phoenixdownita
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Posts posted by phoenixdownita
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From those pictures it looks like you use real golf balls?
When you hit it where does it ends? I mean beside lodging itself on US chalkboard walls, or ricochet into the groin if it happens you have EU brick walls, or maybe just smash a window?
EDIT: nvm just saw it comes with a net so that's where the balls are supposed to end.
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13 hours ago, godslabrat said:Had they just said from day 1 "We're going to make an emulation pc in a living room form factor", I would have patted them on the back. But now they've tried so hard to make this box into something it's not that I can't even take them seriously if they tell me water is wet.
I really hope that whatever happens to this venture we're going to see the improved Steve Snake ( https://segaretro.org/Steve_Snake ) emulation as well a exclusive mednafen Sega Saturn CD support etc.... basically the actual original work that went into this thing separate from whatever this unit is going to-be/not-to-be.
(no a skin, a menu selector and an online store do not qualify in my book as something worth of any accolade)
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On 5/4/2021 at 4:17 PM, jgkspsx said:...
EDIT: For your amusement, I subjected myself to half an hour of each game. They are both not good games, but honestly once I got to understand both of them again they are not not fun.
...
I bow to you, it's always nice to try things first hand vs hearsay
maybe!!!
Wrt 32X I recently looked at:
if nothing else it made me wanted to go and check the manual for Kolibri ( https://www.digitpress.com/library/manuals/32x/kolibri.pdf ) and a guide for Darxide ( http://segabits.com/blog/2014/08/28/a-users-guide-to-darxide/) and the guy talking about Zaxxon Motherbase 2000 also made me want to give it another try.
I don't expect any of those to radically change my judgment but neither of them particularly appealed to me for one reason or the other and I rarely ventured past the first level thinking (like they mention in the video) that that was all there was to them.-
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-- Deleted , joke was not funny. --
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On 5/3/2021 at 5:00 AM, jgkspsx said:Some additional categories for your consideration:
Top Tier Games
These are (in my very personal opinion) games that are particularly interesting, fun, and/or worth playing for anyone interested in video games.
32X:
- ...
Jaguar:
- ....
... the Jaguar has a broader, deeper library of top tier games (for my tastes).
Exclusives (not including arcade games)
32X:
- ....
Jaguar:
- ....
... , the 32X's list of exclusives is about half the size of the Jaguar's, and the number of great games in the exclusive list is also about half the size. .... the Jaguar advantage grows, and if you include homebrew and post-life releases, it's no contest at all.
Ports and enduring popularity of games
.... Again, the advantage is to the Jaguar.
We get it you like the Jaguar more, but if you put anyone that went to the Arcade during that timeframe playing a Jag vs a 32X the presence of the Sega properties on the 32X is a big boost no matter how you slice it and dice it. If instead you propose the challenge to a PC gamer then Jag it is via Wolf3D and Doom.
The Jag has a few interesting and unique games but same for 32X, the "quantity" argument is meh at best, no amount of garbage (on either system) compensates for the lack of a solid lineup that is not single-digit.
Also many of the exclusives while not being garbage by any stretch are just not as fun most of the time, take Tempo on 32X I found it boring (Bubsy on the Jag too but both looks well packaged at least so not garbage for sure).
But the Jag has such lows like Fight For Life, Club Drive and more that left me speechless .... didn't feel like that on the 32X but I have not played yet Motocross Championship or Brutal Unleashed: Above the Claw ... not sure I care to try even after I actually played Supercross 3D and Kasumi Ninja on the Jag (I actually finished Kasumi Ninja ... did not like it, Supercross 3D I gave up at the third corner that I happened to slightly cut maybe 3px and the bike keeled over [which part of corner did I not understand !?!], may as well shoot the racers at the start as they already line up pretty neatly, one shot suffices).-
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4 hours ago, rayik said:BSG works fine with the JagGD. BS does not
I was expecting by now someone would have said it ... in the taunting section, but I call BS on this one.
And yes, it comes in Gold too.
(I should stop attempting jokes, but hey, I was done with all the BS)Plus it says it right there on the first page:
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On 5/1/2021 at 9:01 AM, Bratwurst said:....
