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Demo News 131
.Start.of.DemoNews.131.........................................................
______//\__________________________ __ _______________ ___ //\_______
\____ \ _______ _ _ ______ \ // \| \ _______ | \// ______//
// | \ _) \ \_// \ | \ // \ \ _) \ | \______ \
// | \ \ | \ | \ // \ \ //~\ \ // \
\_____ //______//___| //________// \____\_____//______//_________//________//
\_____// |____//
DemoNews #131 - 30 Sep 1996
Subscribers : 2500
DemoNews is produced by Hornet. Change : -8
The Hornet Archive is at ftp.cdrom.com//pub//demos Archive Size : 3284M
==[Contents]===================================================================
Calendar
Sites
Top Downloads
Uploads
Articles
Introduction................................Snowman
Life Before Demos - Part 1 // 2..............Trixter
Demos vs. Television........................GD
A Graphician's Tip Book - Part 6............Shaithis
Demobit '96 Has Moved.......................Infi
Closing
==[Calendar]===================================================================
Date Event Location Concact Points
--------- ----------- --------- ---------------------------------------------
30 Aug 96 AntIQ Hungary aboy@ttk.jpte.hu
www.jpte.hu//~aboy
30 Aug 96 Gardening Greece gmanol@physics.upatras.gr
westnet.hol.gr//gardening96
* <-- YOU ARE HERE
30 Sep 96 Coven Australia redhaze@student.adelaide.edu.au
student.adelaide.edu.au//~ed
?? Nov 96 Demobit Slovakia demobit@elf.stuba.sk
internet.sk//demobit//english.htm
21 Mar 97 Mekka Germany amable@aol.com
==[Sites]======================================================================
Category Location Contact Points
-------------- --------- ----------------------------------------------------
Hornet Archive USA ftp.cdrom.com//pub//demos
HA Mirrors Sweden ftp.luth.se//pub//msdos//demos
S. Africa ftp.sun.ac.za//pub//msdos//demos
USA (FL) ftp.uwp.edu//pub//msdos//demos
USA (PA) ftp.co.iup.edu//code (from //demos//code)
Other Archives Belgium hagar.arts.kuleuven.ac.be//demos
Sweden ftp.arosnet.se//demo
Spain ftp.siapi.es//blastersound//demos//incoming
Finland ftp.fm.org
Holland sdc.wtm.tudelft.nl//pub//music
==[Downloads]==================================================================
Category Times File
-------- -- ----- -----------------------------------------------------------
Demos 01 00224 //demos//1996//a//ai_strok.zip
02 00215 //demos//1996//m//machines.arj
03 00207 //demos//1996//m//machines.a02
04 00207 //demos//1996//m//machines.a01
05 00186 //demos//1996//c//ctststp1.zip
06 00185 //demos//1996//c//ctststp2.zip
07 00174 //demos//1996//m//machifix.zip
08 00114 //demos//1996//c//caleid.zip
09 00111 //demos//1996//p//pure.zip
10 00105 //demos//1993//0-9//2ndreal1.lzh
Music 01 00440 //music//programs//players//m4w230sx.zip
02 00400 //music//programs//players//cp16.zip
03 00373 //music//programs//trackers//scrmt321.zip
04 00315 //music//programs//players//cp17.zip
05 00228 //music//programs//players//m4w230sl.zip
06 00206 //music//programs//trackers//ft206.zip
07 00164 //music//programs//players//play230b.zip
08 00096 //music//programs//players//cpawe17c.zip
09 00084 //music//programs//trackers//it205.zip
10 00076 //music//programs//players//cpgp17b.zip
Graphics 01 00020 //graphics//images//1996//c//chantal.zip
02 00018 //graphics//images//1996//t//tubterro.zip
03 00016 //graphics//images//1996//a//airwar.zip
04 00014 //graphics//images//1996//g//girl3.zip
05 00012 //graphics//allgraph.zip
06 00011 //graphics//images//1996//r//runbitch.zip
07 00011 //graphics//images//1996//i//impgunwo.zip
08 00011 //graphics//images//1996//g//godsarmy.zip
09 00011 //graphics//images//1996//c//crucifie.zip
10 00011 //graphics//images//1996//b//babylona.zip
Code 01 00024 //code_review//graph//water//water.zip
02 00023 //code_review//demosrc//vga-vul1.zip
03 00023 //code_review//demosrc//ggouro2.zip
04 00022 //code_review//demosrc//asciisrc.zip
05 00019 //code_review//demosrc//src_less.zip
06 00018 //code_review//graph//tunnel//tunnel.zip
07 00018 //code_review//graph//texture//tmaptut.zip
08 00018 //code_review//graph//rotation//fullr_1.zip
09 00018 //code_review//demosrc//phro.zip
10 00018 //code_review//demosrc//onesrc.zip
Incoming 01 00126 //incoming//music//programs//cpxml17d.zip
02 00119 //incoming//music//programs//cpitl17e.zip
03 00091 //incoming//music//programs//cpwss17f.zip
04 00061 //incoming//code//3ddemo.zip
05 00060 //incoming//demos//torso97.zip
06 00059 //incoming//demos//nil.zip
07 00056 //incoming//code//ringnes.arj
08 00050 //incoming//demos//potion.zip
09 00049 //incoming//music//programs//cs2.zip
10 00049 //incoming//music//programs//cpiwd17a.zip
Total files downloaded : 53,820
Size of files downloaded : 21,495,637k
==[Uploads]====================================================================
All ratings are subjective.
