Apogee Betas

Discuss any beta and abandonware games.
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Awooo
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Apogee Betas

Post by Awooo »

Here are some Beta/early versions of old Apogee games I recently found.

Some info.

- Blake Stone appears to be a Final Beta, but I haven't compared it with the release version. You will need to use the included crack or FakeDate utility to run this.
- I haven't compared the Commander Keen Betas to the final release so I don't know the differences.
- Raptor Call of the Shadows was quite difficult to come by, but finally it's resurfaced!.
- The Lost Adventures Of Kroz is a Press Release Version and appears to work flawlessly under 32bit Windows.
- Xenophage Alien Bloodsport is a Public Beta but I've still included it.
- Wacky Wheels is called Wacky Kart in the Alpha as it is pre-Apogee I believe, however I haven't been able to get this to run in DosBox because it freezes.

Blake Stone Aliens Of Gold - Beta 0.63b
Commander Keen Invasion of the Vorticons - Beta 1990-11-20
Commander Keen Invasion of the Vorticons - Beta 1990-12-03
Raptor Call of the Shadows - Beta 1994-01-15
Realms of Chaos - Alpha 0.2
The Lost Adventures of Kroz - Press Version 1.1
Xenophage Alien Bloodsport - Beta 1995-12-29
Wacky Wheels - Alpha 1994-02-02

TomKTW
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Re: Apogee Betas

Post by TomKTW »

I guess that some of these are on FTP already available, except wacky wheels and some other too. I've tried CK Betas, but they aren't complete, as files were corrupted.

Awooo
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Re: Apogee Betas

Post by Awooo »

The CK Betas had some unrecoverable files from the original rip that's why there's some corrupt one's. I also have a Hocus Pocus Beta Version 11/5/94. If it's not on the FTP I can upload it.

TomKTW
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Re: Apogee Betas

Post by TomKTW »

Awooo wrote:The CK Betas had some unrecoverable files from the original rip that's why there's some corrupt one's.
Shame, we already have same thing though.
Awooo wrote:If it's not on the FTP I can upload it.
You can apply for advanced membership and upload following, I think:
The Lost Adventures of Kroz - Press Version 1.1
Wacky Wheels - Alpha 1994-02-02

NOTE: There seems to be conflict about Realms of Chaos - Alpha 0.2. There's already uploaded RoC Beta 1994-01-05. I'm not sure which version is now true, you don't have to upload yours anyway.

Awooo
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Re: Apogee Betas

Post by Awooo »

I've checked and RoC has the same date as the one already uploaded, I guess one of them is just named wrong. I'll upload the others to the FTP when I can.

TomKTW
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Re: Apogee Betas

Post by TomKTW »

But... you are not advanced member...?

Awooo
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Re: Apogee Betas

Post by Awooo »

I mean when I get access to the FTP I'll put up the files.

pyong
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Re: Apogee Betas

Post by pyong »

Commander Keen is awesome!
Thanks for the upload.

emoaddict15
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Re: Apogee Betas

Post by emoaddict15 »

wacky wheels refuses to load in virtualpc as well. It shows the intro screen about it being a pre-release but thats as far as it goes for me.

linuxlove
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Re: Apogee Betas

Post by linuxlove »

emoaddict15 wrote:wacky wheels refuses to load in virtualpc as well. It shows the intro screen about it being a pre-release but thats as far as it goes for me.
Maybe it needs real hardware. I'll try it out on my 486 tomorrow.
Goodbye.

MrFlibble
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Re: Apogee Betas

Post by MrFlibble »

emoaddict15 wrote:wacky wheels refuses to load in virtualpc as well. It shows the intro screen about it being a pre-release but thats as far as it goes for me.
Why not use DOSBox? There's even a build that lets you set an internal date, eliminating the need for programmes like FakeDate.

Gmod1001
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Re: Apogee Betas

Post by Gmod1001 »

MrFlibble wrote:
emoaddict15 wrote:wacky wheels refuses to load in virtualpc as well. It shows the intro screen about it being a pre-release but thats as far as it goes for me.
Why not use DOSBox? There's even a build that lets you set an internal date, eliminating the need for programmes like FakeDate.
" however I haven't been able to get this to run in DosBox because it freezes."

Some things just don't work in Dosbox, and besides, on Dos, its easy to change the date anyway. So running on real hardware gives a much more accurate experience and eliminates some issues certain programs have with emulating.

MrFlibble
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Re: Apogee Betas

Post by MrFlibble »

Gmod1001 wrote:" however I haven't been able to get this to run in DosBox because it freezes."

Some things just don't work in Dosbox, and besides, on Dos, its easy to change the date anyway. So running on real hardware gives a much more accurate experience and eliminates some issues certain programs have with emulating.
I never questioned the pros of running anything on a real DOS machine :) (Given that you have one, of course ;))

With DOSBox, one still can attempt to tweak the configuration to improve performance/compatibility to a certain extent, plus there may be SVN builds that happen to suit a particular piece of software better; some cases are also known when an earlier build of DOSBox would actually have improved performance with certain games.

lionel
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Re: Apogee Betas

Post by lionel »

I had the beta of Blake Stone Aliens Of Gold - Beta 0.63b maleureusemenil I sold thank you because I look to games.

MrFlibble
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Re: Apogee Betas

Post by MrFlibble »

Come to think of it, may Apogee betas have been leaked. Sometimes I think it could have been intentional, as a means of boosting interest to the upcoming game, but that's just wild guessing on my part ;)

On another note, are the differences between the betas and their respective final versions documented anywhere (preferably with screenshots)? It's hard to judge for oneself sometimes if one isn't too familiar with a game.

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