WHDLoad CD project... possible?

Shoonay · 24 January 2005, 11:20

I was just wandering... dreaming... of playing some wonderful CD32 games on my Amy... with full sound-from-CD support... or FMV's loaded in-real-time...
Would it be possible?

Assuming that:
1. One has enough memory (~650) I know this would be a "bit" tough (in terms of cash mostly

) to get, but... the game get's preloaded just like any other WHDLoad install, and... in the game we GO!!!

...and/or...
2. WHDLoad OS swaps access function gets developed to perfection

(almost no seen delay), so it's just "copy the files"/"make an image out of the CD/ripp to different file-types" (every installer script should have these options

) and voila!
Music get's played from buffer/in-real-time, from the desired source (CD player/image file/ripped files converted to wav/mp3/ogg/ac3/iff sample

...), everything get's loaded just like playing on the original (CD32) machine with "slightly" bigger requirements for pre-fetch functions...

...ah well, one can dream can't he?

...

PS: Looking at all those installers done already, i fear that there are no more games to WHDification in the near future, so you "WHDLoad Team" guys should consider this!

keropi · 24 January 2005, 11:35

I cannot see why it cannot be done, if u have a cd-image... but can the amiga cope with constant file access (cda reading) ???

Codetapper · 24 January 2005, 12:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shoonay

PS: Looking at all those installers done already, i fear that there are no more games to WHDification in the near future, so you "WHDLoad Team" guys should consider this!

Relax, there are hundreds/thousands of games that still need installing. The end is not in sight yet!

As for the other points, it's not as easy as you think unfortunately...

Shoonay · 24 January 2005, 13:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Codetapper

Relax, there are hundreds/thousands of games that still need installing. The end is not in sight yet!

Yeah i know Code'y... just foolin'

Quote:

Originally Posted by Codetapper

As for the other points, it's not as easy as you think unfortunately...

Well, yes... i didn't said i think that it would be easy...
Hey! i do know if it was, you've guys already have done it!

... But with my assumptions met... would it be possible?

Npl · 24 January 2005, 17:06

The problem would be that the sound needs to be mixed into the 4 sound channels while the Game is running. CD32 Games just do the similar thing as you when they want to play music - they just specify the Track and hit "Play" as the CD-Drive emits the sound directly. Other than that they dont control the playback in any way. Means if you want WHDLoad to play back music from file it would have to
*) Handle reading (doable if theyres enough memory to buffer the whole CD)
*) Intercept the Game and execute the playback-routine in regular intervalls( including taking the sound the game would send directly to the 4 Channels and mixing it with the CD-Sound). WHDLoad-Installs would probably need to patch/rewrite lots of Gamecode to cope with this.
*) Both points need to be transparent enough to the game and need to be fast enough not to mess with tight timings the game might expect.

You look at nothing less than rewriting most of the Gamecode....

Amiga1992 · 24 January 2005, 20:04

This is pretty pointles IMO, and who's gonna have 650MB of RAM in their miggy? Only a smaaaaaaaaall few.

If you hav a CD drive it should be possible for WHDload to make the CDA play from it, that is, if it doesn't do this already. Just invest in a CD drive.

Wepl · 25 January 2005, 07:35

As Npl already wrote playback via the custom chips is nearly impossible because it would interfer with the sound playback/sfx from the game itself.

It should possible to use the direct play of a real cdrom drive. But this is also not simple because there is no API in the OS to control this. Maybe using some pd/sharestuff like atapiplay.lha and cdplay370.lha can help.

Its on my ToDo-List to check this, but ATM there are other things in work.

24 January 2005, 11:20	#1
Shoonay Global Caturator Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Porando Age: 43 Posts: 6,105	WHDLoad CD project... possible? I was just wandering... dreaming... of playing some wonderful CD32 games on my Amy... with full sound-from-CD support... or FMV's loaded in-real-time... Would it be possible? Assuming that: 1. One has enough memory (~650) I know this would be a "bit" tough (in terms of cash mostly ) to get, but... the game get's preloaded just like any other WHDLoad install, and... in the game we GO!!! ...and/or... 2. WHDLoad OS swaps access function gets developed to perfection (almost no seen delay), so it's just "copy the files"/"make an image out of the CD/ripp to different file-types" (every installer script should have these options ) and voila! Music get's played from buffer/in-real-time, from the desired source (CD player/image file/ripped files converted to wav/mp3/ogg/ac3/iff sample ...), everything get's loaded just like playing on the original (CD32) machine with "slightly" bigger requirements for pre-fetch functions... ...ah well, one can dream can't he? ... PS: Looking at all those installers done already, i fear that there are no more games to WHDification in the near future, so you "WHDLoad Team" guys should consider this!

25 January 2005, 07:35	#7
Wepl Moderator Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Germany Posts: 866	not soon As Npl already wrote playback via the custom chips is nearly impossible because it would interfer with the sound playback/sfx from the game itself. It should possible to use the direct play of a real cdrom drive. But this is also not simple because there is no API in the OS to control this. Maybe using some pd/sharestuff like atapiplay.lha and cdplay370.lha can help. Its on my ToDo-List to check this, but ATM there are other things in work.

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24 January 2005, 11:35	#2
keropi . Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Ioannina/Greece Posts: 5,040	I cannot see why it cannot be done, if u have a cd-image... but can the amiga cope with constant file access (cda reading) ???

24 January 2005, 17:06	#5
Npl Registered User Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Vienna / Austria Age: 44 Posts: 257	The problem would be that the sound needs to be mixed into the 4 sound channels while the Game is running. CD32 Games just do the similar thing as you when they want to play music - they just specify the Track and hit "Play" as the CD-Drive emits the sound directly. Other than that they dont control the playback in any way. Means if you want WHDLoad to play back music from file it would have to ) Handle reading (doable if theyres enough memory to buffer the whole CD) ) Intercept the Game and execute the playback-routine in regular intervalls( including taking the sound the game would send directly to the 4 Channels and mixing it with the CD-Sound). WHDLoad-Installs would probably need to patch/rewrite lots of Gamecode to cope with this. *) Both points need to be transparent enough to the game and need to be fast enough not to mess with tight timings the game might expect. You look at nothing less than rewriting most of the Gamecode....

24 January 2005, 20:04	#6
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,644	This is pretty pointles IMO, and who's gonna have 650MB of RAM in their miggy? Only a smaaaaaaaaall few. If you hav a CD drive it should be possible for WHDload to make the CDA play from it, that is, if it doesn't do this already. Just invest in a CD drive.

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