Playing Jeff's Coco Games on a PC/Mac/Unix box!
Thanks to the dedicated work of a bunch of people (in particular Tim Lindner and Nathan Woods for the coco-specific work), the M.E.S.S. emulator is now at a level where it can play at least some of my coco games. Way cool. There are a few steps to go through:
(If you only want to play Caladuril, Flame of Light, Jeff Vavasour's coco2 emulator is a lot more straight-forward, and you can find it here.)
Here's a direct link to revision 0.61 of the win32 version of M.E.S.S. (Anything lower won't work correctly). (I'm being naughty and linking directly- if the server complains, you can just click on the URL it supplies at the top of the complaint page.) If that link is busted, go to the M.E.S.S. home page here.
Unzip this file and go to step 2.
You can get the ROMs directly here. These files are still the property of Microware, so you have to own a coco3 yourself before you can use them.
Take this zip file and DO NOT UNZIP IT! Go to the directory in which you unzipped the emulator. Place the coco3.zip file in the "bios" directory.
Unzip these files (if they are zipped) into <emulator-directory>\software\coco3\ (you'll have to create the coco3 directory). Links to the disk image files are included with the detailed instructions for each game, but I'll include links here too:
I will add the rest of 'em as soon as I get them working (takes a lot of mucking around with old cocos, CatWeasels, etc.).
The emulator is started from the command prompt by going to the emulator directory and typing "mess". There are a few funky command line options that you'll need. The most important is coco3, and that has to come first. You might also like to use -w to use windowed mode. The emulator makes good use of DirectDraw! Another common option is "-flop disk-image-name", which assigns a disk image file to a virtual disk drive. Here's an example mess command line:
mess coco3 -w -flop caladuri.dsk
Once the emulator is running, it'll be in full emulation mode. This means any key you hit will be interpreted by the emulated system, and not by the emulator itself. Hit Scroll Lock to switch to UI mode. Now you can hit Esc to exit the emulator (caution- no warnings given!) and most importantly Tab to muck with the emulator settings. After you hit Tab, a menu of options will appear. Scroll down to "File Manager" and press enter. Now select one of the "floppydisk #n" lines, and press enter. Now you can select a virtual disk file. This menu starts in the emulator home directory, which is a little useless, because all your goodies should be in the software\coco3 directory. Scroll down to software and press enter. Scroll down to coco3 and press enter. Now select the disk image file you like and press enter. Hit Esc twice to get back to the emulator itself. Don't hit Esc three times, or you'll be dumped back to the command prompt! Once you're done changing virtual disks, you can hit Scroll Lock again to prevent an accidental Esc from dumping you out.
It's handy to set RGB monitor mode. Once the emulator is running, hit Scroll Lock until UI is enabled, then hit tab. Scroll down to Dip Switches, press enter. Scroll down to Video Type, and use left or right arrows to set it to RGB. If you do this, you won't have to hold down the space bar as any of the coco3 games boot in order to set composite palettes.
Some folks have reported quirky emulator behavior (lockups and/or unreadable disks), particularly on Windows XP (or maybe just fast machines). One reported fix is to rename the DMK files to DSK!
Now that you've got the emulator up and running, here are detailed instructions for loading and running each game.
Loading
Here's the unzipped one-disk image. An easy one to load:
mess coco3 -flop caladuri.dsk
Once the emulator starts up you'll see the familiar coco welcome screen. Type:
LOADM"CAL
(remembering that " is shift-2 on the coco) and press enter. Caladuril will start.
Playing the Game
Caladuril is traditional adventure game presented in an isometric graphical manner. Object interaction is achieved through a classical text interface.
In the center is your character, Jame. Move around with the arrow keys. Move up next to something, and see its name appear in "Visible Items". Type "Get <objectname>". The object should move into the Inventory area. The object may not be gettable, so try other commands such as "Look" or "Go". You'll find a lot of pertinent information in my pages on the Palm Pilot port of this game here.
Loading
Here's a zip of the three disk images you'll need. Start with:
mess coco3 -flop elira.dsk -flop dungeon.dsk -flop linkboot.dmk
At the coco's screen do:
LOADM"LINK:2
(remembering that " is shift-2 on the coco, and that : is un-shifted) and press enter. If you haven't set RGB video type, immediately HOLD DOWN THE SPACEBAR! This will cause the program to switch to RGB colors. The program defaults to RGB colors and looks pretty weird if you don't switch it. (Once you're playing, you can use the Z key to switch palettes if you miss this step.) You can let go of the space bar when you see the title screen start.
