Operation Station Infiltration

Here is where to post about the latest Commander Keen fangame or modification you've finished, a new website you've made, or another Keen-related creation.
User avatar
Tormentor667
Vortininja
Posts: 225
Joined: Sat Mar 29, 2008 14:08
Location: Germany
Contact:

Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by Tormentor667 »

It would be very cool to have the dos version fully working as I tend to play Keen Mods on my SteamDeck/EmuDeck - and this one isn’t running windows at all
User avatar
Multimania
Vortininja
Posts: 84
Joined: Sat Nov 10, 2007 8:10
Location: Hiding in a small, cramped corner of the BwB megarocket.
Contact:

Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by Multimania »

Thanks, everyone, for the bug reports!

A few comments from my phone:
Nisaba wrote: Wed Dec 28, 2022 11:41

Code: Select all

Parsed 75 vars from "STRINGS.CK5" over 188 lines (0 actions created).
Parsed 416 vars from "ACTION.CK5" over 583 lines (416 actions created).
Parsed 474 vars from "EPISODE.EXT" over 642 lines (416 actions created).
./osi_linux.x86_64: relocation error: /home/user/games/OSI/x86_64/libSDL2-2.0.so.0: symbol pthread_mutexattr_init version GLIBC_2.2.5 not defined in file libc.so.6 with link time reference
Whoops: I think that this is probably an issue with the fact that I built this on a newer distro, and while I tried to account for older glibc versions, I think newer glibc versions merged libc and libpthread. Maybe try using

Code: Select all

LD_PRELOAD=libpthread.so.0 ./osi_linux.x86_64
Regardless, I'll try to post a fixed version when I'm back at my computer. The other option is to download the source code and run make from the src/ directory. If you have libsdl2-dev installed, that should produce a version that's fully compatible with your system.

Maybe deleting the x86_64 directory would help, too.


As for the Steam Deck, the Linux version runs fine on mine, just add osi_linux.x86_64 as a non-steam game. You may need to configure the controller to behave as a keyboard in steam, or you can select the Xbox 360 controller in the game's options screen. The keyboard works a bit better in some screens at the moment. I'll try to add things like Steam keyboard integration (for things like naming save games and high scores) in a future build.

Nevertheless, a 16-bit DOS version will be coming at some point in the new year. As Ceilick mentioned, I'm expecting complete savegame compatibility, so if should be possible to swap back and forth between all the different versions until you have the one that works best. Alas, the porting to Borland C++ and fitting everything into 640k is taking a bit longer than I'd hoped (and one of my DOS machines literally blew up, smoke everywhere), so you'll need to wait a little bit longer.
User avatar
DarkAle
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 318
Joined: Wed Jul 26, 2017 17:40
Location: Coral Hideout
Contact:

Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by DarkAle »

After a few days of playing on normal I made it and I have to admit that I enjoyed playing most of the mod. I'm going to split this post into one review of the single and one of the whole:

Review of the single
This review will be based on my most and least liked new levels and creatures:
> Did you have a favorite level?
1: Magnetic Field Manipulator I loved this level for its excellent design! You used very well the new creatures; the placement of Big Ampton and Robo Yellow, in my opinion, was very good.

2: Defense Grid Control I really liked this level. It was nice to see all the Robo Gang in a single level but it would have been interesting to see each Robo protecting the gem of its colour.

3: Robotics Lab My first encounter with the new creatures was wonderful. You placed Sparky MK II, Sparky III Aero and Sparky Jr well, really good job! I find Sparky MK II adds well to ground creatures if you don't want to put Sparky and Little Ampton all the time, as well as Sparky III Aero adds to floating creatures. As for Sparky Jr, we'll talk about it later
> A least favorite?
1: Observation Lounge Even though others loved it, I didn't like it at all. The low gravity was so boring, it almost felt like slow motion. I also despised the presence of so many Spirogrips

2: Defense Tunnel Vorth It was quite boring and felt like replaying Defense Tunnel Sorra, however I found Robo Yellow's placement good