The only concern I have is I had to remove the center pivot post (screwed into the 3-button PCB, molded into the 6-button d-pad) in order for this design to work, so you can press all four directions at once if you mash it down hard like a big button. I haven't encountered any issues with this in testing yet.
Does it mean in the 6 btn ctrl we have to "sand it down" aka permanent mod ?
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On 5/1/2021 at 2:17 PM, phoboz said:I think it's the choice of the author regardless of the platform, the company (if aligned with the board), the moral grounds etc.
...
Also I am not sure what you mean here.
If you intend to say that because the authors (that can be many hundreds or even thousands) while working under paid time on a project should be entitled to have a choice about it, then we'll agree to disagree. Anything performed while paid by an employer (I really mean while at work) belongs to the employer period, I even agree that usage of any facilities made available by the employer (be it buildings, computers, HVAC etc....) and used for non work related purpose (a personal side project for example) needs explicit language (I am pretty sure anyone that works for cloud computing corps cannot simply start bitcoin mining on "test" hardware).
Even more, if the company decides to release SW as open-source there should be no employee opinion involved.
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3 hours ago, Greg2600 said:Not sure about sniping given it was a limit of 1 per customer. I think all chips are tough to get now from Asia. I'm not sure if the cheapness was the reason, more likely he preferred to develop based on something he was more experienced with.
It's his first FPGA project he could have chosen anything, like Krikzz that moved from Altera Cyclone II to IV when the II got discontinued he could have chosen the newer Cyclone V (like kevtris products or MiSTer) or Cyclone 10 ... note that the Cyclone line is already the cheaper line of FPGA from Altera (aka Intel as they bough them a few years back) well MAX10 is also there.
Anyway no point in arguing, as long as it gets the job done and it's not obsoleted in 1Y or so we're fine.
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8 hours ago, Greg2600 said:I wound up ordering one. The later batches are already going to be "revised" due to the chip shortages, and will be $300.
Man those things must have been flying out like hotcakes, I think I checked about 1H:30M after the 9AM PST announced availability time and it was sold-out, sniping galore.
Good for Mike, wish he had used a more modern FPGA part, Cyclone IVs are so old (they were announced in 2009), at a point they disappeared from the Altera catalogue just to reappear couple months later (maybe they found a warehouse worth of) ....
Anyhow I can't blame him for using cheaper parts whenever possible.
If I get to acquire one I'll have to sell my 2X-Pro-M + Scart-to-YPbPbr setup, I ended up not using it that much due to requiring a compatible TV set for more console than I expected (and the more modern aka more compatible TV is in another room at the moment), at which point the Framemeister just worked out better for me, but I do need one that can do fast 240p/480i switch as same Saturn games are borderline unplayable, only saving grace is that the TV set currently hooked up seems fine with direct SVideo connection so ... somehow it works.
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On 5/1/2021 at 2:17 PM, phoboz said:I think it's the choice of the author regardless of the platform, the company (if aligned with the board), the moral grounds etc.
There are very many big commercial companies that do not fear "open source" and think it is equal to "PirateBay"
For example, Sony Imageworks released parts of their rendering software as open source.
(I even contributed to that code myself, just for fun)
https://github.com/AcademySoftwareFoundation/OpenShadingLanguage
Most of the big commercial software companies regularly contributes to the Linux kernel (e.g. Microsoft, Oracle, Intel, Huawei) without being afraid. The open source community have given them so much in return the latest 2 decades. Without this evolution, you would still run something that looks, and feels like Windows 95 on your PC.
Former SUN Microsystems (later acquired by Oracle) was a big contributor, and the whole OpenOffice suite, (probably a lot of the newer versions of MS. Office) are based on the code base for StarOffice. I worked as a partner with them long ago, and they were really listening to suggestions to make open source contributions.
I know of no commercial entity (aka in on it to make money) that does open source without very obvious self-serving reasons.
Sony ... really ... the company that removed "OtherOS" from the PS3.
