Wolf32X - finally in beta!

[Chilly Willy]

Don't forget Blood, if only for the awesomeness that is the flare gun.

That too. In other words, there's TONS of DOS games out there that people just don't think about anymore. Lots of great games... and plenty of garbage, too. Sturgeon's Law holds paramount, after all.

[matteus]

It CAN handle FWT (Fast Walsh Transform - also called the Hadamard Transform). So my idea is one SH2 is doing the equivalent of MotionJPEG, but with FWT instead of DCT, while the other SH2 does deblocking to make it look better.

*goes off to read all about it*

[Chilly Willy]

*goes off to read all about it*

Here's a little snippet of code I was using to test the Hadamard transform. Code is sometimes hard to find in it's most basic form - this is as basic as it gets, showing how you do a 1D transform over the data array horizontally, then vertically. If you add up the operations, it does exactly 384 ADDs and SUBs.

#include <stdio.h>

int data[8][8] = {
    { 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 },
    { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 },
    { 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 },
    { 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 },
    { 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 },
    { 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 },
    { 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 },
    { 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 }
};

// 1D Hadamard

#define SA8D_1D {\
    const int a0 = SRC(0) + SRC(4);\
    const int a4 = SRC(0) - SRC(4);\
    const int a1 = SRC(1) + SRC(5);\
    const int a5 = SRC(1) - SRC(5);\
    const int a2 = SRC(2) + SRC(6);\
    const int a6 = SRC(2) - SRC(6);\
    const int a3 = SRC(3) + SRC(7);\
    const int a7 = SRC(3) - SRC(7);\
    const int b0 = a0 + a2;\
    const int b2 = a0 - a2;\
    const int b1 = a1 + a3;\
    const int b3 = a1 - a3;\
    const int b4 = a4 + a6;\
    const int b6 = a4 - a6;\
    const int b5 = a5 + a7;\
    const int b7 = a5 - a7;\
    DST(0, b0 + b1);\
    DST(1, b0 - b1);\
    DST(2, b2 + b3);\
    DST(3, b2 - b3);\
    DST(4, b4 + b5);\
    DST(5, b4 - b5);\
    DST(6, b6 + b7);\
    DST(7, b6 - b7);\
}

// 8x8 fast Hadamard test

main ()
{
    int i, j;

// compute forward Hadamard

#define SRC(x)     data[i][x]
#define DST(x,rhs) data[i][x] = (rhs)
    for (i=0; i<8; i++)
        SA8D_1D
#undef SRC
#undef DST

#define SRC(x)     data[x][i]
#define DST(x,rhs) data[x][i] = (rhs)
    for (i=0; i<8; i++)
        SA8D_1D
#undef SRC
#undef DST

    for (i=0; i<8; i++)
        printf ("%d %d %d %d %d %d %d %d\n",
            data[i][0], data[i][1], data[i][2], data[i][3],
            data[i][4], data[i][5], data[i][6], data[i][7]);
    printf ("\n");

// compute inverse Hadamard

#define SRC(x)     data[i][x]
#define DST(x,rhs) data[i][x] = (rhs)
    for (i=0; i<8; i++)
        SA8D_1D
#undef SRC
#undef DST

#define SRC(x)     data[x][i]
#define DST(x,rhs) data[x][i] = (rhs) >> 6
    for (i=0; i<8; i++)
        SA8D_1D
#undef SRC
#undef DST

    for (i=0; i<8; i++)
        printf ("%d %d %d %d %d %d %d %d\n",
            data[i][0], data[i][1], data[i][2], data[i][3],
            data[i][4], data[i][5], data[i][6], data[i][7]);

}

[mrbigreddog]

No, I've been looking into a 32X video player for YEARS. I actually BOUGHT the MPEG1 specifications (this was back before such things were online for free) just to see what the decoding would entail and if the 32X was capable of actually playing VideoCDs.

I just hadn't put any real work into it until I got Wolf32X out and started on my CD code. At that point, I could see a 32X video player as being possible. Your thread just simply came at a time when my own thoughts on the matter were beginning to look realistic.

I still feel special! hahaha!!

