Sonic and Sega Retro Message Board: TapamN - Viewing Profile - Sonic and Sega Retro Message Board

I realize this isn't the best place to ask, but I when I tried to register for a DC dev. forum, I never got the required confirmation email, so I figured I'd try here, where I'm already registered, before I go looking around in/giving my email address to other places. Also, since the engine is going to partially emulate the behavior of the Genesis Sonic's engines, I figurerd this would be a good point to ask a few questions about those.

I've been (attempting to be) working on a Sonic-styled generic platform engine for the Dreamcast, with a few improvements. The base engine would handle general level, object, event, and I/O functions (video, sound, control), and there would be an scripting extention to handle the individual objects code, with the intention of making it possible to easily write good (or at the very least, better than or average K&K/TGF/MMF) Sonic fan games. Since object code would be machine-independent, and games writing for it would be cross compatable with other systems if a port of the main engine exists. (It would also be possible to use it to create any generic platformer easily, and even some other types of action-based games such as shmups without too much trouble.)

In the past week, I've got the scripting system, which I based off the Creatures series' CAOS language, to the point that I have a working bytecode compiler and interpreter with a Turing complete instruction set. It doesn't have all of the instructions that I want it to have, such as string, 2D vector, or I/O instructions, and some other features, such as floating point, are only partially working, but they aren't as important. I had originally intended that the scripting system be the last thing that I would work on, but I couldn't get KOS to run without crashing partway though initalization, so I got to work on the scripting system in the meantime.

I've just been trying to get the "Hello, World" example to work. It compiles fine, but I get this:

$ dc-tool-serial-1.0.3-linux -t /dev/ttyS1 -x hello.elf
Console enabled
Upload <hello.elf>
File format is elf32-shl, start address is 0x8c010000
Section .text, lma 0x8c010000, size 117152
send_data: CCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
Section .rodata, lma 0x8c02c9a0, size 16892
send_data: CCC
Section .eh_frame, lma 0x8c030b9c, size 276
send_data: C
Section .ctors, lma 0x8c030d30, size 4
send_data: U
Section .dtors, lma 0x8c030d34, size 4
send_data: U
Section .data, lma 0x8c030d38, size 3436
send_data: C
Section .stack, lma 0x30000, size 4
send_data: U
effective: 9031.844582 bytes / sec
Executing at <0x8c010000>
Sending execute command (0x8c010000, console=1)...executing

--
KallistiOS 1.2.0: Sun Dec 17 23:19:50 CST 2006
  [email protected]:/home/alex/dcdev/kos
thd: pre-emption enabled, HZ=100
maple: active drivers:
	PuruPuru (Vibration) Pack: JumpPack
	VMU Driver: Clock, LCD, MemoryCard
	Mouse Driver: Mouse
	Keyboard Driver: Keyboard
	Controller Driver: Controller
  DMA Buffer at ac0517a0
vid_set_mode: 640x480 NTSC
fs_romdisk: mounting image at 0x8c02c9b0 at /rd
dc-load console support enabled
maple: attached devices:
  A0: Dreamcast Controller		  (01000000: Controller)
Unhandled exception: PC 8c02d4be, code 1, evt 00e0
 R0-R7: 00000000 8c02d4bc deadbeef 00000000 40000001 41300000 8c0323f1 00000039
 R8-R15: 8c030d50 8c030d30 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 ffffffff 8cffffec
 SR 40000000 PR 8c01bdee
kernel panic: unhandled IRQ/Exception
arch: aborting the system

(deadbeef in R2 is a marker from dc-load, it changes to feedface when dumb terminal mode is used. And, yes, I had no VMUs/other controllers in at the time.)

