Status Microcosm CD-i

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WindowsKiller
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Post by WindowsKiller » Sun Jul 30, 2006 11:29 am

It's weekend and I'm dying for some information. :roll:

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Devin
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Post by Devin » Sun Jul 30, 2006 11:50 am

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It certainly did! :D

I think Bas packed his player away too well, so he express posted me a burned copy and voila... Microcosm on CD-i. Excellent stuff and thanks so much for your help 'WindowsKiller', this means I can finally work on some quality resources such as Screenshots and Video Sequences. The latter is worth special mention because the quality is absolutely amazing!
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Post by WindowsKiller » Sun Jul 30, 2006 7:32 pm

Great! :)

How playable is that version actually? The review on Black Moon Monthly is a bit wrong in places. That tunnel made of grid lines is the docking sequence and very hard to understand if you play the game for the first time (I had the same problem when I played the FM-Towns version for the first time). It's not some kind of debug mode or unfinished. So the game might be much more complete than we currently assume.

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Post by Devin » Sun Jul 30, 2006 7:52 pm

Yeah, that part is a little weird at first. Once you learn how to progress by aligning the cursor with those squares you gradually inch closer to that spherical core then after a minute or two the game freezes. Bas has tested on a 450 (I think?) and I did this on my 370, so we'll try a few other players first to see if it goes any further. Not too optimistic on this front however.

Also have a MegaCD version sitting right next to me. So it would be interesting to take some comparison shots.

In the mean time I'll try to capture some videos ASAP and leave them for Bas in a future Blog perhaps!
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Post by WindowsKiller » Sun Jul 30, 2006 8:11 pm

There must be more than the intro and one level, given that the disc holds 230 megabytes. However, the disc is 12 years old and using mode 2 (hence no error correction), and the crash might be the result of damaged data.

So Bas' next task is to test the disc for C2 errors. :D That can be done with Nero CD-DVD Speed (Extra->CD Quality Test...), but requires a CD/DVD drive that is able to report C2 errors.
Also have a MegaCD version sitting right next to me. So it would be interesting to take some comparison shots.
All versions of Microcosm are different, by the way. Only the versions for PC and FM-Towns are identical, since both systems share the same architecture, and they just ported the code. The best one is the Amiga CD32 version, so you might want to compare that one with the CD-i version. :)

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Post by Devin » Sun Jul 30, 2006 8:27 pm

WindowsKiller wrote:The best one is the Amiga CD32 version, so you might want to compare that one with the CD-i version.
That thought had crossed my mind. Ideally I'd like to compare it on the original hardware then setup the same video feeds so it is a fair test.

Also on the size of this file. The FMV takes up 182MB alone! At a guess I'd say this was uncompressed footage which really shows in the Introductions quality. I'd be interested to know if they intended to maintain this quality or alternatively compress it down if the number of eventual CDs used for this game was a considered factor.
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Post by WindowsKiller » Sun Jul 30, 2006 8:40 pm

If it's a normal MPEG-1 video stream, then 182 MB would mean 18 minutes of video. And that's what it must be, simply because the cd drive is single speed and cannot handle more than that. ;) The intro is long, but not that long! So I can only repeat myself; there must be much more than one level.

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Post by Bas » Sun Jul 30, 2006 8:44 pm

Total amount of video I've seen on the disc is around 15 minutes (including the game-scenes itself, which is a guess, so it sounds about right... I don't believe it's seamless branching however, perhaps there's a way to check that!

By the way, You're right about that grid lines scenes and I had no idea what this was about as this was the first Microcosm I ever played, therefor mentioning it as a debug mode is a right first guess I believe :D

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Post by Devin » Sun Jul 30, 2006 8:45 pm

WindowsKiller wrote:If it's a normal MPEG-1 video stream, then 182 MB would mean 18 minutes of video.
Your estimate is precisely right! Well, only slightly out as the MPEG-1 is 20 Minutes and 27 Seconds long.

I need to use a decent Media Player to view the raw footage through to the end, Windows Media Player just doesn't cut it!
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Post by WindowsKiller » Mon Jul 31, 2006 9:44 am

Bas wrote:[...] therefor mentioning it as a debug mode is a right first guess I believe :D
Well, okay. Provided that you thought the FMV sequences were done as wire frame first. :lol:

Oh, can I get some exclusive screenshots or movie clips from the game? I'd like to write a small review for the Games That Weren't portal, but people tend to not read stuff like that unless you have something to show. ;)

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Post by Bas » Mon Jul 31, 2006 11:12 am

you can wait for Black Moon to post some more high-res screens and videos, you won't have to wait too long for that. Then using it as a reference will be fine. No exclusive shots...

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Post by WindowsKiller » Mon Jul 31, 2006 11:42 am

Then it doesn't make sense at all. Thanks anyway...

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Post by Devin » Mon Jul 31, 2006 12:13 pm

Easy tigers! :wink:

Seriously, we appreciate your help. I've been scoping your sites 'Windows Killer', some top notch material. It's the kinda stuff I love to spend an afternoon reading through. Excellent work and we'd love to see CD-i featured.

Onto the subject of screenshots. I figure we've waited this long to find a prototype of Microcosm (over a decade!) a month or two isn't gonna harm us any. After we've published the screenshots through Black Moon/Blog then your welome to use them with reference to the source on your website. Just takes a little time that's all, hope you understand.
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Post by WindowsKiller » Mon Jul 31, 2006 12:25 pm

Hehe, first of all, I'm not upset or something. :P

What I meant is that it doesn't make sense for me to use information and screenshots after you published them. I hate to copy or mirror stuff that's already available somewhere else. What I wanted to do is a teaser review, and tell people that more info will be available on Black Moon soon.

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Post by Devin » Mon Jul 31, 2006 12:45 pm

The final decision rests with Bas in the end and I'll support whatever view he takes. He is the guy that spent a year tracking this baby down after all! :D
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