3 ms·

Years ago I tried running my old C64 games on faster hardware was disappointed that many games from back then seemed to assume a particular CPU speed. For insta

by ascotan 10y ago

Years ago I tried running my old C64 games on faster hardware was disappointed that many games from back then seemed to assume a particular CPU speed. For instance all the D&D boxed set games (like pool of radiance/curse of the azure bonds) would have characters move during combat based on the the speed of the computer. On a faster processor combat was over in a blink of an eye making the game unplayable. I believe most of the software emulators slow down the clock speed so games are playable, but on actual faster hardware, there's prob a lot of non-playable games. I really don't know why this was the case :/

chillingeffect 10y ago
Ah yes... it's finally been long enough... in the old days we used to see the first attempts to make programs run at the same speed everywhere or at least on two different PCs.... and it was a huge pain... wasted extra cycles to figure out how fast things were moving.... And no consistent sw arch to run things at a steady rate. And even when they did run at mostly the same rate in most of the sections of the program heh, they usually did so by wasting cycles, so the prg ran no better on faster hw.... But that was a long time ago, before sw libraries were common! And when APIS were scarcely heard of, at least for home computers and also took too much overheard.... It was the best of times, the worst of times hahaha. No one could foresee the techniques and platforms we have now. :) ah the good old days...
- vanderZwan 10y ago
  Alley Cat managed just fine, and that's a game from 1983-1984 > One of the most amazing things about the game is that it actually sets its own clock speed so that the speed of your computer is irrelevant. This means you don't need Moslo to enjoy the game :) http://www.myabandonware.com/game/alley-cat-1q http://www.myabandonware.com/game/alley-cat-1q
  - webtechgal 10y ago
    Ooo... I remember playing that a LOT on the good ol' Tandy 1000 (8088/4.77 MHz/256KB RAM/9-pin CGI/MS-DOS)!! Sure brings on the nostalgia... :-)

by ascotan 10y ago

chillingeffect 10y ago

Ah yes... it's finally been long enough... in the old days we used to see the first attempts to make programs run at the same speed everywhere or at least on two different PCs.... and it was a huge pain... wasted extra cycles to figure out how fast things were moving.... And no consistent sw arch to run things at a steady rate. And even when they did run at mostly the same rate in most of the sections of the program heh, they usually did so by wasting cycles, so the prg ran no better on faster hw.... But that was a long time ago, before sw libraries were common! And when APIS were scarcely heard of, at least for home computers and also took too much overheard.... It was the best of times, the worst of times hahaha. No one could foresee the techniques and platforms we have now. :) ah the good old days...

vanderZwan 10y ago
Alley Cat managed just fine, and that's a game from 1983-1984 > One of the most amazing things about the game is that it actually sets its own clock speed so that the speed of your computer is irrelevant. This means you don't need Moslo to enjoy the game :) http://www.myabandonware.com/game/alley-cat-1q http://www.myabandonware.com/game/alley-cat-1q
- webtechgal 10y ago
  Ooo... I remember playing that a LOT on the good ol' Tandy 1000 (8088/4.77 MHz/256KB RAM/9-pin CGI/MS-DOS)!! Sure brings on the nostalgia... :-)