News Archive: July 2000
Saturday, July 29, 2000 boob!play.vcds.dcvcd.etc Posted by
quicksilver @ 16:11
Lots of people have been bugging us lately to throw out new versions as soon as possible, but they often don't understand the process of developing dc software.
Realtime debugging on the dreamcast is currently impossible for us, and crossdevelopping (using the same source for both pc-intel and dc-sh4) has its limitations. We have had several cases where the pc version was running perfect, as where the dc version would just crash instantly.
So far, we are not using any dc-link cables as we don't have the cables, nor the winCE software which can be be run on the dc, and which would make it possible to run software remotely.
All in all, dreamcast software development is slow, tricky and costly (coasters).
Here are a few answers to questions we have been hearing lately.
Boob!Play = Game Hack:
The player is not a hack of the midway game. The reason you need the midway disc is that it was the first dc game running under winCE and the bootdisk, meaning the first oppertunity to do any winCE coding and testing. In fact you can delete all files except the 1st_read.bin, midway_1.exe (our player), \wince folder and likely ip.bin as well (not sure, but likely)
Thanks to dopefish we will no longer have to use this disk though (great thinking dopefish!).
Furthermore, yes, the boobplayer v0.00001 is taken from a directShow example and modified slightly. Current internal versions have evolved beyond the sample sources though (hey, you have to start somewhere)
Divx support :
we have been thinking about wrapping a layer around the divX dll's, but we are not sure if that will work.. Eventually something like this will be done, but at the moment we have enough trouble to get MPEG support running at a decent frame rate.. The problem is the PowerVR does all rendering internally at 640x480, this means that a vcd (352x240 or 352x288) is stretched to this size and the powerVR isn't know for it's fast 2d support..
we tried to speed things up setting up using a 320x240 output resolution (dc can do 640x480x?bpp/320x240x?bpp) maintaining a near correct aspect-ratio (using rect.black borders), but infact this slowed down things even more (the DC strecthes the original vcd to 640x480 so the powerVR can work with it, and after processing a frame it is buffered back on a 320x240 devicecontext, and this means using another stretchblit)..
Getting divX up and running might be possible, but getting it up at a decent frame rate is goanna be very tricky.
FRAME RATE DROPS :
Another questions which is asked a lott : why the hickups in vcd movies (frame rate drops), and why is this not applicable to the dreamcast game movies?
Well, the answer to that is either lower bitrates/lower audio quality or the use of the CRI MPEG SOFDEC :
2 hours movie on one GD-ROM,
50% CPU load (instead of ~100% for regular mpeg1 using directShow)
framerate : 30fps,24 fps (pal/ntsc)
resolution : 320x240 recommended
see http://www.cric.co.jp/english/eng_sofdec.htm
As far as i can see, this sofdec is not available for the winCE platform (but then i haven't looked for it much either). It might be included with the katana sdk though.
This might also explain why the "dcvcd"'s are only 1 cd, and still vcd quality ( I haven't seen a dcvcd yet, so i might way off here ).
Cheers,
Quicksilver.
Friday, July 28, 2000 A little something... Posted by
dopefish @ 22:24
Even though I'm no longer a part of boob, I decided to give them an "exclusive" if you will on something I created that will be of great interest to anyone interested in Windows CE programming. Click below to find out :).
Click here
update on movieplayer Posted by
quicksilver @ 16:03
First of all here is a link on how to use the boobplayer with your mpegs : http://www.geocities.com/lionx2/index.html
Second of all, we are currently redoing the movieplayer to make it much more user friendly.
Things which will be supported in upcomming versions will be :
- proper GUI support
- media control (play, stop, forward, rewind, resume etc)
- volume control
- playing media from any PC cdrom containing mpeg1, avi (only a limited set of codecs), asf, and possibly MP3 as well.
Meaning you will not have to reburn your vcd/asf collection.
