit the mouse button as the fire button to start a game, and now the mouse pad does up,down,left,right, for both the flight controls "<SX>" and the charts' cursor arrow keys at the same time (and then cursor locked but can still fly the ship when a hyperspace countdown starts), but that is not what you see with a joystick? When docked, the mouse-pad now moves the chart cursors and BeebEm has locked out/mapped the arrow keys to the mouse pad in this configuration. And 'S' can still sell equipment. What happens when you use the joystick on charts when docked or in the Guide?
KrocCamen wrote:
The help guide for example requires typing in numbers and the on-screen keyboard on PSP BEEB sucks badly. In addition to the usual numbered shortcuts, having the list navigable by joystick / arrow keys / flight controls would be much appreciated
In v.4 I surreptitiously duplicated some of the numbered options in the Guide back to 'obvious' function keys but that probably doesn't help joystick users much. There are very few free bytes left in the code to highlight an option before its chosen, I will see what can be done.
KrocCamen wrote:
an "Options" screen of some sort would help to make the paused key-toggles more accessible to those playing without a keyboard
I agree, certainly an obscure set of keys (for the history detectives I suspect that code from Ian Bell's previous game, FreeFall).
For the BBC Model B version there isn't enough space to introduce a menu screen for them in the flight or docked code. One option is some sort of config screen before the game starts but is then not revisited. Something to think about.
KrocCamen wrote:
Is there a way to get C64-like "snap" rotation? That is, I am used to the ship immediately stopping when rolling instead of slowly re-centering its rotation speed. The way it is means I have to constantly press the opposite direction at the end of a turn just to reset the roll vector and this isn't great on a PSP
For keyboard operation yes, I usually give an 'opposite' tap to re-center. But for 'mouse pad' joystick I just have to move back to the center? Is that not happening with your joystick?
Glad you liked it, and maybe easier to play in the future.