=---------------------------------------------------------------------(demos)-=
//pub//demos//demos Size Rated Description
=-----------------------------------------------------------------------------=
//1996//d//ds-boll.zip 76 ** Dizkoball by Deathstar
//1996//j//jka_nikk.zip 1027 *** Nikki by Jinrikisha
//1996//l//logus-t5.zip 902 **** Planet Logus-T5 by Camorra
//1996//t//tsh-asy.zip 21 ** BBS Asylum by Trash
//1996//t//tusken.zip 2 *+ BBS Tusken Raider by Brains Don't Bounce
//1996//x//xlm_de.zip 8 *+ BBS Digital Entropy by Xylem
=---------------------------------------------------------------------(music)-=
//pub//demos//music Size Rated Description
=-----------------------------------------------------------------------------=
//contests//tt//tt19-res.txt 6 The Trackering #19 Results
//disks//1995//a//allmk.zip 2483 ** Mortal Kombat 2 Songs : A
| collection of mods and s3ms
//disks//1995//g//goforthe.zip 864 **** Go For The Record 2 by Chorus, Sid
| of Majic 12
//disks//1995//h//hawkpack.arj 386 ** Music Package Volume 1 by Hawk
//disks//1995//h//hawkpak2.arj 424 **+ Music Package Volume 2 by Hawk
//disks//1995//h//hawkpak3.arj 161 **+ Music Package Volume 3 by Hawk
//disks//1995//h//hell-v1.zip 943 *** Hello Volume 1 by Primal
//disks//1995//i//is-hos95.zip 858 ** Hooked On Sound by The Pope
//disks//1995//k//kne_gbr3.zip 2526 + Kone Gabber Disk #3 by Kone
//disks//1995//m//mazvoid1.zip 1105 ** [1//2] Void - Disk 5 by Mazurka
//disks//1995//m//mazvoid2.zip 1037 ** [2//2] Void - Disk 5 by Mazurka
//disks//1995//o//ovr-acmd.zip 1227 **+ Autumn Collection by Overlook
//disks//1995//p//ph-0695a.zip 1403 ***+ [1//2] pHluid 06//1995 by pHluid
//disks//1995//p//ph-0695b.zip 1314 ***+ [2//2] pHluid 06//1995 by pHluid
//disks//1995//p//pure_m1a.zip 711 ** [1//4] Pure Tracks 1 by Pure
//disks//1995//p//pure_m1b.zip 727 ** [2//4] Pure Tracks 1 by Pure
//disks//1995//p//pure_m1c.zip 778 ** [3//4] Pure Tracks 1 by Pure
//disks//1995//p//pure_m1d.zip 503 ** [4//4] Pure Tracks 1 by Pure
//disks//1995//p//pure_m3a.zip 998 ** [1//3] Third Encounter Of The New
| Kin by Pure
//disks//1995//p//pure_m3b.zip 1249 ** [2//3] Third Encounter Of The New
| Kin by Pure
//disks//1995//p//pure_m3c.zip 782 ** [3//3] Third Encounter Of The New
| Kin by Pure
//disks//1995//r//rebirth1.zip 1034 *** [1//2] Mazurka Disk IV by Mazurka
//disks//1995//r//rebirth2.zip 1058 *** [2//2] Mazurka Disk IV by Mazurka
//disks//1995//r//remix_1.zip 903 ** Remixes by TKB
//disks//1995//r//ridersmd.zip 501 *+ Strange Style Music Disk by Riders
//disks//1995//r//rot.zip 905 ** ??? by Neophyte
//disks//1995//r//rr_ch6-1.zip 501 ** [1//5] Chapter 6 - The Dawn Of A New
| Age by Radical Rhythms
//disks//1995//r//rr_ch6-2.zip 1315 ** [2//5] Chapter 6 - The Dawn Of A New
| Age by Radical Rhythms
//disks//1995//r//rr_ch6-3.zip 1213 ** [3//5] Chapter 6 - The Dawn Of A New
| Age by Radical Rhythms
//disks//1995//r//rr_ch6-4.zip 1347 ** [4//5] Chapter 6 - The Dawn Of A New
| Age by Radical Rhythms
//disks//1995//r//rr_ch6-5.zip 1338 ** [5//5] Chapter 6 - The Dawn Of A New
| Age by Radical Rhythms
//disks//1995//s//sr-feb95.zip 558 **+ Februrary Compilation by The
| Surrounders
//disks//1995//t//thegirl.zip 386 + The Girl by Caleb
//disks//1995//t//traxx36.zip 791 * TRAXX Number 36 by Traxx
//disks//1995//t//traxx37.zip 938 *+ TRAXX Number 37 by Traxx
//disks//1995//v//varie1.zip 1829 ***+ Varie Music Pack by Breeze
//disks//1996//a//ayos3m-1.zip 372 ** First Set by Skilz
//disks//1996//a//ayos3m-2.zip 678 *+ Second Set by Skilz
//disks//1996//b//b-sides.zip 3509 *** B-Sides by Blanka
//disks//1996//b//b2b.zip 2626 *** Back To Basics by Labworks
//disks//1996//b//beaver01.zip 167 ***+ Beaver 1 - My Mother Was A Beaver
| by Mass
//disks//1996//b//bw-9x10.zip 645 *** 9x10 Musicdisk by Blackwolf
//disks//1996//c//c_seven.zip 1998 * Seven by Coiled
//disks//1996//c//castles.zip 177 ** Castles Of War by Chaos InterBot
//disks//1996//c//cb-ep1nr.arj 457 **+ 1996 Noise Revolutions by CBR
//disks//1996//c//craw_jnk.zip 1274 *** Dirty Dish Junkie by LakEEE
//disks//1996//c//craw_sep.zip 1082 *** Septic Love by LakEEE
//disks//1996//c//craw_vbs.zip 1045 *** Vibes by LakEEE
//disks//1996//c//ct-axis1.zip 1416 ** [1//3] Chaos Theory by Chaos Theory
//disks//1996//c//ct-axis2.zip 1347 ** [2//3] Chaos Theory by Chaos Theory
//disks//1996//c//ct-axis3.zip 570 ** [3//3] Chaos Theory by Chaos Theory
//disks//1996//d//def-dsk1.zip 1396 *** [1//2] Defy Disk 1 by Defy
//disks//1996//d//def-dsk2.zip 40 *** [2//2] Defy Disk 1 by Defy
//disks//1996//d//deste-02.zip 1468 *** Deste Pack 2 by Deste
//disks//1996//d//dna-unre.zip 1334 ***+ Unreleased - The Lost Collection by
| DNA
//disks//1996//d//dreams.zip 1196 * Living Dreams by Bakfire
//disks//1996//e//europe1.zip 1321 **+ [1//2] Europe by Andromeda
//disks//1996//e//europe2.zip 1194 **+ [2//2] Europe by Andromeda
//disks//1996//e//exposure.zip 1480 ***+ Exposure by Rhythm Greene
//disks//1996//f//fr-faces.zip 1406 **** Two Faces by Fatal Rage
//disks//1996//f//frustra1.zip 1072 ***+ [1//3] Frustration by Cybelius of
| Orange
//disks//1996//f//frustra2.zip 1209 ***+ [2//3] Frustration by Cybelius of
| Orange
//disks//1996//f//frustra3.zip 1224 ***+ [3//3] Frustration by Cybelius of
| Orange
//disks//1996//g//gem-1day.zip 629 ** Obsession by Dilvish
//disks//1996//h//hbv1.zip 4092 ** Hypnotic Beats by Labworks
//disks//1996//h//hd-flame.zip 1212 ** Flame Broiled by Hallogen Dreams
//disks//1996//m//m1-1yron.zip 2077 ***+ One Year On by Liam the Lemming,
| Amusic
//disks//1996//m//mdreams.zip 1747 ***+ Marshmellow Dreams by Intra
//disks//1996//m//musica.zip 2672 *** Musica Slovacca by Blue Zone
//disks//1996//p//ph-0996a.zip 1222 ***+ [1//3] pHluid 09//1996 by pHluid
//disks//1996//p//ph-0996b.zip 1244 ***+ [2//3] pHluid 09//1996 by pHluid
//disks//1996//p//ph-0996c.zip 856 ***+ [3//3] pHluid 09//1996 by pHluid
//disks//1996//p//ptm-para.a01 1106 ***+ [1//2] Paragon by Sir Roger
//disks//1996//p//ptm-para.arj 1422 ***+ [1//2] Paragon by Sir Roger
//disks//1996//r//raf-one.zip 1594 **+ Seeking One by The RAF
//disks//1996//r//resonanc.zip 1926 **** Resonance by Darkwolf
//disks//1996//s//sb-lor1.zip 1356 ** [1//2] Loss Of Reality by Subliminal
| of Martyr
//disks//1996//s//sb-lor2.zip 645 ** [2//2] Loss Of Reality by Subliminal
| of Martyr
//disks//1996//s//sb-mt1.zip 1392 *** [1//3] Mindtap by Subliminal of
| Martyr
//disks//1996//s//sb-mt2.zip 1242 *** [2//3] Mindtap by Subliminal of
| Martyr
//disks//1996//s//sb-mt3.zip 1192 *** [3//3] Mindtap by Subliminal of
| Martyr
//disks//1996//s//sh-evolu.zip 1636 **+ Evolution by Shaithis
//disks//1996//s//spl9607a.zip 1431 *+ [1//2] Spleen 07//1996 by Spleen
//disks//1996//s//spl9607b.zip 1411 *+ [2//2] Spleen 07//1996 by Spleen
//disks//1996//s//spl9608.zip 1395 ** Spleen 08//1996 by Spleen
//disks//1996//s//spl9609.zip 1054 *+ Spleen 09//1996 by Spleen
//disks//1996//t//tl_mtvtn.zip 1418 ** Motivation by Brass Monkey
//disks//1996//t//tripto2a.zip 1438 *** [1//2] Tripout 2 by Trip
//disks//1996//t//tripto2b.zip 1463 *** [2//2] Tripout 2 by Trip
//disks//1996//u//u-dish.zip 588 **+ Hotdish by Injekted
//disks//1996//u//u-lucid2.zip 1796 ***+ Lucid by Ultrabeat
//disks//1996//u//us303.zip 2920 ** Sector 303 by Labworks
//disks//1996//v//viv-aos1.zip 1283 ***+ [1//3] Aspects of Sound by Vivid
//disks//1996//v//viv-aos2.zip 1349 ***+ [2//3] Aspects of Sound by Vivid
//disks//1996//v//viv-aos3.zip 492 ***+ [3//3] Aspects of Sound by Vivid
//disks//1996//w//waveform.zip 1430 *+ The Synthetic Minds by Waveform
//disks//1996//y//yak9604b.zip 2064 * Yak 04//1996 by Yak
//disks//1996//z//zinc-bs.zip 243 ** B-Sides by Zinc
//programs//mixers//mixer112.zip 17 Mixer for SB16 and AWE32
//programs//players//amp20.zip 55 AMP v2.0 : for SB AWE 32
//programs//players//cpitl17e.zip 18 Cubic Player v1.7 IT Loader
//programs//players//cpiwd17a.zip 16 Cubic Player v1.7 GUS PnP Driver
//programs//players//cpwss17f.zip 4 Cubic Player v1.7 WSS Driver
//programs//players//cpxml17d.zip 14 Cubic Player v1.7 XM Loader
//programs//players//mmp3960.zip 93 The Multi Module Player v3.3960 :
| SB cards only
//programs//players//mxmp15.zip 97 Mxm Play v1.5 : Tiny XM player for
| GUS
//programs//samplers//cs2.zip 201 Compact Split v2.0 and CD Read v1.0
| : Grabs tracks digitally (no
| noise) from audio-cds and splits
| the tracks into perfectly cut
| sample.
