

                               --- ELITE 128 ---

                                  Version 1.0

                         by D.Braben & I.Bell (mostly)




This is the third release of a hacked Elite version that utilizes the faster
CPU of the C128, has experimental SuperCPU support and some more nice
features. As you will note, some of them are inspired by A. Duggan's Elite-A
or other Elite versions even if I did never see that games (or the source).

Comments on the game:

  * I had to stop adding features, otherwise the release would have never
    been finished.
    I have some more ideas (bounty hunting and a "hidden" galaxy are my
    favourite ones), and if I ever do another release, maybe I will add
    one or the oher. There is still some space left...

  * I've asked both, Ian Bell and David Braben for permission to release
    Elite 128. There was a positive answer from Ian, and no answer from
    David. I will assume that there is no problem with the distribution of
    this version (which would make no sense to me since many other Elite
    versions, even hacked ones, are freely available from Ian Bells homepage
    - but who knows?). I will immidiately stop distributing this version and
    will ask anyone to remove it from the ftp servers if my above opinion
    shows to be wrong.
    I planned to release the source and all used tools (music compression/
    conversion, string compression/conversion, macroassembler, disassembler
    etc.) together with the binary, to allow everyone to play with the code,
    but this seems to be too courageous in the current situation.

  * The data for the third music theme is taken from an old german C64 book
    named "Beherrschen Sie Ihren Commodore C64" by C. Lorenz (Hofacker
    Verlag 1983) and converted to Elite format by me (of course).

  * Some of the stuff could not be tested by me (NTSC and SuperCPU support),
    so it may not work as expected.

  * SuperCPU support: Regardless of the frame rate limiting code, there is
    some stuff in the game, that will run much faster than it should (the
    break pattern for hyperspace/station entry is one example). I will try
    to find a better solution than the current one, but this is not on top
    of my todo list.

  * Since I've changed large portions of the code, there may be errors. I've
    done thoroughful tests (which means, I've played Elite 128 for hours and
    hours:-), but you may run into problems.

  * You cannot use saved games from any other Elite version with Elite 128.

  * For kids and grandmas, I've provided a commander named "Fatty" on the
    disk. Fatty has already 1000 credits and a docking computer, but is
    still harmless. However, *real* men will probably not use this
    commander:-)

  * For the sidplay fans, I've added the music data in PlaySID format (the
    code is identical to that used in Elite 128, I've only added the
    header). It works fine with the windows version of SIDPlay, at least on
    my NT box.

  * Probably the worst thing in this release is the english translation. My
    english is not so good, and doing translations is much less fun than
    coding new features. Thanks to a friend of mine, Andreas Gerstlauer, at
    least the mission texts sound like real english:-)
    Anyone willing to improve the english translation (or add another
    language) is welcome.

  * A fastloader would be nice, but I don't have one. I've had a quick look
    at the one from "The Fridge", but unfortunately it is GPLed, which
    means, I have to release the complete Elite source - something I cannot
    do for reasons stated above. If someone knows about a really free
    fastloader code (public domain or with a BSD style license), I would be
    glad to hear about it.

  * SuperCPU again: I was thinking about how to use the additional
    horsepower. The problem is to find things, that can be added without
    giving up C64/C128 compatibility. One idea would be to fill the ships
    planes. This sounds stupid on the first glance since there are no
    colors, but it would remove the problem that you can look "through"
    ships and so add some more realism. With this feature, it would be
    possible to have a sun in station range (you *did* notice, that the sun
    is removed as soon as you come into station range, didn't you?).
    A second thing would be to allow more ships (currently the limit is
    11, including planet and sun/station).
    Just a few ideas - I currently don't have a SuperCPU, so I will probably
    not write that code.

  * I'm not shure about my decision, to make the ship slower when the extra
    cargo bay is installed. It is realistic (I think), but it makes trading
    even more boring. On the other side, you are free, to sell the extra
    cargo bay, and sign a special cargo contract, do mining, bounty hunting,
    or whatever. Maybe I will remove it again, I don't know.

  * Elite-A allows you to buy new ships. It would be possible to add this to
    Elite 128, but I don't know if this feature is really worth the space.
    To get that right: It is a nice feature, and I think it should be added
    for shure on a platform with more memory, but on the C64, fighting for
    each byte of RAM, I can imagine things that add more to the playability
    than buying new ships.

    Any comments on this?



