8299 Search Sub Software

[Blakbird]

I'm getting ready to document the 8250/8299 pneumatic submarine for Technicopedia. This set came with two different numbers, and the second version included software. I do not have the software version and have never used it. Does anyone have it and, if so, could you offer any thoughts on its content? I hate to just leave that section blank.

The 8432 Concept Car the following year also had software and I had that at the time. I recall being very underwhelmed. It had very early digital building instructions as well as a racing game.

[Moz]

IIRC the software was the awful computer building instructions, I loaded it once, swore at the Win95-ness of it and decided that building the model using only the pictures on the box would be better. It did come with paper instructions. There may have been an animated "movie" featuring the sub demonstrating its various movements. But unfortunately I spent an hour making the software go then 10 minutes wondering why I bothered, about 20 years ago.

The intro is on youtube:

Edited May 31, 2015 by Moz

[NathanR]

I do have that set, though it's many years since I've been able to run the software (don't think it worked after Windows 98). The diver figure included in the set would appear in a corner of the computer screen at various points and give helpful tips, or witty comments. I remember one point where if you clicked to learn about a shark, he'd appear, shudder, then say "If you ever see one of these around, you'd better let me know", while the shark in question swims behind him....

When you ran the software you would be taken to an underwater base, formed of a central hub with 5 different "rooms" clustered around it. Clicking on the map would spin the picture of the base then take you to the room you selected. The first room showed the A-model, nicknamed the "rubber duck", and clicking on different parts of the sub would activate the technic mechanisms and show off the features of the real one (e.g. click the knob to open the front canopy, and the removable mini-sub floats out, while the diver waves and says "Hello"). You could also click a button to haul up digital instructions for building the sub. IIRC they were the same as the paper manual, but showed animations of each piece dropping in place, or the pneumatic hoses threading through the holes.

The second room showed the B-model, but was otherwise the same as the room with the A-model - click the model to see it move, or work through a CGI building guide.

The third room featured 5 or 6 alternative builds, each of which could be built one at a time with the parts in the set. They were typically tiny, the "vertical scooter" was barely a platform for the diver to stand on with a couple of propellers attached, but the "deep sea sonar" was a largish build with a spinning "radar dish" type structure on top. On completing the build, you would get a certificate you could print out with your name on it. Again, clicking on each model would make the diver appear on it and go through a routine that showed off all of the moving parts.

The fourth room gave access to a small database with limited info on various sea creatures. More interesting (at least to me) was the section on the submarines, as each technic model featured in the first three rooms had an entry describing their operational depths, capabilities, and uses. A lot of the mini-models had fun stories attached to them, and there were also CGI video clips showing them in action (e.g. the main model investigating a sensor barrel destroyed in a rock fall and replacing it, and I'm sure there was one of a remote controlled sub getting eaten by a shark... the camera on it apparently sent back "interesting" pictures for months afterwards )

The fifth room was the lego technic catalogue - a large curved screen with various sets displayed. If you clicked on a picture of a set, or typed in coordinates, you'd see a camera point to one of the pictures and then open a window describing the set and it's key features. The 8480 Technic Space Shuttle and the 8479 Barcode Multi-Set had actual video clips showing children playing with the models - I suspect they were TV adverts from the time. There may have been more videos, I have a vague memory of one for a black helicopter, but I don't know for sure. Another nice easter egg was a Lego set from I think the 1950s of a carved wooden duck.

Also, there was one of the rooms where if you clicked on a computer panel on the left hand side of the screen (a panel that appeared nothing more than part of the background scenery), you would call up a very simple game that was basically Space Invaders.

On the whole I felt it was a very fun piece of software, although I was about 8 years old at the time and I'd probably find it a bit clunky today. The diver occasionally popping up with a little joke or comment was a very nice touch, and it was exciting trying to find out what you had to click to make him pop up again, and what he'd come out with.

Actually, know I stop and think... is it bad that it's been at least ten years and I just knew all this stuff and didn't even have to stop to look something up?

Edited May 31, 2015 by NathanR

[allanp]

I have it and by today's standards it's not that great but as a kid at the time of release I thought it was great. It gave you animated instructions, some of which can be seen here:

https://vimeo.com/31414348

There were 5 areas or "rooms" you could visit on the CD-rom, all fairly impressively and artfully rendered for the time. Rooms A and B are the building instructions for the A (submarine) and B (mobile base) models. You can step through the building instructions manually as you build or play the complete animation. Room C is the tips and tricks room which contained building instructions for 5 smaller models. Each model contains at least one handy building tip. With a total of 7 models to build I guess the CD-rom version was a submariner themed universal set. room D is the briefing room. This is where you get educational background info about all the models in the set and underwater life in general. Room E is the showroom. This room has many screens containing info about many other Technic sets. Some screens played TV ads released from previous years including the TV ads for 8880, control centre 2 and the space shuttle. In all of the rooms there is an animated technic figure (the one included in the set) that would pop up from time to time to give hints and stuff. In room E for example he would sometimes pop up and say "what ever you do, don't look at screen 8.9" or something like that. I'm going mostly off memory here. Clicking on that screen would show a wooden duck toy produced by Lego before they went to plastic bricks.

I do have the CD somewhere but I can't find it, but I did find the CD-rom for 8428.

  On 5/31/2015 at 10:44 AM, NathanR said:

Actually, know I stop and think... is it bad that it's been at least ten years and I just knew all this stuff and didn't even have to stop to look something up?

I hope not, I've just done the same thing as you was writing your comment

Edited May 31, 2015 by allanp

[Carrera124]

The software can be downloaded from here:

http://www.brickfactory.info/

(old set software -> by number)

[Chr.Maglekaer]

I have taken a screenshots of the five additional models and loaded them onto Brickshelf.

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=546556

Feel free to use them.

[Moz]

You can find Win95/Win98 virtual machine images if you're really keen to actually run it. It might even be worth making one with the CD and zipping it up so people can download and know that it will work. VMware at least are pretty good with backward compatibility (I still have VMware 3 images that will load and update). And it might run under older WINE versions, which would be even better (because minimal Ubuntu+WINE is smaller and more portable than Win95.

[Rockbrick]

use virtualbox to run virtual machines

[nerdsforprez]

Blakbird,

I have the software and have no use for it. I would be happy to mail it to you if you would like it. I have benefited immensely from you renderings and other work.....so I would be happy to contribute to your collection.