CatacombGL - source port for the Catacomb 3D games

[Arno]

On 12/25/2020 at 5:34 PM, NY00123 said:

I also forgot to attach two screenshots for comparison. It looks like even with the minimal FOV of 25, CatacombGL shows a bit more. Of course, it's not intended to look exactly like the original (and especially not reproduce original glitches), but for the curious ones, I've attached these.

 

I did some further research by comparing CatacombGL with DOSBox and found two major differences in how the world is rendered.

The FOV is indeed roughly 25 degrees in DOSBox. However, DOSBox places the camera for the 3D view about half a tile behind the player. Especially when close to a wall, this can cause a big difference in what part of the wall can be seen. Also, this means that when the player is turning on the spot in DOSBox, the camera is actually making a little circle around the player. This might be a source of motion sickness for some people.

 

Sprite rendering is also done differently. In DOSBox, each sprite is not rendered at its actual position, but about half a tile closer to the player. This is intentional, to give a sprite a sense of volume, instead of a cardboard look. Consequently, when the player makes a circle around for example a chest object, the chest sprite appears to be making a little circle too. In CatacombGL, the sprites are rendered at their actual location, but slightly sunken in the floor to give them a sense of volume. I got that technique from the Doom engine.

 

Technically, I think the observed offsets in both camera and sprite location can be replicated in OpenGL. However, I've given it some thought and I'm just not in favor of that, even as an optional feature. The primary reason why this source port exists, is because of a desire to avoid the visual bugs and oddities of the original software renderer. It's an interesting topic, but I think this is the point where I'll leave it up to Reflection Keen to offer the most accurate representation of the DOS experience on modern systems.

With that said, in your screenshot comparison I did notice some visual differences in the statusbar as well. Especially in how the item numbers and the radar looks, so I fixed that. Thanks!

[NY00123]

Good to see that you figured out these two differences in rendering, and also that you fixed the visual differences in the status bar.

Originally, I thought that the use of a different font for the numbers was intentional. I can see that this is actually the font used for words, textual descriptions and similar.

 

Given your description of the differences in rendering, it sounds like it's doable to replicate the above-mentioned properties of the original renderer, at least up to some level; You basically just need to tell your renderer to position the player and in-game sprites a bit differently, using a bit of math. If you ever get to support loading of DOS-compatible saved games, you might consider working on such a renderer option as a challenge, just to see how close can you get things to look like for saved games.

[bnabradi]

Is there any chance of a Hovertank 3D support for this? That game is in dire need of one, because after level 5, it becomes impossible due to garbage controls, and ridiculously low FOV. I know Hovertank is a lost relic, but it deserves some love.

[Arno]

On 2/27/2021 at 9:41 PM, NY00123 said:

Given your description of the differences in rendering, it sounds like it's doable to replicate the above-mentioned properties of the original renderer, at least up to some level; You basically just need to tell your renderer to position the player and in-game sprites a bit differently, using a bit of math. If you ever get to support loading of DOS-compatible saved games, you might consider working on such a renderer option as a challenge, just to see how close can you get things to look like for saved games.

You're right, it should be feasible to let the OpenGL renderer produce a 3D view that looks reasonably close to the DOS game. I'll keep it in mind when starting on the support for DOS-compatible saved games, thanks!

 

On 3/3/2021 at 10:20 PM, bnabradi said:

Is there any chance of a Hovertank 3D support for this? That game is in dire need of one, because after level 5, it becomes impossible due to garbage controls, and ridiculously low FOV. I know Hovertank is a lost relic, but it deserves some love.

There's a fair chance that Hovertank 3D will happen, as I would love to give Hovertank 3D the OpenGL treatment. However, my focus is currently on wrapping up a proper version 1.0.0 for the Catacomb 3D games, which may very well take the rest of 2021. So it's going to take a while. I'll keep you posted. :)

[Master O]

On 3/5/2021 at 5:55 PM, Arno said:

There's a fair chance that Hovertank 3D will happen, as I would love to give Hovertank 3D the OpenGL treatment. However, my focus is currently on wrapping up a proper version 1.0.0 for the Catacomb 3D games, which may very well take the rest of 2021. So it's going to take a while. I'll keep you posted. :)

 

On that subject, if you're looking for the sourcecode:

 

https://github.com/FlatRockSoft/Hovertank3D

[Arno]

CatacombGL 0.5.1 is released!