//programs//samplers//readcda2.zip 32 Read CD Digital Audio v2.0 : Update
| of readcda.zip
//programs//trackers//ft2doc.zip 16 Fast Tracker 2 Printable
| Documentation
//programs//trackers//vs11_sw.zip 704 Velvet Studio v1.1
//songs//1991//mod//florence.zip 160 **** Florence by Audiomonster
//songs//1993//mod//electrif.zip 159 **** Electrification by ???
//songs//1993//mod//hardfolk.zip 293 **** TP93:m4ch:02: Hardfolk by Trap
//songs//1993//mod//tango.zip 59 **** Tango Love Song by Lizardking
//songs//1993//mod//trnsatln.arj 213 **** Trans Atlantic by Lizardking
//songs//1994//mod//e//endoft.zip 119 **** End of Trouble by Scorpik
//songs//1994//mod//g//guru.zip 100 ***+ Guru by Scorpik
//songs//1994//mod//h//hurr1can.zip 267 **** Hurricane by Scorpik
//songs//1994//mod//p//proba.zip 219 **** TP94:m4ch:: Proba Mikrofonu by
| Scorpik
//songs//1994//mtm//mu-hot.zip 208 ** This Beat Is Hot by Mustang
//songs//1994//mtm//seperate.zip 176 **+ Seperate Ways by Fortunado
//songs//1994//mtm//sl_bleuc.zip 222 **+ Bleuciel by SoulCiety
//songs//1994//mtm//sl_juice.zip 237 **+ Juice Tice by SoulCiety
//songs//1994//mtm//sl_magna.zip 139 *** Magnanimity by SoulCiety
//songs//1994//mtm//sl_nobil.zip 202 ** Nobility of Soul by SoulCiety
//songs//1994//mtm//smnerv.zip 215 **+ ASM94:mmul:: Nervous Breakdown by
| Silent Mode
//songs//1994//mtm//smnogood.zip 352 ** No Good - Start The Dance by Silent
| Mode
//songs//1994//mtm//sunset.zip 237 ***+ ASM94:mmul:: Tropical Sunset by
| Nosferatu
//songs//1994//xm//power.zip 116 ** The Power Of Magic II by Templer
//songs//1995//mod//a//a-provey.zip 39 * Prove Your Worth by Snarl
//songs//1995//mod//a//a-sublim.zip 30 * Sublimation by Snarl
//songs//1995//mod//b//boring.zip 83 **** Slimeless Joe by Crimson Tide
//songs//1995//mod//g//gen-koch.zip 92 *+ Kind of Chaos by Generator
//songs//1995//mod//y//you15.zip 188 ** You (version 1.5) by STrix
//songs//1995//other//bbchip.zip 0 ** Bare Bones Chip by Decker : MDL
//songs//1995//other//beat.zip 33 ** This Is Groovy Man by Vic : PTM
//songs//1995//other//bugfixed.zip 279 ***+ BugFixed by Vic : PTM
//songs//1995//other//can-best.zip 622 ** The Best Life by Cannibal : DMF
//songs//1995//other//can-funk.zip 139 * Funk by Cannibal : DMF
//songs//1995//other//can-sndc.zip 364 * Soundcraft by Cannibal : DMF
//songs//1995//other//cereal.zip 160 **+ Cereal Cortex by Vic : PTM
//songs//1995//other//clair.zip 150 **** Clairvoyence by Vic : PTM
//songs//1995//other//crazy.zip 5 *** Crazy by Vic : PTM
//songs//1995//other//gherkin.zip 659 **** Gherkin by Vic : PTM
//songs//1995//other//happy.zip 47 **** Happy Reefer by Vic : PTM
//songs//1995//other//hawaiii.zip 233 ***+ Hawaiiiii by Vic : PTM
//songs//1995//other//improvem.zip 0 ***+ Chip Improvement by Vic : PTM
//songs//1995//other//inspecto.zip 23 ***+ Inspector by Vic : PTM
//songs//1995//other//interest.zip 243 ***+ Interesting Stuff by Vic : PTM
//songs//1995//other//jd-antig.zip 303 *+ Antigod by Judge Dredd : DMF
//songs//1995//other//jurasicp.zip 161 *+ Jurassic Park Remix by BelGarion :
| MDL
//songs//1995//other//laplage.zip 671 **+ La Plage de Saint Tropez by Vic :
| PTM
//songs//1995//other//logicwar.zip 308 ***+ Logical War by Vic : PTM
//songs//1995//other//necine.zip 151 *** Internecine by Vic : PTM
//songs//1995//other//penguin.zip 90 ***+ Doing The Penguin by Vic : PTM
//songs//1995//other//perfect.zip 322 *** Perfect Reason by Vic : PTM
//songs//1995//other//raa.zip 69 **+ Raa! by Daniel Potter : FAR
//songs//1995//other//slider.zip 225 **** Slider by Vic : PTM
//songs//1995//other//sp-1stry.zip 133 ** First Try by Spleen : DMF
//songs//1995//other//sp-fmove.zip 280 ** Feel The Movement by Spleen : DMF
//songs//1995//other//sp-gamma.zip 174 ** The Way to Planet Gamma by Spleen :
| DMF
//songs//1995//other//sp-heart.zip 128 *+ I'll Give You My Heart by Spleen :
| DMF
//songs//1995//other//sp-sgnsp.zip 178 **+ The Sign of Space by Spleen : DMF
//songs//1995//other//sp-tform.zip 176 ** Trance-Formation by Spleen : DMF
//songs//1995//other//thepharm.zip 510 *** The Pharm by Vic : PTM
//songs//1995//other//threeitm.zip 62 ***+ Three Items by Vic : PTM
//songs//1995//other//u-beat.zip 626 *** Underbeat by AstraDyne : MDL
//songs//1995//other//where.zip 3 *+ Where's My Hamster by Vic : PTM
//songs//1995//other//whoa.zip 321 ***+ Whoa! by Vic : PTM
//songs//1995//other//yours.zip 380 ***+ Yours by Vic : PTM
//songs//1995//s3m//a//a-endles.zip 271 *** Endless Dream by The Walker of PoP
//songs//1995//s3m//a//a-forged.zip 240 ***+ Forged In Faith by Pulse of PoP
//songs//1995//s3m//a//a-forgot.zip 99 **+ Forgotten Dreams by The Walker of
| PoP
//songs//1995//s3m//a//a-funksq.zip 204 ***+ Funky Squad by Firelight
//songs//1995//s3m//a//a-jollys.arj 14 ** The Jolly Happy Song by Phorte
