Release Amoeba (scene Demo) by Excess


Farox

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Hi


this is my new port, Amoeba a demo by Excess group, released at 'underscore 2002' and where it resulted at first place. Here is the page from Pouet for info.


The demo was released for Windows and Linux so the port was an easy task.


The slightly modified sources (by me) are inside the pnd for the courious.


When you run, it show a dialog for choose some options, but on Pandora only a fixed 800x480 16bit resolution is available, it could run at other resolution (tested with 640x480) but only windowed, and if you run from terminal.


Here is a video on YouTube.


Enjoy.
 
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Awesome, another demo!


I don't seem to be able to run this on my TV-out-only unit by the way.  I guess it's something to do with the HW scaler layer - once I've started MAME for example, I can switch to the HW scaler layer using the keyboard shortcut (FN+L), but if I press the key before starting MAME, no such layer exists (I guess) so it just turns TV out off briefly.  I get the same effect after running Amoeba (no such layer), although I do hear the audio playing, so I guess it's running.
 
Thanks for reporting.


I have not tested with TV-out, but maybe is because is not using framebuffer to run?


This demo is using GLshim to run but framebuffer is not enabled because it produce some slowdown and artifacts on some effects...(sorry i could'nt find a proper english description for this)...try in a terminal to enble LIBGL_FB=1 before run the demo.
 
Thanks for reporting.


I have not tested with TV-out, but maybe is because is not using framebuffer to run?


This demo is using GLshim to run but framebuffer is not enabled because it produce some slowdown and artifacts on some effects...(sorry i could'nt find a proper english description for this)...try in a terminal to enble LIBGL_FB=1 before run the demo.

It's probably doing some glReadPixels that make the picture to be flushed on screen.


If you use my version, you can try with LIBGL_FB=2 to use framebuffer rendering with an intermediary FBO.
 
If you use my version, you can try with LIBGL_FB=2 to use framebuffer rendering with an intermediary FBO.



Thanks seb, didn't know it existed such option!!


Anyaway if i enable this fb+fbo the demo run very very slow...mostly only music and black screen is displayed...with the glshim lib i shipped with the demo (the old jan 2015 release shipped with the previous release of codeblocks...i know i must switch to the new relased version... ;) ).


I have also switched to a much recent version of your libGL and now (using LIBGL_FB=2) the demo run much more speedy but not enough (like in my release), also where is the heavy part (the egypthian female with scrolling in background..) is really slow compared to my release (seems that the old lib i used ...the jan 2015 release, is much faster for this demo).


Next i tried with LIBGL_FB=1 and the speed is the same as using LIBGL_FB=2 with the new glshim lib, and also without framebuffer the speed is the same ...but not faster than the libs used in my release....very odd!!
 
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Thanks seb, didn't know it existed such option!!


Anyaway if i enable this fb+fbo the demo run very very slow...mostly only music and black screen is displayed...with the glshim lib i shipped with the demo (the old jan 2015 release shipped with the previous release of codeblocks...i know i must switch to the new relased version... ;) ).


I have also switched to a much recent version of your libGL and now (using LIBGL_FB=2) the demo run much more speedy but not enough (like in my release), also where is the heavy part (the egypthian female with scrolling in background..) is really slow compared to my release (seems that the old lib i used ...the jan 2015 release, is much faster for this demo).


Next i tried with LIBGL_FB=1 and the speed is the same as using LIBGL_FB=2 with the new glshim lib, and also without framebuffer the speed is the same ...but not faster than the libs used in my release....very odd!!

Interesting. I'll take a look at the code to understand on what kind of gl call I have lost some performances.
 
I have analyzed a bit.


The slow down can be caused by two factor:


1. some printf warning about a gl_copy_array from 4 to 3


2. heavy use of texgen with different compilation options


I have removed the printf and use better compilation option (using lto) and I have a very good speed now.


But, that warning is hidding a real issue. That fact that glshim is handling vertex with 3 coordinates internally instead of 4. I remove some "return NULL" associate to that warning, and now, the last scene with the cubes each have a shadow. But I suspect the shadow is misplaced (because of the lack of the w handling).


So I'll try to change glshim to now handle vertex coord as 4 coordinates (like I have done earlier with the tex coordinates from 2 to 4).
 
I'm happy that i contributed to discover some issues...hope you find a way to fix this. :)
 
I have tried a few things, and now vertex is handled with 4 coordinates (check my github if curious).


Here is a compile libGL.so if you want to try without compiling it yourself.


libGL.so.1
 
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Thanks for the compiled lib...


Just tested without fb (so LIBGL_FB not assigned) and the cubes scene is really good but i noted a regression, if you run the demo on win32 you could see that the rotating spheres (after the buddha scene) have spikes ...but now no more.


Also there some notable slowdown on the egiptian female scene (at least on my CC pandora @600 mhz with std driver).
 
Thanks for the compiled lib...


Just tested without fb (so LIBGL_FB not assigned) and the cubes scene is really good but i noted a regression, if you run the demo on win32 you could see that the rotating spheres (after the buddha scene) have spikes ...but now no more.


Also there some notable slowdown on the egiptian female scene (at least on my CC pandora @600 mhz with std driver).

Ouch, the spikes! Yes I didn't noticed it when I checked, but they are gone.


About the slow down, still not sure why there are some.


I'll try to get the spike back for now.
 
Thanks for the list...impressive amount of options. :)


You should consider open a new thread about your (great) work on glshim and publish your links, so anyone searching for info is able to find it.
 
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*claps* awesome demo (love that retro hiphop), awesome build (great framerate, yes, a slowdown here and there, but still  enjoyable), awesome glshim...


Wish I had a Pandora in the 80's... would have been ubercool.
 
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