SUN made it a point to commoditize the SW as they banked on selling you the HW (those workstations were expensive) look at where they are now ...right, your claims on MS office are just out there (as some of your speculative ties would expose MS to the lawsuit from hell with billions at stakes) although anything under more liberal GPLv2, MIT, 3clause BSD is par for the course in any commercial software stack. Which company would not want to cut dev costs using a permissive piece of existing code, especially if said piece is not its bread and butter.
Every commercial company contributing to open source does it so so it has some return. Business is business is business, there's no free launch, if your boss shoves money down an open source project he better have a plan to make it back at market return rate one way or another.Check out what happened to Docker, once they agreed to splinter the layers (runc/contaierd/dockerd) their business model of trying to make money on the swarm (their multi-box manager) got peed on by Google K8, which now is ditching and replacing the top layer and everyone is happy ... well for sure everyone else.
Facebook for example releases quite interesting open source projects and given SW is not their business they do it so they can attract talent into the company, this assuming the load of money they pile on programmers covers for the kind of business they actually do (newsflash, if you do not pay for the product, you are the product) ... yeah money and morals are at odds, not blaming the developers that work for Facebook here, I have not any higher moral ground.
<rant>
It's been quite the recurring theme, company X invents tech Y but shares it assuming it can make money charging for advanced feature Z, big company K gives away for free their version of advanced feature Z, called Z-prime, as they're gonna charge you some other way, they also release Z-prime free because, which big company J packages neatly with tech Y and sells some other way, and on and on the wheel goes making everyone believe that the SW itself (the one at the bottom of all of this) is worthless shit 'cause everyone is attempting to charge for something else.
</rant>
In specific wrt games imho it is suicidal to think of releasing all the sources/assets of a new game (say one week after release) that has costed tens if not hundreds of millions to produce.
Now if we were to live in a different society based on sharing from the get go with no intent to "make money" per se but based on satisfying needs (primaries like food, shelter, health, but also secondaries like entertainment), then of course the mere ideas of private property (physical or intellectual) and copyright would be simply silly and everything open the natural way things would be, but where we stand now I really do not see a company with commercial ambitions being able to make a business by open sourcing 100% of all that they do. I hope one day that is the case as it would mean we would be in a very different society.
PS: for the specific title in the OP even the instructions cannot be reproduced and freely shared btw. Right or wrong I believe according to laws in some countries it's in their rights to limit its circulation. maybe they would relent on that in say another decade or so.
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11 minutes ago, phoboz said:...
The point that I am trying to make here is that I saw the same amount of copies being sold at a similar rate for both games, regardless if the source code was made open or not. So opening up the source code does not necessarily mean financial loss. Why, because not everyone is ready to set up a tool chain just to save a few bucks on not buying the game. Some people also want to support the developers financially, so they can continue making games.
....
I am sure if a major video game company would release its current gen games on current gen consoles in source format and let anyone build it we would see people pitching in to fill the gap about tool-chains, and builds and everything in between just because they can, and I wouldn't blame them (look at the instant hacks of the mini-consoles, granted the companies were making money out of the HW they sold so ...).
As to single authors making games for dead-and-buried consoles it is their choice wrt open source it or not, as it is their time and investment, well obviously if they want to give away the source of a current gen game they made (assets and all) it's their choice too.
My point is about the choice to open-source the code or not and that it stays with the author/owner, we already know that the binaries will be dumped and cracked and adapted to run on flash carts eventually [that's the trend we have seen so far at least and aside Nintendo shutting down the various rom-site or occasional fan-made game there's not much IP enforcement for better or for worse].
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On the RetroTink-5X I'm on the fence mostly because I expect there will be revisions (like the 2X -> 2X-Pro -> 2X-Pro-M) AND somewhat that Mike will find a way to wedge in an auto-attenuator circuit on the Scart signal path for people that have TTL CSYNC cables/mods.
I have manually added LM1881 to my setups and it is still unattenuated (hadn't had time to add a series resistor yet) and I did use it with the Framemeister to stabilize my NeoGeo AES via Scart, somehow I could never dial in the settings well enough to avoid desync but with the sync stripper it was perfect, so obviously a problem with a noisy composite line on my AES.
