SDK: homemade vs official

I'm creating this discussion in order to split this thread so that the whole question about SDKs can continue without being OT.

It's not a matter of what the shells can provide in terms of "sofisticated", really. AFAIK, cygwin has many limitations, like not being able to work out of the box under an IDE such as Visual Studio (I use 2010 for all my PlayStation software). Big turn down for me.

It can still provide all the API functions necessary for creating a full software with all the features the machine is capable of, such as async processes (which I can't remember if your SDK is specifically capable of, but most SDKs aren't).

Honestly, I never had any problems with the low level functions provided by PsyQ. In some cases there were weird limitations, like the TOC Directory Descriptor limited to one sector (which compromises how CdSearchFile() works), but I've got my own virtual file system for that (and it works faster than regular CD search+seek+access) so it's no real bother for me in the end. All the basic libraries work just fine in my opinion. The extended one are just another part of the story, but I ditched them a looong time ago and switched to the "regular" ones only.

Well, I never mentioned legality or similar issues. Still, I never heard of Sony caring about PsyQ-based samples floating on the net (even compiled ones), so that is probably a hint on what they care or not about a long dead kit.

 

And apparently the discussion was a lot more interesting as an unwanted OT. Figures.

 

just a quick question. does the tails sdk provide some basic examples with 3d models etc? I'm just wondering if it supports 3ds objects and so on.

 

I always prefer open source, free and/or home made software rather than commercial; however it always comes down to functionality.

I admit I haven't used either psyq or tails's SDK; however I would definitely use tails' unless/until I need something it doesn't support, in which case I'd have to move to another option.

I hope he keeps on working on his SDK to try and get it as complete as possible.

 

I look at it this way. If you using the reference tool hardware you need the official SDK. There is always some bios file, driver, firmware file that goes with the official SDK that is specifically designed for the reference hardware that you will not get with an homemade SDK. That's really the only major advantage that the official SDK has.

Everything else really comes down to personal preference.

The official SDK and it tools are designed to work the reference hardware because Sony designed both the software and the hardware and worked with the tool vendors. It is intended for studios of several paid full time worked to death programmers to write games. It works well because there was a lot of money and time into making the SDK and tools. That's a disadvantage when the hardware is obsolete. Once that happens all support and updates for the software stop.

Homemade SDK is really intended for making homebrew. It can have some functional differences from the official SDK. That goes both ways. Sometimes the unofficial SDK and tools can do certain that the official SDK won't. Example would be the PS2 hard drive size limitation. You may have to work a little bit to find tools (debugger, disc emulator) that will work, and you may not have a large library of documentation but in general if you are writing homebrew I think that an official can actually work better than the official SDK if you coding all by yourself. The real advantage for an unofficial SDK is that it can still be updated even when the hardware has long been supported.

When it comes to the legality of using official verses homemade SDK, the official is illegal for homebrew...but there's nothing preventing you from porting to any project to a homemade SDK before you release it publicly or vise versa.

 

Oh you are form Italy?

Tails would be able to help you a lot with all this Gemini.

 

Yup, just like Tails. Almost seems like PlayStation development is an Italian trademark nowadays (in a similar way to what the SNES became for the US romhacking scene).

Wait, what? I wasn't asking for help, but only discussing about the pros and cons of Official VS Homemade SDKs. I can already develop my own stuff with the official SDK.

 

I have already made my stance clear previously, so I don't see the need to state it again. I will just say that using the official SDK is only going to make PS1 homebrew an even smaller niche than it is now.

It is worth to lose some features to together improve an open source SDK, which caters to people's needs and not to the old developer's ones, thus avoiding a lot of useless complexity.

 

I think it boils down more about using more modern compilers and development environments ...

Why be forced to setup an old PC with a 15 years old OS to be able to code whatever you want if you can use more modern stuff you have already ready to use.

Now if you're a stubborn one and want to use the official SDK, go ahead ... :lol:

Keep up with the great work tails92 :thumbsup:

 

Because you don't need that to code with PSY-Q, actually. It works just fine under XP and I think it also does with Vista and Seven.

 

Psyq is working with windows 7 x86 , but refuse to run on x64 . I've tested it during this summer.
Btw I'm using Tails92 SDK to dev some intros. It is easy, but I'm having some serious problems with external libs (es. libm.a)...
But It is really nice , and I'm having a lot of fun using it !


Obviously psyq is more complete, but it is also more complex to use for a newbies !

 

Tell me about it. I can not figure this PSY-Q thing out! The files are all over the place who ever ripped it...


I am REALLY anxious to start up a PS Development Scene and have us all as members.

 

All the kits I've found around the net have everything important in place, even the release on snesorama. I can't really understand what you mean by not figuring PSY-Q out.

 

I printed the documents, and none of these folders it specifies are where they should be. There are also multiple duplicates of files everywhere.

 

But who cares ?
just set up your psy.ini and you will be able to compile and run

I don't think that I'm the only man with a working psyq ahahahahahah x)

 

The important stuff is located inside folders bin, include, and lib. That's it, everything else not included among those folders isn't important at all for the actual development and it doesn't really matter wherever path it is stored to.

 

Oh ok. Uh, what is the difference between PSYQ and PSYQ46?

 

None, the second is simply referencing the internal revision.

 

I had some serious problems with the libs in Tails92's PSXSDK.
For example I havent maneget to use the libm.a ! ( Obviously I've add -lm to psx-gcc ).

I think that I'll start to use the psyq, and to convert my code to be able to compile with it.

I'll recover again my psyq46 cd-set from my collection.

 

I dont understand. Sorry.

It is an updated version?