//songs//1995//s3m//a//a-lifeof.zip 296 ** Life of Chaos by Pulse of PoP
//songs//1995//s3m//a//a-oldfon.zip 129 **+ Some of Dat Ol' Fonk by Griffin of
| FTS
//songs//1995//s3m//a//a-open.zip 244 *** Open Mind by Griffin of FTS
//songs//1995//s3m//a//a-psychi.zip 89 *** Psychic Interludes by The Walker of
| PoP
//songs//1995//s3m//a//a-rubber.zip 215 *+ Rubber Turnips by FTS
//songs//1995//s3m//c//carnaq.zip 253 **** JUH95B:mmul:16: Carnaq by Postman
| Pat
//songs//1995//s3m//e//emphysia.zip 61 ***+ WIR95:m4ch:: Emphysia by Hawk
//songs//1995//s3m//e//enafri.zip 323 *** JUH95B:mmul:06: Enjoy Afri-Cola by
| Resonance, Equalz
//songs//1995//s3m//f//fezz.zip 285 **** JUH95B:mmul:09: Fezz by Jukka
| Karki, Vinyl
//songs//1995//s3m//j//jazzmyst.zip 88 *** SE95:mmul:??: Lille Peder Edderkop
| by Jazz, Mystical
//songs//1995//s3m//j//jeesmaan.zip 236 ***+ JUH95B:mmul:14: Jeesmaan by Dune
//songs//1995//s3m//k//kosmoss.zip 100 ***+ JUH95B:mmul:03: Los Kosmoss Erektus
| by Lemming
//songs//1995//s3m//r//reipas.zip 189 **+ JUH95B:mmul:05: Reippaat Ravit by
| Resound
//songs//1995//s3m//s//seaside.zip 319 **** JUH95B:mmul:15: Seaside Hotel by
| Purple Motion, Mik
//songs//1995//s3m//s//sunsetbl.zip 307 ***+ JUH95B:mmul:06: Sunset Boulevard by
| Prism
//songs//1995//s3m//t//taksi.zip 189 **** JUH95B:mmul:09: Tohtori, Tilaisin
| Taksin by Sulphur
//songs//1995//s3m//t//te_deum.zip 316 *** JUH95B:mmul:08: Te Deum by
| Attraction
//songs//1995//xm//a//a-colone.arj 123 *** Colonel Neb by Phorte
//songs//1995//xm//a//a-manife.zip 203 **** Manifest by Firelight
//songs//1995//xm//a//a-nocti.arj 153 ***+ Noctivagant by Phorte
//songs//1995//xm//a//a-novind.zip 186 ***+ Novindus by Firelight
//songs//1995//xm//a//a-openai.arj 158 *** In the Open Air by Phorte
//songs//1995//xm//a//a-suburb.arj 118 **+ Suburbia by Phorte
//songs//1995//xm//a//a-syntat.zip 284 **** Synthetic Attack by Hunz of Smash
//songs//1995//xm//a//a-tears.arj 204 **+ Tears Awake by Phorte
//songs//1995//xm//b//barock.zip 22 **** Bach Rock by Vic, Martin
//songs//1995//xm//b//boogie.zip 210 ***+ JUH95B:mmul:13: Boogie by Duke
//songs//1995//xm//d//dalh.zip 471 ***+ JUH95B:mmul:04: Dalh' Merfea by
| Resonatix, Flea
//songs//1995//xm//i//inger.zip 118 + SE95:mmul:10: Live Is Too Short by
| XIIIM Mistress D
//songs//1995//xm//p//pp_lpek.zip 148 + SE95:mmul:??: Lille Peder Edderkop
| by Pyramid Power
//songs//1995//xm//r//rn_frnd2.zip 287 * Friends (Hit U Harder-Remix) by
| Rtificial Ntelligence
//songs//1995//xm//r//rn_frnds.zip 99 * Friends (Hyper-Remix) by Rtificial
| Ntelligence
//songs//1995//xm//s//sfpoppis.zip 616 *** JUH95B:mmul:01: Suomi Funland
| Poppis by TOB
//songs//1995//xm//s//smurfene.zip 62 *** The Smurf Theme '95 by Crimson Tide
//songs//1995//xm//s//sp-hl2hv.zip 248 **+ From Hell to Heaven by Spleen
//songs//1995//xm//s//sp-stalv.zip 147 **+ Still Alive by Spleen
//songs//1995//xm//s//speared.zip 940 ***+ JUH95B:mmul:02: Speared by Guitar
| by Jim Jackson
//songs//1995//xm//s//stealth.zip 409 * SE95:mmul:XX: Lille Peter Tag Min
| Krop by Stealth
//songs//1995//xm//t//t-wrong.zip 210 **** JUH95B:mmul:11: What Did I Do
| Wrong? by Tri Sakki
//songs//1995//xm//t//tinsoldr.zip 204 **** JUH95B:mmul:12: Tin Soldier by
| Sparklite
//songs//1996//it//f//fm-lumi.zip 564 ****+ Luminous // Uvula Groove by Basehead
//songs//1996//it//f//fm-shad.zip 481 **** Shadow Caster by Necros
//songs//1996//other//barely.zip 4 *** Barely by Vic : PTM
//songs//1996//other//dropit.zip 64 *+ Drop It by Fobik : MTM
//songs//1996//other//k_2ndcom.zip 252 ***+ Second Coming by Maelcum, The
| Hacker : MTM
//songs//1996//other//k_ldg2.zip 326 ***+ Lodge Of 3 Globes (Remix) by
| Maelcum : MTM
//songs//1996//other//k_mad.zip 221 *** Madness by Maelcum : MTM
//songs//1996//other//k_org.zip 157 ***+ The Organization by Maelcum : MTM
//songs//1996//other//k_u2.zip 384 *** Liquid Rave (Where The Streets Have
| No Name) by Inspekdah Deck : MTM
//songs//1996//other//k_willow.zip 151 *** Dance of the Electric Willows by
| Mental Floss : ULT
//songs//1996//other//wn_dstro.zip 338 ** Destroy The Humans by Maelcum
//songs//1996//other//wn_nostr.zip 267 *** No Stars by Maelcum
//songs//1996//s3m//d//drs.zip 105 * ANT96:mbet:??: DRS by Raud of
| Agressive Giants
//songs//1996//xm//f//fm-lab3.zip 523 **** Lab 3 by Mellow-D of FM
=------------------------------------------------------------------(graphics)-=
//pub//demos//graphics Size Rated Description
=-----------------------------------------------------------------------------=
//images//1996//c//cowboy.zip 8 ** ENL96:grfx:XX: Last Cowboy by Dragon
//images//1996//f//face.zip 13 * ENL96:grfx:17: by Boss
//images//1996//g//ganjaman.zip 25 *+ ENL96:grfx:04: Ganja Man by ???
