Scorpion Engine

[Torti-the-Smurf]

Sorry, i really dont want to offend anyone.
Just saying the games that i had played where not 1x1 pixel scrolling.

Wonderboy
Castlevania Demo
And a few where i cant remember the title. (getting old and dumb)

But i found Scorpion Engine 1x1 Pixel Scrollers Games !!!
Like the Rick Dangerous Remake
Amigo the Fox
and Boxx.

I am really sorry if i offended you or anybody involved with the Scorpion Engine.
This was not my intend.

Also learned alot of Scorpion Engine in the process, so i am really thankful for that.

Besides, i am really excited for all the development that is going on with this Engine.

Only my highest respect for you guys
(i am not worthy; HA, i cant barley make a Pong game )

I am just a dumb Sugar Baking Smurf

[flibble42]

I wouldn't worry, i don't think you upset anyone. Probably felt that way but i think people where trying to say that their experience did not match yours.


Bob

[Torti-the-Smurf]

Thanks Bob, you are probably right

I can undestand, if somebody is really passionated about something,
its very easy to upset them.

It´s never ever my intend to offend anybody here in this lovley community.
As far as i am concerned we are one big Family.

( Yes; i know this might sound corny, but it has to said at least once )

Besides, i learned alot of Scorpion Engine in the process (thanks to you guys)
and even watched pretty much every video i could find on that subject .

Now i know; there are Scopion Engine 1x1 pixel scrollers out there
(most need a A1200 tho ) (Sorry .. please dont hit me)

Anyway; much love and respect from me
Torti

[flibble42]

On a final note, and we should probably leave the conversation here .
Some of us are working on projects that (if i understand your point) would not be possible with just a perfectly 25, 50 pixel movement per second. I'm tinkering with Spy Hunter so there wil need to be some strange scroll speeds to keep the arcade feel of the car up. But saying that it does look smooth an a 50hz display, so.


I do hope you enjoy your Scorpion experience, it's a good place to start for us that are not natural coders.


Bob

[Mixel]

Torti: (lol not tortilla, thanks autocorrect!) no offence taken I was just wondering if there was a performance issues I wasn’t aware of. There have been quite a few fringe cases where testers have reported games running either better or worse than expected, and it’s often a case of trail and error figuring it out.

I still have at least one performance report from someone playing my demo that makes no sense to me at all.

[earok]

@Torti that's no problem at all!

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Latest check in:

* Improvements to level loading times, should be around ~6 seconds faster to load a level on A500 settings
* Investigated issue reported by Lemming880 with A500 mini support, it should be fixed again

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Slight aside - made some progress with some cross platform Amiga and Mega Drive stuff in Blitz ( [ Show youtube player ]).

I mentioned in the video that I didn't have audio solved, now I do (I think), so at least in theory I can get the ball rolling on the Mega Drive output for Scorpion.

[UltraNarwhal]

Jetpack movement is great, now I don't have to bodge it in BlimpgeddonX.

[Lemming880]

Erm... loading from adf did not become faster but much slower. I've tested Boxx Remake's adf on A500. Before the update loading a level took 32 seconds. Now 55 seconds. This time includes showing a panel (with level number) that took 8 seconds, now 12 seconds.

Thanks for the A500 mini fix. Do you still need my project for the platform collision issue?

Edit. I forgot to say I've tested cartridge vs pre-cartridge versions. I just tested an adf from 3 days ago and that takes 1.03 minutes to load. So compared to that it's faster but not compared to pre-cartridge.

[earok]

Excellent @UltraNarwhal!

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@Lemming880 oh, oops.. I hadn't taken into account inefficiencies with the cartridge header format.. so I've reworked the format again.

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Latest experimental build reworks the cartridge format so that all of the metadata about each file (the position inside the cartridge file, as well as the compressed and uncompressed sizes) is held in memory rather than left on the disk.

As such, the loading times should now be improved, even compared to those before the cartridge format was introduced.

