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⌂ ∞ ▽ Elite on the BBC Micro and NES

Downloading the Elite Compendium

How to download and play the Elite Compendium

A Transporter leaving the space station on the BBC Master in the Elite Compendium

You can run the Elite Compendium on the BBC Master 128 and the BBC Micro (for the latter you'll need a model B or B+ with 16K of sideways RAM, or a B+128). Here are your options:

To load the Elite Compendium, insert the disc image and press SHIFT-D-BREAK (or SHIFT-D-F12 on most emulators). The menu system will show you all the available options, and you can either read more information by highlighting an option and pressing the left or right arrow, or you can choose which option to run by pressing RETURN.

For the BBC Master version, all options work on a standard BBC Master 128 except for 6502 Second Processor Elite, which needs a BBC Master Turbo (i.e. a BBC Master 128 with an internal 65C102 Second Processor) or a BBC Master 128 with an external 6502 Second Processor.

For the BBC Micro version, all options work on a BBC Micro with 16K of sideways RAM except for 6502 Second Processor Elite (which needs sideways RAM and a 6502 Second Processor) and the Elite Universe Editor (which needs a 6502 Second Processor).

Commander files for the game are on drive 0, while universe files for the Universe Editor are on drive 2. When playing Teletext Elite or BBC Micro Elite, ensure that the disc is inserted when launching or docking, so the game can load the correct files (just as with the original BBC Micro disc version).

Note that the Elite Compendium needs sideways RAM, so it is not suitable for an unexpanded BBC Micro.

Release history
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The Elite Compendium has had the following releases:

  • 2024-01-11 - Initial release
  • 2024-01-12 - Fixed the Data on System bug in the 6502 Second Processor version
  • 2024-05-04 - Fixed an issue with corrupted ship rotation on the BBC Master version
  • 2024-05-15 - Fixed the Moray bug from the original BBC Master and 6502 Second Processor versions, and fixed an issue with Thargoids corrupting the screen in the BBC Master version
  • 2024-05-17 - Fixed an issue with Thargoids corrupting the screen in the 6502 Second Processor version
  • 2024-06-30 - Added the joystick fire button fix to the BBC Micro, Teletext and 6502 Second Processor versions, and fixed the volume controls in the 6502 Second Processor version
  • 2024-06-30 - Released the Compendium for the BBC Micro with 16K sideways RAM
  • 2024-07-01 - Updated BBC Micro version to work with IntegraB board
  • 2024-07-08 - Added all Compendium-specific features to the BBC Micro disc, Teletext and 6502 Second Processor versions
  • 2024-07-10 - Added all applicable Compendium-specific features to the BBC Micro cassette version
  • 2024-07-12 - Applied the volume setting to explosions in all the BBC Micro versions, as they weren't being muted
  • 2024-08-27 - Fixed a minor issue with the BOXART2 universe file that would make it take up more memory than required

You can check the release for a given disc image by loading the disc and typing *TYPE README to display the credits. The build date is at the end.