macross: Skull Leader, Love Stories, and Remember Me

[Skull Leader]

So I busted out the PC98 emulator earlier tonight and I was fooling around with Skull Leader and Remember Me.... it got me to thinking.

How hard would it be to do an HD remake of these games? Perhaps doing them in a windows format, eliminating the need for a PC98 emu?

I don't know how complicated it would be, but the games are awesome (for those who haven't played them, they're strategy games where you control entire squadrons of valkyries at once, and sometimes even the macross itself) and it would be a fantastic opportunity to throw in an English translation

Where would one even start? Anyone with any programming know-how ever thought about this?

[Sevket_Erhat]

They will not remake any games unless it is guaranteed to sell a lot.

[boinger]

That's looks like a great idea to me!

I don't know who has done similar video game upgrades though.

Would the Macoss pc-98 game upgrades be like how the remastered Ducktales video game was done?

I sure would like to know more about these PC98 Macross games because of their status as DYRL? continuations!

I have been searching for game playthoughs of these games just to see what they are like.

On youtube, Apollojoe has ripped a few of the original Macross pc-98 game sound tracks.

[Skull Leader]

They're great fun to play!

That was kind of the graphic update I envisioned but honestly, I'd settle for a version of the original that ran on windows lol

Yeah that guy ripped a few of the songs but not the best ones lol

[boinger]

Many good games from the past have been upgraded and ended up very profitable.

How would a person go about upgrading a game that came from the era of pre-windows 95?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEC_PC-9801

http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?37914-PC-9821-PC-9801-Primer

Would you start by using a more recent Windows-based video game engine that was originally used for a strategy game, but

can then be modified into a Macross strategy game?

[Skull Leader]

Your guess is as good as mine! I was a liberal arts major in college... I know exactly nothing about game programming or where to begin.

They function similar to super robot wars... is there maybe a moddable version of one of those out there?

And all the graphics are static bitmaps... it would be super easy to either port them directly or run them through adobe illustrator and make updated vectored versions

(I guess you could add in small animations like the pilots flinching when attacked or gunfire,or valkyrie mode change, etc)

[Skull Leader]

Just a quick glance shows that game maker: studio or RPG maker might be optimum for what we need. The game maps are isometric/false 3d, and the entire game (s) are menu driven

[Skull Leader]

Nix rpgmaker... it doesn't do isometric maps

[boinger]

RPG video game makers with Isometric maps and a bitmap importer?

Now I need to do some google searches.

Here's a list of isometric video games on Wikipedia.

I remember playing Zaxxon, badly.

Here's a selection screenshots of very well done isometric games.

I found a list of open source video game engines on Wikipedia.

http://www.roencia.com/gameengines.html

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBnl_8VIDdwhzOAoULYZ2Ww

http://theodor.lauppert.ws/games/isomaker.htm

http://www.inet2inet.com/InetSoftware/World-Creator/WCv2/NewFeatures_Form.asp

I tried looking on youtube for some isometric game tutorials and I just don't know

what to look for. My education background is more geared towards psychology and hospitals

than computer programming.

Who else on the MW forum has worked on making or re-creating RPG video games?

The HomeWorld mod guys?

[Skull Leader]

Well, I've always wanted to learn how to program...

It just so happens that a copy of Unity 3D exists on my computer... everyone says it's the shiznit for game developing. Time to hit the books I guess

[boinger]

I don't know much about Unity3D myself, so I couldn't say if it could do isometric style games and

import the original Macross bitmap images.

******

Update:

Unity3d can do isometric game play with add-on software and import bitmap images.

Good choice!

******

In 2010, SeminNV was working on a Unity3D Macross Simulator game, but then

the game looks to be abandoned.

He was last on the MW forum in June. Maybe, you could pm him for Unity 3D advice

when you run into problems?

For additional game materials, I was able to buy the Macross: Skull Leader Pack, which has a some bonus levels.