//images//1996//h//hardcore.zip 14 * ENL96:grfx:14: by Boss
//images//1996//m//machine.zip 179 *** ENL96:grfx:02: Machine by Gregor
| Barbarian
//images//1996//m//myth.zip 18 * ENL96:grfx:20: by Boss
//images//1996//p//peredoz.zip 25 ** ENL96:grfx:07: Peredoz by Boss
//images//1996//p//project.zip 44 ** ENL96:grfx:03: Project by ???
//images//1996//s//starship.zip 7 * ENL96:grfx:19: by Boss
//images//1996//u//untitled.zip 155 **+ ENL96:grfx:14: Untitled by Rogers
//programs//convert//alch162.zip 396 Image Alchemy v1.62 by Handmade
| Software
//programs//convert//bmp2avi.zip 21 BMP to AVI by Paul Roberts
//programs//convert//crop.lzh 35 Image Cropper by Skip Sauls
//programs//convert//emailasc.zip 170 ASCII Art Maker by Don Kreusberg
//programs//convert//slpcxraw.zip 42 Pcx2Raw Conversion by Jinx
//programs//editors//akm-md36.zip 159 Master Draw v3.6 by Arkham
//programs//editors//anim8_11.zip 170 ANIM8 v1.1 Sprite Editor by
| Majestick
//programs//editors//anm8_113.zip 174 ANIM8 v1.13 Sprite Editor by
| Majestick
//programs//editors//apaint01.arj 20 AnimPaint Animation Editor by Sphair
//programs//editors//bsdemo1a.zip 75 Blob Sculptor For 3DS by Steve Anger
//programs//editors//fedit10.zip 27 Font Edit 1.0 by PiCoder
//programs//editors//icspred1.lzh 46 32x32x256 Sprite Editor by YC
//programs//editors//jaw3d11.zip 74 Jaw 3d Model Viewer by ???
//programs//editors//mdraw.zip 49 MDraw Sprite Editor by Matt Miller
//programs//editors//ripaint.zip 2141 Rip Paint Editor by Telegrafix
//programs//editors//sam001.zip 33 Sprite Animator v0.01 by Sliq
//programs//editors//spriv103.zip 23 Spriter v1.03 by Discordis
//programs//editors//winplasd.zip 332 WinPlas v2.0 Demo - Plasmid Editor
//programs//mode//dp400.zip 0 320x400x256 DP2e Patch by Pelusa
//programs//mode//dpx11.zip 15 Any X-mode DP2e Patch by Bartist
//programs//mode//dpxt102.zip 5 Some X-modes DP2e Patch by Eclipse
//programs//mode//squash.zip 5 TSR Makes Aspect 1:1 by Shayde
//programs//players//cybrshow.zip 1410 Fractal Arts by Cyberlight Matrix
//programs//players//disp187.zip 817 Display v1.87 Image Viewer//Convertor
//programs//players//e_fast22.zip 338 Fast FLI//FLC Player by Eclipse
//programs//players//fastl301.zip 24 FastLite FLI//FLC Viewer by Eclipse
//programs//players//fastlite.zip 24 Fastlite FLI//FLC Player by Eclipse
//programs//players//formula3.zip 1308 Multimedia Designer by Harrow
| Software
//programs//players//vpic61e.zip 245 VPic Image Viewer by Bob Montgomery
//programs//vector//3dedb09.lzh 130 3D Polygon Editor
//programs//vector//akm-mm10.zip 83 Master Modeler 1.0 by Arkham
//programs//vector//veced300.zip 323 3D Vector Editor by Grey Cat
=----------------------------------------------------------------------(mags)-=
//pub//demos//mags Size Rated Description
=-----------------------------------------------------------------------------=
//1996//bn4.zip 1392 ***+ Bad News #4: Desire by Pulse
//1996//budyn1.zip 1383 ***+ Budyn #1 by Abscence
==[Articles]===================================================================
=-----------------------------------------------------------------------------=
:: "Introduction"
:: Snowman // Hornet - r3cgm@cdrom.com
I always find it odd how the last thing written in this newsletter is always
the "introduction". Anyway...
Welcome to DemoNews 131. I think this is a pretty good issue. Solid
articles, lots of good stuff to download, error-free (hopefully), and a
chipper intro.
I've added some more links to our main //pub//demos//index.html page. The #trax
page has undergone some major changes... check it out. I'll be redoing our
main page again probably later this week (so it looks more aesthetically
appealing).
We've got new tunes this week from Necros, Mellow-D, and Basehead of Five
Musicians. All of them are very good.
John Townsend (Jtown // Hornet) has now officially become our new music
archive maintainer. For the next couple of weeks, he'll be in training. Then
it's time to unleash him. If his previous dedication to music scene is any
indicator, we've got a fine new addition to the Hornet staff.
This past week, I reviewed about 110 megs of music disks. This makes the
//pub//demos//music//disks directory current and cataloged and brings
//incoming//music//disks to near-empty. Expect more of these massive reviewing
sessions soon.
Daredevil // Renaissance has reviewed about 150 files in //incoming//code. This
means two things: 1. I really need to start fixing up the //code tree... 2.
We're going to need someone to actively maintain the //code tree so it doesn't
fall back into its current state again. This is a loosely stated APB; anyone
out there really interested in doing this?
Hornet will now be helping to manage demoscene.org. The purpose of
demoscene.org is to be the central location for web-related activity in the
demo scene. From my understanding, this was originally Kodiak // TAP and
Alpha // KLF's vision. Unfortunately other priorities came into play (don't
they always) and Kodiak is unable to dedicate enough time. So he gave me a
call, asked if we were interested in maintaining it, I talked it over with
the group, and two days later we had a decision. Hell yeah! Sounds like
fun. :) I'll follow up on this next issue of DemoNews.
To wrap this intro up, I've an observation to make. Usually I write these
things very late at night. Since I can't smoke inside here, I'm outside
somewhat frequently. Usually I pace up and down the sidewalk, trying to
remember if I've forgotten anything. Well, tonight California's got a
cloud-covered sky. Last time outside I looked up and saw the moon shining
through, lighting up a distant hillside. It was one of those Kodak moment
things. Doesn't have much in the way to do with demos, but inspiring just
the same.
Outside-up.
=-----------------------------------------------------------------------------=
:: "Life Before Demos - Part 1 // 2"
:: Trixter // Hornet - trixter@ftp.cdrom.com
_____Preface
This document normally resides at www.cdrom.com//pub//demos//ha//pages//lbd. If
you are having problems connecting to cdrom.com, feel free to check out this
article at its mirror site, at http:////boxotrix.it-ias.depaul.edu//lbd.
Technical Notes: This article is a full multimedia hypertext document with
authentic video clips, sound clips, and screen shots from old computer
programs. The following is a table of what formats are included:
Type Format Comments
------------ ----------------- ----------------------------------------------
Video Microsoft Video Uses Microsoft Video 1 codec
for Windows
Graphics JPEG and GIF Support for GIF and JPEG is already built into
most graphical browsers
Sound Sun//NeXT .au Netscape has this built-in ("raplayer.exe");
audio Sun Sparcs and NeXT boxes have native support
This document recounts the early days of fun computer stuff on the IBM PC, so
whenever I refer to "the computer" or a similar generic term, I'm talking
about an IBM. If I mention the "Tandy sound chip", I'm referring to the
sound chip that was present in both the IBM PC Jr. and the Tandy clones (it's
the same chip).