How to get the game:

I've uploaded the archive to Arnold (http://arnold.hiof.no/). Since the
the last version stayed in the incoming directory for several weeks, I've
also put it on our ftp server:

    ftp://ftp.musoftware.com/uz/elite128-1.0.zip

I will remove it as soon as the archive is available on Arnold.



Ok, here's the feature list for Elite 128:

  - Will run in 2MHz mode on the C128 while outside the visible area of the
    screen. This means that the CPU will run with 2MHz for about 40% of the
    time, giving an increase of 40% in speed.

  - Default device is the disk, no need to switch from cassette.

  - Switch between fast and slow possible when game stopped. Hit Inst/Del to
    stop the game, then press 'T' (you will hear a beep). Press Clr/Home to
    continue with the game.

  - Joystick/keyboard handler changed to allow parallel working of both. No
    need to take your hands from the joystick when accelerating, activating a
    missile or similiar things. The original version did not accept any keys
    when the joystick was active.

  - Keep settings when ship gets destroyed or the game is restarted.

  - Enabled three previously hidden keys that control music and sound. In
    addition to the 'T' key mentioned above, there are now three more keys
    available:

        'B'   -->  Allow sounds *and* music. Do you remember your enemies
                   killing you because you did not hear them while the docking
                   computer was active?

        'C'   -->  Continous music. The music starts when leaving the station.
                   Rather boring but you may give it a try...

        'E'   -->  Switch between the original docking music and the intro
                   theme.

    All keys are toggle keys. Press them once to enable the feature, press
    them a second time to disable it again.

  * Switchable frame rate limiter should make the game playable on systems
    equipped with accelerator cards (SuperCPU). The frame rate limiter is on
    by default, since it has very little effect on a stock C64 or 128: the
    frame rate limit is almost never reached.
    You can disable the frame rate limiter: Hit Inst/Del to stop the game,
    then press 'L' (you will hear a beep). Press Clr/Home to continue with
    the game. This is a toggle key! To enable the function again, use the
    same procedure.

  * Should detect a SuperCPU and switch it into fast mode. Note: The SuperCPU
    must be configured to allow software clock switching for this.

  * When saving a commander file, a file with the same name is scratched
    before saving the new one. You don't need to use the dangerous '@'
    feature or constantly change your name.
    Beware: This means that *any* file with the same name is scratched from
    disk. If you want to know, what that means, try to save a commander
    named "elite128" on your game disk:-)
    All filenames on the disk except the loader (named "elite128"), and the
    "fatty" commander start with a funny character to avoid overwriting them
    when saving commander files.

  * Removed the checksum code when saving and loading a commander file. This
    means, you can patch your commander files if you really want to. To ease
    this task (for kids and grandmas :-), I've included the source for the
    "fatty" commander in the Elite 128 archive.

  * Does work with other devices than #8. The device, from which Elite is
    loaded is remembered by the game and used for all other loads and
    saves.

  + Corrected some minor problems with the graphics/text and some obviously
    wrong code (e.g. a missing "rts" so an unwanted subroutine was executed
    [which had no effect in the given situation, but it was wrong anyway]).

  + Spent some time to insert new problems and not-so-obviously wrong code.

  + Reworked the status display. It looks somewhat better now (I think).

  + Improved the music routines (added three more opcodes). This allowed me
    to compress the music data much better, resulting in more than 3K
    additional space, which is now occupied by an additional music theme,
    and there's still some space left for improvements.

  + RLE compressed the console graphics data: Even more room (1KB) for
    improvements.

  + There is an additional piece of ship equipment: The autopilot is an
    advanced version of the docking computer and availabe on worlds with
    tech level 10 and above. The 'E' key mentioned above now swaps the music
    themes for the autopilot and the docking computer. There is no way to
    get the intro music while in space.

    Autopilot specification: The LiCorn SpaceLock S&F System is a much
    improved version of the Xexor/Hikan docking computer. It is mainly a
    software upgrade based on the famous L** operating system. The fast and
    bug-free base system allows the control of the ship even when flying
    with full speed. Advanced Sens-O-Grape pilot interaction allows the
    software to disable itself as soon as the human pilot touches the
    controls. When equiped with an autopilot, the ships compass display may
    be switched between sun and planet (use the 'F' key in flight mode to
    toggle). The flight to the sun may also be done unter autopilot control.
    This feature is disabled for security reasons when in station range. The
    autopilot device is a must for the serious combateer!

