Atroxian Realm (Version 1.2 Released)

[K1n9_Duk3]

Well, what if this code is added into the game, but made optional.

This might work in theory, but you need to realize that Lemm's code is not a simple replacement of the original drawing code. You need to modify a lot more than just one function. Adding all the checks that would allow you to have both versions in one executable and swap between them by changing one variable requires a not insignificant amount of new code, which also takes up precious memory.

Also, Lemm's code requires that the "shifts" settings for all the sprites are set to 1 in the EGAGRAPH file. This is what actually lowers the memory requirements (instead of 2 or 4 copies of the same sprite, the game only has to keep one copy in memory). So in theory, you would need a new EGAGRAPH file. The game could be told to ignore the "shifts" value (or pretend the value is set to 1 when in "shiftless" mode), but again, that means more code.

I'm not saying it would be impossible to add all this code. I just don't want to do it, at least not right now.

[K1n9_Duk3]

@K1n9_Duk3, I'd like to bring to your attention that AR 1.2 now fails to load without a "low on memory" error on real DOS. I've tried with JEMMEX too, which gives me the largest free amounts of conventional, upper, XMS, EMS, etc.

Well, I think I found a solution for that. As it turns out, I could just use one of my tools to reduce the amount of memory that was taken up by the sprite graphics. The tool removes any unnecessary fully transparent parts of the sprite images and adjusts the offsets to compensate for that. This brought the memory requirements down to just under 491k to play all the levels with music enabled. Here's a screenshot showing level 8 (Security Layer) working just fine with (a bit over) 490k of memory available to the game and less than 1k of memory to spare:

(In version 1.2, that level required about 518k with music and 481k without music.)

As long as you have at least 455k of memory available to the game, you should never encounter an "out of memory" crash in the new version. Music will be disabled for a few levels, but you should at least be able to play through all the levels without encountering any crashes. Even with the XMS-related bug, 455k should be possible under real DOS. I have 474k available to the game on my primary DOS 6.22 system.

I also added some hacks for better memory management (i.e. avoiding memory fragmentation). This should have no negative impact while playing in DOSBox at the default settings, but it will come in handy on real DOS systems.

Atroxian Realm Version 1.3 (Source Code)

[keenmaster486]

@K1n9_Duk3, I'd like to bring to your attention that AR 1.2 now fails to load without a "low on memory" error on real DOS. I've tried with JEMMEX too, which gives me the largest free amounts of conventional, upper, XMS, EMS, etc.

Well, I think I found a solution for that.

---

Wow, holy crap, man! Good stuff!

I had read your previous post and thought to myself "well, if I have some free time I'll try to add that code and recompile the project." But here we are with another version!

I'll give it a shot as soon as I get the chance.

[XrackProject]

Hey guys,

I created recently something like a teaser for Atroxian Realm. It could be seen as a trailer but I prefer to call it teaser. Let me know what you think!

[DarkAle]

Hey guys,

I created recently something like a teaser for Atroxian Realm. It could be seen as a trailer but I prefer to call it teaser. Let me know what you think!

For me it's very cool

[K1n9_Duk3]

Another minor update:

Atroxian Realm v1.4 (still unofficial, Gridlock had nothing to do with this)
Atroxian Realm v1.4 Sourcecode

This is mainly an update to the memory manager to improve memory management and avoid "out of memory" errors as much as possible. After adding the new code in the memory manager, I removed the ugly hacks that I had added in the unofficial version 1.3 to avoid "out of memory" errors.

Before you download this:
Your saved games from earlier versions will not work in the new version! You don't need to upgrade to v1.4 if you're currently using v1.3. Unless you're trying to play on a real DOS PC and run out of memory, version 1.4 doesn't really have any benefits over v1.3.

[Gridlock]

Another minor update:
Atroxian Realm v1.4 (still unofficial, Gridlock had nothing to do with this)

Oh, nice! I've long since run out of steam to want to continue doing updates on Atroxian Realm (I'm putting my limited free time and energy into Voyage to Veota), but I really appreciate how much you've gone out of your way to continue with these improvements. I see no issue calling this an official release, if it means anything. It's kind of sad in a way; now that the engine has progressed this much from the days of me constantly fighting memory errors, I'm moving on to a project that uses something else entirely.

I created recently something like a teaser for Atroxian Realm. It could be seen as a trailer but I prefer to call it teaser. Let me know what you think!

Neat! That music is giving me some strong Blade Runner credits vibes.

It kind of blows me away how much support people have still given this project, over four years later. It means a lot!

[Syllypryde]

......It kind of blows me away how much support people have still given this project, over four years later. It means a lot!

It is kind of blows me away that after all these years and over a dozen mods and level packs later, Atroxian Realm is still my all-time favorite Keen mod. I even like it better than all of the official games. When Ceilick released his TUIT I thought no one was ever going to surpass him in Galaxy modding.

