- Corrected joystick port mapping for players 2-4 in all games that used 3+ joystick adapters (multitap). Some were correct as-is, others needed adjustments. Games corrected are below:

Frogs

Hockey Mania

Shotgun

IK+

Ivan 'Ironman' Stewart's Super Off Road

Bugbomber*

SNAFU '64 Zatacka

*the port mapping for Bugbomber has been corrected but it needs to be noted that the joystick controls for ports 3 and 4 don't seem to entirely work - player 3 can't move up and down and player 4 can't use bombs. This has been true in every version of the game I've tested (and I've tested several). I've also tested the emulated Kingsoft adapter (which Bugbomber uses) in Joyride v1.6 and everything worked as expected there which makes me think that there is just something odd/wrong going on with this particular game.

- Slightly adjusted aspect ratio for Mega Bezel as it was just a little bit wider than it should have been previously

- Made some slight adjustments to brightness and color settings in 4k Mega Bezel presets

- Corrected all custom cropping configs so that they now maintain the correct aspect ratio when using the Mega Bezel shader (standard shaders were unaffected). There are 96 games where this is relevant.

- Changed Mega Thrusterball's auto-warp value to "Ignore Audio" to bypass load screen (which plays music)

- Corrected Barry McGuigan World Championship Boxing and Cloud Kingdoms to use Joystick Port 1

- Added missing notes overlay for Dominion

- Updates the Extras plugin so that it will work with newer versions of LB; only relevant if you A) enable updates in the included version of LB or B) import into a separate newer version of LB

I've actually been hard at work on the next version already rather than taking my typical couple-month break from it. That's probably still going to happen at some point but I figured if I can keep going and not feel burned out I should. I have to kindof shift gears mentally when I'm working on C64 Dreams versus anything else so I guess if I can still maintain focus I should. I'm actually really excited about some of the new things that'll be in the next version, but that can wait until next time ;)

I've got a quick hotfix for a couple issues. You can download it here (EDIT: removed as this is now outdated, you can find the newest hotfix here). This needs to be placed in the base folder next to Launchbox.exe and then extract/merge/overwrite. Make sure Launchbox isn't running when you do this.

This makes the following changes:

-Updates the Extras plugin so that it will work with newer versions of LB; only relevant if you A) enable updates in the included version of LB or B) import into a separate newer version of LB (which doesn't exist yet)

-Fixes input mapping for players 2-4 in Frogs, Hockey Mania, and Shotgun

Have fun!

Download C64 Dreams version 0.60:

Archive.org / DDL Archive.org / torrent Hotfix 6/5/23

Place this in the base folder (next to Launchbox.exe) and extract/merge/overwrite

Download local magazine module (optional but recommended!)

Archive.org / DDL

Game details spreadsheet

Version 0.60 of C64 Dreams is now available! It features 506 new games (6 duplicates were discovered in v0.45 - same game but with an alternate regional title - and have since been removed) bringing the game count to 3500. It was a long road to get to this point - multiple events IRL slowed down progress on this update but I'm thrilled to finally be able to share it with you all!

I've prepared a brief overview video of some of the new features in v0.60 so check it out!

New:

• Created new playlists for RPGs and Shmups to facilitate quickly browsing these specific genres; more such playlists will be created over time as this is a work in progress

• Added game-specific background music for as many games as possible in Launchbox - 2368 out of 3500 games now have music

• Added new Mega Bezel shader options which are highly recommended if your GPU and CPU can handle it; a variety of screens and backgrounds are available of my own creation as well as some from TheNamec; you can find a lot more info on TheNamec's creations here: https://retrogamingpacks.blogspot.com

Version Updates:

• Replaced 10th Frame with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced 221B Baker Street with d81 version by Stephan Scheuer

• Replaced 3D Time Trek with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced ACE 2088 with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Addams Family, The with MultiLoad64 version

• Replaced Advanced Dungeons & Dragons - Pool of Radiance with bugfixed Easyflash by Nostalgia

• Replaced Alternate Reality II - The Dungeon with Easyflash version by Fairlight + TREX

• Replaced Android Control with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Assault Machine with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Baal with +9 version by Transcom (GB64 version)

• Replaced Back to the Future Part III with MultiLoad64 version

• Replaced Bank Run with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Bard's Tale III, The with Easyflash version by Nostalgia

• Replaced Battle of the Planets with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Battlefield with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Bear Essentials, The with +3DP Special Edition by Onslaught

• Replaced Biff with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Big Mac with +6HDG version by Excess

• Replaced Black Magic with UCF + Wanderer version (GB64 version)

• Replaced Blade Runner with +7DGM version by Hokuto Force

• Replaced Boxer, The with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Brian Jacks Superstar Challenge with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Castle Blackstar with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Castle Dracula with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Causes of Chaos, The with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Challenge of the Gobots with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Chopper Command with +4HD version by Excess

• Replaced Chubby Gristle with +1DG version by Hokuto Force

• Replaced Cityattak! with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Codename-Mat II with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Congo Bongo (Disk Version) with +5DIR version by Nostalgia

• Replaced Cool World with MultiLoad64 version

• Replaced Crossroads II with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Dead or Alive with +6D version by Hokuto Force

• Replaced Death Wake with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Dropzone with +10DFGH Easyflash version by Knight Rider + Remember

• Replaced Dynamite Dux with +8DHI version by Hokuto Force

• Replaced Dynamoid with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Electro World with +4HDG version by Excess

• Replaced Elvira - The Arcade Game with MultiLoad64 version

• Replaced Endless with +3DG version by Cracker Force Nijmegen

• Replaced Escape New York with +3T version by Hokuto Force

• Replaced Espionage with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced FA Cup Football with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Faery Tale Adventure, The with +2D Easyflash version by CSixx

• Replaced Fallen Angel with +5DGHI version by Hokuto Force

• Replaced Fire Ant with +1MDGHS 101% version by Raiders of the Lost Empire

• Replaced Fix It Felix Jr. with +4HD version by Excess

• Replaced Flaschbier with +3DT version by Excess

• Replaced Force, The with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Freak Factory with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Frosty The Snowman 2 Turbo with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Galactic Games with MultiLoad64 version

• Replaced Galaga with V1.06 +1D version by Excess

• Replaced Garfield - Big Fat Hairy Deal with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Gateway to Apshai with +6DGHM version by Raiders of the Lost Empire

• Replaced Gothik with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Graeme Souness International Soccer with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Grand Larceny with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Greyfell with +7DW +Map version by Hokuto Force

• Replaced Hades Nebula with +3DMFGH version by Mayday!

• Replaced Halcyon with +7DGHF version by Alpha Flight + Hokuto Force

• Replaced Happy Hacker with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Harvey Headbanger with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Headache with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Helm, The with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Hibernated 1 - This Place is Death with Director's Cut version from author's page on itch

• Replaced House of Usher with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Hybrid with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Hyperbowl with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced I.C.U.P.S. with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Interview with Coderz + Gulas version (fix)

• Replaced IQ with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Jocky Wilson's Darts Compendium with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced John Lowe's Ultimate Darts with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Kane with +6HDG version by Excess

• Replaced Karateka with MultiLoad64 version

• Replaced Katabatia with V1.1 +4D version by Genesis Project

• Replaced Knightmare (Activision) with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Kokotoni Wilf with +3DG version by Alpha Flight + Hokotu Force

• Replaced Lady Pac with v1.8 +2 by Laxity

• Replaced Last Duel with +6DFGHI version by Hokuto Force

• Replaced Little Sara Sister Trilogy with v1.5 +7H version by Laxity

• Replaced Masters of the Universe in Terraquake with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Maxwell Manor - The Skull of Doom with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Mean Streets with +6DRW Easyflash version by Nostalgia

• Replaced Mind Control with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Moon Cresta with +6DHM version by Hokuto Force

• Replaced Mordon's Quest with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Neverending Story, The with MultiLoad64 version

• Replaced On-Field Football with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Pac-Man with +1DGHM version by Raiders of the Lost Empire

• Replaced Panther with +1DHMP version by Raider of the Lost Empire

• Replaced Phobia with +14DFH Tapecart version by Nostalgia

• Replaced Predator with MultiLoad64 version

• Replaced Punch & Judy with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Retrograde with +3 Easyflash version by WideGuy Industries

• Replaced Robocop 2 with +1 Easyflash version by Master

• Replaced Robocop with updated bugfix version of +8DFHIR version by Nostalgia

• Replaced Rootin' Tootin' with +4HGD version by Hokuto Force

• Replaced Scramble Infinity with V1.2 +7D version by Excess

• Replaced Silicon Warrior with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Slaine The Celtic Barbarian with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Summer Games II with MultiLoad64 version

• Replaced Summer Games with MultiLoad64 version

• Replaced Super Trolley with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced SWIV with +12DFHIR Easyflash version by Nostalgia

• Replaced Terramex with version by Fusion

• Replaced Treasure Island (Mastertronic) with OneLoad64 version

• Replaced Turbo Charge with +10DFHIR version by Nostalgia

• Replaced Underwurlde with +4DG version by Alpha Flight + Hokuto Force

• Replaced Up´n Down with +1DGH version by Raiders of the Lost Empire

• Replaced Vigilante with +6DHI version by Hokuto Force

• Replaced World Series Baseball with OneLoad64 version

Changes/Fixes:

• Added Microprose Soccer (Indoor) as additional app (right-click menu) for Microprose Soccer

• Replaced Kacper (Polish) with Kulfon in the Bad Demons Land (English)

• Update DB association for Finders Keepers to be the Mastertronic game, not Carousel (media was already correct)

• Adjusted cropping on Thruster Ball and Mega Thrusterball

• Added custom cropping for Cabal as the top and bottom were being cut off previously

• Added custom cropping for F1 GP Circuits and Infinity Worlds in the Space as the bottom was being cut off previously

• Corrected missing save disk for The Magic Candle (simultaneous cart and disk)

• Updated Retroarch to 1.11 (custom-compiled for cg support)

• Updated remap files to use LStick to Digital (Forced) because of changes to Retroarch since 1.9.4 which make the stick not work correctly without this setting

• Set new input_hotkey_block_delay value to 0 as using any higher value serves no purpose in this setting other than to potentially cause erroneous inputs (back/select does nothing on its own, by design)

• Corrected config editor notes to list hard sync as false by default

• Renamed "Mercenary" to "Mercenary (Novagen Software)" because Mercenary (Krysal) was added

• Renamed "Ninja" to "Ninja (Mastertronic)" because Ninja (SoftGold) and Ninja (FHD Software) were added

• Renamed "Zaxxon" to "Zaxxon (Synapse Software)" because Zaxxon (Sega) was added