This release contains various bug fixes, including for some bugs that were reported by @NY00123, as well as a couple of small features.

From the menu it is now possible to instantly reset all settings to the defaults of the source port. There's another option to reset all settings to a vanilla look & feel, which sort of resembles the original DOS games. I say "sort of", since it isn't anywhere near the chocolate-like accuracy of Reflection Keen.

 

I also added the "demo" slideshow for the Catacomb Abyss shareware. It offers a preview of the full Catacomb Adventure series. Its original goal was to interest players into buying the full trilogy:

 

 

And then there's the "Hints & Solutions" slideshow for those that have the Catacomb Adventure trilogy (GOG):

 

Edited April 24, 2021 by Arno

[Azuris]

Ahh the Compilation on Gog isn't getting a Offer at the Time :P
I have to search my old Floppy for this.
Seems like great Work that will make those Games more enjoyable :)

[Arno]

5 hours ago, Azuris said:

Ahh the Compilation on Gog isn't getting a Offer at the Time :P
I have to search my old Floppy for this.
Seems like great Work that will make those Games more enjoyable :)

 

Thanks!

The Catacombs Pack was on sale in December, but the sale has ended.

Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that the game data from your old floppy's will work with the source port. I've only tested it with the Catacombs Pack and the shareware version 1.13. Some older versions of the Catacomb games exist, but CatacombGL likely won't recognize them.

[Azuris]

3 hours ago, Arno said:

 

Thanks!

The Catacombs Pack was on sale in December, but the sale has ended.

Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that the game data from your old floppy's will work with the source port. I've only tested it with the Catacombs Pack and the shareware version 1.13. Some older versions of the Catacomb games exist, but CatacombGL likely won't recognize them.

 

Ah ok thanks, makes the Decision easier :)

I think i'll buy it at full price, i'll not die for those 5€ and i haven't to wait to save a Euro.

But i would like to see if that old Floppy Version i have would work :)

 

Just as a tip for others reading here;

I've checked my emails with the reminder (wishlisted it :) ), it is more or less twice a year on Sale and inconsistent on how much they lower the price.

The best price was 1,70€, the worse 3,50$
 

Btw. An Autofire Option would be cool :P

Edited April 25, 2021 by Azuris

[Arno]

20 hours ago, Azuris said:

Btw. An Autofire Option would be cool :P

 

Heh. The autofire option is available since last year. At that time @Master O made that suggestion. But it's still good to know that more people like it.

[Azuris]

3 hours ago, Arno said:

 

Heh. The autofire option is available since last year. At that time @Master O made that suggestion. But it's still good to know that more people like it.

Haha than Hail to him to recommend it :)

So i've played through some Levels now, plays pretty good and this Port truly makes it much more enjoyable nowadays.

I am somehow not able to save with the 0.5.1 Versio (in none of the Games)
Since i downloaded and installed the Catacomb Pack directly wthout playing them, i've started them and made a save, to see if this could cause some Issue if they were never touched before.
I also tested the the X64 and X86 Version.
Tested the Port on its own Folder, on C:\Games and D:\Games ans also within the Catacombs Pack Folder on D:\Games.
Tested it with and withoud admin rights.

This is acutally on a Laptop running Win 8.1.
Will test it again when i have more Time and i can chill on my main Desktop :)
Ah, the Port itselfs saves my changes, like key bindings, autofire etc.

 

edit:

ah the sace screen is just black, nothing to choose :)

trying to make something blind does nothing, so it is not only a display error, there is for real nothing there, only the "window" .

Escape brings me normally back.

The Pong Game works.

Edited April 26, 2021 by Azuris

[Arno]

@Azuris: Oops! Thanks a lot for reporting that problem!

The problem only occurs when no saved games were stored with previous versions of CatacombGL. I didn't spot it myself as I have a ton of saved games. Damn, I should have been more careful.

 

I just published a new version 0.5.2, with a fix.

Thanks again and sorry for the trouble!

[Azuris]

17 hours ago, Arno said:

@Azuris: Oops! Thanks a lot for reporting that problem!

The problem only occurs when no saved games were stored with previous versions of CatacombGL. I didn't spot it myself as I have a ton of saved games. Damn, I should have been more careful.

 

I just published a new version 0.5.2, with a fix.

Thanks again and sorry for the trouble!

 

Ah no, don't feel bad, it is a Beta and i am not expacting it to be without Errors :)
In that sense, i am glad that i waited to play it and coincidentally spoted a Bug :)

 

So, i've spend now two Hours playing and it clearly is much more Fun, runs smoothly and all those little Additions are making the Game much more enjoyable.
With the Automap, Autofire and Customization of all the Thingies i would say the Catacomb Pack is on par or even a bit better than Wolfenstein 3D.

I've read through the Thread and imo those Additions are no Cheat, it only modernizes the Game in Points that are normal Features in Games as Doom.

 

Will play now step by step those Games, maybe i'll have some Ideas or find some Stuff.

Great Work and Thank you!

[Master O]

On 4/25/2021 at 6:51 AM, Azuris said:

Ahh the Compilation on Gog isn't getting a Offer at the Time :P
I have to search my old Floppy for this.
Seems like great Work that will make those Games more enjoyable :)

 

https://isthereanydeal.com/game/catacombspack/info/#/

 

Go to "Wait for Better Price", then Click on "Price History", de-select all options, then select GOG.

[Arno]

@Azuris: Thanks for the encouraging feedback! What struck me the most is the remark that the Catacombs Pack can now compete with a classic like Wolfenstein 3D. I guess that also shows the level of potential that is present in the Catacomb games.

 

It's good to hear that you enjoy the additional features.

 

Since the introduction of the automap feature, I've spotted three individual gamers on Twitch who streamed with the source port. They all made heavy use of the automap, as if it has always been there in the games. To be honest, at first I wasn't expecting that. But what you said makes sense; an automap is not seen as cheating, but as a commonly used feature.

[Azuris]

On 4/28/2021 at 10:56 PM, Arno said:

@Azuris:

It's good to hear that you enjoy the additional features.

 

 

After playing through the first one, i have a little recommendation :)
When saving over an existing File, it ask if you truly want to overwrite the File, you have to press Y or N.
I would recommend to only enable the Keys N, Y and Escape to work and/or to display a massage that it saved.

At the moment any other key throws you back.
Even if the Port supports international key layouts, i am never sure if it saved or not :)
(also because i am changing often between layouts)
So i am saving double to make it sure, one time pressing "Y" and the other "Z".
 

On 4/28/2021 at 10:56 PM, Arno said:

@Azuris: Thanks for the encouraging feedback! What struck me the most is the remark that the Catacombs Pack can now compete with a classic like Wolfenstein 3D. I guess that also shows the level of potential that is present in the Catacomb games.

 

Since the introduction of the automap feature, I've spotted three individual gamers on Twitch who streamed with the source port. They all made heavy use of the automap, as if it has always been there in the games. To be honest, at first I wasn't expecting that. But what you said makes sense; an automap is not seen as cheating, but as a commonly used feature.

 

Even Wolfenstein 3D got a official Automap in the SNES Port of the Game :)
I enjoy drawing a Map even nowadays in Games as Etrian Odyssey, but in a fast paced action Game?
No, that is a very welcome Feature and if you want to stay true, nobody is forcing you to use it :)

 

Being inspirated by your port i made up that little Texture and will use it as a easter egg to Honor it haha ^-^
 

[Gez]

13 minutes ago, Azuris said:

I would recommend to only enable the Keys N, Y and Escape to work and/or to display a massage that it saved.

If Escape can be used instead of N, then it'd make sense than Enter can be used instead of Y.

[Arno]

On 5/2/2021 at 6:42 PM, Azuris said:

 

After playing through the first one, i have a little recommendation :)
When saving over an existing File, it ask if you truly want to overwrite the File, you have to press Y or N.
I would recommend to only enable the Keys N, Y and Escape to work and/or to display a massage that it saved.

At the moment any other key throws you back.
Even if the Port supports international key layouts, i am never sure if it saved or not :)
(also because i am changing often between layouts)
So i am saving double to make it sure, one time pressing "Y" and the other "Z".

 

Thanks for this recommendation. It makes perfect sense; I will restrict the keys to N, Y, Escape and also Enter, as suggested by you and @Gez.

