Commander Keen series

MSAgent · 10-05-05, 08:15 PM

Has anyone managed to get commander keen running in any way or another?

Through DOS BOX,PocketDOS or other way?

Is there any hope it will ever be ported over, it would be so fun to play on mobile.

YodaEXE · 10-05-05, 08:16 PM

Hey I remember that game... It was pretty cool. That would be fun on the PPC, and would probably run pretty well too.

akretsch · 10-05-05, 10:31 PM

MSAgent: I was able to get Commander Keen running on my X30mid. Check out this thread for more information. You will have to brush up on navigating in DOS, creating directories, and moving your Keen files. But work it does!
http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showthread.php?t=97692

d0pefish · 10-06-05, 03:48 AM

I can confirm Keen does work!

I used Wall's pDOSBox at http://pocketwall.com/beta2/ - works a treat on my X50V.

ya1950 · 10-06-05, 04:46 AM

Oh Boy! Now I just have to figure out how to transfer the files from those large floppies I have lying around

MSAgent · 10-06-05, 08:57 PM

Thanks but this game is not playable at all, it's an "action" game not a game where you are suppoed to hunt for these small buttons with your stylus. if only it could be displayed in portrait mode with the d-pad and hardware buttons mapped it would be awesome.

d0pefish · 10-07-05, 12:01 PM

That's why I play with my bluetooth keyboard - it really does make life a hell of a lot more easier ...and fun

though I don't know if you have one/are willing to buy one.

It is pretty awesome to be able to fiddle around with DOS and Win3.1 on the Axim... it's like a real little 486 in your pocket!

MSAgent · 10-07-05, 12:11 PM

486? I haven't even managed to get DosBox running at 286 speeds

akretsch · 10-07-05, 12:55 PM

dOpefish: It sounds like you've spent more time on Wall's site than I have. Does he have any docs on the virtual keyboard or mouse/control pad it beomes as you toggle through its options. That intrigues me for possible better onboard control. I can see why the bluetooth would be great (I already have the Dell plugin kybd) and while I can play the game with the virtual keyboard a bit.... I agree with MSAgent. Just using the device itself, the axim experince of Keen lacks.

d0pefish · 10-07-05, 02:17 PM

Ok!

First, make sure you're using the latest version of Wall's DOSBox port - that's beta 2 at the moment.

http://pocketwall.com/beta2/

It - and beta1 - include MANY improvements since the original version.

You can bind hardware buttons on the Axim to all sorts of different keyboard controls. This is documented on the beta 1 page ( http://pocketwall.com/beta1/ ) - see this section:

Quote:

[sip] XXXkey -- to tell pDOSBox which key you want mapped to the game pad. Key values are integers, and their possible values are listed here.

If you click where it says "here", you get to this page:

http://pocketwall.com/beta1/keymaplist.html

...which lists the various keyboard keys you can bind to hardware buttons. With a bit of fiddling, trial and error, you might just be able to set up a good playable Keen config. It'll definately be better than the touchscreen keyboard, as the touchscreen can only register one tap at a a time, meaning yuo cant hold two buttons down at once - essential in games like this.

Also play with the CPU cycle and frameskip settings - I think 2700 cycles and 2 frames skipped should be good - just mess with them during a game and see if it responds better.

True, maybe it doesn't emulate a fullspeed 486 "out of the box", but with some settings-tweaking, you can get some very usable results. Check out the included SI.EXE (Norton System Info) tool included with pDOSBox to measure up how fast you're going - in pretty much all cases you'll get at least 386 speeds, which isn't bad.

I know DOS gaming isn't perfect on the Axim, but it's definately do-able. It's a bit of a miracle it works at all, and it's being improved.

So sit tight, it should improve soon. Wall is doing a great job so far!

akretsch · 10-07-05, 03:20 PM

Thanks for the response. I just thought it was cool getting a "DOS" prompt and the game to run with Beta 1. I really didn't get into the finer points except for tinkering with the cycles setting. I was actually getting the hang of using the virtual keyboard. To map to the device buttons will make a difference. I did install Beta 2 last week cause I had installed I-launch and pdosbox quit working [no, I don't know if I-launch caused it]. Went back to reinstall and saw that Wall already had a new beta. A big change...more navigating with B-2. With beta 1, c:\ was root of storage card, now its root of the device. I guess I need to write a few batch files to get to and launch apps on the card! And yes, I agree, Wall is doing great.

d0pefish · 10-07-05, 03:31 PM

I noticed the change with the mount path too. It's dead easy to change if you'd like it back to the root of the pDOSBox DosPorgrams folder. My custom autoexec section is set like this:

Code:

[autoexec]
@echo off
mount c "/CF Card/games/pDOSBox/DosPrograms"
c:

I think - with beta 2 - it was originally just 'mount c /' - i.e. root of the device. Quite straightforward to work out.

IM0001 · 10-09-05, 01:39 PM

Commander Keen is sweet but one game that should run great and you do not need a keyboard is ULTRABOTS from Electronic Arts (Think around 1993 or 4)

Im going to go test this now.

"Update"

Yep it works alright. Sound and everything. A tad slow though but it is fully playable. Great now I can get readdicted to this game all over again.

MSAgent · 10-10-05, 03:49 PM

Is there any "wired" keyboard for the x50v, I hate swapping batteries.