PS: wrt TTL CSYNC I am planning to eventually add a series resistor, I guess I was "lucky" that nothing bad happened to my Framemeister but I didn't play a lot via it 'cause that NeoGeo AES via SVideo mod worked wonders on the TV set I had available and only one game would desync constantly and require the use of the Framemeister which though was disappointing until I added the LM1881 (I have it inside the Scart adapter cable and I can toggle it to sync stripped or source csync via a switch so it's not constantly in TTL mode either).
Wrt TTL attenuation on the LM1881 output I know everyone says 300ohm, because 75/(300+75)=1/5=0.2 so 5V -> 1V at the same time just a 100ohm should already attenuate below risk 75/(100+75)=0.42 so 5V->2.1 (and 5V is the max output but I suspect it's typically already lower, at 4.5V output 300ohm gives 0.9V and 100ohm gives 1.9)
https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/lm1881.pdfmost of the time the risks mentioned are wrt upscalers that are 3.3V and not 5V tolerant, ESR diodes etc...etc...
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On 5/1/2021 at 7:23 AM, phoboz said:Free binaries is like 'free' in 'free beer', something that is consumed instantly for pleasure.
Open source is like 'free' in 'freedom'. E.g. you are free to know what the code does to your computer, it allows you to tailor it to your own needs, you share something that others can learn from, and to derive new things from (something that might give more instant pleasure to others)
I know what open source is, I am asking why one would expect game source code to be open source.
Authors/companies can for sure decide to release it as it's been done in the past, I am trying to understand the expectation that it MUST happen on some moral ground.
In the end that very source code is what made the game what it was (tricks and all) and if the game was developed for economic reasons (and not as a teaching device for example), expecting the code to one day become open-source just because is not something I understand aside from us wanting to see it. I don't hear the same passionate standpoint wrt to the source code of the microcontroller of those digital anal thermometers (I know I'm pushing it
but there really is something of a double standard ... and I am sure you can make them play Doom if you are really dedicated and whoop some ass).
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16 minutes ago, CyranoJ said:I would release a lot more source if the possibility of things being reskinned and re-sold wasn't so high.
But once open source whether GPL2 or MIT it's pretty much guaranteed than anyone would try to exploit it if they can.
GPL3 seems a better fit but unless you want to go around and sue it's ineffective especially for one-man-band dev studio or alike.
It's really what it is, I'm grateful you release the binaries, the patches, etc.... unfortunately releasing the source seems to generate a different kind of entitlement on the receiver if you will.
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29 minutes ago, phoboz said:Just for the sake of being able to play around with it, perhaps to learn a few things, or make something else based on it. The same arguments as with open source...
When you get assets, like game graphics you are usually free to edit them. For a program, it's much easier to do that if you have the code.
But most of the time games are not open source, never meant to be, so why the expectation?
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8 hours ago, phoboz said:.... I have seen so many cases when the authors completely loose interest in maintaining their products (at least when there is no big money involved) They just seem to disappear from the surface of thd earth...
This seems only half a sentence ... I feel I have to ask ... and?
Let's assume the code is lost forever, never to be magically unbackupped from nirvana, given the other source code released amounted to ... not much ... why would this be different, aside from the fact that it is not available and that in an on itself seems sometimes the main reason to be wanting it.
I mean we're so keen on preserving X, Y and Z most of the time just because and we completely ignore that there's no inherent right to do so against the will of the current sole proprietor, the author has decided to do what he pleases with his own source code including having it lost to the sands of time, why can't we let it be?
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Note that the RetroTink-2Xs (all of them) are line doublers and not upscalers proper, in specific they do not adapt the input frequency to the HDMI specs and in so doing they rely on the TV HDMI circuitry accepting out-of-spec signals.
At that point each console/TV combination has its own outcome.
On a CRT you don't have such an issue as in the analog world (still within reason) TVs have quite the tolerance for non-exactly 60Hz signals as it is the input signal itself driving the beams and as we all know analog circuitry is forgiving.
I have 2 TV sets and on the 2X-MULTI my Jag only shows up on one set, the other refuses it, funny thing is the second set has its own S-Video input that I can use with the Jag with no issues ..... well, somewhat, you see if the input signal is not exactly 60Hz (or whatever the TV can tolerate) the TV has to duplicate/skip a frame causing judder. That is because it has to interpose a full frame framebuffer in the middle and from time to time given the signal is not in sync you either lose a frame (hence repeating an old one) or drop a frame (completely skipping one), at times tearing can happen too (depending on the TV if it performs double/triple buffer or not).
