Anyway to get Echoes to run at 800*600 ?

[CHRIS]

          First of all, I want to say Echoes is one of the best Robotron/Asteroid type games I think I have ever played. I recently purchased an X-arcade 3.0 machine that features an awesome 27" Wells-Gardner CRT monitor that does 800*600 at 60kz (max) which is perfect for classic gaming. I never knew that the Echoes resolution was set to 1024*768. Do you think you will be releasing a patch or new version of this game that will allow you to set custom resolutions such as 800*600?

                                                                                                    - Thanks

                                                                                                         - CHRIS

[fog]

Hi CHRIS and welcome.

Tricky one this.  Everything in Echoes is sprite based so wont scale properly if the resolution is changed unlike games written in 3D.  Well in truth I could scale the sprites to make them smaller but they would look terrible.

The alternative to that would be to keep the sprites the same size and just make the play area smaller (800 x 600), but then the gameplay wont be properly balanced anymore as you will have the same number of enemies in a much smaller space, and some of the enemy logic would no longer work as intended (there is some logic in there honest ).

That could all be fixed, but it's a relatively fiddly process and would need to be done separately for every resolution that people requested.  Having said that, if there was enough demand for a specific resolution then I would consider it.

TBH all you rightly care about is that the answer to your question is "not at the moment", but I'd rather explain my reasons why than simply say "no"

[CHRIS]

           
                     Fog,

           Thanks for responding back with the possibility you might look into coding a 800*600 at 60kz version of Echoes if you have time. I realize time is precious and its becoming more scarce these days so I can relate exactly to what you are saying. I have played Geometry Wars, Grid Wars, Mechatron 2154, Robotron Blitz, and of course Echeos. All these Robotron-style games are good. Echoes is my favorite, with Grid Wars being second. Echoes however provides the ultimate rush. The neon colors, retro-graphics and music in the game are 1st rate. The game becomes a super blast fest around level 10 when the orange suns come out and fire at you. I know the code you can use to unlock the crack mode, but I'm not gonna use it. I think its a super fun game and if theres a chance you can modify the resolution that would be awesome. I'll check back in the forums in a week or so like you mentioned. Thanks alot for a great game.

                                                                                                         - CHRIS

[donny]

Lol, I hacked the exe and tried to edit the hexcode.
Guess what? It actually worked! :p
Menus are messy though.

Uploaded here:
http://users.fulladsl.be/spb22044/echoes800x600.exe
Just put it in the same folder as the original.

EDIT:
Please read before running this file.
- fog

[TheKhakinator]

I can't download to check, but...

You're kidding, right?

[fog]

I can't download to check, but...

You're kidding, right?

Not entirely kidding.  It's hacked so that the application display is 800x600, but the game is still running at 1024x768.    Consequently a huge chunk of the in-game action isn't displayed on screen but is still happening off to the sides.

Also, as it appears to be an older version of the game, be careful if you run it as it might well corrupt any profile, highscore and zoot files you have.

[donny]

XD

Srr 'bout that version-thing.
Not going to hack the new one, wont matter anyways.

But now I know hom messed-up BDpro compilated code is.

[fog]

XD

Srr 'bout that version-thing.
Not going to hack the new one, wont matter anyways.

But now I know hom messed-up BDpro compilated code is.

Hey no problem.  Just didn't want anyone messing up their files and blaming me lol

Good haxor skilzzzzzzzzzzzz.