Catacomb 3D Amiga port, is anyone up for the challenge? - Page 3

Nobby_UK · 09 August 2016, 00:26

Works --- Pity it does not support Joystick/Pads

BSzili · 09 August 2016, 09:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by James

Broken link.

Oh boy. It looks like Google axed my links. I'm not sure if it's due to the traffic (that happened with Dropbox), or they simply expired. I'll update the links soon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nobby_UK

Works --- Pity it does not support Joystick/Pads

It should support it shares the low-level code with Catacomb3D, but it looks like they are not autodetected by the game for some reason. I'll look into this.

BSzili · 09 August 2016, 22:46

I'm not sure what was wrong with the joystick support in Keen Dreams, but I just tested it again and it worked fine. I made some changes to reduce the memory usage. The main problem is that the executable is quite large (270-300 KB) with a generous amount of static buffers, which means I'm already 300-400 KB in just after it loaded, and it needs 260KB of chip memory for the graphics. On top of that it allocated around half a meg of heap, which was used by its internal memory manager. I got rid of that, and now it uses the system functions to allocate memory. This works better if the memory is fragmented, which it usually is.
The links remain the same: http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=...3&postcount=39

James · 10 August 2016, 12:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by BSzili

Oh boy. It looks like Google axed my links. I'm not sure if it's due to the traffic (that happened with Dropbox), or they simply expired. I'll update the links soon.

Got it.

Nobby_UK · 10 August 2016, 21:39

Disabled for me

BSzili · 10 August 2016, 23:18

It looks like lowlevel.library has some trouble detecting the controller type. Most of the time I get JP_TYPE_UNKNOWN on the second port, so I changed the detection to accept any non-mouse type. Keep in mind that we are sill at the mercy of lowlevel.library's detection routines, so I'd avoid fine mouse movements at startup, or it might get detected as a joystick:
http://amigadev.elowar.com/read/ADCD.../node046C.html

I managed to cut down memory usage even more, so it's now possible to run the game with just 2 MB RAM.

Nobby_UK · 11 August 2016, 23:04

Using v40.35 (30.7.93)

Need a newer version ?

BSzili · 12 August 2016, 07:54

You need a newer version of the game, just redownload it using the previous link:
http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=...3&postcount=39

Nobby_UK · 12 August 2016, 18:52

Now the Space-Ship Pointer moves by itself
and the Joystick Config just switches between
saying "Press Upper Right + Press Lower Left"
(or was it Upper Left + Lower Right ?)
Then it Crashed !

BSzili · 12 August 2016, 20:20

Yup, that's the mouse detected as a joystick alright. Honestly I don't really have a solution for this. If anybody knows a reliable way to detect joysticks, I'm all ears. Maybe I should just hardcode it to use the second joystick port.

In the meantime I fixed some nasty bugs in the sprite scaler and worked around some GCC optimizer issues, and now I have Catacomb Armageddon and Catacomb Apocalypse working:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bz...mppV2lmTjA5LVE
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bz...WcwU0Y4UVlxRlE

These are not shareware, so I can't link to the data files. I'm sure they can be found individually as well as part of the Catacombs Pack.

matthey · 13 August 2016, 00:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by BSzili

Yup, that's the mouse detected as a joystick alright. Honestly I don't really have a solution for this. If anybody knows a reliable way to detect joysticks, I'm all ears. Maybe I should just hardcode it to use the second joystick port.

Try replacing lowlevel.library with Guido Mersmann's version.

http://aminet.net/package/driver/input/NewLowLevel
http://aminet.net/driver/input/NewLowLevel.lha

BSzili · 13 August 2016, 14:52

The replacement library looks interesting, I'll check it out later. That being said I try to be compatible with the stock libraries as much as possible.

The main problem here was that the game tries to autodetect joysticks at startup, and won't poll them later if it can't find any. This isn't working on amiga, unless the user have pressed some buttons on their controller so lowlevel.library had a chance to recognize it. That is not foolproof either, because the mouse can temporarily change its type to joystick. This happened to me a couple times when I was mucking around with a joystick tester program. The final solution was to exclude port 0 with the mouse entirely, and report to the game at startup that there is a joystick in the other one, but only read from it if the detected type is gamepad/joystick. This seems to work reasonably well.
There was also a Keen Dreams specific issue with the built in joystick calibration for the second joystick, which read from the wrong port under certain circumstances. I fixed that as well. Here's a brand new executable:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bzb...GdfcjF3RElYNzA

Calibrating the joystick ingame shouldn't be necessary. Moving around it a bit will make lowlevel.library recognize it.

Nobby_UK · 14 August 2016, 22:52

Joypad worked (moved D-Pad + Pressed buttons whilst loading) !

The other 2 CAT games do not --- because I don't have the right version.

BSzili · 21 August 2016, 20:35

For those who stumble upon this thread, I opened my own so I can maintain links and info in the first post. I'll be no longer monitoring this one, the new thread is:
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=83778

09 August 2016, 00:26	#41
Nobby_UK Registered User Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Liverpool Posts: 2,595	Works --- Pity it does not support Joystick/Pads Last edited by Nobby_UK; 12 April 2020 at 23:42.

