24-06-2005 22:41									#1
	Alternate Reality - by Phillip Price Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

Update 25/06/05 - I've done more experimenting and would point people to the Atari800 win emulator over the Xl-it! one(unless running a low spec pc).

I've found a wonderfull thing recently, and decided to share it with anyone who might be interested

I first started playing this game in 1986 on my Atari800XL. And since then it has remained one of my all time favourite RPG series(they released the second in the series, The Dungeon, later on - both games are inclueded in the Xl-it! emultor you can download from the link below).

Anyway my Atari 800 is in someones attic somewhere - so i haven't been able to play this for the last few years or so.

IGNORE THIS BIT BELOW IF YOU WANT TO RUN THE GAME IN WINDOWS AND YOUR PC IS MORE THAN A P266 - GO TO THE ATARI 800 WIN download

Below in the zip file is a couple of programs to add to the atari emulator program(XL-it!) to run the origonal atari 8bit version of the game on your PC(if you've tried the PC version of the game, you will know what a dissapointment it is, compared to the origonal Atari version).

basicaly unzip the zip file, then make sure to move/copy the files 'Ar.bat' and 'Turbo.exe' so all the files are together inside the 'Xlit' folder.

Ar.bat is the same as comes with the Xlit! emulator(so just click the 'ok' to overwrite prompt when it pops up), with a few added functions in the command line, as i found without them the emulation software was proving difficult to run Alternate Reality - The City with.

The Dungeon.bat runs fine as is though.

All you need to do now is click This new Ar.bat to run the game with no hassel

Turbo.exe is a slow down utility(if you dont already have one). On the PC i run the Xlit! emulator on i dont need to use any slowdown program, its a P166 and it runs Alternate Reality at the origonal Atari8bit speed. But if your PC is more of a power beast than mine you'll need a slowdown progam running.

XLiT! - For P2 233MHZ and below!(DOS)

you can get the Xlit! emulator from this site:

http://kang.aroo.tv/ar/games.html

Its worth noteing that you need a real soundblaster(old style) card to get the sound+music(which is 60% of the greatness of the game), with this emulator. On my newer PIII566 with some nasty onboard synth thing it was silent


Other good sites for Alternate Reality stuff are:

The origonal Alternate Reality web page -

http://www.eobet.com/alternate-reality/

And some fun stuff in the forums here, where you can also get info on running the game using a different emulator(Atari800win) if your having problems with the Xl-it! one:

ATARI 800WIN - For P2 400Mhz and above!(windows)

http://www.atariage.com/forums/inde...showtopic=69356

Attachment: xlitcd.zip
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Last edited by child of Thor on 27-06-2005 at 13:36

	24-06-2005 22:57									#2
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

Time for some screenies


'All is normal in the busy city'

Attachment: ar1peacecity.jpg
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	24-06-2005 23:09									#3
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

'But the Aliens come to beam you up and steal you away!'

Attachment: ar2alien.jpg
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	24-06-2005 23:21									#4
	Inflate your Upload Space

'walk through the strange portal to set your stats, but beware of going cross eyed!'

note: if i hadn't been busy getting a screenshot i would have had the best starting character ever!

Attachment: ar4portal.jpg
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	24-06-2005 23:31									#5
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

'Here i am, not in a good situation to fight(no weapons/armour anything!)...but lets see...'

Attachment: ar4aencounter.jpg
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	24-06-2005 23:34									#6
	Remove this text

'Wow! victory!(ok i was evil and 'tricked' the poor fighter). I feel myself move closer to the dark side....and vow to be stronger'

Still the loot is a good un, worth a few 'evil' points on my char

Attachment: ar4bloot!.jpg
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	25-06-2005 21:29									#7
	Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

UPDATE NEW INFO - FREE GAME!

Ive been very impressed with the Atari800win emulator, and have switched to useing my pIII 566 as the sound and graphics are perfect versions of the origonal 8bit game

1. Download the windows friendly Atari emulator here: A couple of the links are down, so if you haven't got the files yet, i'll post them on poly as attatchments soon

OK
http://atariarea.histeria.pl/PLus/index_us.htm

Its called: "Atari800WinPLus-4.0beta6.exe" - 672 148 bytes

2. run the setup program to create the emulators directory you will unzip these other files into.