[Chilly Willy]

I still feel special! hahaha!!

It's your avatar.

I'm sure many people have been thinking about a movie player on the 32X - you just posted the first thread on it here (that I'm aware of). How people think about it will vary by the person - as you've seen, my thoughts have been more program oriented, with special emphasis on the core of the video codec.

[mrbigreddog]

It's your avatar.

I'm sure many people have been thinking about a movie player on the 32X - you just posted the first thread on it here (that I'm aware of). How people think about it will vary by the person - as you've seen, my thoughts have been more program oriented, with special emphasis on the core of the video codec.

My "dream" is to redo the video for Sewer Sharks - And star in it myself! That would kickass!!

[Chilly Willy]

My "dream" is to redo the video for Sewer Sharks - And star in it myself! That would kickass!!

Well, it WAS one of the better FMV games to come out. I suppose you already have the helmet?

[T2KFreeker]

Hey now, I absolutely Love Sewer Shark. The game is awesome!

[kool kitty89]

Awsome in a campy way, just like Night Trap (and maybe double switch depending on your prefrence).

Nowhere near the awsome campy humor of Retrun to Zork though (granted a higher quality game in general), which could probably be included in the FMV genre (though technically a graphic adventure with digitized actors and lots of cutscenes, probably closer to FMV than Myst, at least in some ways) Weird to think that it was among the few such games to not initially be released on CD, but rather 12 floppy disks!

Anyway, back on topic.


On the earlier Fm SFX comment, Chilly Willy, why is using a real OPL2 (or compatible) chip necessary? Wouldn't Adlib/SB emulation in DOSBox give high enough sound quality?

[CMA Death Adder]

I've got someone making recordings from the actual chip for me.

Yoicks! Who on earth would want to sit around making hardware-perfect recordings of Ad Lib sound effects?! Guy'd have to be fjörkin' crazy!

Wouldn't Adlib/SB emulation in DOSBox give high enough sound quality?

No. Listening to DOSBox try to emulate the Ad Lib card makes me disgusted.

[TmEE]

I prefer DOSbox over real OPLx chip, mainly because real chip sounds so unclean...

[Mr. Ksoft]

Unclean? I dunno, I have a Sound Blaster 16 in one of my old computers and the OPL3 part of it is one of the clearest, cleanest sounds it can make... it definitely blows DOSBox's quality out the window. (Plus, DOSBox doesn't emulate it completely accurately, making some sounds off. Just like a Genesis emulator compared to hardware)

[mrbigreddog]

Well, it WAS one of the better FMV games to come out. I suppose you already have the helmet?

Not yet! And I would have to cut my hair... Maybe I could play ALL the Characters!! "Another Crash and Burn... First time huh rookie?"

[Chilly Willy]

Yoicks! Who on earth would want to sit around making hardware-perfect recordings of Ad Lib sound effects?! Guy'd have to be fjörkin' crazy!

Maybe, but he's already got me most of the sound effects.

Wouldn't Adlib/SB emulation in DOSBox give high enough sound quality?

No. Listening to DOSBox try to emulate the Ad Lib card makes me disgusted.

The PSP version of Wolf32X (and some other versions for the PC) use the MAME AdLib FM emulation for the FM sounds and music... and it's the number one complaint from users - the FM sound is wrong/bad. SpritesMind has been researching the YM2612 in the Genesis to make emulated Genesis audio perfect - something similar needs to be done for the old PC FM chips. No matter what the MAME changelog says, PC FM audio is NOT very good. People who think it sounds better are simply used to listening to wrong FM; anyone who grew up listening to the real FM will tell you it's MAME/Dosbox that sounds wrong, not reality.

[TmEE]

Unclean? I dunno, I have a Sound Blaster 16 in one of my old computers and the OPL3 part of it is one of the clearest, cleanest sounds it can make... it definitely blows DOSBox's quality out the window. (Plus, DOSBox doesn't emulate it completely accurately, making some sounds off. Just like a Genesis emulator compared to hardware)

the DOSbox emulation is inaccurate, but its not having quantization noise, and it does not have that digital filter present in real chip.