Vimacs post really should be taken as the last word on this. Very well put.
'Well put'? More GP2X-fanboy-viewpoint-touting circlejerky nonsense from where I'm standing. But I will let this topic of discussion end since all that needs to be said HAS been said. I'm not going to be changing any minds at this stage, everyone's views are set in stone, apparently. That said I'll respond to what you had to say, here.
Since you are the only one complaining about being unable to get the GP2X run their code, your project is either poorly written or is beyond the capabilities of the GP2X. Either way it is not the fault of Craig, GPH or the GP2X.
Actually, if the GP2X cannot run a game that CAN run on a system with even a low-end 2D accelerator, it is the GP2X's fault, and thereby GPH's fault. The fact that the terrible blitter was misrepresented as a proper accelerator is false advertising on the part of GPH/Craig, but the least of their offenses. The CPU and RAM specifications of the GP2X far overshoot our requirements. As I've stated many times the 2D subsystem is the real issue.
No one is going to condemn the GP2X because it cannot emulate an X-box, it is beyond its capabilities. How a side scrolling shooter is beyond its capabilities it what mystifies me. Saying the reason being is that it has lots of large graphics is also baffling. There is not that many large objects you can fit into a 320x240 display area before it is going to end up an unintelligible mess.
Surely you've heard of parallax scrolling-- multiple complex images placed over each other in layers that move at different speeds to simulate distant and nearby objects. Well, we're using multiple background layers that are nearly entirely filled with image data, as well as overlapping foreground layers, character sprites, object sprites, effect sprites, and a HUD. This is way too much for the GP2X's blitter to handle, so the CPU has to take over-- and it's poorly suited to drawing tasks-- so the whole system lags miserably. This also leaves little to no CPU time for audio decoding. It has nothing to do with filling the entire screen with a mess of sprites as you describe. (Such a situation would probably result in an unplayable framerate, by the way.) The bottlenecked paths to memory don't make this situation any simpler, and the physical problems with the GP2X only serve to complement these issues and round out what is wrong with the GP2X as a serious game development platform.
Compare this to say, the DS, which can run a game of that complexity level without incident, because of its snappy (real) 2D acceleration. Its CPU is about a quarter the performance level of the GP2X's ARM920T-- the fault in the '2x is thereby made even more apparent. The efficiency of my code is no incident; before a large number of sprites are drawn to the screen, framerate is outstanding; when doing engine tests the game logic used so little CPU time it'd probably run at full speed on the GBA's CPU. I found it overshot the LCD's maximum framerate quite often, sometimes reaching well beyond 220 FPS. But do some decent quantity of actual sprite drawing, something that has nothing to do with code efficiency or CPU work ordinarily-- and watch the framerate plummet.
The fact that you continue to avoid giving any real hard facts to support your accusations does not help your cause either. What specifically did Craig do and where are all the other embittered victims rallying to your side ?
I've explained AGAIN and AGAIN in at least TEN THREADS what Craig did. There have been plenty of persons to complain about the GP2X or Craig and GPH's three ring circus of fraud, lies and broken hardware, but they generally told this forum to go fuck itself and left after being flamed excessively. I'm only here to discuss the XGP and occasionally take part in the Off-Topic forums as they are occasionally amusing. If I find a fun argument to take part in on the GP2X side of things, I will, but I generally avoid it because some people here don't know when to accept that not everyone loves their fucking GP2X, and that the best way to convert them is to pelt fanboyish rants at them for page upon page. If I'm a bitter little shell of a man for finding that to be fucking hilarious, pity me all you want or flame me all you want. I frankly don't care.
If you're not happy with a product, whatever it is, you should have sent it back within the refund time.
If the thing fell apart within the year (due to poor workmanship), then you should have complained and got your money back/replacement? Was this not possible???
Since the rest of the units were also broken from the factory for the buyer's convenience, no, this was not a viable option. GP32Z is now out of business, so I won't be getting my money back either.
If your game was designed this way and the gp2x was not up to the job, I'm afraid it was either naive of you not to write some test applications to check you weren't wasting your time using this method and/or (I have no idea [or care] if your claims are true, but other people seem to be coding for the machine fine or managing to work round the shortcomings) I can understand why people may doubt your skills and also see you as "bitter" (many of your recent posts could easily give this impression).
Yes, I could absolutely tell what the GP2X's miserable 2D accelerator which is horrifically documented (see: barely documented at all) was capable of, especially before I owned one. I'm yet to see one game that uses any degree of intense 2D. I see a lot of games with 1 or 2 graphical layers, tops, and some very simple sprites, and quite few of them at that. I see no complex scenes with a significant number of large sprites. I have seen quite a few shooters, the only ones that run at acceptable framerate are of Galaga's complexity. ProjectZero and LevelShmup were both extremely inefficient and ran at a terribly low framerate, Odonata was also a very bad culprit-- we achieved higher framerates (2 or 3 times higher) with far more intense scenes, however there is a limit and our ambition is much beyond that limit. If your idea of a quality 2D game for a modern handheld is something like Space Invaders, well, then I guess you're entitled to that opinion. But our philosophy is to develop quality classic-themed games that still take proper advantage of the kind of hardware advancement we've had in the past couple decades, and games of the quality the GP2X can manage won't accomplish this.
I'd prefer you take it up with Craig directly rather than trying to muster support(??) or slagging him off in this forum.
Tried. He likes asking me what my problem is with him in public so he can act innocent, when he knows damn well what he did-- then refusing to respond to PMs, or messages via IRC. He'd rather not discuss a thing, he even lies to his associates (e.g. EvilDragon) about our prior attempts at a business relationship (something Craig proved, in exemplary fashion, he lacks the professionalism and maturity to create or maintain.) Of course, he's not above laughing behind my back on IRC while refusing to take part in the sincere dialogue he requests. It's quite an argumentative strategy that reminds me of elementary school.
I'm afraid it's quite gruelling wading through another thread hijacked for your apparent vendetta; it's getting painful
Here's just an idea, you could stop reading the thread and go away.
