OFF TOPIC THREAD: Where derailing the thread is impossible!

[Quillax]

Nice to see the Keen border. You would forget that it is a feature of the game - a moddable one at that - in this era where the game is mostly played on laptops.

Just found this post, and I have to agree! I remember seeing that border when I played Commander Keen as a kid! One time I changed the border color in a mod that I was working on, which had a slightly different palette. I wasn't able to see it, since I ran the mod using DosBox on Windows 7, and DosBox wouldn't display that border nor can Windows 7 run the game itself. I thought people that play Keen on the original hardware would appreciate that!

I wonder if anyone today knows that the border flashes dark red when you kill a Vorticon, or even that the border color cheat in Keens 4-6 actually had some effect?

[55Aavenue]

I wonder if anyone today knows that the border flashes dark red when you kill a Vorticon, or even that the border color cheat in Keens 4-6 actually had some effect?

After all these years, I'd almost forgotten! The border flashing red made killing a Vorticon pretty epic! That was only in Keen 1 if I recall correctly. When I learned about the cheats in Keen 4-6, I remember thinking it was so cool that you could change the border colour. This is making me want to dig the ol' IBM 486 out of my closet and hook it back up just to play Keen on original hardware again.

[nanomekia]

I wonder if anyone today knows that the border flashes dark red when you kill a Vorticon, or even that the border color cheat in Keens 4-6 actually had some effect?

Oh dang, I'd COMPLETELY forgot about that! Always loved that quirk...

[Quillax]

After all these years, I'd almost forgotten! The border flashing red made killing a Vorticon pretty epic! That was only in Keen 1 if I recall correctly.

I think the border flashing was also in Keens 2 and 3. It's been a very long time (too long, perhaps ) since I've seen the border, though, so who knows?

[Benvolio]

https://www.facebook.com/ConfusedAatmaT ... /?sfnsn=mo

Ridiculous mod idea here... like the Mangling Machine but on steroids/LSD. Hopefully you guys can see the vid, apologies for it being a facebook video.

[Roobar]

The BOUNCIEST Pogo Stick you'll ever see!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POTQAeu ... kyaYZU9MFs

This brings me to another stupid idea for mod episode story:
Mortimer McMire working diligently in his secret lab has created the bounciest pogo stick that was ever created on Earth! One night he changed it with Billy's one. On that morning, Billy went out to play in the backyard with his pogo stick. Just when he begun to pogo jump, a single bounce with incredible charge blasted him off out of this planet! It was so powerful, he went in space and landed on a strange alien planet. Billy need to find a way to charge it up in order to be able to pogo jump back to Earth.

[Quillax]

Haha, great ideas, Benvolio and Roobar! I'd especially like to see that bouncy pogo idea get used in a mod someday; perhaps the pogo in-game can be modified to jump higher (but not like all the way up to the sky). Maybe you need to use up a replacement for ammunition to bounce higher with the pogo. The goal would be to find something that gives the pogo LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of energy!

If someone ever does a mod like that Mario video Benvolio posted, though, then oh boy... I can just imagine Mangling Machine arms, Meeps, and laser shots from everywhere, all with that pink house background. It'd be interesting to see a video of someone completing that kind of mod.

[keenmaster486]

On real hardware, the border color only shows up if you are using a monitor that can be adjusted to show it.

Once in a while you will find a laptop that shows the border color when you run Keen natively. I have only seen one such machine.

[K1n9_Duk3]

Yes, the overscan border is something that has become an increasingly rare sight. I think most modern monitors automatically adjust the display size in a way that makes it impossible to see the border without manually adjusting the display. And even then, I think it's only visible if you're using VGA output. DVI, HDMI or other "digital" outputs probably don't even have an overscan border anymore.

Laptops can be hit or miss. At least two of my laptops show the overscan border on the built-in display, at least one does not. But when I connect an external monitor via VGA, the overscan border is always visible on the external monitor. The last monitor I bought still had VGA input, but from what I've seen, VGA is becoming increasingly rare on modern monitors. Enjoy those borders while you still can...

[keenmaster486]

I could see this being an extended feature of DOSBox sometime in the future.

[MoffD]

If I remember correctly, HDMI actually has a form of overscan, but how it relates to the digital signal being sent I'm not sure, I think it's a monitor compatibility thing.

I wonder if the border would show up on a computer using HDMI. I think it's usually cropping the base image instead of overextending beyond what the screen can typically show though.

[Roobar]

[keenmaster486]

I guess it's time for a fan-made NES port.

[Roobar]

It's not impossible. Have you seen the Crystal Caves NES version?

https://youtu.be/OOqVnCn_Et8

In other meme news, Epic has put some Commander Keen references in Fortnite Chapter 2. Behold! The holy pogo stick!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtdd8EPbItw

Also, they added the Mythic Dopefish (sort of):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq65KwS4ib0&t=0s



https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qXqNHRFwpxo/maxresdefault.jpg

I'd say it's a missed opportunity to call it a Mythic Dopefish.

Linus tech tips plays Commander Keen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foob

[Roobar]

This is not something new (in fact, it may have been 8 or more months), but I thought some of you (like Malvenious) may be interested to know that Ghidra, a software reverse engineering (SRE) suite of tools, has become free. With that tool, you'll be able to mod old games easily. You can download it from https://ghidra-sre.org/. I'm not an expert on this, but I know of this because someone used it to do some things with Dangerous Dave by reverse engineering. And that hopefully will come in handy for other games as well.