Anyone looked into porting Sega Genesis games?

[sh3-rg]

And that is the biggest load of crap I've ever heard. It certainly is clear you are not a coder. That sounds more like an attempt at insulting certain coders than anything else. If it wasn't meant as an insult, you really found the worst possible way of wording what you meant to say. Porting is very often one of the most challenging tasks a programmer can do. Even with the source, making a game meant for one platform look it best on a completely different one is a challenge most programmers aren't up for. Programmers who do source ports make good money because they're in high demand.

 

It's my opinion and I'm entitled to voice it. Whether you think it's the biggest load of crap you ever heard or not is for you to decide, but maybe you could continue the discussion without the attitude? If you think it's a personal attack on "certain coders" then that's your opinion, you'd be entitled to hold it, but you'd be completely wrong. You're 8 years late to that kind of nonsense here. If I wished to upset someone for whatever reason (I do not), I'd be much more direct about it than the covert shenanigans you imagine.

 

My opinion is that taking the code to a game and making it work on another platform lacks a creative process. It's that black and white. It might offer technical challenges and make the coder feel accomplished in doing it, but it's a purely academic, not creative exercise, and that's why hardly anyone spends their time taking the code to old games and reworking them for other platforms... because it's boring. Who gets paid for what is none of my concern and completely irevelant to the discussion of hobbyist games on a 20-year-dead platform.

 

Excuse me, but I was defending YOU. Did you actually read what he wrote?

CJ's whiteknight? Trust me, he doesn't need one.

 

That's him talking about everything YOU have been doing here lately. All those ST games you've ported for Jaguar folk - he's spitting in your face, so don't go spitting in mine when I defend you.

Whoa... are you for real?

 

The only game CJ has ported to the Jaguar is Beebris - he wrote that one himself, too. What he's been doing is nothing at all like a source port of a game, he's been effectively doing what he's done for ST games on Falcon for years, only about several million times more awesome by making it run on an entirely different platform. None of my bodily fluids have, or will ever, land in CJ's face, I promise.

 

Anywho, I went back and checked some old ST code, and it's not DMA, but using the HBL ints to change all the palette registers. A simple mistake given how long it's been since I did anything for the ST. You don't need to be snotty about it... especially as I'm on YOUR side.

This is not a playground and it's not about taking sides. people have opinions, other people have other opinions. It's not gang warfare, it's an opportunity for discussion.

[Justin222]

My opinion is that taking the code to a game and making it work on another platform lacks a creative process.

I would agree if the platforms were the same. Since they aren't there has to be some degree of creativity involved.

[sh3-rg]

I would agree if the platforms were the same. Since they aren't there has to be some degree of creativity involved.

Making something from nothing: creativity.

 

Using the structure of something that already exists in order to replicate it elsewhere: not so much. Engineering: yes. Problems solving: yes. Boring: highly probability.

[Justin222]

Making something from nothing: creativity.

 

Using the structure of something that already exists in order to replicate it elsewhere: not so much. Engineering: yes. Problems solving: yes. Boring: highly probability.

The difference is that my point is sound logic and yours is subjective opinion.

[sh3-rg]

I would agree if the platforms were the same. Since they aren't there has to be some degree of creativity involved.

 

The difference is that my point is sound logic and yours is subjective opinion.

 

Sound logic? If the platforms were the same, there would be nothing to port, you'd just build it...

[Chilly Willy]

I really don't need someone who does this on my side, kthnkxbye.

First, the only thing in common with the code he gave me was the code that stalled the VDP. Second, I made changes to that code making it work better, and under more conditions, so it wasn't at all cut-n-paste. I also arranged for someone with a better understanding of the VDP to do new code that is better/more reliable than the original. No code at all from the original exists in the current code. There's more of that over at SpritesMind where we worked the whole issue out. It wasn't more than just a minor misunderstanding that we worked out, and everyone was better off for the whole mess.

 

 

You also said that 'emulating the colour changes per line' would not be a big deal.. I'd like to know how you came to that conclusion.... what Jaguar mechanism are you proposing to use to emulate that function? (Note, I've already done this, and no, it wasn't at all easy) - I suppose you could disassemble one, change the labels, and say you worked it out yourself. *shrug*

I never said it was "easy", I said it wasn't a big deal. And from your own posts, it's not a big deal. Not easy, but still not a big deal. I was going from your posts on one of your ports concerning the color changes. I have no idea how you did it, but I have a few of my own... untried of course, but still reasonable ideas. For example, have the video in 256 color mode and bump the palette index used when converting the colors to use the index, which is itself bumped each time the palette registers are set by the 68000. That would handle up to 16 changes of the palette per screen. For more than that, depending on the game, I'd probably setup the blitter to alter the color table for each line and have a palette for every line. Obviously, some methods will work better than others depending on the game. For example, Wolf3D for the ST sets the palette for the main screen in the vertical blank, then changes the palette for the status bar at the first line of the status bar. For that, I'd keep two palettes and split the screen into two OP bitmaps, each using the proper palette.

[AtariORdead]

Making something from nothing: creativity.

 

Using the structure of something that already exists in order to replicate it elsewhere: not so much. Engineering: yes. Problems solving: yes. Boring: highly probability.

 

I would agree 100% with that, its not a very creative process to just take an existing game and get it working on another system. impressive and a skill involved of course, creative and imaginative, certainly not.

 

Same as just copying an existing concept, Its still a good show of skill but lacks any imagination.