    Note: You can only have one of both, the autopilot or the docking
    computer! If you have the docking computer and want to upgrade, you have
    to sell if first (see below under "Selling Equipment").

  + Reworked the "ship destroyed" screen. The game waits for a keypress
    before continuing. There was originally a fourth music theme that was
    played here, but the music was not very good and I needed the space, so
    I removed it again.

  + When your ship gets destroyed, you start over at the last system visited
    with all equipment you had, when you left the station (not at the last
    save position as before). This means that you have to save your game
    less often.

  + Cheats: I've added god mode, all other cheats have been removed in the
    non debug version. The "forced witch space" cheat did not work anyway
    with the new hyperspace entry behaviour.

  + Removed the cassette code. Since the game needs a loader program anyway,
    running it from cassette makes no sense. I will probably remove the b/w
    support (blinking controls) too, but currently it's still in.

  + From the diskette menu, you can now go back to BASIC (I had some bad
    feeling about switching my system repeatedly off and on).

  + Translation into english. The original version was in german (I used
    this version because it had some extensions like a second music theme).
    The translation has some edges, mainly in the planet descriptions, but
    it is hopefully not too bad. The desired language is selectable from the
    loader.

    If you have any recommendations for improvements, please contact me.

  + Available for PAL and NTSC. This is a thing I could not test since I
    don't own a NTSC system, but I converted the music data to the best of
    my knowledge. The sounds are not translated, however.
    I've decided against auto-detecting PAL/NTSC, even if this is easy,
    because I don't know if the NTSC code works. Therefore PAL/NTSC is
    selectable from the loader. This may change if I get some positive
    feedback about the NTSC stuff.

  + While approaching the station under docking computer or autopilot
    control, other civilian crafts are not permitted to leave the station
    to prevent collisions.

    Note: This is not true for military crafts or viper police ships!

  + It is possible to pay a small docking fee (25 credits) to be allowed to
    stay in the station until market prices change. Triggered by Ctrl-7.

  + Ship equipment may be sold if no longer needed. Since the equipment was
    in use for some time, you will not get your full money back. However,
    it's a fast way to get some money if you need it. Prices for used
    equipment are not controlled by the GalCop, so the offers may vary. It
    is usually better to sell high tech equipment on worlds with a low tech
    level, but must not always be true.

    Note: Since selling equipment is now available, equipment is no longer
    quietly replaced when buying new stuff (e.g. pulse laser got replaced
    by beam laser in the original Elite). You have to sell old stuff to make
    room for new things. This is true not only for the lasers but also for
    docking computer vs. autopilot.

    The list of offers does only show equipment you have and equipment you
    can sell. Sometimes you cannot sell some pieces equipment, for example
    the extra cargo bay cannot be sold if not at least 15 tons of cargo
    capacity are free.

    Beware: Think twice before selling anything! For several reasons, you
    may not be able to get the equipment back if you need it! Press Ctrl-3
    to get offers for your used equipment.

  + As in Elite-A, preparation for hyperspace jump will deactivate all
    controls and the autopilot, since the ship computers are dedicated to
    calculating the jump parameters. For this reason, a hyperjump is not a
    good way to get out of trouble. Use the hyperspace unit instead (see
    below).

  + Other ships and space junk do no longer appear in fixed positions (in
    original Elite there were only 4 positions, where pirate ships could
    appear). All space objects now appear randomly somewhere in front of
    your ship.

  + As in Elite-A, the energy bomb has been removed for symetry reasons. No
    one else in the Elite Universe has an energy bomb, so why should you?

  + A hyperspace unit is available. This piece of equipment was developed on
    some pirate world, but became common in the known universe very quickly.
    It is a small additional circuit that connects to the hyperspace drive
    and will force it to mis-jump when activated. That is, it will activate
    the drive without proper setup, forcing a jump to a random location in
    the galaxy. This will *not* work without fuel, and will blow up any fuel
    you have.

    Ctrl-J will trigger a hyperspace mis-jump.

    Beware: This device may rescue your life (and your cargo), but it's use
    is inherently dangerous. Hyperspace drives are very complex and an abuse
    (as with the hyperspace unit) may cause them to fail or even to explode.
    There are also interferences between the hyperspace unit and the drive
    that may destroy the hyperspace unit. Use this device on your own risk.
    You have been warned!

