Resident Evil: Behind the Mask [+Hazardous Battle]

[MeganGrass]

Nope, it's definitively 29.7 and this is why it looks smoother with a VGA cable. For the last time: it's just the PC build with two exact changes, even the assets are just copies. CAPCOM didn't bother to make real RE ports back in the day, maybe with the exception of 1 for Saturn and 2 for N64.

@Rombie: the differences in development processes for RE2 and 3 would kind of explain why 2 uses Windows CE and 3 the regular Sega ROM, plus all the differences with the Sourcenext builds.

IIRC, Bio2 for the N64 was completely outsourced.

[Rombie]

Gemini - Yeah, I suspect you're right. I also suspect, and maybe News Bot can confirm who, the development of RE2 on DC was probably outsourced to another company and/or assisted by Sega - which also would explain using the WindowsCE base and making it mostly a quick and dirty PC port. I mean I figure maybe it was done in less than six or so months. They announced it near the TGS in late 1999 and it was out before the end of the year with the CV demo, and I can't imagine it had much more lead time than that.

IIRC, Bio2 for the N64 was completely outsourced.

Indeed. As I mentioned above, it was developed by Angel Studios - now Rockstar San Diego, who also made Smugglers Run, Midnight Club, Red Dead Revolver, and Red Dead Redemption. RD Revolver was originally supposed to be published by Capcom due to their good working relationship from the N64 version of RE2, but when development took too long Capcom dropped the publishing of game and Rockstar picked it up. After the success of the Smugglers Run and Midnight Club series, Rockstar then brought the studio outright in 2003.

Here is a good article from 2000 which was a postmortem on RE264's development in a lot of detail from people involved at Angel. Quite an interesting read:

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131556/postmortem_angel_studios_.php

[MeganGrass]

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/featur...l_studios_.php

That's one of my favorite articles, heh - I've had it bookmarked for years.

...if only all developers were so forthcoming with their development processes. *stares at Capcom JP*

[_Raziel_]

That's one of my favorite articles, heh - I've had it bookmarked for years.

...if only all developers were so forthcoming with their development processes. *stares at Capcom JP*

A similar article to the "gameasutra" page
http://vr-zone.com/articles/one-gami...nts/77665.html

[J0shuaKane]

Nope, it's definitively 29.7 and this is why it looks smoother with a VGA cable. For the last time: it's just the PC build with two exact changes, even the assets are just copies. CAPCOM didn't bother to make real RE ports back in the day, maybe with the exception of 1 for Saturn and 2 for N64.

so re2 is the only dreamcast game that retains the same fps in vga mode? (except shit like hydro thunder which is a mess and doesnt work right)
and when i uncompress the adt encoded rdt files and the tim files for the fire and explosions are looking totally different, they are the same?

even when re2 is ran on a dc emulator in vga mode you get 60fps. its not an illusion. every dreamcast enthusiast knows this.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=459783

Originally Posted by RedSwirl

ANYWAY, does anyone here think it's actually worth $20+ to track the DC version down when the Dual Shock version is on PSN for $6?

Honestly? No. Unless your deadset to get the 60FPS


or check this comparison chart... https://i.imgur.com/AK2W559.jpg

[Gemini]

Gemini - Yeah, I suspect you're right. I also suspect, and maybe News Bot can confirm who, the development of RE2 on DC was probably outsourced to another company and/or assisted by Sega - which also would explain using the WindowsCE base and making it mostly a quick and dirty PC port. I mean I figure maybe it was done in less than six or so months. They announced it near the TGS in late 1999 and it was out before the end of the year with the CV demo, and I can't imagine it had much more lead time than that.

Given the strict deadline, the Windows CE API (especially those D3D+DDraw layers) definitively helped them in making a quick port with only a few adjustments required by the console.

