"Blue Thunder" CD32 FMV engine prototype

[earok]

HAM8 video works just fine in CDXL on 020, the Tower Assault intro was HAM8.

One thing you'll need to keep in mind is that the CD32 only has a 2X Speed CD player. So at most (when playing from a CD) it can play back 150KB per second. This is the single biggest limitation on resolution and framerate.

For example, in HAM6, if you're running 320x216 at 20FPS.

320 * 216 * 20 * (6/8) = 591KB per second, which is too much for a 2X Speed CD drive.

[Amigajay]

Just checking the work amigaanimecd has been doing, they were using 304x144 10fps with sdl, but have changed recently to 320x180 6fps which in terms of picture quality is better, but obviously lower frame rate, which is ok for animation films and helps now being able to read the subtitles! But for normal films i would stick with the former.

Edit : they have also used 320x180 12fps sdl

Wouldnt mind having a go myself some time, so say with HAM6 the highest framerate at 320x90 (180 with sdl) is 12fps and 320x180 is 6fps.

What if you use 256 colour mode, whats the max fps or will it be the same?

[earok]

Made a mistake above, 150kbs is 1X CD-Speed, the CD32 is 2X of course so you're capped at 300KBs.

Max framerate is based on the number of bitplanes eg

2 colours = 1BP
4 colours = 2BP
8 colours = 3BP
16 colours = 4BP
32 colours = 5BP
64 colours = 6BP
128 colours = 7BP
256 colours = 8BP

HAM6 and HAM8, as their name implies, are six bitplanes and eight bitplanes respectively.

The formula I posted above changes based on the number of bitplanes.

So

320x90x12 HAM6 = 320 * 90 * 12 * (6/8) = 253 KBs, that's well within CD playback limits.

320x90x12 HAM8 = 320 * 90 * 12 * (8/8) = 337 KBs, that's outside of CD playback limits.

Also you've got to take into account audio, at mono 11050HZ that's around 11kb per second that gets added to the total.

[Amigajay]

Thanks, had a look at the manual he made, this example is handy too:

304 X 114, HAM, 10 fps, 20 KHz black box: “left=6,right=4,top=4,bottom=4” for 4:3 video
320 X 90, HAM, 12 fps, 24 KHz black box: “left=0,right=0,top=4,bottom=4” for 16:9 video

Handy for tv shows or films screensize, So for higher quality double the vertical res for half the playback rate, handy for animations and cartoon films etc

[saimon69]

@Earok

considered the engine is very similar to that of Road Avenger, i would expect also Cobra Command to come soon i can help with extra assets

[earok]

Sadly Cobra Command isn't on my list for this year - my plan is strictly Road Avenger, AlarCity, Raid Over Moscow and then [secret project]. It makes sense to extend the FMV engine with a shooting cursor though, though if I were to do that I'd be just as tempted to take a look at Mad Dog McCree first.

[thairacerjp]

Originally Posted by earok

@thairacerjp CDXL conversion is a bit painful because you need to come up with a process for splitting to individual frames and merging them back in with a tool. These days I use FFMPEG on Windows to do the split, and ADPRO in Amiga to do the merge into CDXL.

But of course Blue Thunder and the related games made in the engine use FFMPEG in combination with some custom made tools for the custom format I've made.

@Redblade
Greetings fellow kiwi! Yes, basically any video could be converted to the format, but you'd need to live with limitations on frame rate and resolution (unless you didn't care about CD32 compatibility! If you were only interested in Amigas equipped with hard drives you could probably get away with larger and smoother videos)



Just a reminder - Blue Thunder was only a prototype game of course, TimeGal was the full length game that came out of the experiment, and of course Road Avenger should be out in the next few weeks.

Hi earok ! , i have some problem running ADPro_v2.5.1 on my classic workbench, i have unpacked and after i try to launch and he asked me for
"adpro library ver 3" , i think it's a library to put in "S" folder of the system ?
if you know how to cause i have searched on aminet, eab ftp, but no found......
or may be i need workbench 3.9 ? i 100 % noobs
thanks for your help.
jean

edit a looked about requirement for this program, i have tf328 with 8 mo ram so it shoud be ok !

[earok]

I've zoned the ADPro library file that I have if that's any use (AmigaJay, I think you mentioned you had similar issues..?)

I would recommend using WinUAE for doing CDXL work, mainly because you can use JIT to process video far faster than you could do on real Amiga hardware.

[thairacerjp]

that's nice ! , after rename your file i can start program wow ! , now i read the manual about 568 pages lol ! i will try to find the cdxl conversion files.
regards.

[nexus]

DCTV would help this cause i actually just got 1 for myself to play with

[Foul]

@thairacerjp : if you're looking for any Amiga library..just look at my signature

[thairacerjp]

@Foul : Great ! you are the MAN , great database ! , ADPRO work , i will check this out later........ bonjour la France .

[earok]

I did a minor - and final - update, mainly for publishing to my own site. I've provided a bare bones CD32 and HDD version, a workbench bug has been fixed (you shouldn't be able to use the mouse or keyboard to interfere with what's happening in workbench), the "level 1" screen has been removed (since that's the only level!) and a couple of keyboard commands have been added.

http://earok.net/game/blue-thunder-prototype

[DamienD]

Thanks earok, you're keeping yourself busy in regards to updating all your projects lately

Originally Posted by earok

the "level 1" screen has been removed (since that's the only level!)

I like that image and it's gives some background to what the game is about



IMHO it would be cool to keep but just remove the "LEVEL ONE" text

[earok]

Originally Posted by DamienD

Thanks earok, you're keeping yourself busy in regards to updating all your projects lately


I like that image and it's gives some background to what the game is about



IMHO it would be cool to keep but just remove the "LEVEL ONE" text

Busy, busy weekend.. I'm dedicating one weekend a month to cramming on my side projects (as well as making head way on my more important projects of course!)

Hmm :/ if I ever finish what I had originally intended to do with Blue Thunder (eg, more than one level!), I'll put level screens back in