A stupid idea - backporting CG?

All discussion about the Commander Genius project (a Keen interpreter + more).
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usotsuki
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A stupid idea - backporting CG?

Post by usotsuki »

I just got a weird idea: could CG be stripped down and used to port CK4 onto a 16-bit platform? Say - back to DOS, or to the Atari ST, or perhaps to the Genesis.

It's just a stupid thought, to be honest, but one I've been mulling.
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keenmaster486
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Post by keenmaster486 »

Interesting idea. It is possible to make it run in DOS using the HX extender, but that's still 32-bit... (yes, I have done it before.)

gerstrong, is the CG code as optimized for slow systems as the original Keen code? i.e., does it use adaptive tile refresh? Because if it isn't then this idea is dead in the water anyway.

But with the Keen Source Mod would this be necessary?
I flermmed the plootash just like you asked.
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kvee
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Post by kvee »

keenmaster486 wrote:i.e., does it use adaptive tile refresh? Because if it isn't then this idea is dead in the water anyway.
Well some of the platforms have hardware tile support, however compiling just plain C might be less than optimal for 16-bit targets (and should be tried out as a very first step IMO if someone's gonna seriously try this)


Galaxy on SNES though? That would be awesome!
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Post by gerstrong »

keenmaster486 wrote:Interesting idea. It is possible to make it run in DOS using the HX extender, but that's still 32-bit... (yes, I have done it before.)

gerstrong, is the CG code as optimized for slow systems as the original Keen code? i.e., does it use adaptive tile refresh? Because if it isn't then this idea is dead in the water anyway.

But with the Keen Source Mod would this be necessary?
Believe or not it still uses adaptive tile refresh feature. In that regard no problem. I think regarding the performance other aspects will play a more essential role. For example the timer we are using is bit special, so the smooth scrolling is enforced and requires a bit more of performance for that effect. That can be easily turned off if required...

So I think there is the optimization work well invested and it runs for our target systems good enough. Still I'm sure there are parts where more can be tweaked here and there. We use some more memory at certain parts as for precaching, for example the IMF Player precaches a lot, so there are more resources for the gameplay AI physics and graphics instead of Adlib/OPL Emulation fro playing the sounds and music. That memory might come short in some situations, though I think a small hack can make run the emulation at same time and save some memory. Also HQP will most likely not work on those systems.

I see more a limitation with the standard as CG uses C++11. If your compiler can translate that, it should be no problem to get it running on smaller systems.

Some core components still base on the original CloneKeen sources, those were efficient with handling graphics in 2D and such.

Snes? I cannot tell if that's possible.
Having fun developing stuff...
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kvee
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Post by kvee »

gerstrong wrote:Snes? I cannot tell if that's possible.
I'm very much afraid that it's not without an almost complete rewrite in assembly.

A clean reference for all the game logic and physics is a big help though!
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