PC or PSX data?

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Snowy

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Heya,

I must really be doing something wrong, what data should I use, from the PSX or the PC version?  I only have the PC version available, and when I added the savemap, it doesn't work correctly.  It crashes when I go to the Fieldmap module.  I've put the Startmap.dat in the correct place...  Maybe any advice for me?

Thank you  :-)
 
Did you read So you want to run Q-Gears?

Because it doesn't seem quite like you have.
The engine doesn't actually work yet, and is being run using the PS1 data currently from what I remember.
I'm making it work with Image data so halkun can twiddle with it more (and I can get it to work on other platforms).

I'm sorry if you looked at all the images etc. and assumed something because currently there is .. nothing really to see other than parts of the data is being read. :D
I believe the script engine is the primary focus at the moment as well. Are you planing on helping develope or just curious? I do recomend reading the stickies. :)

Cyb
 
Thanx for the reply Cyberman,

I read the document you specified, I'm just trying to get mine running like the screen shots.  But I had to convert my FF7 pc .tex files in /data/MENU to .tim files to get it to work.  So I guess a system is still needed to check if the textures are .tim or .tex, and then load accordingly?

Oh, and sorry if I didn't specify much info, i'm just trying to understand the current state of the engine, so that maybe I can help...

Thank you again, I'll play with it some more.
Snows
 
Thanx for the reply Cyberman,

I read the document you specified, I'm just trying to get mine running like the screen shots.  But I had to convert my FF7 pc .tex files in /data/MENU to .tim files to get it to work.  So I guess a system is still needed to check if the textures are .tim or .tex, and then load accordingly?

Oh, and sorry if I didn't specify much info, i'm just trying to understand the current state of the engine, so that maybe I can help...

Thank you again, I'll play with it some more.
Snows
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Well currently halkun Akari and I are using the PS1 data.  There has been some discussion of how to work between the two data sets.  As it now stands the engine is not generic enough to know how to use the PC data.  The PS1 data is it, also it uses non ISO file names which means one has to convert the names in order to use an ISO image file.  Using the PC data is I guess a TODO thing, if you want to take on that challenge go right ahead.  Some of what might be done has been discused just not here.  As I'm dubious on how not to end up with a big mess.

Cyb
 
Damn, so I need to get the psx version somewhere ;P  Oh well, thank you.  I'll see what I can do, maybe I can figure something with the .tex files.  Good luck on the project.
 
I should update the sticky to refelct that we are using PS1 data...

However...

The script dumper that's part of a utility package that I'm coding does use ucompressed PC data. Supporting PSX data is trivial as all I have to do is move the header pointer up 20-some-odd bytes. All my test scripts came from a huge dump I did from the PC version. It was easier to get them all of them this way. (The PC and PSX script data are exactly the same). If you want, you can work on my script dumper, located in the /util directory (Though I may be moving that to a subdirectory within) I need some help fleshing out the opcodes. That's the only thing that's left to do. Well, that and a little bug where the opcode arguments are getting parsed backwards. I'll have a fix for that today. I'm going to update a post of the script dumper after I finish uploading it.
 
The PC version mostly uses recompressed PSX data anyway, doesn't it? Apart from movies, the biggest issue for compatibilty with both should be pointers if I'm not mistaken.
 
Nope, they used formats more "PC friendly" at the time. For example, the PC version uses MIDI files and .wav samples for sound effects. The PSX veriosn uses recompiled SEQ and VAG data. Pretty much all PSY-Q related data (picture, 3D, and sound formats) were converted to a PC eqivelent. However, the fieldscripts are byte-for-byte the same (execpt in different spots/files) I think the walkmesh is pretty similar too.
 
I guess it's a good thing I threw in that disclaimer. :) Anyway, though, this means that you could make a mostly functional one based on compatible data, except without graphics or sound.
 
Well no not really that's where things are a bit tricky.
The PC variant has the data packed into big files that are archived. The PS1 does not per sea.  We believe there is some use of sector numbers to read file information.  What is the problem? No NAMES are used in the script.  The names in the PC archives and in the PS1 ISO disks.. are purely esoteric.  Therefore we are left with whatever ID the script uses to find the files and this is what will be translated to being used in the engine. Hence why the script engine is really top priority. As the data format for most of the PS1 files is fairly well known now, it is a matter now of knowing what the script uses to load field files run movies and initiate animations.   Which will include the dolphin micro game and many other minigames.

So for now the PS1 data is used for field et al and the PC is for script dumping (le sigh).

Cyb
 
Unlabeled pointers? That reeks of bad code. No wonder I didn't realize it.
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No, that reeks of efficient code. Why keep names in your code when simple integer IDs are much faster? It's rather weird that the PC version still has the names left in, typically you'd compile them away into integers/pointers only. It's the PC version that reeks of bad code, a sloppy development released half-finished.
 
What is the problem? No NAMES are used in the script.
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Unlabeled pointers? That reeks of bad code. No wonder I didn't realize it.
Click to expand...
They aren't pointers, more like an index or reference value. Think of them as an enumerated data type.  The PC variant is a bit odd as Qhimm pointed out, being that it is a port, one suspects that the programmers had a lot of difficulties.  I know I would have considering the number of 'oopsies' on the way to get the final product out (shakes his head).
In any case the PC version left a lot of debugging information in it.  This is easy to do since the PC at that time had 8 to 16 times as much ram as the PS1.

Back to the actual scripting engine, I'm fairly certain they had some sort of 'globalized' pool of constants.  IE file IDs.  The script was probably compiled and the file names were stripped, or compiled to some sort of table.  They no longer needed the names per sea since the engine itself has a handy built in references of what the ID's ment.  This just makes it difficult to figure out what the #'s mean but not for the engine to use.

Cyb
 
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