Crimzon Clover

[Captain]

EDIT:wrong idea what an atract mdoe is

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Does this game have an attract mode?

On the 1.00 version of Crimson Clover, I don't see such an attract mode, although one would be nice for that cool "arcade" attract/demostration/high score screen mode vibe to draw the player into. It shouldn't be that hard to whip one up if the CC creator were to do so.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Iori Branford]

Finally got my copy of Crimson Clover version 1.00...what a fun little doujin shmup indeed. Will Yotsubane release this on any other platforms? A true arcade PCB version of CC with tate would sell like hotcakes (mostly to Japanese game center operators & the hard-core arcade PCB hobbyists, of course). What would it take to get such a real PCB deal conversion done (aside from going the Ultracade UVC route)?

Probably a monstrous epic of a project and/or money pit, to say the least. Taito doesn't release pricing for Type X kits, nor any licensing terms or approval processes, but as that system is technically a Windows PC, that would help him to actually release within the next year.

I'm assuming we're not talking about a literal PCB unit here. The few systems of this kind that are still around are almost exclusively intended for internal development; I can't begin to imagine what dark places he would have to go into in order to get on something like CAVE CV1000. And on top of that would be the porting work: replacing all the Windows and DirectX API calls, optimizing for the new system, and so on.

[Aliquantic]

Wouldn't any arcade release be much more likely to go on NESICAxLive instead of a dedicated PCB? Some fairly niche games have been released on that platform already and it seems pretty widespread in Japan... of course this wouldn't work abroad, and it's highly doubtful it'd be a valid option at this point, but

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Finally got my copy of Crimson Clover version 1.00...what a fun little doujin shmup indeed. Will Yotsubane release this on any other platforms? A true arcade PCB version of CC with tate would sell like hotcakes (mostly to Japanese game center operators & the hard-core arcade PCB hobbyists, of course). What would it take to get such a real PCB deal conversion done (aside from going the Ultracade UVC route)?

Probably a monstrous epic of a project and/or money pit, to say the least. Taito doesn't release pricing for Type X kits, nor any licensing terms or approval processes, but as that system is technically a Windows PC, that would help him to actually release within the next year.

I'm assuming we're not talking about a literal PCB unit here. The few systems of this kind that are still around are almost exclusively intended for internal development; I can't begin to imagine what dark places he would have to go into in order to get on something like CAVE CV1000. And on top of that would be the porting work: replacing all the Windows and DirectX API calls, optimizing for the new system, and so on.

That's interesting to learn what it'd take to develop CC for an arcade mobo platform. I'd agree that going with an Type X setup would be the best option for the CC creator if he wishes to port it for the arcade PCB market.

As for having a true dedicated PCB version of CC, yes, it'd be quite an expensive endeavor to say at the least. Perhaps cut some kind of deal with a group/conglomerate with some very deep pockets (in terms of financing) to successfully pull it off and split the profits somehow (at what percentage rate, would be anybody's guess). Perhaps give the PCB version of CC a cosmetic graphical facelift & have true tate as it was meant to be. Then choose go with a low-res or high-res display format the second time around?

The real question then would be, if such a dedicated CC PCB were constructed, manufactured & released, how will it fare in both Japan & in the international arcade PCB market sales-wise?

Could be a very costly money losing venture if said possible CC PCB sales fizzle out/don't pan out as expected given the fickle nature of the PCB market these days -- profit margins are quite slim. I think that it'd have to be an interested arcade PCB developer arrange some kind of deal with the CC creator exclusively in order for it to become a reality...although that type of senario isn't likely in this day of age. You never know though as stranger things have happened with PC doujin titles being released for the Japanese arcade market.

The ol' business adage, "It takes money to make money," rings true.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[BrianC]

Best I can say is get XPadder or Joy2Key and map it to the arrow keys.

I went to the XPadder site and was shocked at how pretentous the site is. There is no indication on the main page of how much the download costs. The download link takes you to a page about how the author sold over 2,000 copies without ads and claims that people finding the site probably found out about it elsewhere. Then, the link on that page takes you directly to a form with the price of the game. I did find out about it here, but without the price mentioned, so I think it's unrealistic to expect everyone to know that the download link on XPadder's site takes you almost directly to a buy page.

[Estebang]

Numerous other sites host versions of Xpadder for free. Just look a few entries down on a search, they'll be there.

[BrianC]

Numerous other sites host versions of Xpadder for free. Just look a few entries down on a search, they'll be there.

The free one is an older verison and doesn't seem to work right with Windows 7, though. I do have JoytoKey, so there's always that. I could also use my PS2 controller with the Super Dual Box Pro for DOSBox too.

[TransatlanticFoe]

I have xpadder 5.3, which is free, and it works with Win 7 64 bit. I think I got it from the main site although it does seem to be incredibly obnoxious now, so just grab it from somewhere else if you want to try it out.

It doesn't work very well with Crimzon Clover for me though (whilst the keyboard keys it's meant to be emulating work fine), but CC accepts my 360 pad (left analogue stick for movement) without issues.

[BrianC]

I have xpadder 5.3, which is free, and it works with Win 7 64 bit. I think I got it from the main site although it does seem to be incredibly obnoxious now, so just grab it from somewhere else if you want to try it out.

It doesn't work very well with Crimzon Clover for me though (whilst the keyboard keys it's meant to be emulating work fine), but CC accepts my 360 pad (left analogue stick for movement) without issues.

I haven't tried the Crimzon Clover demo yet, but I had the same issue with Xpadder 5.3 when I tried it with DOSBox. I had to run Xpadder in compatibility mode to get it to run, so I don't know if that's the issue. The analog stick thing is normal. It isn't ideal for many games, though. However, I found a way to configure DOSBox for d-pad with the Xbox 360 pad that works very well.

[Estebang]

Using a 360 SFIV TE stick, I had no problems with XPadder + Crimzon Clover.

[BrianC]

Using a 360 SFIV TE stick, I had no problems with XPadder + Crimzon Clover.

Do you even need Xpadder with that since it's already digital?

Most joystick/pad games play with the Xbox 360 analog stick without needing something like Xpadder or Joytokey. What I want is to use the digital pad on the 360 controller for 2D games. Like other PC controllers with analog, it's detected as a hat switch. Most programs detect the 360 left analog as the main joystick. Some PC sticks have the ability to switch the main input from analog to the digital pad, but the 360 pad config doesn't have that option.

I found out how to use the dpad in DosBox without Xpadder (and never got it to work with it) and I'm guessing I could find a way with some other games by editing a config file. Maybe I misread a post, but one post suggested that I could use Xpadder to switch from analog to digital, but I couldn't figure out how. As far as I know, some things mentioned like the analog pad control for Crimzon Clover weren't even due to Xpadder in the first place (I haven't tried the xbox controller with the Crimzon Clover demo, but with the other games I tried without the use of extra software, I had to use the left analog stick for movement, which is not how I want to play 2D games).

I knew about the earlier version of Xpadder before the first reply, but I didn't try it at first becuase I heard it has issues with Windows 7. One page with the download of version 5.3 had replies said that the link didn't work anymore. When first I tried to use Xpadder 5.3, I got a message saying some features don't work on Windows 7, even though it might have still loaded (the menu went down, but I found out that I still had an instance of it running later and a hidden icon on the task bar, which I didn't spot right away). The problem isn't that the joystick isn't working at all when I use Xpadder (and I was not using Xpadder to do something like using the analog stick for joystick control, which works without it). The problem is that it doesn't seem to be working for its intended purpose, mapping the keyboard to the joystick. When I mapped keyboard input to the pad, it didn't work in DosBox. Another poster said the same thing didn't work for Crimzon Clover.

Anyway, I tried the demo of Crimzon Clover and I'm very impressed. Feels very professional and I'm liking the feel of the game. I used a PS2 controller and had no issues with the dpad (Super Dual Box Pro rocks and supports all the features, even analog buttons).

[burgerkingdiamond]

Is there a way to force CC to 4:3? On my laptop it does it on it's own, but on my desktop it stretches out to fill the whole screen (using my TV's format button to go between full screen, no overscan etc... doesn't do anything.)

[mrsmiley381]

Apparently there's an English launcher, but these setting are in the same place on the Japanese version. I got the game last night and "FullScreen for widescreen monitors" works well, though it just adds a black bar to the right side of the game. Still better than stretching, I suppose.

This game is badass but I need way more practice.

[burgerkingdiamond]

thanks. That same menu pops up for me but it's in Japanese so I didn't know what I was doing. How do you get it to launch with the English menu?

[mrsmiley381]

Well, it looks like there's a slightly newer version of the launcher here. Guy has a download link for it on the page and it looks easy to use. I'll try it out when I get home tonight.

I found it by Googling something along the lines of "Crimzon Clover English" or "Crimzon Clover English Launcher". Turns out there are a lot more small English patches of stuff than I thought.