Not sure that this is your case but it is what it is, the new RetroTink-5X is a proper upscaler with framebuffer and optional pass-thru mode (called LOCK mode as in the output locks to the input frequency) which again may only work on some TV sets, but the buffered mode should work all the time.
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3 hours ago, jgkspsx said:I mean, if we're going to compare similar games, let's do some comparisons more fair to the Jaguar too:
Mech game:
Iron Soldier 2:
vs Metal Head:
The 32X game looks almost PS1 like in its textures (and the way they warp), but it's all right angles and the draw distance is ultra short. The destructible scenery is a lot more impressive on the Jag.
And in three dimensions, there's Skyhammer on the Jag:
Which looks a lot more competitive with the PS1 or Saturn, and positively blows away many of their early games.
Space combat:
Stellar Assault for the 32X:
Vs the very unfinished Spacewar 2000:
The Jag game is much smoother.
How about Darxide? Lots of textured polygons and it runs really fast:
But again the Jag is much smoother:
And maybe this last one isn't fair, but Arena tank battler:
I-War for the Jag:
vs. T-MEK (which really is more fairly compared to BattleWheels on the Lynx 😜)
IS2 is a Dec 30, 1997 game .... it does show the Jag can do smooth mostly flat shaded 3D games, but let's be honest here it's totally irrelevant, but you could play MetalHead in Feb of 1995 (almost 3y earlier) if you really wanted to.
So yeah the Jaguar was on-par/maybe-better/slightly-worse than the 32X but for both the timing was just not right and both had too little too late, the 32X pretty much was dead in mid 1995 ...The sad part on the Jag is that there's not very much in the direction of killer app (even if for a little it had the best console ports of Doom and Wolf3D and of course AvP was talked a lot about but it just wasn't enough of a system seller, same for Tempest 2000, awesome game if you knew what it was in the Arcades almost 15y earlier), while on the 32X VirtuaRacing is kind of such a thing imho, on 32X it came out in Dec 1994 (2 weeks after the Jag Checkered Flag to be clear), the Saturn version won't be around until Nov 95 in NA
I am not trying to argue both sides, they are both footnotes in the history of videogames, the 32X should never have been made imho, and the Jag was a case of being a little early and also too rushed plus a little ill-advised imho. Both 32X and Jag were better than the 16bits they were supposed to compete against, they were both worse than the Saturn and PS1, maybe "on par" with the 3DO (not that I care) but that one had a nice Need For Speed (still at 700US$ it was way too expensive even with that killer app) and a nice Road Rash (the 1994 version).People wanted 3D textured gfx and the 32X seems to be doing somewhat "better" at that from your examples but it was no match for what was coming, c'mon in Japan the Saturn launched 5 days before the 32X ... enough said about that really.
PS: tonight I tried to go over some of the Jag 3D games and man what a sorry bunch, I did manage to place 1st on CF linear patch on the Arctic Run race (there are penguins!!!!) on a 5 lap single race (my first win, awesome) ... and yes the framerate kills it but I'll play more of it 'cause I am a glutton for punishment, thank you CJ.
Wrt the Jag 3D games I tried there was SpaceWar 2000, ClubDrive, PhaseZero (demo), Fight for Life (holy mother ...), Supercross 3D (lol... I want my GD money back) and even Missile Command 3D (it's its own thing but I would not have paid for it bitd or today) and of course Checkered Flags + CJ Linear Patch (I am a sucker for 3D racing games, no karts though).Wrt framerate let's just remember that PS1 Ridge Racer (a launch title for PS1) was 30fps so I wouldn't over index on the 60fps even if yes those games look smoother etc....etc....
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6 hours ago, Stephen said:Every released game we got (which is where it counts) says otherwise. Also, in 20 years of homebrew, the best we've seen is that the jag cam maybe squeek out 10,000 to 12,000 flat shaded polygons per second. Sounds like a lot until you realize that means for an entire scene running at 60FPS, we get 200 triangles on the screen. Not 200 triangles for each car - for an entire screen!
