Release GINGE Update and Ruckage Pack!

[Hooka]

Just a heads up, currently uploading an updated GINGE and a Ruckage pack (all of ruckages GP2X games in one pack) to the repo.


For reference the main changes from notazs' version are as follows:

• included mikmod, smpeg, tslib and a few other missing/needing update libs. Also added sdl-gfx, looking for libcurl still but it'll come in time
• added some script modifications to handle packs: AlexM, Neotron, Openwiz, Ruckage and Zacaj pack released so far!
  
• compiled with open2x (slightly better compatibility for some things and didn't notice too many regressions with it, was the "best fit" for the job)
  
• added an alternative openwiz compiled set of loaders and libs that will hopefully allow me to make packs that can easily switch between the two to aid compatibility
  
• Maybe more but I can't remember for right now?
  
• BennuGD, Fenix and Ultimate Fenix runtimes added. script parser now loads embedded ones automagically. Ultimate fenix still needs --nosplash behind the *.dcb filename to ensure no crashes, working on a fix for this just won't happen tonight.
  

Things to note:

• Sometimes when running one program then starting another WILL have side effects, not often and not many, but sometimes this can be something like a game that does work no longer working (rebooting system fixes it) or just the volume creeping it's way louder and louder (side effect of "fixes" done in software for certain GPH handhelds to get volume loud enough)
  
• I could've broke any number of things, please let me know (and compare it to the compatibility list first, also note that not everything I have listed as compatible on my list will automagically work for you, some require openwiz compatibility: aka, you have no way to use gp2xmenu to turn it on for now... which leads to my next point)
  
• You SHOULD be able to copy out the ginge.sh from the .pnd put it in the appdata folder and modify it to run in openwiz compatibility mode with ./ginge_prep $GAME --openwiz but I haven't tested it excessively, will be doing so in the next bit while making more packs.
  

Things to expect to see in the near future:

• gmenu2x! got it compiling for Pandora and I'm tempted to just make it the default menu for GINGE from now on (and hell, I might even modify it to run PND's too while I'm at it
  
• integration and fixing of any outstanding bennugd/fenix issues. By modifying scripts I was able to get stuff compiling with bgdc atm, but bgdi was hanging up on platform-specific code I do believe
  
• more updated/missing libs, in most cases won't make much of a difference but might be nice to make sure I have the most compatible or updated libs available.
  
• hopefully touchscreen and 8-way d-pad support
  
• python/X11 for GP2X support (python is used for a few games, X maybe 2 or 3, so less emphasis put on getting it working... BennuGD would be more useful...)
  

There are lots of other things to be done, but that will come with time   First things first, start making some EPIC packs so people can enjoy some GP2X classics without having the headaches of hunting them down themselves   Next ones to expect: Edgelib/Clickgamer/Elements Interactive pack, Guyfawkes pack and a few others... (this really helps with size btw, I remove all the extra crud... neotron games went from 260+MB to less than 70 now).


GINGE on the repo


Ruckage GINGE Pack on Repo

 

[PokeParadox]

Thanks for the GINGE updates. I'll give this a try tonight. 


Also snagged the Ruckage pack - I guess it will make my Pandora SD a little tidier if I can slowly phase out my GP2X folder


Regarding GMenu2X I don't know how useful it would be, but I could send you my progress from when I attempted to port it to Pandora. (I intended it to work with gpes and Pandora seemlessly and I think loading GP2X stuff was disabled unless it saw the GINGE PND).


I got so far and then ran out of steam with it.


Also regarding Fenix/BennuGD etc... are you only using a single runtime and reconfiguring the launch scripts?

 

[ingoreis]

Wow fantastic thank you.


Do you know if it is TV Out Combatible on the Pandora?

 

[Hooka]

Regarding GMenu2X I don't know how useful it would be, but I could send you my progress from when I attempted to port it to Pandora. (I intended it to work with gpes and Pandora seemlessly and I think loading GP2X stuff was disabled unless it saw the GINGE PND).


I got so far and then ran out of steam with it.

Any help would be appreciated in that department for sure

Also regarding Fenix/BennuGD etc... are you only using a single runtime and reconfiguring the launch scripts?

Not atm, some of my changes made more of the fenix runtimes work and I didn't wanna go modifying anything too heavily from what it original was until I've gotten everything else sorted and tested to make sure that using the newer fenix binaries doesn't clobber the old fenix compiled stuff. So the packs will go down in size, same as the main GINGE may bloat a bit overtime (my own testing one is ~40MB due to having X11, python and the runtimes crammed in there along with some extra libs and such  )

Do you know if it is TV Out Combatible on the Pandora?

No, haven't tested this yet, but can give it a look in the next little bit  


Edit: OK, just tested tv-out, if you enable the HW/Scaler layer tv-out works fine, a bit blurry but it works  If you were meaning you want to enable tv-out from the GP2X Menu, then no, I haven't added any code for that yet... Might be nice to tweak it a little bit when I get time (tv-out on GP2X itself wins hands down in this department due to all the tweaking made to Open2x  Atleast on my projector it looks alot cleaner than GINGE on Pandora )

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

Sorry, but I've never owned a GP2X.  How does this GINGE work?  Is like an emulator that runs GP2X stuff on Pandora?

 

[Hooka]

Well, GINGE stands for "GINGE is not (a) GP2X Emulator... So maybe think of it more like WINE... but yes, it runs GP2X/Wiz software on the Pandora.