_____Introduction
Many demosceners go through changes in life that affect them profoundly --
changes that either bring them into or force them out of the demo scene. I
find myself in the latter, which saddens me a bit, as I have not yet given
back fully to the scene that has given me so much. I also welcome the
change, as it is time for me to pass the baton onward to the newer generation
of people who will redefine what demos are. I look forward to what tomorrow's
enterprising youth with a love of computers can bring to the demo scene,
which enters its unofficial 11th year (7th year on the PC).
But the new blood probably has no idea what was interesting before demos came
around in 1990. Sure, everyone can download GR8 // Future Crew and have a
laugh or two, but that's the tail end of what I call "the golden age of PC
fun." How did anything become interesting or cool on the PC -- a machine
with no dedicated graphics or music hardware? What held our attention before
demos came along?
Good question. Well, this article will attempt to describe the changes in my
life that brought me into the scene -- what was interesting to me as I grew
up with a PC, starting out in 1984 with a new 4.77 MHz processor and ending
in 1990, the proper birth of the PC scene. It will be fascinating to some,
and only mildly interesting to others, but it needs to be remembered in the
sea of Pentium Pros, Windows 95, and accelerated hardware. Trust me, it used
to be nothing like it is now. :-)
Also, I will try to cover some of the more eclectic technical information
unless I don't remember it clearly, so if you want more info on how something
was done, email me and there's a good chance I can find it somewhere. Hope
you can parse BASIC code. :-)
So, if you've ever wondered what was interesting or "demo-like" on the PC
before demos came around, this article will probably explain it. Let's
journey backward, shall we?
_____The Wonderful World of Games
Let's start briefly with something that held my fascination long before demos
existed (and probably what contributed to their birth): games. It's not too
surprising that the most impressive stuff on any home computer is a game.
Games are, in fact, some of the hardest things in the world to program, and
in the early days, nothing was more true.
Think about it: You had to do many or all of the following: accept input,
display graphics (quickly), play sound effects, process artificial
intelligence and other game elements, and do it all quickly enough so that
the user didn't feel cheated out of a decent gaming experience. Of course,
there was a multitude of problems in doing this on the original PC:
* The CPU, an Intel 8088, was a 16-bit processor (8-bit bus) running at
4.77 MHz.
* The sound hardware was a single-voice tone generator with no volume
control.
* The stock graphics hardware (CGA) was limited to 4 colors, and had an
interlaced memory organization (not nice and linear like Mode 13h).
* The bus was so slow that video memory and port writes were
time-consuming; simply reading the joystick port took up to 15% of the
CPU's time.
So it's obvious that a well-written game that was fast and fun to play was
incredibly impressive, since things just simply weren't fast on the PC. I
will mention games liberally in my musings. Just thought you'd like to know.
;-)
_____Teaching An Old PC New Tricks
How do you make a bland, boring "business" computer do something impressive?
Good question. While newer (1984) versions of the PC (IBM's PCjr, and Radio
Shack's clone, the Tandy 1000) had more sound and graphics capabilities, the
older PC did not, and that was what had the largest installed user base. So,
you had a couple of areas to improve on: Sound, Graphics, and anything that
would speed up the system. Since a program's first impression was usually
how it looked, many chose to improve the CGA graphics.
CGA (Computer Graphics Array) always struck me as finicky. The video memory
layout was interlaced, which means that the first 8K was every even-numbered
scanline and the last 8K was every odd-numbered scanline. Plus, there were
192 bytes unused at the end of both 8K sections, so that became annoying to
skip as well. Finally, you had one of two fixed palettes of nasty, ugly
colors (cyan, magenta, and white; or red, green, and yellow) to choose from.
While some of the best artists could deal with four colors adequately, the
crappy color set usually disgusted the user.
Well, I quickly found out that by fiddling with the video registers, I could
get an unadvertised (to my manuals, anyway) color palette that seemed to
combine the two palettes. The resulting 4-color palette had black, white,
cyan, and red--much nicer. I'm sure this palette was advertised somewhere
because some game I had used it, which is what got me sending random bytes to
the video ports in the first place.
Sending random bytes to the video registers, by the way, was extremely
dangerous! If I had known that then, I wouldn't have even tried at all; I
was lucky I didn't break anything. The monitors back then (1987 and earlier)
were fixed frequency monitors, and ran at low frequencies. If you told the
video card to do something outside of those frequencies, you stood an
excellent chance of damaging the monitor.
A friend of mine was trying to get the rumored CGA 16-color mode to work
(more on this later) and destroyed his Compaq's built-in monitor, a small
monochrome monitor that emulated color with different shades of gray. He went
to the nearest Compaq dealership to get it replaced, and when they refused to
fix it, he answered with something like, "Well, I could demonstrate how easy
it is to break the monitor to your customers by typing in a three-line BASIC
program on, oh... this machine over here," and pointed to their
top-of-the-line machine that some customers were huddled around. They
quickly replaced his monitor to shut him up. :-)
Let's face it: CGA was crap. The C64 blew it away in terms of speed, and even
an Apple ][+ had more colors to choose from. Anything you could do above
what it was normally used for, quickly or differently, was neat. So, a bit
of experimentation exposed that you could change the background color,
usually black, to one of the 16 text colors. This allowed for a quick flash
(possibly for an explosion in a game), which was slightly impressive since
nothing about CGA was quick.
This trick was also commonly used to change the black background to blue,
which made it easier to draw bright and colorful pictures if you didn't need
the color black. This same technique could be used to change the foreground
and background color of the monochrome graphics in CGA's 640x200 2-color
mode. (Love that 640x200 2.6:1 aspect ratio--NOT!) This wasn't useful for
games, but was used to make black-and-white pictures look less... ugly.
Other palette fun could be had by changing the border color, which was
largely an overscan hack. It was cute to have the border change colors and
not everything else. I didn't even know the border could be a different
color for a while -- nothing bothered to change it. Another cute hack was to
write to the ports to change from 320x200x4 to 640x200x2 on the fly without
erasing video memory. This way, you essentially faked a color-to-mono toggle
switch.
The only game I ever ran that used some of the above tricks to do some
primitive copper effects was California Games (1987). Its video selection
menu had the normal CGA 4-color mode, but it also had a mysterious CGA
"more-color" mode. The "more-color" mode was only used in two places: The
title screen and the hackeysack portion. Why? Because those screens had a
clear horizontal division of a graphic on the top half of the screen and one
on the bottom half. The "more-color" mode would switch palettes at a certain
scanline to display one set of colors on the top graphic, and a different set
of colors on the bottom.
As you can imagine, this was unnervingly time-critical, and self-programming
vertical-retrace interrupts took too long (hey, you needed all the speed you
could get) on a 4.77MHz machine, so this trick only worked on the one machine
that they could hard-code the values into: The original IBM with an original
CGA. I always used to think that this mode didn't do anything until I
brought it over to my friend's house and saw it work. It worked pretty well,
oddly enough. Maybe I was just easy to impress. :-)
Here's a bit of trivia: Checking for Vertical Retrace has been the same
procedure since CGA on up -- you simply monitor port 3dah. Until I discovered
that port, I always wondered why delaying 13 or 14 ms before updating the
screen made it nice and smooth, but that's because 1000 ms // 70 Hz (the
screen refresh rate) is about 14.2 ms. ;-) Nobody ever bothered to monitor
the vertical retrace port unless they were trying to avoid snow on CGA
screens.
Snow, you ask? What, you don't know about snow? CGA boards, for a reason I
can't remember, displayed "snow" in text mode whenever you wrote to the
screen memory directly (the BIOS writes avoided snow, but were terribly
slow). Since I'm typing this article on a CGA PC right now (I'm not kidding
-- my word processor runs in 384k! ;-), I'll describe what it looks like:
Every time video memory is touched, small horizontal white lines one
character cell wide appear and disappear all over the screen. It can get
really annoying after a while, so many people waited for vertical retrace
before writing to the screen. This was much slower, but reduced snow a great
deal, and was still faster than using the BIOS to output text.
