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About this emulator

This is an emulator I've developed to replace the computer portion of the 1992 board game known as "The Omega Virus".  I've aptly named this emulator 'OVEmu'.

Need more info on how good the original Omega Virus is/was?  Check this one out:
https://boardgamegeek.com/video/69304/omega-virus/omega-virus-complete-tutorial-full-game

The way OVEmu works is it emulates only the computer part of the board game.  It doesn't simulate the board or serve to replace the game as a whole.  You can use this program on a laptop or to replace the computer in the original game if you want.  Alternatively I made it so it works within tabletop simulator. 

In networked game play, somebody hosts a server while the players connect to it.  It then acts like one single computer unit synchronized across all clients.  Anybody can press the buttons much like they could if they were all sitting with you around a table with the original unit hooked up.  If you just want single player, then host a game with nobody else connected.  Easy.

For use in Tabletop simulator, it goes a step further.  The emulator is designed to be controlled by the embedded tablet for seamless integration.  Once you're either hosting an OVEmu session or connected to somebody elses, simply direct your tablet to http://mee.pe/omegavirus.  The one caveat is that this is NOT some magic multiplayer website that will let players join your tabletop sim game without the emulator.  This particular site tells the tablet to connect to your copy of the emulator and yours alone.  Simply put:  OVEmu must be running for EACH player who wants to use the tablet to interact with the game.

I started this project because I've searched around the net for this very thing and was amazed to find it doesn't exist.  I saw in a few different places some hobby programmers promising to make it but they were always empty promises leaving nothing to show for anything.  Having finally come this far, I can understand why this may have been abandoned by all those who tried before.  It's something that's pretty much too difficult for your average hobby programmer to do, yet not worth the time of any professional programmer.  The amount of work needed to re-create the depth of game play the original computer supplied was much more then I expected.  I'm not a programmer by trade.  It's just a hobby for me.

Current stage of development:  Beta V2 Release candidate

Download here (NOTE: I've noticed chrome can be an ass and complain about this download.  Tell it to keep the file and scan it yourself - it's safe.  Chrome can be paranoid when a file is not 'popular' enough... chrome is a jerk).

To use:  Extract the zip somewhere then run ovemu.exe.  More detailed instructions are located in the program itself under the 'Reference' menu.  This will only run on Windows 7 and above as it was written with the .net 4.5 framework.  Speaking of which, you may also need the .net framework.  Get that here if you don't already have it.

For anybody who cares, the reason it took me so long to get from my first version to this one was licensing.  I'm using a new component in the emulator package that requires me to change the license to GPLv2.  While I don't mind sharing my creations, I'm not particularly fond of sharing my methods.  Because of this, I've separated OVemu into a client/server model.  The client is GPLv2 licensed and the server is still licensed under Creative Commons.  At least the majority of my work remains mine this way.

 

OVEmu Client by Edward Schuyler is licensed under GPLv2 - http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.en.html - it's a shitty license and I hate it, but I will comply with it and it doesn't matter to anybody who just wants to use my work to enjoy a classic game anyway.


Features:

  • All base difficulty levels
  • 1 to 4 player support
  • client-server model with networked multiplayer
  • Game token tracking
  • Instanced board for all players
  • Inventory tracking
  • All items, probes, traps, and dialog working
  • The original speech and an optional alternate speech set
  • Timer
  • Timer shutting down sectors
  • Endgame out of time failure
  • Endgame virus battle and victory
  • Secret difficulty mode (the easter egg from the original)
  • pvp
  • multi language support
  • Version check and auto-update option


Things I'll probably be adding soon:

  • Um..  videos showing how it works?
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