3. Now download and unzip these ROM files into the emulators directory. get them from here:

OK
http://numen.scene.pl/download/atari_roms.zip

4. download and unzip into the same emulator directory the 'Alternate reality - The City' files from here:

URL DOWN. GO TO THE POSTHERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FILES LISTED BELOW:

These are the game disk files and relate to the origonal atari disks and work like this:

CITY11.ATR = Disk 1 side 1
CITY12.ATR = Disk 1 side 2
CITY21.ATR = Disk 2 side 1
CITY22.ATR = Disk 2 side 2
CITYCHAR.ATR = the character save disk

So when in the game it asks for Disk 2 side 1 to be inserted, just use 'Alt+D' to access the disk menu and click 'D1: and then click on the CITY21.ATR file, click OK and when back in the game request screen hit F2(acts as the 'Start' key it asks for) to load the relevant disk.

If using a 'full-screen' mode then use the 'Alt-D' method for changing disks.

(taken from the AtariAge forums website - by one Xebec's Demise, with a few added points by myself):

Once you've got all the files:

1. Run Atari800win.exe. The setup wizard should start. Click on Search button and select the Atari800win ROM folder where you unzipped the Atari ROM files from the above download. Then click Finish.

2. In Atari800win go to menu Atari>Memory size and select 128k.

3. Go to Atari>Disk drives…>D1: and locate and select the CITY11.ATR file from the unzipped Alternate Reality: The City folder you downloaded above, this is Disk 1 Side 1 of the game.

Click D2: and select the CITY22.ATR file for drive 2. Alternate Reality only makes use of two disk drives, so you should just leave CITY22.ATR in D2: drive – you don’t ever need to change D2:.

You will swap the other disks in D1:, including the Character Disk, when prompted by the game.

4. The F2 key on your keyboard is the Atari Start key, F3 is Select, F4 is Option and F5 is Reset.

Now that you have the CITY11.ATR disk loaded in drive D1: press F5 to Reset the Atari800win emulator and load the game.

Note: if you press F2 briefly, immediately following F5, when the game copyright text appears, then you will skip the game intro and go straight to the character login screen in a matter of a few seconds.

If you miss it and get the spaceship doors closing, just press F5 and then F2 to try again. Don’t press F2 before the game copyright text or you will boot into Basic. In this case you can push Shift+F5 to do a cold boot and try again.

5. Once you have booted to the character login screen, you will need to insert the CITYCHAR.ATR character disk under Atari>Disk drives…>D1: before creating your character. After creating your character, you will be asked to insert Disk 1 Side 2 and press Start (F2). Once again, just go to Atari>Disk drives…>D1: and select CITY12.ATR.

6. In order to move around The City use the keys I= forward, K=back, J=left and L=right. When in a Bank or other shop where you dont have a keyboard option to leave, use the downwards cursor on the numeric keypad(this simulates moving the joystick backwards).

7. for the best looking game setup when you run the Atari800win emulator go to 'View' > 'Graphics Options' in the emulator menu and select '640x480(partialy clipped)'.

This will turn the windowed area into full screen. You can switch between these screen modes by pressing 'Alt+Enter'.

8. When in full screen mode and you get a prompt to switch disks(usualy on first running the game and then when loading/saving your char), use 'Alt+D' to enter the disk selection screen.

simply click on 'D1:' and insert the correct disk file, then when your back in the game prompt press 'F2' on the keyboard(this is the 'Start' key). And thats it

I'll be here to help anyone who is willing to give this all a go.

Last edited by child of Thor on 29-07-2005 at 16:23

	25-06-2005 22:33									#8
	Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

Why bother with this ancient rpg?

Well for those that have played it, it usualy remains one of the best games we've ever played. This Atari8bit version(the origonal) had something special to it, something none of the other versions managed to reproduce.
Philip Price(programmer), Gary Gilbertson(musician) and Craig Skinner(artist) who made this game for the Atari made something nearly perfect.

Not bad for a guy who lived in a shed+showered on the beach in Hawaii while working on it!

For me i like the survival rpg aspect of the game, it's very much a game where trying to survive is a tall order. You start with only your bare hands and some grey rags as clothing and a few coppers in your possesion.

money is difficult to come by in the early stages, its easy to get mugged and loose your loot you carry with you, luckily there are various banks to keep your horde in, but they all have varying account interest and failure rates. shop around for the best deals.

