RuneScape Classic - RuneCast

[Lobotomy]

It's time for there to be a new MMORPG for the Dreamcast. Now, this is very early on, and I'm basically using this project to grasp a better understanding of the console and its libraries, but it's coming along quite a bit quicker than expected, so I may as well leave this here.

The game requires an account on RSC.VET to play. RSC is currently available on Linux/Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, Wii, 3DS, Android, and Web Browser. The codebase I am using to port this is rsc-c.


What works:
-The game (on 32mb systems or emulation)
-Online Connectivity

What doesn't work:
-The game (it's currently in software rendering mode at a rock-solid 1fps!)
-OpenGL Implementation (There may be a number of hurdles to this. I'm not sure what RSC's renderer uses that GLdc doesn't have, but I guarantee you it's at least something.)

What needs to be done:
-Serious memory reduction (~8mb, filesystem of RuneScape Classic is extremely esoteric, and even their model system has arbitrary vertices-per-polygon. Shit is WILD.)
-Hardware Accelerate the rendering

What I would like to do:
-Eventually replace the player sprites with RS2's models
-Add the music from RS2
-Introduce neat special features found only in this port

Thanks to Bruce Leeto for all of the help! I wouldn't be making this post right now, if not for him.

[Sonic1994DC]

This is very cool. What's the connection type? Is it both modem and bba?

[Lobotomy]

This is very cool. What's the connection type? Is it both modem and bba?

I'm trying to support both right now, but I haven't tested the modem yet. I have access to a real dial-up ISP, so I'll be testing with that as soon as I can. Right now, the BBA works, and is my main target until the game runs smoothly enough to address other connection types.

I'd recommend giving the game a try outside of this port, if you're interested, because this is the king of games where the grind is slow (until it isn't). Early game would be fine to play on a Dreamcast, of course, but it's good to at least know what you're in for if you've never played it.

[gamesreup]

Incredible work my friend - Can't wait to see this take shape!

[Anonymouse]

Unbelievable.

Very much looking forward to development of this. Do you plan on making it a physical release?

[Lorfarius]

Unbelievable.

Very much looking forward to development of this. Do you plan on making it a physical release?

It's still available so wouldn't have thought you'd be able to sell it as a physical release due to copyright/licensing.

[Gamer]

I currently am absolutly stupidly excited for this, few questions

Eventually will it work on a retail console?

Will it be compatible with DreamPI (Modem connection)

What if any is the timeline for a stable release?



Awesome work
Kindest regards

[Lobotomy]

I currently am absolutly stupidly excited for this, few questions

Eventually will it work on a retail console?

That's the idea, but I've got a lot to book up on. (Or help to request!) This is the first game I have ever ported, and only now do I really have a more complete picture of that process. Happy to take on contributors, and I have set up a dev branch in the repo, if anyone wants to come by and mess with it. I don't think it's even remotely close to impossible, I just don't know how much of the game has to be rewritten, or adapted, to shave down memory consumption.

Will it be compatible with DreamPI (Modem connection)

I HOPE so. KallistiOS' PPP stack might or might not be up to the challenge. Of the past handful of games that have tried modem networking, only nuQuake Enhanced works decently enough for a gameplay experience. Since this is a tick-based MMORPG that was developed in 1999, there's absolutely no reason why it couldn't work with the modem, I just don't know how nice the SDK's infrastructure plays with it. It IS an eventual goal to have it working, if it doesn't right now.

What if any is the timeline for a stable release?

"As soon as it happens".



Cypressru is working on the initial steps for VMU integration. There is now an icon, and the VMU will eventually have paged "apps" that display the compass (and in turn, the direction of your heading) from the minimap (which is hidden behind a menu in the game), Player Stats, and eventually, saving/loading of the options.ini file.

I don't want to get too far ahead of things, here, but if this game is going to end up working on a retail console at all, I want it to have that feature.

[OlivusPrime]

This is awesome! I was obsessed with Runescape at one stage in high school, and I have a friend who I believe still plays classic. I'd be tempted by this if it ultimately becomes fully playable on stock hardware.

[Lobotomy]

This is awesome! I was obsessed with Runescape at one stage in high school, and I have a friend who I believe still plays classic. I'd be tempted by this if it ultimately becomes fully playable on stock hardware.

That's the goal. My primary motivation is to get enough homebrew games with networking capabilities put out there to convince the KallistiOS devs and hardware mod devs to come up with a solution for getting the Dreamcast online in a novel way, particularly, through the serial port. I think that if firmware can be written for the WaveShare RPI2040 W, and if an interface can be made to the DC serial port, you could build a sub-$20 device that would enable the console to use Wi-Fi for networking, and maybe even cache downloads to a Micro-SD reader to read from or extract to your computer, later. Slow, but not Dial-Up slow. Perfect for any network-capable game that could be ported to the Dreamcast.

Something like that could serve all the functions of the DC Coder's Cable, and the DreamPi/BBA, wirelessly, in one device. It may only work for homebrew, but frankly, I'm only interested in homebrew. I have had 25 years to taste the retail Dreamcast Library, and it's something I can always go back to. Networking was always the frontier of ambition for the DC, and I want it to be able to do networking in every way theoretically possible, so people can stop bitching and moaning about how much a BBA costs. All those complaints, and never a solution. I will bang this drum until I'm blue in the face, we need more networking options that don't rely on the GAPS bridge. Serial comms are basically networking with fewer steps, might as well just hitch some dongle on that port and let 'er rip.

Imagine how nice it would be to push an .elf of your game, to your DC, wirelessly, with that game's asset directory already on the SD card in the 2040W, and have it boot, knowing already what to load? Sounds like another flex this console can have on the rest.