- Movie/Sound playlists (either stored in VMU or loaded from cdrom)
- some more features as we see fit
DivX ;) support is not even in the works yet, so don't expect support for it soon.
An updated version will be comming out in the next few days.
If there are people who want to help out by setting up mirrors, mail either me or cyrus.
Cheers,
Quicksilver
a little update Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 13:37
From now on anyone who sends me an email requesting warez or other software gets their email posted. Whatever we want to release will be released, unless your a friend you get nothing in advance...
Also anyone who msgs me in irc without good reason gets instantly banned. I'm sorry but I have to do this, if I am ever going to get anything done.
A note Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 8:57
At the moment only mpeg1 video is working, i think, if otherwise do notify me.
I've also released an updated version with the boob logo removed.
Boobplay is working Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 8:22
Apparently it does work...
However guys it will NOT work for divx. Don't you remember when you first wanted to watch divx movies, and you were forced to install a divx codec? Do you really think i've written a dc ver for a codec that isnt even open source as far as i know? Use a bit of common sense :-)
Boobplay released Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 2:22
This has been completely rewritten and is as yet untested, ill update if someone says it works... if it doesnt dont blame me :-)
This version should play whichever of the following is put in the root directory of the cd: (only put one)
video.mpg
video.wav
video.asf
video.avi
I'm releasing this because of #dcvcd who are releasing dc vcds! rather than allowing you to play any video files they are making people wait until they release each movie, which is rather lame in my opinion.
DOWNLOAD BOOBPLAY UNTESTED VERSION 0.00001
if it works send me a pic, if it doesnt wait until tomorrow.
ALSO: anyone who msgs me in irc without good reason gets banned.
Thursday, July 27, 2000 Boob!cast Posted by
dshadow @ 23:42
Many of you are wondering when Boob!cast will be released, well we
don't know so STOP nagging US!..
Bad news Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 23:06
I'm not releasing anything tonight. I'm a bit pissed off generally, lots of emails of requests and shit like that.
Sorry...
I'm leaving too Posted by
dopefish @ 21:43
I too am also leaving boob. I had some great times, and we found out some great stuff, but it has grown so much and has become something else from what it once was. I'd like to thank cyrus and everyone else for a great time. I'll still be around on IRC and I may stop in #boob from time to time. I also might do my own web site soon because I'm working on some usefull DC stuff. To the rest of boob: keep up the good work and I'll see you around.
dopefish
Leaving Posted by
rockman @ 21:38
Just letting everyone know that I will no longer be a part of boob. No reason to explain why. Good luck to CyRUS and the rest of the crew.
Rockman
My .plan Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 17:46
Eventually I'll write a gui from which all my programs will be runnable - this will be called Boob!cast and allow you to run various emulators / vcd/video player etc...
As for the Video player:
I'll rewrite it and release a new version tonight. This will be called Boob!play and the new version will not require the Midway Arcade Hits game, since it is illegal.
I'll update this post as I progress.
My .plan Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 17:46
Eventually I'll write a gui from which all my programs will be runnable - this will be called Boob!cast and allow you to run various emulators / vcd/video player etc...
As for the Video player:
I'll rewrite it and release a new version tonight. This will be called Boob!play and the new version will not require the Midway Arcade Hits game, since it is illegal.
I'll update this post as I progress.
The news everyones been waiting for! Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 16:52
Recently I modified the Playvideo sample that comes with the WindowsCE development kit, so that it would on startup automatically load a file called "video.mpg" and play it.
The idea was the same as mentioned earlier and using the Midway Arcade Classics game (we do not believe in piracy) delete the midway_1.exe file and replace it with the playvideo executable.
Sonikku tried it and annoyingly it didnt work. Then he tried it again and it worked!
We can't bring you any pics at the moment because Sonikku doesn't have any way of obtaining them, and I don't have the Midway Arcade Classics game to test out, but expect some soon.