The Seventh Link uses two additional disks: an elira disk and a dungeon disk. These disks start out fresh, and your progress through the game is saved on them periodically. If you wish to start a new game later, you should make copies of the two .dsk files. (Or you could just re-download them from here.)
Once the game has finished loading, the words "Insert Elira disk BACKUP" will appear. If you typed the mess start line above, you are already setup and can just hit space. If not, you should go to the file manager (as explained above) and set floppydisk #1 to "Elira.dsk". While you're at it, set floppydisk #2 to "Dungeon.dsk". Esc back out to the emulator. Hit the space-bar and the game will continue to load.
If this is the first time you've played with this particular Elira disk image, the game will sense that fact and switch to a character creation screen. You'll be lead through that process while a silly animation plays out in the surrounding screen space. Once you're done, the game will switch to the screen it will subsequently use when you start up with a used Elira disk image.
Playing the Game
The Seventh Link is a role-playing game similar to well-known games such as Ultima.
In the centre is your party's icon. Move around with the arrow keys. On the top right is a listing of all the folks in your party, starting out with just you. As you move around, you'll notice that sections of landscape are hidden behind opaque features such as mountains and trees. Head around to that castle icon with the flapping flag. Sit right on top of it and hit "E" for enter. Now you're inside the town. Walk into one of the black squares to walk back outside. Inside the town you can find shopkeepers who will sell you useful items like weapons and food. Use the "T" key to transact with a shopkeeper (you can always tell them from other characters: the move so as to keep themselves opposite you across their counter). Once back outside, have a look around and see if you can find a dungeon, which is represented by a little brown door icon. Dungeons are always found amidst mountains. Stand on the dungeon door and press "E" again. For just a second, you'll get a 3D view of the dungeon. Then you'll be thrown into darkness because you're not carrying a light source. Hit "K" to climb back up the ladder. Now wander around until you find some Orcs to beat up. They usually carry torches. You need to hold a torch or lamp in at least one character's hand in order to see in the dungeons. If you enter a dungeon, you may be prompted to type in the number of the drive that holds the dungeon disk. If you followed the instructions above, hit 1, and all should be well from then on.
You know, some nutter has actually posted a bunch of info about the Seventh Link here. You might get some helpful hints about where to find particular shops, guilds,
Key assignments:
A Attack
B Board (a ship or other vehicle)
C Cast (magic spell)
E Enter (town, castle or dungeon)
F Fire Cannon (when on board a ship)
G Get
I Inventory. Very useful. Use this screen to equip your characters.
K Climb (up/down ladders in dungeons towns or castles)
L Look
M Modify party order
N Non-key command. After 'N' you can type a string. DRINK and JOIN (to invite another to join your party) are two useful ones.
O Open door
Q Quit/reload. Use this command when your back's against the wall. It will load the situation from the last time you entered a town, castle or dungeon, or the last time you hit 'R'.
R Record current game (i.e. save game).
S Steal. Use this in shops. If you get caught, you're buggered.
T Transact with shopkeeper.
U Unlock door.
V Volume on/off.
X Exit a ship or other conveyance.
Z Set palettes (toggle between RGB and composite).
ESC/BRK Escape from combat. You'll probably lose something in your hurry to run away.
Loading.
Here's the zipped pair of disk files: cal2boot.dmk and cal2play (I forgot to add the DMK extenstion, oops). Cal2's a bit pickier. Do:
mess coco3 -flop cal2boot.dmk
Once loaded:
LOADM"CAL2
If you haven't set RGB video type, HOLD DOWN THE SPACEBAR to set composite palette. (I'm not to keen on MESS's idea of what the composite palette should look like... oh well. It's supposed to be a tranquil late evening sunset.) Shortly "Insert play disk" will appear. Switch the emulator's diskette #1 (drive 0 that is) to CAL2PLAY (no extension). Back to the emulated coco and press space.
Playing the Game.
See the instructions for Caladuril. Same stuff, different story. Here's a link to a very brief discussion for my not-yet-finished WinCE port of Cal2.
Have fun!
Back to Jeff's Coco Stuff Page. Up to Jeff's personal homepage.