• Renamed "Super Zaxxon" to "Super Zaxxon (HesWare)" because Super Zaxxon (Sega) was added

• Renamed "Black Knight" to "Black Knight (TimSoft)" because Black Knight (Interdisc) was added

• Renamed "Mini Golf" to "Mini Golf (Magic Bytes)" because Mini Golf (Capcom) was added

• Renamed "Double Dragon" to "Double Dragon (Melbourne House)" because Double Dragon (Ocean) was added

• Renamed "Exorcist" to "Exorcist (Magic Bytes)" because Exorcist (Mr. Micro) was added

• Renamed "Brian Jack's Superstar Challenge" to "Brian Jacks Superstar Challenge"

• Renamed "Elvira II - The Mistress Strikes Back" to "Elvira II"

• Renamed "Punch and Judy" to "Punch & Judy"

• Renamed "Knightmare" to "Knightmare (Activision)"

• Renamed "Frankenstein (Zepplin Games)" to "Frankenstein (Zeppelin Games)"

• Added a.k.a. title of "The Official Father Christmas Game" to Father Christmas

• Added a.k.a. title of "Tower Toppler" to Nebulus

• Added a.k.a. title of "Dream Team Challenge 3 on 3" to Dream Team Basketball

• Added a.k.a. title of "Final Assault" to Chamonix Challenge

• Added a.k.a. title of "Gear Works" to Clik Clak

• Added a.k.a. title of "Oil Imperium" to Black Gold

• Added a.k.a. title of "Mr. Angry" to Stringer

• Added a.k.a. title of "Armageddon Man" to Global Commander

• Added a.k.a. title of "Swash" to Snokie

• Updated HTML code for the codewheels for Hillsfar, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons - Curse of the Azure Bonds, Legacy of the Ancients, Chip's Challenge, Sorcerer and Rocket Ranger to improve accuracy / size calculations. Thanks @azazel_1125 !

• Removed Cosmic Relief as it was a duplicate of Terramex

• Removed Cavern Fighter as it was a duplicate of DNA Warrior

• Removed Kinetix as it was a dupliate of Dynamix

• Removed Head Start as it was a duplicate of Schizofrenia

• Removed I-Wizard as it was a duplicate of Spooks

• Removed Dive Bomber as it was a duplicate of Night Raider

• Added review for Chamonix Challenge (referred to as "Final Assault" in Zzap! 64)

• Corrected Crossbow, Deliverance - Stormlord II, Demon Attack, and Laser Squad to use joystick port 1

• Added alternate launch option for Portal (2018) for mouse control

• Fixed Planet X2 config installer so that it can now accept the user-supplied rom in either .d64 or .crt format

• Replaced Vandalism News 70 with REU version

• Removed auto-loading state from First Samurai - it would sometimes cause the game to not load correctly

• Removed one Zzap!64 review for Faery Tale Adventure, The that was included erroneously - it was for the Amiga version

• Added save disks to Dragonworld, Fahrenheit 451, Majik, The Necris-Dome, Nine Princes in Amber, Perry Mason, Pilgrim, Quest for the Holy Grail, and The Ring of Power

• Added custom cropping to Winter Camp as the bottom part of the screen was cut off previously

• Removed notes overlay for Karateka as it's no longer necessary for the new version of the game that's included

• Added Ozone II as additional app (right-click) option for Radius - it's a hack of that game

• Adjusted Questprobe titles so that they default to European version and then added US version as an additional app (right-click) menu option

• Added missing Zzap!64 reviews for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons - Secret of the Silver Blades, Gradius, and The Island of Dr. Destructo

• Added Elite: Flicker Free version as additional app (right-click) option for Elite

• Added missing notes overlay for Rescue on Fractalus! (SuperCPU version)

• Replaced Trashman with New Generation Software version (this was the intended version to begin with, but was incorrectly using the Creative Software version previously)

• Replaced Caveman with Arlasoft version (this was the intended version to begin with, but was incorrectly using the Compute! version previously)

• Renamed "International Tennis" to "International Tennis (Zeppelin Games)", corrected media/metadata to match, as well as removed the Zzap!64 review and manual as these were all for the Commodore version, not Zeppelin

• Added some missing images for SID tracks (only relevant in some image views)

• Added missing 4-player config settings for Hockey Mania and Zatacka

• Fixed a bug with Zatacka which caused the order of player inputs to be incorrect

• Set It's Magic II to use TDE + autowarp - some versions of this game apparently require it

• Added missing additional app (right-click) option for the Easyflash version of Sam's Journey

• Added external save disk to Briley Witch Chronicles as this allows the user to continue to keep their saves if the developer updates the game; added a note in the game's folder about rom naming in this case - you need to name the cartridge rom "Game.crt" so that both the game and disk can be attached at the same time - if you've already installed the game previously you will need to rename your rom from "Briley Witch Chronicles.crt" to "Game.crt"

• Fixed a broken reference in the .bat for Metal Dust

• Updated Star Paws to latest (bugfixed) OL64 version

• Corrected publisher name for The Isle of the Cursed Prophet and The Sky is Falling to be "Psytronik Software" instead of "Psytronic Software"

• Renamed "Lost Realms of Murkasada: Episode 1" in LB to "Lost Realms of Murkasada" and added both Episode 1 and Episode 2 as additional apps (right-click menu) - default launch is Episode 1; updated fanart box and 3D box title accordingly

• Made GPU Screenshots enabled by default

Misc:

• Remade every single 3D box in the collection - the rationale for this is that, originally, the 2000~ that I made were designed to mimic the same style as that used by a user on the Launchbox forums (marcoooo) who made a set of 3D boxes for C64 games, and his boxes had the logo for "The C64" (i.e. the plug and play device from a couple years ago) on them, which this project has no affiliation with (not that I have anything against them, I think it's a cool project) - this had always irritated my OCD, so I finally decided that I was going to remake them all from scratch without the logo, covering both the ones that I had created previously and all the ones from marcoooo's set that I was using; many cover improvements were made along the way so it was worth it in the end, but hoo boy was this a long and tedious undertaking

• Replaced hundreds of box covers with higher quality ones

• Added hundreds of new manuals, bringing the total to 1930, with 55% coverage - many of these were found thanks to the help of the amazing Smiling Spectre of the eXoDOS project, thanks again dude!

• Changed all games to use 6581 SID instead of 8580 - I started noticing a few too many instances where things just didn't sound right with 8580 + digiboost; the SID and demoscene stuff are still set to 8580 unless I'd specified otherwise previously

• Upscaled all bezels to 4k - there were some minor scaling artifacts when upscaling from the previously 1080p bezels to a higher resolution such as 1440p, but not when downscaling from a higher resolution

• Upscaled all notes overlays to 4k

• Upscaled all screenshots by 4x with nearest neighbor scaling to preserve quality - this increased the total filesize by less than 100MB but made them a lot easier to see in the process; some of the screenshots were relatively poor quality to begin with so in some cases this is just polishing a turd, but the vast majority of them are a nice improvement

• Color and contrast corrected hundreds of screenshots (still a work-in-progress)

• Added new column to game details spreadsheet to indicate source (CSDb, GB64, etc.) and added links to GB64 pages where relevant

• Replaced "Text Adventure" column on game details spreadsheet with "Genre" and added genre tags for text adventures, RPGs, and Shmups; others will be added over time as this is a work in progress

• Added additional games to Best of Vol. 7 and created new playlist for Best of Vol. 8

• L'Abbaye des Morts has gone free to download so the rom for it is now included!

• Linked hundreds of games to LBGDB entries that didn't exist when they were originally added

• Added missing release date years wherever possible (only 22 games in the collection are missing this info now - cases where the release year is unknown)

• Reset last played, play time, and play counts for all LB entries

• Set all games installed status to yes in Launchbox

• Added 4k variant of CRT-Easymode-Halation-C64 shader in Configurator

New custom note overlays:

• Amaurote Isometric

• Avoid the Noid

• Beyond the Forbidden Forest

• Delve - The Goblin's Grotto

• Demon Attack

• Duck Hunt

• Fire King

• First Samurai

• Intruder: The Space Quest

• Kobayashi Naru

• Kwah!

• Lady Tut

• Las Vegas Casino

• Lords

• Macadam Bumper

• Mafia

• Magic House

• Magic Rufus

• Magic Wood

• Magus, The

• Master Blaster (Zeppelin)

• Masters of Time

• Masters of Time

• Mechanicus

• Mercenaries

• Metalmaze

• Metron

• Mickey's Space Adventure

• Mig-29 Soviet Fighter

• Milk Race

• Minotrace

• Mission Omega

• Monstrum

• Moonsweeper (Imagic)

• Mopper

• MOT

• Mr. Cool

• Necris-Dome, The

• Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It

• Nu, pagadi!

• Nuclear Embargo

• P-47 Thunderbolt

• Pac-Land

• Pik n Mix

• Quark IX

• S.P.R.E.R.O.

• Shard of Inovar

• Venom

• West Bank

• Working Stone, The

• Zeppelin

New games:

Aardvark

ACE 2

Acid Rain

Advanced Tactical Fighter

After Burner (Activision)

After Burner (Mindscape)

Airwolf II

Amaurote

Amaurote Isometric

Ant Attack

Apeshit

Araknifoe

Arctic Shipwreck

Art from China

Artillery Duel Deluxe

Astro Pilot

Authentic Tetris, The

Aztec Tomb Adventure

Babylon's Ark

Bagman Comes Back

Bagman Strikes Back

Ball & Chain

Ball Crazy

Battle Kingdom*

Battlot

Bazair

Bburago Rally

Black Hawk

Black Holes

Black Knight (Interdisc)

Blipblaster

Bomberman C64

Bootskell

Breakers

Briley Witch Chronicles*

Brimstone - The Dream of Gawain

Buffalo Roundup

Bugs Inc.

Burnin' Rubber

Castle Shadowgate

Chuckie Egg II

Cisco Heat

Cosmic Combat DX

Cosmic Meals

Crime and Punishment

Crossfire (Atlantis Software)

Crystal Fever

Curse of Rabenstein, The - 40th Anniversary Edition

Curse, The

Cycles, The

Daley Thompson's Decathlon

Daley Thompson's Supertest

Dartz

Dedale

Deliverance (The Power House)

Delve - The Goblin's Grotto

Demon Star II

Demons of Topaz

Dicing With Death

Double Dragon (Ocean)

Droid Rumble

Duck Hunt

Escape MCP

Essex

Evil Dungeon

Exorcist (Mr. Micro)

Extricator

Eye of the Beholder

Final Programme, The

Flunky

Flying Saucers

Footballer of the Year

Footballer of the Year 2

Frogs and Flies 64

Fruit Machine Simulator

Fruit Machine Simulator 2

Galaxian DX

Gilligan's Gold

Gnome

Gold Quest 6

Gyro Run

Halley Project, The

Head Hunter

Heartland

Heavy Metal Paradroid

Hollywood Hijinx

Hunchback II - Quasimodo's Revenge

Infidel

James Fly

Jr. Pac-Man

Jungle Joe

Ket Trilogy, The

Key-Quest 64

Kick and Kill

Kill the Saucers

Killer

Killer Games

Killer Watt

Killing Machine

Killozapp

Kinetic Connection

King's Bounty

King's Ransom

Kings of the Beach

Kitron - The Duel

Klemens

Knight Trap

Knight's Journey

Knightmare! (Romik Software)

Knights & Demons

Knoorkie

Knötie in Cave

Kobayashi Naru

Koko

Kong Strikes Back!

Kopido

Kosmic Kanga

Kosmodrom

Krypton (Ace Software)

Kupiec

Kurdor

Kwah!

L.A. Police Department

Labiraton

Labyrinth Adventure

Lady Tut

Lancelot

Lancer Lords

Land of Neverwhere

Land of the Purple Sea

Lane Crazy

Lane Mastodon vs The Blubbermen

Las Vegas Casino

Laserwheel

Latent Fusion

Laurel & Hardy

Lava Flow

Lawn Tennis

Lazarian

Lazarus

Lazer Duel

Lazer Maze (Ranger Software)

Lazer Tag

Lazertech

Le Parc

Leap Frog

Leaping Larry (Krypton Force)

Leather Goddesses of Phobos

Legend of Kage

Legend of Leydon House, The

Legend of the Knucker-Hole, The

LeiLei Relay

Leisure Suit Leo II - The Secret of Maniac Island

Lemmings

Leonardo

Lester

Lethal Weapon

Leviathan

Life-Term

Lifeform

Light Cycles (Joe Young)

Lights On

Limes & Napoleon

Line of Fire

Lions of the Universe

Little Dragon, The

Little Green Man

Little Nippers Deluxe

Liverpool - The Computer Game

Living Daylights, The

Livingstone I Presume

Loco

Logic (CP Verlag) (1993)

Long Life

Long Riders, The

Loopy Landa

Loopz

Lords

Lords of Doom

Lorella

Lost Crown of Queen Anne, The

Lost Ninja, The

Love Tramp

Lucky Egg

LuftrauserZ

Luma

Lunar Jailbreak

Lunar Leeper

Lunari

Lykia - The Lost Island

Macadam Bumper

Mad Mix Game - The Pepsi Challenge

Mad Springs

Madrax

Mafia

Magess of Midgard

Magic Duel

Magic Events, The

Magic House

Magic Johnson's Basketball

Magic Madness

Magic Micro Mission

Magic of Endoria

Magic Rufus

Magic Stone

Magic Wood

Magical Formula

Magus, The

Majik

Mancave

Marble Springs

Margo

Mars Patrol

Marsh Fighter

Master Blaster (Zeppelin Games)

Master Ninja - Shadow Warrior of Death

Masters of Time

Match Buster

Match Day

Match Point

MatchSCII

Max Torque

Maxi Golf

Maximum Overdrive

Mayday Squad!

Maze Chase

Maze Chase Again

McDonaldland

Mean Car

Mean City

Mean Machine

Mechanicus

Mega Starforce - Return to the Great Star

Mega Starforce Remix

Melee

Melonmania

Mercenaries

Metal Warrior Ultra*

Metallic Legend

Metalmaze

Metron

Mickey Mouse

Mickey's Space Adventure

Micro Mouse

Microcosm

Microdot

MicroLeague Baseball

MicroLeague WWF Wrestling

Midnight Raider

Miecze Valdgira II

Mig-29 Soviet Fighter

Mike Mech

Mikie

Milk Race

Millie & Molly

Miner-1861

Mini Golf (Capcom)

Mini Putt

Mining

Minotrace

Misfortune

Missile Blasta Remastered

Missile Command (Interceptor Software)

Mission 1 - Project Volcano

Mission 2 - Project Gibraltar

Mission Jupiter (Codemasters)

Mission Jupiter (Softdisk)

Mission Monday

Mission Omega

Mission on Thunderhead

Mission X-2

Mobster

Mollusk Redux, The

Monday Night Football

Mondu's Fight Palace

Monster Buster

Monster Mash

Monsters!

Monstrum

Montrix

Monty Mole

Monty Python's Flying Circus

Moon Crises 1999

Moon Crystals

Moon Hop

Moon Patrol

Moon Stroll

Moon Survival

Moonbeamer

Moonracer

Moonraker (Loadstar)

Moons

Moonsweeper (Imagic)

Moonsweeper (Tronic Verlag)

Mopper

Moribund

MOT

Motocross (Codemasters)

Motor Massacre

Motorbike Madness

Motorhead

Mouse Trap

Movie Mayhem

Moving Target

Mr. Cool

Mr. Dig

Mr. Dynamite

Mr. Speedy and His Adventures

Mr. Wino

Ms. Pac-Man

MTV Remote Control

Murder in the Mediterranean

Murder in the Monastery

Murder in the Museum

Murder on the Zinderneuf

Murder Times Seven!

Murray Mouse - Supercop

Mutant Monty

Mysterious Mountain

Mystery (CP Verlag)

Mystery (Magna Media)

Mystery Master - Felony!

Mystery Master - Murder by the Dozen

Mystery of the Nile

Mystical Mission

Myth (Rainbird)

NaCl - Natriumchlorid

Najemnik

Nanako in Classic Japanese Monster Castle

Narnia

NATO Assault Course

Navigator

Navy SEAL

NBA

Necris-Dome, The

Necromancer's Realm, The

NEIL Android

Nemesis - Escape From Euboea

Neptune's Caverns

Neptune's Daughters

Nether

Nether Earth

Neuronics

Nibbler (Compute)

Nick Faldo's Championship Golf

Night Driver

Night Raid (TND)

Night Raider

Nightmare on Elm Street, A

Nightmare Planet

Nightwing

Ninja (SoftGold)

Ninja Massacre

Niobia

Nixy - The Glade Sprite

NO - Never Outside!

No Limit

Nodule

Nonsense

Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It

North Sea Inferno, The

Nosferatu the Vampyre

Nu, pagadi!

Nuclear Embargo

Obicontrol

Ocean Conqueror

Ocean Ranger

Odyssey (Little Red Hen Software)

Oh No!

Oilmania

Old Mine Hoist

Olin in Emerald - Kingdom of Myrrh

Omega Force One

Omicron

Omidar

Omni-Play Basketball

Omni-Play Horse Racing

On Ice

On the Farm

On the Farm II

On the Farm III

One on One

One-Day Cricket

Oo-Topos

Operation Anoria

Operation Firestorm

Operation Hanoi

Operation Metalstorm

Operation Neptune

Orb of Millean

Orbital Rescue

Orcapult

Ordeal

Oregon Trail

Ormus Saga II, The - Guild of Death

Ormus Saga III, The - The Final Chapter

Ormus Saga, The

Osmium

Ostfriesland Games

Otherworld

Outpost

Outrage*

Over the Top

Overkill - The Death of New Generation

Oxxonian

Oy Up!

P-47 Thunderbolt

Pac-Land

Pac-Mania

Pacos Pete - The High Plains Drifter

Paintress

Pale Moon

Pancake

Pancho

Paper Planes

Party Quest

Pegasis

PHM Pegasus

Pik n Mix

Plekthora

Pole Position II

Popeye (A400)

Power at Sea

Powerboat Simulator

President is Missing, The

Project Space Station

Puzzle Bobble

Pyjamarama!

Quark IX

Questprobe II - Spider-Man

Quicksand

Rags to Riches

Rainbow Chaser

Rambler

Ray Fish DX

Re-Bounder

Revelation

River Raid 2

Roadwar 2000

Robot Jet Action

RodMan Jr.

Rowman

Run Santa Run!

Runn'n'Gunn

S.P.R.E.R.O.

Santa's Workout

Scout the Stray

Shard of Inovar

Sigma 7

Silk Dust

Skate Rock

Slash with Ash

Snoopy

Snow Strike

Snowball Sunday

Soul Force*

Space Harrier II

Space Racer

Special Agent

Spirit of the Stones

Star Eggs

Star Fleet I - The War Begins!

Star Wars - The Empire Strikes Back

Starglider

Stella Gets a Lobotomy

Stellar 7

Straight Up

Strike Fleet

Strike Team

Sub Chase 64

Subway Vigilante

Sum Ducks

Supa-Catcha-Troopa!

Super Pac-Man

Super Zaxxon (Sega)

Survivors, The

Swiss Family Robinson

T-Bird

Tales of the Arabian Nights

Tenebra

Tenebra 2

They Stole a Million

Thunderground

Tooth Invaders

Track & Field

Traffic

Trailblazer

Treasure Island (Windham Classics)

Tristan and Isolde

Turrican III

Tutankham

Tutankham Returns

Ugh!

Uhg

Valhalla

Venom

Vincent

War in Middle Earth

Wizard of Oz, The

Working Stone, The

Yie Ar Kung-Fu II

Zaxxon (Sega)

Zeppelin

Zero Gravity

Zone Z

Zytron Mega Blast

*these games are available commercially so the roms are not supplied

New Magazines:

Commodore Format 55-61 (complete)

Your 64 1-14 (complete)

Commodore Power-Play 1-23 (complete)

New Demos:

Amanita by Samar Productions

Christmas Megademo by Atlantis+Bonzai+Genesis Project+Lethargy+Offence

Cocktail To Go by Bonzai

E2IRA by Arise

F20 by Lethargy

I Adore My C64 by Lethargy

Lifecycle by Offence + Prosonix

The World Is Not Enough - We Need More Scrollers by Bonzai

Thirsty by Atlantis

Fjortis by Fatzone

New SID:

Ash & Dave - Dual Cassette II (SID Collection)

Chuinho - Future Unsure (Digi Drama)

Chuinho & Shogoon - N.O.I.R.

Dave - Journey Through the Prism

F7sus4 - Timewarp Spheres

Fegolhuzz - Bruce Printscreen

Flex - Pilgrimage to Paradise

Flotsam - City of Love (Extended Edition)

Flotsam - Daiquiri Island Song

Flotsam - Evoluer

Flotsam - Hues

Flotsam - Luma

Flotsam - Monumenta Absentiae

Flotsam - Raster Heroes

Hate Bush - Do Drum Machines Dream?

Hermit+Shogoon+Nordischsound - Diamond City Radio (SID Collection)

Jammer - Brooke Lynne

Jammer - Constellations

Jammer - Latest Revision

Jammer - Miami Shoreline

Jammer - Persona Non Grata

Juzdie - Step Acide

Lft - Sommargubbe

Linus - MultiStyleHills, 90210

Linus - Simon & Motherfunkel

LukHash - Cyberchip Musicdisk (SID Collection)

MCH - Bionic Storm III

Mibri - Lydia on Speed Dial

Mutetus - Gunnar Ö

Mutetus - Tooting My Own Horn

Nordischsound - Warriors of the World

psych858o - Cyberpsych

psych858o - kHz

Shogoon - CheeZZy Top

Shogoon - Hedgehog the Hero

Shogoon - No More Alibis

Shogoon - Something to Sing

Stinsen - Hardwood

theK - (The Next) Awakening

Vincenzo - Destination: Funktown

I also want to once again thank all the people that helped contribute to this update in various ways. Thanks again, I appreciate the support!

sonninnos for continually working with me and improving the VICE Retroarch core, being a sounding board for ideas, and helping me work through unusual issues Smiling Spectre for helping me track down a ton of obscure manuals this go round StatMat for his awesome OneLoad64 project which you can check out here - this is a great project and you'll likely notice that many of the updated games came from this collection The folks at The Museum of Computer Adventure Game History and the Ultimate Tape Archive Everyone who contributes time and energy on improving the LBGDB with media and metadata!

Everyone who has requested specific games to be added, helped with testing, or any other number of ways large or small. Thank you all!

Artillery Double Pack (Blast Doors and WarHeads) is now available.

Controller support, shader support, Reshade support, and custom bezel are included.

Virtual Nightclub is now available.

Controller support, shader support, Reshade support, custom bezel, and a brand new play guide created by user Elphive are included.

Hey guys! It's been a while. As is usually the case following a C64 Dreams release, I have to take a certain period of time off of project work to sortof reset and purge so that I can come back to it fresh. I did that this time but afterwards there was the additional complication of changing jobs IRL. It actually took several months for me to get to a point where I felt comfortable enough with the workload and what I was doing to have sufficient free time to work on anything. That said, I have made significant progress on the next version of C64 Dreams. But as usual I want to get some standalone games out before the next version is released so this is the first of those.

Virtual Nightclub is a really weird game that was brought to my attention by user Elphive, who actually went as far as to create a guide for the game which is included. It also provides a history for the production which is both informative and interesting. I would highly recommend checking it out. Thanks Elphive!

Anyway, I have several more upcoming releases planned, so I hope to bring you guys more stuff soon. Have fun!

I hope this will help spread awareness about the project and function as a usage guide at the same time. It's linked in the description of the video as well, but in case you want to see the script/written guide you can find that here too. One last thing of note is that the collection has now been uploaded to Archive.org as well, so links have been added to the main v0.45 release post for that.

Anyway, enjoy! Happy gaming!

1/31 Hotfix: https://www.mediafire.com/file/t63puiwb1qrbpia/1-31-22_Hotfix.7z/file

This hotfix makes the following changes/fixes:

• Fixed missing custom controller mappings for Aquaplane and Spellbound Dizzy

• Improved the "Color Corrections Only" shader

• Improved manuals for 10th Frame and Fire King

• Added a new bezel option for 16:10 aspect ratio monitors

• Added a new "Icons Only" bezel for both 16:9 and 16:10 which only displays the note/keyboard icons where relevant but is otherwise transparent/blank

Zzap Review Fixer: https://www.mediafire.com/file/18je6xxcps9gu0k/Review_Fixer.7z/file

Thanks to a couple users on my Discord I realized there was a problem with the code for the local Zzap reviews such that, if you didn't have AHK installed already, they weren't working correctly (and it would prompt you to choose a program to use with an .ahk file). All you need to do is place the files in that archive in the C64 Dreams\C64 Dreams\Games folder and then start Review Fixer.bat and it'll take care of the rest. You can delete them afterwards. Sorry about that y'all. I guess either most people already have AHK installed or they haven't messed with the local magazines.

I'm currently working on a video that's designed to be a project overview, feature demonstration, tutorial, etc. I'm pretty excited about this as it's something I've wanted to do for a long time. It's almost finished at this point, I'll make another post about that once it's complete. Hopefully that'll be in the next couple days. Once that's done, I'll be uploading the collection to Archive.org - I wanted to have the video ready to go as I'll be posting about the project a few places that I haven't previously like the Lemon64 forums after it's up on Archive; and it'll help inform people what it's all about.

More to come!

Download C64 Dreams version 0.45:

Archive.org / DDL Archive.org / torrent

Download local magazine module (optional but recommended!)

Archive.org / DDL

Game details spreadsheet

Version 0.45 of C64 Dreams is now available! It features 500 new games and a ton of improvements and new features! Just like last time, this update ended up being a significantly larger undertaking than I realized when I started. It's the result of 9+ months and 1000+ hours of work. The primary new feature this go round is the integration of Zzap!64 reviews so that now, any games that were reviewed in Zzap can be right-clicked in the library and you can start a shortcut to jump directly to the Zzap review for that game, either on the web or in the optional (but recommended!) local copy of the magazine (the local magazines now have a randomized playlist of SID tracks that play while reading as well). I think this provides an interesting context to these games and serves as something of a time capsule. I really hope this is something that will be of interest to people because it entailed a massive amount of work to get functioning the way I wanted. First I had to go through and create my own index of what games were reviewed on which pages in what issues, then I had to take that information and turn into something that I could actually use. The index itself ended up being 2500+ lines long... Despite there only being 90 issues of Zzap, in some cases they would review 30+ games in a single issue and sometimes they would review the same game multiple times months or even years apart (usually for a budget re-release but sometimes just seemingly for the hell of it) which, of course, I've included as well. The funny thing is, having spent so much time getting intimately acquainted with the magazine during this process, it made me realize just how much and how frequently I find myself disagreeing with their reviews haha. I do find them very entertaining regardless and consider them absolutely worth including and preserving, but I frequently found myself at odds with the opinions on display - they were regularly very harsh on games that I would consider to be some of my favorites (a 58% for Master of the Lamps?) and on many occasions strangely positive about games that have, in my estimation, very few redeeming qualities (a 92% for Hercules (CRL) are you actually insane?). They clearly were having a ton of fun though which makes them an enjoyable read just the same, and I find their takes consistently interesting whether I agree with them or not.

Because of the altered focus on Zzap!64 this time, unlike past updates where I continued my ongoing mission to parse through all of GB64, this go round I made a concerted effort to include games that were reviewed in Zzap. This has meant that there are a fair few instances of new games added that I might not have gravitated to otherwise, but I think they're worth including even if they're not to my personal taste - I'm not really a fan of most strategy or flight sim games on the C64 but I know there are people out there who are, and even among those there were some that I found pleasantly surprising like Solo Flight. That said, there's a good mix of new stuff here that should provide something for everyone. Something that was particularly interesting to me was a game called Deus Ex Machina which is, to my knowledge, one of the earliest is not the first cases of a game-as-art title. It was designed to be played in tandem/sync with an audio cassette that narrated the story of what was happening on screen. It's some seriously artsy fartsy weido stuff... which is right up my alley. It took a bit but I got the audio recording working quite nicely with the game, which starts automatically, can be paused, resumed, and sides changed while in-game via keyboard keys (consult the notes overlay in game via Numpad Minus + Numpad Plus or Back + Menu on a controller for details).

Since the-eye.eu is still in limbo, this is going to be uploaded to Mediafire for the initial release and I'm going to give it a week so that if there are any last-minute issues that people encounter I can make any needed adjustments before uploading it to Archive.org. I'm not anticipating any based on earlier testing that was done but it's a bigger to-do to make changes on Archive than it is to a standard file locker so I just want to include that slight buffer. If anyone has any issues, please let me know! So, without further ado, let's get to it!

New:

• Added Zzap! 64 review integration so that you can now right-click on a game and, if it has a review, you can jump right to the review, either via web or local copy (if you have the magazine module installed)

• Added all Zzap! 64 reviewed games to their own playlist in Launchbox so that you can quickly access all relevant games at once

• Added a randomized playlist of SID music that plays whenever you start magazines or specific Zzap! 64 reviews - this can be disabled via the Configurator.exe if so desired; please note that this only works for the local versions of the magazines currently; while playing, you can display the music player via Numpad 8, hide it via Numpad 2, pause/resume via Numpad 5, change to the next track via Numpad 6, and change to the previous track via Numpad 4; pressing Escape will close both the reader and the music player

• Added optional lightpen (mouse) launch option for Shadowfire (highly recommended!)

• Added optional mouse control launch option for Operation Wolf (highly recommended!)

• Added additional app (accessible via the right-click menu in Launchbox) for an audio recording of the background story of Doomdark's Revenge

• Added interactive codewheels for The Bard's Tale III, Chip's Challenge, Curse of the Azure Bonds, Demon Stalkers, Hillsfar, Legacy of the Ancients, Mars Saga, Neuromancer, Pool of Radiance, Rocket Ranger, and Sorcerer (Infocom); these are accessible via the right-click menu for each game or by starting the [Game Name] Codewheel.vbs files in the game folders

Version Updates:

• 3-D Skramble - replaced with OneLoad version

• 4th & Inches - replaced with OneLoad version

• 8Bit-Slicks - replaced with 1/26/21 version by Triad

• A.M.C. - Astro Marine Corps - replaced with +4M version by Commo Bam

• Actionauts - replaced with OneLoad version

• Advanced Dungeons & Dragons - Champions of Krynn - replaced with Easyflash version by Nostalgia

• Advanced Dungeons & Dragons - Curse of the Azure Bonds - replaced with Easyflash version by Nostalgia

• Advanced Dungeons & Dragons - Death Knights of Krynn - replaced with Easyflash version by Nostalgia

• Advanced Dungeons & Dragons - Pool of Radiance - replaced with Easyflash version by Nostalgia

• Adventures of Basildon Bond, The - replaced with OneLoad version

• Alien (CP Verlag) - replaced with +3 version by Dynamix

• Alien Kill - replaced with Bros version

• Alien Kill 2 - replaced with Bros version

• Alternate Reality II - The Dungeon - replaced with +MDF version by Fairlight

• Aqua Racer - replaced with OneLoad version

• Arac - replaced with OneLoad version

• Arachnophobia - replaced with +6DFIR version by Nostalgia

• Archon II - replaced with OneLoad version

• Atomic Robo Kid - replaced with +12DH version by Hokuto Force

• Axis Assassin - replaced with OneLoad version

• Badlands - replaced with OneLoad version

• Bagitman - replaced with +2 version by Atheist

• Ball Game, The - replaced with OneLoad version

• Barbarian - The Ultimate Warrior - replaced with +2D version by Remember

• Batalyx - replaced with OneLoad version

• Batman - replaced with +6FDHRI Easyflash version by Nostalgia

• Beer Belly Burt's Brew Biz - replaced with OneLoad version

• Big Deal, The - replaced with OneLoad version

• Bigtop Barney - replaced with OneLoad version

• Bionic Commando - replaced with +7DFHIR version by Nostalgia

• Blade Runner - replaced with OneLoad version

• Blue Max - replaced with OneLoad version

• Blue Max 2001 - replaced with OneLoad version

• Blue Thunder - replaced with OneLoad version

• Boulder Dash - replaced with OneLoad version

• Boulder Dash III - replaced with OneLoad version

• Buck Rogers - Countdown to Doomsday - replaced with Easyflash version by Nostalgia

• Bulldog - replaced with OneLoad version

• Bump Set Spike - replaced with OneLoad version

• Burger Time - replaced with OneLoad version

• Captive, The - replaced with OneLoad version

• Castle (Protocol Productions) - replaced with +4DG version by Excess

• Castle Master - replaced with OneLoad version

• Castle Master II - The Crypt - replaced with OneLoad version

• Castlevania - replaced with +8DIR version by Nostalgia

• Caveman - replaced with +3DG version by Army of Darkness

• Chameleon - replaced with OneLoad version

• Championship Jet Ski Simulator - replaced with OneLoad version

• Championship Sprint - replaced with OneLoad version

• Chimera - replaced with OneLoad version

• Choplifter - replaced with OneLoad version; added alternative jewel version by ROLE

• Citadel of Corruption - replaced with GB64 version

• Clean Up Time - replaced with OneLoad version

• Co & Co - replaced with OneLoad version

• CORE - replaced with OneLoad version

• Countdown to Meltdown - replaced with OneLoad version

• Cybernoid II - The Revenge - replaced with +6 version by Scouse Cracking Group

• Dam Busters, The - replaced with OneLoad version

• Dan Dare - Pilot of the Future - replaced with OneLoad version

• Decathlon - replaced with OneLoad version

• Dig Dug - added alterative jewel version by ROLE

• Doctor Who and the Mines of Terror - replaced with OneLoad version

• Donald Duck's Playground - replaced with OneLoad version

• Doriath - replaced with OneLoad version

• Drak - replaced with OneLoad version

• Duel, The - replaced with OneLoad version

• Elektraglide - replaced with OneLoad version

• Ellak's Tomb - replaced with OneLoad version

• Endless - replaced with OneLoad version

• Enigma Force - replaced with OneLoad version

• Evil Crown - replaced with GB64 version

• Fast Break - replaced with OneLoad version

• Fire Track - replaced with OneLoad version

• Flash Gordon - replaced with +8DIR version by Nostalgia

• Floyd of the Jungle - replaced with OneLoad version

• Floyd the Droid - replaced with OneLoad version

• Flying Shark - replaced with Remember version

• Football Manager - replaced with OneLoad version

• Forbidden Fruit - replaced with OneLoad version

• Fury, The - replaced with OneLoad version

• Game Over - replaced with OneLoad version

• Garrison - replaced with +11DFIJ version by Nostalgia

• Hacker - replaced with OneLoad version

• Hacker II - replaced with OneLoad version

• Harvey Smith Showjumper - replaced with OneLoad version

• Herobotix - replaced with OneLoad version

• How to be a Complete Bastard - replaced with OneLoad version

• Howard the Duck - replaced with +8DIR version by Nostalgia

• Humanoids - replaced with OneLoad version

• Hypa-Ball - replaced with OneLoad version

• Ice Palace (K-tel) - replaced with OneLoad version

• Imagination - replaced with GB64 version

• Infection - replaced with OneLoad version

• International 3D Tennis - replaced with OneLoad version

• International Basketball - replaced with OneLoad version

• International Tennis - replaced with OneLoad version

• It's a Knockout - replaced with OneLoad version

• It's Only Rock n' Roll - replaced with OneLoad version

• Jewels of Babylon - replaced with OneLoad version

• Jinks - replaced with OneLoad version

• Jocky Wilson's Darts Challenge - replaced with OneLoad version

• Jonah Barrington's Squash - replaced with OneLoad version

• Katakis - replaced with +5HDF Easyflash version by Hokuto Force

• Kayleth - replaced with OneLoad version

• Kentilla - replaced with OneLoad version

• Kikstart II - replaced with OneLoad version

• Kromazone - replaced with OneLoad version

• Main Frame - replaced with OneLoad version

• Metagalactic Llamas - Battle at the Edge of Time - replaced with OneLoad version

• Microprose Soccer - replaced with OneLoad version

• Midnight Resistance - replaced with +8DFHR version by Nostalgia

• Mig Alley Ace - replaced with OneLoad version

• Movie Monster Game, The - replaced with +2DIR version by Nostalgia

• Navy Moves - replaced with +7DFHIRW version by Nostalgia

• Nexus - replaced with OneLoad version

• Ole! - replaced with OneLoad version

• Operation Wolf - replaced with +6DFHR version by Nostalgia

• Poster Paster - replaced with +5DGH version by Raiders of the Lost Empire

• Prince Clumsy - replaced with +9DH version by Nostalgia

• Psi Warrior - replaced with OneLoad version

• Quake Minus One - replaced with OneLoad version

• Rally Speedway - replaced with OneLoad version

• Return of the Mutant Camels - replaced with OneLoad version

• Robocop - replaced with +8DFHIR Easyflash version by Nostalgia

• Rocket Roger - replaced with +5HDG version by Threshold

• Scumball - replaced with OneLoad version

• Seaside Special - replaced with OneLoad version

• Sentinel - replaced with OneLoad version

• Shadow Warriors - replaced with +9DF version by Nostalgia

• Shamus - replaced with +3DH version by Wanderer

• Shamus Case II - replaced with +3D version by Wanderer

• Sooper Froot - replaced with OneLoad version

• Speedball - replaced with OneLoad version

• Star Raiders II - replaced with OneLoad version

• Survivor - replaced with +3H version by Wanderer

• Tetris (Andromeda Software) - replaced with OneLoad version

• Time Tunnel - replaced with OneLoad version

• Velocipede II - replaced with OneLoad version

Changes/Fixes:

• Updated to Retroarch 1.9.4 (custom compiled by sonninnos so that cg support is maintained/included!); I've taught myself how to do this as well so I'll be supplying my own custom builds going forward, but seeing as this is what I've been testing with for nearly a year now this is what's included with v0.45 - new versions require additional testing to confirm that everything is still working as it should so I'll be updating to the latest once work on the next update begins - with that said, I've included a custom compiled copy of the current latest version for use if you so choose (in the C64 Dreams\C64 Dreams\Retroarch\!Retroarch Versions\ folder), just be aware that that's not what was used for testing so there may be some unforseen issues / use at your own risk

• Disabled core info caching in Retroarch as, in 1.9.4 or perhaps an earlier version, it incorrectly saves static path info which can cause issues when attempting to load content through the RA UI (not really a big deal for the collection since everything is handled externally via command-line but it's still an issue) - based on some brief testing this is no longer a problem in 1.9.13 so it could be re-enabled if you update (it's not necessary though)

• Renamed "Lemans" to "Le Mans"

• Renamed "But Out 2019" to "BugOut 2019"

• Renamed "Canals of Mars" to "Canals of Mars, The"

• Renamed "Evil Wizard 2" to "Evil Wizard II"

• Renamed "Fire!" to "Fire! (Arlasoft)"

• Renamed "Ghost Town" to "GhostTown"

• Renamed "Ghost Town 64" to "Ghost Town"

• Renamed "Popeye" to "Popeye (Parker Brothers)" because "Popeye (Piranha)" was added

• Renamed "Thunderbirds" to "Thunderbirds (Firebird)" because "Thunderbirds (Grandslam)" was added

• Corrected media and metadata for Battle Command which was supposed to be for the 1991 game by Ocean not the 1985 game by Applied Computer Consultants

• Replaced "Bob Moran - Rittertum" (German release) with "Lee Enfield - Tournament of Death"

• Replaced "Captain Zzap" (US release) with "Flash Gordon" (European release)

• Replaced "Espodill" (EBES re-release) with "Celluloid" (original CP Verlag release)

• Added custom cropping to Pang as the (gigantic) timer at the top of the screen was cropped out previously

• Adjusted the cropping on Jars' Revenge as some of the top and bottom of the screen were cropped previously - re-enabled bezel because the resultant image now fits within it again

• Added separate launcher (accessible through the right-click menu) for Part 2 of Bugsy

• Added separate launcher (accessible through the right-click menu) for side 2 (Docks / Hard) of Championship Jet Ski Simulator

• Added separate save disks for Castle of Terror, Jahangir Khan Squash, and Imagination

• Converted Adventureland and Imagination from .t64 (from GB64) to .d64 as the save function wasn't functioning in the original format

• Changed a few SID tracks to use 6581 instead of 8580 based on the file instructions

• Slight brightness boost to CRT-Easymode-Halation-C64 (again) to correct very dark colors being completely black (the walls in Asylum being an example)

• Fixed what essentially amounted to a memory leak with custom music playlists where each music track's .exe would remain open even after switching to the next track and would stay open until Retroarch was closed

• Unresponsiveness with fire button presses in The Detective Game have been fixed thanks to core updates

• Remade all 200+ auto-loading savestates because the core change from Vice 3.3 to Vice 3.5 broke all of them... oof I also deleted about 30 of them in the process that no longer seemed necessary with auto-warp enabled

• Corrected Lily Lander, Magnetoball, Mig Alley Ace, and Rally Speedway to use joystick port 1

• Replaced Mars Saga Cluebook with improved scan courtesy of user Manuches (thanks again!)

• Changed keyboard keys for zooming manuals in and out to use "I" and "O" instead of "+" and "-" in order to accommodate international keyboards (thanks bbneo!)

• Changed controller inputs for zooming manuals in and out to be handled via Antimicro instead of AHK as the latter has inconsistent/broken joystick input handling, especially in Windows 10 post-Anniversary Update

• Slightly increased deadzone for right-stick to arrow key inputs in order to avoid erroneous inputs when moving the stick the maximum distance from the center and then quickly releasing (flicking)

• Improved the startup smoothness when manuals are used and there's now a brief fade in animation on initial boot (may or may not be visible depending on your monitor settings) and the game audio now fades in when switching back to it rather than starting abruptly

• Updated Launchbox to v12.1

Misc:

• Parsed through all new media (4000+ files!) in Ultimate Tape Archive v3.0 for missing or upgradable manuals and transformed into usable/conducive format for viewing, resulting in hundreds of new or upgraded manuals and covers!

• Created hundreds of new and remade hundreds of old 3D boxes

• Created my own template for fanart boxes where no official box art exists, in the same style as Lassiveran's fanart boxes, and created 400+ fanart boxes that previously were just using screenshots - there are now boxes and 3D boxes for every single game in the collection

• Renamed all .cbr files to .cbz and updated all references accordingly - as Boris Schneider-Johne rightly pointed out on my discord, they weren't .cbrs to begin with, they were zipped and then just renamed to .cbr afterwards which in reality would make them .cbz

• Did a lot of additional metadata and media cleanup and linked 37 games that previously didn't have LBGDB entries (thanks as always to all the fine folks that work on the DB!)

• Color and contrast corrected hundreds of screenshots that had the red tint issue or low contrast present in many screenshots from GB64; and deleted a few duplicate or erroneous screenshots in the process - work is still ongoing for this

• Renamed all AD&D games to "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons - [Title]" rather than just the game title for consistency (backend)

• Added a Readme to the Magazines\!XMLs folder to explain how to swap the default launch behavior for Magazines between web and local

• Upscaled all controls overlays to 1440p and converted from png to high quality jpg - the end result being higher quality images with a smaller filesize footprint

• Created a universal launcher .bat that no longer requires game-specific references (with the exception of custom music where used and alternate launchers for docs/intros/etc.); this helps simplify and streamline things going forward; not all existing launchers (Game.bat) have been updated to the new format but I'll be gradually transitioning them all over to it over time - there's no negative impact for existing launchers, it's just a backend thing

• Updated automators to use new universal launcher format

• Added additional notes to config editor

• Added sound effects for opening and closing manuals

• Added Trizbort to the Utilities folder - this is a neat little mapper for text adventures which you may find useful, it lets you quickly create your own maps of areas, naming them, linking them together, etc.; handy if you find yourself getting lost in a sprawling text adventure

• Removed all emulator entries from Launchbox as none of them are used - everything is handled externally

• Disabled check for update in Launchbox

• Created an icon for C64 Dreams

New custom note overlays:

• 3-D Pinball - Pinball Power

• Advanced Dungeons & Dragons - Pool of Radiance

• Blood Brothers

• Castle Dracula

• Caves of Oberon, The

• Celluloid

• Countdown to Meltdown

• Deus Ex Machina

• Eddie Kidd Jump Challenge

• Genius 3

• Great American Cross-Country Road Race, The

• HES Games

• International Basketball

• Jet Strike Mission

• Jewels of Babylon

• Kentilla

• Lost Tomb

• Magician's Ball, The

• Mask II

• Midsummer Olympics

• Might and Magic - Secret of the Inner Sanctum

• Might and Magic II - Gates to Another World

• Mindwheel

• Moonfall

• Mountain King

• NOMAD

• Operation Wolf (mouse)

• Polar Pierre

• Powerboat USA - Offshore Superboat Racing

• Powerplay - The Game of the Gods

• PP Hammer

• Rad Ramp Racer

• Rebel Planet

• Return of the Space Warriors

• Revs

• Rocket Ball

• Samurai Trilogy

• Scalextric

• SDI - Strategic Defence Initiative

• Shades

• Shark

• Shogun

• Silent Shadow

• Soccer Pinball

• Souls of Darkon

• Super Bowl XX

• Superkid in Space

• Tir Na Nog

• Tour de France

• Valkyrie 17

• Witch's Cauldron, The

• World Series Baseball

• Xybots

• Zone Ranger

New games:

4x4 Off-Road Racing 747 Flight Simulator ACE ACE 2088 Acro Jet Advanced Dungeons & Dragons - Secret of the Silver Blades Adventures of Jim Slim in Dragonland, The Airwolf Alice in Wonderland Almazz Altered Beast Alternative World Games Amulet, The Antics APB - All Points Bulletin Arcticfox Ark Pandora Astonishing Adventures of Mr. Weems and the She Vampires, The Atomino Ball Blasta Ballyhoo Barbarian Battle for Midway Battle for Normandy Battle of Britain Battletech - The Crescent Hawk's Inception Beatle Quest Betrayal Better Dead Than Alien! Blizzard! Part I - Commando Libya Blood Brothers Blue Baron Bomb Fusion Bombo Booty BoxyMoxy Brainstorm Brian Bloodaxe Brian Jack's Superstar Challenge Bristles Bulge, The Captain Kidd Castle Blackstar Castle Dracula Caverns of Eriban, The Caves of Oberon, The Chickin Chase Chopper Circus Circus Codename-Mat II Collapse Colossal Cave Adventure Colossus Chess 4 Combat Leader Comet Game, The Cops 'N' Robbers Count Duckula II Crazy Comets Crillion Crossroads II Crusade in Europe Crystal Frog Cylu Dark Sky Over Paradise, A Deactivators Death Wake Decision in the Desert Deus Ex Machina Dicky's Diamonds Dragon Wars Droids Dynamite Dan Eagles Earl the Tomb Robber Eddie Kid Jump Challenge Emerald Isle Empire Strikes Back, The Estra Exploding Fist+ FA Cup Football Faerie Falklands 82 Field of Fire Fighter Pilot Fire One Five A-Side Fix It Felix Jr. Flight Path 737 Flight Simulator II Flyer Fox Force, The Formula 1 Simulator Frogger Galaga Gates of the Ancient GBA Championship Basketball - Two-on-Two Genius 3 Geoff Capes' Strongman Challenge Germany 1985 Gettysburg - The Turning Point Ghosts'n Goblins Arcade Ghouls Glider Pilot Graham Gooch's Test Cricket Grand Larceny Granny's Cleaning Day Graviton Great American Cross-Country Road Race, The Gyroscope HardBall! Head Coach Helter Skelter Herbert's Dummy Run Hercules HES Games Hi Bouncer Ian Botham's Test Match Ice Station Zero Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis Intensity Isle of the Cursed Prophet* Iwo Jima Jet Strike Mission Johnny Reb II Jump Jet Kayak Keys to Maramon, The Keystone Kapers Klax Knight Games II Knight Orc Knight Rider Knight Tyme Knights of the Desert Knockout Kokotoni Wilf Kong (Sputnik World) Lady Pac Lands of Havoc, The Lapis Philosophorum - The Philosopher's Stone Las Vegas Video Poker Last Amazon Trilogy, The Last Duel Legions of Death Lifeforce Little Puff in Dragonland Live and Let Die Lone Wolf - The Mirror of Death Lord of the Rings Lost City, The Lost Realms of Murkasada Lost Tomb Lucifer's Realm MACH - Maneuverable Armed Computer Humans Magician's Ball, The Magnetron Mandragore Mask Mask II Masters of the Universe - The Movie Match Day II Max Headroom Maze Mania Meganova - The Weapon Menace Mercenary - The Second City Merlin Metabolis Metropolis (The Power House) Metropolis (Topo Soft) Miami Dice Midsummer Olympics Might and Magic - Secret of the Inner Sanctum Might and Magic II - Gates to Another World Mighty Bombjack Millenium Warriors Mind Pursuit Mindfighter Mindshadow Mindwheel Mission Asteroid Monster Trivia Moon Cresta Moon Shuttle Moonfall Moontorc Moonwalker Mordon's Quest Motor Mania Mountain Bike Racer Mountain King Mr. Heli Mr. Mephisto Mr. TNT Mugsy's Revenge Murdlok Mystery Voyage Nam NARC Necromancer Neighbours Neutral Zone Neverending Story II, The Nick Faldo Plays the Open Night Knight Ninja Carnage Ninja Warriors, The NOMAD Nonterraqueous Norway 1985 Nutcraka Octoplex Odysseus - Trojan Warrior Odyssey, The Olli & Lissa 3 - The Candlelight Adventure Ollie's Follies Ollo Ollo II Omega Race On-Court Tennis On-Field Football One Bite Too Deep Operation Swordfish Operation Whirlwind Orion Out of this World Out on a Limb Out Run Overlander Pac-Man Paradroid - Competition Edition Parsec Penetrator Percy The Potty Pigeon Perry Mason - The Case of the Mandarin Murder Peter Pack Rat Phantom of the Asteroid Phileas Fogg's Balloon Battles Ping Pong Pink Panther Pipe Mania Pitstop Poker (Duckworth Home Computing) Polar Pierre Pole Position Poltergeist Popeye (Piranha) Potsworth & Co Power Pyramids Powerboat USA - Offshore Superboat Racing Powerplay - The Game of the Gods PP Hammer Predator 2 Price of Magik, The Prison Riot Psi-Droid Psycho Pigs UXB Psycho Soldier Pulse Warrior Quann Tulla Quest for the Holy Grail Questprobe I - The Incredible Hulk Questprobe III - The Fantastic Four Rad Ramp Racer Radar Rat Race Rally Cross (Codemasters) Ramparts Raskel Rats, The Raven, The Realms of Darkness Rebel Planet Red Max Red Moon Red Storm Rising Redhawk Return of the Jedi Return of the Space Warriors Revs Richard Petty's Talladega Ripper! RISK - Rapid Intercept Seek and Kill RMS Titanic Roadwars Robozone Rock Star Ate My Hamster Rocket Ball RodMan Room Ten Rootin' Tootin' Rupert and the Toymaker's Party Rygar Saboteur Saboteur II Saint Dragon Samantha Fox Strip Poker Sammy Lightfoot Samurai Trilogy Santa's Xmas Caper Scalextric Scapeghost Schizofrenia Scoop!, The Scorpion Scorpius Scout Scramble Infinity Scramble Spirits Scroll of Akbar Khan, The Scrolls of Abadon, The Scuba Kidz SDI - Strategic Defence Initiative Seabase Delta Seafox Seas of Blood Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, The Security Alert Serpentine Shades Shark Shockway Rider Shogun Shoot Em Up Short Circuit Sidewalk Silent Shadow Ski or Die Skool Daze Skull & Crossbones Sky High Stuntman Sky Shark Skyjet Slicks Snow Queen, The Soccer Pinball Software Star Solar Fox Soldier of Fortune Solo Flight Solo Flight - Second Edition Sonic Boom Sonic the Hedgehog Sorcerer (Infocom) Sorcery Souls of Darkon Southern Belle Space Crusade Space Panic Space Pilot II Space Shuttle - A Journey Into Space Spartacus - Sword Slayer Speed Duel Speed King Spellbound (MAD) Spellbreaker Spherical Spiky Harold Spitfire 40 Spitfire Ace Split Personalities Spooked Spooks Spore Spy's Demise Star Control Star League Baseball Star Paws Star Trader Star Trek - The Promethean Prophecy Star Wars Droids Starfire Starflight Starion StarRay Steel Steg the Slug Steve Davis Snooker Stix Stop the Express Storm Stormbringer Street Surfer Strider Strider II Stringer Stroke World Stryker in the Crypts of Trogan STUN Runner Stuntman Seymour Subsunk Super Bowl XX Super Dragon Slayer Super Gran - The Adventure Super Hero Super Huey Super Seymour Super Space Invaders Super Tank Simulator Super Zaxxon Superkid Superkid in Space Superstar Ping-Pong Supertrux Supremacy - 30th Anniversary Edition Suspect Tangent Tarkus Tarzan Goes Ape! Task III Taskmaster TechnoCop Terminator II - Judgement Day Terrafighter Terramex Terrormolinos Terry's Big Adventure Thai Boxing Three Stooges, The Through the Trap Door Thunderbirds (Grandslam) ThunderChopper ThunderJaws Tiger Mission Tiger Road Tigers in the Snow Tim Love's Cricket Time Fighter Time Search Time Soldier Time Thief Tintin on the Moon Tir Na Nog To Hell and Back Tom & Jerry Toobin' Top Cat - Beverly Hills Cats Topper the Copper Touchdown Football Tour de France Toy Bizarre Tracer Sanction, The Trap Trap Door, The TRAZ - Transformable Arcade Zone Triaxos Trivial Pursuit Trollbound Tubular Bells Turbo the Tortoise Typhoon Ulysses and the Golden Fleece Uridium Plus Vagan Attack Valkyrie 17 Vampire's Empire Vegetables Deluxe Velnor's Lair Vengeance Very Big Cave Adventure, The View to a Kill, A Vindicator!, The Vindicators Viz Volfied Vortron WAR Warlock - The Avenger Way of the Tiger Web Dimension Weird Dreams Western Games Whirlinurd Who Dares Wins Who Dares Wins II Who Framed Roger Rabbit Wicked Wild Streets Wild West William Wobbler Willow Pattern Wing Commander Winter Camp Wishbringer Witch's Cauldron, The Wizard and the Princess, The Wizard of Id's Wiztype, The Wizard Warz Wizard's Lair Wizard's Pet, The World Cup Carnival World Cup II World Cup Soccer World Series Baseball Xybots Yabba Dabba Doo Zone Ranger Zone Trooper Zybex Zyto Zzzz

*this game is still commercially available so the roms are not supplied

New Magazines:

Commodore Format Issues 35 - 54 Zzap!64 Issues 61-90 (complete!)

New Demos:

Memento Mori by Genesis Project Gamertro by Lethargy Median by Lethargy Scene of the Living Dead by Atlantis + Delysid Fantomas by Siesta Bromance by Bonzai We Are New by Fairlight Boogie Factor by Fairlight Lash by Fairlight One Million Lightyears from Earth by Fairlight

New Diskmags:

RapidNews 16-20

New SID:

acrouzet - My PALs Must Have a Clue (at This Rate) c0smo - Space Oddity chuinho - In France They Die Young Conrad - Firestarter DAM - Burn Fegolhuzz - The Demosceniors Flex - Helix Flex - Sad Song Flotsam - Honey Flotsam - Prtzl+Kola Jammer - Euro Boogers Jammer - Gliding Gladly Jammer - So Grainy It Hertz Jammer - What The Fuck Is Going On Jangler - Electrostatic Juzdie - Gone Already LMan - Blade Runner Main Titles LMan - The Tuneful Eight (8 SIDs!) MCH - Tequila Shot MCH - Winter Rose Mermaid - Hyperdrive Mibri - I Can't Go On. I'll Go On Mibri - Playa de los Gatos Mutetus - Banaanin Alle Mutetus - Haparanda Systembolaget Mutetus - Rasvaton Mutetus - The Required Fields psych858o - Transformation rytone - Cybernetic Raven rytone - Dazed rytone - Staring Into The Sun Shogoon - Love Your Sample Shogoon - Masquerade Shogoon - Nelly Goes West SMC - Whipped Cream The Syndrom - Bumpy Ride Toggle - Wieselflink Uctumi - Seminare Vincenzo - Baaaaah Vincenzo - Mirrored Inverse Fragments

I also want to once again thank all the people that helped contribute to this update in various ways. Thanks again, I appreciate the support!

sonninnos for continually working with me and improving the VICE Retroarch core, being a sounding board for ideas, and helping me work through unusual issues boohyaka for helping to get me started in the right direction on the new universal launcher StatMat for his awesome OneLoad64 project which you can check out here - this is a great project and you'll likely notice that many of the updated games came from this collection The folks at The Museum of Computer Adventure Game History and the Ultimate Tape Archive Everyone who contributes time and energy on improving the LBGDB with media and metadata!

As a final note, I haven't forgotten about the RG351V/Pi/etc. version, but seeing as this has been a seemingly never-ending update that was quickly approaching a full year since the last one, I wanted to get this out as that can come separately later. I'm also planning to make a video showcasing the collection, features, usage, etc. as I realize that there's a number of things going on here that people may not be entirely accustomed to or know about if they haven't read all of the usage instructions. That's going to take some time though so I didn't want to hold this up until that was done. Anyway, that's it for now.

Have fun!

After the last release I went on a bit of a hiatus to take a little time to just play some games for myself (what a crazy notion!) and sortof reset. I dumped about 160 hours into Nioh 2, 70 into Star Renegades, and 20~ into yet another (ongoing) Wizardry 8 playthrough. I think I'm pretty sufficiently re-centered at this point haha.

So diving back into things I got to work on the next release of C64 Dreams. The first 100 new games are done, but that's not where the majority of the time sink has gone so far. For this update the new big feature that I'm adding in is integrated Zzap!64 reviews. I've included C64 magazines in C64 Dreams for quite a while now, but historically this has always been a very simple incorporation where you could access web or local copies of each magazine, browse through them, and that's it. What I'm working on now is adding the ability to immediately access specific reviews for each relevant game, i.e. you right-click a game in the library and, if it has a Zzap!64 review, you'll see it listed in the additional apps (right-click) menu and you can then start the shortcut for either the web or local version and it'll jump right to it. I don't know how many people are going to care about this, but I think it's a really cool feature. I certainly hope I'm not the only person that has any interest in using this because it's turned out to require a significant time investment, moreso than I initially anticipated. I've made some tools to automate some of it, but in the end it still requires a lot of by-hand work for every one of them.

I have 329 of these setup so far, with the goal for the release being 1000+

Because of this specific focus for this update, the method for game selection has taken a bit of a left turn this go round. Ordinarily about 80% of the new games that get added are from parsing through GB64 and "filtering out the noise" as it were. I'm currently 46% through GB64 and am currently in the letter "K". 15% come from browsing through new releases on csdb.dk for anything interesting. The remaining 5% comes from random places like seeing a youtube video or a review on a game, or from users specifically requesting something. While I'll be getting back to that in the future, this time around, that's all gone out the window. Because of the focus on Zzap!64 review integration, I've been going through and adding in any games that were reviewed in the magazine but weren't already in the collection. At this point, every game that's reviewed in the first 5 issues is now included, for example. For issues 6-17 I've incorporated the reviews for the games that are currently in the collection and am in the process of adding in the games from those issues that aren't in the collection. This has meant adding in some games that I might have skipped previously, but I think that's okay - most of them are games that would warrant inclusion anyway, but might not necessarily appeal to my specific tastes. Case in point there are more flight sims and sports games than I would ordinarily gravitate to, but I'm certain that there are people that have an interest in these so I consider it still worth doing. And hey, I found some in that process that, it turns out, I like quite a bit that I wouldn't have expected like Solo Flight, The Great American Cross-Country Road Race, and Ricahrd Petty's Talladega! There will also be a fair few new text adventures added too since, if you're familiar with Zzap!64, you'll know there was a recurring section by "The White Wizard" reviewing the latest adventure titles. As always these can be hit or miss (or of no interest across the board since they're, understandably, not everyone's thing) but there once again I've come across a couple that I wasn't familiar with that it turns out I quite like, such as Red Moon, The Tracer Sanction and Valkyrie 17. Interestingly enough in the case of Valkyrie 17 the review clued me into something that I wouldn't have otherwise known about - the reverse side of the tape that the game originally came on had an audio recording that includes some background info for the story in the form of answering machine messages sent to your character! I managed to track down a recording of it which you'll be able to access through the right-click menu for the game. I really love this kind of thing!

In addition to all this I've also added in some interactive codewheels where possible and relevant:

I've also swapped out 60+ existing games with OneLoad versions created by StatMat. You can find out more about his project here. I'd recommend checking it out, he does good work.

That probably leads to an obvious question, however, of "What's the rationale for which ones get used and which ones don't?" since there are obviously quite a few games in that collection that I'm still not using. OneLoad games are "clean" i.e. no cracktros, no trainers, no docs, just the original game in cart format. I'm someone who is of the likely contentious opinion that "scene" releases are an integral part of the C64 experience. When I was a kid, I had no idea that cracktros weren't just part of the games. I do recall thinking it rather odd (and scandalous!) reading in the cracktro for Supremacy by The Dominators that they were "back to kick your ass!", but otherwise I always just took them for granted that they were part of it all. As an adult, I have a better understanding and appreciation for that scene and truthfully the work that those guys did should not be discounted. Trainers, docs, fixes for bugs in the original game, translations, added joystick support... these are, in my view, objective improvements that are worth preserving. It's precisely for this reason that the vast majority of C64 Dreams is sourced from csdb.dk. That said, there are some cases where a scene release has no trainers, no docs, nothing substantial from a player's perspective - just a cracktro. It's in these cases that I'm inclined to go with OneLoad versions because I don't feel like you're really losing out on anything major there. I like cracktros (and demoscene of course) but I don't necessarily feel tied at the hip if that's the only thing that's being brought to the table. So all the ones that were swapped out and will be potentially swapped out in the future with subsequent releases of the OneLoad collection are games where that's the case. I parsed the entire current collection against OneLoad v2 so that part's done. Now when I'm looking for a version for new additions I check csdb.dk first for a nice feature-rich version and, if there isn't one, I check OneLoad next.

As with the last update, I've worked pretty closely with sonninnos the VICE Retroarch core maintainer this go round working through any kinks I come across and he's been great as always. The core has undergone some updates which fix or improve some things which I'll go into when I release the update, but in the process the backend code was updated from VICE 3.3 to 3.5 which, while it does bring some benefits, it had the unfortunate side effect of breaking all 200+ existing auto-loading savestates :( So I had to go back and recreate every single one of those which, as you can imagine, took some time. That's done now though, thankfully. I ended up deleting about 30 of them in the process that no longer seemed necessary thanks to autowarp, which wasn't available when some of them were originally created. In those cases if it meant the difference between a 5 second load without using a save state or 0 seconds with a state, I went with the former. They can be really handy, and I certainly use them where they're particularly beneficial, but I felt like it was just better form to not rely on them if it wasn't a significant difference either way.

Finally, I recently got an RG351V, which I've had a whole lot of fun with so, of course, I had to see how much of C64 Dreams I could make functional on it.

Since it actually uses Retroarch and the same core I'm already using for the Windows version, a fair bit actually crosses over. Now of course I can't use any of the external/Windows-specific software that I'm using to add some extra bells and whistles in the normal version, but a lot of the core things are intact. So when the next update is released I plan on releasing a separate version for that as well. This could technically be used with other devices that are capable of using Retroarch as well like a Pi, though the included mappings are for the RG351 devices and I don't have a way to test others. It would be relatively easy to convert to other mappings though with mass find and replace. You'd just need to know what the button numbers are.

What it doesn't have:

• Manual quick-swap (or manuals period)

• Custom music for text adventures

• Notes overlays (although this is theoretically possible and is something I'll be messing with eventually, they will all have to be remade to actually be conducive to a small screen so that will take time)

• Super CPU support (which means no Metal Dust or the handful of Super CPU ports of games like Rescue on Fractalus)

What it does have:

• All the games, named appropriately and with extra media/files stripped out

• Correct joystick port set for each game

• Border cropped for each game

• True-drive disabled where possible and enabled where necessary + autowarp and auto-loading savestates where beneficial

• Custom mappings for the same basic functionality as in C64 Dreams, though it won't include some of the more complex remapping (like in Fairlight, for example) as I don't have access to Antimicro in this setting

Anyway, that's where we're at right now. I may try to get another standard game release out before the C64 Dreams update is out but I tend to get fairly focused while I'm working on this project so I can't guarantee that. Sorry about things being quiet here in the interim. If anyone has any questions, requests, ideas, or just a desire to wax poetic about old games, feel free to hit me up here or on my Discord server.

Septerra Core is a game I've always been fond of. It has its issues - namely combat that's a lot slower than it should be, a strange lack of music in many cases, and things taking too long to really get rolling - but it provides a really well-realized world to explore with a lot of interesting lore and good voice acting to support it. You can tell that a lot of thought and care went into designing this place - the way it looks, its inhabitants, its history, the different cultures, the technology... there's a lot of great world building on display here. It's unfortunate that this was Valkyrie Studios' only game because I think, despite its flaws, Septerra Core has a lot going for it and I would have liked to have seen what else these guys could have done if they'd had more time to come into their own as developers. In any case, it's an interesting game that's worth checking out especially if you have any appreciation for old school JRPGs; Septerra Core is essentially a western studio's take on that genre, which I think is partly to blame for its lack of success - it made it quite an oddity on PC at the time and I think maybe they had a hard time finding an audience. This same fate befell the wonderful Anachronox (one of my favorite games of all time, actually) only two years later (though it had a host of issues preventing it from finding purchase, unorthodox genre trappings for the platform only being one of them). I'm glad that these titles went on to garner something of a cult following with time. Check it (and Anachronox for that matter) out!

Definitive Edition Patch Features:

- Patches the game to use the static recompiled version of Septerra Core (improves compatibility with modern OSes and hardware)

- Fixes cutscenes in Steam version (which don't work at all in that version) and improves the quality of the cutscenes in the GOG version

- Allows the game to correctly run in its native resolution with bilinear scaling to your native resolution as opposed to forcing it to run at your native resolution with nearest neighbor (which looks terrible) as it does in the GOG version - Custom controller support via Antimicro - Reshade support with my own custom presets, options (can be modified through the Launcher), and custom bezel (which can be disabled)

- A high quality 600dpi scan of my personal copy of the manual - ASuite for easy configuration of Reshade and some game options, access to the manual, and this readme

The controller mapping (based on a 360/XB1 controller) and keyboard controls are as follows:

Left Stick | Arrow Keys = Move Right Stick | Mouse = Move cursor LT = Right mouse button RT = Left mouse button D-pad Up | Q = Select first party member (in combat) D-pad Left | A = Select first party member (in combat) D-pad Down | Z = Select first party member (in combat) B | ESC = Cancel/Back/Skip Cutscene Y | Space = Activate subscreen Back | Tab = Activate map Start | X = Activate options screen X + RB | F5= Quicksave X + LB | F8 = Quickload

Note that the game itself is not included with this patch. You must install the GOG or Steam versions first. Unlike previous patches which pipe the needed files into a new folder and allow portable functionality, Septerra Core seems to hard code the save location to an absolute path on install (i.e. it's not relative and as such isn't portable). This means that in this case the patch is a drop-in and overwrite affair. Simply extract the contents into your Septerra Core folder, overwrite when prompted and you'll be all set. Now open the Definitive Edition folder and you can start “Launcher and Settings.exe” for access to the settings configuration and launcher UI or you can start “Septerra Core.exe” to start the game.

It should be noted that I experienced occasional crashes on loading saved games but I don't think this is the result of this patch as I experience this same behavior while playing the game in its original state. If I manage to determine the underlying cause of this, I'll release an updated patch.

Have fun!

Download the patch here

Abomination: The Nemesis Project is now available.

Controller support, shader support, Reshade support, and custom bezel are included.

I recently bought a new scanner in order to be able to scan manuals and other material for packages going forward, and this is the first use of that. I always look for manuals online for anything I release as I like to include them where I can, but in some cases - like this one, for example - there doesn't seem to be a scan available anywhere online so this will allow me to preserve those where I can. I'll be uploading them individually to a separate Archive.org account here.

Anyway, have fun! I've got some exciting stuff coming soon so stay tuned!

I'm a big fan of immersive sims. Deus Ex, Thief, and System Shock are the names that typically come to mind for most people when the genre comes up - certainly for good reason, I love those games too! - but Arx Fatalis is one that is, unfortunately, pretty frequently overlooked. That's a real shame because it's great! It has some rough spots - namely some really bizarre voice acting and some elements that are half-baked, bordering on non-existent (like archery) - but underneath that there's an interesting world that's really worth exploring.

Definitive Edition Patch Features:

-Patches the game to use Arx Libertatis mod (v1.2-dev)

-Controller support via Antimicro

-Reshade support with my custom presets and options -Strategy Guide -ASuite for management

The keyboard controls and controller mapping are as follows (based on a 360/XB1 controller):

WASD | Left Stick = Move Mouse | Right Stick = Move cursor Space | A = Jump F | B = Use item Tab | Y = Draw weapon RT = Left click / Attack LCtrl | LT = Magic LShift | LB = Sneak / Precast Spell Right click | RB = Toggle inventory G | D-pad Left = Mana potion M | D-pad Up = Toggle mini map H | D-pad Right = Life potion 1 | X + D-pad Left = Cast precast spell 1 2 | X + D-pad Up = Cast precast spell 2 3 | X + D-pad Right = Cast precast spell 3 Start = ESC Backspace | Back = Toggle book C | L3 (left stick click) = Toggle crouch

Note that the game itself is not included with this patch. You must install the GOG or Steam versions first. The only requirement is that the game be in a folder named "Arx Fatalis" (it will be by default). The path to that folder doesn't matter, just the folder name.

1. Simply extract Arx Fatalis (Definitive Edition) into a folder parallel to Arx Fatalis, so, for example: C:\Games\Arx Fatalis C:\Games\Arx Fatalis (Definitive Edition)

2. Now go into the Arx Fatalis (Definitive Edition) folder and start PATCH.bat.

And that's it! You're all set! Now you can start “Launcher and Settings.exe” for the Launcher UI or you can start “Arx Fatalis.exe” to start the game.

Everything is completely portable, so if you want to uninstall the GOG/Steam version, move the Definitive Edition folder somewhere else... put it wherever you want and it'll still work.

Have fun!

Download the patch here

Nightlong: Union City Conspiracy is now available.

Controller support, shader support, Reshade support, and custom bezel are included.

I spent some more time fine-tuning shaders in PCem and making some adjustments to Reshade presets to better complement them. I have no idea if anyone other than me actually uses any of this stuff, but it certainly makes things more enjoyable for me so I'm going to continue incorporating them where possible.

Anyway, have fun!

Nightmare Creatures Hotfix download

Nightmare Creatures is now available.

Controller support, reshade support, and custom bezel are included.

As a bit of an added goody I also took some time to mess around with shaders in PCem a bit this go round, with pretty nice results. I'd recommend checking out the screenshot comparison available in the Launcher and messing around with some of these to see if there's anything you like! I found myself enjoying Cyberpunk (Reshade) + Bezel (Reshade) + CRT-Mattias (PCem shader) + screen reflection overlay (Reshade) quite a bit.

None:

Cyberpunk Reshade preset + Bezel + CRT-Mattias shader + screen reflection:

Anyway, have fun! More to come soon!

Evil Dead: Hail to the King is now available.

Controller and reshade support are included.

Future Cop: L.A.P.D. is now available.

Controller and Reshade support are included, as well as an optional bezel.

A few other changes to the site have been made as well. An RSS feed is now available for the blog posts, accessible via the button on the main blog listing page, as requested by some folks on Discord. There's also a dedicated login/signup button on the blog menu now (to receive automated email updates when I post and to post comments).

I was also asked by some people on Reddit and the Launchbox forums if there was a way for them to donate so I've added a page for that as well. You can read my thoughts on it there, but suffice it to say that this is something that no one should feel like they're under any obligation whatsoever to do - the work will continue regardless and will be freely available to everyone, forever - but if people appreciate the work that I do and want to help keep the lights on, I'm certainly grateful.

Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this one! More to come soon!

Martian Gothic: Unification is now available.

Controller and reshade support are included.

After that nightmare experience I figured I'd start back with, fittingly, a bit of survival horror. So, keep an eye out, I'll have some goodies for you soon.

Fixes:

Incorrect path for Shadow Skimmer Incorrect path and missing files for Echofied 6581 (SID)

The folder structure follows that of the v0.35 download (C64 Dreams\C64 Dreams\etc.) so if you're using the set as-is just copy, merge, and overwrite. If you're using it with your primary\separate LB setup, just copy the C64 Dreams subfolder, merge, and overwrite.

Download Hotfix