Since most of you want this program, here it is:
DOWNLOAD
However this has been tested by 1 person, and is not at all user friendly. You can't stop a video / pause / rewind /fast forward, but its a start.
Follow the described instructions, and put a video.mpg mpeg1 video in the root dir of the cd.
This is not on... Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 9:54
I got sent this email today from segabackup@yahoo.com
Dear friends,
As a dreamcast gamer, how many times have you thought
that you have scratched that original game that you
have, when you accidentally hit on the console or
something like that..
What we offer is backup CD for your originals, so that
you can play with the backups, and thus safeguard
your gaming investments....
Our prices are just 7.50 per CD backup games.
once you have bought 10 games from us, you then only
pay 5.00 per CD backup game!!!
There is however a fixed shipping charge of 5.00 for
the first 10 games, and 2.50 per additional 5 games.
...
If anyone gets an email like this please reply RUDELY... hopefully sega will come visit this site :-)
How to run WinCE programs! Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 1:03
AltRN8 sent me this info:
Steps to getting wince programs to run on burned CD: (These will be updated)
1) First get the Midway Arcade Classics Kalisto release
2) Use isobuster to pull files out of cd
3) Replace MIDWAY_1.EXE with your executable
4) Burn using your favorite cd authoring program
5) Boot with Utopia CD
6) pop in your new wince disk
7) ta da
Thanks again AltRN8, hopefully we'll see some wince programs appearing soon.
If you make anything cool, however simple, email or msg a Boob!er in #boob on efnet.
Cinepak address Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 0:50
http://www.cinepak.com - cinepak can be found here.
Wednesday, July 26, 2000 Anyone? Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 18:57
Anyone who feels bored and would like to make a 0gdtex.pvr texture for Boob!, please send it in. If you don't already know this file is the picture which is displayed when the CD is loading...
Who wants to make some textures? or even movies? Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 15:40
The SEGA Katana devkit, which is ILLEGAL, contains a PVR decoder and SEGA Movie Maker. You might want to contact SEGA and ask if they will lend you a copy :-)
PLEASE do not email me requesting the devkit...
ADX sound files Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 9:52
ADX files contain compressed sound that can be uncompressed by a program originally designed for use with Saturn games, and is called "CinePack".
Texture Decoder Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 9:50
A few days ago I was informed of a PVR texture decoder being included in the Pike programming language from a reliable source - here is an excerpt from the e-mail:
"If you get the latest version of
the programming language Pike (http://pike.idonex.se/), you'll
find that it contains a PVR encoder/decoder that I have written.
Each PVR file contains one texture, btw. There are no vertex data in
them."
I didn't make a post about it earlier since for some reason i have been unable to download it, but hopefully someone will test it out... if you do please email me a nice screenshot of it in action.
Tuesday, July 25, 2000 IRC Channel Open Posted by
rockman @ 22:44
Just letting everyone know that the irc chan is now open again. #boob on efnet. Stop by and say hello to the boob people. :)
#b00b takeover Posted by
rockman @ 17:35
As most of the #b00b regulars have noticed It has been taken over. Someone spoofed one of the regular ops and well you get the rest. What really makes me mad about this is that boob nor it's regulars had anything to do with this. The person who they were trying to get revenge on was found in #b00b since it isn't a +S channel. We are working on setting up another channel but will only open it after it's been secured. I'll post the details as they come.
Video (not audio) playing Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 12:03
If you would like to play sfd videos here is how to do it:
1) Download Flashmpeg
http://www.citeweb.com/flaskmpeg/download/FlasKMPEG_0594.exe
2) Install and run it
3) Open any sfd file, and you can play it or convert it to avi/mpg
Its all very simple, but some of you might not know how to do it yet.
The sound format is still publicly unknown, and the only group who know it at the moment are Kalisto, hence the fact that they aren't making it public.
