This will be the first in a couple of articles covering the classic granddaddy space sim of them all, Elite. In this first article we'll be taking a look at the last version released for the PC, 'Elite Plus', in all of it's 256 colour, VGA glory, and a modern take on the original classic, 'Elite: The New Kind'.
This article won't be covering the Frontier or Frontier: First Encounters games. One for a future article!
Elite Plus
Elite Plus is a re-implemented version of the classic Elite on the PC with graphics improved from CGA to EGA, VGA or MCGA (256 colour VGA). Sound has also been enhanced with the original PC Speaker supplemented with Adlib (Soundblaster compatible) or Roland music.
The PC version of Elite was created by Ian Bell and David Braben and published in 1984, while Elite Plus was published in 1991. The retail release was distributed on 2 x 5.25" Double Density (DD) 360k floppy disks, or a single 3.5" 720k DD floppy disk.
If you wish to use your existing floppy disks I would recommend converting them to floppy disk images to save wear and tear on the media, they are over 30 years old now!
Where to get it
The easiest place to pick up Elite Plus is digitally through a free download on Ian Bell's PC Elite page. This version also has the added advantage of disabled copy protection. This digital version is distributed as a zip archive.
Controller support
Elite Plus supports keyboard, mouse or joystick control. It does not support a throttle or rudder pedals. However, since I have a joystick, throttle and rudder pedals, I configured them as part of the virtual controller, even if they won't be used. This will make it easier for DOSBox to assign the correct virtual controller axes to the DOSBox joystick device axes.
Configuring axes may not be required if your setup has 4 axes or less. The physical axes to Windows axes were configured as follows:
Physical axis | Windows axis |
Joystick x-axis | DX_X_AXIS |
Joystick y-axis | DX_Y_AXIS |
Throttle | DX_Z_AXIS |
Rudder | DX_XROT_AXIS |
DOSBox Staging config
This config assumes the latest version of DOSBox Staging, at time of writing v0.82.0. Changes from the default values are described below:
[sdl]
host_rate = vrr
vsync = off
presentation_mode = vfr
[dosbox]
dos_rate = 1000
[cpu]
core = simple
cycleup = 100
cycledown = 100
[voodoo]
voodoo = false
[mouse]
dos_mouse_immediate = true
[mixer]
reverb = medium
chorus = normal
[midi]
mididevice = mt32
[mt32]
romdir = "D:\Midi\Versioned"
[sblaster]
sbtype = sbpro1
[joystick]
joysticktype = 4axis
timed = true
swap34 = false
deadzone = 0
[autoexec]
imgmount a "D:\Games\Dos\Elite Plus\fdd\*.img" -t floppy -ro
mount c "D:\Games\Dos\Elite Plus\hdd"
loadfix
c:
cd elite
eliteThe [sdl], [dosbox] and [mouse] settings are suitable for high frame rate gaming as described in this article by Omniclyde. These settings aren't strictly required and can be omitted to use the default settings.
The simple core is used to increase compatibility with earlier DOS games. The default 3000 cycles count seems fine and doesn't need to be adjusted.
Voodoo emulation isn't required and can be disabled.
The [mixer] settings are a personal preference to enhance sound and music.
The [midi] and [mt32] settings are based on info from the VOGONS wiki article 'List of MT-32-compatible computer games'. The rom folder needs to be specified, as described in DOSBox midi. As the CM32L device is supported the mt32 model can be left as default.
In the [sblaster] section, the sbtype is changed to a Soundblaster Pro, this is to take advantage of stereo audio provided by (emulated) dual OPL chips. I'm not sure if this makes a difference but the VOGONS wiki article has a note about Adlib OPL2, so setting the type to sbpro1 may provide an enhancement?
The [joystick] settings use a 4axis joystick type, as I'm using a 4 axes virtual controller, and this will help DOSBox assign axes correctly. If you only have a 2 axes controller or your device(s) allows unused axes to be disabled, then this could be changed to a 2axis joystick type.
The timed settings seemed to be required by my HOTAS setup and as the throttle and rudder pedals aren't used the swap34 setting can be left as default. The deadzone is a personal preference.
The [autoexec] has example imgmount commands for a floppy disk image, if you wish to use your retail release. The imgmount and mount commands make use of a folder structure described in my DOSBox game management article.
The loadfix command is required to limit the amount of conventional memory. This is often needed by early DOS games or increases compatibility.
The rest of the autoexec commands go to the DOSBox folder where Elite was installed and runs the game.
Installation
There is no installer utility with Elite Plus so installation is just a manual file copy.
To install the digital release, simply create a folder under the DOSBox hard disk folder and extract the archive into this folder. This can all be done in Windows.
In my case I created an ELITE folder, so I had to extract the archive into D:\Games\Dos\Elite Plus\hdd\ELITE. This folder becomes C:\ELITE in DOSBox.
To install a retail release with floppy disk images, from within DOSBox, create an installation folder on the C: drive and copy the contents of any disk(s) into this folder, e.g.
c: # Go to the c: drive
md elite # Create an elite folder
a: # Go to the floppy disk
copy *.* c:\elite # Copy the contents into the elite folderRunning
Each time Elite Plus is run, the sound/music and graphics options are chosen. The sound/music options are:
PC speaker
Adlib compatible (Soundblaster)
Roland LAPC1 (recommended)
The DOSBox config settings allow Adlib/Soundblaster or Roland to be chosen.
The graphics option can then be chosen:
EGA 16 colours
VGA 16 colours
MCGA 256 colours (recommended)
MCGA is fully compatible with VGA, so the MCGA option is effectively VGA with 256 colours.
Once in game you will need to select your controller option, either keyboard (default), mouse or joystick.
Saved games have the file extension .cdr for Commander.
Background and documentation
When it comes to background information Ian Bell's Elite Home Page is second to none, well worth a read if you want to dig into the history and the various versions of Elite. Of particular note are:
The novella included with retail releases, 'The Dark Wheel'. Written by Rob Holdstock it provides background to the galaxies you'll be flying, fighting and trading within and a pretty good Elite story as well!
If you are using a joystick I would also recommend trying to find a pdf version of the PC retail manual as the joystick control options are covered.
Elite: The New Kind
Elite: The New Kind (also known as Elite: TNK or E:TNK) is the work of Christian Pinder. The original 8-bit BBC Model B version was reversed engineered and redeveloped into a Windows version.
What is remarkable is that the 'feel' of the original has been preserved in E:TNK coupled with graphics that are reminiscent of the Acorn Archimedes version (often considered the best version of Elite) has resulted in a modern day equivalent that plays like the classic Elite of previous years. Definitely one for the purist Elite connoisseur!
Not without its issues, it was unavailable when Christian was asked to remove the download for legal reasons, but following the 30th anniversary of Elite, E:TNK was granted a reprieve and has been available to download ever since!
Where to get it
The latest version is v1.2 available digitally as zip archive from the download section of 'The New Kind' website.
Installation and running
As a zip archive, installation only requires extracting the archive into a folder, that's it. There are installation and running instructions on the download page of the website.
There is no joystick or mouse option, it being a port of the original BBC Model B version, so it's old school keyboard flying in this version!
Even if you've never played the earlier 8- or 16-bit versions of Elite, I'd recommend E:TNK if only to get a taste of what the original was like.
Finally...
We've taken a brief look at Elite for the PC as it was then, with the PC port and a modern PC interpretation of the 8-bit classic Elite. In the next article we'll take a look at a 21st century Elite and why I think it's as revolutionary today, as the original was 40 years ago.
Comments