Demomakers

[Puni/Void]

Quite a few demomakers has been released for the Amiga over the years. One of the most famous of these are the Red Sector Demomaker that was released in 1991.

Even though Sceners in general doesn't approve of using such tools for creating demos, they can be fun to use.

Have any of you made a prod using a demomaker? If yes, which program did you use?

I haven't released anything made using a demomaker before, but it would be fun to do something like that just for fun. ;) Maybe we could have a Classicamiga.com demomaker competition or something? After all, it wouldn't take more than a couple of hours to create something funny using resources from the Internet. :) What do you guys think?
:smokin:

[Harrison]

Sounds interesting.

I have an idea. Could you include these demo makers in the CA software directory with downloads for them? I'm thinking they would be better in there under the programming/dev category, rather than directly within the demo productions directory itself.

And using a creator is a great idea for a competition. Anyone interested in taking part could explore the demo creators that are available via the directory and then try to create a demo for a CA competition. We could specify that the demo needs to advertise/promote CA in some way and use the logo. Other than that everyone is free to do whatever they like. Sound good?

[Demon Cleaner]

I only did some on the C64, there were a lot of demomakers released on it. We even (a friend and mine) did a megademo using a demomaker, and combining all the different several parts, that one was great. A shame that I don't have it on my disks anymore, would really like to see it again, as there were some nice sprite logos :(

[Puni/Void]

Harrison wrote:


Sounds interesting.

I have an idea. Could you include these demo makers in the CA software directory with downloads for them? I'm thinking they would be better in there under the programming/dev category, rather than directly within the demo productions directory itself.

Will do. :thumbs: I'll see if I can get them up tonight.


And using a creator is a great idea for a competition. Anyone interested in taking part could explore the demo creators that are available via the directory and then try to create a demo for a CA competition. We could specify that the demo needs to advertise/promote CA in some way and use the logo. Other than that everyone is free to do whatever they like. Sound good?

I think this is a great idea, as it gives people a specific goal for demo creation. Can't wait to get this competition started! The fine thing about this is that everyone can participate, as most demo makers are quite easy to use.

Thinking of resources for the demos, we could also make a list over modules that can be used, as long as we credit the author. I presume that tunes from games will be usable as well. ;) Oh, and graphics from games also.. promoting CA using Guybrush Threepwood or Alfred Chicken would be royal. :smokin:

[Harrison]

There are two ways we could launch a competition. Provide the raw resources (mods, graphics, sprites etc...) and see what everyone can do with them, or just let everyone have free reign to see what they can come up with. What do you think?

[Puni/Void]

In my opinion it would probably be best if we could freely choose from all sources. Still, we could make a small resource pack for those that would like to use this. This pack could for example contain a small collection of Classicamiga.com logos, some tunes and like you say, images and such. The user will then have three choices - utilize the pack, do everything themselves, or do a combo. Basically, people can then do as they want, and it will be easier for everyone to participate.

What do you think about this?

Hope there will be some entries in this compo. :) Doesn't matter if one have done such stuff before - the most important thing is to participate and have fun.

[Tiago]

hummn, sounds nice.
i will participate in this one. How many time do we have to do it?

Projects created in demomaker can be executed under workbench or they are save as a nondos disk?
if they are executed under workbench we can interact with other aplications.

[Harrison]

I think that depends on the demomaker being used.

As for how long we have to create a demo, I think it should be a reasonable length of time. At least a month, but more likely much longer. Everyone has other things to do in their lives so a flexible time limit is probably best, just waiting for enough entries to be submitted before we end.

[Tiago]

Ok, count me in.

I think that each one of us must do a very simple demo using demomaker or other, and then we vote for the best one, but don't take to much time and energy on it, first we should have some demos to show how to do it and to grab more CA users into it.

Tomorrow i will try to use RSDMaker.

[Puni/Void]

Harrison wrote:


As for how long we have to create a demo, I think it should be a reasonable length of time. At least a month, but more likely much longer. Everyone has other things to do in their lives so a flexible time limit is probably best, just waiting for enough entries to be submitted before we end.

I agree about the flexible time limit. This will ensure that more people will be able to participate in the competition.

Tiago wrote:


Ok, count me in.

I think that each one of us must do a very simple demo using demomaker or other, and then we vote for the best one, but don't take to much time and energy on it, first we should have some demos to show how to do it and to grab more CA users into it.

Tomorrow i will try to use RSDMaker.

Cool that you would like to participate, Tiago. :)

As for your suggestion to draw more people in, I can make a small presentation of the competition using a demo maker. This prod could contain the rules of the contest and a few examples of effects. It won't take much time, so I can get it ready before Sunday.

[Harrison]

That sounds like a great idea PG. We could then use that presentation as an announcement production for the site competition. :thumbs:

Do you need a copy of the classicamiga logo for it? If so let me know what dimensions and number of colours and I will send it over for you.

