TI-84+CE Mode 7 Engine development

[tr1p1ea]

This thread will contain development updates/notes for this project.

[tr1p1ea]

OK So a fair bit of work has gone into this project of late!

I ended up reorganising the engine to make it possible for more rapid development - I'll keep it to myself exactly what I did since it would be met with looks of disapproval from some I'm sure! .

Anyway some screenshots from development thus far:
First tests on the CE - reading from random memory:


Test map input and basic sprite test:


Scaled sprite tests:


Sprites based on viewing angle:

Some bugs in rendering:

Palette rotation - could be used for star effect:

Depth sorting tests:



Collision test:

First basic AI test (waypoints):

Mass AI test:

AI pov test - jumpy:


Most test code at this point, working on a very simple track editor to assist development.

Hoping that I can release something in the next couple of months!

[DJ_O]

This is awesome and it's fun to look at the screenshots one by one to see the evolution of this project. You could definitively do a full MK clone that runs at good speed with this.

[benryves]

That's looking great, tr1p1ea, can't wait to see how it turns out!

Would it be revealing your secrets too much to describe the algorithm you're using? I'm interested in how the resolution drops as you get further down the screen - is that a limitation of the algorithm or a concession to performance?

Even without a perspective effect I struggled to get a simple rotating tilemap working smoothly on a TI-83 Plus, so I'm impressed with how well it's running in your screenshots!

[tr1p1ea]

That looks really cool Ben!

Granted this is for the CE, which although hampered in it's own way, is much than the monochrome calcs (well comparble to an SE but with a better instruction set).

I have been making mode7 style demos for years, originally based on this webpage: https://www.helixsoft.nl/articles/circle/sincos.htm

Plus you can see there are several concessions with resolution etc, all for speed reasons.

On the plus side I also added characters:

[DJ_O]

What is the exact clock speed of the CE in ASM mode by the way?

Also very nice tr1p1ea. Please do backups often this time around so you won't lose progress

Another thing: This sub-forum is invisible to guests. You might want to fix this for visibility.

[tr1p1ea]

There are issues like wait-states that affect the CE's performance - CPU is 48MHz but it is somewhat comparable to a 15MHz SE because of this when factoring in screen resolution - but with a better instruction set.

Also thanks for the heads up, I attempted to fix the guest issue.

[DJ_O]

By the way, I was wondering if the TI-84+CE has enough memory to allow Mario Kart style courses that are larger than the SNES ones? The SNES ones were on the small side so a lap lasted like 15-25 seconds.

[tr1p1ea]

The answer is technically yes, but my engine doesn't support it because it would be slow things down too much.

Though you can do tricks with my engine to achieve a similar outcome since coordinates wrap around (if you drive off one side of the map you appear on the other side, so you can be tricky with map design).

[chickendude]

This is beautiful! Even in its current state it already looks really fun. calc84 also had some cool mode 7 stuff i believe for the b/w calcs.

[tr1p1ea]

Yes he did indeed - I wonder if he will ever release it?

I did a bit on the B&W calcs also:

Very old and inaccurate but I still have the code somewhere.

Also latest screenshot with all the items :

[DJ_O]

Very great tr1p1ea, and that grayscale Mode 7 demo looks cool too. I wonder how many koopa shells will be able to move at the same time on the race track without slowing down too much?

[tr1p1ea]

I haven't done too much load testing - however this demo has lots happening on the screen with all the items so I should be able to get things to a point where frame rates are good in most scenarios.

[DJ_O]

So I tried the demo you posted on TI-Planet and I'm amazed by it so far. Runs pretty fast on my pre-A hardware CE calc and I haven't gotten any crashes so far with OS 5.6

[tr1p1ea]

I'm glad but unfortunately TI changed some things in later calc revisions - So I had to remove the link from my Cemetech post since it will crash on M+ calcs due to a port unlock.

Working on a fix and thanks for the feedback!