FDev's Arthur: "We think Thursday's stream will be really good, looking forward to it" RETURN OF GALNET?

[Vetinari]

Who knows how things would look if the community didn't start moaning about Galnet.

Too late now, they are already moaning about it being removed, it being brought back, it possibly being brought back, the fact that frontier havent confirmed its coming back yet, the fact that frontier might confirm it is coming back and not VR and now even complaining about this thread being 20 pages long about a possible GalNet.

The future is murky for GalNet already

I guess you weren't playing in those days then.... I was and can assert that your perception is incredibly incorrect!

No, my argument is, that games were released back then were in a better state all in all.

When are we talking about exactly? I had a bunch of games that were just unplayable with no updates. The BBC Micro came with (I think) a Programming Book and a game you could program (Skeleton Island / Skull Island?). I was 9 and spent a summer programming that Island just coz it had a skull on the cover, and it didnt flipping work! It was bugged to death and constantly getting little lines of code in magazines. I gave up with no outside help and that was my last attempt at coding / programming. Basically Billy Elliot without the Ballet and the way out, it was and is, grim up North.

Besides which, it was probably better just to aim to program a whole new game for the whole new system that was coming out. It moved so fast in them days with all sorts of consoles and pc brands and tech all getting upgraded or updated all the time. Now its mainly just 2 new Consoles and lots of internals for the PC generally, a lot easier to update the software even without the internet.

 

[Stigbob]

When are we talking about exactly? I had a bunch of games that were just unplayable with no updates. The BBC Micro came with (I think) a Programming Book and a game you could program (Skeleton Island / Skull Island?). I was 9 and spent a summer programming that Island just coz it had a skull on the cover, and it didnt flipping work! It was bugged to death and constantly getting little lines of code in magazines. I gave up with no outside help and that was my last attempt at coding / programming. Basically Billy Elliot without the Ballet and the way out, it was and is, grim up North.

Then you got them on cassette and if the were knackered, they stayed broken. Followed by bigger games on CD&DVD they released knackered and you had to get gaming mags with the right patch disk stuck to the front if they got patched or they stayed knackered.

It wasn't better in the olden days. I think the whole release and fix thing is marvellous.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

did they decide to add VR back for launch of Odessey?

 

[Stigbob]

did they decide to add VR back for launch of Odessey?

Even better they've officially announced its removal from the main game.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Even better they've officially announced its removal from the main game.

if they're not going to extend it to the new content they may as well.

 

[thistle]

Even better they've officially announced its removal from the main game.

... but only for those with flashing VR avatars.

 

[Vetinari]

Then you got them on cassette

At least with a cassette you could usually flip it over and try the other side, sometimes flipping it 10-12 times to get all the info....apart from those really annoying times when the skip was exactly in the middle of the tape and same both sides. Like a safecracker we would spool it back 3s and try and get another byte uploaded then back 3s again.

Hnnnnnggggghhhh Bleeeeep, Hnnnnnggggghhhh Bleeeeep,

And all this was BEFORE you could actually get the game loaded and play the game to find out it didn't work for another reason.

Edit: CDs and disks didnt have that option, if it was screwed it was screwed.

 

[fennster]

At least with a cassette you could usually flip it over and try the other side, sometimes flipping it 10-12 times to get all the info....apart from those really annoying times when the skip was exactly in the middle of the tape and same both sides. Like a safecracker we would spool it back 3s and try and get another byte uploaded then back 3s again.

Hnnnnnggggghhhh Bleeeeep, Hnnnnnggggghhhh Bleeeeep,

And all this was BEFORE you could actually get the game loaded and play the game to find out it didn't work for another reason.

Edit: CDs and disks didnt have that option, if it was screwed it was screwed.

I had so many rituals I used to act out as a child to get games to load properly on cassette... 'Last time it worked I was reading this magazine page 32, the door was open at a 63 degree angle, the dog was facing in a north easterly direction' ...Utterly convinced that those were the exact conditions needed.

