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Xtatix - Unlimited Millennium - Oldskool vs. Newskool - Size Matters - Infinite Beyonds - Complete List - FAQ
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a rather cumbersome collection of questions which might be frequently asked
Why pink?!?!?Focus in the content, not in the continent!Do you feel leet?This is exactly how leet I feel making this demopack, judging by how I think the credit for this should be distributed:* 90% goes to the real authors of the demos and productions included in this demopack. * 9% goes to the capturers of the videos, for making and distributing them. * 0.99% goes to the sites who helped distribute these videos. * 0.01% (or less) goes to me for collecting and redistributing them. So yes, I feel l33t, but not too much. I don't deserve any merit for all this, all the credit should go to the demo authors themselves. I find myself better thinking that this demopack can be useful and enjoyable for people. I did nothing. Don't you think that running the real demo is much better?Of course! But again, not all demos can be run easily nowadays, due to lack of original hardware (not all begins and ends with PCs), specific software and OS, high hardware requirements (in the case of very recent demos), etc. Maybe in a few years you will find yourself in the same situation, and see some "missing dll" message when trying to run World Domination, or a BSOD, or who knows what. In any case, I can't run World Domination right now, it laughs at my hardware. And besides all this, I think that having all these demos, in video format, ready to be plugged in a DVD player attached to a big screen is always a good idea for freak parties and whatnot.This sounds good, where can I find it?I've tried to upload the four ISOs will be uploaded to some kind of huge server, like scene.org, but they've been rejected for now (in the case of scene.org, due to redundancy). AFAIK, it's not listed yet in some kind of demoscene database like Pouët.net. I will update this infopack (but not the ISOs) with all relevant links, as soon as the links become relevant. You can find this infopack in my domain www.eligeotravez.net, more specifically in factum.eligeotravez.net/xtatix. P2P networks might be another source...Did you know there's another production called Xtatix?Yes, I discovered it after making the ASCII logo. It's an Amiga intro. Well, since productions repeat names constantly, I really didn't think it would be much problem. And if you google for Xtatix, there are hundreds of thousands of hits. Nowadays it's kind of hard to find a really original name (obscure Futurama reference!)How can I make my own captures?I'm not aware of any place with a tutorial of making captures yourself. I can tell you that the two most used tools are .kkapture for Win32 demos, and DOSBox for oldskool DOS demos (it supports even GUS emulation!) Other options include stuff like real-time frame capturing (e.g. FRAPS), too cumbersome for my taste. Note that DOSBox creates the videos with a great lossless codec specially suitable for oldskool pixelated demos called ZMBV, but most people will not have the codec to view the video. And .kkapture will create videos in any codec you want, but in only one pass. I suggest you to tell .kkapture to use some lossless codec, and then take all those ZMBV and lossless videos and use something like VirtualDub to make a good two-pass XviD video. I suggest no less than MP3 192kbps stereo for audio.Who are you?I'm no one, I'm not a coder (I used to be one, but never made any demo), nor an artist (I do some design as a hobby), nor a member of a demogroup. I'm just a demoscene fan who wanted to have some demos in video format and ended doing this, due to my obsessive-compulsive nature (and the tought that this compilation could be useful!) And yes, my nick (both in internet and in real life) is Pi.Why did you include XXXX?I found that at least one of the following adjectives matched with the production: great, silly, interesting, cute, curious, awesome, noteworthy, must-have, classic, incredible, beautiful, exorbitant, original, unearthly, bizarre, creative, aggressive, tasteful, dreamy, nostalgic, valuable, invaluable, fun, deep, pretty, entertaining and/or extravagant. Other applicable adjectives might exist, although unlisted.Why didn't you include XXXX?Maybe I didn't find it when I was making this compilation. Maybe I found it, but I was unable to download it. Maybe I downloaded it, but the download was corrupted or I didn't have the right codec to watch it. Maybe I found it, downloaded it, watched it, and decided to not include it because whatever reason seemed enough at that time. I don't remember.Why did you include XXXX but not XXXX?Please, read the two previous sections. I didn't make concessions to the selection process. I didn't delete a big video to keep five smaller ones. I didn't pay attention to awards, group fame, or thumbs up when I thought something was in need to go so other stuff could fit. I only had what I could find (converted to video), what I could fit (in each DVD), and what I found interesting (by my taste, which isn't better or worse than yours, just different). If that's not enough for you, then please, forget about Xtatix.Why didn't you include the actual demos?Given the size of some of the recent productions, it would have been a problem. The first DVD would have about 15-20 less videos. Since I wouldn't do it for the first, why do it for the rest? It would be incomplete in all cases! And maybe this way it will make you start your own huge demo collection. I could also have added all the tools (.kkapture, DOSBox and ZMBV codec, Virtualdub...) but really, oh really...Where can I find more videos? / Where can I find the videos in this demopack?As explained, they can be found in the FTP server of scene.org. Get a FTP client, download ls-lR from the root, and search for ".avi" or ".mpg". They are also listed in Pouët.net. Search there for a production, and see if it has a video link. See if the video link points to a web site or FTP place where you could find even more videos, like the Conspiracy web site or the Untergrund.net FTP server. A good combination of words could be enough for Google. No matter which method you use, be patient while searching, and you will be rewarded.Why haven't you recaptured the demos or converted some of the videos?I'm obsessive-compulsive (diagnosed, btw), but I'm rather lazy. I couldn't find a way to deliver all these demos in the same format, codec, quality and whatnot for them all, without a really huge amount of work. While this collection is not perfect, it's good enough as it is.What's all this Party Version stuff?Sometimes, authors release a production in a demo party, and later re-release it to include bugfixes or corrections, certain stuff which didn't fit due to time or space, or extra data as in which position it was placed. Some of these new versions are visually identical to the original, but others not. So, some demos actually have more than one version. Party Version means that the video was recorded using the demo released at the party itself. Final Version means that the video was recorded using the re-released product. In one case, Candytron, I found and included no less than four versions: Party, Final, Custom, and a mix between the Party and Final versions which show how different they are (as an extreme example).Did you notice that XXXX is not YYYY but ZZZZ?I did my best to collect all the data: authors, name of production, platform and type, year, version, awards, etc. I deeply apologize if I commited any mistake or didn't include all the complete-correct-factual data. But come on, it's not as if I launched a nuclear attack to Nepal, right? Please view things in perspective.What are all these funny characters?Some demo names, or group names, have characters beyond the usual [a-z][0-9] range, including umlauts, kanji characters, accentuated consonants and awkward special symbols. Maybe you don't see them well, or maybe you don't see them at all. Some programs don't even recognize files with this kind of special characters. So check if you have a demo called @!#?@! by Snots and Boogers, if you don't see it, your software might be malfunctioning ;)When will you release the 5th volume?Probably never. You're welcome to make another volume if you want, with the best productions of 2007 or the most bizarre oldskool creations, and release it under the name Xtatix 5th - Furrazurra Gargarigoic. But please, don't credit me for it, and pretty-please, include some worthy visuals and demos not found in Xtatix already.I have another questionThat's not a question. In case you have another question, or have a comment, or anything else... I'm not leaving any way to contact me here. You can go to my domain www.eligeotravez.net, you can contact me there. |
Created and released in April 2007 by Pi.
Xtatix - Unlimited Millennium - Oldskool vs. Newskool - Size Matters - Infinite Beyonds - Complete List - FAQ