Elite game has evolved

Hoping this is relevant & of interest to other members.

For those who are fans of Elite check this site out: http://elite.frontier.co.uk/

Co-author of the original Beeb game, David Braben, is heading development of the game on the PC.

Over two million pounds were raised on KickStarter last year!

Things are now at the alpha testing phase & it looks very good, (imho).

I hope it gives the same sense of awe as the original did…I funded it when it appeared on KickStarter anyway, more out of a sense of loyalty than anything.

So did I. I even should buy a dedicated computer, in order to be able to play the new game.

Has anyone tried ArcElite under Aemulor on RISC OS 5?

Doesn’t work for me :-(
But it works well under AcornMode

I was disassembling the Elite code last night to see what needs adding to ADFFS to get it running on the Pi.

The main problem is the fact it’s a Wimp app, it also needs to interact with the Desktop, Modules and be made 32bit compliant. I think it’s also 26bit APCS, so another complication.

I have the 32bit compliance covered, know how to handle Modules and APCS, leaving the Wimp issue which I have some ideas about. Even if I do get it running, someone still needs to grant permission to release it, so don’t get your hopes up!

I was disassembling the Elite code last night to see what needs adding to ADFFS to get it running on the Pi.

That sounds like doing things the hard way! :) I’m currently talking to the guy with the source code…

The main problem is the fact it’s a Wimp app, it also needs to interact with the Desktop, Modules and be made 32bit compliant. I think it’s also 26bit APCS, so another complication.

IIRC, it was made StrongARM compatible but yes, it needs 32 bitting.

Even if I do get it running, someone still needs to grant permission to release it, so don’t get your hopes up!

I’d advise you to save your efforts. We may still obtain permission to work on the source directly, in which case, perhaps you might be a good volunteer for getting it working. :D

More than happy to 32bit it, if we can get the source and permission to release. I have Jeffrey’s source for the draw fix, which needs merging in.

I’m currently talking to the guy with the source code…

If there’s a quiet moment in discussions…..any hope for Zarch?

First thing I did when I got my shiny new A3000 home was fire up the Lander demo and fly all around (sort of) while listening to a new tape, Erasure’s Wild! album! although with songs like The Piano Song and Crown of Thorns, maybe the title is ironic? ;-) [I still preferred The Innocents (previous album), mind you]

If there’s a quiet moment in discussions…..any hope for Zarch?

I’m still holding a torch for Fervour by Clares. I’d love to see that running. It doesn’t currently run under Aemulor or ArcEm. There were rumours about it running on SA RiscPCs but I was never successful.

Has anyone out there tried this?

I haven’t tried following those steps exactly, but from my own experience I know it runs fine under ArcEm, and I haven’t heard any reports that it doesn’t.

I can confirm. Elite works fine under ArcEm. Also Zarch/Lander, James Pond and many other. All not with Aemulor.
Starfighter 3000 works without a Emulator ;-)

I’m currently talking to the guy with the source code…

Steve, could you drop me an eMail: jon at jaspp dot org dot uk

Natively running ArcElite? Exciting indeed!!! That of course would not be complete without the Doggysoft patch – furry dice are a must :-D

James Pond (and more) work natively on the Pi with ADFFS.

Although James Pond works natively*, the blitter that supports hardware scrolling isn’t there yet. Steve is beavering away on it at the minute and from what I’m hearing it sounds pretty impressive.

*Natively…people get a bit contentious about this word, as it’s normally used to imply the original untouched code will run. However, with the JIT implementation in ADFFS, once the code has been seen by the JIT once, it’s never touched again unless it’s self-modified – the code is literally running natively. Even the VIDC1 screen memory is handled by RO5, the only thing ADFFS does is blit it to the GPU at the game’s FPS.

If anyone is interested in how all this works, I’ll be speaking about JASPP and ADFFS at ROUGOL in June.

Re natively, I just meant without ArcEm. I am surprised anyone would be so pedantic!

You can hear all about ArcElite from its publisher, Chris Jordan of Hybrid Technology, at this month’s ROUGOL meeting on Monday 21st April. Chris will also be talking about his time at Acorn, development of shadow RAM, the Music 500 system, and lots of other stuff.

http://www.rougol.jellybaby.net/index.html

All meetings are free, so come along and ask questions!
Bryan.