Picture of a GD-ROM being read Posted by
dopefish @ 4:04
After a few days of work, someone smart hacked the firmware of his Pioneer 303S DVD-ROM to read GD-ROMs completely. It's a great accomplishment and the screen shot will floor you :). Check it out in the Documents section (Yes, it's a picture, not a document, but I couldn't think of a good place to put it :P).
IT ONLY WORKS FOR THAT PIONEER MODEL and it is not a program or anything of the sort so don't look for it/beg for it/bother us/etc. IT IS NOT BEING RELEASED. Just admire his handiwork.
P.S. Yes, that's us talking in efnet #b00b in the background =)
-dopefish (11:51PM EST 7/24)
Monday, July 24, 2000 A few updates Posted by
dopefish @ 18:50
I completely redid the Utopia boot disc hexing article after finding out some more information.
I updated the bootable cd quest article with authentic translations from LaNcom, a native German speaker.
I haven't heard anything else about the new boot disc. I'll post something if I ever hear more.
-dopefish (1:50PM EST)
Request Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 17:02
Could someone with a Serial cable please email me. Thanks
New document up Posted by
dopefish @ 5:43
I just put up AltRN8's document where he compares what peripherals get enabled in different boot disc IP.BINs. It's a good read and perhaps explains why people have had problems making WinCE boot discs when using Marcus' IP.BIN maker. DON'T FORGET to edit the IP.TXT the comes with his maker. If you just use the default one, WinCE booting won't work as his document illustrates.
Latest info on the new boot disc Posted by
dopefish @ 5:22
The rumor from some anonymous sources is that the new boot disc will be out sometime Monday or Tuesday as it has gone into "testing." It will suport WinCE games/programs, but still no CDDA unfortunately.
Of course, this is all rumor, it could be false. But I hope it's right :).
Sunday, July 23, 2000 WinCE Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 17:12
These are some views on the problems with WinCE with the current bootcd:
When you try and run a WinCE game not even the Sega license screen code appears.
This means that the 0winceos.bin file cannot be loaded for some reason.
What is needed to work out is why will 0winceos.bin not load?
In viewing the file to me it seems to be NOT scrambled... whereas non-wince 1st_read.bin files are. Therefore if someone has plenty CDRs, it is worth trying to burn a wince program, after having scrambled the 0winceos.bin file, and seeing whether there is an improvement...
however with rumours that a wince compatible bootcd will be released soon, i probably wont do any more research into this matter.
Self Booting Discs Posted by
rockman @ 12:35
Hey everyone Rockman here. Just posting some news on how I've been trying over and over again to make a self booting disc with a wince game the past few days. The Good news is that I have managed to get the game to load, and the bad news is that after a short period of that load the dreamcast resets itself and just goes into a loop. I'm still trying to get it to work and will post updates as I go along. If anyone out there has any suggestions as how to possibly get this to work drop me a line. Laters.
Rockman
Update by CyRUS64:
The reason it is possible to get it to load is because using Marcus' method you can only load the 1st_read.bin file, or 0winceos.bin in the case of WinCE games. After this no other files can be loaded.
Using the Utopia BootCD I feel that there is a problem in trying to load the DirectX files.
IRC channel Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 1:35
To chat on efnet go instead to #b00b not #boob (you'll find people in both though)
Dreamcast video running in flashmpeg Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 1:07
Here are some pics taken by Darkshadow:
http://boob.thegypsy.com/images/intromov/ss1.jpg
http://boob.thegypsy.com/images/intromov/ss2.jpg
images/intromov/ss3.jpg
images/intromov/ss4.jpg
images/intromov/ss5.jpg
I am pretty sure that the person who sent me these does not have the audio working... the results shown are quite easy to produce. As mentioned on the DCISOS forum all one needs to do is split the audio and video... the video is mpeg1, and can be played in most players.
Saturday, July 22, 2000 New article up Posted by
dopefish @ 20:23
I've written another article that you can find over in the documents section. I hex edited the utopia1.txt and wwwshark.txt files and found some cool stuff :).
