Commander Genius (CKP) V0.2.9.9 Now out!

gerstrong · Post by **gerstrong** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 19:11

Hi guys,

I'm sorry if it takes more time to release the next version. I'm hunting bugs together with Tulip and Pickle to get 0.3 as the best version ever!

The new (small) features are:
- 1280x1024 resolution has been added!
- Keys and joystick buttons for 2 players can be mapped
- OpenGL graphics which were scaled to the whole window/screen can be scaled with the aspect ratio correction. It's a new option under "options->video".
- 70 Autofps
- Reactivated Demo-mode for recording and playing
- Added some hotkeys, Alt+Enter(for Fullscreen/Windows), Alt+F4 and Alt+Q (to quit the game)
- Some bugs have been fixed, like in any update

Other news are, that I have added a new subpage under the website of Commander Genius. The section is called Videos and it shows two preview videos of youtube about the interpreter. If you are not sure, if you want to test it, just see those videos and give me your opinion.

Link:

http://clonekeenplus.sourceforge.net/

Post by **Levellass** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 1:12

I can't seem to get the old version running. I got the 'cgenius-v0280a-win32' version, but when I run it, it opens a window for a sec, then closes. I can't figure out *what* I'm doing wrong. Possibly it's my Vista?

Commander Spleen · Post by **Commander Spleen** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 2:32

Maybe you could run the game from a command window, in case it outputs some useful information. Though I'm sure gerstrong would have some manner of logging system implemented.

gerstrong · Post by **gerstrong** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 3:44

Hi @Commander Spleen and @Levellass,

Command line is only good for one thing. That is passing other parameters. You won't see much if you run it that way.

As described in the Readme, there are two things you should take care of.

First, make sure your game data is copied to the right place. they should be in the "data" folder. Check "games.cfg" also in subdir "data" to see if the interpreter is able to detect the games. If there are no games, CKP cannot start since everthing (graphis, fonts) depend on the first episode.

Second, if that doesn't work, check the "CGLog.html". As Commander Spleen told, there must be a Log-File. That one is it! If you cannot solve your problem, send me the Log-File and I will help you.

CKP 0.2.8.0a is known to work, while 0.2.8.0 was very buggy, so I removed it from the downloads. However I would recommend updating to the most recent version. I'm trying to move to a faster and more stable version and the 0.2.9 series are much better.

Try out 0.2.9.1 and you will see the differences.

And yes, you need the games, or at least episode 1, so It can start. This really fucl me up, but after the 0.3 release I'm going to release a version in which the games menu will be independent of the games, so you can at least start it and It will tell you that you don't have any games installed.

It will be a system capable in autodetect your episodes.

Roobar · Post by **Roobar** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 17:09

Personally, I like every new version you're making.

The new resolution is great. But it seems that you don't have a widescreen monitor

gerstrong · Post by **gerstrong** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 17:18

@Iv4n: Yes I have and two of them, but I try to be carfeful, because not every monitor supports them, so one step for the implementation of more res would be to check, if res works and roll-back, if it doesn't work. That still must be implemented. I would like to let them detect automatically, but it's SDL function for that doesn't seem to work properly.

What Resolutions do you wish to see?

Post by **tulip** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 20:51

1280x800 is my natural resolution.

Roobar · Post by **Roobar** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 5:30

16:10 aspect resolutions up to 1680x1050, though soon I'll be with a 16:9 one.

Actually, it's not that necessary to add the most highest resolutions as the game looks good anyway.

Deltamatic · Post by **Deltamatic** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 14:42

tulip wrote:1280x800 is my natural resolution.

Mine is 1600x1200. But my graphics card messed up so I have to boot up in safe mode, uninstall its drivers and reboot every time I want to boot my computer, and when it comes up it's locked in a tiny resolution. Woohoo.

Genius314 · Post by **Genius314** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 15:32

Lol, we should have a topic about resolutions. Mines 1280x1024, but I'm gonna (hopefully) be getting a 24" monitor, so it'll be 1920x1200.

I agree with Iv4n, there's probably not much to gain from having such high resolutions, even with the HQ pack...

gerstrong · Post by **gerstrong** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 17:57

More important than that is to support them, because I want that game to be seen any monitor.

Problem is that I don't trust much in SDL for detecting resolutions, because using certain function on my system, SDL only detects one, even if it can use all that my card support. That irritates me.

The new version is out! As I promised I have added two new resolutions. One of those is a 16:10, and it looks really pretty. Try it out!

