BStone

Unofficial source port for Blake Stone series (Aliens Of Gold and Planet Strike).

Contents

1. Disclaimer
2. Overview
   2.1. Overview (PS Vita)
3. Installation
   3.1. Windows (GOG / Steam)
   3.2. Windows (Generic)
   3.3. Addons
4. Required assets
5. Profile
6. Audio
   6.1 OpenAL driver
7. External textures
   7.1 Aspect ratio
   7.2 Transparency
   7.3 Naming conventions
   7.4 Supported file formats
   7.5 File format search order
8. Compiling
   8.1. Generic instructions for Linux-based system or build environment (MinGW)
9. Command-line options
10. Cheat key
11. Debug keys
12. Third party use
13. Credits
14. Links
    14.1. Essentials
    14.2. General
    14.3. Add-ons for Aliens Of Gold (full)
    14.4. Add-ons for Planet Strike

1 - Disclaimer

Copyright (c) 1992-2013 Apogee Entertainment, LLC
Copyright (c) 2013-2021 Boris I. Bendovsky ([email protected])

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 unofficial source port for "Blake Stone" game series: "Aliens Of Gold" and "Planet Strike".

Features:

• High resolution vanilla rendering
• 3D-rendering
• Upscale texture filter
• Support for external textures
• Allows to customize control bindings
• 3D-audio
• 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 - Installation

3.1 - Windows (GOG / Steam)

• Download the latest release.
• Extract it into convinient for you directory.
• Run bstone.exe to play.

3.2 - Windows (generic)

• Download the latest release.
• Extract it into the directory with game files.
• Run bstone.exe to play.

3.3 - Addons

• Put addon's files into separate directory. Do not overwrite any original files!
• Run with command line option --mod_dir to point to this directory (i.e. bstone.exe --mod_dir addon1).

4 - Required assets

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

Required files for each game:

Legend:

• AOG SW - Aliens Of Gold (shareware)
• AOG - Aliens Of Gold (full)
• PS - Planet Strike

Both all lowercase and all uppercase (default) file names are supported.

The port auto-detect assets of some digital distribution services. Note that option --data_dir disables auto-detection.

Supported services:

• GOG
  Windows only.

• Steam
  Windows only.

5 - 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

6 - Audio

Provides default stereo driver and optional 3D one.
Use option GAME OPTIONS - SOUND - DRIVER to change the driver.

6.1 - OpenAL driver

Supports any OpenAL v1.1 compatible implementation (Creative Labs, OpenAL Soft, etc.).
Implementation driver should be available system wide (i.e., via oalinst.exe) or should be placed along with port's binary.
Expected driver name is OpenAL32.dll on Windows or libopenal.so on non-Windows system.
Set configuration string snd_oal_library to use another name.

The port uses default device name.
Set configuration string snd_oal_device_name to open specific device.

7 - External textures

Allows to replace stocked textures with custom ones.

Supported targets: wall, sprite, flooring, ceiling.

Option GAME OPTIONS - VIDEO - TEXTURING - EXTERNAL TEXTURES enables or disables them on the fly.
WARNING Changing the option may take some time if the dimensions of loaded textures are high.

7.1 - Aspect ratio

Both vanilla games ran only in a 320x200 video mode. On monitors, widely available at the time, this video mode took up the entire screen, which had a 4:3 physical aspect ratio. This meant that the 320x200 display, with a 16:10 logical ratio, was stretched vertically - each pixel was 20% taller than it was wide.

In-game graphics have been specifically designed for the 320x200 resolution as stretched to a 4:3 physical aspect ratio.

The port stretches the geometry (world, objects) vertically by 20%. That means if you created a wall or sprite texture, for example, with physical dimensions 1024x1024 it will be rendered as 1024x1228, i.e. stretched.

Flooring and ceiling textures has always 1:1 aspect ratio.

TLDR

• Design wall, sprite, HUD element or screen images in 1:1.2 aspect ratio (i.e. 1280x1536), but export for the game in 1:1 aspect ratio (i.e. 1024x1024).
• Design flooring or ceiling image in 1:1 aspect ratio (i.e. 1280x1280), and export for the game in 1:1 aspect ratio (i.e. 1024x1024) too.

7.2 - Transparency

Images with alpha channel should be exported as premultiplied.

7.3 - Naming conventions

All letters should be lower case.

"Aliens Of Gold" resources are goes into aog directory. "Planet Strike" resources are goes into ps directory.

Sprite name format: sprite_xxxxxxxx.ext. Wall name format: wall_xxxxxxxx.ext.