And the sound and music and the graphics were a great combination, as you'll find out.

You can catch diseases, starve to death, or simply be killed by an enemy. Or if your lucky, get a character to beyond level 10.
Oh death is permenant by the way - once dead you'll have to create a new character, it keeps it intense

If your happy to be evil(yes it has a good side vs darkside aspect - years before KOTOR made popular a simular thing), you can use your Charm or Intelligence skills to defeat an opponant. These are very handy tricks, but if you want to play a good aligned character then you can only use these skills when fighting 'evil' creatures. Something worth noting is that the only 'evil' humanoid in the game is the Assasin. Human enemies like thieves+muggers(or any human encounter where you get the evil sounding music) are neutral in the game, and using 'Trick' or 'Charm' to kill these enemies will turn you to the darkside. As with many aspects of the game the music is intregal to the game play, so keep your ears open to any clues.

Why worry about that, you may ask. Well when you are reguarded as evil enough - pretty much anyone and everything will attack you, certain shops may refuse to serve you. You life becomes more difficult.

As yoda said to luke "The darkside is quicker, more seductive, but once down that path you tread,forever shall it shape your destiny"

below is the map that came with the game, you start in the middle near the 'floating gate'

Attachment: artistic_city.jpg
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Last edited by child of Thor on 27-06-2005 at 14:20

	27-06-2005 14:30									#9
	Get a bigger avatar today!

The friendly local where you get food+drink and maybe buy a round for the house while singing along to the songs

Attachment: ar6pub.jpg
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	27-06-2005 14:34									#10
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

The safest place to keep your money, although bank robbers(and bad investments!) do exist.

Attachment: ar5bank.jpg
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	29-06-2005 14:49									#11
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

Now i've used my past experience of the game to survive to reach level 4. It wasn't easy and i think the many times i became 'starving' and 'parched' caused me some stats damage? A visit to a healer will resolve the issue(i hope!), but they dont come cheap, and at the moment i'm still living hand to mouth one day at a time.

Atleast i have pleanty of HPs now and after a good nights sleep(best taken from evening to early morning) i am fully restored, ready to take some damage

Attachment: inn.jpg
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	29-06-2005 15:20									#12
	Got spare money?

So a few hours later and after a visit to the local to stock up on food packets(pemmican is cheaper and adds to your foodpacket count), and water flasks(these are seperate from just 'water'); I stop to watch the sunrise(useful for navigation without a compass)

Attachment: sunrise.jpg
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	29-06-2005 15:29									#13
	Suffering from ads?

And after a few bruising encounters i'm pleased to see the rather camp mugger, dressed in his fetching lilac 'boob-tube'

For a low level adventurer these guys are good prey, but be careful, they are 'neutral' so you need to wait for them to attack you first. And no 'trick' or 'charm' or you will pick up evil points.

As you can see Muggers miss you quite often and dont have many hit points, and they also sometimes carry gems or jewels

Attachment: mugger!.jpg
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	01-07-2005 20:04									#14
	Support Apolyton

If you want to play this in the purist manner, you need to make a grid on paper that is 64x64 boxes, so you can map out the city.

There is an online map available that is unmarked, but it does give you the locations of all the buildings, which destroys a bit of the mystery of discovery.
Luckily i can pretty much remember my way around now.

I'll post a few more screenshots tomorrow and maybe give a few starting tips.

I'm level6 now and doing really well - i decided to risk drinking a potion, and it was a 'treasure finding' type. Although its effects lasted me about 16hrs(in game). I've never had one last that long before, so now my bank manager is very happy, and i'm going shopping to change my grey rags to something a little more up-market

Still be careful with potions - i also took a 'delusion' one and had to spend 500 coppers at a healers to get rid of its effects(your stats wildly fluctuating).

	02-07-2005 16:31									#15
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

a quick glance at this screen and you can see underneath my foodpacket and water flask count it says i'm 'weary' and also 'treasure finding!'.

Its 4am + the treasure finding is still active even after i had slept for 6hrs! a new one on me that I think i'm still weary(the first stage of fatigue) because i'd not wanted to sleep to try to maximise my treasure finds the previous evening. I had reached tired stage before sleeping, but got lots of loot

Attachment: treasure!.jpg
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	02-07-2005 16:36									#16
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

and here is a quick look at my loot status after my treasure finding spree. You can cycle through various item menus by pressing F3 on the keyboard.

TIP: Be careful though - its best to do it while inside a shop as you can over ride the combat menus you get in an encounter. Combat is real-time, so your enemy can get in some free hits while your trying to get back to the combat menu!

Attachment: treasure1.jpg
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	02-07-2005 16:44									#17
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

Some hours later and i'm tired again. Compare my stats now to the previous shots. Tiredness can kill!! time to find an inn and get some sleep.

TIP: My treasure finding is still active but running out of power. You have different potencies of potion - i think this one treasure finding potion i used is probably the most potent i've ever drank! Still at this point i'm only finding silver and copper on my defeated foes. The effects of this type of potion slowly degrades over its life span.

Attachment: tirednesskills!.jpg
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	02-07-2005 16:57									#18
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

So i'm healthy again, and time to go see what i can spend my money on

The Blacksmith is one of my favourite places to visit, he sings a pretty good song - and i enjoy telling him to 'Forget it!' when he tries to charge me the earth for a new weapon or item of armour

I think he gets a big 'Forget it!' for that item!

Attachment: blacksmith.jpg
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	02-07-2005 20:16									#19
	Full PM-box? Change here!

A few starting tips, then i'm off to my alternate reality untill tuesday

1. In the stats selection screen, with all the spinning numbers; keep an eye on your HP and next to that your Skill. 21 is the maximum starting stat. When you have got as high to that for both stats as possible quickly glance across the other stats.

If you see single figures on any of them, wait till next time and try again. I try to pick out a high STR+STA score also(+15), but as you will see its quite tricky and you can get crossed eyed if you spend too long looking at the numbers

2. Once you have arrived at the floating gate, turn right and go straight into the bank there. examine your coppers. If your have more than 200, put 100 in a medium account for safe keeping. The rest you'll need for food and somewhere to sleep. If your very poor, try to put atleast some in a bank account - it could save your life later!(if the bank doesn't loose your money - high interest accounts are risky).

3. The best place to find food and drink and cheap accomodation is in the north west part of town.

4. Be careful when you go out at night or if its raining. Untill you have a decent weapon and some armour and a character around level4 or upwards you may fall prey to some nasty things that lurk in the dark and rain.

5. A sword will do little damage to a 'mold' or 'spore', try blunt weapons or run away.

Last edited by child of Thor on 06-07-2005 at 14:44

	08-07-2005 15:22									#20
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

There have been a few problems with the links to get the relevant files since i posted them.

Below is a zip file(330kb) containing the 'Alternate reality-The City' disk image files as the old link doesn't work and they are small enough to put here

The instructions for useing them in the emulator remain the same.

At a later date i'll post the 'Alternate Reality- The Dungeon' file images. Once you've got a decent level character in the city, you will be able to take that character into the second(and more epic) part of the games series

Alternate Reality 'The City' disk images:

Attachment: citycharfiles.zip
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Last edited by child of Thor on 30-07-2005 at 13:43

	15-07-2005 18:47									#21
	Support Apolyton

I think i was just incredibly lucky with that character - i got rich much quicker than i remember ever having done before. So things started to become pretty easy, too easy for my likeing. So now i've started over with a new Character.

Still one thing to keep in mind is this first part of the series was meant to be like a training run. So build a decent character then head into the Dungeon.

It does boil down to zipping around between 'safe havens'(banks/pubs/Inns) trying not to die. But i find it strangely engrossing, even now where i'm playing a few hours of KOTOR, then a few of Alternate Reality(with 'Supremacy' inbetween).

So i'm hoping this new game will be more of the challange i remember from 1986,and i cant wait to get to around level 9 and enter the Dungeon - i have unfinished business in its slime covered corridoors

	28-07-2005 16:09									#22
	Inflate your Upload Space

Darn it

Ive started over with a new char and things have not been so easy(And i deleted my first character). Maybe i'm less lucky this time around? whatever this is more how i remember it

So i'm at level 3, and had been just about surviving for quite a while. I even got enough money to buy a stilleto(cheapest knife). Then i did something dumb.

For whatever reason i kinda accidently 'Charmed' a noble(an evil act) and found 18 gold(1800 coppers!) plus a couple of potions.

