General Info / News

cennar · Post by **cennar** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 8:29 pm

wow what ever i can do to help... who ever i have to do to make this game a reality and a n64 cart.. I'll do it, you know i'll do it I'm crazy that way.

Post by **marshallh** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:26 pm

More progress - converted "sample" source code by Nintendo that previously compiled with exeGCC to work with my current SN systems Psy-Q compiler.

Messed around with the sequence player - we know them as MIDIs. 90% of all N64 music is a form of glorified MIDI. The N64 needs a sequence file (compressed MIDI file) as well as a sample bank (holding instruments, sounds etc) to generate sound.

Of course, to play MIDI files as we know them, Nintendo supplies a General MIDI sound bank, and it works. It sounds like crap though.

This means: There are 2 ways I can play music on the N64.

1. MIDI files as explained above
2. MOD files played with a port of MikMod.

1 is a pain to make and doesn't support things like complex envelopes, effects and the like. However, it is directly supported by the audio microcode, so it's fast.
2 makes use of a MOD player, which can sound great, but simply blasts sound through some registers, which means the CPU has to do all the work and may hurt the graphics some.
It is also a LOT easier to compose a mod file (Say, Impulse Tracker) than mess with MIDI. I'll probably use this for making N64 demos

So what does this mean? GTP probably won't have much music. The only places I can see music being played are: inside buildings where you have processing time to burn, and possibly in the game menus.

You deserve a cookie if you got all that

Sword_Gun · Post by **Sword_Gun** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:37 pm

What about in cars? Car music is the best.

Post by **marshallh** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:42 pm

Sword_Gun wrote:What about in cars? Car music is the best.

If you want to composing some decent-sounding MIDI sequences and the appropriate wave tables (same as sound banks) then be my guest. It takes a very talented composer to squeeze good sound out of MIDI.

I had thought of this, I considered using VGMusic.com midis for car music, but they sound terrible with Nintendo's supplied sound bank. It is possible to replace the instrument samples with ones from, say, the DirectMusic sample bank.

So, benheck users, would you like to me attempt replacing the MIDI sound bank with some decent instruments, and have video game MIDIs playing for car driving? Or should I just write some good MOD music for the menus and buildings?

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:51 pm

I say just finish the game and go back and add music if you can/want to. We are all going crazy waiting.

gamecube6 · Post by **gamecube6** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:27 am

EDIT: oh, you know it , sorry

josh · Post by **josh** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 1:44 pm

well i would like video game music on the car radio.

Post by **bicostp** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 5:36 pm

Well, with the MOD music, would it sound all compressed and flat like the music in the beginning of Cruisin' Exotica? If so I'd suggest trying to swap out the basic instrument sounds with some better ones.

Also, guys about MIDIs from VGmusic.com, it's not a good idea to use them becasue those songs most likely still fall under copyright protection from their respective companies. I think. Not entirely sure... Remixes may be a bit more toward the light side of the grey area.

Post by **marshallh** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 6:15 pm

One of the most effective graphical effects I've seen on the N64 are colored vertices. RARE games use colored vertices heavily, in place of expensive lighting calculations.

There is no easy way to edit vertex colors with the setup I'm using:
1. Model and texture with Anim8or, export to 3DS
2. Convert to .h displaylist using Memir's 3DS2C
3. Render DL on N64

3DS doesn't allow for vertex colors. So, I had to write a program that would load the .h displaylists and allow you to edit vertex colors, and regenerate a .h file.

I've done it.

Loads 99% of displaylists generated by 3DS2C, into a vertex buffer renderable by Direct3D. Textures in the .h file are stored as encoded hex in 16-bit 5551 format. I had to do a lot of converting and parsing, as you would imagine.

Editing vertex colors is easy - either click on vertices or drag a selection box. Two views allow for instant preview and easy access to the raw vertices. Individual objects can be toggled on/off to make editing easier.

As it is a version 0.1, it doesn't save back to a displaylist, but that functionality will be soon in coming, I was just so excited about this that I decided to post about it now.

This should be a tool that will evolve with each game I make. I have planned additions already started, such as making animation keyframes.

Comments? For any hackers among you, here's a sample from the upcoming game:
http://retroactive.be/L_ALLEY.H

ShockSlayer · Post by **ShockSlayer** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 6:22 pm

Thanks for the sample. Now to muck around in the code! hehehe.

You pwn!

SS

Post by **marshallh** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 5:56 pm

More progress. Vertex colors are saved to a file and can later be merged with the N64 displaylist.

Note the subtle shadows in the corners and on the ground.

*o* · Post by ***o*** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 6:04 pm

*applauds* wow!

I wonder if we could build an N64 cart?

an actual n64 cart buildable by just about anyone?

Post by **marshallh** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 7:04 pm

It's possible, but I don't know enough details to do it myself. I'm learning more about the process, though.

I think the best way to make game carts containing the game data is to use a Flash ROM chip. I have seen designs for a flash cart based on an Atmel flash chip, but the design is too old to replicate, and only provides 2MB space anyway.

I think that the best route is to use a 64Mbit (8Mbyte) flash ROM from either Atmel or Macronix. Here's a chip I have in mind.

Really all there is to do is to rewire the flash chip address and data lines to match those on the cartridge pinout.

Code: Select all

Cart Pinout:
GND 	1 	26 	GND
GND 	2 	27 	GND
AD15 	3 	28 	AD0
AD14 	4 	29 	AD1
AD13 	5 	30 	AD2
GND 	6 	31 	GND
AD12 	7 	32 	AD3
/write 	8 	33 	ALE_L
VCC 	9 	34 	VCC
/read 	10 	35 	ALEL_H
AD11 	11 	36 	AD4
AD10 	12 	37 	AD5
12V 	13 	38 	12V
  	14 	39 	 
AD9 	15 	40 	AD6
AD8 	16 	41 	AD7
VCC 	17 	42 	VCC
CIC_DATA1 	18 	43 	CIC_DATA2
1.6MHZ 	19 	44 	 
/COLD_RESET 	20 	45 	/OS EVENT
S_DAT 	21 	46 	 
GND 	22 	47 	GND
GND 	23 	48 	GND
LAUDIO 	24 	49 	RAUDIO
GND 	25 	50 	GND

VCC=3.3V
looking from the top of the console: pin 1 is left front, pin 26 is left rear

Does anyone with some real technical knowledge want to help in this?

Post by **Triton** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 7:07 pm

i am uber impressed marsh! fix the model of the oldsmobile a bit (i think you could get away with a FEW more polys lol) and it will look riteous! fricken amazin man keep it UP! get on aim ya foo! so i can talk at ya

*o* · Post by ***o*** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 7:14 pm

basically i think you need the rom chip and another chip (a buffer chip) i think...i cant remember maybe ill crack open a cart and poke around later.

I would be happy to help in the hardware development side of this if you want me too.