Yes, it does emulate certain hardware features of the MMSP2+ and Pollux chipsets in the GP2X/Wiz, but in general it's more like an abstraction layer that uses some of the nice built-in features of the ARM oabi/eabi binary compatibility in linux and uses binary patching and linker overriding to make the binaries function properly and fake input and other hardware features.


Notaz could probably sum it up better, but in general it's a magical piece of software that is similar in function to an emulator, but doesn't emulate the CPU and certain other parts it just runs most code natively on similar hardware.


P.S. AlexM game pack uploaded and please feel free to mention if you find any bugs/crashes, I test things but y'know how it goes...

 

[PokeParadox]

Regarding GMenu2X I don't know how useful it would be, but I could send you my progress from when I attempted to port it to Pandora. (I intended it to work with gpes and Pandora seemlessly and I think loading GP2X stuff was disabled unless it saw the GINGE PND).


I got so far and then ran out of steam with it.

Any help would be appreciated in that department for sure 

I will try an sort that out then... I'll check if the source is still on my Pandora, if not you'll have to wait until I find it on my netbook!

 

[Hooka]

Ok, had to make a small change to the main GINGE to fix the Openwiz support. Also uploaded a pack of 2 games that require openwiz binaries and libs, might add more later as they are found.


P.S. Giant thanks to ptitsebt for pointing me in the right direction on how to make packs! And even bigger thanks to AlexM, Ruckage, etc. for creating the GP2X content in the first place

 

[Ian J]

I've only tried the Ruckage package and loving the games, is there any way to put them in a folder though on the menu as it will start to get very busy once more packages are released.

 

[Hooka]

I don't believe you can just add new menu categories as they're based off of X11 standards, but if anybody can prove me wrong I'll make the changes...

 

[alxm]

Thanks Hooka, it's awesome to launch GP2X games on Pandora without having to navigate the clunky 4.0 firmware!


And I would totally use Gmenu2x on Pandora instead of Minimenu. I miss being able to create and delete sections, and most of the preset Freedesktop categories just get in my way. Not to mention that I could pretend to be 10 years younger and keep rocking like it's 2006

 

[Hooka]

Well, and thank you for the content good sir, Falldown was an excellent GINGE testing game (quick loading, sound and music and simplistic controls... always test with it, space varments and payback because if I break anything they seem to be the first to exhibit issues  )


I'll definitely look into getting something slapped together with gmenu2x in the next bit as I've missed it myself, minimenu just gives me weird issues sometimes and xfce is cool when I want a full blown desktop, but I don't wanna full blown desktop on my nice retrogaming handheld for the most part


Edit: Forgot to mention on the pack page that I didn't include trap75 due to availability on the Pandoras itself... aaaaand fixed....

 

[alxm]

Speaking of Payback, is there any hope of running the SD card version with Ginge? I tried it recently and it quit after the title screen, I assume it's a DRM issue since the same thing happened long ago when I tried to copy all the files to my main GP2X card and play it from there.


I considered buying the DRM-free version since I like it so much (48 hours logged and probably the only game I ever completed 100% ), but the purchase page points to a dead link. I might send Apex an e-mail, maybe there's still a way to get it.

 

[Hooka]

I can look into it, but yeah, the SD version was locked to the SD and I'd have to look into what's happening (missing libs or unable to read encryption from sd, just plain segfaulting). I spent the money on the download version shortly after my Vektar SD got washed with the laundry, but it kept working!!! 


I tried contacting James as I had his email from back when I did the interview with him asking if I could prepack Payback for Pandora and release it for free, or see if him & notaz could come to an agreement if he wanted to sell it for profit but I got no response back... *shrugs* if you have better luck that'd be sweet!

 

[PokeParadox]

Speaking of Payback, is there any hope of running the SD card version with Ginge? I tried it recently and it quit after the title screen, I assume it's a DRM issue since the same thing happened long ago when I tried to copy all the files to my main GP2X card and play it from there.


I considered buying the DRM-free version since I like it so much (48 hours logged and probably the only game I ever completed 100% ), but the purchase page points to a dead link. I might send Apex an e-mail, maybe there's still a way to get it.

Contact ED via pm.

 

[Monkfish]

is there any point in downloading the Ruckage pack if i already have these games running on the previous version of GINGE?

 

[Hooka]

Monkfish: in time, maybe cause I'm gonna move a de-facto fenix runtime INTO GINGE, to alleviate headaches and make packs smaller, but for the moment if you have 'em setup then you have your pre-existing scores, etc.


I guess the one reason would be to not have to navigate all the way through gp2xmenu...

 

[Klumpen]

Is there any chance of a Ginge version supporting the Caanoo games at some point?


Some nice titles seem to have died with the Caanoo.

 

[Hooka]

Klumpen: Maybe for one of the HardFP pandora distro's eventually, but I'm definitely not smart enough to figure out how to make softfp and hardfp play nicely, they seem to be quite well divided in arm linux... And which Caanoo titles are you referring to? Most of the homebrew for Caanoo is already on the other handhelds. The Caanoo's commercial games are also hard to come by (aka, they were all software downloads from a site that no longer exists and only really worked for a short period of time) and would require a fair amount of extra work if I'm not mistaken.

 

[levi]

Presumably to make softfp code run on a hardfp env under GINGE would require it to trap and rewrite all fpu instructions to use the other calling mechanism, which would make it somewhat slower.   I'm not sure how much headroom GINGE has over simulating GP2X etc. at 100% as is.