If you get trouble with your controls, delete the old "controls.dat" file. Problem with that file is, that the new one can save multiple Gamepads and mapping for the 2nd Player is supported. Just delete it, if you get problems, and CKP will generate a new one. I don't have 2 gamepads, but I've tested it with Keyboard+Joystick and it works very fine so far. So tell me, what you think!

I hope you like it. Another new feature is the new Intro-Screen. Now it shows the original one by Apogee. The old still exists and can be called, when you enter main menu->About CG. It's a bit changed, but brings the same info.

The bad news is the size of the interpreter, especially for Windows. It got very big and that angers me a bit.

Until the 0.3 Release I'll be looking for mechanism for detecting every resolution, and tie up the source code again, So it would get much smaller.

Of course I'm getting to the last phase of removing bugs. 0.3 will be the best version ever! So there is work to do!

Syllypryde · Post by **Syllypryde** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 18:51

I apologize for being naive but what exactly is this program?

gerstrong · Post by **gerstrong** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 19:22

@Syllypryde:

If you don't download it and read the readme.txt file you cannot know.

Commander Genius (aka CloneKeenPlus) as an interpreter for the Commander Keen Vorticon Series. You can use this program to run the old games on modern systems (Windows 2000/XP/Vista, Linux, etc.). You can play the games and mods with it!

Maybe you say I could use DosBox for that, but DosBOX is a x86 emulator with DOS. Commander Genius interprets the game data and provides you features the original wasn't able to and won't be able to do so even under DosBox.

For example, you can use 2-Player-mode to play a game in the levels, you can use and assign your gamepad buttons at your wish, use better graphics with scalers or opengl (2.0), and even hear Music using HQP while you play through your old levels.

Try it out!

Syllypryde · Post by **Syllypryde** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 20:46

gerstrong wrote:.........Commander Genius (aka CloneKeenPlus) as an interpreter for the Commander Keen Vorticon Series.........

I take it no one has created an "interpreter" for Keens 4-6 yet?

.........Try it out!

I am willing to give a shot. Where do I download it?

Edit: Ignore that last question. I re-read through the thread.

Roobar · Post by **Roobar** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 6:11

1. When I changed to 1680x1050 and 4x scale filter, but leaving the option to software rendering, the game crashed.

2. In window software rendering mode, when you start Keen1, the blinking stars blinked over the apogee logo.

3. Can you make one thing in the next version? When you're in the main menu (on 1-Player Game) and pressing the up key, to move you directly to the Quit. It's a small thing, but important. Also you can do that in the selection of the episodes etc. You may consider enlarging this window, especially when you have many episodes.

4. Also, when you hold a directional key in a menu (up or down), not to change only one position, but to start moving down or up through the options until you release the button.

5. Another bug: when in window mode, try to change the resolution to 320x240. Then change it to whatever resolution in window mode and the game still will be 320x240. Also, I believe aspect ratio isn't working in window mode. After that, I tried in fullsceen mode, but aspect ratio still wasn't working. I try to change the scale to 2x and that enlarged the screen a little. Although I didn't see any difference between scale 2x and scale 3x. That's all in software mode.

6. In the bottom end of the story section in Keen 1, there are some graphical bugs. In the software and in opengl, the bugs looks different.

7. Now I can actually play the game with my 360 controller, but only in levels. It's waay too sensitive. Sometimes Keen moves to the left without a reason. In the world map it acts strange: Keen is moving to the left direction. I cannot exit to the main menu from the world map with just the controller. In the menu it's too sensitive and is useless. I can only calibrate the joystick, but not the d-pad.

8. In the options>game> there is an option that can be enabled or disabled, but you don't know what that option is.

9. There's another bug. When I deleted genius.cfg file and controls one, the game starts fine. I exit the game and I'm unable to run it again. It just crashed. stderr file was created, but it's empty.

In the log file:
JoyDrv_Start() : 1 joystick was found.
The names of the joysticks are:
Controller (Xbox 360 Wireless Receiver for Windows)

I figured out the bug. I deleted genius.cfg and unplugged my controller and I can exit and start the game as many times I want to.

10. I've extracted Keen 2 (both 2 versions) to test it too, but for some reason I'm unable to run it.

sound_load_all(): loading all sounds...
# data/hqp/snd/KEENWALKSND.WAV

I didn't install the HQ pack.

11. How can I record a demo?