Where:

• xxxxxxxx - an internal decimal number of the sprite padded with zero on the left. For "Aliens Of Gold" those internal numbers are based on version 2.1.
• .ext - file name extension.

Examples:

• aog/sprite_00000034.bmp - "Aliens Of Gold" yellow key card sprite in BMP format.
• aog/wall_00000088.png - "Aliens Of Gold" turned on south-north switch wall in PNG format.

7.4 - Supported file formats

• Windows BMP
• PNG

7.5 - File format search order

1. PNG
2. BMP

8 - Compiling

Minimum requirements:

• C++14 compatible compiler.
  • GCC 5.0
  • Clang 3.4
  • MSVC (VS 2017 15.0)
• CMake 3.1.3
• SDL v2.0.4

CMake variables:

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

• CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX
  Selects location where to install files to.

• BSTONE_PANDORA
  Enables build for Open Pandora.

• BSTONE_USE_PCH
  If enabled utilizes precompiled headers to speed up the compilation.

• 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.

8.1 - Generic instructions for Linux-based system or build environment (MinGW)

1. Install minimum required software described above.

2. Obtain source code and extract it (if necessary) into some directory. For our example we will use working directory ~/bstone-x.y.z.

3. Make directory ~/bstone-x.y.z/build current.

4. Generate Makefile.
   cmake ../src -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=~/bstone-x.y.z/build/install

5. Build and install: make install

6. On success you will find executable and text files in the directory ~/bstone-x.y.z/build/install.

9 - 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.

• --aog
  Switches the port to "Blake Stone: Aliens Of Gold" mode.
  If appropriate data files will not be found the port will fail.

• --ps
  Switches the port to "Blake Stone: Planet Strike" mode.
  If appropriate data files will not be found the port will fail.

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

• --cheats
  Enables so called "debug mode" without much fuss.

• --data_dir dir
  Specifies a directory with game's resource files.
  Default: current working directory.

• --mod_dir dir
  Specifies a directory with mod's resource files.
  Default: undefined.

• --profile_dir dir
  Overrides default directory of the game's profile files.

• --vid_renderer value
  Select a renderer.
  Values:

  • auto_detect - tries to select the best renderer.
  • software - the vanilla renderer.
  • gl_2_0 - OpenGL 2.0 or higher.
  • gl_3_2_c - OpenGL 3.2 core or higher.
  • gles_2_0 - OpenGL ES 2.0 or higher.

  Default: auto_detect

• --vid_is_windowed value
  Starts up the game in windowed mode or in fake fullscreen otherwise.
  Values: 0 (fake fullscreen) or 1 (windowed)
  Default: 1

• --vid_windowed_width width
  Specifies window width for windowed mode.
  Minimum width: 320
  Default width: 640

• --vid_windowed_height height
  Specifies window height for windowed mode.
  Minimum height: 240
  Default height: 480

• --vid_windowed_x offset
  Sets a horizontal offset from the left side of the desktop screen.
  Applicable for positionable window only.
  Default: 0

• --vid_windowed_y offset
  Sets a vertical offset from the top side of the desktop screen.
  Applicable for positionable window only.
  Default: 0

• --vid_is_positioned value
  Centers a windowed window on the desktop or moves it in the specified position.
  Values: 0 (centered) or 1 (positioned)
  Default: 0

• --vid_is_vsync value
  Enables or disables vertical synchronization.
  Values: 0 (disable) or 1 (enable)
  Default: 1

• --vid_is_widescreen value
  Enables or disables widescreen rendering.
  Values: 0 (disable) or 1 (enable)
  Default: 1

• --vid_is_ui_stretched value
  Stretches the UI or keeps it at 4x3 ratio otherwise.
  Values: 0 (non-stretched) or 1 (stretched)
  Default: 0

• --vid_2d_texture_filter filter
  Sets texturing filter for UI.
  Applicable only for 3D-rendering.
  Values: nearest or linear
  Default: nearest

• --vid_3d_texture_image_filter filter
  Sets texturing image filter for the scene.
  Applicable only for 3D-rendering.
  Values: nearest or linear
  Default: nearest

• --vid_3d_texture_mipmap_filter filter
  Sets texturing mipmap filter for the scene.
  Applicable only for 3D-rendering.
  Values: nearest or linear
  Default: nearest

• --vid_3d_texture_anisotropy value
  Sets anisotropy degree for the scene.
  Value 1 or lower disables the filter.
  Applicable only for 3D-rendering.
  Values: [1..16]
  Default: 1

• --vid_texture_upscale_filter filter
  Sets texturing upscale filter.
  Applicable only for 3D-rendering.
  Values: none or xbrz
  Default: none
  WARNING xbrz is a high resource usage filter!