 

[Vetinari]

Lol we used to turn the volume up to max in case it couldnt 'hear it', the closest thing Ive seen and heard since since is that White Noise Enhanced Interrogation technique

 

[SCiARA]

I had so many rituals I used to act out as a child to get games to load properly on cassette... 'Last time it worked I was reading this magazine page 32, the door was open at a 63 degree angle, the dog was facing in a north easterly direction...' Convinced these are the exact conditions needed.

and then leaving that computer on for weeks at a time because you didn't want to go through that ritual again, only to find that someone else had used the computer and turned it off

 

[Ignition]

It's a great example of how there's so many 'things' in this game that can be picked apart at leisure, but there's still a host of people who, although they might want it to be better, actually quite like what they have. I fell in to that camp as more interactivity with Galnet posts would have been good, but that didnt make the stories themselves a waste of time to read. It all lent itself to creating a believeably backdrop, especially since you couldnt leave your ship to actually see any of these events. I hope the presence of NPC's, interactive or otherwise, will make a vast amount of difference for Galnet or just general immurshun.

Player interaction, in Elite? IMPOSSIBLE!

 

[Bottom Hat]

So many memories of hateful media vessels - this is an awesome thread for bringing back all that chuff!! I especially empathize with @fennster for trying to recreate the right conditions for the media to be readable - good times lol!

 

[Vetinari]

So many memories of hateful media vessels

Thats no way to talk about the Livestreams!....and we're back on topic

Edit: Now have a mental picture of Thursdays LS where the 2 presenters stick two fingers up and say 'Yeah, thats right, we led you on coz youre all twits with a different vowel and we hate you all, youre never flipping happy so you all may just as well flip off!' It would certainly get some press attention for Odyssey.

 

[rootsrat]

I had so many rituals I used to act out as a child to get games to load properly on cassette... 'Last time it worked I was reading this magazine page 32, the door was open at a 63 degree angle, the dog was facing in a north easterly direction...' Convinced these are the exact conditions needed.

NOBODY! could enter the room. No-bo-dy.

Or else there would be tantrum

 

[fennster]

NOBODY! could enter the room. No-bo-dy.

Or else there would be tantrum

Damn, you must of played the same games as me.

 

[Vetinari]

NOBODY! could enter the room. No-bo-dy.

Or else there would be tantrum

Well Vibrations, well known by children of the time that any movement on the floor would cause a vibration that interfered with it, better just to sit still for 20 minutes while it loaded....and whisper

 

[Michael Whatever]

Lol we used to turn the volume up to max in case it couldnt 'hear it', the closest thing Ive seen and heard since since is that White Noise Enhanced Interrogation technique

I made a separate cassette with multiple recordings of just the problematic part, saved a lot or rewinding ! Can still hear it now. Them were the days.



WRT this live stream I thought it was good, the guys came across well and I thought the hint was amusing.

Spoiler: Breaking News

 

[Rat Catcher]

CDs and disks didnt have that option, if it was screwed it was screwed.

I have unhappy memories of removing Rob Northen's Copy Protection routines from Atari games, then transferring them to another Floppy - because then they would work flawlessly - not pirating, I'd bought the darned things with my hard-earned... (this started after one paricular game with this protection on reliably crashed at the same point - until it was'hacked' - then it worked as it should, from then on it was play the register game)

 

[Rubbernuke]

I made a separate cassette with multiple recordings of just the problematic part, saved a lot or rewinding ! Can still hear it now. Them were the days.



WRT this live stream I thought it was good, the guys came across well and I thought the hint was amusing.

Spoiler: Breaking News

View attachment 187273

If FD wanted maximum hilarity FD should have broken the news on...Breaking News. I'd have died with laughter and awarded +100 points to Gryffindor.

 

[xzanfr]

I was lucky enough to have elite on a bbc micro with cumana disk drives (it was the spare one that the flight information system was programmed on for heathrow airport that my dad borrowed every couple of weekends from his work). The stupidly fragile disks had to be treated with special care, partly so I didn't save my jameson on some important code and party because they're made of literally wax paper and flappy, over sensitive black stuff. Also, you could tell when there was a misjump as the drives made a different noise!

My own computer was an electron and due to the rubbish way acorn made their plus 3, it was mostly tape based. A hateful, time consuming and superstition based method of loading games that can absolutely do one.

It wasn't better in the olden days. I think the whole release and fix thing is marvellous.

As much as I love old computers and computing, we've got it so good now. A 32k program developed in someones bedroom then sold as a finished product to a publisher is a million miles away from the complex games that we have now. Updating by download is so convenient and something that we could only dream about back in the day.

As an aside, check out Kevin Edwards and Nick "Orlando" Pelling on twitter if you're interested in old and modern gaming - Nick is redoing Frak and Kevin is programming new stuff with some interesting takes on the old days. Our own MoM is also a mine of information with her new C64 games.