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GamebaseST v0.2 Released

Discuss the Atari ST database that uses the GameBase Frontend.

Moderators: Jimbo, Cord, Paul Thompson

Cord
New Member
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Sep 08, 2003 9:23 pm

GamebaseST v0.2 Released

Fri Jul 02, 2004 8:12 pm

Hi Folks

After a very intense few weeks we are now ready to release GamebaseST v0.2, which completely supercedes the previous version.

We hope you enjoy playing around with it as much as we have in creating it. We have laid down a framework which allows every game to be configured with the best ST environment using GEMUS variables (only in STeem at the moment), and since ST games have all sorts of unusual compatibility issues with Emulators/TOS/Ram etc this means we can customise each game to work at its best in GamebaseST. We have 230 games in total for this release.

You can goto the GamebaseST webpage at http://www.gamebasest.com or you can download the mirrored files below:

Grab the Gamebase front-end v1.1 first if you don't already have it, v1.0 will not work with GamebaseST v0.2.
http://www.bu22.com

The Main GamebaseST v0.2 setup
http://www.dentrassi.com/Setup%20GBST%20v0.2.exe

Screenshots
http://www.dentrassi.com/GBST_Screenshots_02.zip

Music
http://www.dentrassi.com/GBST_Music_02.zip

Emulators & Music Players
http://www.dentrassi.com/GBST_Emulators_02.zip

A sample pack of 10 games with extras
http://www.dentrassi.com/GBST_Games_and ... e_Pack.zip

The full Games and Extras packs are currently uploading to the following newsgroups:

alt.binaries.emulators.misc
alt.binaries.emulators.atari

I will follow this post with a copy of the help.txt file that is installed with GamebaseST v0.2. Have fun, and please give us feedback.

Cheers
Rob
Cord
New Member
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Sep 08, 2003 9:23 pm

Fri Jul 02, 2004 8:15 pm

Code: Select all

GamebaseST v0.2 - by Paul Thompson & Rob Perry 
---------------------------------------------- 
2nd July 2004 

Introduction
------------

Welcome to GamebaseST v0.2.  The definitive Atari ST database for the ever expanding Gamebase emulator front-end.

Since its first release GamebaseST has come on in leaps and bounds and is now a much more powerful and friendly package.  Don't be fooled by the seemingly small version number change since the last release, this is a major update as you will soon find out.  In fact, the built in scripting support for emulators in Gamebase (GEMUS) was improved directly as a result of this Atari ST project.  Thanks to James Burrows and the recent release of Gamebase v1.1, we now have some much needed extra variables to play with.

Changes in v0.2
---------------

There are now 230 great Atari ST Games in the database

All games now have at least 3 screenshots

The STeem GEMUS script now gives you granular control over each game in the database.  There are now 14 variables that can be used in the "key=value" pairs.  For each game you can now...

1.  Set the Autofire speed
2.  Select which TOS version you want to run with
3.  Set the STFMBorder parameter for games that need it
4.  Set the amount of RAM
5.  Choose what speed in MHz the emulator runs at
6.  Specify if you want to use joystick port 1
7.  Specify if you want to use joystick port 2
8.  Pre-select a STeem patch and show the patch window
9.  Specify the resolution, including extended resolutions if the game supports it
10.  Choose to switch off floppy drive acceleration
11. Choose to switch off the second floppy drive
12. Attach a virtual harddisk instead of swapping disks
13. Toggle STeem MIDI support
14. Choose how STeem handles overscan (border area)

As well as the above variables, the STeem GEMUS script will also automatically populate both floppy drives with game disks if it finds more than 2 ST/MSA files in a zipped rom pack

All games that work in ST High res are marked in the version tab.  By default you will see a resolution choice when running the game

You can now see if a game has trainers in the version tab

GamebaseST works best with ST disk images that have been specifically re-authored for this project.  Many different versions exist on the internet of each ST game, however most of these were created for an original ST computer and are not best suited for emulation software.  The re-authoring process includes removing bootsectors and menus (where possible), depacking files to remove the multicolour depacking sequences and to speed up load times, and the inclusion of harddisk images for multidisk games that work from harddisk.  Where possible an optional trainer is included.  Full credit and thanks go out to the various groups that originally made these versions available, without them this project would never have been possible due to the incompatibility of disk protection systems and emulator software.  GamebaseST shows the group or person(s) credited with releasing the original version under the version tab.  Please contact us if any games have wrong or missing information in this respect.