The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Skull Leader Complete Pack
NEC PC-9801 compatible
Simulation game
Includes 1 compact disc
FamilySoft
1995 July 7
Y9800

But, I currently don't have a 5 1/4" floppy drive and USB adapter to convert the 7 floppy

disks into a floppy drive image for these games.

a. I need a TEAC 5.25" floppy drive
b. a USB to floppy drive adapter
c. software to copy over the 5.25" floppy disks to 3.25" diskettes
or make into image files

I was wondering if you would be able to rip the rest of the game music from the games

like Apollojoe?

And how were you able to get these games to work on Windows (7/8)?

Edited November 5, 2014 by boinger

[Skull Leader]

I have the game disks as .fdi files and I run them on a PC98 emulator (anex86 in this case, though others exist). I think I may be doing it wrong, because even with the japanese language font loaded, the text still shows up as gibberish. I have Skull Leader, Love Stories, and Remember Me, but I don't think I have the complete pack version.

I have no idea how to rip the music honestly... I've got a message out to apollojoe as to how he did it, but I don't know if he speaks english, he may not respond. I still haven't decided if I'm gonna try to rip the bitmaps, or do new vector versions. I think new vector art would look better, especially scaled up on the bigger monitors of today, I do confess to liking the grainy look of the originals though... gives it a retro feel.

I'm a *long* way from figuring out if I can do this... it could be 6-8 months before I even begin laying groundwork (if I can can apply myself in my spare time enough to learn c++)

If anyone else (yourself included, Boinger) wants to get on board with this, I'm sure I'll need all the help I can get.

Here is a short list of things I'm gonna need:

1. Complete translations of all the menus (when I played through it before, I was able to figure some of it out by feeling my way in the dark, but it would be nice to know what they really say)

2. Complete translations of all the dialogue (I've never played the game beyond a couple of missions, and as I said before, the text is gibberish, so I have no idea what they're saying)

3. A walkthru/Mission guide for each mission in the game, and the scripted events that occur in each.

4. (If anyone can do it), all of the music files ripped to some neutral format... either .midi or .mp3 I guess... I could "steal" the ones apollojoe has already done, but something doesn't sound right about a couple of them, I'm not sure what process he used to get these.

5. (again, if anyone can do it) I need full size rips of all the artwork. Being bitmaps, I could probably just screenshot it, blow it up, and re-draw, but thats a lot of work.

Anyone else want in on this clusterf*#&? LOL

Boinger, I'm interested in getting .fdi images of that complete pack if you ever get it figured out.

[boinger]

the white drew carey was working on a game playthrough with English

translations of Macross: Remember Me with the assistance of Gubaba.

I remember he lost a lot or all of his project work when one of his hard drives

died.

I can't find the MW forum post for the white drew carey's Macross: Remember Me project.

Maybe, I'm remembering wrong?

I'll see if I can drum up some support for this Macross game upgrade for you.

[Skull Leader]

I got the font issue figured out... its displaying japanese now, so I've begun collecting screen grabs for translations, etc

[Skull Leader]

I also think I've found a way to rip the audio, but i'll have to do it as .mp3 files

[boinger]

If you can rip the games as mp3 files with 192kb/s or higher then that would be very good!

Any music from these games is pretty special considering how the music has

not been heard outside of playing these games and the few music rips that Apollojoe recently did.

Thanks!

I posted on the macrosshare blog in the shoutbox to see if any one is interested or can

help out with this project.

I am curious if there are DRYL? story continuations in these games: Remember Me, Skull Leader & Love Stories.

The Macross: Remember me game certainly has some cool and unique Macross mecha!

Only Japanese-literate Macross game aficionados would know the full stories for sure.

I hope we can find out as well.

[boinger]

For months, I've been looking for some kanji OCR or translation software or hardware to see if there

is some easier way of translating scanned Japanese Macross articles.

I thought I found a hand scanner that does Japanese Kanji to English translation, but

I couldn't get an email confirmation about some of the auditory translation functions from the

customer support. Apparently, this device was featured on the CSI TV show, but I can't be sure

if it works.