Then i fought a mold and after thumping it to death with my fists found amongst its slimey remains a Longsword(how does it carry that about i wonder?).

But i also became 'diseased' in that encounter. So i had to rush to a healers. Diseases have an incubation period in the game and have difering severity of effects(usualy decreasing your stats - sometimes permantly!).

Anyway i stumped up the 800 coppers to get healed(thank you poor noble). The worring thing was that my 'Diseased' status didnt change straight away, so i kinda hoped the healer had done his job properly. After a nights sleep i was pleased to see i was no longer sick

So all in all not a bad trade off in general i thought.

Then bad stuff happend.

A courier turned up that morning and in the encounter i pressed 'D' to disengage(when you dont want to fight) - and i got the message 'The courier has confiscated some of your items and possesions'. hmm well ok. then when i checked ALL my money had gone, and my Longsword too

Maybe the noble had sent him to get back what i had taken earlier(and a bit extra!). Scumbag! So i'm back to being peniless as i'd spent all my money i had in the bank from the game start. I never got around to putting any of the nobles away in safe keeping

To top it all off i get a much more hostile reception from neutral beings in the game - fighters, warriors, Knights all seem to want to take chunks out my hide!

I guess thats what can happen when you cross the rich? Still if i manage to survive, then it can be said i'm having fun

All this in 48K - they were clever programmers back then.

	28-07-2005 23:00									#23
	Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

This brings back memories..... a lot of them bad. I never found the Dungeon anywhere, so I only played the city.



ACK!

	28-07-2005 23:01									#24
	Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

Oh, and you would probably get more people seeing this if it was in Other games where it really belongs.

ACK!

	29-07-2005 16:04									#25
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

Wow! a reply

To get the Dungeon files(very worth while doing as it added alot to the AR series) go to the top of this thread and click the link for the XL-it! emulator - at that site when you download the XL-it! emulator, you also get all the 'ar-the city' and the 'ar-the dungeon' disk images. I just pasted those files over into the Atariwin800 emulator(the better emulator) file on my computer

I will start adding stuff relevant to the dungeon when i get to it. At the momment the City is proving more than a handfull

And i agree i would probably get more response in the Other Games forum proper - but i do feel this is actually one of the 'Classic' games of our time(1980's), along with Civ/MoM etc. So it should stay here, even if it suffers less coverage. In future people will always be able to find it easily here.

Last edited by child of Thor on 29-07-2005 at 16:40

	29-07-2005 22:29									#26
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

Well, it's as tough as I remember.

ACK!

	30-07-2005 13:54									#27
	Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

quote: Originally posted by Tuberski Well, it's as tough as I remember. ACK!

True! until you get a weapon you are basicaly a dead man walking. So you have to pick your fights very carefully. Escapeing/running away/leaving is not a shamefull action in this game.

Once i've got any kind of weapon(stileto/dagger are the cheapest to buy - Occums Razor weapon shop in the north west part of town is the cheapest blacksmith), then i find with carefull choice of encounters i can start to make progress. Also visiting the guilds to improve your stats is very important at the game start.

Untill that point its always a challange(a very very tough one!) to survive. I like that in games. The second game 'The Dungeon' is slightly easier for a new/low level character. So you could jump straight to that one if 'The City' is proving too frustrating.

Just as a historic point of interest, but I think 'The City' was the first game in history to use a bitmapped 3D engine?

	31-07-2005 08:06									#28
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

I bought a compass, but didn't see how it was telling me which direction I was going.

ACK!

	01-08-2005 17:16									#29
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

ah - yes waste of money really, i never buy one in the city(although in the dungeon they are very useful), as they get stolen in encounters! Use the sun to give you your East(rises in) and West(sets in). If you look south of the city, beyond the city walls you can see a waterfall in the background - thats south. So with these references you can navigate ok.
It was these skills i developed in this game that made me a very good orienterer in real life. I use the sun to navigate when hiking for example And another side effect has been that i've never got lost in any City i've ever visited, i remember all the twists and turns!

	05-08-2005 07:32									#30
	Put an end to popups!

Been working days this week, so haven't had a chance to play anything.

I did find, however, that if you click on file while the stats are rolling, you can pause them and take a look at the rest without going cross-eyed.

You still have to be quick to get those exact numbers however.

ACK!

ACK!