BStone

A source port of Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold and Blake Stone: Planet Strike.

Contents

1. Disclaimer
2. Overview
   1. Overview (PS Vita)
3. Required assets
4. Profile
5. Compiling
6. Command-line options
7. Cheat key
8. Debug keys
9. Third party use
10. Credits
11. Links
    1. General
    2. Add-ons for Aliens Of Gold (full)
    3. Add-ons for Planet Strike

1 - Disclaimer

Copyright (c) 1992-2013 Apogee Entertainment, LLC
Copyright (c) 2013-2019 Boris I. Bendovsky (bibendovsky@hotmail.com)

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.

For a copy of the GNU General Public License see file LICENSE.
For an original source code license see file “Blake Stone source code license.doc”.

2 - Overview

BStone is a source port of Blake Stone game series: Aliens of Gold and Planet Strike.

Features:

• High resolution rendering of world (extended vanilla engine)
• Modern and vanilla controls
• Allows to customize control bindings
• Separate volume control of sound effects and music

Supported games:

• Aliens of Gold (v1.0/v2.0/v2.1/v3.0) full or shareware
• Planet Strike (v1.0/v1.1)

2.1 - Overview (PS Vita)

See README-PSVITA.md for details about the source port on PS Vita.

3 - Required assets

Since all titles are not free (except shareware) you have to own a copy of the game(s) in order to play.

Required files for each game:

Legend:

• AoG SW - Aliens of Gold (shareware)
• AoG - Aliens of Gold (full)
• PS - Planet Strike

4 - Profile

Configuration file, saved game files, etc. are stored in user’s profile.
The path to those files depends on platform.
To override the path use –profile_dir option.

On Windows, the path might look like:
“C:\Users\john\AppData\Roaming\bibendovsky\bstone\”

On Linux, the path might look like:
“/home/john/.local/share/bibendovsky/bstone/”

On Mac OS X, the path might look like:
“/Users/john/Library/Application Support/bibendovsky/bstone/”

Configuration file name: bstone_config
Log file name: bstone_log.txt
High scores file name: bstone_game_high_scores
Saved game file name: bstone_game_saved_game

Where “game” is:

• aog_sw - Aliens of Gold (shareware)
• aog_full - Aliens of Gold (full)
• ps - Planet Strike

5 - Compiling

Minimum requirements:

• C++14 compatible compiler.

• CMake 3.1.3
  (http://cmake.org/)

• SDL v2.0.4
  (http://www.libsdl.org/)

CMake variables:

• CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE
  Selects which build(s) to compile.
  Use semicolon to separate entries. Usually it’s Debug or Release.
  For other values see CMake documentation.

• CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX
  Selects location where install files to.

• BSTONE_PANDORA
  Enables build for Open Pandora.

• BSTONE_USE_PCH
  If enabled utilizes precompiled headers to speed up compilation.
  Note: Visual C++ only

• BSTONE_USE_STATIC_LINKING
  If enabled links modules statically to avoid dependency on
  system and custom libraries at run-time.

• BSTONE_USE_MULTI_PROCESS_COMPILATION
  Enables multi-process compilation if supported.

• SDL2W_SDL2_DIR
  Defines directory with SDL2 CMake configuration file or with official SDL2 development Windows build.

Notes:

• Use ON value to enable option and value OFF to disable option.

6 - Command-line options

• –version
  Outputs the port’s version to standard output and
  into message box.

• –aog_sw
  Switches the port to Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold (shareware) mode.
  If appropriate data files will not be found the port will fail.
  Default switch strategy: AoG -> PS -> AoG (SW)

• –aog
  Switches the port to Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold mode.
  If appropriate data files will not be found the port will fail.
  Default switch strategy: AoG -> PS -> AoG (SW)

• –ps
  Switches the port to Blake Stone: Planet Strike mode.
  If appropriate data files will not be found the port will fail.
  Default switch strategy: AoG -> PS -> AoG (SW)

• –no_screens
  Skips start-up screens and the ending promo pages (AoG SW).

• –cheats
  Enables so called “debug mode” without much fuss.

• –data_dir path_to_data
  Specifies location to the game’s data files.
  Default: current working directory.

• –mod_dir path_to_data
  Specifies location to the mod’s data files.
  Default: undefined.

• –profile_dir path
  Overrides default location of the game’s profile files.

• –vid_renderer [d3d|ogl|ogles|ogles2|soft]
  Forces to use a specified SDL renderer.
  “d3d” selects a Direct3D renderer.
  “ogl” selects an OpenGL renderer.
  “ogles” selects an OpenGL ES renderer.
  “ogles2” selects an OpenGL ES 2.0 renderer.
  “soft” selects a software renderer.
  Fallback renderer: soft.
  Default order without this option: d3d, ogl, ogles, ogles2, soft.

• –vid_windowed
  Runs the game in windowed mode.
  Default video mode: 640x480

• –vid_mode width height
  Selects the specified resolution for windowed mode.
  Without this option the game will use desktop’s resolution.
  Minimum width: 640
  Minimum height: 480

• –vid_no_vsync
  Disables vertical synchronization.

