CGA (5 color) and Tandy/EGA (16 color) Port

[watchful]

#8395

Got this WolfensteinCGA project running and tried its CGA and Tandy modes. I always wondered why so much metal was cyan when they had 256 colors, and heard Romero mention it started with EGA.

It’s fun to try these, especially with only PC speaker sounds. The default CGA (mode 5?) is respectable though I wouldn’t want to navigate most of the maze-like maps on it. Tandy (EGA like) is actually quite playable in levels wherever enemies aren’t too distant. (Make sure you use machine=tandy in DOSBox to get it working, I used DOSBox-X.)

[TigerQuoll]

#8406

Haha, cool find!
A mod of an ancient, irrelevant game to make it even more redundant and crippled for little practical reason? I am so here for this kind of thing you have no idea!

[watchful]

#8408

This isn’t just a modern demake, looks like it can also run on ancient hardware:

> The engine has also been modified so that it can be run on 8088 based CPUs, allowing it to be run on a wide variety of old PC hardware.

Considering the heritage of the game, I think it’s kind of fitting to get it going in only 16 colors; even if not technically EGA.

[TigerQuoll]

#8410

Oh yeah, you’re right!

I stick by my point that I love it for just how redundant it is.
It’s not like this is ever going to be anyone’s only or best way of playing Wolf3D, but actually getting it to run on your Turbo XT or Tandy 1000 is still totally cool as hell.

[Pix]

#8416

This really is redundant. I’m seriously unconvinced the real hardware would have the grunt to be remotely playable. Catacomb 3D was only just playable on a 286. I’d expect 1 FPS but I will have to give it a go out of curiosity.

[Pix]

#8428

I’ve got it running and it’s slightly faster than I expected. Only around 2 FPS on a 5150 granted. Still kind of neat to see it using composite though.

On a Tandy 1000TX, it’s just about playable I’d say. That’s running a 286 at 8Mhz. Catacomb 3D still looks better without the downscaled graphics but it’s fun to see Wolfenstein on a Tandy.

One real problem is the controls. The keyboard layout in that era doesn’t have control and alt keys in the usual places and I’d need to come up with an alternative.