Star Wars DroidWorks: Robot Abomination Simulator
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Date: 2022-04-14
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Comments and reviews: 10
RychschaX
I had (and still do) this game back around when it came out, and I can say that about 90% of the issues mentioned here just weren't a thing (or weren't noticeable) on the hardware the game was made for. I never did manage to complete the game, on account of being too scared of the assassin droids that started showing up once you finished the training missions. I think it was partly due to the way the screen flashed when they hit you, and partly due to the fact that they were the only enemies in what was otherwise a pretty chill game, so they tended to inspire panic to a degree whenever they appeared. The only secret mission I was able to complete was the scrapyard one, due to the fact that the assassin droid in that one was easy to escape on account of not being able to jump (except for that one time that it did) or open doors.
Also, yeah, the camera was kinda shit, but ya know, the cameras in most 3D games were back then, so it was less noticeable.
Pity the game doesn't like modern hardware.
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I had (and still do) this game back around when it came out, and I can say that about 90% of the issues mentioned here just weren't a thing (or weren't noticeable) on the hardware the game was made for. I never did manage to complete the game, on account of being too scared of the assassin droids that started showing up once you finished the training missions. I think it was partly due to the way the screen flashed when they hit you, and partly due to the fact that they were the only enemies in what was otherwise a pretty chill game, so they tended to inspire panic to a degree whenever they appeared. The only secret mission I was able to complete was the scrapyard one, due to the fact that the assassin droid in that one was easy to escape on account of not being able to jump (except for that one time that it did) or open doors.
Also, yeah, the camera was kinda shit, but ya know, the cameras in most 3D games were back then, so it was less noticeable.
Pity the game doesn't like modern hardware.
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Emma
I found out how to fix the game's problem with its animations and physics engine. The problem is that the game's engine is designed run between 10 and maybe about 24fps and the animations and physics are tied to the framerate. Any faster and the physics engine starts to break down. So what you have to do is lock the framerate. I would suggest either 10 fps, 12fps, 15fps, or 20fps. Those are the most stable options because they divide evenly into a refresh rate of 0Hz or 120 Hz and will give you the smoothest gameplay and video playback. You can lock to a specific framerate with something like Guru3D RTSS Rivatuner Statistics Server. Start with 20 fps and If the framerate option you pick doesn't work go to the next one down. You can also use NVidia inspector and set vsync to 1/4th refresh rate if you have a 60Hz monitor.
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I found out how to fix the game's problem with its animations and physics engine. The problem is that the game's engine is designed run between 10 and maybe about 24fps and the animations and physics are tied to the framerate. Any faster and the physics engine starts to break down. So what you have to do is lock the framerate. I would suggest either 10 fps, 12fps, 15fps, or 20fps. Those are the most stable options because they divide evenly into a refresh rate of 0Hz or 120 Hz and will give you the smoothest gameplay and video playback. You can lock to a specific framerate with something like Guru3D RTSS Rivatuner Statistics Server. Start with 20 fps and If the framerate option you pick doesn't work go to the next one down. You can also use NVidia inspector and set vsync to 1/4th refresh rate if you have a 60Hz monitor.
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Christian
I don't know that the game was ever- I take that back, the game was never made for adults. I think it's competently made so that it's enjoyable for adults, but it's was always principally made for kids.
The physics issues seem to only be a problem relating to modern machines and, call me crazy, but can you now underclock CPU's fairly easily?
I remember playing this as a kid in the late 90's/early 2000's, and loved the problem solving, star wars setting with the healthy dose of horror the assassin droids peppered in.
I'd love to see it properly remade with modern software because yeah, I can see how the retrofitting bugs make it hard to play today.
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I don't know that the game was ever- I take that back, the game was never made for adults. I think it's competently made so that it's enjoyable for adults, but it's was always principally made for kids.
The physics issues seem to only be a problem relating to modern machines and, call me crazy, but can you now underclock CPU's fairly easily?
I remember playing this as a kid in the late 90's/early 2000's, and loved the problem solving, star wars setting with the healthy dose of horror the assassin droids peppered in.
I'd love to see it properly remade with modern software because yeah, I can see how the retrofitting bugs make it hard to play today.
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Dreamwalker
My elementary school had all four of these games in 1999!
I did the Jabba's one a lot even though I loathed doing math, because I thought the ship you got to fly was totally badass (is this proof of edutainment theory. Pit Droids was usually in high demand and everyone hated Jar Jar's Journey. Ironically, I almost never played Droidworks because I didn't -get it- at the time. I think because it looked so similar to Jedi Knight it just made me frustrated that I couldn't shoot things.
And yes, we played them on those iMacs with the clear and bright-colored plastic and the perfectly round, totally un-ergonomic mouse. You know the one.
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My elementary school had all four of these games in 1999!
I did the Jabba's one a lot even though I loathed doing math, because I thought the ship you got to fly was totally badass (is this proof of edutainment theory. Pit Droids was usually in high demand and everyone hated Jar Jar's Journey. Ironically, I almost never played Droidworks because I didn't -get it- at the time. I think because it looked so similar to Jedi Knight it just made me frustrated that I couldn't shoot things.
