Rick Dangerous 2 - CPC graphics

[jalnl]

Hi all,


I'm currently creating a remake of Rick Dangerous 2 on Windows, based on the PC version. I noticed there's one file in the PC game that contains what looks like graphics for the CPC version (see attachment), even though I think most of the tiles weren't actually used? (those that are for the intro sequences which I think are missing on the CPC?) I think it would be swell to have the option to use the CPC graphics besides the CGA/EGA/VGA ones, but I have no idea how to extract them (if that's possible at all) from the disk image I have of the CPC version of RD2. Therefore I hope anyone here can help me, or at least give me some ideas how to go about, or whether it's possible at all. Thx!




JAL

[Gryzor]

Ohhh yes please! XRick is one of my all time favorite ports, I'd pay for something like this!

[teopl]

I am not sure if it can be used here, but WinApe has option to search graphics from memory when game is started. (check Debug->Find Graphics)

[jalnl]

Ohhh yes please! XRick is one of my all time favorite ports, I'd pay for something like this!

Well, the game is playable from start to end, with only one minor bug left to fix, but I'd like to add features like save games, persistent hiscore etc., and also put in more of the 68K versions (more sprites, end sequence fix, perhaps better sound) before releasing it. And of course CPC graphics .

I am not sure if it can be used here, but WinApe has option to search graphics from memory when game is started. (check Debug->Find Graphics)

Ok, cool, I'll definitely check that out. My preference would be the original gfx files, but if that fails, this would be a good 2nd option.



JAL

[jalnl]

Ok, I ended up taking the graphics from the Debug menu in WinAPE, but it was one hell of a chore, as I had to figure out the masks for all the sprites, and more... Level 1 finished, but it'll be a while before I tackle the other levels . Attached two screen shots: the first of the intro sequence with CPC graphics (some of which I had to draw myself, the background tiles are from the file I mentioned earlier, some of which I'm not too partial of, but for now it is what it is) and the (almost) start of level 1. So there you have it: the PC version of RD2, remade for SDL running under Windows with glorious CPC graphics.

[Gryzor]

So there you have it: the PC version of RD2, remade for SDL running under Windows with glorious CPC graphics.

Can't get much better than this.

[jalnl]

Can't get much better than this.

Heheh, thanks. Unfortunately, it will be a while before I'll have managed to extract all the gfx for level 2-5, and draw the missing sprites for the intro sequences, but at least it's a start!




JAL

[kawickboy]

Having the intro in the CPC release should be great too.
Like the 1st Rick, is the game incomplete on 8bits platforms ? (Thanks to Rick128+ for adding them).

[Gryzor]

Heheh, thanks. Unfortunately, it will be a while before I'll have managed to extract all the gfx for level 2-5, and draw the missing sprites for the intro sequences, but at least it's a start!
JAL

Have you completed the other gfx versions?

[jalnl]

Having the intro in the CPC release should be great too.

Indeed. It was probably a memory constraint they left it out. It's quite a lot of code (it's like a scripting engine) and there's a lot of extra sprites.

Like the 1st Rick, is the game incomplete on 8bits platforms ? (Thanks to Rick128+ for adding them).

Yes, except for levels 1 and 5, there's an extra map file on the 68k and PC versions that's not present on the 8 bit versions.

Have you completed the other gfx versions?

Like I said in my previous post:

Unfortunately, it will be a while before I'll have managed to extract all the gfx for level 2-5, and draw the missing sprites for the intro sequences

However, level 2 is fairly complete, though I'm not completely satisfied with the intro sprites (that I have to draw myself - I'm not much of a gfx artist). See attachment for a screen shot.


JAL

[kawickboy]

C64 release do have introductions. Rick 2 is a masterpiece but i'm afraid that intro are missing on CPC releases du to memory issues... On Spectrum as the coder was the same (David Pridmore ?)

[jalnl]

C64 release do have introductions. Rick 2 is a masterpiece but i'm afraid that intro are missing on CPC releases due to memory issues... On Spectrum as the coder was the same (David Pridmore ?)

But the C64 version doesn't have the big title screen (instead Rick flying on his scooter). Not sure whether memory constraints would prevent the introductions, but perhaps intermittent loading would not have preferred...


Anyway, level 3 complete, including drawing introduction sprites and animated tiles. Perhaps level 4 next week...




JAL

[Gryzor]

Can't wait...

[jalnl]

Can't wait...

You're in luck, I had some spare time  .


Level 4 was quite a b*tch, as the CPC version lacks a lot of sprites. I had to draw the cogwheel robot, and of course all the intro sprites, but there's a lot of intro sprites (mud blob, fat guy in various states of laughter), but I think I succeeded quite well. See attachments for some impressions.

[Gryzor]

It really looks gorgeous! Perhaps a bit too saturated (even for the CPC!) but I love it!

[jalnl]

It really looks gorgeous! Perhaps a bit too saturated (even for the CPC!) but I love it!

Thanks! The palette is currently just 254/127/0 for full/half/none of the CPC, but I can easily change that. If anyone has a better conversion of the CPC colours to RGB values I'd be happy to change it.


In the mean time, here's level 5. Less work than 4, but still had to draw a number of sprites and of course the animated tiles. Which means that it's basically finished, a CPC skin over the PC version of Rick Dangerous .

[Gryzor]

Ok, where do I send the money?

[jalnl]

Ok, where do I send the money?

Haha, lol, just be patient 😁. There's a lot of polishing up I need to do before I can release anything. Just fixed another bug that was also in the original source of the PC version (but not in the CPC version or, as far as I know, any other version) that made it impossible to trigger a switch by shooting to the right. Man, that source is so crappy 😆.