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Wolframm
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SC2 original PC version
« on: November 07, 2010, 08:30:13 pm »
I've recently downloaded original PC version of SC2 from some wierd site, but I think I was lucky to find this rarity.
 I use DOSbox to run it. It's really cool. sound quality sucks but nevertheless.
It looks better to play the game in 16:10 widescreen (320x200) format as it was default in PC version and there are those text lines wich are missing in 3DO version and UQM.
 It sucks to know that PC source code is lost, it would be so useful to have it  Embarrassed Embarrassed
Then we would be able to make widescreen version of UQM without any text lines missing.
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ziper1221
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Re: SC2 original PC version
« Reply #1 on: November 07, 2010, 09:06:19 pm »
Any reason it cant be run through a Decompiler?
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Dragon
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Re: SC2 original PC version
« Reply #2 on: November 08, 2010, 01:31:23 pm »
Quote from: ziper1221 on November 07, 2010, 09:06:19 pm
Any reason it cant be run through a Decompiler?
The short answer is because a generic C decompiler doesn't exist.  The longer answer is that one would have to take the existing machine code possibly convert it to assembly instructions and then convert it to C.  Unless you have debug information for that executable the best a decompiler can do is give you C-that-looks-like-assembly.  If the executable was hit by any sort of optimising compiler then any of the original program structure will have been lost and the decompiled code would be an unreadable mess.  It's not a solvable problem.

Quote from: Wolframm on November 07, 2010, 08:30:13 pm
I use DOSbox to run it. It's really cool. sound quality sucks but nevertheless.
I happened to have been playing SC2 in DOSBox (0.73) last night and the sound was fine.  Try turning up the CPU cycles, that might help.  Beyond that I have no suggestions.
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Novus
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Re: SC2 original PC version
« Reply #3 on: November 08, 2010, 01:37:00 pm »
Quote from: Wolframm on November 07, 2010, 08:30:13 pm
It looks better to play the game in 16:10 widescreen (320x200) format as it was default in PC version and there are those text lines wich are missing in 3DO version and UQM.
Actually, 320x200 on CGA, EGA and VGA is still a 4:3 resolution; the pixels are 20 % higher than they are wide. Square pixels weren't really standard on PCs before VGA, and even then that only applies to the high-resolution 640x480 mode. If you're showing it as 16:10, you're distorting the picture aspect ratio.

Adding the missing text to UQM has been debated several times and could easily be done if you leave out the speech. There is actually a well-received attempt at reconstructing the missing speech.

Quote from: Dragon on November 08, 2010, 01:31:23 pm
I happened to have been playing SC2 in DOSBox (0.73) last night and the sound was fine.  Try turning up the CPU cycles, that might help. 
Try using GUS sound instead of Sound Blaster. The Sound Blaster output uses an ancient software mixing routine that sounds pretty horrible at best (because it has to run on a 286 and inside the emulator), while Gravis Ultrasound sound is mixed in the hardware (which DOSBox emulates using its own mixing code running on the much faster physical hardware.
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unity100
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Re: SC2 original PC version
« Reply #4 on: November 12, 2010, 01:10:51 pm »
Quote from: Wolframm on November 07, 2010, 08:30:13 pm
I've recently downloaded original PC version of SC2 from some wierd site, but I think I was lucky to find this rarity.
 I use DOSbox to run it. It's really cool. sound quality sucks but nevertheless.
It looks better to play the game in 16:10 widescreen (320x200) format as it was default in PC version and there are those text lines wich are missing in 3DO version and UQM.
 It sucks to know that PC source code is lost, it would be so useful to have it  Embarrassed Embarrassed
Then we would be able to make widescreen version of UQM without any text lines missing.

sound quality sucks ?!!?!?

pc version has the best sound with high speed interrupt mod music. even with default pc speaker it can blast.

you need to play with sound settings on your dosbox.
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storyyeller
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Re: SC2 original PC version
« Reply #5 on: November 12, 2010, 04:30:40 pm »
^^ So why isn't there a no speech version with the missing lines available? I don't like the voice acting anyway.
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unity100
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Re: SC2 original PC version
« Reply #6 on: November 12, 2010, 09:21:50 pm »
there is ?

you need to set the uqm config to 'pc' settings, instead of 3do. there is all the info you need to make it fully synced with pc version.
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Re: SC2 original PC version
« Reply #7 on: November 12, 2010, 10:34:50 pm »
Quote from: unity100 on November 12, 2010, 09:21:50 pm
there is ?

you need to set the uqm config to 'pc' settings, instead of 3do. there is all the info you need to make it fully synced with pc version.

I don't quite get what you're saying here. The guy above you was asking why the missing dialogue hasn't been added  back into UQM (which it hasn't).
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Wolframm
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Re: SC2 original PC version
« Reply #8 on: November 12, 2010, 11:25:42 pm »
Well, the UQM Extended Edition mod has some changed dialogues but I don't know the details.
Might be that those missing dialogues are restored in Extended Edition... or no?
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Novus
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Re: SC2 original PC version
« Reply #9 on: November 13, 2010, 09:40:13 am »
Quote from: Wolframm on November 12, 2010, 11:25:42 pm
Might be that those missing dialogues are restored in Extended Edition... or no?
According to its changelog, the Extended Edition adds dialogue for the Mycon Sun Device subplot.
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Wolframm
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Re: SC2 original PC version
« Reply #10 on: November 13, 2010, 10:14:47 am »
Quote from: Novus on November 08, 2010, 01:37:00 pm
Actually, 320x200 on CGA, EGA and VGA is still a 4:3 resolution; the pixels are 20 % higher than they are wide. Square pixels weren't really standard on PCs before VGA, and even then that only applies to the high-resolution 640x480 mode. If you're showing it as 16:10, you're distorting the picture aspect ratio.

That's wierd... I play on widescreen monitor (16:10) and the picture ISN'T distorted. There aren't black bars on edges of the screen niether, it fits it perfectly to 16:10.
Planets are perfect spheres/circles so I found hard to believe in existance of any stretching here. (I use double buffering and hq3x scaler if that matters)
And if you say those aren't square pixels...  Huh That makes me puzzled.
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Re: SC2 original PC version
« Reply #11 on: November 16, 2010, 08:51:38 am »
Quote from: Wolframm on November 13, 2010, 10:14:47 am
And if you say those aren't square pixels...  Huh That makes me puzzled.
It's entirely possible that the artists assumed the pixels are square when they did some of the artwork (this depends on what they were doing their drawing, scanning or whatever with). In that case, the graphics would be distorted on a 4:3 display, but accidentally come out exactly right on a 16:10 display. Quickly checking the screenshots on Mobygames for DOS SC2 suggests that e.g. the rotating planets in the lander view and the HyperSpace map are definitely corrected for a 5:6 pixel aspect ratio, but some of the other planet graphics seem to use a 1:1 ratio.

Either way, my point is that there was essentially no widescreen support at the time on PC hardware, so 320x200 should have been displayed as 4:3. For example, Doom is clearly designed for 320x200 at 4:3.
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