amorri40

Issue 7:

Issue 6 of 64 Solutions:

Issue 5:

Also for those of you who prefer a certain Sony console I have scanned Volume 2 Issue 9 of Playstation Plus:

Would you be able to give a list of all the files? There are programs that can take a directory and list all the files in all the subfolders, would be great to see what it contains

Not sure how to edit posts (maybe my account doesn't have enough posts to get the editing feature) so I'll add another scan:

Note you can get issue 2 and 3 of 64 Solutions on http://kiwis.world so my next scan is issue 4:

On 22/12/2016 at 7:21 PM, amorri40 said:

Todays scans as promised are issues of PC Gamer (UK):

 

 

PC Gamer (2001-11) 102 (Future)

http://read.oldgamemags.com/Ali/Needs%20Edit/PCGamer/PC%20Gamer%20(2001-11)%20102%20(Future).pdf/

 

 

PC Gamer (2002-01) 105 (Future)

http://read.oldgamemags.com/Ali/Needs%20Edit/PCGamer/PC%20Gamer%20(2002-01)%20105%20(Future).pdf/

 

 

PC Gamer (2003-03) 120 (Future)

http://read.oldgamemags.com/Ali/Needs%20Edit/PCGamer/PC%20Gamer%20(2003-03)%20120%20(Future).pdf/

 

PC Gamer (2003-04) 121 (Future)

 

http://read.oldgamemags.com/Ali/Needs%20Edit/PCGamer/PC%20Gamer%20(2003-04)%20121%20(Future).pdf/

 

I should be back tomorrow with some Nintendo 64">N64 magazine scans, enjoy

 

 

 

I guess I am more than a year too late for what I promised but here is an N64 magazine scan to enjoy:

Download: https://archive.org/details/64SolutionsUK01 

Wow thank you to both of you for the insight, really appreciate it It was something I have wondered about for a while as I absolutely love the massive pixel perfect maps that were in many of the old game magazines, to me it's a work of pure art.

You could make a map like that one of two ways.

 

The hard way was the one Nintendo went with for many of its pixel-perfect maps in early issues of Nintendo Power, where the console was hooked up to a frame capture device that sent graphical information to a computer programmed to take a new screenshot every time the scene shifted a certain number of pixels in a given direction. Then it was the artist's job to stitch those images together in Photoshop or another editing program. This often resulted in player and enemy sprites being visible and 'lines' where the stitch work wasn't 100% accurate (look at the maps for, say, Double Dragon in the very first issue of Nintendo Power, or the maps for Goonies II in Nintendo Fun Club and you'll see this used). Unofficial strategy guides had to rely on this method for their pixel-perfect maps, because they weren't working with the developers. The only alternative was to have someone hand-draw the maps, which was cheaper but far less useful and informative.

 

The easier way was for companies who had access to the level data on the development computers to supply the image information to the magazine or guide maker, who could then put it together and lay it out in whatever way they needed. From what I understand, some companies were more friendly about handing this information out to publications than others.

 

*huggles*
Areala

Do you happen to know any additional information about the frame capture devices? They sound like a really interesting piece of hardware!

I downloaded Nintendo Power issue 1 and see exactly what you mean when I look really closely I can see the stitch lines you mentioned on Double Dragon and even Mario:

I'm guessing the later issue started to use the hardware or developer contacts to get the images as they seem a bit cleaner

I've listened to podcasts like the Player One Podcast with former EGM editors where they had a screenshot capture device hooked up to a PC where you would have to press a key to capture a screenshot. Which sometimes would be a pain in the ass in the middle of play. Arealea's answer is pretty thorough. But you can see that sometimes when scanning these old issues, at the zoomed in level you can see the seems where they stitched stuff together. Some games have debug modes where you can scroll the whole level. Older magazines actually hand drew art to look like screenshots. Talking Atari 2600 era. And ya photoshopping them together. Not hard to remove a character out. Especially with the nature of game art with repeating texture data and tiles.

I'll look for that Player One Podcast with the former EGM editors thanks for letting me know.

I didn't realise some games had a debug mode where you could scroll the whole level, do you happen to know which games they were?

That's a very good point about the repeating texture/tile data it would be easier than I initially thought because they can find out where the tiles line up and edit accordingly.

Todays scans as promised are issues of PC Gamer (UK):

http://read.oldgamemags.com/Ali/Needs%20Edit/PCGamer/PC%20Gamer%20(2001-11)%20102%20(Future).pdf/

http://read.oldgamemags.com/Ali/Needs%20Edit/PCGamer/PC%20Gamer%20(2002-01)%20105%20(Future).pdf/

http://read.oldgamemags.com/Ali/Needs%20Edit/PCGamer/PC%20Gamer%20(2003-03)%20120%20(Future).pdf/

http://read.oldgamemags.com/Ali/Needs%20Edit/PCGamer/PC%20Gamer%20(2003-04)%20121%20(Future).pdf/

I should be back tomorrow with some N64 magazine scans, enjoy

This is something I have been pondering over since reading through these old PlayStation solutions magazines. Back in the day strategy guides for 2D games published amazing pixel-perfect whole level images stitched together. Does anyone know how they actually did this? 

