Omnispeak: An reimplementation of "Commander Keen in Goodbye Galaxy!"

Omnispeak is an open-source reimplementation of Commander Keen episodes 4, 5, and 6. It aims to be a pixel-perfect, bug-for-bug clone of the original games, and is compatible with savegames from the DOS version.

Omnispeak's homepage, including binary downloads, is available at: https://davidgow.net/keen/omnispeak.html

Omnispeak's source code can be found on GitHub: https://github.com/sulix/omnispeak

== INSTALLATION == To play, you'll need to include files from the original game.

Omnispeak supports:

• Keen 4 v1.4 EGA
• Keen 5 v1.4 EGA
• Keen 6 v1.4 EGA
• Keen 6 v1.5 EGA

These should be the easiest versions to get. For example, the Steam version and the GOG.com version are both version 1.4, as are all the previous downloadable versions from both id Software and 3D Realms / Apogee. Keen 6 is not easily available, but you should be able to find patches which convert one version of the game to another. Keen 6 v1.5 fixes a few bugs, so it's probably best to use it if you can. Note that the game will likely crash if you use any other version, including the CGA versions and the v1.0 releases, as well as the retail FormGen / GT Interative versions and the Keen 6 version bundled with the id Anthology.

The shareware release of Keen 4 v1.4 EGA is available here: https://davidgow.net/keen/4keen14.zip

You'll need to take the following files from your version of Keen, and place them in the same directory as the 'omnispeak' binary:

• GAMEMAPS.CK?
• EGAGRAPH.CK?
• AUDIO.CK?

You'll also need the files from the 'data' directory corresponding to your version of Keen. For Keen 6 in particular, you'll need to check if you have version 1.4 or version 1.5, and copy keen6e14 and keen6e15 accordingly. The initialisation screen contains the version of the game.

To run the game, simply switch to the directory with the data files, and run: ./omnispeak

Omnispeak supports several command-line options, some of which are: /EPISODE <4,5,6>

• Runs the given episode of Commander Keen /GAMEPATH
• Sets the path to the game data files. /USERPATH
• Sets the path to the savegame and config files. /FULLSCREEN
• Starts the game in fullscreen mode /FILLED
• Starts the game with aspect-ratio correction off. /NOBORDER
• Starts the game with EGA overscan border emulation off. /INTEGER
• Starts the game with integer scaling enabled. /NOJOYS
• Disables Joystick detection. /NOCOPY
• Bypasses the "Creature Question" screen in Keen 6. /AUDIOSYNC
• When using SDL-based sound backends, use the audio clock rather than the system clock. Available as the 'sd_sdl_audioSync' config option. (Enabling this ensures perfect audio timing, at the expense of worse frame pacing.) /DEMOFILE
• Plays the demo recorded with Keen's F10+D cheat in filename.

== CONFIGURATION ==

Omnispeak can read settings from the 'OMNISPK.CFG' file in the "user path". This is a simple key/value file which looks something like this:

--8<--

Graphics settings

fullscreen = true border = true integer = false

The OPL emulator used by the SDL audio backend

Valid values: "dbopl" (DOSBox), "nukedopl3" (NukedOPL3)

oplEmulator = "dbopl" --8<--

Modifying settings from the ComputerWrist interface will update this config file with the new settings.

Note that this file is not episode-specific. The settings are shared between all episodes.

== COMPILING ==

The source code for Omnispeak is available on GitHub: https://github.com/sulix/omnispeak

You'll find it in the src/ directory and built with make.

Omnispeak should build fine on most Linux distributions.

You'll need to have the Simple Directmedia Layer 2.0 installed, with the sdl2-config program somewhere in your path.

When compiled, an 'omnispeak' binary will appear in 'bin/', along with the files from the 'data' directories.

Cross-compilation for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows targets using MinGW32-Win64 is also supported. Omnispeak can also be compiled using recent versions of Microsoft Visual C++ using the provided CMake build system.

Cross-compilation for the GCW Zero is possible using the GCW Zero toolchain.

Cross-compilation for 32-bit MS-DOS using DJGPP is available, though the port is quite buggy. Simply run: make PLATFORM=dos A 486 and about 4MB of RAM are recommended to play Omnispeak under DOS.

On Linux, real OPL2 compatible soundcards can be used in place of the Adlib emulation by building with either the WITH_ALSA=1 option (for most soundcards), or the WITH_IEEE1284=1 option (for the OPL2LPT). These require libasound and libieee1284 respectively, and must be enabled at runtime by setting the "sd_backend" option to "alsa" or "opl2lpt". (The ALSA device can be configured with the "sd_alsa_device" option, and the parallel port for the OPL2LPT can be set with "sd_opl2lpt_port".)

Packagers should note that it's possible to change the default KEEN and USER paths with the make KEENPATH= and make USERPATH= options. Similarly, savegames can be stored in the $XDG_DATA_HOME directory with the make XDGUSERPATH=1 option. Additional options can be found in the src/ck_config.h file. For example, you could build with: make KEENPATH=/usr/share/omnispeak XDGUSERPATH=1

To see a full list of build options, just run make help.

== NEW FEATURES ==

Omnispeak includes a new QuickLoad / QuickSave feature, which allows the game in the final save slot to be saved and loaded without needing to navigate the menu. This is done with the F5 and F9 keys by default: they can be changed in the Keyboard bindings menu.

Omnispeak also greatly expands Keyboard and Joystick configuration over the original DOS games. Additional keys / buttons can be re-bound, and a 'modern' mode for the joystick is often easier to use, particularly when moving diagonally.

== REPORTING BUGS ==

Please report bugs and feature requests on GitHub at: https://github.com/sulix/omnispeak/issues

Alternatively, you can email me at: david@davidgow.net

== END OF TEXT ==

That's all! Now go play Commander Keen!