Pandora Porting An Old Dreamcast Game To The Pandora

[Adventus]

QUOTE
I've looked at the PowerVR docs. It's a shame that they don't support DXT compression as I'll have to convert the textures (from DXT if I can't find the originals).
I wouldn't be surprised if the SGX can handle non compressed textures if they're sufficently small. Also the DXT1 and PVRTC4 formats are very similar:

- PVRTC stores per block a RGB 555 and RGB 554 colour. DXT1 stores two RGB 565 colours per block.
- They both store a 4x4 2 bit lookup table which describes the weighting of the two colours for each pixel in a block.
- The DXT1 lookup table can be mapped exactly to a PVRTC2 table except the 3/8 instead of 1/3 wieghting.

The PVRtexlib util should be able to convert them very well. If its not, a tool could be made.

 

[polkunus]

if you port ikuruga... i will love you.

 

[Xmas]

Also the DXT1 and PVRTC4 formats are very similar:

- PVRTC stores per block a RGB 555 and RGB 554 colour. DXT1 stores two RGB 565 colours per block.
- They both store a 4x4 2 bit lookup table which describes the weighting of the two colours for each pixel in a block.
- The DXT1 lookup table can be mapped exactly to a PVRTC2 table except the 3/8 instead of 1/3 wieghting.

You forgot to mention the most important difference though: PVRTC interpolates the reference colours between adjacent blocks, DXTC doesn't. If you just convert DXT1 straight to PVRTC 4bpp you will get a lot of colour bleeding and softened edges.

 

[Adventus]

Ahh ok, My bad. I thought that was only when linear interpolation was on. Won't that happen anyway? Even with a properly compressed image.

 

[PokeParadox]

I don't want to say what game it is yet because I don't have loads of free time and I don't want to disappoint anyone if I don't have time to get it working. Also I might not legally be able to release it although the person who owns the rights is a good friend of mine and we've already chatted about open sourcing it. It is a good game though (it's green on metacritic) and I loved working on it originally and I'd love to bring it back to life again.
Thanks to everyone who's responded.

It would be awesome to see this happen if all the legalities get worked out! But yes I'm very intrigued as to what the game could be!

 

[Xmas]

Ahh ok, My bad. I thought that was only when linear interpolation was on. Won't that happen anyway? Even with a properly compressed image.

Texture filtering and the interpolation of block reference colours are two separate things. The latter is an integral part of PVRTC decompression.

 

[mickb22]

if you port sonic.............................................







I may give you my bricked GP2X, unless i unbrick it

 

[hotblack]

I doubt Sega would let their IP out that easily. Even for the lofty offer of a bricked GP2X

 

[Svartalf]

I thought I remembered someone mentioning that Dreamcast emulation was a theoretical possibility since some of the hardware in the DC was similar.

Theory does not always lead to reality. It's "theoretically possible" because of the amount of muscle we're going to be able to bring to bear and the GPU being similar. This doesn't mean it's not at the absolute peak (nothing else running, the Pandora clock speed cranked to 900MHz, etc...) and is more of a mental exercise than anything else- I was one of the group that held it was a theoretical and I'm telling you right now to not presume that anything resembling one will ever grace the Pandora. If there will be one, it'll be quite a few months AFTER everything else is in place and having one in hand is a matter of ringing Craigx up for one.

if you port ikuruga... i will love you.

I think there'll be quite a few that would hold that selfsame position. I'd be on that list.

if you port sonic.............................................

Heh... I would honestly expect to see Lucifer ice skating to work for a solid week before seeing THAT happen... Not that I wouldn't be ecstatic to see that one come to pass.

 

[PoisonedV]

if you port sonic.............................................

I may give you my bricked GP2X, unless i unbrick it


sonic is not open source

 

[Svartalf]

sonic is not open source

That was just a Sonic fan dreaming big dreams past any prospects of reality. The thread originator indicated that he'd had potential rights access to one of the green rated on metacritic Dreamcast titles- possibly even having a FOSS situation with the same. I wouldn't think that the person in question who does own the rights to such a title would be someone that'd have that selfsame control of Sonic.