3: Sec Ops 2 It had an interesting design but the Shikadi Master screwed it up. If he has to follow me through every part of the level I prefer him to be put on Hard
> Which new creature was your favorite? Least favorite?
My favorite new creature was definitely Robo Yellow, both in terms of design and behavior. I also enjoyed Robo Green, Big Ampton, Sparky III Aero and Sparky MK II. I quite liked Vlorg and Robo Blue and honestly hated Sparky Jr, as they were so annoying that they ruined nice designs like Crew Quarters'one

Review of the whole
Playing the first levels I got a little bored and I was disappointed because I had high expectations from this project, however as I continued playing I enjoyed it more and more and I started to appreciate it. The music was good however it was really quiet especially the last level track and I liked the graphical additions. Overall this is a good project and I thank you for working on it. My rating is 4/5 stars!
Commander Keen in... Robot Apocalypse!
Episode 13: The Ultra Omegamatic viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6802
Episode 14: Secret of the Sorcerer viewtopic.php?t=13031
Ceilick
The Dude
Posts: 1670
Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2008 20:10
Location: Seattle

Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by Ceilick »

Glad you enjoyed most of the mod, DarkAle, but I'm sorry to hear parts of it did not meet your expectations, especially regarding the secret level.

Based on yours and others feedback, version 1.01 will have significant changes made in Sec Ops 2 that will hopefully make the level more agreeable. Could you tell me which areas with the Shikadi Master were the most frustrating?

In version 1.01 I will also make an effort to increase the music volume and decrease the volume of some of the new sound effects.

The new version will come out in the next few days. Save games will be compatible with the new version as long as they are not within one of the modified levels, which will be: Photochromatic Emitter, Plasma Conduction Center, Electro Kennels, and Sec Ops 2.
User avatar
Syllypryde
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 1025
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2009 18:33
Location: Michigan
Contact:

Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by Syllypryde »

Ceilick wrote: Mon Dec 26, 2022 3:28 .........After you've had a chance to play, do please let me know:
  • Did you have a favorite level? A least favorite?
  • Which new creature was your favorite? Least favorite?
  • Did you find the secret Korath jail cell block in a certain level?
  • Did you find the secret level? How was it?
  • What did you think of the final level?
  • What was your favorite part of the mod? Least favorite?
My favorite level was Level 3 Bio Containment. It is the level that I have replayed the most. I really like the level design, enemy placement, among other things. My least favorite level was Level 8 Magnetic Field Manipulator. This is because I find Robo Yellow to be very difficult to get past him, most especially when I am the type of player that has to grab everything. With three of them in this level on normal I found it almost violently frustrating to say the least. So I am guessing it is going to be Fleexy and Keenrush difficult on hard.

Sparky Jr was my favorite new character. Like the Vortikids they can be quite annoying and troublesome at times, which is the entire point, but I really like them nonetheless. My least favorite new character is Robo Yellow. Since I already explained why in the previous paragraph I will move on.

I did find the Korath jail cell block in SPOILER... Level 3 Bio Containment. It is very well hidden. It actually took me a few replays to finally find it. Well done.

I did find the secret level Observation Lounge Level 17. Like most people I really enjoyed the new dynamic. Spoiler... The new low gravity was really cool, made an interesting change in gameplay, creating a new style of puzzle, and I really enjoyed how breaking the fuse in this level ties in directly to the Korath jail cell blocks in the ending sequence. I also liked how a sign in the SGA in Level 13 Crew Quarters was used to find the path to the secret level just like it was done in Gravitational Damping Hub in Keen 5.

I did enjoy the final level Defense Grid Control Level 16. It was interestingly put together. Like DarkAle had said I did like how each of the four Robos were in the final level each guarding significant areas. The final fuse was difficult to destroy with the Shikadi Master stalking me the entire time. Plus to make things even more difficult for myself, because like I mentioned earlier in the post about how I have to grab everything, I absolutely had to grab the four bag o' sugars that were in the bottom cell that housed several Shikadi Mines. I found it quite difficult to obtain these points without being killed by half a dozen Mines.

On another note concerning the final level, the infamous Die But Win bug is still present in this mod. I am really glad you never fixed this bug because after exactly fifty tries (just for shyts and giggles) I never could destroy the final fuse without being killed by three or more Mines. In fact on two different occasions the Shikadi Master killed me as the Mines were destroying the fuse. The game actually crashed when I beat the final level on easy. Due to that, I immediately went to normal mode.

My favorite part of the mod was the aforementioned Korath jail cell blocks and their not so obvious significance not only to this mod but possibly to the final episode of your trilogy. My least favorite part of the mod was again Robo Yellow. Despite that I'm not a fan of him, I do like having the four different Robos in the game, plus I find the more I play the better I am getting at dodging him.

As for miscellaneous other aspects you did not specifically mention I will get into that right now. I thought the level design was top notch. There were a lot of interesting puzzle elements and dynamics through the mod. The coloring and background was a nice touch. Enemy placement was good for the most part. The new characters were all good, even the dreaded Robo Yellow. They were all well drawn and their behaviors were mostly unique. I liked the music though another poster had mentioned it did seem to get repetitive at times. But since most mods don't have a different song for everything, this can be easily forgiven. The story and ending sequences were classic Keenish, plus humorous.

When there are bugs or other problems this community is never shy to point them out. I found a few clipping errors here and there in levels. When I was in small confined spaces and I just happened to jump at the exact time Sparky Jrs jump above or below me, Keen would clip through walls. Several times when I shot a Vlorg when he was half inside a wall and half out, he would clip quickly left or right completely off the screen. In level 15 Sec Ops 2 several hidden areas have no points in them. If I happen to find other things in future plays I will let you know.

Like you did in Return to the Shadowlands you made it so that when Keen dies he loses all points he collected. I noticed you did this for rayguns as well. I have been playing the Windows 64 bit version. On my normal run my final score was 1,505,200. Not sure if this is the perfect score or not, but I am confident that I am pretty damn close.
Ceilick wrote: Wed Dec 28, 2022 19:06 ......Based on yours and others feedback, version 1.01 will have significant changes made in Sec Ops 2 that will hopefully make the level more agreeable. Could you tell me which areas with the Shikadi Master were the most frustrating?
The Shikadi Master stalking me most the time was a pain at first, but over time became manageable. The part of the level where you are riding goplats to obtain the green gem is the part that I believe would elicit the most significant frustration with most players. Once the Master appears and you are on the goplats, it makes it very difficult to avoid his blasts without either falling off a goplat to your death, or in the process of dodging missing your jump to another goplat and falling to your death. I don't think you should get rid of this completely, but I think it could use a tweek or two.

In closing, you did a really good job with this mod. I will definitely be looking forward to the final episode of your trilogy.
.niarb ym fo
snoitulovnoc eht tuaba
selbbarcs ssensuoicsnoc
rehgih a ekil smees
Lower IQ than 314
Vortininja
Posts: 85
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2020 3:13

Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by Lower IQ than 314 »

Ceilick wrote: Tue Dec 27, 2022 23:00 This issue came up on the Discord and appears to be indicative of existing malware already on your system. It was resolved by running the Malwarebytes malware removal tool called Chameleon, which can be found here: https://www.malwarebytes.com/chameleon
That's unfortunate if true, because Chameleon is not available anymore.

On the other hand...
Multimania wrote: Wed Dec 28, 2022 3:16 I've put a link to the original, uncompressed files here: https://davidgow.net/stuff/osi_uncompressed.zip. It's quite a bit bigger, but might help.
...this worked like a charm, and my system didn't yell at me about it. Thanks for troubleshooting, everyone, and I can't wait to try this mod out! :)
User avatar
Nisaba
Janitress
Posts: 1597
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2016 23:34
Location: The Outpost
Contact:

Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by Nisaba »

Multimania wrote: Wed Dec 28, 2022 14:45 Whoops: I think that this is probably an issue with the fact that I built this on a newer distro, and while I tried to account for older glibc versions, I think newer glibc versions merged libc and libpthread. Maybe try using

Code: Select all

LD_PRELOAD=libpthread.so.0 ./osi_linux.x86_64
Thanks for the tech support. And indeed, to preload that library does the trick on my setup.

Again, it's awesome to have native Linux support!
out now (link) : Image
Ceilick
The Dude
Posts: 1670
Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2008 20:10
Location: Seattle

Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by Ceilick »

Version 1.01 is now live! You can transfer your save files directly to the new game folder, or you can update the specific files with this update file. Here is the changelog:

Code: Select all

V1.01
+Typo in the story
+typo in the scrolling story

+Robo Yellow shot volume decreased
+Robo Blue shot volume decreased
+Vlorg volume decreased
+Sparky jr volume decreased

+all music volume increased

Electro Kennels
+Added a switch sign
+fixed a broken secret area
+lengthened a pole

Photochromatic Emitter
+fixed the sloped ceiling above the arch

Plasma Control Center
+set the starting volte-face to hard mode
+fixed tile properties on the machine

Sec Ops 2
+significant level alterations
+changed and added some shikadi master spawns based on difficulty
+changed the order in which you must collect keys to get the keycard
+altered the path of the lower area
Please note that with these changes I have not altered the amount of points obtainable, even though how a couple of them are obtained has changed.

-------------------------------------------------------

Thank you, Syllypryde, for a thorough review and your thoughts! I really appreciate them! I believe you are the first to discover the Korath prison cell block without any hints! I'm sorry to hear you had such trouble with Robo Yellow :mortlol I will have to investigate the crash that easy mode causes when finishing the game.
User avatar
Syllypryde
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 1025
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2009 18:33
Location: Michigan
Contact:

Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by Syllypryde »

Ceilick wrote: Wed Dec 28, 2022 23:32 Version 1.01 is now live!......

......Thank you, Syllypryde, for a thorough review and your thoughts! I really appreciate them! I believe you are the first to discover the Korath prison cell block without any hints! I'm sorry to hear you had such trouble with Robo Yellow :mortlol I will have to investigate the crash that easy mode causes when finishing the game.
I haven't switched to 1.01 yet, but I will do so soon. I just completed a 2nd normal run. My new high score is 1,544,800. By the way, level 12 Plasma Conduction Center is called Plasma Control Center in my version of the mod. Since you didn't report this in the change log I assume it's still the same?
.niarb ym fo
snoitulovnoc eht tuaba
selbbarcs ssensuoicsnoc
rehgih a ekil smees
Ceilick
The Dude
Posts: 1670
Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2008 20:10
Location: Seattle

Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by Ceilick »

Syllypryde wrote:By the way, level 12 Plasma Conduction Center is called Plasma Control Center in my version of the mod. Since you didn't report this in the change log I assume it's still the same?
Oops, yes that's just me forgetting the name of my own level :dead
User avatar
Syllypryde
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 1025
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2009 18:33
Location: Michigan
Contact:

Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by Syllypryde »

New high score= 1,546,800
Last edited by Syllypryde on Sat Dec 31, 2022 19:18, edited 1 time in total.
.niarb ym fo
snoitulovnoc eht tuaba
selbbarcs ssensuoicsnoc
rehgih a ekil smees
User avatar
_mr_m_
Vortimaestro
Posts: 431
Joined: Mon May 11, 2009 23:14
Location: Quetzalacatenango

Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by _mr_m_ »

This is neat.

I just started my playthrough and am duly impressed so far
"I just drew this stupid little fish." -- Tom Hall
Scilicet
Vortininja
Posts: 120
Joined: Tue Dec 28, 2010 19:33

Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by Scilicet »

I watched Shikadi Netzwerk's first video of this, and I am impressed thus far by what I see.
I downloaded this and extracted the files, but I am unsure how to start the game, as I get error messages or warnings when I click on stuff, and I don't see a batch file. I am running Windows 10 and have DOSBox. Can someone help me?

