And I recommend the DOSBox Game Launcher, makes using DOSBox really convenient. All of those tools + the game are shareware.
I remember this game so well. The newspaper articles give it a wicked touch, one can make the news. The interplanetary news even!!! And it generates planets you can visit. All on ONE 1.4 MB floppy - this was so incredible xD
Ahh, so much greatness. Tyvm David Braben et al. :) And encouraging to see other indies following the path... Pioneer space sim Ad Astra space sim Space Engine Starwraith Games Infinity -quest for earth Future is bright!
is this the "fixed" version. i tried Elite II/FE a couple of years ago and found combat impossible, which was odd as i had made Elite status on the Amiga version. apparently some PC version have corrected a bug in the physics to make it more precisely realistic, but subsequently utterly unplayable as you cant hit a moving target. EDIT... i think i may have been thinking of Oolite, a clone of the original Elite. i fear much time about to be spent in FFE That aside, probably best game ever, if Brabhams gets his arse in gear and creates a modern MMO version he'd be a billionaire.
either way, the cabin passenger bug (sell you ship, get the cash but cant actually sell) has gone so will have to actually start from 1000CR.
I didn't play much yet. Graphics are awful, so are the controls. I'm always a little bit shocked when playing old games nowadays because stange enough in my memories the graphics are rather high res. Next I find it hard to believe how we've been able to play those games back then with those graphics and controls. Once the first shock is gone I usually get quite addicted and when I think back to it in a couple of months the graphics will be high res again. So far I just flew around a bit in the Gateway system getting used to controls and practicising landing (no auto-pilot). No combat yet and no bugs. No idea what Braben is up to, I guess Outsider is dead. But apparently he said at last year's GDC that Elite IV is still a plan. Here's his whole talk about Elite, video + slides: http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014628/Classic-Game-Postmortem
still having trouble figuring out the navigation controls, i still don't know which side is up and down!!
Funny how this has had a revival. Algorithmically created content I mean. Check out info on "Fuel" a racing game with a record breaking world size! Actually I think I made a thread for it here. http://www.entropiaplanets.com/forums/threads/massive-scale-racing-game.6806/ Wistrel
There is no up and down its space! The important fact is your bearing, if you press "up" long enough you will have completely turned around. This means your radar will completely be reversed :)
think you can teach me how the basic control panel works, or maybe a video of how you play for me to get an idea of how to play it??
theres a patched version, glffe, (more info here also full D3D version, not tried). which improves the resolution and no dos box needed either., just download the exe, the bitmaps and config file (no idea why not in one zip), drop them in your FFE dir. i have however found trouble with the mouse going out of the window, so i think it needs setting to full screen. (theres a "nic's mod thats supposed to resolve this) theres further an "glffea" version which applies whats known as Aniso's mod which rebalances the game, the payments for hits and passangers are greatly increased, as are some equipment, but no weight for some equipments. all told though, i've found it near impossible to play. not sure if its the PC version (played extensivly on Amiga once upon a day) or the higher processing mucks with the AI, or the hacks/mods, but its near impossible to make a flight without being attacked and killed. flying Gateway/Alioth-Solith, supposedly safe systems, i get intercepted nearly everytime by some Adder/Cobra/lanner/imp-explorer that simply blow me out the space. usually no chance to even fight back. i ended up saving and repeatedly Hyperspacing in to see if i could make it, then reload on death repeat. took half dozen attempts often to make it. now built up enough cash for a 8MW laser, so i have succesfully engaged and destroyed (so its not just my crap skills) but its still tedious and following flights have just lead to higher/more agressive ships attacking me. supposed to be safe systems! and we thought EU was too hard for noobs...
Hopefully this won't get me banned on this forum too, lol. 2 days til swtor goes f2p! :) (Actually, it works right now I believe.)
We're not in the habit of overly censoring or banning people on EP. I believe I can count the amount of moderated threads in 2012 on the fingers of one hand, and to the best of my knowledge, the only bans in 2012 have been spammers. In fact, our ban hammer looks like this:
