Mark Moxon

The enhanced version of #Acorn #Electron #Elite continues to grow. I've now added the ship hangar, which gets shown when you dock.

This feature was only in the BBC and NES versions, and not the Commodore 64 or Apple II, so that's a one-up for the Elk. 🫡

#retrogaming #retrocomputing #8bit

Jul 4, 2025 at 2:06pmWeb
Show threadBytebro 🇬🇧 🇺🇦 🇬🇱Jul 4, 2025

@markmoxon

My colleague and I used to play Elite on MS-DOS in the late 80s in down-time at work. We fairly quickly discovered that if you changed a few bits in the save file using a hex editor, we could suddenly acquire military lasers and docking computers 😀

Happier days!

Show threadMark MoxonJul 4, 2025

@bytebro Ah yes, the commander editor programs were great! What a revelation they were.

I remember reading about them back in the day; it was arcane magic to me. Such good times. 🙂

Show threadBytebro 🇬🇧 🇺🇦 🇬🇱Jul 4, 2025

@markmoxon

I think we used Norton Disk Doctor, so NDD on MS-DOS, but such fun!

Show threadMark MoxonJul 4, 2025
@bytebro Proper hex hacking! Impressive. I wonder if the MS-DOS files had the crazy checksums of the 6502 versions, as that would have been a fun task in a hex editor...
Show threadDo I 'Ave To?Jul 4, 2025
@markmoxon Great stuff once again Mark!
Show threadDTrasler WritingJul 4, 2025
@markmoxon we got our first floppy drive for the BBC B and played Elite. I was so bad at it, but it seemed to be everything I dreamed of. I bought the modern version from Steam but couldn't get into it.
Show threadMark MoxonJul 4, 2025

@Dtraslerwriting It took me a whole year to save up for a disc system, but it was worth it just to be able to play Elite with missions and mining and military lasers and all those ships... it was such a leap from the tape version.

Happy days!

I do love Elite:Dangerous too, but there's something magical about the original 1984 version that's hard to beat...

Show threadDTrasler WritingJul 4, 2025
@markmoxon There's never been a space or flight sim radar to compare to the Elite system. So smart, so easy to understand.
Show threadMark MoxonJul 4, 2025
@Dtraslerwriting I totally agree! It’s a spark of genius, it really is.
Show threadPxl PhileJul 4, 2025
@markmoxon Nice job! On C64 and on MS-DOS (IIRC) I never saw a hangar. We needed to use our imagination xD
Show threadMark MoxonJul 4, 2025

@ppxl It wasn't in the BBC Micro cassette version either, which is the one I started out on, so I know what you mean. Imagination is a pretty key part of the whole Elite experience, really!

Love this game. 🙂