EDIT, in case someone else has the same problem: I used OSI_win32 and clicked through the warnings. I live life on the edge.
Ceilick
The Dude
Posts: 1670
Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2008 20:10
Location: Seattle

Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by Ceilick »

Multimania has made an update primarily related to the sound system, but also with regard to antivirus warnings and Linux compatibility.

If the game is already running fine, there is no need to update at this time. Only update if you are experiencing buggy sound, your antivirus flags the game, or if the previous Linux version was not working. Please note, this does not include the 32 bit DOS version, which was not updated.

Get version 1.02 here: Download Version 1.02

Version 1.02 source code here: Download Version 1.02 Source Code

Changelog:

Code: Select all

Windows exe files are no longer compressed, to avoid some Antivirus false-positives.

New build system for Linux versions which works better on distros with older glibc versions.

(SDL2 is not included in the Linux version any more, as most systems should already have it.)

Changed the default sound sample rate to 44,100Hz (same as CD audio). This should be more compatible 
than 49,716Hz, which was the old OPL2 rate. This can be reverted by adding 'sampleRate = 49716" to 
OMNISPK.CFG. If you're still having issues, 48000 is another good rate to try.

New setting in OMNISPK.CFG "sd_sdl_audioDriver" to override the default sound driver. On windows, this 
now defaults to "directsound", not "wasapi" (Vista+ new API). If neither of those work, "winmm" might, 
though in my testing seemed a little worse.

Added support for stereo output (the game is still mono, but outputs two identical left/right channels), 
which might be more compatible with some drivers. This is enabled by default, add "audioChannels = 1" 
to OMNISPK.CFG to revert.
If you are using version 1.02 and the sound is worse, you can edit OMNISPK.CFG with notepad to try to fix this by adding the following lines to the end:

Code: Select all

sd_sdl_audioDriver = "wasapi" # Only include this line if running Windows Vista or newer.
sampleRate = 49716 # Or 48000, which may be more compatible.
audioChannels = 1
Multimania plans to continue working on the game's audio, but hopefully this update can resolve some issues in the meantime.

----------------------------------------------------------
Scilicet wrote: Sat Dec 31, 2022 16:15 I downloaded this and extracted the files, but I am unsure how to start the game, as I get error messages or warnings when I click on stuff, and I don't see a batch file. I am running Windows 10 and have DOSBox. Can someone help me?

EDIT, in case someone else has the same problem: I used OSI_win32 and clicked through the warnings. I live life on the edge.
On a windows machine, there is a 32 bit executable "osi_win32.exe" and a 64 bit executable "osi_win64.exe" that can be run without Dosbox. If you don't know if you have 32 or 64 bit, 32 should work fine. There is a slightly buggy but playable DOS version that can be run in Dosbox, this is "osidos32.exe". If the DOS version runs laggy, try raising the Dosbox cycles with ctrl+F12 (above 15,000 is what works for me).
User avatar
Syllypryde
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 1025
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2009 18:33
Location: Michigan
Contact:

Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by Syllypryde »

As I have said in previous posts I have been playing the Windows 64 bit version. So far I have had no issues whatsoever with running and playing the game. No anti-virus or VPN interferences with the game. As for the anti-virus interferences it is not absolutely necessary to be online in order to play. So as a last resort one can always turn off their Wifi and the anti-virus and then fire them back up again when you are done playing. I realize that is kind of a pain so that is why I mentioned it as a last resort, but if the issue can be resolved with the new update then that is cool. As I have said in my review, I really enjoy this mod and I believe others should have the opportunity to do so as well.
.niarb ym fo
snoitulovnoc eht tuaba
selbbarcs ssensuoicsnoc
rehgih a ekil smees
Post Reply