POP cutscene animations

[STE'86]

Are the animation frames for the PC cutscenes accessible?

Better yet are they downloadable from anywhere?

am currently converting the opening titles to the c64 and this would make life much easier.

Steve

[mk1995]

Well, you could use PR to extract the "title.dat" (title screen and story exposition), "pv.dat" (cutscenes) and "prince.dat" (torch fire) into bitmap format.

Also, welcome to the community.

[PeteD]

Whilst on the subject.. does anyone have any idea where the animation lists/frame x and y offsets etc are stored? From what I can make out they're not in the dat files..


Hi btw, I'm working with Ste on this stuff and he couldn't get hold of me at the time to ask about ripping the intro anims. I'd done all the other game stuff for him a while ago with PR but there was no thought about the intro at the time so I never passed those on to him.


Pete

[musa]

Whilst on the subject.. does anyone have any idea where the animation lists/frame x and y offsets etc are stored? From what I can make out they're not in the dat files..


Hi btw, I'm working with Ste on this stuff and he couldn't get hold of me at the time to ask about ripping the intro anims. I'd done all the other game stuff for him a while ago with PR but there was no thought about the intro at the time so I never passed those on to him.


Pete

I remember poirot saying that the animation list was near the end of the .EXE file. No idea where the x and y offsets are though.

[Norbert]

I'm not sure, but I think he also asked his question here...
viewtopic.php?f=70&t=2919
...and David helped him out.

[PeteD]

Yeah, thanks guys A mixture of the freeprince stuff and the addresses of the tables in the exe has helped immensely

[Norbert]

Related to the subject of this thread, so posting here...

Not everyone may be aware that the cutscene between levels 11 and 12 is different if you're almost running out of time.
I didn't know, tacosalad mentioned this to me.

Here is the regular cutscene:



Here is the cutscene if you're almost running out of time:

[mk1995]

[...] almost running out of time.

To be more precise, the alternate cutscene plays when you have 5 minutes or less left on the clock. In CusPoP, the cutscene bears the name "Princess waiting 2", as opposed to just "Princess waiting".

I found out about it through PsychedelicEyeball's Let's Play, by the way.

[tacosalad]

Throw your imagination back to 1989 for a moment. My college dorm-mates we were playing the Apple II version of the game. None of us had ever finished the game, so we didn't even know how close we were getting. It was late, after midnight, but a crowd had gathered to watch me play.

I'd been rationing my time and save points with the expectation that the game probably ended at level 10, just because that seemed like a nice round number. But the game didn't end there and I really was running out of time. I finished level 11 with less than 2 minutes remaining...



...then it showed that cut-scene, one of my spectators gasped aloud when the princess turned as if an intruder was entering her suite, then my blood ran cold when the "Danger!" leitmotif music played! (On the Apple II version the music plays after the princess has turned.) For an instant we all thought it was over, but the scene cut away and started level 12 with a mixture of relief (that the game was contiuing) and abject fear (time's up!).

I lost that game.

So I replayed the game from level 10, my last save point. The next time I reached level 12 I had sufficient time that the princess didn't turn and the "Danger!" music didn't play. It was a reassuring omen that the game might be win-able this time! I won that time, the first any of us had seen how it ended.

Give Jordan Mechner full marks for including such a subtle but dramatic twist. No doubt it was exactly the effect he intended--we were positively electrified!

[Norbert]

Cool.
Yeah, such small things can make a big difference.

[mk1995]

Ah man, it's a shame I never even got to see that scene when I first beat the game (I had a bit more than 20 minutes left at the end, I remember).

I have an Apple II emulator and the disk images here, so I always had a mind of playing through the Apple II version, now, after reading tacosalad's trip down memory land, more than ever. However, after I beat Level 2 and it tells me to turn the disk over, I'm a bit stumped. I've tried every combination of the three disk images, but I always ended up with a black screen upon hitting Enter.

[tacosalad]

I have an Apple II emulator and the disk images here, so I always had a mind of playing through the Apple II version, now, after reading tacosalad's trip down memory land, more than ever. However, after I beat Level 2 and it tells me to turn the disk over, I'm a bit stumped. I've tried every combination of the three disk images, but I always ended up with a black screen upon hitting Enter.

If it's three disks then it must be a 'cracked' copy, a logical choice for running under an emulator. (The original PoP disks would be unsuitable for an emulator.) I've seen a 3 disk crack with this scheme: the first disk is Side 1 and goes in Drive 1 to start the game, the second disk is Side 2 and goes in Drive 1 after it asks you to flip the disk, the third disk goes in Drive 2 and stays there the whole time to supply extra sectors for the other two disks. If that doesn't work, you might have a crack that uses a different scheme--try booting the third disk or view it under Apple DOS or ProDos to see if it contains instructions.

AFAIK the Apple II version came first. It had a lot of features and quirks that weren't carried forward into other platforms (which were otherwise perfect clones) such as the exit-door leitmotif, the door-bypass 'cheat' (or bonus) on level 8, and a sadder (but also less dramatic) musical theme when time runs out. It might be worth documenting the differences in the Other Platforms sub-forum; maybe I could record video illustrations of them on my old Apple II.

[Norbert]

By using David's instructions in this thread, I can play the Apple II version using the KEGS emulator that is also available for Windows.

Basically, get yourself the single .2MG image here or here, and add it to the Disk Configuration (F4) of KEGS.

Under GNU/Linux, the speed is set to "Unlimited" by default. To change this, open the settings with F4, set Speed to 1.0MHz with the left-right keys, then exit the config.

How to move: for keyboard mode (to enable, press the up arrow key) movement is with the ijkl keys, ou keys to run-jump, and Alt to fight and make small steps.
For joystick mode, the numeric keypad is being used.

It might be worth documenting the differences [...]

Some of the stuff I noticed while playing the Apple II version is that most DOS tricks also work for the Apple II version, but not all.
It's not possible to 'hop' over the floor while crouching, I missed that while playing, especially when trying to pass closing gates.
While running and then jumping, you have to temporarily let go of the running key to make sure you keep running.
Also, you need to wait until the battle and exit door raise music stops before you can continue playing.

[mk1995]

A friend of mine made a video of some of the different ports' Game Over scenes, including the Apple II, for which I supplied him with the footage.


Skip to 5:53 for the Game Over.

If it's three disks then it must be a 'cracked' copy, a logical choice for running under an emulator. (The original PoP disks would be unsuitable for an emulator.) I've seen a 3 disk crack with this scheme: the first disk is Side 1 and goes in Drive 1 to start the game, the second disk is Side 2 and goes in Drive 1 after it asks you to flip the disk, the third disk goes in Drive 2 and stays there the whole time to supply extra sectors for the other two disks. If that doesn't work, you might have a crack that uses a different scheme--try booting the third disk or view it under Apple DOS or ProDos to see if it contains instructions.

Thanks for the hint. I'll see if I can get it to work. If not, I'll just PM you with the specs of the emulator and how I initially boot up the game.

[David]

It's not possible to 'hop' over the floor while crouching, I missed that while playing, especially when trying to pass closing gates.

You need to use down-left (1) or down-right (3) (depending on your direction) to do that.
For some reason, pressing down (2) and left (4) is not the same as pressing down-left (1).

While running and then jumping, you have to temporarily let go of the running key to make sure you keep running.

Same as above. Use up-left (7) or up-right (9), but in this case you need to release left (4) or right (6).

Also, you need to wait until the battle and exit door raise music stops before you can continue playing.

http://popc64.blogspot.hu/2012/03/part- ... -push.html says that:

Since the Apple II is challenged when it comes to sound and music, you can't have animation and music at the same time. So they alternate each other. A bit of animation, then a bit of music and so on.

Actually, the page says this about the cutscenes, but it looks like it is also true in-game.
Interestingly, the flames of the torches continue to move.