There is no mystical missing power that just needs a super talented wizard of a developer to get crazy awesome 3D running on the Jag. Plain and simple the system cannot handle it. It was a fun system for the time, I've had mine since 1994. I've seen almost every argument and flame war at no less than a dozen sites. It's plain to see exactly what the Jag can do as far as 3D because we've had a quarter of a century to see it.
The 32X only had the 2 SH2 really and the Jag in between Tom and Jerry is likely a match imho.
The 32X VR does not run at 60FPS, more like 20 according to https://segaretro.org/Virtua_Racing_Deluxe but I cannot validate the claim, so according to math above that's about 600 triangles per screen which may be enough to "match" the visuals (not sure you mean 200 1px triangles, I have not looked at those stats in long time).
You are right in saying that there's no Jag game matching VR or VF but WTR with road texture off is hinting at the right direction imho, that's why I say I don't think the Jag is particularly gimped in 3D compared to the 32X (I have not programmed for either so maybe bandwidth is better on 32X? not sure).
You can see that VF for 32X has much lower polycount than Saturn and having the same dual SH2 CPUs (23Mhz on 32X and 28Mhz on Sat) tells you you need more than just raw CPU to pull off those visuals, but then again maybe Sega being Sega purposefully limited those ports.
Not flaming, no untapped power per se, just a belief that in 3D the Jag should be on par with the 32X or if you prefer the difference is likely a lot less than the games we have would lead us to believe, and we know for a fact the Jag can do Doom better than the 32X (at least the port the 32X got) but raycasting etc.....
As I said I like some of the 32X games more due to being big Sega Arcade properties and being ported very decently on the platform. Unfortunately I do not like playing many of the Jag 3D games, but even on the 32X if you remove VF and VR not sure what I'll use as a comparand.-
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11 hours ago, Stephen said:Now imagine Fight for Life next to Virtua Fighter, and Checkered Flag next to Virtua Racer. It will paint a pretty clear picture of the Jag not being superior in terms of power.
I wouldn't be so categorical, the teams that gave us VF and VR on 32X were far more experienced and likely had much better tools, I see enough in the Jag 3D production to tell me it could (even if it didn't have actual games).
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They are both slim pickings but in terms of memorable games:
on the 32X
- Virtua Racing
- Virtua Fighter
- After Burner
- Space Harrier
(yes there are better versions as well but those up to that point were very good on their own)
on the Jag
- Doom
- Wolf3D
- Rayman
- AvP
It is said they sold 250K Jag and 600K 32X, the Sega CD about 2.2M .... and the JagCD 20K .... at any rate I'd gladly ignore the CD units of both platforms for the sake of this!The Sega properties were more obvious to me especially if you had been in Arcades, pity the 32X never received an updated OutRun and Super HangOn.
The Jag was hot as consoles go wrt FPS of the time, but I can't honestly see how anyone that didn't own a Jag bitd knows of Cybermorph or Super BurnOut or Ultra Vortek.
Both offer more than the 4 titles above, the 32X was practically discontinued within a year and so if we wonder about the untapped JagPowa I wonder even more about what could the 32X do? (likely not much more lol).
The Jag appears to be superior in terms of raw power but as far as SW goes I personally remember more of the Sega Arcade ports than anything else. And yes the 32X was eclipsed by the Saturn but still it wasn't that wimpy:
And the 32X has a decent version of Mortal Kombat 2 that however possible to implement on the Jag never materialized.-
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17 hours ago, Zerosquare said:I see you haven't upgraded yours to the latest firmware.
so I have to ask, is there a new firmware?
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1 hour ago, Reaperman said:...
Related question: has anybody hacked Checkered Flag's performance or handling a bit? Jag has to be able to do better, right? Nice intro song, if nothing else.
....
CyranoJ has built a patch to support linear steering (rather than progressive), the original thread is here:
a link on how I applied the universal boot sector to the patched rom is here:
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FPGA Based Videogame System
in Classic Console Discussion
Posted
This one does a decent job at introducing FPGAs in general: