Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom Path: cdrom.com!barrnet.net!sgiblab!sgigate.sgi.com!olivea!news.hal.COM!decwrl!netcomsv!netcom.com!cdsale From: cdsale@netcom.com (Todd Ostrer) Subject: ADULT CD ROM REVIEW: Stareware! Message-ID: Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL1] Date: Mon, 18 Apr 1994 07:01:21 GMT Lines: 224 STAREware ========= This review is broken up into several posts and contains three major sections: Statistics - the quantitative, measurable characteristics of the CD; Operations - a more qualitative analysis of the "usability" aspects of the CD which tries to consider factors of interest to both the sysop and the end-user; and Visual - a purely qualitative opinion of the intrinsic qualities of the images themselves. Note that section boundaries are not inviolate. To those of you whom have read some of my previous reviews of adult CDs, you will be familiar territory with this one as well. If you're a "new" reader, let me iterate: What follows is ONE PERSON'S OPINION. I have a few general comments I'd like to make about STAREware (SW) and not feeling that any other place is more appropriate, I'll make them here. First, there is no identified producer of SW on the jewel box inserts or the CD itself. No names, no addresses - nothing that would tell you where this CD came from. Some of the more current releases (e.g. from Florida Lion's Den) come with full identification and even warranty/registration cards. This probably isn't very important in the overall scheme of things, but when *I* make something I'm proud of, I put my name all over it. I can't help but wonder if there's a correlation here. Secondly, the jewel inserts are pretty primitive and more cartoon-like than one would expect for a CD of this type. While the front insert is mildly amusing, it doesn't compare to the inserts for Southern Beauties, for example. What I liked the least was that the edges of the back insert are blank. When the cases of such CDs are stored edgewise, there's no clue which CD is which. This makes it more difficult to pick them out of a stack. Statistics ========== Examination of SW revealed 2441 GIFs and 14 TGA files. The GIF files are of various resolutions, but mostly 640x480, with the exception of the HIRES directory where the 800x600 and up GIF and TGA files reside (all 142 of them). The GIFs average 176,659 bytes in size - somewhat large for 640x480 resolution but explained by the fact that the many of the files are full-screen in size. The GIF files in HIRES average 327,022 bytes each; the TGA files about 80,923 bytes each. The TGA numbers are low because they're 15-bit color, not 24-bit color. I found only three pairs of duplicated files on the CD A VERY low number. However, when compared to my GIF name data base, there were 1647 "hits". The hit distribution was as follows: Seedy 6-Pak 1012 7th Heaven 3 BB/R1 123 BB/R3 130 Ecstasy 111 FAO-2 313 FAO-3 339 FAO-Gold 167 PCPIX-1 656 PCPIX-2 18 PCPIX-3 1 Visual Fan. 143 Pork-1 126 Storm-3 157 Of the 794 non-hit names, 660 were found to have the dash character "-" in the file name. Notwithstanding the fact that the ISO 9660 standard isn't supposed to permit this character (so I'm told), there it was! When these "-" were changed to the underline character "_" and the file names re-checked, an additional 473 hits were recorded. Of the remaining non-hit files, visual examination (admittedly an "iffy" process) resulted in only about 85 files being identified as "new" - i.e. not appearing in any of the comparison CDs. Bottom line: SW's GIF files are pretty much the same collection that can found on most any of its contemporaries. In addition to the GIFs and the TGA files, there are small collections of animated GL, DL, and FLI files as well. The GL/DL files number about 75-80 while there are 16 FLI files. More on these in the Operations and Visual sections. Operations - Sysop ================== The GIF directories on SW are more or less divided up by "R" and "X" ratings. The directories are named respectively R01-R04 and XO1-X11. Files within each rating are divided alphabetically across the directories. Additionally, there's the HIRES directory with a mixture of subject matter. To say that there are file description listings on SW is a bit of an understatement. There are three sets of descriptions in each of the directories: FILES.BBS, FILES.LIS, and DESC.CD. FILES.BBS is the "expanded" type of listing in that file sizes and dates are included as follows: Item Starts in col ---- ------------- File Name 1 File Size 15 Date Stamp 24 Description 34 The FILES.LIS (identical with the DESC.CD files) adheres to the original "FILES.BBS" format of a file name beginning in column 1 and a description that starts in column 14. Additionally, there's a directory named FILELIST where a collection of files with names corresponding to the directories resides. These files also have the "expanded" format file lists in them. But hold on - we're not done yet! There is also a file in the root directory called STARE.TXT which contains descriptions for all the files on the CD in the "expanded" format, but divided up by textual "header" lines that precede each directories descriptions. More importantly than file descriptions, in one of the "help" files (more on these later), there is the statement: "Collected from a variety of sources, these GIF pictures are believed to be uncopyrighted and public domain. They were chosen as the best from the thousands we reviewed...all fun & no work!" That statement notwithstanding, several images