PC-FX homebrew development.

[elmer]

afaik, moving to a more modern version wasn't possible due to a lack of V810 support or summat.

Neither GCC 2.95 nor any of the more modern versions actually natively support the NEC V810 ... but even the latest GCC versions support the NEC V850.

From what I can see the Japanese guys that hacked the V810 support into GCC 2.95 just based it on the existing V850 support. Remember ... when they did it, GCC 2.95 was the latest version of GCC.

It *may* be relatively straightforward to use the same methodology to add V810 support in a more-modern version of GCC.

I have now managed to build a V850 GCC 3.4.6 cross-compiler that seems to compile some test V850 code correctly.

The next step is to see if I can patch it to add the support for the V810.

It may not work, but it seems to be worth an attempt in order to get a more-modern toolchain.

[deubeul]

Just adding my 2 cents but I've always dreamed of a GOT II and a Nexzr II on the FX, with tons of sfx, parallaxes and crazy FMW backgrounds.

[Arkhan]

If I made a PC-FX game, it would involve tentacles and tits, as opposed to shooterings.

[Necromancer]

Why not all of the above, ark?  Steam Hearts' FX.

[elmer]

Here's a little PC-FX love for Valentine's Day ...

The liberis examples are now compiling (and running on Mednafen) with my V810-patched GCC 3.4.6 and binutils 2.18.

That's 6-years of compiler changes/improvements over the previous GCC 2.95.2.

Next up ... moving the V810-support forward another 8-years to GCC 4.7.4, with fully standards-compliant C99 support! 

[nodtveidt]

Awesome possum.

[shawnji]

EDIT:  Sorry, wrong thread...

[elmer]

Next up ... moving the V810-support forward another 8-years to GCC 4.7.4, with fully standards-compliant C99 support! 

Hmmmm ... small hiccup with GCC 4.7.4 ... the V850 guys changed the system ABI in 2010, and so liberis won't run without modification. I'm still trying to decide how to handle that, and if there's any advantage in using the new ABI on the PC-FX's V810.

In the meantime, I have binutils 2.22 and GCC 4.5.4 compiling V810 code, and have the liberis demo programs running on mednafen's PC-FX eumulation with that combo.

Since GCC 4.5.4 was released in 2012, I'm still going to claim 12 years of improvements over the old Japanese GCC 2.95.2.

Early days, though, and lots more testing to do ... but good progress.

[Arkhan]

If this ever gets to where something usable exists with some libraries, count me in.

I'm not the type to sit and write system libraries, because I have too many game ideas/things to be working on instead. 

It's a good thing Elmer exists, lol.

[elmer]

I'm not the type to sit and write system libraries, because I have too many game ideas/things to be working on instead.

We all have our strengths and weaknesses, interests and things that bore us.

Yes, I'm one of those people that are happy to work on tools, but I'm afraid that libraries bore the heck out of me ... I rather just get on with writing a game.

If this ever gets to where something usable exists with some libraries, count me in.

There is a modern C99 compiler, a set of low-level hardware and CD access libraries, and the tools to make a bootable PC-FX .bin/.cue CD image.

That's all that I need to write a game.

I want a good debugger, so I'll try to do something about that, too ... but higher level libraries ... not my thing, I'm afraid.

I'm trying to help open things up a bit to make it easier for anyone that comes after me ... just like the Japanese PC-FX guys did in 2000, and Alex Marshall has been doing for the last few years ... but I have no interest in providing an entire game engine library.

I'll just develop a game instead, and then release the source. Anyone that's interested will be able to pick it apart to grab what they like from a working example.

I have no firm timescale for that.

If someone that does like writing libraries wants what I've done so far, then they just have to ask.

[Arkhan]

Yeah, because of my current PCE, MSX, and PC investments, I don't really have a strong urge to dive into the lowest level possibly library possible to start getting somewhere.  Maybe when a lot of this stuff wraps up, I could put time into writing useful libraries.

but as it stands now, it'd just be taking away from me working on stuff people want to play already.  Nope.

[nodtveidt]

I can normally write libraries from working examples, so I might be able to throw my hat into the ring here. I would just need a solid base to work from. Injecting new life into the PC-FX has long been a dream of mine, and trap15's work was as close as I have gotten to realizing that dream. Thus, if you are able to get a more modern build of gcc working (doesn't have to be cutting edge... that 2012 build is just fine), I can probably run with it.

[Arkhan]

I can normally write libraries from working examples, so I might be able to throw my hat into the ring here. I would just need a solid base to work from. Injecting new life into the PC-FX has long been a dream of mine, and trap15's work was as close as I have gotten to realizing that dream. Thus, if you are able to get a more modern build of gcc working (doesn't have to be cutting edge... that 2012 build is just fine), I can probably run with it.

And then comes some sort of game for such a niche system. 

My tentacle-rape-pirate-shooter-dating sim is likely the best fit for the system.

The thing has a very specific library, so it needs very specific titles. 

[elmer]

I can normally write libraries from working examples, so I might be able to throw my hat into the ring here. I would just need a solid base to work from. Injecting new life into the PC-FX has long been a dream of mine, and trap15's work was as close as I have gotten to realizing that dream. Thus, if you are able to get a more modern build of gcc working (doesn't have to be cutting edge... that 2012 build is just fine), I can probably run with it.

Thank you ... I'm sure that everyone would appreciate the time and effort that you'd be putting in to it.

You are welcome to the compiler any time that you wish ... or you can wait a bit longer until I verify more of the nooks-and-crannies.

There really isn't much improvement between GCC 4.5.4 and 4.7.4 when it comes to plain-old-C ... I'm disabling the whole-program-optimization in GCC 4.7.4 anyway, because it's been reported to be a bit problematic until they fixed things in 4.8 and 4.9.

I can see about doing my "starter" project on the PC-FX as well as the PCE.

It's going to look a little underwhelming on the PC-FX ... but I should be able to at least try to use most of the PC-FX's systems, even if it could be done without them.

I wish that I could find an artist as good as Black Tiger to enhance the original Amiga/Arcade graphics for both the PCE and PC-FX, since I suspect that the original artist is too busy with paying work these days ... but the game did get an award at the time, so it's not like they're actually bad.

The whole thing would hopefully still be able to serve as a programming example that you could use to help kick start some higher level libraries to go on top of liberis.

I hope that you'd be willing to release any library work under the same MIT license that Alex (trap15) is using for liberis.

[nodtveidt]

Licenses have never concerned me very much. I am even quite content to release things under the WTFPL. I'll wait until you have a stable system though. Hopefully, it'll work in Windows... I couldn't give a rat's hairy ass about Linux, and I know I'm not alone there.