[Puni/Void]

Harrison wrote:


That sounds like a great idea PG. We could then use that presentation as an announcement production for the site competition.

Do you need a copy of the classicamiga logo for it? If so let me know what dimensions and number of colours and I will send it over for you.

Good to hear that you liked the idea. I'll start working on it as soon as possible. If you want, I can send you preview when everything is in place. After that, I can make adjustments if necessary. :)

A copy of the Classicamiga logo would be nice. If it's ok for everyone here that it uses the AGA chipset, then you can decide whether it should contain 256 colours or less. :) As for the size, think that it should fit on a resoluation of 320x256, and preferebly be located at the top or bottom of the screen. That means; not too big or not too small. ;)

If you have some other bits of graphics you think might fit in, please send those as well. Thanks in advance for the help. :thumbs:

[Harrison]

I will have a look this afternoon for you and attach anything I think will be of use to this thread for you.

[Puni/Void]

Thanks mate. Looking forward to start working on this. :)

[Tiago]

I try demomaker today and:

In real A1200 and also in Winuae with standart 2MB gives me the error message:

"not enough memory, disable external drives"

I try in WinUAE with configs from A500 and A1200 and none of them worked....
The demomaker in main page is a compilation from someone, i download the original, and the same result....
I try with different memory settings but nothing....
did anyone try it??

[Harrison]

I've not tried it yet. Hopefully PG can let us know the setup we need.

[AlexJ]

Ditto:

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/6831/redsectordemomakerv1001bd8.png

Appears after the splash screen. Same happens no matter how much Chipram I've threw at it. (Using Red Sector Demo-Maker v1.1 (1991)(Data Becker).adf btw - the rest of the versions have various other failures, including Guru's and a loader problem)

[Puni/Void]

Hi AlexJ and Tiago,

Sorry to hear that you have problems getting the RSI Demo Maker to run. I tried it now and it worked ok. Here's the setup I use for running this application:

CPU: 68000
Match A500 speed
More compatible (ticked)

Chipset: OCS
ROM: Kickstart 1.3

Chip: 512KB
Fast: 512KB

I'm using the files currently available for download at the Classicamiga.com main site.

Btw.. There are a few demomakers out there that is more up to date and that supports AGA. You can find these on Planet Emu. Search for DemoMania, DemoManiac, and Videotracker. Not only do they support AGA, but they have a nice point and click system Workbench style. :) Probably better to use one of these instead of RSI Demo Maker.

Btw.. I've seen that some of the demomaker files on the TOSEC (DemoManiac) have the Happy New Year 1996 Amiga virus on them. Version 1.8 (DemoMania) did not have any virus, so that is safe to use. ;) Hopefully you have a virus killer installed on your Amigas (or emulators).

Good luck and let me know if it still doesn't work.

[AlexJ]

Thanks for that, I'll give it another go.

On a side note correctly named TOSEC files containing a virus should have [v] as part of the name. f.ex. Demo Maniac v2.19 (19xx)(Schmidtchen, Nico)(Disk 1 of 2)[v H.N.Y. Installer 1].adf - therefore it should be pretty easy to spot such a file.

EDIT: Works fine now using your settings, thanks!

[Harrison]

One thing I've always wondered. If an adf has a virus on it and you run it using WinUAE what actual damage can the virus do? It can't effect the hardware because that is just being emulated so the worst it could do in that respect is crash the emulator. So is the worst that could happen a corrupted adf? (if you are booting directly from the adf and no other workbench disks are involved).

[AlexJ]

One thing I've always wondered. If an adf has a virus on it and you run it using WinUAE what actual damage can the virus do? It can't effect the hardware because that is just being emulated so the worst it could do in that respect is crash the emulator. So is the worst that could happen a corrupted adf? (if you are booting directly from the adf and no other workbench disks are involved).

Yeah, basically hardware is safe as it's virtual. Anything that's being emulated (e.g. HDD's and any write-enabled disks) are affected in that same way as on the real thing. Basically you can only damage stuff that you make visible to WinUAE (and then only if it's writable)

[Buleste]

Going back to VideoTracker. There is a cd of Version 2.0 on BTTR here. (http://www.back2roots.org/CDs/Tools/)

[Puni/Void]

Buleste wrote:


Going back to VideoTracker. There is a cd of Version 2.0 on BTTR here.

Thanks for the heads up. Downloading now. :)

Noticed that Video Creator from Almathera is available for download as well. Is this some kind of demomaker, or is it a different kind of program?

[Buleste]

Honestly have no clue. The install script on the CD is, for me at least, crap. And coppying the files and setting up an assign doesn't work either so at the moment i'm using the CD. It's nbot the most stable to use software either but it is fairly easy and has a lot of functions.