Though everyone else almost completely ignored your partial Keen 4 level pack, I saw potential in the levels even though a few of them were quite sloppy. I was chatting with Ceilick soon afterwards and I proclaimed to him you would be the one to finally topple him off his throne. When the Keen 8 level pack came out, 3 of your 4 levels (Stalagburn Caverns, Spikard Tank and The Volcano) were the best in the pack and most agreed. Then when you had me playtest AR I could see my proclamation coming to fruition.

Since it's release I have been playing The Armageddon App hours upon hours every day. I am use in a week or two I will find my way back to AR.

[Nisaba]

It's kind of sad in a way; now that the engine has progressed this much from the days of me constantly fighting memory errors, I'm moving on to a project that uses something else entirely.

well, I'm currently building up upon the engines powerful structure just where AR left off. you presented to us new features like a checkpoint system, really big levels, an expanded soundtrack and lot's and lot's of high quality improvements. your mod and this engine in particular raised the bar significantly and it became really hard to comped with all this. at the same time you somehow managed to egg me to accept this challenge. and here I am, taking a totally different route but always asking myself how my Galaxy modding gods Ceilick (Battle of the Brains) and you Gridlock (AR) solved this problem or invented that brilliant new feature.
to be fair K1n9_Duk3 is the main developer of Foray in the Forests code base. He does all the magic tricks I can only marvel at. he's really pushing the limits of this engine.


side note:
unfortunately your profile avatar has vanished. IIRC tinypic.com recently shutdown their services. if you are looking for a free alternative I'd recommend postimages.org. at least it seems to be a stable image hosting platform ATM.

[DarkAle]

......It kind of blows me away how much support people have still given this project, over four years later. It means a lot!

It is kind of blows me away that after all these years and over a dozen mods and level packs later, Atroxian Realm is still my all-time favorite Keen mod. I even like it better than all of the official games. When Ceilick released his TUIT I thought no one was ever going to surpass him in Galaxy modding.

Though everyone else almost completely ignored your partial Keen 4 level pack, I saw potential in the levels even though a few of them were quite sloppy. I was chatting with Ceilick soon afterwards and I proclaimed to him you would be the one to finally topple him off his throne. When the Keen 8 level pack came out, 3 of your 4 levels (Stalagburn Caverns, Spikard Tank and The Volcano) were the best in the pack and most agreed. Then when you had me playtest AR I could see my proclamation coming to fruition.

Since it's release I have been playing The Armageddon App hours upon hours every day. I am use in a week or two I will find my way back to AR.

Oh, yes. For now Gridlock's Atroxian Realm is the best mod of PCKF

[Lower IQ than 314]

For me, Atroxus himself is probably the best villain to come out of the entire Commander Keen modding community. Awesome design, menacing leitmotif, memorable dialogue, and a challenging boss battle on top of all that. I'm not even sure how Gridlock can top him for Voyage to Veota, although what little we saw at the end of The Alphamatic looks promising...

[T-Squared]

I'm hoping that Gridlock builds a new version/sends out an edited resource file for the game's story, because I made/remade 5 images last year, two new (one of which is technically a BIG glow-up) for the finale, one modified (because he's missing his ComputerWrist) for the finale, one modified (because it was missing elements) for the help story, and one new for one of the stories.

I tried contacting him, but I haven't got an answer back.

[DarkAle]

I'm hoping that Gridlock builds a new version/sends out an edited resource file for the game's story, because I made/remade 5 images last year, two new (one of which is technically a BIG glow-up) for the finale, one modified (because he's missing his ComputerWrist) for the finale, one modified (because it was missing elements) for the help story, and one new for one of the stories.

I tried contacting him, but I haven't got an answer back.

Probably he's working on Voyage to Veota clips

[Gridlock]

I may have forgotten to respond when you sent those images. If that's the case, sorry about that.

The thing with Atroxian Realm is that I just want to be done with it. It's been almost four and half years since release. I hope people can understand my desire to move on.

I think at one point I did boot up a newer release of the game to test how feasible it would be to add extra story images. And when I loaded the Help screen without even adding anything, it crashed from a memory error. And to be honest, it's stuff like that which makes me not want to go back.

Which feels a little unfair, because a lot of those story images are really excellent. In particular, I loved that one you did of the Krile procession. I don't recall if it ever made it into a release. If nothing else, I think you should post it publicly somewhere. I just personally don't want to resume production all this time later to add more features. I hope that makes sense.

And yeah, I'm still finding a few hours a week to work on Voyage to Veota's core engine and tools. It's hardly blazing progress, but it's something.

[314C0d3r]

This mod is awesome. I played it several times and never got tired, even if it was a bit hard for me