James Pond [SA version] (2001) (R-Comp Interactive)

Download games the project has approval to release
Post Reply
JonAbbott
Posts: 2938
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2013 12:13 pm
Location: Essex
Contact:

James Pond [SA version] (2001) (R-Comp Interactive)

Post by JonAbbott »

Image James Pond [SA version] (2001) (R-Comp Interactive)

ID: 10603
Version: Unknown
Developer: Millennium; Chris Sorrell; Richard Teather (conversion)
Genre: Platformer
RAM: 2048

CPU compatibility: StrongARM
OS compatibility: 3.7x 4.x

Legal info: Distribution rights held by JASPP


Download full archive: Image (4mb)

Download individual floppies: Image


Game info
Run the game by launching the icon.


Synopsis
When danger threatens in the icy deep, when hope seems lost and the end looks nigh, there's only one fish with the guts to save the day.
Now's the time to call James Pond - Underwater Agent. He's fearless, he's clever, he's ozone-friendly.

James Pond, the fish with a mission (twelve missions, in fact) will take on anything, from retrieving radioactive canisters and plugging the leaks in oil tankers to rescuing doomed lobsters, mermaids and rare orchids from extinction.

Now you can take the part of James Pond in this all-action arcade adventure. With twelve levels and lots of secret areas to explore, brilliant graphics and game design, this sub-sea spectacular is not to be missed!

12 momentous missions, plus lots of bonus chambers.

Choice of weapons or just blow up baddies with bubble-action!


So many different enemies and pickups you'll wish you had eight tentacles!

Screenshots
Image Image Image

Gameplay
andretim
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2013 5:29 pm

Re: James Pond [SA version] (2001) (R-Comp Interactive)

Post by andretim »

I had to buy a new LCD monitor recently (Benq GW2260) and finally managed to get complete an MDF with a list of the definitions it supports. Since the minimal resolution is 640x480, I still had to write copies of the 640x480 ones where I transfer pixels from the usable area to the borders in order to emulate lower resolutions as I did for my previous monitor but I thought to myself: why not write a module that does it on the fly?

So I made one, which works quite well on my machine, even corrects the aspect ratio of modes like 320x480, but it doesn't work for this game where the Benq just displays an "Out of range" message. The game comes with a 320x256 MDF and the SysLog entries of the module confirms a correct mapping of a 320x256 equivalent of the 640x480 resolution of my monitor but it doesn't work while it works for other games. Since the other game for which I manage to produce an "Out of range" display is Terramex when I select the interlaced mode I suspect James Pond may force Interlace on. Can anyone who has it running confirm?
JonAbbott
Posts: 2938
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2013 12:13 pm
Location: Essex
Contact:

Re: James Pond [SA version] (2001) (R-Comp Interactive)

Post by JonAbbott »

It's the overscan resolution it uses that's at fault, LCDGameModes resolves that but obviously won't help you as it stays on the lower resolution modes which your monitor doesn't support.

Steve...how much work is it to switch LCDGameModes to force the monitor to a higher resolution? I recall when we were trying to resolve the initial issues I managed to force it up to higher res by tweaking one of the parameters, but suspect it's more work than that.
JonAbbott
Posts: 2938
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2013 12:13 pm
Location: Essex
Contact:

Re: James Pond [SA version] (2001) (R-Comp Interactive)

Post by JonAbbott »

JonAbbott wrote:It's the overscan resolution it uses that's at fault, LCDGameModes resolves that but obviously won't help you as it stays on the lower resolution modes which your monitor doesn't support.
I've just realised we're talking about the SA version of Chuck Rock...ignore what I said above, the issue is that we currently don't have a VIDC20 native version of LCDGameModes - it's on the list of things to implement and will be included in a later version of ADFFS.

The current "VIDC20" version of LCDgm is in fact VIDC1 native and goes through the VIDC1>VIDC20 translator. For legacy games, it's enabled in the boot scripts.

You could try enabling this version of LCDgm by issuing "*ADFRemapVideoMemory 13 160" before running the game, it may or may not work - it was never tested on VIDC20 native games.
Post Reply