Maybe, an iPhone app like Japan Goggles could translate the game capture images?

Edited November 6, 2014 by boinger

[Skull Leader]

Yeah, getting to play the Stampede valkyrie and the star crusader were pretty cool.

I don't remember a great deal about the star crusaders, but I remember the SDP-1 Stampede valkyrie being a one man army

Sadly, I'm an android guy, so the goggles app is a no go for me (the only alternative in the Google play store is still in beta and is getting terrible reviews)

Btw, I have the entire story up to the point you take control of Hikaru captured.... screen by screen it's something like 130 pages of dialogue so far.

[boinger]

I sent off an email to deviceside.com to see if I can purchase a USB / floppy drive adapter and

I have a Teac 5.25" floppy drive bookmarked in my ebay watchlist.

WinImage was recommended on the deviceside.com website for making floppy drive images, so

I'm likely to buy that, too.

Then we can see what those bonus levels for Macross: Skull Leader or Love Stories are like.

[Skull Leader]

Were PC98 floppies the same as IBM ones? I guess they would be.

I'm getting in to breaking down the menu trees... I'll worry about the story and the dialogue after I've figured out how to completely get myself around the game. I've got a pretty good idea on those now... no idea if menu options change later in the game.

There is an option from the main menu for a special mission if you have access to the "remember me" disks as well, it's a megaroad mission!

[boinger]

I just received an email from Deviceside. Adam, from Deviceside, was asking me to

confirm the disk format because the USB floppy adapter does not currently recognize

PC98 floppies.

Apparently, Windows MS-DOS is different than NEC PC-98 MS-DOS and is not

currently recognized by the deviceside USB floppy adapter.

He also said that WinImage software would be unable to create

.FDI image files of the game floppies, I emailed him back with the game diskette

file format information found on the back of the PC98 games,

I'll see what he suggests.

1. Macross: Skull Leader Complete Pack

(Skull Leader & Love Stories with bonus levels)

NEC PC-9801 / PC-98-21, NEC MS-DOS ver. 5.0

(7) 5.25" floppy diskettes

2. Macross: Remember Me

NEC PC-98-01 VM2, NEC MS-DOS ver. 3.1, 3.3, A/B/C/D. 5.0

(4) 3.25" floppy diskettes

An alternative for game back-up might be sending the game diskettes

to Floppydisk.com, but I can't find a good review for that website. The last

resort would be to acquire an Epson PC486 from ebay, Then I don't know

how to get the floppy files to transfer over to my Windows 8.1 computer.

I do have a USB 3.5" floppy disk drive, so I can test to see if Windows 8.1

can recognize the game format as it is on the 3.5" floppy games.

I'll have to look around the internet to see how .FDI are made and with what software.

For now, I can scan the game booklets and covers. I'll get the scans done

next week for sharing.

I hope your mouse clicking fingers have not worn out just yet with all those

PNG game screen captures.

Edited November 8, 2014 by boinger

[boinger]

Macross: Remember Me Disk 01 files copied over to Windows 8.1 somewhat successful.

The same number of files are copied over, but the reported file size in Windows 8.1 is smaller

than the files size on the MS-DOS floppy diskette.

Maybe, Windows 8.1 is more efficient in storing MS-DOS files?

MS-DOS floppy diskette:

217 files, 4 folders

Size: 956 kb

Size on Disk: 1.04 MB

Windows 8.1 copies:

217 files, 4 folders

Size: 956 kb

Size on Disk: 968 kb

I'll continue copying over the rest of the disks to my desktop.

Disk2FDI software looks like it will work to convert the floppy diskettes to .FDI,

but the software only works in DOS and not Windows 8.1. I might need some

sort of amiga emulator or maybe I can run this software through the Windows command

prompt.

So, if Macross: Remember Me in NEC MS-DOS 3.1 files can be recognized
by Windows 8.1, then I might be able to use that USB floppy adapter.

I'll email Adam of Deviceside again.

