Elite / Frontier Just dug out Frontier again

[The Space Pirate]

After the recent announcement, I decided I wanted to play Frontier again.

Got a few questions:

Is there a way to use a controller with the game - joystick, or Xbox 360 pad? Checking 'joystick control' does nothing.

How do you play the game full screen? Right now, it's in a little tiny window.

 

[Geraldine]

There was only one version of Frontier specifically made for joypads, the Amiga CD32 version. To run it on a PC you will need either Amiga Forever (already comes with Amiga ROMS) and is available here http://www.amigaforever.com/

Or Win UAE. This is free, but you will need to find Amiga 3 or 3.1 ROMS to add to it. Win UAE can be got from here http://www.winuae.net/

A special edition of the CD32 version (with many bug fixes) is available here http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=737872&postcount=1

There is also the PC version of Frontier. Joypad support is something I've not really looked into as I usually play it with a mouse. The best way to run it is via D Fend Reloaded (A free front end GUI for Dos Box), It has lots of options for setting resolutions and control methods, so perhaps you can get a joypad to work by playing around with the settings.

Its available here http://dfendreloaded.sourceforge.net/Download.html

Hope that helps you :smilie:

EDIT: Keyboard to Joystick Emulation? Try this http://headsoft.com.au/index.php?category=vjoy

 

[The Space Pirate]

Thanks, I'll look into that. Is it also possible to get Frontier FE to run with a controller, in full screen and under Win 7 64bit?

 

[gunbladelad]

I can't confirm for FFE itself - even under DOS-Box, but I'm certain that JJFFE is able to detect and use most USB controllers (It does, after all, use DirectX - I'm certain I've used my "Dualshock" style USB pad on it before briefly before returning to Keyboard & mouse) Any fan builds based off JJFFE (including FFE D3D) should have the same support.

 

[The Space Pirate]

OK - got both Frontier and First Encounters up and running, and if I press a button on the gamepad it fires a laser, but I can't find the button to get the damn thing off the ground! I can take off in Frontier, by clicking the right icon, but nothing I click gets the ship off the ground in FFE. I'll give JJFFE a look.

One other thing, the sound effects and music are even worse than I remember them - that must be because back then, the Amiga was a better machine than the average PC (that's what I played my Elite games on back then). Does anyone know if there's somewhere to d/l the Amiga sounds?

It'll be great to be able to play them again though, especially FFE, as I never really got round to that one before.

 

[gunbladelad]

Odds are you might have to rely on several of the Keyboard controls - unless you can get the PC to process certain button-presses as keboard entry.

In truth, while there's something to be said for the authentic feel of Joystick control, FE2 and FFE do play best with the simple Keyboard/mouse combo for me.

 

[The Space Pirate]

That wouldn't be much of an issue, if I could get the game to recognise the stick's throttle - which of course, I can't. Oh well, there are still a few things I can try. The infuriating thing is DOSBox itself is recognising the stick - it's even got its name there - but it will only recognise stick movements - the throttle movements don't get picked up at all.

 

[The Space Pirate]

That's annoying. I spent ages trying to get the throttle to work - I ended up finding the 'Key Mapper' in DOSBox, but all that does is replicate a button press. In other words, you can only have full open throttle, or fully closed (backwards movement) throttle. It's not analogue, therefore it's useless.

I just can't get used to playing with the keys again.