• --vid_texture_upscale_xbrz_degree degree
  Sets a degree of xBRZ texturing upscale.
  Applicable only for 3D-rendering.
  Values: [2..6]
  Default: 0

• --vid_aa_kind value
  Sets an anti-aliasing mode.
  Applicable only for 3D-rendering.
  Values: none or msaa
  Default: none

• --vid_aa_degree value
  Sets a degree of the anti-aliasing.
  Applicable only for 3D-rendering.
  Values: [2..32]
  Default: 1

• --vid_filler_color_index value
  Sets a color for screen bars.
  Values: [0..255]
  Default: 0

• --vid_external_textures value
  Toggles external textures.
  Values: 0 (disable), 1 (enable).
  Default: 0

• --snd_is_disabled value
  Enables or disables audio subsystem.
  Values: 0 (disable) or 1 (enable)
  Default: 0

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

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

• --snd_resampling_interpolation value
  Specifies interpolation method for sample-rate conversion.
  PCM audio only.
  Values: zoh (zero-order hold) or linear
  Default: linear

• --snd_resampling_lpf value
  Toggles low-pass filter for sample-rate conversion.
  PCM audio only.
  Values: 0 (disable) or 1 (enable)
  Default: 1

• --snd_driver value
  Specifies the audio driver to use.
  Values: auto-detect, 2d_sdl (2D SDL), 3d_openal (3D OpenAL)
  Default: auto-detect
  Auto-detect order: 3d_openal, 2d_sdl

• --snd_oal_library value
  Specifies OpenAL driver's name.
  Default: "" (OpenAL32.dll on Windows and libopenal.so on non-Windows system).

• --snd_oal_device_name value
  Specifies OpenAL device name.
  Default: ""

• --calculate_hashes
  Calculates hashes (SHA-1) of all resource files and outputs them into the log.

• --extract_vga_palette dir
  Extracts VGA palette into existing directory dir.
  Supported file format: BMP

• --extract_walls dir
  Extracts graphics resources (wall, flooring, etc.) into existing directory dir.
  Supported file format: BMP

• --extract_sprites dir
  Extracts graphics resources (actors, decorations, etc.) into existing directory dir.
  Supported file format: BMP

• --extract_music dir
  Extracts music resources into existing directory dir.
  Supported file format: WAV

• --extract_sfx dir
  Extracts sfx resources into existing directory dir.
  Supported file format: WAV

• --extract_texts dir
  Extracts text resources into existing directory dir.
  Supported file format: TXT

• --extract_all dir
  Extracts all resources (walls, sprites, etc.) into existing directory dir.

10 - 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.

11 - 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 or 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.

• Backspace+l
  Dumps information into the log about remaining bonus items and enemies.

12 - Third party use

• SDL (Simple DirectMedia Library)
  See file src/lib/sdl/COPYING.txt for license information.

• DOSBox
  See file src/dosbox/COPYING for license information.
  Note: The port uses OPL emulation code only.

• GLM (OpenGL Mathematics)
  See file src/lib/glm/copying.txt for license information.

• OpenAL Soft
  See file src\lib\openal_soft\COPYING for license information.
  Note: The port uses public headers only.

• stb_image
  See file src\lib\stb\LICENSE for license information.

• xBRZ
  See directory src/lib/xbrz for license information (License.txt) and essential changes made for the port (bstone_changelog.txt).

13 - Credits

• id Software
  Wolfenstein 3D engine.

• JAM Productions
  The game itself.

• Apogee Entertainment, LLC
  Publishing the game and releasing a source code.

• Scott Smith
  Adaptation to Pandora console, various fixes.

• Filipe Tolhuizen
  Testing the port.

• Various contributors for providing fixies, ideas, etc.

14 - Links

14.1 - Essentials

• Home page
• Precompiled binaries and their source code

14.1 - General

• Blake Stone: Aliens Of Gold official site
• Blake Stone: Planet Strike official site
• Apogee's article about releasing of an original source code
• Original source code
• Repacked shareware Blake Stone: Aliens Of Gold (v3.0)

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

• Add-on BSE90 by ack
• Add-on GUYSTONE by Guy Brys
• Ling's Blake Stone Levels by Ling Yan Li

14.3 - Add-ons for Planet Strike

• Add-on BSE24 by ack
• Add-on GUYSTRIKE by Guy Brys
• Ling's Planet Strike Levels by Ling Yan Li