_____Low Resolution equals More Color
16 colors in graphics mode with a stock CGA board? Believe it or not, there
were not one but two legitimate ways to get more than 4 colors on a CGA card:
An undocumented "low res" mode (which I'll talk about later), and CGA's
Composite Color mode. Both had drawbacks, unfortunately:
* Since you only had 16K of video memory, your effective resolution went
down to accommodate the extra colors--160x200 in Composite mode, and
160x100 in "lowres" mode.
* Not all PC's had a CGA card with a composite color jack on the back of
their CGA card. The few PC owners that did have one most likely didn't
know how to turn it on if it needed special activation before the
program ran.
* Computer owners that had real monitors had little reason to keep a TV
close to the computer to hook it up for the extra video mode provided
by Composite Color.
But many game companies wanted to have every edge they could over the
competition, so many decided to use it. (Starflight from Electronic Arts was
the first mainstream game I can remember (1986) that used it well.) The only
drawback, with any sort of compatibility back then, was speed -- if all your
graphics were in 16 colors, then you had two problems on your hands: You
either had to convert the 16-color pictures down to 4 on the fly, which was
slow, or you had to provide both sets of converted pictures on the disk,
which took up too much room and cost more money. (Remember that back in the
first half of 1980, disks were still fairly expensive--I remember the best
price I could get on a 360K floppy in 1984 was a dollar a disk.)
Still, some companies saw the light and did it, and the result was colorful
graphics on almost any system. Besides, you could use a lookup table to
quickly plot the low-res sprites, because a word (two bytes) plotted 8 pixels
in CGA or 4 pixels in EGA//Tandy (16 colors). (Plus, this gave Tandy//PCjr
owners some extra speed because they had a native 160x200 mode, so they got
more color without slowing down.)
California Games from Epyx supported probably the most graphic options of any
game in 1987 using this technique, including CGA, EGA, CGA "more-color" (see
above copper trick), CGA Composite color, Hercules Mono, MCGA//VGA 16-color,
and Tandy//PCjr. All the graphics and sprites (except for the font) were in
160x200. Mindscape also did the same thing with Bop'n'Wrestle, Uridium, and
Bad Street Brawler (hi Lord Blix!).
Many companies used the 160x200 trick even if they didn't have 16 colors to
store, simply because the sprites took up half the space. All the "Maxx Out"
games from Epyx like Rad Warrior used this even though the graphics were
mostly 4 colors.
Finally, some adventure game companies found a unique way to store over 200
or more full-screen pictures on a single 360K disk: Vectors. (By "Vectors",
I'm referring to a series of points that define the beginning and end of a
line, outline of a polygon, etc.) Regardless of how large or complex the
picture was, you could usually fit a decent-looking scene into about 2K,
because all you were storing were polygon outlines//definitions. A blue circle
with a radius of 100 pixels located at (100,130) could take up over 10K as a
raw sprite//bitmap, but it only took up enough bytes to describe "circle, at
(100,130), radius 100, color blue" when you stored it as its vector
definition. The previous example could take up as little as 7 bytes, if you
did it haphazardly:
Data Size
------------------ ----
Draw Element byte
X Coordinate word
Y Coordinate word
Radius byte
Fill Color//Pattern byte
Come to think of it, I'm sure the game programmers were much more frugal than
that; this was when games had to fit on a single 360K disk. The previous
structure would've probably been optimized even further:
Data Size Comments
------------------ ---------------- -------------------------------------
Draw Element first 3 bits of Holds 8 different types: Square,
first byte Circle, Line, Pixel, Fill Point, etc.
Fill Color//Pattern last 5 bits of Allows for 32 different colors or
first byte patterns
X Coordinate word Must be a word, since the maximum
(320) wouldn't fit in a byte (255)
Y Coordinate byte Could be a byte, since the maximum
(200) fits into a byte (255)
Radius byte
So, even though 7 of the 16 bits in the xcoordinate word are wasted and could
be used for even more things, we're down to five bytes for the information
required to draw a large circle on the screen. You can pack this down even
further, which I'm sure they did, but I included the above merely as an
example into the thought process involved.
Another nice advantage to this system was that you could compose your
pictures with 16 colors and let the drawing algorithm pick the closest color
or dither pattern when it drew the vector objects on the screen at runtime.
But, as with all computer programs, there was the classic speed vs. size
tradeoff: Drawing the polygons took a lot of time, sometimes as much as six
seconds for the picture to assemble, which looked sloppy.
There were other drawbacks to this system as well; the artist was forced to
use an uncommon vector-editing program, which usually had to be developed
in-house, and the nature of the whole vector format procedure made it hard to
produce pictures with a lot of fine detail. Still, Sierra used it in King's
Quest I (1983), and the classic text//graphics adventure Transylvania (1983)
from Polarware used it as well. (In fact, when Polarware was still called
Penguin Software, they marketed a vector drawing package specifically built
for making small graphics for games called The Graphics Magician.)
_____Graphics Forged From Text Mode
Ah, now the fun part: 16 color graphics on a standard CGA card. IBM actually
announced this mode in January of 1982, when the second version of the IBM PC
came out; it's mentioned in their technical documentation, but they evidently
saw no need to provide any real documentation for it unless asked. I guess
nobody asked. :-)
By the time I finally figured out how to program the mode, it was 1990 and I
had a VGA card, so I never had a chance to use it in anything. Some games
did use it, though, including a good shareware shoot-'em'up called Round 42
and two commercial adventure games, one from Sir Tech (remember Wizardry?)
and another from Macrocom called ICON (1984). Here's how you program the
mode:
The 160x100 "graphics" mode was actually a text mode. The video registers
were changed so that normal 80x25 color text mode squeezed four times as many
rows of text characters onto the screen to produce an 80x100 text screen with
the bottom 75% of the text characters chopped off. Then, the screen was
filled with ASCII 221, which is the left vertical bar. Each character on the
screen was used for a pair of two horizontally adjacent pixels by adjusting
the foreground and background color of that character. The "blink" option on
the video board had to be turned off so that pixels didn't blink when the
right-half pixels (which use the text background color) had a color value
greater than 7. (Text characters normally blink if the background color is in
the 8...15 range, but who uses blinking any more?)
Okay, cute trick. You could make it work in today's world by modifying it
for EGA and VGA boards as well; on VGA boards, the text character height is
normally 16, so it would be changed to 4. EGA boards, however, normally use
a text height of 14 pixels. There is no way to change the text height to
exactly one quarter of 14 pixels, so a text height of 3 would have to be
used, which is slightly too small, but that's what you get for using EGA
after 1990. :-)
Technical details: Blink is suppressed on CGA boards by setting bit 5 of port
3d8 hex to 0. On EGA and VGA cards, blink is suppressed by using subfunction
3h, function 10h of interrupt 10h and setting BL to 0. Trivia: The 160x100
mode uses 16000 bytes at b800:0000 hex to store 16000 4-bit pixels, which is
twice the amount of memory that would be required in a normal graphics mode
-- so each even byte of video memory is wasted to store the ASCII character
221. Moving blocks of video memory around was both fast and annoying, since
only the odd bytes (storing the text foreground and background colors) had to
be modified.
Well, that's enough about CGA's 16-color "graphics" mode. I was just so
happy when I figured it out that just had to spew somewhere. :-) And ICON?