[O. Van Bruce]

Has anyone actually done the last part of stage 5 (when it changes the BGM) without break mode and not losing a lot of lives in the process? No Type-Z ship of course...

[shmuppyLove]

I've got an ALL on Simple, which part are you talking about? Do you have a screenshot?

[FetusZero]

Hi everyone, stumbled upon this thread by Googling the English launcher myself, and couldn't resist posting this here concerning the aspect ratio problem that was mentioned by mrsmiley.

Try this (copy / pasted from another source):

NVIDIA:
NVIDIA Control Panel > Display > Adjust desktop size and position
Set scaling mode to Aspect Ratio, and make sure Perform Scaling On: is set to GPU.

On ATI Cards:
Catalyst Control Center > My Digital Flat-Panels > Properties
Under Image Scaling, select Enable GPU Scaling, and mark "Maintain Aspect Ratio"

Please Note: Some ATI users (Primarily Windows 7 users) find that this option is greyed out and cannot be changed. If this is the case for you, there are two workarounds.

The first is to change your desktop resolution to something other than the native resolution of your display -- on many systems, this will cause the option to be selectable. Once you have it selected, change your resolution back. The setting will appear to reset itself, but is actually set to whatever you set it to.

The other workaround points to a specific tool, so I didn't post that portion since it requires an additional download and what not.
Then you can select the normal "Fullscreen" and it will maintain the 4:3 aspect ratio, centered in the monitor. I can confirm it works for every games I have that does not natively support widescreen on my ATI card, though I had to use the workaround noted in the quote to set it up.

[O. Van Bruce]

I've got an ALL on Simple, which part are you talking about? Do you have a screenshot?

Ugh Sorry... My mind was too far a way when I wrote that and forgot to mention that the main issue is doing the last part of the stage 5 without using break mode....

I've already done original and simple 1cc and i was thinking about getting this challenge done...

[rancor]

Hi everyone, stumbled upon this thread by Googling the English launcher myself, and couldn't resist posting this here concerning the aspect ratio problem that was mentioned by mrsmiley.

Hey!! I know you!!

Glad you finally made it over to this side of the internet..

[FetusZero]

Hey!! I know you!!

Glad you finally made it over to this side of the internet..

The almighty rancor!

I couldn't resist the aspect ratio post, I had to sign up for this one :p Now all that's left is to actually become good at the games I love so much lol.

[Enemy]

Well, it looks like there's a slightly newer version of the launcher here. Guy has a download link for it on the page and it looks easy to use. I'll try it out when I get home tonight.

I found it by Googling something along the lines of "Crimzon Clover English" or "Crimzon Clover English Launcher". Turns out there are a lot more small English patches of stuff than I thought.

Anyone got the 1.0.1 version to work, looks like the 7z file is corrupt to me

[FetusZero]

Anyone got the 1.0.1 version to work, looks like the 7z file is corrupt to me

I don't use it, but for your sake I just downloaded it and tried it out. Works perfectly fine for me. Try redownloading the launcher, maybe you had bad luck while downloading it the first time?

[elDominiko]

Anyone got the 1.0.1 version to work, looks like the 7z file is corrupt to me

I always use newest 7zip to pack my stuff, so go to official website and use 7z to decompress it.
Thanks for using it

[Enemy]

Anyone got the 1.0.1 version to work, looks like the 7z file is corrupt to me

I always use newest 7zip to pack my stuff, so go to official website and use 7z to decompress it.
Thanks for using it

Many thanks ... should have though of trying that myself

[DoYouWantKarate]

I always use newest 7zip to pack my stuff, so go to official website and use 7z to decompress it.
Thanks for using it

Since you made this front end (which I use and appreciate) maybe you can answer my question from earlier in the thread:

Are there command line switches or some other way to skip the initial dialog box?

[mrsmiley381]

I just did a rank-controlled 1CC of Simple Mode. Ended with like five lives in stock and a score lower than several of my previous attempts. That bullet speed is horse shit, I swear. If I had some decent recording software I'd upload some bullet speed comparison videos to YouTube.

[Captain]

use vienrawr

[straight]

The miniboss in Level 4 that surrounds you with first 5 lasers, then 4, then 3, then 2, then 1 makes me irrationally happy. I don't know why I think it's so nifty, but I do.

I'm pretty terrible at shmups and am always grateful to find a good one that's also forgiving to newbies. I haven't gotten sucked this hard into a single shmup for a long time. I'm actually making progress and getting better! It's gratifying to see that a lot of really excellent players enjoy it as well.