Bright Eyes / (ehem. freeDSA)

This is a fork of DOSBox 0.74 with customiziations for "Das schwarze Auge - Die Schicksalsklinge" (aka "Realms of Arkania - Blade of Destiny").

The projects goal is to make that game runnable on newer computers, with focus on:

• logging (show how the game makes decisions),
• bugfixing (wipe out the last bugs to make the game ultra stable),
• power consumption (let your laptop (or n900) not waste that much power, like running an unpatched DOSBox)

This is done by tracing function calls. If a function is interesting for the gamer we print a logging output. If we already know the exact behavior of a function, we can replace it. E.g. instead letting DOSBox emulate a known decompression function we decompress it on our own host processor (incredible fast) and skip the emulation.

Prequisites:

• the original game (currently the german CD V3.02, other may follow) (Bright Eyes will never run without the original. Make sure you own a copy of it. DSA1 is no abandonware.)

• at least one newer computer with an operating system like (Linux, BSD, MacOS, Windows)

• a toolchain for building DOSBox (C++ compiler, SDL, SDL_Sound), since atm no precompiled binaries are available.

• For checking the equivalence of the source code with the original game: Borland CPP 3.1 Compiler, including the Application Frameworks (for example https://winworldpc.com/download/f7396558-9ba2-11e9-ab10-fa163e9022f0) Make sure you own a copy of it!

Configuration Hints for dosbox.conf :

• The CPU emulation must be set to core=auto or core=normal, to bypass all rewritten functions.

• DSA1/RAK1 has no working EMS support, so memsize=1 is fine.

Improvements and changes to the Original:

I could not resist to fix some Bugs in this early state.

M302de (Main V3.02 german CD - Version):

Game logic:
	* broken item counters will be corrected
	* the schedule for ships was broken
	* reactivation of informants in taverns
Crashes:
	* infinite loop in get_random_hero()
Story fixes:
	* It's not possible to visit Umbrik after finish him
	* You can identify an item more than once in the academy
	* The informers Eliane and Asgrimm will not be reset
		by tavern gossip
Usability:
	* If a character has permanent damage LE max is red
Grammar:
	* Grammar at "Ecliptifactus"

G105de (Generation V1.05 german CD - Version):

• avoid negative skill-/spell_attempts in novice mode
• has MIDI support
• works again correctly

Links:

• git-tree: git://github.com/Henne/Bright-Eyes.git
• githhub: https://github.com/Henne/Bright-Eyes
• Forum: https://www.crystals-dsa-foren.de

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Configuration hints for developers.

For comparing the equivalence of the BrightEyes source code to the original game, the original compiler is needed, which is Borland CPP 3.1, including the Application Frameworks. It is the same version as the one at https://winworldpc.com/download/f7396558-9ba2-11e9-ab10-fa163e9022f0 Make sure you own a valid license!

Starting with the floppy disks, you can install the compiler as follows: https://www.crystals-dsa-foren.de/showthread.php?tid=5383&pid=166341#pid166341

• Copy the content of all floppy disks into a common folder <all_disks>.
• Create a folder where you want the compiler to be installed.
• Run dosbox and type mount a <all_disks> mount c a: install
• In the install process, unselect everything at "Windows Options", then select "Start Installation".
• After the installation, there will be a folder BORLANDC in . Copy the content of /BORLANDC to src/custom/drive_c/BORLANDC/ such that the compiler binary BCC.EXE is located at src/custom/drive_c/BORLANDC/BIN/BCC.EXE

For setting up the remaining framework, do the following: https://www.crystals-dsa-foren.de/showthread.php?tid=5383&pid=166290#pid166290

• Make sure you have compiled BrightEyes once in the usual way: make clean && ./autogen.sh && ./configure && make -j4

• Copy the original SCHICKM.EXE from the German CD-Version V3.02 (size 556208 Bytes) to src/custom/schick/rewrite_m302de/tools/

• cd src/custom/schick/rewrite_m302de/tools/ && ./disassemble.sh [ prerequisites: 'python' must be Python 3, 'ndisasm' disassembler is needed, disassemble.sh must be executable ] to partition the original SCHICKM.EXE into disassembled segments which will be placed at src/custom/schick/rewrite_m302de/temp/disasm_orig/

Now a file seg***.cpp can be checked for binary compatibility by commenting out the corresponding line in src/custom/schick/rewrite_m302de/compile.bat and then running bc.sh like cd src/custom/schick/rewrite_m302de && ./tools/bc.sh

To do a full check automatically when committing changes, add the following to .git/hooks/pre-commit (file must be made executable)

#!/bin/sh

build with gcc

g++ -v 2>/dev/null >/dev/null if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then echo "g++ not installed"; exit 1 fi

#check it builds on this system echo "Host build check" make 2>lastbuild.log >/dev/null if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then echo "Build failure"; exit 1 fi

#check no working files are damaged echo "DOS build check"

BAK=$PWD cd src/custom/schick/rewrite_m302de/ SDL_VIDEODRIVER=dummy ./tools/bc_ready.sh RETVAL=$? cd $BAK

if [ $RETVAL -gt 0 ]; then echo "Good files were broken"; exit 1 fi

exit 0