From my own testing, for the loading times between the title and the first level of Amigo the Fox:

- Before cartridge format, 24 seconds
- After cartridge format, 29 seconds
- Current build, 18 seconds

[nikosidis]

Originally Posted by earok

Excellent @UltraNarwhal!

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@Lemming880 oh, oops.. I hadn't taken into account inefficiencies with the cartridge header format.. so I've reworked the format again.

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Latest experimental build reworks the cartridge format so that all of the metadata about each file (the position inside the cartridge file, as well as the compressed and uncompressed sizes) is held in memory rather than left on the disk.

As such, the loading times should now be improved, even compared to those before the cartridge format was introduced.

From my own testing, for the loading times between the title and the first level of Amigo the Fox:

- Before cartridge format, 24 seconds
- After cartridge format, 29 seconds
- Current build, 18 seconds

That is a big improvement.



Looking forward to a new Wonder Boy build with faster loading times


Thanks

[acidbottle]

Originally Posted by nikosidis

That is a big improvement.



Looking forward to a new Wonder Boy build with faster loading times


Thanks

It is a very nice improvement, great update earok! Slow loading was one of the main criticisms I had, though there is a tonne of data, I'm gobsmacked it managed to fit on a single adf, seriously haha!

Mind you, can never remember games loading super fast back in the day either.

Anyways, better get to work on 1.2 then 2023 highly likely ..

[Lemming880]

Floppy on A500: loading level 1 (without panel)

Boxx Remake:
Before cartridge: 23 sec
After cartridge: 50 sec
Current build: 27 sec

Boxx 4:
Before cartridge: 25 sec
After cartridge: 1.01 min
Current build: 35 sec

[earok]

@Lemming880 I can't explain why it'd still be slower, the latest build has fewer OS resumes and fewer disk reads than before the cartridge system. I'd be happy to take at the latest source code for Boxx 4 to see where the slowdown could be.

I did just want to check - is the timings from the very start of the app starting, or after (for example) pressing fire at the title screen?

[Lemming880]

Project sent. Hope you find something. I've timed from pressing start in the menu until level 1 appears on the screen.

[earok]

@Lemming880 got it, cheers

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Latest build is another attempt to fix loading times - from my own testing now, Boxx 4's level 1 loading time is reduced from 35 seconds to 27.5 seconds. (Though I'm a little worried some of the latest changes might have introduced other issues)

I still can't quite account for the discrepancy between the loading times from before the cartridge format was introduced until now, but we're a lot closer at least.

[acidbottle]

One project I'm working on has a very scrambled map now! Others seem okay though

[skyzoo73]

I have a request for Earok:

would it be possible to add a variable that returns the current position
of the music? At least the pattern, so that you can stop the music and
resume it more or less from the same position?

[earok]

Latest experimental:

- Fixed issue reported by @Acidbottle#2014 where very large levels would be visually corrupted
- Some minor fixes related to panel rendering and cartridges
- New addition to Load Panel and Load Level - music can be loaded simultaneously to reduce loading times

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@skyzoo73 I don't think we can get the current position/pattern with the library, but I think we might be able to pause/resume if that would be enough?

[skyzoo73]

Originally Posted by earok

@skyzoo73 I don't think we can get the current position/pattern with the library, but I think we might be able to pause/resume if that would be enough?

that would be useful, thanks!

[earok]

Latest fixes need some testing:

- Fixed issue reported by Acidbottle, AGA Sprite Double ("SSCAN2") cannot be enabled at the same time as multiplexing
- Feature for SkyZoo, new commands for pausing and resuming music
- The load music function supports setting the music position straight from the load rather than needing to do it on the next line (likewise, the load panel and load level functions can set the music position directly if music is loaded simultaneously with them)

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Edit: Minor update - Top and Bottom panels can be loaded simultaneously with a main panel or a level (reducing loading times a little more)

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Edit: Did *another* minor update - properly fixed AGA Sprite Double and Multiplexing (so it's now possible to use them together without glitches)