10 August 2016, 21:39	#45
Nobby_UK Registered User Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Liverpool Posts: 2,595	Disabled for me Last edited by Nobby_UK; 12 April 2020 at 23:42.

12 August 2016, 18:52	#49
Nobby_UK Registered User Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Liverpool Posts: 2,595	Now the Space-Ship Pointer moves by itself and the Joystick Config just switches between saying "Press Upper Right + Press Lower Left" (or was it Upper Left + Lower Right ?) Then it Crashed ! Last edited by Nobby_UK; 12 April 2020 at 23:42.

12 August 2016, 20:20	#50
BSzili old chunk of coal Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Hungary Posts: 1,289	Yup, that's the mouse detected as a joystick alright. Honestly I don't really have a solution for this. If anybody knows a reliable way to detect joysticks, I'm all ears. Maybe I should just hardcode it to use the second joystick port. In the meantime I fixed some nasty bugs in the sprite scaler and worked around some GCC optimizer issues, and now I have Catacomb Armageddon and Catacomb Apocalypse working: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bz...mppV2lmTjA5LVE https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bz...WcwU0Y4UVlxRlE These are not shareware, so I can't link to the data files. I'm sure they can be found individually as well as part of the Catacombs Pack. Last edited by BSzili; 12 August 2016 at 21:19.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Serial port, parallel port, and pipe device mount errors	Samurai_Crow	support.FS-UAE	4	13 March 2014 00:04
Problem with game Catacomb	formater	support.WinUAE	3	11 July 2013 13:41
A huge challenge to all the Amiga coders/hackers out there!	JohnnyWalker	project.CARE	6	14 June 2005 22:04
Port an old PC adventure to Amiga?	Tolismlf	Coders. General	1	24 December 2004 08:15
amiga mouse port 1	unregistered	support.WinUAE	0	15 November 2002 22:28

09 August 2016, 22:46	#43
BSzili old chunk of coal Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Hungary Posts: 1,289	I'm not sure what was wrong with the joystick support in Keen Dreams, but I just tested it again and it worked fine. I made some changes to reduce the memory usage. The main problem is that the executable is quite large (270-300 KB) with a generous amount of static buffers, which means I'm already 300-400 KB in just after it loaded, and it needs 260KB of chip memory for the graphics. On top of that it allocated around half a meg of heap, which was used by its internal memory manager. I got rid of that, and now it uses the system functions to allocate memory. This works better if the memory is fragmented, which it usually is. The links remain the same: http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=...3&postcount=39

10 August 2016, 23:18	#46
BSzili old chunk of coal Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Hungary Posts: 1,289	It looks like lowlevel.library has some trouble detecting the controller type. Most of the time I get JP_TYPE_UNKNOWN on the second port, so I changed the detection to accept any non-mouse type. Keep in mind that we are sill at the mercy of lowlevel.library's detection routines, so I'd avoid fine mouse movements at startup, or it might get detected as a joystick: http://amigadev.elowar.com/read/ADCD.../node046C.html I managed to cut down memory usage even more, so it's now possible to run the game with just 2 MB RAM.

11 August 2016, 23:04	#47
Nobby_UK Registered User Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Liverpool Posts: 2,595	Using v40.35 (30.7.93) Need a newer version ?

12 August 2016, 07:54	#48
BSzili old chunk of coal Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Hungary Posts: 1,289	You need a newer version of the game, just redownload it using the previous link: http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=...3&postcount=39

13 August 2016, 14:52	#52
BSzili old chunk of coal Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Hungary Posts: 1,289	The replacement library looks interesting, I'll check it out later. That being said I try to be compatible with the stock libraries as much as possible. The main problem here was that the game tries to autodetect joysticks at startup, and won't poll them later if it can't find any. This isn't working on amiga, unless the user have pressed some buttons on their controller so lowlevel.library had a chance to recognize it. That is not foolproof either, because the mouse can temporarily change its type to joystick. This happened to me a couple times when I was mucking around with a joystick tester program. The final solution was to exclude port 0 with the mouse entirely, and report to the game at startup that there is a joystick in the other one, but only read from it if the detected type is gamepad/joystick. This seems to work reasonably well. There was also a Keen Dreams specific issue with the built in joystick calibration for the second joystick, which read from the wrong port under certain circumstances. I fixed that as well. Here's a brand new executable: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bzb...GdfcjF3RElYNzA Calibrating the joystick ingame shouldn't be necessary. Moving around it a bit will make lowlevel.library recognize it.

14 August 2016, 22:52	#53
Nobby_UK Registered User Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Liverpool Posts: 2,595	Joypad worked (moved D-Pad + Pressed buttons whilst loading) ! The other 2 CAT games do not --- because I don't have the right version.

21 August 2016, 20:35	#54
BSzili old chunk of coal Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Hungary Posts: 1,289	For those who stumble upon this thread, I opened my own so I can maintain links and info in the first post. I'll be no longer monitoring this one, the new thread is: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=83778

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)