Here is a good article from 2000 which was a postmortem on RE264's development in a lot of detail from people involved at Angel. Quite an interesting read:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/featur...l_studios_.php

I remember that article, interesting read. It definitively gives a good insight of all the trouble they had to face in order to make the game even run. A big-endian processor can be a huge pain in the ass, especially when your previous target processor is little-endian and you don't bother converting most of the data for it (RE2 N64 retains a lot of the original data, tho there are exceptions like 3D models and textures). Still, they definitively did a nice job there by adapting the engine to a radically different system with no abstraction layers, which would explain why RE0 was using the RE2N64 engine as a base for development. Now, if only the N64 wouldn't render textures like blurry ass that port could have looked a whole lot better.

A similar article to the "gameasutra" page
http://vr-zone.com/articles/one-gami...nts/77665.html

Not sure how much that article can be considered a reliable source. It contains huge mistakes like 1 MB of RAM on the PlayStation (erm, it's 2) or non-existing conversions from C code to assembly.

so re2 is the only dreamcast game that retains the same fps in vga mode? (except shit like hydro thunder which is a mess and doesnt work right)
and when i uncompress the adt encoded rdt files and the tim files for the fire and explosions are looking totally different, they are the same?

even when re2 is ran on a dc emulator in vga mode you get 60fps. its not an illusion. every dreamcast enthusiast knows this.

1) Progressive scan does that to the signal. There's a damn good reason why they couldn't use a real 60 frame rate without rewriting half of the engine.
2) They are exactly the same textures, I made side-by-side comparison with PC and DC data by taking random rooms with fire and explosions. Unless I accidentally skipped something important, RDT files are carbon copies.
3) FPS should always be 60, RPS (which is the actual signal speed rate) changes between 29,7 and 60 depending on the section. RPS is the number to check out, which is ironically never 60 for 3D environments.

I'm not exactly sure what's to be enthusiastic about the DC hardware. I've seen a lot of fanboyism surrounding that system, but hey, to each their own.

[Rombie]

I think DC fans exist because it was fairly open access console from day one... and the rampant piracy/region free playback once the on boot up access was available only added to it. I personally still have a DC stored away, and the games on the console certainly had their charms. I'm not sure from a mod perspective however for you how it is, but I can see if getting a PC version of RE2 to work on it was easy enough for someone... and things like Bleemcast was able to upscale PS games to reasonable success, I can certainly see why people would suggest it as another option for you to possibly publish on.

I did enjoy the models differences in the N64 version even if the textures were a bit muddier. Certainly wasn't a deal breaker. It's amazing too how many people say their first RE experience was RE2 on the N64 as well... it might have been the only RE game on the console, but Capcom picked the right one and the right people to port it obviously.

I forgot Ridley had the archive of the Game Developer article they also did about how they got FMV on the N64 cart. Interestingly the tool for it was created by the team at Angel, and seems like Capcom had no plan for CGI video for the N64 Version of Zero originally or and they would have had to license the toolset from Angel if they chose to. Anyway, it's all online on his OneDrive archives (via PU's Dev Interview Database) so if any of you haven't seen that as well here is the link.

https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=70bbbd9c272717de&id=70BBBD9C272717DE!3933&ithint=folder,.jpg&authkey=!AN4lEfyjzDxAryo

[Gemini]

This happens when I'm bored and have nothing better to do:
YouTube video:

Show YouTube video

It's my engine running in 60 fps, for real. As you can see for yourself, this has way too many bugs related to timers and rotation values; it even affects sound as a side effect (no wonder why CAPCOM never bothered). If I ever decide to make the PSP and PC versions run at double the speed of the PSX version, the whole stage code is going to need huge rewrites with macros and shit to account for halved values.

[Ridley W. Hayes]

Gemini - Yeah, I suspect you're right. I also suspect, and maybe News Bot can confirm who, the development of RE2 on DC was probably outsourced to another company and/or assisted by Sega - which also would explain using the WindowsCE base and making it mostly a quick and dirty PC port. I mean I figure maybe it was done in less than six or so months. They announced it near the TGS in late 1999 and it was out before the end of the year with the CV demo, and I can't imagine it had much more lead time than that.

