Behold: The July 1998 4-map version of CUSTOM

[Foxley]

I'm not even kidding. I found it.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/waxqrt97rect6 ... m.zip?dl=0

Tested in DOSbox. Seems to work fine, EXCEPT there might be something corrupt in the .new file or something because trying to edit Map 00 makes DOSbox display huge garbled text all over the screen and freeze. Maybe another .new file can replace it with better results?

Anyways, I somehow totally missed going through the folder this was in on those old backup CDs, until just now. I deed it. \o/

[TMC]

You win! This is the oldest known complete copy of the OHRRPGCE. Previously the record was October 4th 1998 (which was the last release of 1998; you can download it from the archive), and yours is July 27th 1998. There is also a demo of Wandering Hamster from November 4th 1997 from before the OHRRPGCE was released (it doesn't include Custom), downloadble from archive.org (the webpage. Note the remark: "the O.H.R.RPG.C.E. Editor will not be available publicly until [Wandering Hamster] is nearly or completely finished." Thank goodness not!).

Also, your copy includes SAMPLE.RPG, NPC_TAG.RPG, OHRRPGCE.PAL, and the following files:

Code: Select all

Only in IMPORT/: ARAB.BAM
Only in IMPORT/: BYDLO.BAM
Only in IMPORT/: CLFALSE.BAM
Only in IMPORT/: GREENSL.BAM
Only in IMPORT/: MIDI2BAM.EXE
Only in IMPORT/: MIDI2BAM.TXT
Only in IMPORT/: PALETTE.STO
Only in IMPORT/: RVALKYRY.BAM
Only in IMPORT/: SCHERZO.BAM
Only in IMPORT/: TANGO.BAM
Only in IMPORT/: TEXT.FNT

while the October copy doesn't. Odd that there are extra BAMs. OHRRPGCE.PAL is significant, because CUSTOM.EXE can't run without it. So I had never actually seen a working copy of CUSTOM older than 2000 before. It was really interesting to see what things looked like back then! There are "Edit Credits" and "Edit Font" options in the main menu which do nothing, enemies have a "Death" caption, and the wallmap editing mode looks quite interesting. Also, if you want an extra dose of nostalgia, try importing SANDSEA.BMP, sit back, and watch the beach focus into view one pixel at a time, just like it used to until the Windows/FreeBASIC port.

Of course, the majority of menus in Custom actually are still the same, with more options added.

Another interesting thing: SAMPLE.RPG and NPC_TAG.RPG have a modified date of Jan 11 1998. I would say December or January is the best guess for when the first release was.

This will be helpful for getting old games to run properly again, thanks! (Would also be interested in any other old copies of the OHR that anyone finds.) I've already noticed some interesting things. I also get a freeze when trying to edit maps in a new .rpg file. It even crashes the latest version of the OHR! Copying over the copy of OHRRPGCE.NEW from the October version didn't help.

[Bob the Hamster]

Who disturbs the Crypt of ancient OHRRPGCE!? You have awakened a mummy's curse!

But seriously, nice find! :)

[FnrrfYgmSchnish]

Wow, an even older version than the October 4th, 1998 one I still had on a 3.5-inch floppy a while back! Wasn't expecting that.

I'm guessing the "Edit Credits" listing on the main menu must have been removed sometime between this one and the version I remember, because I don't remember that at all... though it's possible I just forgot about that bit because it's been so long. Also interesting to see that the example RPG files that came with it had a last-modified date in January -- for some reason I always guessed that the OHRRPGCE first released in late '97 even though I didn't actually find it until fall '98, and it looks like I wasn't far off after all.

It'd be neat to have some sort of documentation somewhere of all the stuff that didn't work yet in these ancient versions (and all the weird, never-implemented features that have since been removed -- like the "edit credits" menu mentioned above and "is always hyper" and other status-effect sounding bitsets in the hero data.)

[Fenrir-Lunaris]

enemies have a "Death" caption

Did this actually ever get used? Because this sounds AWESOME!

[Bob the Hamster]

enemies have a "Death" caption

Did this actually ever get used? Because this sounds AWESOME! :kamina:

Nope, never did.

You could do it relatively easily now with the attack caption on an on-death-bequest attack, but that requires an attack definition.

[Nathan Karr]

It's funny because I would totally have used it if it was a working feature at the time I got into the engine. Of course it was also always possible for me to do this with monster spawn on death and the spawned monster having an attack with a caption, but that would use an attack definition and an enemy definition so the way James just said is better.

[TMC]

It sounds like a first release in 1997 is still quite likely.

Someone suggested a contest/challenge to create games using a 4-map copy of the OHRRPGCE, but at the time noone had a working copy.