The end of NeoDC is near.... Edited: working on demo collection

[mrneo240]

EDIT: From what I've heard, Plasma Sword only renders in the top left quadrant. Not sure if anything was tried besides forcing VGA mode. So maybe the frame buffer sizes need hacked to 640x480 also

Technical but I'm sure it's ok:

I have signatures for most of the functions related to setting video mode so generally I can find the functions very quickly. After that it's a matter of going through the assembly and finding where that function is called from and seeing if I can intercept and code caves the call.

The tricky part is dealing with videos and I'm still not 100% done disassembling the japaneze_cake fixes and seeing how he did it. If you force a video mode and then a video plays without going to a mode that it needs the Dreamcast freezes usually.

I started by just blindly and bluntly forcing video modes but I have found that this does not work most of the time. Sadly it does work for just about anything I compile from the katana SDK examples and extensions of those examples. That's where the pain is coming from lately in researching each game.

I just discovered SH4 assembly only recently and I'm still not great at reading it or the various opcode's. Much of my background in reversing is for windows and x86-x64. So while I understand the flow and theory of reading assembly it's like reading a manual in Arabic. Plus when it comes to coding fixes I'm having to do it by hand and then also deal with endian swapping.

[mrneo240]

Maybe before you go you could make some of the Official dc magazine demos bookable or a working version of dreamkey?

demos are starting to get done, for ease of making a couple will be missing CDDA, its a much lengthier process and i believe its only use in the game picker menu.
check the top post

[WingMantis]

EDIT: From what I've heard, Plasma Sword only renders in the top left quadrant. Not sure if anything was tried besides forcing VGA mode. So maybe the frame buffer sizes need hacked to 640x480 also

Technical but I'm sure it's ok:

I have signatures for most of the functions related to setting video mode so generally I can find the functions very quickly. After that it's a matter of going through the assembly and finding where that function is called from and seeing if I can intercept and code caves the call.

The tricky part is dealing with videos and I'm still not 100% done disassembling the japaneze_cake fixes and seeing how he did it. If you force a video mode and then a video plays without going to a mode that it needs the Dreamcast freezes usually.

I started by just blindly and bluntly forcing video modes but I have found that this does not work most of the time. Sadly it does work for just about anything I compile from the katana SDK examples and extensions of those examples. That's where the pain is coming from lately in researching each game.

Great that you have an open mind. That's how breakthroughs happen. Has japaneze_cake not made his fixes public, or are you trying to figure it out yourself?

I've been rethinking my edit about Plasma Sword and I don't think the frame buffer would need adjusted since it is rendering in the corner. That means it's outputting the game graphics at 320x240 in a 640x480 buffer from the forced VGA mode. I think the pixel doubling bit would be the best place to start with games like that.

[itsthinkingstill]

Very nice! when i get time il try them out

[Bob Dobbs]

Is it me or is it that the Japanese fan base is basically non-existent? Odd because they officially got the Dreamcast until 2007 or 2008. Around that time you could even order Dreamcasts from Sega-Direct.

[PkR]

I'm not very familiar with the NeoDC team, but thank you for all your hard work. I think it goes without saying that we need people like you to preserve Dreamcast games for future generations and make them easier to play years after the originals are gone. And VGA/RGB compatibility patches are great too, of course.

I have a request, a difficult one probably because nobody has been able to do it so far, but I was wondering if it's possible to make a decent 80min Skies of Arcadia rip. I wouldn't mind it being on 4 or 6 CDs as long as it works. I've tried various releases and they either had stuttering or just didn't display correctly on my RGB TV. There was a rip of the first GD-ROM split into 3 disks, but as far as I know the second GD-ROM was never completed, and it didn't work on my TV either.

It's a pity that after all these years we still haven't got a good 80min rip of one of the best Dreamcast games.

[mrneo240]

There definitely is an 80min release of that game, I. Have been playing through a copy. It's VGA compatible and worked with my decade old save (important to me but probably not anyone else). I'll find the name of it.

[mrneo240]

busy night. no demos will be completed tonight. maybe tomorrow. sorry everyone. got bsy with this stuff

• chao generator (for slurm)
• troubleshooting q3 (mr video)

cheers!

[DR TEAMCAST]

where's the link to roomania? I've always wanted to play that, great work on doing that, I wanted to try, but could never find a GDI

[Bob Dobbs]

http://www.theisozone.com/user-uploads/mrneo240/