had names that suggested otherwise (e.g. PCAL0690 - Playboy calendar June 1990). Others clearly carried embedded text from sources (e.g. Event Horizons) known to copyright their material. Bottom line for sysops: Caveat emptor! Operations - End User ===================== Outside of a small advisory concerning DL files on the inside from cover, there's no installation instructions for the CD. A totally naive user would be lost about where to begin. Even the XMENU program (see below) doesn't offer any clues until you try to run it the first time. A little more attention to these aspects would have been helpful and appreciated. Nonetheless, SW contains several features that end users will appreciate. To begin, in the root directory are three programs called, respectively, XHELP.EXE, XPRINT.EXE, and XMENU.EXE. Each is a standalone program that can be run from the CD itself, certain conditions having been met. XHELP provides additional information about the CD, the files on it (e.g. the quoted remark above), etc. It has a menu of 6-7 items, all of which can be viewed/read in a few minutes. XPRINT has the ability to print out any of several files, notably the FILES.BBS files. Selections are likewise from a menu. A printer is required as there is no provision to indicate an alternate destination. XMENU is potentially the most useful as it provides for file selection from a DlR-like listing. A copy of the required VPIC viewer is included on the CD but it must be copied to a HDD directory in the DOS path, and it must be pre-configured for your video setup. Those conditions being satisfied, XMENU will let you navigate the CD's directories and choose images or animations for viewing. There are, however, some limitations. First, XMENU demands VPIC - it doesn't work with any other viewer. I suppose you could try to fake XMENU out by installing another viewer and naming it "VPIC.EXE" - I didn't try that. Secondly, XMENU seems to lock VPIC in 640x480 mode. I have VPIC version 6.0g and it works quite well with my S3 board up through 1024x768x256 and 640x480x16M modes. I couldn't find any provision for accessing the higher resolution modes through XMENU. Viewing aside, XMENU is Spartan in its offerings. It can copy a selected file to the HDD, and pressing the spacebar at the menu will call up the highlighted file's description at the top of the screen, but that's about it. There's no image manipulation, no slide show, and ALL functions are keyboard only - no mouse support. XMENU will also run the GL and the FLI files for you from the CD. DL files must be copied to the HDD before they can be viewed. (This advisory is on the inside front cover of the jewel case and was spoken about earlier.) It's worth noting that all the DL & GL files on SW are repeated THREE times. The DL and GL files are in the DLFILES, DLPLAY and GLFILES, GLPLAY directories, respectively. In the ??FILES directories, each animation appears in both ZIP format and a self-extracting EXE format. In the ??PLAY directories, the files are in an uncompressed state, ready to use. (Note: the few FLI files are in with the GL files.) Surely only one of each file (of ANY type) would have been sufficient. Go figure. Bottom line for end users: XMENU is better than nothing, but just barely. In a world of SHOWOFF and GIFReed, it's an anachronism. Visual ====== If you own virtually ANY other adult CD, you've been here before. While the images are, as previously stated, generally large (e.g. many are full-screen in size), they're also replete with BBS ads, etc. Don't get me wrong; SW isn't a "bad" CD, it just doesn't have anything new or different to offer. Its images are the same (literally) as everyone else's and its user front end is all but nonexistent. If you don't have any other CD, there are better ones to start with - like Busty Babes with the SHOWOFF front end. BB's images may be a bit tired, too, but SHOWOFF is state-of-the-art! As for the animated files, the news is the same. There doesn't seem to be much interest in the industry to make newer files of these types. Perhaps the full-blown "interactive" CDs have made them obsolete. Whatever the reason, if you're looking for some fresh DL/GL/FLI titles, you won't find them here. A couple of additional notes on the animated front: First, the GL file OBSESSED is in its own directory and plays flawlessly from the CD. While this may seem a small thing, the other copies of OBSESSED that are in the GL directories don't. OBSESSED isn't a new animation, but it's one of the more interesting ones, artfully mixing text and stills into a complete story - not just a bunch of endlessly repeated images. Secondly, there is a directory named CINDY wherein an animation resides that REQUIRES SoundBlaster support. I don't have that on my system so I couldn't test it out. The TGA files are 15-bit color and, while they don't duplicate any of the GIF images, they aren't anything special either. In fact, at least a few of them are recognizable as old GIF files that have been converted to the Targa (TGA) format. ------------------------------------ Review by Bob Jackson: Houston, Tx. ------------------------------------ Pacific Data Graphics / Your Adult CD-Rom Source 2473 S.E. 135th / Portland , Oregon. 97233 (503) 257-7255 '24' Hr. Voice# for Questions/Orders 1-800-400-7255 '24' Hr. Voice# for ORDERS Only: Email: cdsale@netcom.com For Our Latest 350+ Title Adult List: -- Pacific Data Graphics Inc. 'your cd-rom disk source 1100 titles' 503-257-7255 '24' Voice# for Questions,Orders 1-800-400-7255 '24' # for Orders Only: