OpenTyrian port for Dreamcast

[indiket]

Hi,
I just have ported OpenTyrian to Dreamcast, now version 0.2

OpenTyrian 0.2 DC

Changes:

- Updated version rev. 720 classic.
- Modified fmopl.c using code from the PSP version (thanks deniska). It reduces a little bit the quality to free some cpu cycles.
- Added preliminary routines to load and save games. OpenTyrian can load and save games of a VMU. VMU has to be in port A1 and always occupies 7 blocks, independent of the number of saved games.
- Added an icon in the VMU when starts the game and also in the VMU file.
- Added support for 2 player games! (Sorry I missed in first version). Now, controls have changed respect 0.1:
L button = Escape button.
Player 1: Move spaceship with digital pad (no analogic), shoots with A, side weapons X y B, change fire mode START.
Player 2: Move spaceship with analogic control (no digital), shoots with A, shoots two side weapons together with B, change fire mode START.
- Added pre-digitalized music (WAV) instead of music emulation (from DS port, thanks again!). DC will be loading into memory the songs that requires (warning with jukebox)!

Limitations:
- Game crashes on Instructions section.
- No network play.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

1. In order to save a game, before start OpenTyrian, it has to be plugged a controller on port 2! When it's going to save, simply press Start button on controller 2.

2. In order to play 2 player games,before start a level, player 1 has to be keyboard and player 2 joystick.

3. You can play solo games with a controller in port 2, this way you can play with the controls of player 2.

Files:
Src (without data): iberdc.dreamcast.es/ports/opentyrian/openTyrian02src.zip
Bin (without data): iberdc.dreamcast.es/ports/opentyrian/openTyrian02bin.zip
Cdi (SB+Dummy): iberdc.dreamcast.es/ports/opentyrian/openTyrian02cdi-dummy.zip

Data: iberdc.dreamcast.es/ports/opentyrian/data.zip

Extra: Covers (Kudos to mani1985, member of IberDc Team): iberdc.dreamcast.es/ports/opentyrian/OpenTyrianDC_covers.zip

PD: Sorry for my bad english :-P

[yuriks]

Those checks were there in the original version, but IIRC, I removed them because they were useless. (free shouldn't do anything to null pointers) I'll take a look.

EDIT: Yup, those checks are useless, free does nothing if the pointer is null already, which is what the if's are testing for. So it must be something else.

[Mindless]

yay, another port

[indiket]

mmm, don't know why, but I can assure that in the dreamcast if I don't do this checks, the game freezes when it's loading... strange thing xD

Update: KOS (the environment where I work for the dreamcast), has a bug that crashes when it does a free(NULL). It's a problem of KOS and it only afects to dreamcast.

[christuserloeser]

indiket: Thank you so much for this port! I just played it and it runs great!!!


Regarding the sound playback: Perhaps you can borrow ARM related code from the WinCE/PocketPC versions to improve the speed ?



EDIT - I am using the following settings:

Detail Level: High
Game Speed: Turbo

and Music Volume set to off.

It performs full speed I think. Highly playable.


- Funny that if I set Detail Level to low and Game Speed to Normal or slower, performance seems to decrease... !?

[indiket]

Thank you for your comments

I said that maybe it runs a bit slow, because when I did my firsts tests with sound disabled, I think that it went faster. Probably, because the sound routine is CPU exigent (float point?), it makes this effect.

Thanks for your advice, now I have to check code from WinCE/PocketPC versions, and also from PSP version

VMU routines also should be quite easy to implement, but my priority now is to improve music/sound.

I'll try to have a look... don't know, I'm a bit busy on this days xD

[yuriks]

Yeah, the FM emulation and the mixer use floating point, try decreasing the sound quality (it's a define in one of the sound files), that should help.

[indiket]

Before releasing first alpha, I was playing with the sound defines, but I didn't get any luck.
My best config is 22050Hz, and 512/1024 for buffer. Others configurations just made that the game doesn't start...
So, that's the reason that I have to look to other ports implementacions

[catz]

Man you really make my day ! I'm gonna try this , hope you gonna continue your work and release a fullspeed / sound ver + VMU support , that would be absolutely awsome.

Thanks a hundred times , Just continue that way !

[indiket]

Hi again my friends
Your hopes have come true, and finally I have done a new version of the DC port of OpenTyrian.

Go get'em in the first post!!!

Please, any bugs, comments, insults... post
Thanks!!!

[xiaopang]

thanks a lot for your cool port indiket this was long overdue and i'm amazed to see how well it runs. here is some feedback:

when loading, sdl says it's version 0.1 (both the selfbooting cdi as well as your supplied seperate bin). did you just forget to update the version number to 0.2?

instead of using wav-files for the bgm, you could use CDDA. it only uses very little cpu time (less than 0.5% i think), doesn't need ram, doesn't create a pause at the beginning of a new level and sounds much better.

i don't know if your port supports keyboards, as i haven't checked on that yet, but even if it does: could you make the "wild"-graphics mode available in the settings by controller combinations? this might come in handy for people without keyboards. same goes for the laptop vga mode and the suicide, lord of the game and impossible difficulty settings.

how about adding support for rumble paks?

and just in case you're bored: how about compressing the savegames? would most likely only save a block or two, so i guess the ends don't justify the means in this case

anyway, are you still working on a new version? keep it up dude

[indiket]

Thanks for your feedback

Regarding your questions:
- About number version, I forgot to change that :-P
- Nice idea about using CDDA, I think that it will work very well and also, it will free some vital space in memory for the DC.
- The port supports keyboard, in fact, pad controls are mapped to keyboard keys. I have received reports that with an arcade stick the game plays fantastic!
- In fact, I have to confess that I don't know a lot about the secrets of Tyrian xD. I'll check the code to put a way to enter by pad...
- I can add support for rumble pack, just need to look some code and see that it is compatible with officials and unofficials
- Finally, I'm not bored and it's too much time for a "useless" thing.

As far as I know, 0.2 crashes in arcade mode after Savara V (Episode 1). I'll fix that in the next version.

[manuelink64]

Hi Master indiket:
I love the game Tyrian , I played over 10 years, and the DC port Rocks, sadly crash in Savara, but i know you can fix it

the music: had you think to use LDS format?, check this links:

-http://members.iinet.net.au/~vannevar/tyrian/tyrianlds.zip (complete BGM of Tyrian in LDS)

-http://adplug.sourceforge.net/ (AdPlug is a free, cross-platform, hardware independent AdLib sound player library)

I hope to help a little
thanks and still working!

[xiaopang]

hey indiket, thanks for your reply

to see all of the tyrian secrets visit this website:

www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/code/564490.html

there are so many that it would make sense to just create a seperate cheat menu to activate them

all in all, your post sounded very promising

as for manu's idea to use lds, it seems like indiket used them to create the wav-files for his current version using them would be great, at least if they don't use up too much ram and cpu-cycles. i haven't beaten the game with this port yet, so i don't know if the game requires the full performance of the console at some time, but seeing how big many end bosses are, i can imagine that quite well

[yuriks]

The LDS files are just an unpack to separate files of the tyrian.mus file the game uses for the actual playback, they would still have the same CPU usage.