Unless the game was a remaster for the same console, mainly the psx, Capcom never did ports to other consoles back then. They outsourced it to TOSE, NextTech or any other company depending on the target console.

EDIT: @Rombie, just saw you linked the Game Developer Magazine issue where the article appears haha.

Also, no, bio0 had no FMV's in its N64 form. They had to call Sugimura back to incorporate some in the script after the project was shifted ot the NGC. They took advantage that Shinkiro was recently hired to give him the pre-production of those instead of the late Ryu Noguchi whom was in charge of the Brackground Sketching (most of the artworks of locations from bio0 in Archives are his).

[J0shuaKane]

2) They are exactly the same textures, I made side-by-side comparison with PC and DC data by taking random rooms with fire and explosions. Unless I accidentally skipped something important, RDT files are carbon copies.

i did the same thing when i was told about the mystery data at the end of the enemy files.

about the framerate i can believe everyone is wrong but you. seriously. it looks fucking amazing on my tv though, definitely the best-looking port for whatever reason it is.

[Gemini]

Slight update of things to come:
YouTube video:

Show YouTube video

Weapon code has been updated to reproduce proper aim movement and I've also got myself to work on analog controls. The latter works in a similar way to RE2 N64, however it's still a little buggy and needs smooth rotation adjustments to make the character turn around more naturally. The update was also going to feature jump-on-crate/collision sections, but since RE1 lacks them almost entirely I'll save these for some other video. Sprites are also there to show how I changed the collisions to be a lot more precise than what RE1 originally had (notice how the ammo clips bounce exactly on the bed instead of some other random spot).

EDIT - smooth rotations:
YouTube video:

Show YouTube video

Takes about 32 frames to fully adjust the position when direction turns out to be a lot different than it was previously. This should take care of a big issue I've seen in REmaster, where you can easily dodge zombies by turning around way faster than you should, meaning you can't blatantly cheat by changing the control scheme.

For those who love background info, the full analog control implementation is like 40-50 lines of code, with only direction adjustment taking like 3 lines (works on the same principle behind animation interpolation).

[Rick Hunter]

I really don't understand why they didn't implement a smooth rotation in remaster. I can't find any logical reason, it's probably not even about costs since it can be quickly implemented.

[Gemini]

No clue why they couldn't or wouldn't do that. My best guess is they half assed it all the way to avoid breaking other stuff or they couldn't care a bit about it and went with whatever worked out of the box. RE2 N64 has similar issues, but a little worse: you can only move in 8 directions, instead of the full range analog sticks do allow. Other than that, both games and my engine behave the same way when it comes to gathering data required to transform screen rotation to redirected movement (they are based on xz arctangent for camera vectors and DualShock stick directions, at camera change you keep moving in the same direction and recalibration happens only if you let the sticks go). The real difference in my code is that direction is gradually adjusted by calculating the shortest rotation to face the new direction, so that characters don't randomly pick the weirdest path and confuse the player.

Anyways, before I'm done with the analog implementation I need to replay Outbreak a little and see if it improves this behavior in any way.

EDIT - development keeps rolling:

Debug module for sound is pretty much there, lacks only 3D options and stream playback. Other than those missing options, it's already extremely useful to help me identify all the crap in RE1's rooms and sound indices for the battle mode. Finally something that was a breeze to write.

[RetroRain]

Can't wait to see inventory screen, zombie interaction with limb severing, death scenes, puzzles, etc. You can actually do something that Capcom hasn't done in a RE game since RE4. Actual decent death scenes. They no longer mess with the character models anymore.

[Darkness]

Yeah I can't wait to see your takes on survivor. I saw news bot on reddit a few hours ago destroying people saying it isnt canon.