I'm aiming for less lofty ideals... Legal, buyable for $6, copies of Freespace2 appeal to me. Legal, buyable for $15 or so, copies of something like Soul Ride also appeal to me (For differing reasons- namely royalties for MOI... ). Things that I think I can actually make happen.

I think it rocks that we might just see a top rated DC title grace the Pandora- I just don't think it'd be Sonic...

 

[Adventus]

OK, Lets play the "look far too much into what's been said" game:

Hints:
1) Rights holder considering opensourcing.
-> Probably an Inpendent-ish game (Not developed by Capcom or Sega)
-> Lower budget, little marketing.
-> Not a successful franchise.
2) Its green on meta-critic.... narrows it down to only ~70 games. XD.
3) FPU performance critical and Positional audio.
-> Fully 3D game.
5) Its probably not online centric
6) Its obviously not Q3A.

At least partially matching hints
- Demolition Racer: No Exit
- Fur Fighters
- Ultimate Fighting Championship
- Metropolis Street Racer
- StarLancer

I reckon StarLancer's far and away the most likely (although they are still trying to sell it as microsoft.com).

Off topic: Disregard the last two comments i made (and probably all others i've made).... i tend to get rather talkative when I'm stoned. Actually I'm very surprised its as legible as it is. XD.

 

[Svartalf]

OK, Lets play the "look far too much into what's been said" game:

Fun game, this... I like playing it as long as people remember it's just a game- it's not what is going to happen.

QUOTE

I reckon StarLancer's far and away the most likely (although they are still trying to sell it as microsoft.com).



Starlancer... STARLANCER?!

Starlancer's VERY unlikely because it's MS owned still- and even if it got released, it'd have all sorts of nasty hooks in the source license like the last couple they've released to the world.

Metropolis is from a going interest doing X-Box Live games (Geometry wars, for example...)- makes it also unlikely, though more likely than Starlancer. (Though, I will admit, it would be a cool game to have, I think...)

Demolition Racer: No Exit is from Pitbull Syndicate. Published by Atari. Studio was sold to Midway back in 2005. Unless the person in question is a higher-up in Midway, it's unlikely unless the rights weren't sold. If that's the case, it'd be depending on what the deal was with Atari- and Atari's not altogether too likely to FOSS one of their titles. (Again, another VERY nice title to score if this is it- I just don't think it's it... )

Ultimate Fighting Championship is from Anchor, Inc., published by Crave. Of the list you give, this is one of the more likely candidates. Not interesting to me, but it was highly rated by reviewers and players- so it'd be a good win if this happened. I'm not saying that this is the one, but it's more likely than the previous three.

Fur Fighters is also another Bizarre Creations title, published by Acclaim. It's on the same rung as Metropolis. And, another good one, but not as likely.

The only real dead in the water prospect that I can envision would be Starlancer. The others are varying potential. I can't see Bizarre risking their X-Box favored status just to let a Linux game happen- but stranger things have happened in the past.

 

[hotblack]

There's a couple of others titles that jump out as possibilities. Will be interesting to see what comes of this one. Could be fun.

 

[Adventus]

QUOTE
Starlancer's VERY unlikely because it's MS owned still- and even if it got released, it'd have all sorts of nasty hooks in the source license like the last couple they've released to the world.
Haha ok ok. I obviously know nothing about this thing. It just appeared to be developed by one guy (who i presumed still owned the rights).... and fitted the low budget bill.

Yea a racing game would be sweet. I think porting TORCs would be cool, although the dependencies look nasty.

 

[gruso]

I wouldn't rule out a link to Bizarre Creations.

Internet Detective, signing out.

 

[Svartalf]

I wouldn't rule out a link to Bizarre Creations.

I wasn't. It's just that they're down on the list because they're doing well on the X-Box 360 with downloadables, etc.

 

[hotblack]

I think I've followed the same detective work you did Gruso and I'd agree. I'd put my money on Fur Fighters. I'd guess that there are still too many rights issues tied up with MSR and release of anything with the Kudos system.

Lets hope this internet stalking hasn't dissuaded TheGoodDoktor.. or that he hits crunch elsewhere and doesn't have the time.