sakirsoft said:Hi i wanted to start my first post about ShugenDo development.So you can read about the current development progress of ShugenDo.I also want to announce that the next beta will be to the end of this month or the begin of the next month.I am still working on the fixing as usual but i am also working on other parts to increase the overall progress of ShugenDo. Also i am promise a PSP version of ShugenDo. And i want to make my promise true. Lets begin with the PSP version. I began to work on it. I had to setup my development environment. Btw thanks to http://ps2dev.org/for their hard and good work with the psp sdk I was able to compile a first binary of ShugenDo for the PSP. And ShugenDo also runs on the PSP. So you will ask what are you waiting for ?I have to write a PSP specific renderer for ShugenDo. Some of you noticed that i abandoned the Software renderer of ShugenDo. The reason for it was manly couse of performance and complexity issues. So the PSP version will utilize the Hardware accelerated power of the PSP.This means that ShugenDo will run pretty smooth on the PSP. But there is on problem which i encountered with the SFF file format of mugen. Its pretty old and not well suited for todays hardware. For that reason i will create a new file format for the PSP and the PC version.The new file format for images will be a container like the SFF but will suit better for todays hardware.This will mean better loading times and less memory consumption.The SFF format is not very optimized and takes a lot of memory in you main ram.A SFF file get about 3 times the size in memory of the file size. Currently i have a file format which can hold 32Bit images with a less memory consumption as standard SFF file. So you have better looking images with less memory consumption.I will also rewrite the menu code of ShugenDo because i am not satisfied with it. This means that the current screen pack format will be also rethinked.Currently thats it for my post about the development process.
Wow 32bit image format ? O_O cool and less memory consumption now that's wicked keep up to good work Sakir
Oh joy! From the sounds of it, a PSP version could be just a few weeks away!<3But I have a question, Sakir. Since you will be basically abandoning the .sff file, what will happen to current MUGEN characters and stages? Will there be a converter of some sort to change .sff's to whatever file format you will be making?
NickyP said, May 14, 2009, 02:53:28 amOh joy! From the sounds of it, a PSP version could be just a few weeks away!<3But I have a question, Sakir. Since you will be basically abandoning the .sff file, what will happen to current MUGEN characters and stages? Will there be a converter of some sort to change .sff's to whatever file format you will be making?Of course i will provide a converter for SFF files. I only abandoning it for the PSP version couse its not an optimal format. The Pc version will support the sff file format for legacy support.
Yes, it seems you are well on the right path, Sakir. SofiyaCat, the developer of InfinityCat Mugen seemed to have also noticed a similar problem with .SFF file mounting to his engine port for the PSP.I recall He/She used a .SFF to .BIN converter back then...although, well...the project got dumped pretty early on. I wish you the best of luck with the upcoming updates. I can't wait to make my own Shugendo Game on the PSP...This is indeed exciting news!!!
I do not think the sff file takes so much memory and space.They are in fact on of the images file format that takes less memory to load.And they very quicky to load them.Thats why electbyte choose the pcx format instead of the jpg,png,bitmap ect. the sff file format is just pcx files ( index images , 8 bits).It takes about about 10kbs to load a 128,128 pixel image.The only problem with the index images like pcx 8 bits is that they are not supported on new video cards.But they can emulated using pixel shaders. But the pixel shaders effects doest not work the same way on all the supported videos.I am not sured if you can use pixel shaders on psp undergroung dev kitCorrect me if i am wrong
Yes, pcx uses compression algorithm called run lenght plus index table.pcx take so little memory, and they are real fast to load because they their colors are in a index tables what we call a palette.For example, if you convert a image pcx to jpeg or bmp the final image end being 2 to 5 times its orignal size.
becoolnike, read again. What Sakir means to do by creating a new file format to substitute .SFF should in the end display...sakirsoft said:better loading times and less memory consumption.Don't tell me you've never noticed how laggy mugen can get when accessing characters with large .SFF files after the VS screen. Hopefully with the new format he wishes to implement this "loading time" will be minimal.Also...sakirsoft said:Currently i have a file format which can hold 32Bit images with a less memory consumption as standard SFF file. So you have better looking images with less memory consumption.Damn! If that doesn't sound good, I don't know what does. I say implement the new format, and once he perfects a converter we could just run a batch file on all the characters we wish to convert. It's a beautiful thing.
Btw i am not talking about the memsize of the images on harddist space.As you mentioned. Pcx is a compressed format. You could also use Png or what ever.The PC can't work with the compressed image and have to decompress it in main ram.This leads to a bigger mem usage for your ram. Take a look at winmugen in your task manager and you can estimate how much it take.So it doesn't matter for the realtime memory( your ram ) how the images is compressed. Because it will be the uncompressed size in your ram when loaded.If you want to see how much your sff will take in mugen or ShugenDo .You can extracting the pcx files from your SFF and convert them to 8bit bmp files.And then look of how much it will takeA example of evilryu form Reu.Sff size 4.8 mb.Real size in ram 17.7MB.Thats quite alot for one char.
It depends on how you code it, some libraries support run lenght compressed sprites so they are actually optimla, or you could load the compressed sprite and only decompress (since run lenght is pretty simple) the sprite that's going to be shown.
On the fly run length decoding is not a option because of performance problems.In the past i tryed it out it has poor performance.
NickyP said, May 29, 2009, 08:06:04 pmWould it be too much to ask when you plan on making the PSP version public? I am trying to release a first public version on 31th may + some days.
SakirSoft said, May 29, 2009, 11:03:57 pmNickyP said, May 29, 2009, 08:06:04 pmWould it be too much to ask when you plan on making the PSP version public? I am trying to release a first public version on 31th may + some days.Are you kidding me?! Woohoo!
cheers05 said, May 30, 2009, 08:02:06 amSakirSoft said, May 29, 2009, 11:03:57 pmNickyP said, May 29, 2009, 08:06:04 pmWould it be too much to ask when you plan on making the PSP version public? I am trying to release a first public version on 31th may + some days.Are you kidding me?! Woohoo! I am still strugling with the SFF to psp format converter so it will delay abit.
Sounds like it's almost ready then. I can't wait, I hope you fix the bugs soon! EDIT: Hey Sakir, I have a quick question I forgot to ask: does ShugenDo support hi-res characters, stages, and lifebars?
NickyP said, May 31, 2009, 08:41:05 pmSounds like it's almost ready then. I can't wait, I hope you fix the bugs soon! EDIT: Hey Sakir, I have a quick question I forgot to ask: does ShugenDo support hi-res characters, stages, and lifebars?Yes ShugenDo support high res. For stages ShugenDo was the first engine which supported high rez stages.http://www.sakirsoft.com/forum/index.php?topic=8.0
