Gamebase ST Homepage now online!

[Paul Thompson]

I have put the Gamebase ST homepage online in advance of the first release of Gamebase ST for all those people who wish to take a look. Please note that the format of the homepage is very similar to the homepage of Gamebase ZX, this is intentional and keeps them uniform, it also means that i got away with an absolute bucket load of work The internet address of the homepage is:

http://www.gamebasest.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/

There are some screenshots to wet your appetite and more information that i have not posted anywhere in these forums. Please note that although the link exists for downloading the first version of GBST, it does not work, it is still at least one week away from release

The first version will come with a measly 100 games and will be expanded very quickly until it matches Gamebase ZX's 500 games. At this stage both projects will expand in unison with regular updates to both every time 100 games are added.

Any comments and suggestions are welcome

[SexyWayne]

this is excellent news, i can't wait for the first release

[Paul Thompson]

Mmm, not must interest so far, except from SexyWayne (cheers mate)

Thought i would drop everyone a note about the progress of Gamebase ST and give you some idea of what i'm doing.

Firstly the Notes page has been renamed Hints, this is for listing hints or cheats for every game that i can find them for, and there are quite a few. In some cases however, games come with trainers anyway. For Atari ST purists there are fields on the version page for:

Field
-------
Cracking Group :
Menu Disk:
Menu Screen:

Example
-----------
Automation
123
Yes

I would also like to confirm that the Atari ST TOSEC library is directly supported, so if you have these already then all the better. I thought long and hard about the directory structure and have made some changes to it and so some setting up is required:

The path for Compilation disks: C:\AtariST\Games\Compilations
The path for other games is: C:\AtariST\Games\Games

Insides these are directories from 0 (zero) to Z

For example Automation disk 1 would be placed in C:\AtariST\Games\Compilations\A\

This looks like a real bind, but believe me it does not take long to setup

Now the worst bit! Games requiring more than one disk (not that many really) in the TOSEC library normally come in multiple zip files (one zip file per disk). Gamebase ST really needs these to be in one zip file so that they can be added easily to the game from the GBGame directory. The solution I'm afraid requires more work on your part (or you could wait for the GBST CD). This is how it works using the 2 disk game Gods as an example:

Automation Menu Disk 476 (19xx)(Automation)(Disk 1 of 2)(Part A).zip
Automation Menu Disk 476 (19xx)(Automation)(Disk 2 of 2)(Part B).zip

Obviously Gamebase ST needs both these zip files unpacked into the GBGame directory. The solution is to combine them into one zip by first extracting them to make:

Automation Menu Disk 476 (19xx)(Automation)(Disk 1 of 2)(Part A).st
Automation Menu Disk 476 (19xx)(Automation)(Disk 2 of 2)(Part B).st

Then re-zipping both extracted ST disks as they stand to a new zip file to make:

Automation Menu Disk 476 (19xx)(Automation).zip

This new zip file should then be copied to C:\AtariST\Games\Compilations\A so that Gamebase ST can pick it and have both Gods disks available. This may seem a bit long-winded but it really is not that time consuming. Gamebase ST will be released in stages anyway, and its a simple matter of checking the version page to see if a game comes on one or more disks. In 90% of cases the game will be on single disk and so no changes will be required

By the way the above exmaple works for every game on multiple disks in Gamebase ST, just the disk references at the end are removed in the final zip file.

I am expecting to complete the first release by next weekend, so please keep an eye for it on the the Gamebase ST homepage

[pang]

I an interested and loads of my friends we used to love spectrum and Amiga ( You should have done the amiga base not atari ST) anyhow Atari ST is practically the same as Amiga , although a bit inferior. but dont think there is no interest in your gamebases since there is a lot , its only peaple are damn lazy to write a THank you.

Anyhow i think that you wnot release a cd before you finish the databases so ther is not chance of me haveing the extras

Keep up your great work it is appreciated by many.

Regards
Jason
Malta

ps where are you from

[Guest]

Link to st database download not working, can it be fixed pls

Thanks
Jason

[Paul Thompson]

Hi Guest

In the first post in this thread, i wrote:

"Please note that although the link exists for downloading the first version of GBST, it does not work, it is still at least one week away from release"

I was hoping to release it this weekend but i am nowhere near 100 games (currently 46) due to me and my wife having a baby I can release it with fewer games, will people be happy with this

Hi Pang

Many thanks for such an enthusiastic post, it's people like you that keep people like me going with things like Gamebase ST I too love the Amiga but the Atari ST needs something like this!

[Cord]

Hi Paul

1. You've done a bloody great job at getting GamebaseST off the ground, you have my respect and support.

2. This Gamebase forum is probably quite light on ST fans (or TOS'ers as we used to be admired by the Amiga lot), so I wouldn't expect a great many over here to post. I would get www.atari.st to cover this asap, its headline news.

3. You have a golden opportunity to leaverage the power of the Gamebase engine, now that its such a powerful and stable program. The C64 bunch had to put up with the frontend developing side-by-side with all their data input (and at times not developing at all for ages).

4. What you need now is some really die-hard ST'ers that want to contribute to the efforts of filling up the database. That will take time, but whoever comes forward can see you mean business and have the willingness to see it through.

5. Think about using the good p2p networks to get some data out there for the fans as I realise some of the larger files (screenshots etc) can be hard to host if no-one can spare the bandwidth for you. I personally like emule.

6. Don't ask me why I'm numbering these.

Anyway, good luck with the project.

Cord