Mid-Game Disc Swapping

CD-i Emulator is the first fully evolving windows compatible emulator project of the Philips CD-i system. Discuss the emulator, compatibility issues, seek help and support to get the program operating and post what you'd like to see in future revisions of the program. CD-i players ROM (BIOS) requests, begging and links will not be tolerated. Otherwise feel free to post your thoughts on this amazing new piece of software.
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Kao
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Mid-Game Disc Swapping

Post by Kao » Sun Aug 06, 2006 2:04 am

Telling the CD-I Emulator to load up a different disc in mid-gamplay of another game can produce some very interesting results!

In Zelda: Wand of Gamelon, and Link: Faces of Evil, for example, you can actually swap the games back and forth and still have them run fairly stable. This is because the games are nearly identical structurally, and data can be swapped out without much of a problem.

In the case of these two Zelda games, swapping discs can cause the music to change, and can also result in levels and objects from the other game being loaded instead! Check out what happens when I load a level in Faces of Evil after I've told CD-I emulator to start reading from the Wand of Gamelon disc:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1X3Yd2rXs4

Some sprites can also get swapped out. When switching Faces of Evil to Wand of Gamelon, all of the "back to map" icons are replaced by these funky hearts:
Image
I do not recall this sprite from Wand of Gamelon, and I can only assume it's an unused "beta" sprite.

Anyway, I thought this was fun. cdi-fan, please don't remove the ability to swap out games in your next update if you don't mind; It's too much fun! XD :lol:
It's like 1993 all over again!
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Post by Devin » Sun Aug 06, 2006 12:01 pm

That's completely BaRmY! Thanks for that one Kao, nice heart as well :D
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Re: Mid-Game Disc Swapping

Post by WindowsKiller » Sun Aug 06, 2006 6:54 pm

Kao wrote:cdi-fan, please don't remove the ability to swap out games in your next update if you don't mind
Next update? :lol: Will there be ever one?

(sorry, couldn't resist)
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Re: Mid-Game Disc Swapping

Post by Bas » Mon Aug 07, 2006 6:42 am

WindowsKiller wrote:Next update? :lol: Will there be ever one?

(sorry, couldn't resist)
You know, every time someone asks about this, five more months will be added to the release date of the next emulator.
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Post by WindowsKiller » Mon Aug 07, 2006 9:32 am

Frankly speaking, I really gave up hope that we ever see an update...
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Kao
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Post by Kao » Mon Aug 07, 2006 6:20 pm

Aw, come on! That can't be very encouraging to cdi fan, you know. :(
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Post by WindowsKiller » Mon Aug 07, 2006 6:29 pm

Kao wrote:Aw, come on! That can't be very encouraging to cdi fan, you know. :(
cdifan is not replying to any questions about the emulator for months. That is not very encouraging for all who spend 25 Euro for his software! I know that sounds harsh, but I really feel ripped off. And I'm sure others feel the same, even if they don't say it. We didn't even see a small update for almost a year now, and that's not ok for payed software. I only bought the full version because I expected regular updates. And what did I get? An emulator that hardly can play a handful of games and does not even support keyboard controls...
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Post by Devin » Mon Aug 07, 2006 7:10 pm

Everybody is entitled to an opinion.

From my perspective CD-i Emulator is an invaluable tool. However my viewpoint is hopelessly dependent on the use of this most excellent tool for new Black Moon resources and also the occasional freelance work for people that want some great quality CD-i screenshots.

I am hankering for an update like everybody else all the same! :wink:
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Post by Kao » Mon Aug 07, 2006 8:49 pm

The cdi emulator has been wonderful for me. Being able to play these games right on my computer with flawless video is great. It's also allowed me to grab tons of resources from these games that were previously inaccessible to me. So I've enjoyed it a great deal.

Yes, I'd love to see some more updates in the near future, but I already feel like it was worth the expense.
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Post by Bas » Mon Aug 07, 2006 8:54 pm

Being able to support something valuable like this was already worth the money. I don't like people actually demanding updates or anything. Just wait and see, enjoy what's coming. Even if you think a year is a long time: You remember how long it took for a properly working emulator to begin with?
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Post by Devin » Mon Aug 07, 2006 11:38 pm

Bas wrote:You remember how long it took for a properly working emulator to begin with?
Amen to that brother! :roll:
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Post by cdifan » Thu Aug 10, 2006 9:33 pm

Okay, now I feel compelled to respond. Contrary to what some people here seem to think, I have actually been doing a some CD-i Emulator development and am also still following these forums.

However, CD-i Emulator was and still is a hobby project of mine; there are more important things in my life (to me, anyway) such as a daytime job, extensive house remodeling and preparing for our first child, hopefully to be born near the end of this year.

I still stand behind my original promises, but I never did and still won't give any guarantees about release timing. You can try the limited edition for free, and I know that many people have. If you've paid for the unlimited edition, you knew exactly what you were paying for and I have gotten next to no complaints. I still consider the fee reasonable, despite the rampant and downright insulting comments on some forums (present company mostly excluded, fortunately). If I was making significant amounts of money from this, there would be that much more motivation, but that is unfortunately not the case...

I have actually been considering releasing (part of) the emulator sources, but it seems that there is really no one out there who is both sufficiently motivated and has sufficient technical CD-i knowledge and/or resources to finish this thing. If you think you satisfy these constraints, why haven't I heard from you? There must be some more ex-developers out there! I have had a few offers of technical help, but so far they have not been very promising...

Regarding the original subject of this thread, in-game disc swapping actually violates the emulation because a "real" CD-i player would normally reset into the player shell when its tray was opened. I will probably keep the present behaviour, however.

:x CD-i Fan :(
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Re: Mid-Game Disc Swapping

Post by Devin » Thu Aug 10, 2006 11:00 pm

Kao wrote:Some sprites can also get swapped out. When switching Faces of Evil to Wand of Gamelon, all of the "back to map" icons are replaced by these funky hearts:
Image
I do not recall this sprite from Wand of Gamelon, and I can only assume it's an unused "beta" sprite.
If we get funky hearts like this why not! :D

and of course...
cdifan wrote:Our first child, hopefully to be born near the end of this year.
CONGRATULATIONS! That's sure to disturb any leisure time you had left :wink:
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Post by Bas » Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:57 am

I guess it's not about the lack of updates per se, but to be a little informed on what's going on with the project. If people interested in the emulator read on a blog or post about the current situation, they would understand I'm sure. Because they don't know anything, they start questioning and rumouring (quite understandable...)

As a result of this I feel bad for this answer now, which seems like both ways are a little bothered but this could have been prevented with a little correspondence, IMO.

It's the same thing with other projects like Frog Feast, as Charles just doesn't seem to be close to the CD-i's interest. And it's the same like "Le Monde du CD-i", with a non-responding team and 'projects' which are announced but we don't hear anything about anymore.

As a fact we just loose touch after a while, on some parts it already happened...:(

Congratulations with your child, cdifan, this is a wonderfull happening and I can understand the emulator is the last thing on your mind right now.
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Post by Erronous » Sat Aug 12, 2006 8:40 am

cdifan wrote: Regarding the original subject of this thread, in-game disc swapping actually violates the emulation because a "real" CD-i player would normally reset into the player shell when its tray was opened. I will probably keep the present behaviour, however.
No, this is not correct. You can swap discs on a real CD-i player without resetting it.
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