LavaLit
General => News => Topic started by: CE on January 17, 2009, 10:57:13 am
-
As some of you might know, SX is currently working on the Dreamcast port of OpenBoR v3.00, and he told me that it has top priority at the moment to give Dreamcast the best treatment possible.
I thought that it is time that we, the Dreamcast users, give something back. - If you do enjoy playing your Beats of Rage mods on Dreamcast, then send him a small donation to show your support!
On the list of features to implement on Dreamcast are:
- Stereo support
- Widescreen support
- High resolution support
- 32-bit and 16-bit color modes
- PowerVR hardware graphics acceleration
- Improvements and fixes to RAM handling
If you think that SX deserves some sort of proof of your appreciation for his hard work, then send him a a small donation to his OpenBoR Donation Box (https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=SumolX%40gmail%2ecom&item_name=SamuraiX%20%2f%20SumolX%20Development%20Donations&item_number=OpenBoR&no_shipping=2&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8) (PayPal account required)
Thanks a lot in advance.
- CE aka Christuserloeser
-
I was wondering if you knew or anyone else could tell me which of the new resolutions (or perhaps its all of them?) are going to be supported by the Dreamcast.
-
800 x 600 was added specifically for Dreamcast.
I would imagine that the others would work too , memory might be an issue with the higher resolutions , though.
-
Thank you,please OpenBor 3.0 psp port :'(
-
800 x 600 was added specifically for Dreamcast.
I would imagine that the others would work too , memory might be an issue with the higher resolutions , though.
That would be my main concern too. With all of these enhancements, how much room would a modder have to actually work with their mod? I mean CNSV didn't have much to it but I was constantly checking my RAM on the PSP build to make sure it wouldn't hit borderline on the Dreamcast.
...I'm praying with the PowerVR handling that you'll actually have more allocation for the things that are actually needed and not just crammed into that 15.5mb hole we call it's memory.
-
The 1st pass of PowerVR handling will be an on-the-fly graphics blitter for more fps. Perhaps when that is stable, I will start looking into other techniques for utilizing the video cards memory instead of the main memory. But that would require a significant overhaul to how we currently allocate memory for sprites. This will require some serious thought on how to redesign this code.
If we look at how the PSP utilizes its GPU, its strictly on the fly blitting from Main Ram to Video Ram as it's Video Ram is only 2 MBytes in size (480x272 32bit screen image takes up 90% of those 2 MBytes).
However, for the Dreamcast, because it has 8 MBytes of Video Ram I believe, perhaps when we load a level, we can allocate the sprites on video memory before using the Main Memory for the rest of that level. That should really help out in terms of overall usable memory. Perhaps I can implement a type of place holder for level specific sprite data in Video Ram and Model Data would remain in Main RAM? Just thinking out loud...
-
Please believe I would if I could :nervous:.
-
800 x 600 was added specifically for Dreamcast.
I thought this resolution only worked with a VGA box?
-
That is correct. So people who make mods in 800x600, will only be able to play them back on PC or a Dreamcast with a VGA Box.
Here is a specific list of supported video modes for dreamcast:
enum {
DM_INVALID = 0,
// Valid modes below
DM_320x240_VGA = 1,
DM_320x240_NTSC,
DM_640x480_VGA,
DM_640x480_NTSC_IL,
DM_800x608_VGA,
DM_640x480_PAL_IL,
DM_256x256_PAL_IL,
DM_768x480_NTSC_IL,
DM_768x576_PAL_IL,
DM_768x480_PAL_IL,
DM_320x240_PAL,
// The below is only for counting..
DM_SENTINEL,
DM_MODE_COUNT
};
Seems I missed something.... Dreamcast can also support 720x480 in Interlaced composite mode, if I properly handle the 48 extra pixels (768x480).
-
Is the donation box in the top right of the website for the same thing? The "make a donation button" doesn't work for me, it says "You can not view Treasury".
-
:eek:
Dayumn! Check out the donation box! That was really nice of OX!! :cheers!:
-
I've actually made a few donations during my time here....I didn't realise My name would get posted this time , though :-[
Now that somebody has made the leap , maybe we'll see some more? It doesn't matter how much you donate....It still makes you feel good inside! ;D
Is the donation box in the top right of the website for the same thing? The "make a donation button" doesn't work for me, it says "You can not view Treasury".
I think the permissions might be a little off.... I'll look into it now.
-
Is the donation box in the top right of the website for the same thing?
No, that would be for the hosting, actually.
I've actually made a few donations during my time here....I didn't realise My name would get posted this time , though :-[
I just checked it by transfering $1 to both, and it only gets displayed if you donate for hosting, not for development.
Please believe I would if I could :nervous:.
Well, you don't necessarily have to donate $100, you could as well just send him $1 or something like that. ;)
Seems I missed something.... Dreamcast can also support 720x480 in Interlaced composite mode, if I properly handle the 48 extra pixels (768x480).
Ferrari 355, Metropolis Street Racer and Fur Fighters use this mode and they do support VGA if I remember correctly.
-
It just realized that there's no way to properly display 480x272 on Dreamcast... - How is it done on Xbox? (which I assume got widescreen support)
.
.
.
That would be my main concern too. With all of these enhancements, how much room would a modder have to actually work with their mod?
The goal is exactly that: to give modders more RAM to work with. Atm we're limited to 12,5 for the entire game (not counting music, cutscenes, backgrounds), after the update there should be roughly 16-18Mbytes per level, I think.
-Although "per level" means that we still have to keep all playable characters loaded during the entire game.
-
It just realized that there's no way to properly display 480x272 on Dreamcast... - How is it done on Xbox? (which I assume got widescreen support)
Its done like this....
Screen is setup for 640x480. Image within screen is 480x272, then we apply stretch/scaling to image until the image is 640x362, and center the image within the screen. This keeps the proper ratio, giving you a letter-box image in a 4x3 landscape.
-
Its done like this....
Screen is setup for 640x480. Image within screen is 480x272, then we apply stretch/scaling to image until the image is 640x362, and center the image within the screen. This keeps the proper ratio, giving you a letter-box image in a 4x3 landscape.
Does any openbor v3.0 builds support 480x272 resolution for the Sega Dreamcast yet? I have a new VGA output on the dreamcast for my HDTV! Widescreen support for the dreamcast would come out simply beautiful.