Great Hierophant
Veteran Member
Pool of Radiance was originally developed for the Commodore 64 and released in 1988 for the Commodore 64 and DOS. Pool of Radiance has theme music in the C64 version which plays on the title screen and was composed by Dave Warhol (Warhol Theme). The Warhol Theme was reused for the game's sequel, Curse of the Azure Bonds. The Warhol Theme is the only piece of music in either game.
Pool of Radiance for DOS has known versions v1.0, v1.2 and v1.3. I do not know if there a v1.1 was released or what it does. The credits screen will tell you which version you are playing except for v1.0 which does not display a version number on this screen.
Pool v1.0 plays the Warhol Theme on the title screen to the credits screen with a Tandy 1000 sound chip but not via PC speaker. A portion of this theme will play whenever a battle begins until the first move is made in combat. Pool v1.2 and v1.3 have no music. All DOS versions of Pool have enhanced sound effects on a Tandy 1000 compared to a PC Speaker.
Curse of the Azure Bonds for DOS has known versions v1.0, v1.1, v1.2 and v1.3. All but v1.3 play the Warhol Theme on the title screen, and the Warhol Theme will play with the PC Speaker (1 voice vs. 3 voices) compared to the Tandy sound chip. Like Pool, all versions of Curse will produce enhanced sound effects on a Tandy 1000 compared to a PC Speaker.
Pool or Curse will go through the title screens before finishing the song, even with the slowest CPU. You can let the song finish by pressing Pause or Hold on the keyboard.
One other musical quality separates Pool from Curse. When Pool plays the Warhol Theme, early in the song there is a single off-tune note that plays during the Theme. Curse does not have this issue and you can also hear the theme if you play the original Gold Box Neverwinter Nights with a Tandy. This issue is not an issue with inaccurate emulation in DOSBox, the detuned note is heard on all my Tandy 1000s.
The cause of this note eluded me for a long time, but my friend NewRisingSun discovered why it plays. Due to a bug in the music playback routine, this note is being played from the PC Speaker's sound generating hardware, which is independent of the the 3-voice Tandy Sound Chip. However, in every Tandy 1000 the PC Speaker sound is mixed in with the Tandy 1000 sound, so the PC Speaker cannot be easily silenced. Even though the game is not supported in the IBM PCjr. and will show the "venetian blinds effect" on the graphics where every other scanline is not shown without performing a Tandy mod, the PCjr. does not mix in the PC Speaker with the 3-voice sound chip. It will still sound the note through its internal piezo speaker, but the external output will only play back the 3-voice sound.
EGA and CGA graphics modes will have longer load times on then-contemporary CPUs than the Tandy running on the same CPU. This is because the graphics are stored in a format best suited for Tandy graphics, where a byte identifies the color of two pixels. Both EGA and Tandy support 16 colors and EGA uses planar graphics where a byte only a quarter of the color information needed for each pixel. So in this case Pool has to convert the Tandy-friendly graphics in real time to EGA-friendly graphics when loading the game, which adds loading time. CGA uses 4 colors and a byte can define 4 pixels, similar to Tandy graphics, but the game has to convert 16-color graphics down into 4-color graphics when running the game, adding to the loading times.
In Pool, the combat background in Tandy graphics mode is black but in EGA graphics mode is light gray.
Pool of Radiance for DOS has known versions v1.0, v1.2 and v1.3. I do not know if there a v1.1 was released or what it does. The credits screen will tell you which version you are playing except for v1.0 which does not display a version number on this screen.
Pool v1.0 plays the Warhol Theme on the title screen to the credits screen with a Tandy 1000 sound chip but not via PC speaker. A portion of this theme will play whenever a battle begins until the first move is made in combat. Pool v1.2 and v1.3 have no music. All DOS versions of Pool have enhanced sound effects on a Tandy 1000 compared to a PC Speaker.
Curse of the Azure Bonds for DOS has known versions v1.0, v1.1, v1.2 and v1.3. All but v1.3 play the Warhol Theme on the title screen, and the Warhol Theme will play with the PC Speaker (1 voice vs. 3 voices) compared to the Tandy sound chip. Like Pool, all versions of Curse will produce enhanced sound effects on a Tandy 1000 compared to a PC Speaker.
Pool or Curse will go through the title screens before finishing the song, even with the slowest CPU. You can let the song finish by pressing Pause or Hold on the keyboard.
One other musical quality separates Pool from Curse. When Pool plays the Warhol Theme, early in the song there is a single off-tune note that plays during the Theme. Curse does not have this issue and you can also hear the theme if you play the original Gold Box Neverwinter Nights with a Tandy. This issue is not an issue with inaccurate emulation in DOSBox, the detuned note is heard on all my Tandy 1000s.
The cause of this note eluded me for a long time, but my friend NewRisingSun discovered why it plays. Due to a bug in the music playback routine, this note is being played from the PC Speaker's sound generating hardware, which is independent of the the 3-voice Tandy Sound Chip. However, in every Tandy 1000 the PC Speaker sound is mixed in with the Tandy 1000 sound, so the PC Speaker cannot be easily silenced. Even though the game is not supported in the IBM PCjr. and will show the "venetian blinds effect" on the graphics where every other scanline is not shown without performing a Tandy mod, the PCjr. does not mix in the PC Speaker with the 3-voice sound chip. It will still sound the note through its internal piezo speaker, but the external output will only play back the 3-voice sound.
EGA and CGA graphics modes will have longer load times on then-contemporary CPUs than the Tandy running on the same CPU. This is because the graphics are stored in a format best suited for Tandy graphics, where a byte identifies the color of two pixels. Both EGA and Tandy support 16 colors and EGA uses planar graphics where a byte only a quarter of the color information needed for each pixel. So in this case Pool has to convert the Tandy-friendly graphics in real time to EGA-friendly graphics when loading the game, which adds loading time. CGA uses 4 colors and a byte can define 4 pixels, similar to Tandy graphics, but the game has to convert 16-color graphics down into 4-color graphics when running the game, adding to the loading times.
In Pool, the combat background in Tandy graphics mode is black but in EGA graphics mode is light gray.