They added even more depth by using the entire ASCII character set--or, at
least, the top four scanlines of the entire ASCII character set. (The bat's
wings were the top four scanlines of ASCII #2, which was the smiley!) Some
of the results were fantastic, but that's ANSI from hell that I don't think
anyone would want to ever attempt again.
[Stay tuned folks... next week 'll have the second half of this article.]
=-----------------------------------------------------------------------------=
:: "Demos vs. Television"
:: GD // Hornet - gd@ftp.cdrom.com
_____Introduction
The world wide web has given television a run for its money. Text and images
can be downloaded and viewed on a display device, in a similar way that
television images are delivered and displayed.
At this point in time, that's about where the similarities end.
The technology behind these two entities is very different. The web is
nowhere near the speed of information delivery of a television.
_____Limitations
What prevents the web from completely replacing television? Bandwidth.
There are currently very few people in the world who enjoy a fast enough
connection to the Internet who could enjoy realtime images and sounds
transmitted over the web which matches the quality of a regular television.
The hardware for such a purpose would probably be a Pentium 200mhz with PCI
bus, SVGA video with 2mb of ram, a multi-gigabyte hard drive, and at least
32mb of system ram. Minimum. While some individuals or companies are the
exception, the majority of the public does not quite fit the bill.
The software technology to power all of this is probably not yet fully
developed either. Even still, it won't be like pressing a button on the
little black box that is one's television remote.
Users would probably need to close most or all of their other background
programs (remember: graphical browsing at this stage of the game practically
dictates that one must be using a windows-type operating environment).
And don't flop that "remote" down yet either. Channel-surfing on the web
won't be anything like a quick "press-a-button, glance-at-image, and-flip-if-
boring" procedure.
_____The Main Message
So, what's the point of all this?
It can be difficult to enjoy something fully when there are imposed
limitations. Starting out at less than 100% of one's capabilities severely
limits progress.
While demo scenes based on machines such as the Commodore 64 and the Amiga
have succeeded and continue to do so today, they have one major advantage
over the PC scene: everyone shares common limitations.
_____Demos on the Web
People fantasize about a demo scene for multiple platforms. With the
implementation of Java into the most popular web browsers today, it seems
more conceivable that such a thing could exist over the Internet. Browsers
across multiple platforms already do or will soon have Java capabilities, and
hey, "everyone" is on the 'net these days.
While Java programmers worldwide are optimizing their code, much like a
"standard" demo coder would, there's still a lack of accessibility and
capability, which will, for the time being, nullify the potential for a
thriving scene to emerge from this medium.
Much like television has an advantage over the world wide web, just based on
the amount of information each medium can deliver in a fixed amount of time,
isolated computer platforms will have a stronger foundation in the demo scene
than any attempt at a multiple-platform scene.
_____Conclusion
Perhaps the day will come when demos can be compared to television. It would
mean that any hardware device with video and audio capabilities will do, and
the bandwidth or capability for delivering the "full effect" exists and is
accessible by a majority of the target audience.
But for now, don't bet on it.
=-----------------------------------------------------------------------------=
:: "A Graphician's Tip Book - Part 6"
:: Shaithis // Psychic Monks, Immortal Coil - shaithis@buffnet.net
Been a bit since I wrote anything, eh? That's probably because I've been
relocating and such. I made a move from Syracuse to Buffalo, to pursue a
career in broadcasting. (Whatever...like this matters). Anyway, you'll find
my new email address above or below or however they decide to format it this
issue. :) If any of you wrote to the dreamscape account and didn't receive a
reply, that's because it's no longer active.
Uhm...Where was I when last we left off? Oh yeah... time to talk about
32-bit apps. God... This topic is big enough to write ten or twelve books on,
and I'm supposed to cover it in 3-4 issues? Well, I'll see what I can do.
For the purpose of this article, 32-bit is going to mean any art application
that can handle drawing in extremely high resolution, at true color depth
(16.7 million colors). The availability of this color depth is entirely
dependent upon your video card and monitor, so don't blame me if you can't
use the programs I am about to talk about.
*What are some 32-bit art apps?* So glad you asked. Here's an extremely un-
complete list:
Photoshop 3.0.5 (For simplicity, I'll only go into the most recent version).
Fractal Design Painter 4.0
Fractal Design Poser
Paint Shop Pro 4.0
KPT Bryce 2.0 (To be released in oct).
3-D Studio Max
There are, of course, many many other 32-bit art applications. These are the
ones I personally use or have used.
*Who cares?* You should, at least if you're interested in producing art for
purposes other than for use in demos. Even now, that statement is becoming
untrue, as faster processors allow demos to move their way into higher color
depths and greater resolutions than the standard 320x200x256.
This is in no way meant to insult those of you 256 color artists. You have
my respect, absolutely. I personally prefer to work in much higher
resolutions and color depths, but to each their own.
*Just how high are we talking about here?* Hmmm...the most I've done (due to
the limitations of my computer) is about 2400x3300x64k. This equals out to a
8.5 x 11 page at 300 dpi. With more memory and a faster processor, it would
be fully possible for me to create a poster sized image at 3000 or so DPI.
We're talking thousands, perhaps millions, of pixels here. It's amazing what
you can do with these programs.
*Where can I get these programs?* Buy them. They are expensive. They are
sometimes quite hard to find. Buy them. They are worth it.
*What can these programs do?* What can your imagination come up with? Create
a flawless replica of the "Mona Lisa" with fractal design painter. Take that
painting and put yourself standing in the background, waving, with photoshop.
Don't like Picasso's background? Use "Bryce" to create purple mountains with
crystal towers atop them. Think good ol' mona looks too average? Use Kai's
Power Goo to warp her facial features into new and exciting expressions.
*Why in god's name would I want to do this?* Why NOT?!?! Art is meant to be
fun, an expression of yourself, something to do. Art is everything and
anything your imagination can come up with. There are no limits. Tired of
the posters you bought? Make new ones! Tired of the same crappy store
bought wedding//birthday//graduation announcements? Make yourself some
exciting ones! With a good art program or two, you can do just about
anything you want.
Okay. Enough ranting. My line limit draws nigh, and I can't get into what's
next without running out of space. My next issue will cover the mother of all
image editing programs, photoshop. In fact, that'll probably be my next two
issues. Then on to the marvelous creations of the Fractal Design corp. After
that, I'll cover a few other programs (especially those produced by
metatools), and then it'll be on to tips and tricks.
Hope you're finding these articles informative. Send me your question,
comments, and edits. I'm always happy to hear from people. Until next we
speak...
=-----------------------------------------------------------------------------=
:: "Demobit '96 Has Moved"
:: Demobit Organizers (Infi) - demobit@elf.stuba.sk
BAD NEWS, DEMOBIT'96 HAS BEEN MOVED
_____What's happened?
As you sure can guess, it is because of financial matters. One of the
sponsors, Slovenska Sporitelna that was supposed to support Demobit with a
major amount of money has suddenly decided not to do so. They made this
decision one week before the party.
We are not going to comment on this, you can sure set up your own opinion on
it. The party could have been organized from the other sponsor's money only
but it would cause a significant loss of quality. From obvious reasons, we
decided to organize the party in about 2 months. The exact date and other
information will be published soon.
We believe that all the people who have decided to come will get this message
on time. For me, moving Demobit's date has been the hardest decision of the
year. As Forest says: "Shit happens."
Again, we regret this and we hope that you are less disappointed than we are
and have less problems with it than we have. Please stay tuned for additional
information.
_____Contact Information
email : demobit@elf.stuba.sk
WWW : http:////internet.sk//demobit//english.htm
==[Closing]====================================================================
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...........................................................End.of.DemoNews.131.
