Tower of Babel Forum

Dr. · Administrator Messages: 310 Location: Saarbrücken

(The original thread was, I think, this one:
http://www.carookee.com/forum/ToB/1/problem_emulator.3180532.0.01105.html )

So... where do we stand concerning the tower conversion tool Fawlty wanted to look into?

I know the Atari and Amiga version use pretty much the same format for saving tower data; how does the remake handle this? The question has probably been asked before, but how difficult will it be converting old towers to the remake format?

(Damn, I still haven't tried the remake. I was hoping to get a faster board for just about nothing, but it looks like I'll have to do without for the foreseeable future.
I just looked over the project site, and I must say the screenshots do look very delicious. I especially like the way you seem to be able to move the cameras freely around. That was one of the few things I dislike when playing the original. Your view is so limited - plus the resolution is shitty, making details hard to see.)

--
Das Lemsche Gesetz:
Niemand liest etwas; wenn er etwas liest, versteht er es nicht; wenn er es versteht, vergißt er es sofort.

Fawlty · Mason Messages: 280 Location: Gütersloh

Ah, well, the conversion tool..... Yes, I do remember...
Mayo sent me a couple of savedisk images in Atari format a few weeks ago, so now I don't have a decent excuse not to be able to start the work anymore. All I have now are some rather weak excuses like I've been quite busy recently assembling and pushing around some new furniture, getting rid of old stuff (does anyone need a really big couch from the '70s??), taking care of this'n'that, reading a lot, you know...
I'll try to start this weekend. Making a start is actually the most difficult thing. I'll just set up a project, design a dialog window, do some basic UI handling. When that's done, I guess it's easier to do a little programming every now and then, whenever I'm in the mood for it.

Concerning the remake: Just give it a try! Set the details to a minimum, like Mayo described somewhere. I bet even on your machine it would run smoother than the Amiga version. Never be scared of hardware requirements. They are more like the requirements in job advertisements. You know, "not older than 22, university degree, and at least five years of professional experience"...

Artinum · Zapper Messages: 184 Location: United Kingdom

Isn't that impossible unless you're a child prodigy?

And I can run RTOB on my laptop, which is a couple of years old by now. It has no problems.

Artinum.

Mayo · Zapper Messages: 105 Location: Schleswig-Holstein

<--- tech part on -->

Last week i found a performance bug in my code (GUI module -> sorting component's z-orders).

In every frame my GUI quicksort routine sorted WHOLE (static) component array with 1MB size (empty elements, too) !!!! So i repaired it (now sorting only used components in a pointer list)

<--- tech part off -->

So the newest development version at home speeds up +15 FPS ! On my father's pc (1,2GHz with Elsa Erazor 3D Pro) with all disabled effects RToB runs a simple demo tower (like original Softly! Softly! from Pete) with 63 FPS !!!

@Z: I attach tob.ini file with all disabled effects for maximum perfomance

____________________
ToB Remake - http://www.tower-of-babel.info
Homepage - http://www.latzig.de

Fawlty · Mason Messages: 280 Location: Gütersloh

Zitat: Artinum

And I can run RTOB on my laptop, which is a couple of years old by now.

The problem is that Z's PC is not just "a couple" of years old. It's more a couple of couples of years old...

Fawlty · Mason Messages: 280 Location: Gütersloh

Zitat: Mayo

In every frame my GUI quicksort routine sorted WHOLE (static) component array with 1MB size (empty elements, too) !!!!

Har har!! Heavy...... How could that happen?!? *gg*

So if there have ever been performance problems for computers like Z's, they should be solved by now. When can we expect the next development version??

Arma77 · Hopper Messages: 5 Location: Dortmund

Zitat: Fawlty

(does anyone need a really big couch from the '70s??)

How much '70s?

I'll guess we gotta go and build Z a decent computer with spare-parts which are far to old for our machines. :-)

@Mayo

This performance-bug reminds me pretty much on the weeks of pain i enjoyed after dropping on of our major-table indices whitout noting it. we even opted for buying an new database-server because of the performance-drops. Just for goodness-sake, we've order the new box just a few hours before i found out that it was all my mistake. :-)

Mayo · Zapper Messages: 105 Location: Schleswig-Holstein

Zitat: Fawlty

Zitat: Mayo

In every frame my GUI quicksort routine sorted WHOLE (static) component array with 1MB size (empty elements, too) !!!!

Har har!! Heavy...... How could that happen?!? *gg*

@fawlty

The first routines with DirectX I've written last year were some GUI drawning experiments, before I decided to write RToB

These relicts moved into my game code and have been hid until now

I'm going to upload a new development version, when I finish current part of demo sequence routines (tower briefing, game over screen,...)next week or so...

@arma77

yeeah, fine thing, such similary thing happend to me 3 years ago in my job (Nebjob?) as working student, too. Are you also computer scientist (Informatiker?)?

____________________
ToB Remake - http://www.tower-of-babel.info
Homepage - http://www.latzig.de

Fawlty · Mason Messages: 280 Location: Gütersloh

Zitat: Arma77

How much '70s?

WHAT?!?

Zitat: Arma77

I'll guess we gotta go and build Z a decent computer with spare-parts which are far to old for our machines. :-)

Har har! Yeah, I still have about six old machines in my basement. They probably have more potential than Z's antique...

Dr. · Administrator Messages: 310 Location: Saarbrücken

Ok, I'll download the slimmed down version and give it a try. I mean, hey, my computer is the cutting edge of technology! Technology from the late 90s, all right, and the guy who owned it before me had some curious ideas about how to assemble a computer, but so far it's been good enough for me.

Still...Mmh.. what kind of scrap parts do you have lying around??

--
Das Lemsche Gesetz:
Niemand liest etwas; wenn er etwas liest, versteht er es nicht; wenn er es versteht, vergißt er es sofort.