Hehe, a little monochrome/PC-speaker blip retro-gaming for ya <G> Directly from the included readme: -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Overview -------- The theme pack consists of one extremely plain-looking monochrome background and splash screen image created from scratch. In addition, all of the tetrominoes for the game have been edited to simple outlined gray and black pieces. Also included are new replacement sound effects for Quadra, which consist of nothing but simple little PC speaker blips and beeps, with an old-school mechanized countdown timer voice. Lastly, the theme pack also includes a new mouse cursor. Again, quite plain and simple looking. Old Geezer Soapbox Rant! ------------------------ All those dadgummed young whippersnappers with all their confounded multi-colored 'puters! Back in my day, all we had was two colors (if you were lucky), and that was it! Try this one out for size, old-school retro-gaming at it's best... there... that'll learn 'em! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- The files: Readme -> http://www.cmoo.com/snor/weeds/Weeds_Qu ... e_Pack.txt Preview screenshot -> http://www.cmoo.com/snor/weeds/Weeds_Qu ... e_Pack.gif ZIP -> http://www.cmoo.com/snor/weeds/Weeds_Qu ... e_Pack.zip
I'm not sure how to get these files to work on my computer. Could you please explain how to use them?
First, I'm assuming that you have Quadra installed ( http://code.google.com/p/quadra )? Note that this theme pack is simply a "skin" of sorts for Quadra (I wasn't sure if you realized that, judging by your reply). Anyhow, simply unzip the files to your main Quadra game installation directory (usually "CProgram Files\Quadra"), or where ever you previously installed Quadra on your hard drive. The run Quadra like this: Click "Start/Run/Browse", and then browse around your hard drive for Quadra's executable file "Quadra.exe". Click "Open", and then add the following after the "Quadra.exe" part: -patch OldSkoolTheme.res The full command line in Windows' "Run" dialog box should look something like this (after adding the above): "CProgram Files\Quadra\Quadra.exe" -patch OldSkoolTheme.res Then click "OK", and enjoy ...blipp.. bleeep... bleeeep... blippp <
Thanks for the help. I'd got them installed and everything but it was just actually running the skin with quadra I couldn't do.
A-OK, glad you got it working P.S. Check out my other Quadra themes here in the forums (just released a new version of the BJ2 theme)
I found the vector style hard to see, especially with holes in the field after pieces get half cleared out. Putting dots inside the background and []s inside the blocks might make it a bit easier to tell blocks from holes.
I also found it confusing how holes in the field looked the same as the blocks. I was wondering how you make these skins, I would like to try and make some myself.
Thanks for the suggestions, I'll see what I can come up with. Changing the background isn't a problem, but I'll have to see about the blocks (Quadra uses fixed palette indexes for it's blocks, not actual graphics, but I might be able to come up with something easier to see) Check my message thread here -> viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1134 Note that Quadra theme-ing can be quite difficult (due to the fixed palette indexes), 'tis not quite as easy as LockJaw. @All, what did you think of the various PC speaker blips and bleeps <LOL>? Call me crazy, but I find them surprisingly ear-pleasing <G>
Folks, A slight update (v2.0) to my OldSkool Theme Pack for Quadra From the included readme: -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- - Edited playfield for better visibility of tetrominoes. - Edited mouse cursor, removed annoying blue-colored outline. - Additional minor editing of background images. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Download/preview links are the same as my first message post at the top of this thread.
Hehe, that's a little too complex for a mere single message post <G>. First of all, download the ZIP that's linked in this thread -> viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1134 . After unzipping the files to a directory on your hard drive (maintaining the directory/folder structure within the ZIP file), read the included "Quadra Theme Templates.txt" file that's in the ZIP, as well as having a look at the included "Quadra Background Image and Tetromino Palettes.gif" image. Those two files should explain most of it. In a nutshell, you will use the included "Wadder.exe" utility, which is the utility that will compile all of your backgrounds into a Quadra ".RES" file that can be loaded into the game. (Per the included text file mentioned above) I would also recommmend downloading the Quadra source code from http://sourceforge.net/project/showfile ... up_id=7275 (look for the file on that page listed as "quadra-1.1.8.tar.gz" - Source .gz). Note that you'll need an extraction utility that can extract from GZ/TAR format archives (if memory serves me correctly, I think that WinZip can extract them). Anyhow, the files contained in that archive are the source code files for Quadra, and they also included all of the original resources for the game (sounds, images, backgrounds, etc...). The background images are the files contained in the "quadra-1.1.8\images" directory of that archive, and the filenames for the various backgrounds are "fond0.png" through "fond9.png" (ten background images, for the ten Quadra game levels). These files can be used as a starting point for creating new backgrounds with. (Again, per the included text file mentioned above, as well as the palette documentation GIF image) Editing and creating backgrounds can be quite a task, as they are all 256-color fixed-palette images. Some of the palette is used for the actual tetrominoes, so one has to use an image editing utility (such as Paint Shop Pro) that allows you to have direct control/editing of the fixed 256-color paletes for your background images. Note too that my docs archive also contains a few freeware palette utilities that can be handy when creating backgrounds for the game. After creating some neat background images, you would then use the included Wadder utility to compile them into a RES file for the game. Anyways, the best thing for you to do would be to download the files mentioned above (my Quadra theme-ing documentation, as well as the Quadra source code), and then carefully read my text file. I think that will explain most of it for you. If you have any questions about any of it, gimme a holler here in this thread (or my other thread with the download link to the Quadra docs), and I'll do my best answer them for ya