From the use of sh-elf-addr2line, as recommended by the KOS FAQ, I found that PC is in some unknown area, PR came from crtbegin.c in kernel/arch/dreamcast/kernel, line 32, which is as follows:

void arch_ctors() {
	fptr *fpp;

	/* Run up to the end of the list (defined by crtend) */
	for (fpp=ctor_list + 1; *fpp != 0; ++fpp)
	;

	/* Now run the ctors backwards */
	while (--fpp > ctor_list)
		(**fpp)(); // <--- **THIS IS LINE 32**
}

The line marked is were it jumps to the invalid area. This is as far I can I get on my own... If someone could help me get KOS to the point that I can have my own stuff running, I'd appreciate it. If it matters, I've using KOS 1.2.0 (if someone missed it), dc-tool 1.0.3 on my PC, dc-load 1.0.4 on my DC (I can't find a precompiled dc-tool 1.0.4 binary and can't get the source to compile), gcc-sh-elf version 3.4.3-2, and binutils-sh-elf version 2.15.94.0.2.2-1. (Another side note: I've got the test programs from dc-tool/load, console-test and exception-test, to run properly.)

In addition to this, I was wondering if someone could give a short explaination of how the collision dection for running up walls works, specifically, how the game decides where to place Sonic when, say, running on a loop as well as how it adjusts Sonic's speed when moving along a ramp and first colliding with a ramp from a fall. It would save me some time from looking though the one of the disassemblies and behave closer to the real thing then me making up my own method. With a little information from NESVideos' Sonic page, I think I have most other hedgehog physics figured out accuratly.

I just visited NESVideos. On the front page, I saw that there is a new speedrun for S3&K listed... it was posted two weeks ago, actually. I haven't seen any posts about it here (the search says the last post with "speedrun" in it is from March), and I figured anyone here who hasn't already seen it would be interested, so I'm mentioning it.

Link

I've been cataloging in-level text from Sonic Adventure 2. Things like billboards in City Escape and warning signs. My sig is one example of my favorite; I had never noticed the small, white-on-yellow text at the bottom of the sign before. There were many, interesting looking, but hard to read signs do to camera limitations. So I set out to find the original textures to read off in a 1:1 ratio, undistorted by 3D.

It took me a while, but I... found them. I bulk uncompressed the PRS files with predec auto.

In the event directory of SA2, there were a few files that stuck out from the rest. Most of the cutscene files came in groups of nine. But there were some like, "EVESD4.BIN" that didn't match the naming system. I opened it in a hex editor, so see if it has any ASCII. (Many of the files have bits of ASCII for what seems to be for things like referencing textures.)

Instead, I found the German subtitles for dark side.

Ok, so the number in the filename is the language. The second to last character is what story is goes with. I guess S means script or subtitle. Unfortuantly, there doesn't seem to be anything (obvious) that shows who is saying what, just what is said.

Quite funny... the sound effect have onomatapeas. The ARK goes "wub wub wub wub," when it viberates, for example. Huh. Even the FMVs have subtitles...

I looked though the last story file a bit more (EVMESL1.BIN)... Huh, Sonic called Robotnik an egghead during their reunion... Then I read pass the transformation sequence... (Quuuuueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeebam!)

(By the way, these are ordered as they are in the English last story file, just formated a bit-- nothing cut out.)

Quote

So... does anyone else know about this? I find it really hard to believe no one has stumbled onto some plain ASCII before. I haven't found any references on Google. I mean, it plain ASCII! Surely, someone has found it before, or maybe my... version... was changed when it was released as some kind of joke? I haven't actually put this version in my DC. I thought it was cool at first, when I found the subtitles with the sound effects, FMVs, and ending put in. But after finding such seeming important text, the more I think about it, the more I feel like I'm being tricked...

I've been working on an editor for the split version of Sonic 1 for the past three weeks. (Well, started three weeks ago, but I haven't done too much on it in the last two.) I've been stuck on figuring out how level collision is formatted. I'm putting up this test version to (hopefully) get the attention of someone who knows and is willing to tell me.

Be sure to read the readme! It should answer most questions about the program. If you still have questions or have any suggestions, just post.

(Man, it feels like every four or five posts I make, I have to attach a file to a post. I need independent hosting that won't get mad for gray area uploads like this.)