Anyone Remember Starflight?

[~Shard~]

Just doing a little reminiscing, and one of my favorite classic games came to mind - Starflight! Just wondering who else out there remembers this fine game and how many fans there are out there. I remember playing it with my brother on his Mac SE/30 and it was a great game. Unfortunately, I never played Starflight 2...

And I guess another question would be, is there any possible way to still play this game? I've seen //e emulators out there (thank God I can still get my fix of Wasteland, AutoDuel and Ultima III!), but are there any SE emus around?

Anyway, just thought I'd see if anyone else had fun with this game as well or if I'm just alone in my own little world (as I so often am... )

[angelneo]

Do you mean Starflight on the old Sega? I love that game too! It was one of my favourite game on my Sega ever.

[~Shard~]

Originally Posted by angelneo

Do you mean Starflight on the old Sega? I love that game too! It was one of my favourite game on my Sega ever.

Not sure if it was on Sega or not, I only played it on my bro's Mac SE/30 - I know there was a PC version too. This Starflight was made by Binary Systems in about 1986, I'm thinking, (first/PC version at least) and was a classic sci-fi game. In my mind it really stands the test of time. You built your own crew form alien lifeforms, each with their strengths and weaknesses, and had a huge starmap to explore, with aliens to encounter, mysteries to solve, planets to mine on, planets to colonize, worm holes to explore, battles to fight - an amazing game in my mind, at least.

[~Shard~]

Originally Posted by angelneo

Do you mean Starflight on the old Sega? I love that game too! It was one of my favourite game on my Sega ever.

Just checked online and actually, yes, you're right, it was also on the Sega. I also see it's listed as being published by EA.

[LeeTom]

I played Starflight 1 and 2 for years... they were my introduction to computer games, and I will always have a soft spot in my heart for them.
Here's some info you'll be happy to hear about:

Some of the original authors and fans have gotten together to start building Starflight 3 in their spare time. It's coming along slowly, but it is happening. On their site, they also have links to downloads of Starflight 1 and Starflight 2 for both Mac and PC (for those who have lost their original diskettes

You'll need classic to run the Mac version, or Virtual PC to run the PC version. I seem to remember some problems (at least on the PC version) on newer hardware, but you can check out the details at the site:

http://www.starflight3.net/

Lee Tom

[LeeTom]

As I'm reading more into the site, I realize you can run the DOS version of starflight 1 & 2 from within OS X without Classic.

You get a program called DOSBox (an x86 emulator) available at:
http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/

Optionally, you can get a nice frontend for OS X called Radnor:
http://sveinbjorn.vefsyn.is/radnor

I'll post more details when I get it working!
Lee Tom

[~Shard~]

Originally Posted by LeeTom

As I'm reading more into the site, I realize you can run the DOS version of starflight 1 & 2 from within OS X without Classic.

You get a program called DOSBox (an x86 emulator) available at:
http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/

Optionally, you can get a nice frontend for OS X called Radnor:
http://sveinbjorn.vefsyn.is/radnor

I'll post more details when I get it working!
Lee Tom

Great, thanks for all the info, I appreciate it! Geez, if this is the case, I might have to start playing it again myself. I'll try downloading the game, DOSBox, etc. and play around with it myself. Keep me posted on your end of things too!

[LeeTom]

Latest OS X version of DOSBox:
http://www.holwegner.com/software/#DOSBox

Starflight 1 & 2:
http://www.starflight3.net/download.htm

Starmaps for Starflight 1 & 2:
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare...tarflight.html

When you get DOSBox in a folder, make a folder in it called "C". Then when you run DOSBox, type "mount c c" and it will mount it as your C: drive. Then put the starflt2 directory in there and run it! hooray!
I'm going back into the game...

Lee Tom

[~Shard~]

Originally Posted by LeeTom

Latest OS X version of DOSBox:
http://www.holwegner.com/software/#DOSBox

Starflight 1 & 2:
http://www.starflight3.net/download.htm

Starmaps for Starflight 1 & 2:
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare...tarflight.html

When you get DOSBox in a folder, make a folder in it called "C". Then when you run DOSBox, type "mount c c" and it will mount it as your C: drive. Then put the starflt2 directory in there and run it! hooray!
I'm going back into the game...

Lee Tom

Wow, what more could I ask for! Thanks again Lee Tom, I'll be sure to get good old Starflight fired up again in the next little while.

Since you seem to be a big fan as I am, do you care to share any of your thoughts on the game, any favorite touches, surprises, overall likes or dislikes? Personally, one of the many, many things I enjoyed was the whole mysterious, unknown atmosphere of the game. I remember trying to solve many intriguing puzzles, taking fluxes to who knows where, running into the Uhleks for the first time, finding the Enterprise - the atmosphere of the game was great in that respect. My brother also picked up the walkthrough book (no Internet back then!) at the time, and that too, was really cool and mysterious to read - did you ever come across that one? It was called "The Flying Dutchman" or something to that effect, and was written in the style of a ship's log from a ship that went missing, yet experienced everything that you needed to know in order to finish the game. It was really well done as well!

[~Shard~]

Originally Posted by LeeTom

Starflight 1 & 2:
http://www.starflight3.net/download.htm

One little question - do you need the Windows version or the Mac version to use DOSbox? (I'm assuming Windows...) Because I downloaded the Mac version, and it appears as though the main app file will run in classic mode, with no need for DOSbox, etc., although I haven't tried it yet. Or do you think using DOSbox is better?

Also, to be honest, I have never used Classic mode before on my Mac. Do I need to copy all the files into a specific directory associated with classic mode, then just run the app file, or do I need to run a "Classic" file to start up Classic mode, then load the app files, or what exactly?

Thanks again for everything Lee Tom, this is great!

[~Shard~]

Kay, so I was able to run SF in Classic mode, however I don't have any sound on either SF1 color, SF mono or SF 2. Also, SF 1 color doesn't display things properly, I can read any text on the screen - any ideas?

I'll try that DOSBox thing out tonight and see how that goes instead...