PC-FX Homebrew

[ruinatokyo]

A person by the name of cdoty released a basic port of his "Frog Feast" game for the pc-fx.

Available at http://frogfeast.rastersoft.net/Files/PCFXFrogDemo.zip

He tested it in magicenginefx and says it should work on a real PC-FX. I've written him but he hasn't replied back yet. I'm going to try burning it tonight and see if it actually runs on the machine.

I plan to do some coding and release some demos and games for the PC-FX, but I really need to talk with someone that's done it before.

That is, most japanese sites about the FX-GA state that it will not make games that are playable on a PC-FX. I'm not sure if this has to do with some copyrighted bootblock for the CD's or whatever. cdoty said he had to modify somethin in order to get it to run. We'll see.

If it pans out, I'm going to go out and buy a used PC-9800 system and the FX-GA for a few bucks, the coding guide, and get cracking.

[Keranu]

I am excited to hear that you are interested in developing for the PC-FX! We really need more developers for the poor old system so we can make it a much more worthwhile console (and because of the cool hardware specs). The only place I know of that you could go for help is #utopiasoft on EFnet on IRC, though it's mainly a PC Engine development channel. Look forward to seeing any progress you, or anyone else, makes and wish you good luck!

[ruinatokyo]

Hey Keranu,

Thanks for the replies.

Yeah, I think the PC-FX has some interesting hardware that was not taken advantage of by the small amount of commercial software out there. I'd like to try to really take advantage of it (or help others to).

The thing that's really piqued my interest now, something I noticed in the Anime Freak series and in Yuna FX.. regular game graphics can be overlayed (with transparency and other effects) over the full motion video.

I'm thinking of taking some dvd footage (stock footage etc) from a plane flying over some interesting landscape, convert that to the PC-FX's full motion video format, and use that as a background for a shootemup. There could even be predator-like ships that go from 100% transparent to the background video to 'appearing' or other stuff, the possibilities are endless. This could also be used to port laserdisc games very easily like dragon's lair and so on.

[Keranu]

ruinatokyo that sounds KICK ASS! I would really love to see that, I love that kind of stuff. The cool thing about developing for PC-FX as oppose to PCE is that there NEEDS to be more shooters for the PC-FX while there are so many shooters for the PCE that you don't really need to develop them.

[ruinatokyo]

Well, I've just burned the "Frog Feast" demo.
I inserted an Ayumi Hamasaki wav file and changed the cue.
It boooooots!

I thought some sorta custom bootblock would forbid homebrew on a real PC-FX, but whatever cdoty did, it works.

The demo is just a picture, nothing fancy, but it shows homebrew is possible. This is going to get interesting.

[Keranu]

I wasn't even aware that cdoty was porting his Frog Feast game to PC-FX, or I forgot. It's good to hear that homebrew is definitely a possibility for PC-FX then. Hopefully the good stuff will come soon enough .

[ruinatokyo]

Would you know how to contact him? I tried 2 of his email addresses and neither received a reply over the past 10 days.

[Keranu]

Nah sorry, don't know of a good way to contact him. He sometimes posts on the Magic Engine boards for some technical info, so you might be able to get his attention there or find any further contact info on those boards.

[nodtveidt]

The only problem with cdoty is that he tends to keep a lot of information to himself, only divulging his "secrets" when you buy his sourcecode. I'd seriously like to get into PC-FX development but there's just simply not enough good information for the layman to get started with.

[port187]

I am a new PC-FX owner (for the collection) but I would like to experiance this console to the fullest before packing it back in for the collection anyway I have some original games but I want to buy some more, before I do that I would love to be able to test a couple 'backup' games to be sure they are cool.. so it's a little sidetrack from homebrew software but: Is it possible to play backups on the PC-FX by default? does it need some kind of mod chip? if by default can I just download the roms available on torrent sites burn them on cdr's and play?
Thanks!

[Black Tiger]

I am a new PC-FX owner (for the collection) but I would like to experiance this console to the fullest before packing it back in for the collection anyway I have some original games but I want to buy some more, before I do that I would love to be able to test a couple 'backup' games to be sure they are cool.. so it's a little sidetrack from homebrew software but: Is it possible to play backups on the PC-FX by default? does it need some kind of mod chip? if by default can I just download the roms available on torrent sites burn them on cdr's and play?
Thanks!

Well, if you're not planning on buying cdr copies, then there's a quick and easy way to find out. 

[Keranu]

You can play games back-uped on CDRs just fine on your PC-FX.

[port187]

I am a new PC-FX owner (for the collection) but I would like to experiance this console to the fullest before packing it back in for the collection anyway I have some original games but I want to buy some more, before I do that I would love to be able to test a couple 'backup' games to be sure they are cool.. so it's a little sidetrack from homebrew software but: Is it possible to play backups on the PC-FX by default? does it need some kind of mod chip? if by default can I just download the roms available on torrent sites burn them on cdr's and play?
Thanks!

Well, if you're not planning on buying cdr copies, then there's a quick and easy way to find out. 

Thanks guys! the problem with the easy way to find out was that I searched around but didnt find any live torrents of pc-fx games around, so instead of search myself silly for nothing or burning them wrong if I would find any I wanted to have it confirmed as I remembered somebody mentioning something to me about a special trick once..? anyway great news! as some/most games can cost quite alot and I don't want to spend a little fortune on no fun or unplayable (too japanese for me) games.

[port187]

Sorry for the off topics here but is there any special way to burn them? I have found several iso's (roms) online that if I mount with alcohol and play with the emulator work fine but when burned on cd both the emulator and the pc-fx doesnt play them (Burned with Nero - Burn Image on a MMore CDR-80) while the emulator does recognizes it as a pc-fx cd!? anyway do I need to use another burn tool or cd or any other special action because the roms found are only for use with the emu in that state? hope somebody can help thanks

[Necromancer]

Check www.necstasy.net for verified table of contents and burning instructions.  I've never made a back-up of a PC-FX image, but I'm guessing that the process would be similar to a Turbo CD.  At the very least, your table of contents should match those at necstasy.