eXoDemoScene Collection v2.0 curated by Dutchmagic retroexo@gmail.com ======================================================= ------------------------------------------------------- Contents ------------------------------------------------------- Description.......................................Sec01 Changes...........................................Sec02 Front-End.........................................Sec03 Setup.............................................Sec04 Emulators.........................................Sec05 Playing the Demos.................................Sec06 Missing Demos?....................................Sec07 Current & Future Volumes..........................Sec08 Troubleshooting...................................Sec09 Contact & Thanks..................................Sec10 Merging eXo Packs.................................Sec11 ------------------------------------------------------- Description Sec01 ------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to eXoDemoScene Version 2.0! This pack includes 2,345 DOS Demos. The focus of the project is to add as many demo's from all across the world, regardless of language. While the project currently does not contain every DOS Demo ever made, it does try to have a large amount of demos from 1987 to 1998. This pack now also has up to 84 Musicdisks added. There are many more demos that will be added to the pack in the future. The demos have already been configured to run in DOSBox or MartyPC for correct emulation. ------------------------------------------------------- Changes to 2.0 Sec02 ------------------------------------------------------- • Added 395 more demos & musicdisks • Fixed Big Mistake by Screw!Bolt • Fixed No Name by 2000 A.D. • Fixed Trial by Out Rage Pirates • Added hidden part Strange Feelings, Warp, Spiceless, Plastik, Exodus, Retro, Sunflower, No Means No • Fixed Fullscreen/Windowed setting during main install • Fixed Installed Demo's playlist • Added special MartyPC emulator version for this pack (thank you!) to play CGA demo's. • Fixed some spelling mistakes Changes to 1.0 ------------------------------------------------------- • Added 132 more demos • Added a few more hidden parts • Added Foobar as preparation for future support of track-music • Added a few more Favorites • Added DOSBox Staging 0.82.0 • Renamed utils.zip to prevent merge issues • Replaced default DOSBox-X version to fix fullscreen toggle • Fixed some soundcard selection autimation • Fixed Abduction '95 party report, Party 4 Report, Wired 96 report, Da Trip and Orca goes Elvis • Fixed some demo metadata that showed their release date 1000 years in the past ------------------------------------------------------- Front-End Sec03 ------------------------------------------------------- The front end used is LaunchBox from Unbroken Software. The front ends website can be found at: https://www.launchbox-app.com/ LaunchBox goes way beyond a standard frontend by supporting direct steam library imports, a cloud games database for scraping metadata, and support for every emulator we have thrown at it. We highly recommend supporting their project and upgrading to the premium edition. We have taken time to mark some of the best DOS demos as 'favorites' to help give people new to this pack a place to start. Select FAVORITE from the top left pulldown menu to see them. ------------------------------------------------------- Setup Sec04 ------------------------------------------------------- Run "Setup eXoDemoScene.bat". The setup file will check for required files and warn you if any are missing. The collection can be run from any directory, as all launch files are designed to use relative paths to each other. Running the "Setup eXoDemoScene.bat" file will extract all of the LaunchBox assets and the demo front end assets/configs. Please note that there are some demos inside this pack that showcase nudity. These are currently not marked as such, so please be aware of this. You will also be prompted as to if you would like your global defaults to be Fullscreen or Windowed and whether or not you would like to default to Aspect Ratio On or Off. Once it is complete, simply run LaunchBox.exe to dive right in. ------------------------------------------------------- Emulators Sec05 ------------------------------------------------------- This collection uses DOSBox & MartyPC. DOSBox reside in their respective folder at: \eXo\emulators\DOSBox These are *different* from the DOSBox folders in the root folder, which are used by LaunchBox. Multiple versions of DOSBox are used to make these demos playable. This includes 0.74, Staging, ECE, SVN Daum, X, and a few more custom builds built to support specific demos. ------------------------------------------------------- Playing the Demos Sec06 ------------------------------------------------------- After downloading the collection and running "Setup eXoDemoScene.BAT", simply run the LaunchBox.exe file. You will be presented with a list of all included demos. The first time you attempt to run a demo it will ask if you want to install it. Subsequent runs will directly launch the demo. Initial install may take some time depending on the size. During install you will be prompted to choose whether or not to enforce aspect ratio, full screen or windowed mode, and if you would like to apply a scaler. Scalers can smooth