New AGA SDL Development

[NovaCoder]

Even if you keep SDL, you should at least do it properly and modify it to only updated damaged areas, that would really increase performance.

Yep, done this already.

[NovaCoder]

First NetSurf AGA BETA released which uses this new SDL library  

[NovaCoder]

I cannot get it from that website specified and I cannot find it in aminet.

http://eab.abime.net/index.php

[NovaCoder]

What version of SDL is this based on? And where can I get the source of your Amiga port?

Cheers,

Adrian

It's a bit of a hack, based on the old 68k RTG SDL + Arti's updates + some vanilla v1.2.15 and then Amiga AGA specific optimizations added + hacked to death by yours truly.

So far it's been used to port NetSurf, Descent Rebirth, DosBox v0.74 to AGA and now being used to attempt to port Ultima 7.   If all goes well I'll upload it to AmiNet with some simple demo programs.   It will support most of the basic SDL functions but to get the max performance out of a port you'll need to do some updates.

[NovaCoder]

Ok I've now released it to AmiNet -> http://aminet.net/package/dev/lib/SDL_AGA

Now go create some cool new AGA games with it


Future plans:

I think I might add the SDL Mixer to it one of these days, from my initial look at the source code it looks ok.  
When I get the time, I'd also like to try and add RTG support (copy the code over from the existing SDL).

[NovaCoder]

[youtube]FaMuopipN7o[/youtube]

[NovaCoder]

The SDL strikes again


It's very early days (only a few hours work), not sure how it will run real hardware yet.

[NovaCoder]

Nova you are an AGA MEGAHERO!

Thanx

[NovaCoder]

It's alive (said in your best mad scientist voice)



[youtube]nffOaex-R8Q[/youtube]

[NovaCoder]

Need testers?  

slaapliedje

Thanks, yes I will at some point

This is only after a day's effort so lots of work to do before I can release something worth beta testing.

[NovaCoder]

So what is the story with SDL and RTG?

Many many years ago I was going to port all my games over to SDL/RTG.

But SDL was megatremendously sloooooooooooow.  It had been out for a few years yet nobody had ever optimized the algorithms at all so it was totally completely worthless.

Now that a gazillion years have passed, is SDL a good option for RTG gamecoding now?

In a few months from now I am going to be in need of a properly working SDL that performs reasonably well on RTG cards with 128MB VRAM.  Does such a SDL currently exist?

Hiya,

If I ever get the time I'd like to add RTG support to my AGA SDL and use it to do a new port of ScummVM for RTG Amiga's.

From what I've read, Amiga RTG pixel formats are a mess (non-standardized), that is why blitting can be very slow, esp when you mix color formats.

[NovaCoder]

I can test that too!  

Is there any of the old SDL/RTG software out there?  I know there is an old version of Exult, but I'm not sure if the Amiga port used SDL or not.  Maybe I'll give it a shot and find out, then report.

slaapliedje

Hiya,

Yes the old 68k port of Exult and DosBox would have used the SDL.

I think there is also a 68k port of Red Alert that uses the SDL.

[NovaCoder]

Update:

I've just added (limited) SDL Mixer support to my library.

It's useful for porting games that need SDL Mixer support.   I've only given it a very quick test but it seems to work, not sure how slow it would be on real hardware.


I'll upload it to AmiNet when I get the time.

[NovaCoder]

Yet another port using my little SDL 'hack'

[youtube]Wsc2_mzIM2Y[/youtube]

[NovaCoder]

Nice!  Do you take requests?

A newer version of Hatari would be an awesome port (there is one on Aminet, but it's pretty old).  I believe it uses mostly SDL, though recently they tacked on a python interface, if the Nokia N900 version is any indicator, it could be removed fairly easily, or replaced maybe by something more Amiga-ish?

I was also thinking some other SDL based emulators, I am pretty sure all of the newer Mame builds are, as well as things like gens.

slaapliedje

Thanks

These 68k ports take a huge amount of time, not necessarily to get up and running but to get them fast enough to be of some use on real hardware takes a lot of effort.   As an example, Odamex took about 2 days to get running then another 3 months (effort) to get it running well enough to release it


I've uploaded my SDL hack to AmiNet so someone else can give some new ports a go.

[NovaCoder]

Wow a 68k SDL port the runs reasonably quickly on real hardware, would have thought


[youtube]RgzTGIV41a4[/youtube]