• –vid_scale factor
  Refinement factor. The higher a value the greater internal resolution
  mode will be used to render a scene. The dimensions of the resolution mode
  are proportional to the original one (320x200) by ‘factor’ value.
  This option can greatly affect the performance of a renderer (especially a
  software one).
  Minimum factor: 1 (identical to the original game)
  Default factor: depends on the game’s resolution mode.

• –vid_window_x offset
  Sets a horizontal offset from the left side of the desktop screen.
  Applicable for windowed mode only.

• –vid_window_y offset
  Sets a vertical offset from the top side of the desktop screen.
  Applicable for windowed mode only.

• –snd_rate sampling_rate
  Specifies sampling rate of mixer in hertz.
  Default: 44100 Hz
  Minimum: 11025 Hz

• –snd_mix_size duration
  Specifies mix data size in milliseconds.
  Default: 40 ms
  Minimum: 20 ms

7 - Cheat key

[J] [A] [M] [Enter]
Press specified keys sequentially.
Shows message “NOW you’re jammin’!!”, and gives to you all keys,
all weapons and restores health to 100% but zeroes score points.
Not available in shareware version.

8 - Debug keys

Add option “–cheats” to enable these keys.

• [Backspace]+[A]
  Toggles visibility of actors on auto-map.

• [Backspace]+[C]
  Shows counts of total static objects, in use static objects,
  doors, total actors, active actors.

• [Backspace]+[D]
  Toggles player’s invisibility.

• [Backspace]+[E]
  Win mission instantly.

• [Backspace]+[F]
  Shows player’s coordinates and direction.

• [Backspace]+[G]
  Toggles god mode.

• [Backspace]+[H]
  Hurt yourself by 1%.

• [Backspace]+[I]
  Each usage adds 99% health, 5 tokens, 50 ammo, one new weapon.

• [Backspace]+[K]
  Shows total counts of enemies, points and informants on the map.

• [Backspace]+[M]
  Memory information.

• [Backspace]+[O]
  Shows push walls on auto-map.

• [Backspace]+[Q]
  Instant quit.

• [Backspace]+[R]
  Shows full map.

• [Backspace]+[S]
  Slow motion.

• [Backspace]+[U]
  Unlocks all maps.

• [Backspace]+[W]
  Warps to specified map.

• [Backspace]+[Shift/Caps Lock]+[W]
  Warps to specified map but loads it from scratch
  rather from a saved game file/memory.

• [Backspace]+[Home]
  Selects previous ceiling texture.

• [Backspace]+[Page Up]
  Selects next ceiling texture.

• [Backspace]+[End]
  Selects previous flooring texture.

• [Backspace]+[Page Down]
  Selects next flooring texture.

• [Backspace]+[-]
  Decreases shading depth.

• [Backspace]+[=]
  Increases shading depth.

• [Backspace]+[’[’]
  Decreases shading drop off.

• [Backspace]+[’]’]
  Increases shading drop off.

9 - Third party use

• Simple DirectMedia Library
  http://libsdl.org/
  See file COPYING-SDL2.txt for a license information.

• DOSBox
  http://www.dosbox.com/
  See file dosbox/COPYING for a license information.
  Note: The source port uses only an OPL emulation code.

10 - Credits

• id Software
  Developing Wolfenstein 3D engine.
  http://www.idsoftware.com/

• JAM Productions
  Developing the game.

• Apogee Entertainment, LLC
  Publishing the game and releasing a source code.
  http://www.apogeesoftware.com/

• Scott Smith
  Adaptation to Pandora console, various fixes.

• Filipe Tolhuizen
  Testing the port.

11 - Links

11.1 - General

• Home page:
  http://bibendovsky.github.io/bstone/

• Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold official site:
  http://legacy.3drealms.com/blake/index.html

• Blake Stone: Planet Strike official site:
  http://legacy.3drealms.com/planet/index.html

• Apogee’s article about releasing of an original source code:
  http://www.apogeesoftware.com/uncategorized/apogee-releases-blake-stone-source-code

• Original source code:
  http://bibendovsky.github.io/bstone/files/official/Blake%20Stone%20Planet%20Strike%20Source%20Code.rar

• Repacked shareware Blake Stone: Aliens Of Gold (v3.0):
  http://bibendovsky.github.io/bstone/files/official/repack/bs_aog_v3_0_sw.zip

11.2 - Add-ons for Aliens Of Gold (full)

• Add-on “BSE90” by ack
  http://bibendovsky.github.io/bstone/files/community/aog/bse90.zip

• Add-on “GUYSTONE” by Guy Brys
  http://bibendovsky.github.io/bstone/files/community/aog/guystone.zip

• Ling’s Blake Stone Levels by Ling Yan Li
  http://bibendovsky.github.io/bstone/files/community/aog/lingstone.zip

11.3 - Add-ons for Planet Strike

• Add-on “BSE24” by ack
  http://bibendovsky.github.io/bstone/files/community/ps/bse24.zip

• Add-on “GUYSTRIKE” by Guy Brys
  http://bibendovsky.github.io/bstone/files/community/ps/guystrike.zip

• Ling’s Planet Strike Levels by Ling Yan Li
  http://bibendovsky.github.io/bstone/files/community/ps/lingstrike.zip