  + As an additional piece of High-Tech hardware, an I.F.F. system is
    available on worlds with tech level 10 or higher. This unit will
    establish a TS ComDirect connection to the nearest Federal GalCop Space
    Authority Database. Using the data link, it is able to identify nearly
    all known ship types. The names will be displayed in the lower part of
    the screen when the object is in the crosshairs. This may help you to
    adapt your tactics to the capabilities of your enemies.

    In the flight grid scanner screen of a ship equiped with the I.F.F.
    (Identification Friend or Foe) system, the display will change according
    to the type of the object. For ships, the legal status of the owner will
    be looked up in the GalCop Database. The scanner display will show the
    information using different colors for head and tail of the bar:

         Object               Head            Tail
        --------------------+---------------+----------------------
         Missiles           | Green         | Green + Red
         Station related    | Green         | Green
         Debris             | Green         | Yellow + Green
         Police/Military    | Green         | Yellow
         Clean              | Yellow        | Yellow
         Offender/Fugitive  | Yellow        | Yellow + Red
         Most wanted        | Yellow + Red  | Yellow + Red
         Asteroid/Boulder   | Red           | Red
         Unknown            | Yellow        | Yellow + Red


    Hints:

      - Ships shown as clean may occasionally be bounty hunters or viper
        police ships and may attack you. This is even more true if your
        legal status is not clean.

      - Ships marked as offender/fugitive are often pirates. Danger!

      - "Most wanted" ship owners are wanted by the police for terrorism
        or other highly criminal acts. They often hide near worlds where
        law enforcement is weak and human life is cheap. Some of them are
        known to have modified shields and/or laser equipment. Even if
        GalCop police pays a high bounty for a kill, you are strongly
        advised to flee (if you can) and to notify the nearest police
        headquarter.

  + Because of the greater equipment count, I had to remove the equipment
    display from the Commander status screen and put it into a screen of
    it's own. It will also show the Extra Cargo Bay and the count of
    missiles, you have.
    Press '0' (that is, zero) to access the ship equipment list.

  + Changed the way, the legal status is calculated. Several things that
    were accepted by the authorities in the original Elite will now get you
    into trouble. Shooting harmless traders or ramming ships are two
    examples. In the original Elite, no one cared if you shot dozens of
    innocent traders to raise your combat rating. In Elite 128 all this is
    considered a crime by the Federation Crime Monitoring Authority (as it
    should be). As an addition, criminal acts accumulate (this was not true
    in original Elite) and will get you into trouble very fast. So be
    careful! Maybe, shooting peaceful family fathers for breakfast was fun
    in Elite, but it's definitely not the way to go in Elite 128!

  + If your reputation is *really* bad, the space station will launch
    fighters for attack if you come in sight. Hint: With a reputation like
    this, you will not make it anyway...

  + As an extension, special cargos are available. These are low bulk cargos
    like photos or tapes that have to be delivered to their destination as
    fast as possible. Press Ctrl-1 for a list of contract offers.
    You may only carry one special cargo at a time. The inventory screen
    shows the type of the cargo and the destination. If you have a special
    cargo contract, you may use the 'W' in the charts to put the cursor on
    the destination system for the special cargo and display the current
    distance to the target.
    The deposit for the contract is 25% of the contingent fee that is shown
    in the offer screen.
    If you take too long to deliver the cargo, you won't fulfill the
    contract, will loose you deposit *and* gain a criminal record for
    contract breaking.

    Here are some recommendations for new pilots regarding special cargo:

     - You have to pay 25% of the contingent fee for the contract as a
       deposit, but you get this money back, when (and if) you deliver the
       special cargo.

     - Be shure to plan your route before signing the contract! Some routes
       are much more difficult than others. Have a look at the systems that
       you plan to visit. Systems heavily infested by pirates will cost you
       time and - maybe - your life.

     - Some cargos are illegal. Randomly, drugs or spy films are offered for
       transport. Unfortunately, it is not always clear from the offers,
       which cargo is illegal. If the payment offered is unusualy high, the
       cargo may be illegal - or the offer is a bargain. Be careful!
       Fighting police ships all your way long will not speed up delivery.

     - You get payed to deliver the cargo as quickly as possible. So don't
       even think about doing a little trading at the same time (there's one
       exception to that: You may take some other goods with you to to sell
       at the destination of your journey). Avoid space stations. Hanging
       around in the space station bar may be fun, but it costs time.

     - Sell your extra cargo bay if you have one. This will make your ship
       faster (see below).

     - If you stay in the station for some time (Ctrl-7, see above), other
       contract offers may become available.

     - If the cargo is overdue, you will be notified and the cargo is
       dropped. You will loose your deposit in that case, earn a criminal
       record for contract breaking, and - if the cargo was illegal - the
       criminal elements that were your contract partners may get upset.

     - The prices paid seem to be high. But remember that you take several
       risks when signing a contract:

        * The cargo may be illegal.
        * You may not deliver in time and loose your deposit.
        * There's not much time to visit space stations, so you cannot save
          your game often.

  + Added an additional mission ("mission" is not the correct word, it's
    more like the trumble stuff but much less funny :-).

  + Since memory was getting tight again, I began putting the larger
    messages on separate files on the disk. This means that some messages
    must be loaded from the game disk. If you don't have the game disk in
    the drive, you are prompted for it. The messages on disk are the ones
    for the missions, you see them usually only once in the complete game.
    The delay and the need to insert the game disk in the drive is a small
    inconvenience, but the messages are eating memory like cornflakes. The
    advantage is that more missions or features may be added without much
    memory penalty.

  + Changed the trigger and working for the constrictor mission. You may get
    this mission now in 4 of the 8 galaxies, but the trail in galaxy 1 is
    gone (as far as I could tell, it did not work anyway in the german
    version - some of the messages were not even translated).

  + On worlds with tech level 8 and above, the Rent-A-Dock service is
    available. When in station range, you can request this service for a
    mere 25 Credits by pressing Ctrl-C. The station will establish a
    DockDirect connection and control your ship using its own docking
    computer devices. This is a nice feature and useful for ships that
    got damaged in combat. It may even be better to sell the docking
    computer, freeing one ton of cargo space and to use the Rent-A-Dock
    service instead.

    Note: This service is suspended during attack.

  + Ship equipment now has a weight. In original Elite, you could load
    tons of equipment into your ship without loosing cargo capacity. This
    is no longer true. Have a look at the following table to determine,
    how much precious cargo space each item will take:

        E.C.M. System           1t
        I.F.F. System           1t
        Fuel Scoops             2t
        Hyperspace Unit         0t
        Energy Unit             1t
        Docking Computer        1t
        Autopilot               1t
        Galactic Hyperdrive     2t
        Escape Capsule          2t
        Extra Cargo Bay         0t
        Military Laser          1t
        Other lasers            0t
        Missile (each)          1t

    This means that selling or buying equipment when preparing for a special
    job (trading, special cargo delivery) is much more an option.

    Note: It may be impossible to buy new equipment, if you have no space
    left for the new device. You have to sell cargo or other equipment
    first.

  + The extra cargo bay now causes a slowdown of your ship. Equipped with an
    extra cargo bay, it will now reach only ~65% of it's speed without the
    cargo bay. The cargo itself does not influence the maximum speed (as
    before).
    For missions, where you need the full power of your ship (special cargo
    delivery, bounty hunting), it is now advisable to sell the extra cargo
    bay.

  + Reworked the inventory screen. It will no longer show the available fuel
    and money (since this is duplicated from the status screen), but type
    and destination of any special cargo carried and the current ship
    capacity. The latter is displayed as follows:

        Full capacity/Useable capacity/Capacity left

    were

      - Full capacity is the full weight, your ship can carry.
      - Useable capacity is the capacity left for cargo.
      - Capacity left is the capacity currently free for cargo or new
        equipment.

  + Missiles do no longer destroy other ships on the first hit but cause
    severe damage (that is: a missile will kill one of the small ships but the
    bigger ones need several hits).

  + Most wanted pirates: These mean guys come in different ships and have
    often modified shields and or lasers. If today is your lucky day, you
    get a few seconds to pray before you die.

  + New font: One of my +4 machines has a nice second font. I could not
    resist, ripped it and put it into the Elite code. The old C64 font was
    designed with low res TV sets in mind - and it looks like that. The new
    font is the default, if you don't like it, select the original C64 font
    from the loader. I've not tested the new font on a TV set, but on my
    1901 it looks great.

  + Several minor changes (single dot stars, sqeezed out a few clycles here
    and there, ...)


Legend:
  -   =   new feature in 0.8
  *   =   new in version 0.9
  +   =   new in version 1.0


My special thanks go to:

  * Ian Bell and David Braben for writing the original game.

  * Andreas Gerstlauer for translation of the mission texts.



Have fun!