***************************

Disk 02:

268 files, 4 folders

886 kb

852 kb

Disk 03

15 files, 1 folder

196 kb

228 kb

Disk 04:

9 files, 0 folder

845 kb

852 kb

Disk 3 and 4 might be corrupt.

Disk 3 contents look like a small continuation of Disk 2.

Disk 4 contents looks like a DOS boot disk.

Edited November 8, 2014 by boinger

[Skull Leader]

It's an expensive option, but you might be able to find an old PC98 laptop that runs windows 95 and rip them off that way. You'd be certain that the computer wasn't trying to alter the files

Alternatively, what about an emulator that runs the pc98 version of MS-DOS or windows? Maybe you could rip the disc images that way without corrupting them? I see a couple of laptops on ebay, but at $2000 a pop, I don't know if it's worth it

Edited November 8, 2014 by Skull Leader

[boinger]

I was reading the FAQ for the deviceside USB Floppy adapter and the adapter only

works for Mac OS and Linux floppy diskettes. Adam did mention that PC98 DOS support

would eventually be added to the USB Floppy adapter.

To get these 5.25" floppy game files, I would need an old desktop Windows 95 / 98 pc that I can

plug in a 5.25" floppy drive to copy the game contents onto the hard drive and then put the 3.25"

floppy drive in this desktop to make copies I can transfer onto my Windows 7 desktop.

Laptops don't usually come with 5.25" floppy drives.

I threw out my old Windows 98 computers years ago.

I could check out some pawn shops or Salvation Army for an old computer rather

than ebay.

[Skull Leader]

I actually own an old IBM thinkpad that runs windows 95... if you have a drive and trusted me enough, you could send them to me and I could do it (or try... ) I'm legit!

Does your 5.25 drive have an I/O adapter? My laptop doesn't have USB ports

[boinger]

I currently don't have a 5.25" floppy drive or a floppy cable or

or floppy drive I/O adapter (such as the deviceside USB adapter was

supposed to be) or a Windows 95 computer.

I would be happy to send you the Macross 5.25" floppy game files, if

we could figure out how a 5.25" floppy drive could connect

to your laptop. I don't know how that works.

So far, all I can think of to get these games is to get

an older Windows desktop computer that has a floppy drive

port on the motherboard.

I'll do some google searches and some Macross game booklet scanning.

[Skull Leader]

I can get an external 5.25 floppy drive. Most of the existing 5.25 drives are USB though... and my laptop is running ver. 4.00.950a, which doesn't support USB... so I don't know if just throwing an I/O-to-USB adapter on there would make it work, or if I genuinely need to find an I/O ported external floppy drive. I can probably solve that problem.

[boinger]

If you can get an external 5.25" floppy drive that works with your

laptop, then it's a go!

.

[Skull Leader]

That is the $64,000 question....

I've got a line out to a few of my computer geek friends to see what they say before I go throwing money down for a drive I'd likely only use once, lol

[boinger]

I haven't received an email response from Deviceside.com yet.

Here's the webpage where I found the idea for getting these

5.25" game floppies copied.

http://ascii.textfiles.com/archives/2503

This guy says he had no problems in setting up the floppy drive

and extracting MS-DOS. Hopefully, Adam of Deviceside.com can

clarify the problem with the USB flopppy adapter.

**********

And I found a couple of more websites that had positive things to

say about the deviceside.com USB floppy adapter.

http://www.spellboundblog.com/2011/07/25/rescuing-5-25-floppy-disks-from-oblivion/

http://mith.umd.edu/vintage-computers/fc5025-operation-instructions

Edited November 9, 2014 by boinger

[Skull Leader]

I'm starting work on vectoring some of the game art. I'm starting with the pilot profiles. This should take some time

[Skull Leader]

So... shall I try to replicate the pixilated graphics? Or try to smooth it out?

[boinger]

I vote smooth.

But, whichever you think would be best for the updated game.

[Skull Leader]

Decided to go with Smooth. I started with Roy but I've already decided to delete it all and start over...I decided to start work on the second pilot instead.

[boinger]

i like it.