frenkels/keensource456tandy

Commander Keen 4 Tandy 320x200 16 color source code port

Commander Keen 4 Tandy 320x200 16 color source code port

Download the game here.

This is a Tandy 320x200 16 color version of Commander Keen 4. It includes Tandy music. There's also a version for MCGA with smooth palette fading. And EGA and CGA versions that feature the same Tandy music. The EGA version also has smooth palette fading when a VGA card is detected.

If the graphics get corrupted in the Tandy version while playing one or two levels, like in this video, you don't have enough video memory allocated. This version of the game needs 32k of video memory. The amount of video memory can be changed in the BIOS. It can also be altered by using ADJMEM. Before running KEEN4T.EXE, run ADJMEM -16 to increase the amount of video memory by 16k. There's always at least 16k of video memory allocated, so increasing it by 16k gives you the required amount of 32k of video memory.

The score box is disabled by default. The game runs faster this way. Pressing Backspace enables the score box.

If you can create executables that are byte for byte 100% identical to the Keen 4 v1.4 EGA and CGA executables with K1n9_Duk3's reconstructed Commander Keen 4-6 source code, you can probably also compile this code.

Special Thanks

• id Software for creating Commander Keen.

• K1n9_Duk3 for reconstructing the original Keen 4-6 source code.

• Einar Saukas and Emmanuel Marty for ZX0. I had to replace the original Huffman compression with something that produces smaller files, otherwise the game wouldn't fit on a 720 kB floppy disk.

• ModdingWiki for information about the Commander Keen file formats.

keensource456tandy's Issues

Sprites reappear at the other side of the screen

The Dopefish reappears at the other side of the screen.

When sprites are vertically clipped, the virtual window can be made smaller. This will leave room for one more row of tiles on-screen. When this is fixed, maybe the demo will be in sync again.

keensource456tandy/KEEN4-6/ID_RF.C

Line 1602 in 6fdcb4d

= NOTE: Implement vertical clipping!

Add video memory amount check

"If the graphics are corrupted, you probably need to run ADJMEM -16 before running this game."

Add a check to see if this is necessary.

Help screen is corrupted

In the first level, walk a little bit to the left and look up. Now, press F1 and the help screen will be corrupted:

Add Star Wars opening crawl

The EGA version tells it's story like a Star Wars opening crawl.
The CGA version doesn't have this, and therefore the Tandy version also lacks this feature.

Consider adding map header file

Since other headers were added, I suppose that the map header file (internally named MTEMP.TMP by TED5) can also be.

Tiles are corrupted in demo 4 if you have 640 KB of RAM

Tiles are corrupted in demo 4 if you have 640 KB of RAM in PCem.

Add Terminator opening

The EGA version begins with an opening that looks like the Terminator opening.
The CGA version doesn't have this, and therefore the Tandy version also lacks this feature.

Demo crashes with "MM_GetPtr: Out of memory!" in PCem

The demo crashes in PCem with "MM_GetPtr: Out of memory!" after the first level, just before the credits screen.
But it does work when just before the end of the demo you go to the main menu and then return to the demo.

Add Tandy DAC sound effects / music

There's a request for playing proper music on the Tandy DAC.

running on 1000ex

hiddencheck should be the default, maybe issue a warning if it's not detected

https://youtu.be/FzurNkbkfBU

Toggle score box with Backspace

The game runs faster when the score box is disabled.
In Bio Menace you can toggle the score box by pressing Backspace.
Let's copy that functionality.

Add detection of presence of Tandy graphics and sound

Right now, the game doesn't check whether the computer supports the Tandy 320x200 16 color graphics mode and Tandy 3 Voice.

Smooth palette fading when VGA card is detected

The MCGA version has smooth palette fading. This can also be done in the EGA version when a VGA card is detected.
Also create a patch so mods can use it without recompiling the code.

Add Fade in / Fade out

The EGA version fades in and out when entering a level.
The CGA version doesn't have this, and therefore the Tandy version also lacks this feature.

Tiles are corrupted if you don't have 768 KB of RAM

Go to the bottom of level 1 Border Village, the acid pool tiles are corrupted if you run in on a Tandy with less than 768 KB of RAM.

Is it because of this?
"Another nasty thing was IBM's way of saving money: whenever you go into an extended graphics mode, it borrows RAM from the top of the free DOS heap -- your available DOS memory actually decreases by as much as 32K. Just make sure you don't have anything in that area before you initialize graphics mode... ;-)"
http://www.oldskool.org/shrines/pcjr_tandy

Draw title screen and other non gameplay graphics fullscreen

The bottom of the title screen is not drawn.

Demo is out of sync

The demo is out of sync. This is probably caused by the fact that the screen is smaller. But that doesn't mean the window with active actors should also be smaller.

Add status bar

We can't draw the whole 320x200 screen with Commander Keen gameplay action without rewriting the whole engine. Instead use the space that's left on screen with a new status bar containing the same information as the score box and/or the status window.

Missing files for MCGA build

I think that an MCGA project file, and other possible files, are currently missing.

Give the black bar at the bottom of the screen the same color as the border

On a real monitor the black bar at the bottom of the screen is kinda annoying. Maybe it's less annoying when the bar is the same color as the border.

Clarify formatting of new lines?

I got unexpected compilation errors, until I converted newlines to CR+LF. The files in the git repository seem to use LF format. Maybe this should be documented in the readme, if the repository itself isn't updated accordingly.

Add Tandy music

Convert the music to something a Tandy can play.
Here's the music: http://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php/Commander_Keen_IV:_Secret_of_the_Oracle_(DOS)

MCGA 16 color

It's easy to create a 16 color MCGA version, but is there any demand for it?