Did they get these images from the game companies or did they have special hardware to take screenshots and manually had to edit them together (removing player sprites etc).

Here is one example of what i'm talking about, but I remember much better ones especially for the Mega Drive:

Todays selection of scans, all Playstation World Magazine:

http://read.oldgamemags.com/Ali/Needs%20Edit/PSW/PSW%20(UK)%2027.pdf/

http://read.oldgamemags.com/Ali/Needs%20Edit/PSW/PSW%20(UK)%2032.pdf/

http://read.oldgamemags.com/Ali/Needs%20Edit/PSW/PSW%20(UK)%2042.pdf/

http://read.oldgamemags.com/Ali/Needs%20Edit/PSW/PSW%20(UK)%2048.pdf/

http://read.oldgamemags.com/Ali/Needs%20Edit/PSW/PSW%20(UK)%2053.pdf/

http://read.oldgamemags.com/Ali/Needs%20Edit/PSW/PSW%20(UK)%2061.pdf/

Tomorrow I will be back to PC Gamer (UK)

The immediate problem I see is that none of those PC Gamers are currently allowed to be hosted on our site.  Anything after December 2001 for mags currently being published is not allowed.

Also, I find it ironic that you're posting links to mags hosted at OGM beseeching the aid of RM users, when in all likelihood, the only RM user who will come to your aid is OGM's Kiwi.

 

Don't let any of that stop you though!  MORE PC GAMER!  MORE PC GAMER!

Yes OGM's Kiwi has been fantastic in helping me in the past, however he has tons of gems of his own to scan/edit and it seems a shame to waste a scanners time in a task that anyone without the means of scanning could do. Ahh a PC Gamer fan! Should I remove the links that go to issues from after December 2001? or is that just from the database?

Yeah, I am literally swamped with raw scans from marktrade and other members of my site at present which adds to the stress of keeping the site humming along while trying to fit editing those and scanning of my own magazines. What a dilemma to be in, even if it's a good one  

haha exactly  There must be someone out there who has the skills to edit and the love of old game magazines.. right?

Yeah, the unedited scans are piling up, it seems.  It makes me roll my eyes whenever I see someone talking about how they'd like to contribute, but can't because they don't own a scanner. 

Someone will come along eventually, at least for now its possible to read and enjoy the magazines in their rough unedited form.

Between now and Christmas I aim to release a new bunch of scans every day, so here is the first batch:

http://read.oldgamemags.com/Ali/Needs%20Edit/PlaystationSolutions/Playstation%20Solutions%20v01%2007%20(Rapide).pdf/

http://read.oldgamemags.com/Ali/Needs%20Edit/PlaystationSolutions/Playstation%20Solutions%20v01%2008%20(Rapide).pdf/

http://read.oldgamemags.com/Ali/Needs%20Edit/PlaystationSolutions/Playstation%20Solutions%20v01%2010%20(Rapide).pdf/

http://read.oldgamemags.com/Ali/Needs%20Edit/PlaystationSolutions/Playstation%20Solutions%20v01%2011%20(Rapide).pdf/

http://read.oldgamemags.com/Ali/Needs%20Edit/PlaystationSolutions/Playstation%20Solutions%20v01%2012%20(Rapide).pdf/

Tomorrow I should be back with some PSW (PlayStation World) scans.

Enjoy

I have listed these here in the hope that some kind soul has the time and patience to edit these (cropping etc) as I sadly don't have the time at the moment.

Note that you will need to click the download pdf button as the quality is much higher in the pdf than the pages you can see on the site.

Total Control 01

The cover needs re-scanned as my scanner doesn't support the shiny silver:

http://read.oldgamemags.com/Ali/Needs%20Edit/Total%20Control/Total%20Control%2001%20(Publisher).pdf/#page/2 

PC Gamer (2002-Xmas) 117 (Future)

http://read.oldgamemags.com/Ali/Needs%20Edit/PCGamer/PC%20Gamer%20(2002-Xmas)%20117%20(Future).pdf/#page/2

PC Gamer (2003-02) 119 (Future)

http://read.oldgamemags.com/Ali/Needs%20Edit/PCGamer/PC%20Gamer%20(2003-02)%20119%20(Future).pdf/

PC Gamer (2004-07) 137 (Future)

http://read.oldgamemags.com/Ali/Needs%20Edit/PCGamer/PC%20Gamer%20(2004-07)%20137%20(Future).pdf/

I will update this as I scan more