| smbhax [sys=PC; cat=Sports; reg=UC] |
| | | I have preliminary notes in entry 2030--World Class Leader Board, game by same dev Access Software that I played as a kid on C64.
Windows 95 game, so crash-prone it auto-saves constantly and they built a quick-resume button on the title screen, so at least you can get right back to where you were pretty fast.
Comes with four courses, most of a tropical variety, but you can import 15 of the 18 courses in the previous Links on GOG, Links 386 Pro.
I found I like Pro more, though. I don't see much that's really improved in 98 aside from the graphics being higher resolution--but they're also darker and less colorful than the pixelated brightness of 386. The golfers talk more but a lot of it is just venting frustration, which feels like a downer--especially because I seem to find the swinging here a lot weirder, like sometimes my shots will just not go where it sure seems like they should be going. You can make floating windows and stuff which is neat I guess but again, the core gameplay doesn't feel enhanced. It feels worse.
Or maybe it's just the brighter 386 pixels, I dunno. Anyway, I asked GOG to refund the $5 I paid for this one. Now I can just stick with 386 for my PC golfing. ^ _^ |
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Getting GOG games Links 386 Pro and Links LS 1998 Edition running and graphically sharpened up a bit in Windows 11! Oh and importing courses from one to the other!
0:00 - Links games on GOG
12:40 - fixing blurriness in Links 386 Pro
21:26 - getting Links LS 1998 Edition running (the wrong way)
24:13 - 98 importing problem
28:23 - regedit to fix importing
39:27 - 98 - don't need old hotfix
48:05 - batch importing & converting courses from 386 to 98
1:01:16 - 386 aspect correction
1:04:07 - 98 video resolution options
1:06:09 - 98 Reround / Resume
1:09:07 - 98 Control Panel Size
1:10:58 - 98 DirectX configuration
The GOG version of Links 386 Pro already comes with the courses imported from the first Links game, Links: The Challenge of Golf (also on GOG).
output=openglnb for DOSBOX fixed the default blurriness from GOG's "overlay" setting there--but didn't capture in my OBS Studio recording software, which I didn't realize while recording at first! So I went back and edited in ddraw for fullscreen capture. Since then though I got tired of ddraw losing mouse focus and being slow to get it back, and its very slow task switching that also forces it out of fullscreen, so going forward I'm gonna go with Window Capture (Capture Cursor & Client Area off) in OBS, and
fullscreen=false
windowresolution=1444x1054
output=openglnb
in DOSBOX, a window that, with title bar, fits my 1080p desktop snugly top-to-bottom.
Ah even after setting "aspect=true" in dosboxLinks386.conf, 386 isn't quite 4:3 because it's 640x400, not 640x480.
Swinging in 386 is the same click sequence on the swing meter as in 98: left-click and hold, release when the moving meter is around the top marker, then single left-click around the bottom marker. But in 386 the meter keeps going after you release, rather than reversing immediately--so in 386 you have to wait for it to get all the way to the top end of the meter, where it finally reverses.
98 wouldn't even run until I turned on Windows 95 compatibility mode--but it turned out 95 compatibility mode was blocking importing the 15 importable 386 courses! And in fact all I had to do both to get 98 running, and able to import, was turn off the 95 compat mode I'd turned on and instead use Windows' Registry Editor (regedit) to change registry key
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Access\PATHS\DefaultCD
from its default value 46 to apparently any other number--I chose "10"--per this comment by GOG user Aktuh: https://www.gog.com/forum/links_series/links_ls98/post28 . It sounds like most people haven't needed to do that--but at least one other person did, so at least I'm not crazy. In that sense.
After messing around with 386 and 98 a bit more, I decided to refund 98. It's higher res, but the graphics are darker and less colorful than the happy bright pixels of 386--despite 98's 24/32 color bits vs 386's mere 8--and 98's control feels worse than 386; like, there are situations where the ball's flight doesn't seem to make sense, a problem I haven't had in 386. So, I'll stick with 386 for my PC golf. ^ _^
(Now if only Access would sell me a download of the C64 version of World Class Leader Board, their superlative 8-bit golf game I loved as a kid for its magically hypnotic slow, staged draw-in of the landscapes and courses https://youtu.be/T0W7RT-Yp9E?t=300 . = ) And its comparatively simple yet addictive gameplay--perhaps ridiculously bamboozling, but perfect for video game masochism. = D) |
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