pixels, making older pixelated demos look a bit more modern. The default setting is normal2x. Please note that 90% of all demos are configured to run with DOSBox-X which at this point in time does not support scalers. If you run the install file a second time, it will ask if you would like to un-install the demo. Choosing "yes" will erase the installed files from your disk, but keep the original ZIP file. If you choose not to un-install the demo you will get the chance to choose full screen or windowed again and another opportunity to change the scaler. If the scaler refuses to change, you will have to rerun the Setup file in order to extract clean copies of each demos conf file. To do this from LaunchBox, you may right click the demo and select 'Configure'. Please keep in mind as stated above, when the demo runs with DOSBox-X, a scaler is not applied. ------------------------------------------------------- Missing Demos? Sec07 ------------------------------------------------------- Yes, there are still demos missing. This second version of the demo pack is still far from complete. If you can find a demo you are looking for on Pouet.net or Demozoo.org but not in this pack, rest assured we are aware of it and will add it in a future release. If you have a demo that is not found on either of these sites, please bring this to our attention on our eXoDOS Discord. We would love to include it in a future release. ------------------------------------------------------- Current & Future Volumes Sec08 ------------------------------------------------------- Current: eXoDemoScene Version 2.0 eXoDOS Version 6.04 eXoWin3x Version 2: The Win 3.x Collection (renamed from Win3xO) eXoScummVM 2.9.0 eXoDREAMM 3.0.2 eXoAppleIIGS Future: eXoWin3x Version 3 eXoScummVM 2.10.0 eXoAppleIIGS 2.0 eXoApple IIe 1.0 ------------------------------------------------------- Trouble Shooting \ F.A.Q. Sec09 ------------------------------------------------------- Q: When I run a demo it asks these technical questions about a soundcard. A: While we have tried to automate every demo configuration, we might have missed some. Please let us know which demo is not automated. In the meantime, choose the Gravis Ultrasound where possible. It is default configured at base 240, IRQ 5 and DMA 3. Unless this is stated otherwise. If there is no option for the Gravis Ultrasound, choose the SoundBlaster or SoundBlaster Pro. The default configuration is at base 220, IRQ 7 and DMA 1. Q: When I run a demo it wants to know how fast my computer is. A: While we have tried to automate every demo configuration, we might have missed some. Please let us know which demo is not automated. In the meantime, you can choose the fastest CPU available. The computer you are running this on is a lot faster than the PC's in 1990 :-) Q: You're missing a demo! A: See the section on missing demos. Q: I want my demos on a different drive than my LaunchBox install. A: Use symlinks! ------------------------------------------------------- Contact & Thanks Sec10 ------------------------------------------------------- If you have questions, media, demos to add, or other concerns, you can email us at retroexo@gmail.com You can join the eXoDOS Discord server at this link: https://discord.gg/37FYaUZ Special thanks to the following groups: The eXoDOS Staff - An amazing group of friends and collaborators who have helped make this project so much more Peter Ferrie - amazing colaboration in getting old demos working again. His patches fixed a lot of demos in this pack. Daniel Balsom (GloriousCow) - MartyPC main coder. MartyPC makes it possible to emulate some of the old 8088/CGA demo's in this pack. He has helped create a special version just for this pack! TheGreatCodeholio - DOSBox-X main coder. His starting collection of .CONF files helped this project a lot. Trixter/Hornet - Thank you for re-encoding part of the MindCandy Volume1 videos for this pack. Aap/ACME - Thank you for giving your permission to release the Aphrodisiac demo after all these years! Unbroken Software DOSBox Staging demozoo.org pouet.net hornet.org scene.org ------------------------------------------------------- Merging eXo Packs Sec11 ------------------------------------------------------- eXo Projects can be merged into a single LaunchBox install, or into an existing LaunchBox installation. While there are several ways to do this, the "easiest" method usually depends on what you are working with. If you have no eXo Projects currently installed, the recommended method is to place the files for all of the projects you want in the same folder. You should have a "Content" folder and an "eXo" folder in each pack, and the contents of these folders can be placed in the same location. When you run the setup file, it will detect the other packs and install them. If you have a pre-existing LaunchBox set up, or a pre-existing eXo Project already set up, and you would like to merge a new pack into it, then I recommend the eXoMerge.bat file, found in the root folder. You run this file with two parameters, the FROM folder (project to be copied) and the TO folder (the existing project). It will copy over all necessary files for you. It is important that LaunchBox *not* be running during this process. A youtube video can be found which details the process of a merge. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOFbuOZ-iyw