Operation Station Infiltration

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Ceilick
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Operation Station Infiltration

Post by Ceilick »

Commander Keen in "Operation Station Infiltration"

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Join Commander Keen on an impossible mission to infiltrate and disable a Shikadi space station, the Omegamatrix!

This is a source mod done in the style of a Keen 5 levelpack, but includes many additions to the Keen 5 setting. This is episode 2 of my ‘nostalgic trilogy’ in which Keen must revisit the setting of each Keen Galaxy game while on a new adventure. If you haven’t played episode 1, "Return to the Shadowlands", you can get it here.

Download: Operation Station Infiltration v1.03

Versions included in the download: Linux 32-bit, Linux 64-bit, Windows 32-bit, Windows 64-bit, and 32-bit DOS.

Quick Tips:
  • Normal mode is the intended difficulty. Hard is hard and easy is easy.
  • Be sure to check the options section of the game in order to configure Omnispeak to your preferred settings.
  • The DOS version included still has some issues, but is playable in Dosbox. If you try it and it is running laggy, increase your Dosbox cycles with ctrl+F12 until the gameplay is smooth (this was above 15,000 cycles for me).
  • Saved games should be compatible across all versions and updates, unless I specifically have to update the level your save file is in. For that reason I highly recommend having a save file on the world map if you plan a slower playthrough and want to update the game if a new version comes along.
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I'd like to thank and give recognition to the following people:

Multimania for taking on the programming for this project; it would not have happened without him! He did an excellent job creating a platform for me to start modding, implementing and getting creative with new features, hunting bugs, and improving things wherever possible. He also took the time to code things in a manner that allowed me to easily adjust various aspects of the game without getting into the code myself—this greatly aided in getting things just the way I wanted them quickly! Thank you, Multimania!

XkyRauh for his incredible music compositions that I feel perfectly represent an ‘alternate universe’ version of Keen 5. All songs were composed by him. My list of songs requests started smaller and grew as things developed; I’m especially thankful to Xky for his willingness to go above and beyond what I originally requested. Thank you, XkyRauh!

Roobar for being my go-to beta tester. I have come to rely on his feedback, attention to detail, and thorough search for bugs in my projects. Several levels were modified as a direct result of his testing videos. Thank you, Roobar!

Fleexy for modifying Abiathar to include a quality of life zoom feature for me. This drastically improved my speed and accuracy in level design. Thank you, Fleexy!

55Avenue, Gridlock, and Nisaba for allowing me to utilize some graphics from their mods, and StupidBunny for his concept art for Robo Blue, and XkyRauh as the originator of the Sparky MK. II. Thank you!

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Operation Station Infiltration Extras:

Included here is the soundtrack in mp3 and midi, creature outtakes and development panels, the series title screens, and an image of the world map.

Download: Operation Station Infiltration Extras

Source Code:

Here's the source code for this project.

Download: Operation Station Infiltration Source Code v1.03

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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?
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Nisaba
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Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by Nisaba »

Oooo yes!!! I'm just a few levels in but I already gotta confess: I'm in L-O-V-E with the stomping BIG AMPTON! so so well put together. And oh my, what a fantastic soundtrack. Heavy Keen 5 nostalgia vibes incoming. Can't wait to play the rest

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proYorp
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Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by proYorp »

Hah you did do the Christmas release! :D Man I almost thought I was gonna try to make something for the day.

I'm gonna wait for the 16-bit DOS source mod version to play this, and more specifically after I play the first episode. :p Just want to make sure it's something I know is stable because I don't want to risk some unforeseen problem occurring and spoiling my first playthrough. (Might play Omnispeak mods first time later on when I'm more familiar with it.) I'm seriously considering recording the gameplay. Have to see how that goes after I have some time maybe next week or so.


Ceilick wrote: Mon Dec 26, 2022 3:28 Fleexy for modifying Abiathar to include a quality of life zoom feature for me. This drastically improved my speed and accuracy in level design. Thank you, Fleexy!
This sounds uncannily like something I've wanted to request for awhile... What is it and where can I get it? :disguised
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Ceilick
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Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by Ceilick »

Something I forgot to mention and have included in my initial post:

Saved games should be compatible across all versions and updates, unless I specifically have to alter the level your save file is in. For that reason I highly recommend having a save file on the world map if you plan a slower playthrough and want to update the game if a new version comes along.
proYorp wrote:
Ceilick wrote: Fleexy for modifying Abiathar to include a quality of life zoom feature for me. This drastically improved my speed and accuracy in level design. Thank you, Fleexy!
This sounds uncannily like something I've wanted to request for awhile... What is it and where can I get it? :disguised
It allows for increased magnification of the tileset panel for my poor eyes :lol I use the simultaneous editing feature that displays both the level and the tileset in the same window, but the current public build of Abiathar has limited magnification for the tileset in this setup (maybe for viewing the tileset on any setting as well, I'm uncertain). I'm not sure what Fleexy's position is on sharing altered versions of Abiathar, I'll be in touch on this...
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szemi
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Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by szemi »