Additionally, I just noticed that the DOS version of Catacomb 3D: The Descent briefly shows a tiny popup with "Saving '<name>'". In that way I could also give some feedback to the user that the game is saved.

 

On 5/2/2021 at 6:42 PM, Azuris said:

Being inspirated by your port i made up that little Texture and will use it as a easter egg to Honor it haha ^-^
 

 

Awesome, I love it! Please let me know when a map is published with this texture. :)

[Jello]

@Arno, I really do have to commend you for the continued work on this project. I haven't played it for over a year, been busy and there have been other games to play in my free time. But I just tried out .5.2 a few days ago with Catacombs Abyss, and its smooth as butter.

 

I mean it felt pretty much perfect the last time I played it, can't remember what build that was, but it was when you took my suggestion to look in to mouse 4 and 5 support, and it was great back then. It's fantastic now, and I agree with Azurus, with some quality of life upgrades, the Catacombs games are more fun than Wolfenstein 3D. Yeah there's only three weapons as opposed to four, but the differing environments and variety of enemies makes up for that.

 

I've never seen a use for the automap, or why you would need to use it, but if people like it, more power to them. All of the destructable walls are clearly marked by different textures (Oh, that wall has blood on it, I'll fire a magic missile at it), but if it helps people enjoy the game, great. And really, if you're spamming the magic missile constantly like I do, you'll end up hitting them eventually. It certainly beats wall-humping. 

 

But again, kudos to you for working on this project. You've brought a classic back to life, and I'm really happy that you did.

Edited May 4, 2021 by Jello

[Arno]

Thanks a lot for your support and uplifting words, @Jello.

 

I find it interesting that on this forum back in 2012, the question was asked whether the Catacomb games are worth getting. The overall response showed that the Catacomb games were on life support at that time.

Fast forward nine years later and we're looking at an easy-to-get bundle on GOG, all the source code published and two actively maintained source ports. Not bad at all.

[Master O]

20 hours ago, Jello said:

I mean it felt pretty much perfect the last time I played it, can't remember what build that was, but it was when you took my suggestion to look in to mouse 4 and 5 support, and it was great back then. It's fantastic now, and I agree with Azurus, with some quality of life upgrades, the Catacombs games are more fun than Wolfenstein 3D. Yeah there's only three weapons as opposed to four, but the differing environments and variety of enemies makes up for that.

 

But I like humping walls to find secrets!  (joking)

 

*presses a pushwall and ends up at Jello's house, wondering how I found that pushwall in the first place*.

Edited May 4, 2021 by Master O

[Jello]

3 hours ago, Arno said:

Thanks a lot for your support and uplifting words, @Jello.

 

I find it interesting that on this forum back in 2012, the question was asked whether the Catacomb games are worth getting. The overall response showed that the Catacomb games were on life support at that time.

Fast forward nine years later and we're looking at an easy-to-get bundle on GOG, all the source code published and two actively maintained source ports. Not bad at all.

I completely forgot about that thread. Reading my old posts is really weird, however my thoughts haven't really changed; it was worth playing then, and especially with CatacombsGL, it's worth playing now. Thanks again for making it playable and enjoyable on modern systems Arno.

Edited May 5, 2021 by Jello

[Arno]

On 4/25/2021 at 10:30 PM, Azuris said:

I think i'll buy it at full price, i'll not die for those 5€ and i haven't to wait to save a Euro.

 

Perhaps a bit quicker than anticipated, but the Catacombs Pack is on sale again as of today, along with a bunch of other retro shooters. This time the sale will only last a week.

[Arno]

CatacombGL 0.5.3 is released!

As @Azuris and @Gez suggested, you can only save over an existing file now with either the Y or Enter key. It will briefly show a popup message as well. Cancelling the save can be done with the N or escape key.

 

I also implemented the overscan border as @NY00123 suggested. The border will now flash red when the player gets hurt. It flashes yellow when an item gets destroyed. It will flash white in Catacomb Apocalypse when approaching a fake wall.

 

 

Elsewhere I received the suggestion to add monster/secret/item statistics to the automap, which helps completionists in doing 100% runs. I tried to make it look a bit like in Doom.

 

Edited August 30, 2021 by Arno

[Scuba Steve]

Your dedication to this port and preserving the Catacomb series is commendable.