[Puni/Void]

Thanks for the info. Will have a look myself one of the coming days. :)

[Tiago]

PG, i try again the RSDemomaker, i used the A500 config (winuae), with extra memory, and i did it, it worked.

But in real A1200, i have an error. Anyone did it in real A1200 ?????

Now that i have DM working in winuae, i have to learn a bit, in 5 minutes the only thingi could do it, was the plasma effect.... :lol:

[AlexJ]

Tiago: I think it has problems with anything other than Kickstart 1.3 - perhaps try using Relokick or something?

[Puni/Void]

Yes, ReloKick should probably do the trick when it comes to getting the RSI Demo Maker run on an Amiga 1200. If you don't have Relokick, you can also try disabling CPU caches and running OCS in the bootmenu when holding both mouse buttons down. Maybe that will help?

[Buleste]

Found my old DemoManiac cover disk and that hates my 1200 as well.

[Harrison]

The A500 with KS1.3 was always the demo scene's favourite machine as most of them knew how to directly accsss the hardware. But that also means many productions and software produced by them refused to run on different models of Amiga.

ReLoKick should help, but sometimes just disabling the cache from the A1200 boot menu works for many.

[Tiago]

disabling the cache from the A1200 boot menu works for many

no, didnt work, i forgot to try relokick.

I try to save a 10 seconds demo just with plasma efect to a empty adf file, transfer to pcmcia then to real A1200 and if worked, the disk is bootable, looks like A1200 dont load demomaker (software) but runs demos after being saved to bootable. :)

I was able to work with sample logos rom disk II, and the pixel and line effect.
But i coun'd put the text/banners working..... anyone did try DM so far?

[AlexJ]

I've managed to extract the docs for RSI Demomaker from the LSD disk - the one on ADDPP (http://hipooniosamigasite.ath.cx/hipoonios/amigadocs/) was corrupt.

The instructions are available here (http://www.classicamiga.com/content/view/4619/176/)

[Harrison]

Great work Alex. I will be having a look at this once I get chance to try making one myself. I hope lots of us are going to take part in this competition and try to create something as this should be great fun.

And if we like bits from different member's creations than we could end up combining the best bits into a final production.

[Puni/Void]

Harrison wrote:


Great work Alex. I will be having a look at this once I get chance to try making one myself. I hope lots of us are going to take part in this competition and try to create something as this should be great fun.

And if we like bits from different member's creations than we could end up combining the best bits into a final production.

Good job on that text, Alex. That will for sure prove helpful for all of us that would like to participate in the competition. :)

And as you say, Harrison, let's hope that many of us will participate in the contest. The more entries the better!

[Tiago]

The manual is simple and gives you a nice overview.
I was able to try almost all effects in RS-DM.

And the saved intros worked well in real 1200, so i am allready creating my demo...
i must try today to load RS-DM with relokick.

Harrison, PG, do you have logos so we can use? CA logos or general Commodore logos?

It would be great to convert the demos later to MPEG for Pc, so that all people without Amigas or winuae could see it.

[Puni/Void]

Tiago wrote:


Harrison, PG, do you have logos so we can use? CA logos or general Commodore logos?

It would be great to convert the demos later to MPEG for Pc, so that all people without Amigas or winuae could see it.

I think Harrison is working on those logos. These will probably be available soon. :) If you want, I could send you some scaled down versions of the logos on the main site, so that you can use these until the offifical ones appear. I've also converted them to .iff.

Be prepeared for an official announcement demo concerning the competition. Here you'll find a introduction to the contest and the rules.

Good idea about creating video files of the demos when the competition is over. :thumbs:

[Tiago]

PG, if you have allready some pictures, send them please.

tecnical question:

I try some simple demo, saved it as boot intro, and the result is not a non-dos disk, so
if you put the disk in workbench you will see it, but, i cannot find anything inside....
i press the "show hidden/all files" option but i cannot see anything. If it is not a non-dos disk why cant i browse the files.
If i were able to see it, and to run the intro in workbench, we could mix the intro with other cli commands/software.

[AlexJ]

Pretty sure that if the disk is a non-dos disk it will show up in workbench as "DF0:NDOS" and when you double-click on it, it will say "The icon(s) have no default tool". If you can open it, then it is a dos disk.

As for the lack of stuff inside it, not sure about that.

[Harrison]

Unless it creates a hybrid disk that can appear in Workbench as a blank disk, but is actually a custom disk format that is designed to just be booted.

[v85rawdeal]

Digging around I found one of my old demos I created a couple of years ago using videotracker.

It was created on a 1mb A500 and can be downloaded here (http://www.mediafire.com/?y1do2ql0mww).

Its a rar file, but the demo file itself is small enough to be transfered to any amiga on a 880kb pc disk, should you need to.

[Puni/Void]

Nice! Will have to check this one out. :) Might put it onto the main site as well. ;)