Favourite creature: The Robo Red's colorful "family", Sparky Jr., Big Ampton, Korath Officer

Favourite level: The secret (?) level, where the gravitation is low.
Yeah, piece of cake!
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Nisaba
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Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by Nisaba »

the premise of the secret level is absolutely fantastic. it changes everything, gameplay and map design wise. navigating under this circumstances even gave me a funny feeling. I won't spoil more for those who haven't discovered it yet. but what I can say it, that this (in a long time) feels like a real rewarding secret. splendid idea!
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XkyRauh
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Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by XkyRauh »

> Did you have a favorite level? A least favorite?
The Crew Quarters was by far my favorite. Bite-size puzzle-esque rooms with minimal backtracking and clear progression. Yay!
Special mention to Ion Injection System. It flowed really well!
Sec Ops 2 was by far my least favorite. Huge level with lots of "good, you got X, now go backtrack through all the devious deathtraps for a third time!" I save scummed quite hard and ended up using God mode after a good half hour of repeated deaths. :no
> Which new creature was your favorite? Least favorite?
I want a plush of Sparky Jr. He is adorable! Special mention to the sound the Sparky Mk. II makes--such an angry little bot!
I was surprised by how much the Sparky Mk. IIIs caught me off guard. I'm so used to being "safe" in the air in a Keen game, it was a unique experience.
My least favorite was the Shikadi Masters. I do not care for them.
Did you find the secret Korath jail cell block?
I did not! I need to go back and try to find the secret level. Nisaba said on the Discord that it is really great...
Did you find the secret level? How was it?
No--I assumed that was related to the Korath jail cell block! Hrrm...
What did you think of the final level?
A welcome stroll in the park after Sec Ops 2, to be honest. There were some architecture things that had me raising an eyebrow, but the level itself was pretty straightforward, in a nebulous way. :)
What was your favorite part of the mod? Least favorite?
Least favorite was the overuse of the "Dread" track. I feel like I should've written a different track for the Sec Ops levels--but I didn't know the content of any of the levels when I wrote the music! :lol Those key levels definitely deserve their own theme.
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Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by Gridlock »

I unfortunately only have access to a Mac over the holidays for... reasons. But, I'm really looking forward to trying this when I can. I'm quite intrigued about the potential in using Omnispeak and seeing what it can do. I'm now a fairly proficient C# programmer, and it makes me think I might be able to pick this engine up someday if I can find the time. I'd be very curious at some point in hearing a post-mortem of this project and what it was like to develop in Omnispeak. I know Atroxian Realm also used some of the same code, but I was pretty clueless about technical details back then. I imagine there are still limitations with things like memory (with AR, I often had to make painful cuts to level dimensions and music tracks), but I'm guessing a lot of other limitations (ex: max 4 camera zones) could be circumvented by changing the code?

Really intrigued by ideas like the "Big Ampton," and I'm looking forward to the secret level I've been hearing about. Seeing this project has put me in more of a Keen mood lately, and I've even been browsing Omnispeak source code out of curiosity.
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Armageddon Begins Again. The Alphamatic has arrived.

Atroxian Realm: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3536
The Alphamatic: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4086
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Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by Lower IQ than 314 »

I've tried to download this mod from both this thread and on the Wiki, but both times, the files have been flagged as malware by my Malwarebytes guard. Is anyone else having similar problems?
Ceilick
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Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by Ceilick »

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
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Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by Nisaba »

to make sure and verify against any false positives you can also double-check both links on virustotal.com which aggregates many antivirus products and online scan engines in one go.

It should give you an output like:

Code: Select all

No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious
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Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by Multimania »

Hi all,

I'm glad everyone's enjoying Operation Station Infiltration: and thanks, Ceilick, for such a fun mod to work on.

I'm away from my normal Keening computers at the moment, but as a few quick troubleshooting ideas:

For Crackling Sound
  • Try editing "OMNISPK.CFG" and adding the following:

    Code: Select all

    sampleRate = 44100
    
    (You can also try 48000, which may work better on some soundcards.)
    This changes the game audio's sample rate from the Adlib's original 49716 Hz, to a more common modern one. This may have a slight reduction in accuracy to original DOS machines, but does stress the OS less, as it doesn't have to convert anything.
  • Try setting the SDL_AUDIODRIVER environment variable to one of directsound or winmm. You can do this by running OSI from the command line, and running:

    Code: Select all

    set SDL_AUDIODRIVER=directsound
    osi_win32
    
    I'll add an omnispeak setting to make changing this easier to change when I get back from my holiday.
  • Try adjusting the audio buffer size. This also involves editing "OMNISPK.CFG", and adding:

    Code: Select all

    audioBufferSamples = 512
    
    By default, we use 512 on Linux and 1024 on Windows: higher numbers give higher latency, and can result in some strange sound glitches, lower numbers require more processing power and are more likely to "stutter".
  • Try using the Nuked OPL3 emulator. This is a more accurate sound emulator than the DOSBox one we use by default. In theory, this should require a more powerful computer (and so might make the problem worse), but you can give it a go by using the /NUKEDOPL3 command line option, or by adding this to OMNISPK.CFG:

    Code: Select all

    oplEmulator = "nukedopl3"
    
  • Finally, you can try enabling "audio sync" mode. This makes the game timing run based off the sound thread, instead of the other way round. In theory, it should make the sound timing more consistant, and the graphics timing slightly less consistant. It usually causes more problems than it fixes, though.
    Nevertheless, you can activate it by running the game with the /AUDIOSYNC command-line option, or by adding this to OMNISPK.CFG:

    Code: Select all

    sd_sdl_audioSync = true
    
Note that OMNISPK.CFG doesn't exist out of the box: it should appear the first time you run the game. You can also create a blank text file, and rename it OMNISPK.CFG.

If the game directory is read-only, OMNISPK.CFG (along with any savegames) will be stored in C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Roaming\Commander Keen\Omnispeak instead. So it's best to make sure the game directory is not read-only.

As for Anti-Virus programs complaining, there are three likely causes for this:
  • This is a new program, and not many people have tried it yet, so it's a bit suspicious.
  • It's compiled with a slightly unusual compiler, mingw32, instead of Microsoft's compiler. This isn't usually a problem, but there have been reports of false positives with mingw32 compiled executables in the past.
  • The exe files are compressed with upx, which is sort-of a Windows/Linux equivalent to LZEXE. This makes it harder for anti-virus programs to inspect (as it has to be decompressed first), so some might consider it suspicious).
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.

The 32-bit DOS version is still very much unfinished, and is only really included as a stop-gap until a new version can come out. I'd expect the Windows versions to mostly be more reliable. Still, if it works for you, don't let me stop you! Just be warned that there may be some small glitches, and some things (especially the Star-Wars scroller text) may be very slow.

The big advantage of the Windows/Linux/DOS32 versions of Omnispeak (other than it being a little bit easier to tweak things, as well as having access to more modern tools like debuggers) is that basically all of the memory and other limits can be removed (though, for accuracy's sake, some of them remain by default). As an example, the maximum number of objects in a level was set to 200 here, instead of 100 in the original Keen 5.
In any case, if you're curious, you can check out EPISODE.CK5 (which is a vaguely patch-like text file), as well as src/mod/osi/ck5_obj4.c in the source code, which has most of the new enemy behaviour. You can also search for MOD_OSI throughout the code to find some of the other changes we added.

In any case, I hope you all enjoy the mod (and that you find the secret level, which is my favourite, too), and do let us know about any issues. This is all still pretty new stuff, so there are bound to be some teething issues.
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Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by Nospike »

Shame the DOS version has issues, for me it was stuff like dropping inputs (making impossible pogo actually impossible) and possibly weird camera movement that could have just been the level geometry to be fair. A DOS version would be the most portable because you can run it in dosbox on any platform. I'm not able to run either the Linux version or the Windows version using wine, seemingly due to missing libraries. This mod seems incredibly promising and I'll try again if I get access to a windoze machine.
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Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by Syllypryde »

I've been playing the Windows 64 bit version. I have already beaten this on easy and am 3/4 of the way through normal. I have found the Korath prison cells as well as the secret level. Once I complete normal I will get into more detail on what I liked and don't like about the mod as well as answering Ceilick's questions for favorite and least favorite levels and most favorite and least favorite of the new characters.
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Re: Operation Station Infiltration

Post by Nisaba »

Multimania wrote: Wed Dec 28, 2022 3:16 [...] a few quick troubleshooting ideas [...]
It's a great service that you've provided an additional Linux version of the game. I really appreciate that.
Unfortunately though I'm facing an issue as I'm not able to get it up and running on my Linux systems (debian/ubuntu based).

First I gave it a

Code: Select all

chmod a+x
Next I tried to run it via

Code: Select all

./osi_linux.x86_64
which returns this error message:

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
I verified the installation of libc6 on my system via

Code: Select all

dpkg -L libc6 | grep -i libc.so.6
and made also sure that glibc is installed.

My suspicion is, that a -pthread flag has to be applied to both the compiling and linking stage. But I could be wrong.

I'm happy to provide more info to further track down the issue, if needed.
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