Wolfenstein 3D port for CD32

[BSzili]

What would be cool is to force nonvolatile.library to save/load to the IDE device. It supports saving to various locations specified in ENV:sys/nv_location, and it also searches for volumes named "NV" in theory. I never tried the latter feature, but if this works, then the TF328 could solve the two most serious design flaws of the CD32: the lack of fast ram, and the abysmal 1KB NVRAM. Anyway, this is getting way off topic

[Amiga1992]

So if I make a partition called "NV" it would save there ? Or does the software need to be instructed to save there?

[BSzili]

According to the documentation it will look for a volume named "NV" with a prefs/env-archive/sys/nv_location file on it:
http://amigadev.elowar.com/read/ADCD.../node04DB.html

[Amiga1992]

That sounds great and I think it would really fix any NVRAM problems.

[Cobe]

No need for NV:
Here's how its set up on my A1200

[Cobe]

Guys this really works
I've just tested it in winuae with my Lumberjack.
I added fast ram to cd32 config and added hdf with wb installed and nv_location set as posted above. Booted from ISO. The game didn't save in nvram but on hd to nv_location folder

[a4k-oerx]

Interesting information about that "NV" volume, did somebody test it yet?

Another approach, which more or less uses the same concept, can be seen in the also otherwise interesting MegaGames1 CD32 compilation. During CD boot it checks for a disk/volume SCORES and if found, prepares/uses it for NV-saves for several games, like this:

S:Startup-Sequence

..
FailAt 999
..
C:Assign >NIL: SCORES: EXISTS
IF NOT WARN
C:Execute S:Extra_Scores
ENDIF
..

S:Extra_Scores

C:MakeDir >NIL: SCORES:Scores SCORES:Prefs SCORES:Prefs/Env-Archive SCORES:Prefs/Env-Archive/sys
IF NOT EXISTS SCORES:Prefs/Env-Archive/sys/nv_location
Echo "SCORES:Scores" >SCORES:Prefs/Env-Archive/sys/nv_location
C:Filenote SCORES:Scores "Don't remove me!"
C:Filenote SCORES:Prefs "Don't remove me!"
ENDIF

[BSzili]

Cobe just tested it, and wrote about it one post before you, you might want to read that The point is that this is a drop-in solution, compatible with unmodified CD32 games that use nonvolatile.library. Which means that with a cheap CF-IDE adapter and the TF328 (or any other expansions with an IDE port) you can add a memory card slot to the CD32.

[Amiga1992]

Are there (m)any games on the CD32 that would save to NVRAM without using nonvolatile.library? I mean, shutting down the system and ignooring it, the good old, classic Amiga custom :P

[BSzili]

I doubt there were many. Most games used nonvolatile.library, passwords, or didn't save at all. It would be interesting to try if there are any games that hit the NVRAM directly though.

[Cobe]

I think that would be Cannon Fodder only.

[Gzegzolka]

Originally Posted by Akira

Nope. Pointless.

Why? Should games like Alien breed 3d or Gloom work more smooth?

[Samurai_Crow]

Many games will not work well without fast RAM.

[Amiga1992]

Or with it.
The CD32 is pretty damn compatible as it is despite what people might think. Adding stuff to it always brings forth the problem of creating more incompatibility.
The main problem is games made for CD32 breaking if you add stuff.

[ReadOnlyCat]

Originally Posted by earok

I was thinking that a FastRAM required Wolfenstein 3D wouldn't really be a true CD32 game but.. to be honest, there were a few N64 games that outright required the RAM expansion, so.. why the hell not.

What I'd personally like is a reduced detail or performance mode (copper screen rendering rather than C2P?) for stock CD32s but an option to go full detail for expanded ones. But otherwise.. a complete and FastRAM required Wolfenstein 3D for CD32 would still be awesome

Hum... I was under the impression that an official CD32 version (with the approval of the Wolfenstein franchise owner) had been published. Did I dream about it?

And objectively, I don't think it requires copper chunky.
If Catacomb could run smoothly on an EGA planar architecture with a 286, then the CD32 has all that is needed to do the same in halfbrite (64 colors) + a few AGA sprites on top of it.

Now do not ask me to code it (at least not for now ), I already promised too much to Bszili some one or two years ago.

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by ReadOnlyCat

Did I dream about it?

Yes.
What a weird dream

[SKOLMAN_MWS]

Until recently, I thought that the Atari ST version only has sounds and graphics from the Apple version, and the engine is also from the Apple 68k version, which is based on the SNES engine.
http://s390174849.online.de/ray.tscc.de/wolf3d.htm
Why is not this version for Amiga? Architecture Atari ST is better than Amiga for games 3D?

[earok]

I hadn't seen that before.. that's pretty cool actually.

If the source code for that becomes available for Amiga, it might be a fun project for someone.

[britelite]

Originally Posted by SKOLMAN_MWS

Why is not this version for Amiga?

Because ray/tscc mainly codes on Atari computers. And nobody on the Amiga seems to have any interest in coding an Amiga-version.

Architecture Atari ST is better than Amiga for games 3D?

Not really, although the screen layout of the ST does help with certain kind of c2p-routines. And the fact that people in ST-land don't complain about games requiring more than 1MB of RAM does make things easier.

[SKOLMAN_MWS]

Originally Posted by britelite

Because ray/tscc mainly codes on Atari computers. And nobody on the Amiga seems to have any interest in coding an Amiga-version.

It's obvious. But he is not the author of the Apple 68k engine whose sources are available here https://github.com/Blzut3/Wolf3D-Mac