And yes, we played them on those iMacs with the clear and bright-colored plastic and the perfectly round, totally un-ergonomic mouse. You know the one.
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BaremetalBaron
From my understanding, this is a hardware issue. The game was never intended to be played on machines with CPUs clocked at over 100 MHz, and the physics break down at high clock speeds on modern machines (and apparently emulation doesn't solve the issue. I don't recall having any of these issues when I played the game as a kid. But you're saying you played on various retro setups, so that leaves me scratching my head. Either way, failing to note that makes the review seem a bit unfair, I think, because this sounds like a compatibility problem, not an intrinsic aspect of the game as it was originally made.
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From my understanding, this is a hardware issue. The game was never intended to be played on machines with CPUs clocked at over 100 MHz, and the physics break down at high clock speeds on modern machines (and apparently emulation doesn't solve the issue. I don't recall having any of these issues when I played the game as a kid. But you're saying you played on various retro setups, so that leaves me scratching my head. Either way, failing to note that makes the review seem a bit unfair, I think, because this sounds like a compatibility problem, not an intrinsic aspect of the game as it was originally made.
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oyonan
I bought this game for about $75 back when it came out. I was really excited and really let down when I found out not only how buggy it was and prone to crash, but how brutally slowly it ran on my Mac. It was well within the the recommended requirements but i came to find out it was jut a really badly done port. I still had a ton of fun with it over the years, I just had to really work at managing to get some of the jumps and such done. Most of the time they were just blind leaps of faith where I had to hope my inputs worked out because I couldn-t see anything and the game was stuttering.
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I bought this game for about $75 back when it came out. I was really excited and really let down when I found out not only how buggy it was and prone to crash, but how brutally slowly it ran on my Mac. It was well within the the recommended requirements but i came to find out it was jut a really badly done port. I still had a ton of fun with it over the years, I just had to really work at managing to get some of the jumps and such done. Most of the time they were just blind leaps of faith where I had to hope my inputs worked out because I couldn-t see anything and the game was stuttering.
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Schames
Old video true, but two cents anyways. I actually replayed the game entirely one or two years ago myself, for the physics issues, I had tried to play several times every time forgetting that I could never get over that first ramp on mission one, (Didn't know about the hint exploit, but what I did end up using was a CPU dampener (Essentially ran a program designed to use -X-% of the CPU at all times leaving less for a game like Droid works) Instantly fixed the physics bugs and the game ran perfect, best experience of nostalgia of reliving my days playing it back on an XP machine.
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Old video true, but two cents anyways. I actually replayed the game entirely one or two years ago myself, for the physics issues, I had tried to play several times every time forgetting that I could never get over that first ramp on mission one, (Didn't know about the hint exploit, but what I did end up using was a CPU dampener (Essentially ran a program designed to use -X-% of the CPU at all times leaving less for a game like Droid works) Instantly fixed the physics bugs and the game ran perfect, best experience of nostalgia of reliving my days playing it back on an XP machine.
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Loren
When I played this as a kid I remember it running perfectly, I wonder if it runs better on older machines. My Brother and I used to work together to each play and we would share our discoveries. my favorite memory was when we descovered how on a night-vision head you could paint the eyes white to change it from a night-vision effect to more of a headlamp effect which would greatly reduce battery consumption making the dark level way easier though 100 times creepier.
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When I played this as a kid I remember it running perfectly, I wonder if it runs better on older machines. My Brother and I used to work together to each play and we would share our discoveries. my favorite memory was when we descovered how on a night-vision head you could paint the eyes white to change it from a night-vision effect to more of a headlamp effect which would greatly reduce battery consumption making the dark level way easier though 100 times creepier.
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Shining
That's so interesting. I never had issues with tread droids on inclines (unless they were wimpy on power and were pushing objects) and I didn't have any bugs either. Edit. I still keep a thinkpad from the 90's to play it on, granted CPU killer does help a bit and depends on your computer for modern day play. I still run on my old laptop because I am lazy and hate changing stuff on my modern laptop to play it.
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That's so interesting. I never had issues with tread droids on inclines (unless they were wimpy on power and were pushing objects) and I didn't have any bugs either. Edit. I still keep a thinkpad from the 90's to play it on, granted CPU killer does help a bit and depends on your computer for modern day play. I still run on my old laptop because I am lazy and hate changing stuff on my modern laptop to play it.
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Chompy
Holy shit, I played this game. On my iMac. And it was broken as hell. And it made me mad because I was also playing games like Jedi Outcast and had no problem there, but this game seemed super -hard- even though I got it from a Scholastic Book Fair Catalog and I thought, therefore, that it should have been easy. I must not have played it for more than a few hours, and I forgot all about it until now. Wild
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Holy shit, I played this game. On my iMac. And it was broken as hell. And it made me mad because I was also playing games like Jedi Outcast and had no problem there, but this game seemed super -hard- even though I got it from a Scholastic Book Fair Catalog and I thought, therefore, that it should have been easy. I must not have played it for more than a few hours, and I forgot all about it until now. Wild
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