[Coopersville]

I'll probably be looking into this very soon. 

[NY00123]

Nice to see the overscan border implemented!

 

While it's expected that its presence will be less significant, was the border color used after the player gets hurt chosen on purpose?

I can see that it flashes bright red. With the original executables, it flashes dark purple in Catacomb 3-D and dark red in the Adventure Series.

[Arno]

On 8/31/2021 at 12:33 AM, Scuba Steve said:

Your dedication to this port and preserving the Catacomb series is commendable.

Thank you; it's a pleasure.

 

On 9/1/2021 at 2:11 AM, Coopersville said:

I'll probably be looking into this very soon. 

Great!

 

On 9/4/2021 at 11:09 PM, NY00123 said:

Nice to see the overscan border implemented!

 

While it's expected that its presence will be less significant, was the border color used after the player gets hurt chosen on purpose?

I can see that it flashes bright red. With the original executables, it flashes dark purple in Catacomb 3-D and dark red in the Adventure Series.

Thanks for testing the new release, and also for the additional bug reports on Github. Much appreciated!

 

My intention was to match the border colors from the original games, but I completely overlooked that the border color in Catacomb 3-D is different from the Adventure series. Based on the source code, it looks like FLASHCOLOR is set to 5 in Catacomb 3-D and to 12 in the Adventure series. I got the definition of the default EGA palette from the ModdingWiki. The colors 5 and 12 would then refer to respectively magenta (dark purple) and bright red. Are you sure about the dark red (color 4) in the Adventure Series?

[Azuris]

Thank you for that Implementation.

Takes away the Paranoia of not having saved :)

 

Hope i'll find this Weekend Time for a Playthrough.

[NY00123]

On 9/7/2021 at 11:17 PM, Arno said:

Thanks for testing the new release, and also for the additional bug reports on Github. Much appreciated!

 

You're welcome!

 

On 9/7/2021 at 11:17 PM, Arno said:

My intention was to match the border colors from the original games, but I completely overlooked that the border color in Catacomb 3-D is different from the Adventure series. Based on the source code, it looks like FLASHCOLOR is set to 5 in Catacomb 3-D and to 12 in the Adventure series. I got the definition of the default EGA palette from the ModdingWiki. The colors 5 and 12 would then refer to respectively magenta (dark purple) and bright red. Are you sure about the dark red (color 4) in the Adventure Series?

 

As far as I know, 12 should look the same as 4, with both translating to dark red. I think that the palettes used by VW_FadeIn and VW_FadeOut can be an additional hint. In its initialized stated, all values in the colors array are in the ranges 0-7 and 0x18-0x1f.

 

I'm not even sure my implementation is fully correct, although it might practically lead to matching results for the supported games. You may also compare to DOSBox-X with surface output and an overscan border, albeit it currently doesn't seem to change the border to black from another color while in EGA mode 0xD.

 

The most reliable results will obviously come from vintage 80-90s hardware, although even then, exact results may greatly depend on the video adapter and/or monitor.

 

Basically, it's related to the EGA not just re-using the same RGB-I monitor connector as the CGA's, but also to:

1. The EGA being compatible with monitors made for the CGA, at least for 200-lines modes (including EGA's 16-color graphics mode 0xD).

2. EGA monitors (or at least IBM 5154) being compatible with the CGA.

 

When the EGA is used with an EGA-compatible monitor, you can take advantage of a 640x350 16-color mode, in which the colors are chosen from a 64-color palette.

 

While the monitor connector's pins representing the blue, green and red bits remained the same as with the CGA, the pin representing the intensity bit in CGA / 200-lines modes was repurposed for secondary green (bright green) in the EGA's 350-lines mode. Additional pins were repurposed for secondary blue and secondary red.

 

Therefore, while I can't guarantee this is correct, this is what the value you set for a palette/overscan color probably means for the EGA and compatible:

- When used with a 640x350 mode, bits 0-5 represent all possible color bits, covering the EGA's whole 64-bit color palette. 6 connector pins are used accordingly.

- In a 200-lines mode, the data transmitted via the relevant connector pins for each pixel will still be the same, but the monitor will process them in a CGA-compatible manner. Thus, secondary green will be processed as intensity.