The best info yet is someone found where the words "reset-call!" appears twice in the binary. That could be the key to figuring out how the boot cd works. If you're a smart person and can do some SH4 asm, go read it, take a look at utopia1.txt yourself, and try to figure something out.
DCISOS forum Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 12:55
I read on the normally useful DCISOS forum that Boob! was planning on releasing a movie player. As far as I know this is completely unfounded information. We at Boob! will normally post information about our current work and if we don't post about it it is either private work (ie:no leaks) or it is not occurring.
Hopefully a Movie Player will exist soon, but at the moment not by us.
The DCISOS forum contain a great amount of knowledge but quite often you get twats who make things up... probably for attention :-)
Posts about the Devkit sending stuff to Sega are also complete rubbish in my opinion.
Utopia Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 12:48
I have decided to remove the Utopia Rip since it is illegal, and Boob! is a non-illegal research site. I'm sure you can find it easily enough though or follow the instructions on the Docs page.
Article by Dopefish / CDX Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 11:31
A great article written by Dopefish entitled "The Quest for a Bootable Game CD-ROM" about the work that he and Rockman have been doing lately. Do read it, its extremely informative :-)
It can be found in the Docs section. I've also uploaded the CDX track 2 data, which can be found in the Tools section, and was extracted by Dopefish and Rockman.
Good things to come? Posted by
dopefish @ 4:26
A reliable anonymous source knows someone working on a linux kernel module to read GD-ROMs. The program is still very unstable and buggy, but progress is being made. We'll keep you up to date if/when it gets released.
Utopian Boot CD pt.2 Posted by
rockman @ 3:18
I can now definately confirm that the utopia1.txt file is indeed the boot code. Recreated the boot disc using that file along with a ip.bin i made and viola! Perfect replica of the bootdisc. More news later.
(*)(*)
Boob happenings Posted by
dopefish @ 1:49
Hi, I'm dopefish, a new member of the Boob team. I've extracted the Gameshark CDX files using the same method I used to extract the Utopia boot disc files that are up in the Tools section right now. I've also written up a html file with everything Rockman and I have discovered about those two discs. We've come up with some exciting stuff -- stay tuned. That and the CDX files will be uploaded sometime tomorrow. Don't forget to come in #boob on efnet to say hi and discuss things that you've come up with.
Friday, July 21, 2000 Notes for Emulator Porters Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 23:18
The most difficult part whilst importing any emulator to run on the dreamcast is the conversion of the CPU opcodes, which will almost always have been written in Intel Assembly code. These of course must be converted to SH4 assembly code. (Better get reading those manuals) There are a few other things to be converted, but they will mostly be quite simple.
Download the emulators???? Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 16:40
This is an idea, i just need to know whether its possible...
Wouldn't it save a lot of CDRs if you could just have a cd full of roms and rather than having to burn a new cd each time an emulator gets updated, instead download the emulator to the vmu... (as long as its smaller than 128k)
you could then run the emulator off the vmu and use it as normal.
I need to know whether its possible to run stuff directly off the vmu as if it were a normal dreamcast program?
E-mail me if you can help!
Utopian boot disc info Posted by
rockman @ 16:17
Ok here's a quick post on how to read that second session. Get the newest isobuster that is in beta form 0.9.5 beta 2 and load up the Utopia cd. You'll see 3 .txt files you can extract. 2 are german msgs and the other is also a file with .txt extension that is 2mb and contains a ip.bin. All the dev guys out there look at that file and do stuff with it. We will post more info on this as we get it. BTW if you go to the tools section you can dl the zip with the 3 files in it.
Utopias Boot file Posted by
rockman @ 1:56
We figured out how to see Utopias Boot file. More news on it soon... >:)
New Member Posted by
rockman @ 0:52
Rockman here saying hello. I'll be posting news and helping out with the site look. If anyone has any ideas on how to improve the site feel free to send them in. :)
Thursday, July 20, 2000 Poll! Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 22:10
I've added a poll on the left, do vote, it might just make a difference!
To all programmers Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 22:00
Made anything with the WinCE DevKIT or even in Assembly for the Dreamcast? Send it in and we will release it on Boob for you.
New member Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 17:16
I'd like to welcome a new member, Garpster...
He'll be making DC stuff for Linux.
DevKit is REAL Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 16:29
The devkit is real, and what's more it requires no hardware to work!
I myself haven't download it yet, but from what i've heard it is going to transform the Dreamcast development scene :-)
I was reading Official DC Mag. last night, and apparently the conversion of Quake 3: Arena from PC to DC took just 1 week to get up and running! (The rest of the time was optimizations and extra levels/models etc...)
The DevKit comes with various utils for making the IP.bin files etc.., and im considering uploading these :-)
Be sure to join us on #boob on efnet
Quick stuff Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 12:39
I've added an IP.BIN maker to the tools section, and a messageboard is now up!
New stuff Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 11:11
I've added another Disassembler and another IP.BIN editor.
The docs page now has loads of docs on it also...
Could anyone who has tried the WinCE Devkit for DC possibly e-mail me. I am interest in finding out whether it needs the Hardware devbox to run as is stated in the relnotes.htm file that comes with it.
New files! Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 2:19
I've released two new versions of my tools as promised!
You can get them on the tools page...
One user reported problems opening any files with the disassembler - since i have not had this problem i dont know how it is cause, or how to fix it! If anyone else has a problem please e-mail me.
Also, sorry about the errors, IE users might be getting... this will be fixed asap.
You can also come and chat to us in person (sort of anyway) on efnet in #boob
A note about the new site Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 1:27
I figured you guys might be getting bored of the Flash site with the same news, so heres the uncompleted new site... somehow i fucked up the index.htm page but at least i can update the news easily :-)
Marcus has informed me of a piece of software which allow you to decode pvr files, which contain 1 texture each, and another which allows you to play axd sounds files... I'll post them once i have tested them out!
Thanks to Marcus for the info, go visit his site, its the best for interesting Dreamcast stuff - http://marcus.mangakai.org/dc/
An important announcement Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 0:31
I would like to announce that I have been playing around with making a SH4 cpu emulator. I am making this announcement for a reason - I believe that there is a 95% chance I will fail, or that it'll run at an unbearable slow speed. Therefore a sudden announcement such as UltraHLE is unlikely to occur... Instead I feel it'd be much more interesting for me to release detailed progress updates as it is written, which others may even find quite useful.
This is what I have done so far:
50/234 opcodes (don't know whether they are at all correct!)
Registers declaration
At the moment I am writing the opcodes in C of which there are a total of 234. These will of course have to be converted to assembly, but since I am pretty bad at asm I will save this fun (?) till later, if I ever get to that point. On current calculations you will need a minimum of a 2ghz cpu, but since i am running on a p2-450 this could be a problem. (any one who wants to sponsor/advertise on the site or give me a free pc, feel free to e-mail me :-) )
Delcaring the registers is a simple job... each one is 32-bits in size, and i'll go into further detail about this soon.
WinCE DevKit Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 0:31
Although we don't believe in "warez", it is worth mentioning that the WinCE Devkit 2.1 has been leaked. We will NOT provide you with links to download this, but it could become an extremely important part of the dc development scene.
Various people (we might be aswell, but i dont mean us!) will soon undoubtedly be working on emulators ports. Mame for DC is obviously one of the most hotly anticipated - imagine being able to insert a cdr with mame and lots of roms on it, and being able to play the old arcade classics sitting in front of your tv...
Welcome! Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 0:30
Welcome to the new site! This site will expand quickly, and various updaters will be updating it frequently...
The team thus far:
CyRUS64
Indirect
Tubooboo
Tubooboo and I are the main programmers, and various other Boob! programmers will be releasing programs soon!
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