Sewer Doc disks have been used to create game manuals which are available straight from the extras button

Lots of high quality magazine adverts, reviews, box scans, maps, hints and tips, and more to be found in the extras section

SC68, YM, MOD and SNDH sound files are configured for most of the games.  Just press play music to hear the in-game tunes

GamebaseST uses its own GBSTeem.ini file, which means it won't overwrite your own personal setup of STeem.

GamebaseST comes with a preset keyboard shortcut profile.  By default these shortcuts are:

Pause/Break	Release the mouse back to Windows
Keypad 0	Fast Forward a game
Keypad .	Swap around A & B disks (ie. for Wings of Death)
Keypad +	Toggle Fullscreen/Windowed mode
End		Save Screenshot into STeem\Screenshot folder
	
To get the full experience from GamebaseST v0.2 you also require the following support packs, available separately:

Gamebase Front-end v1.1		http://www.bu22.com/

GBST_Music_02.zip		http://www.gamebasest.com/
GBST_Screenshots_02.zip		http://www.gamebasest.com/
GBST_Emulators_02.zip		http://www.gamebasest.com/
GBST_Games_02.zip		P2P networks & news groups (see below)
GBST_Extras_02.zip		P2P networks & news groups (see below)


alt.binaries.emulators.misc
alt.binaries.emulators.atari


Known Issues
------------

Save games

The Gamebase engine offers a mode which can re-zip your current game and copy it over your original in case you have saved your game onto the disk.  However Gamebase cannot currently deal with recursive zips for unpacking/packing games, and GamebaseST uses recursive zips for its Harddisk images (Such as Wonderland).  If you allow Gamebase to re-zip a harddisk based game, it will overwrite your original without the harddisk information, rendering it useless.  If you want to use save games, we strongly recommend that you copy all game data (found in the root\GBgame\ReZip folder) to another folder on your harddisk so Gamebase cannot overwrite your saves when another game is run from the front-end.  You can also use the Memory Snapshot mode of STeem to save games if you do this. 


Acknowledgements
----------------

Many thanks to James Burrows for the truly brilliant Gamebase engine.

To all the fans of the Atari ST who have contributed to conserve and catalogue this great machine, especially the crews who brought us so many great games in a format that is accessible to everyone. Without such people GamebaseST could not possibly exist.

Many thanks also to the emulator authors for allowing us to include their emulators with GamebaseST.  They are as follows...

JAM	Abyss				http://www.creamhq.de/
STeem	Russell & Anthony Hayward	http://steem.atari.st/
SainT	Arnaud Carré (also ST Sound)	http://leonard.oxg.free.fr/
SC68	Benjamin Gerard			http://sc68.atari.org/

Lastly, thank you to everyone else who has contributed to the GamebaseST project or have supported us in any way.

Official GamebaseST forum		http://www.atari-forum.com/forum40.html
Official GamebaseST Email Address	GamebaseST@Dentrassi.com
Official Gamebase64 forum		http://www.gb64.com/forum/index.php
Daddy
New Member
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Jul 15, 2004 10:53 am

Fri Jul 16, 2004 2:44 pm

Very very very good work !

Amazing !

Would it be possible to put french version of some game in the base ?
Gu
Guest

Fri Aug 20, 2004 6:10 am

hi

has the collection also appeared in p2p or it is newgroup only?
Or better is there a possibility o get it without newsgroup?

Markus

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