Sonic X-treme - Point of View - Info + help required

Quick note, the code seems to build, albeit with tons of warnings, which I will inspect over time; I cannot test it as I don't have the NV1 and my Saturn setup is still not functional.

From what I can gather right now, the code started from a MAC/PC version of Ofer's engine, and then augmented to support both the NV1 and Saturn. The augmentation seems to have compromised the ability to compile the code in a way that doesn't directly require one of the two (NV1 or Saturn), but I am sure given some work it **might** be possible to return it to a state where it can run independently of either.

Worst case scenario, as I said before, work will need to be done to have a GL/DirectX rendering backend.

Most of the code predicates on a very old version of MFC, therefore porting everything to build/run on a more modern version of Visual Studio will be a challenge, I guess we'll see...

 

See anything interesting that catches your eye in that code anywhere? like the gravity change system , or the geometry paths that expand and contract?
A friend of mine, Nikit wrote a small tool that could view the geometry path's (spline) vertex points (if you will) from the .def files. but we had no way of seeing how the geometry followed the paths, what were the conditions that told the engine how many box segments to create per path length, or how the splines were laid out between the points.

 

So far I really haven't inspected the code at all, beyond understanding what compiles, what doesn't, which files are supposed to build what, for what platforms, etc...

I will get to all this, in due time...

Right now I am dumping all the CDs, some of them are damaged enough that I had to use 4 different CD drives to read them in.

 

Sounds like Fun times with them disks!
I think so many people are here biting their nails waiting for that one small bit of information or some kind of super kick ass discovery, its really hard to hold back the flood of questions that have added up threw out the years.
I know with the amount of things going on all at once with the disks may be overwhelming , and with the lack of hardware at the moment that things may take awhile.
Anyways, we all just need to hang in there and support JR in any way that we can with finding the remaining key components to this endeavor. ( i guess im mainly saying this for myself, but yeah i'm sure some of you are feeling the same eagerness hahah)

 

Curious what you use to image and rebuild from dumps from multiple drives?

 

The most reliable way I found so far has been to connect all the drives (one SCSI, two IDE, one SATA) to my old XP machine and try reading alternatively with Alcohol 120%, Discjuggler and Nero until something reads without errors.

Eventually all the discs have been dumped.

 

The reason I like SX is just because of how innovative and revolutionary it was for the 32 bit era, it was truly ahead of its time. I feel like Sega really underestimated its potential as I've never seen a game like it, one that transitioned a 2D game into a 3D world, perhaps until Super Mario Galaxy on the Nintendo Wii. Just the fact that the game was based on spherical mazes really gave it a solid dimension and I feel it could have blossomed into something that really set the Saturn apart from its competitors, such as Super Mario 64. The thing perhaps Sega judged correctly however was the technology as I'd imagine it wouldn't have looked great with meshes and textures popping in and out all of the time, something the N64 its self might have been better suited for. It's a shame because I really think the game could have been good, something the Saturn was lacking was an original Sonic game and this was it.

 

*biting my nails and keeping positive* lol

 

I am so excited about this. Now I have a reason to unpack my saturn that I boxed up.

 

Any updates yet?
I was thinking, if You are planning on doing a release, is there a chance You'd consider sharing the image files earlier?
It's just that the demos obviously take a lot longer than the image files.

Also, are there any level data on the archives? Like, some levels that were not included in the package that HXC leaked a couple of years ago?
What about some text documents? Those can sometimes have some really interesting information in them.

Thanks!

 

Some Amy and Tails sprites may exist, wouldn't get my hopes up so high, but u never know! ..

Source was Ross Harris profile:

Edit: He may be referring to Project Condor for the Amy and Tails stuff according to another source of mine.

 

Ok, here is a summary of all the activities that are going on at once:


1) Finding semi-complete tech demos of cancelled games that can be released as-is. So far I have done:
1a) Found and tested early tech demo of IMSA GT for Playstation, which eventually became Sports Car GT. Included is a car viewer and a very early demo of running a car in the Road Atlanta track, with music.
1b) Found and tested concept demo of CC: Commando for Playstation, which I guess is/became CC Renegade. Included is a character viewer, a rough terrain viewer and a demo of the main character running around on the Road Atlanta race track (yes, it is weird)
1c) Asked ASSEMBLER what is the best way to release these, where to upload them, which forum section to use, etc. (no reply yet)




2) Finding assets in the Sonic archives that have never been released before
2a) I wrote a binary compare tool and already found lots of PCX images that are not part of previous releases. I am in conversation with andrew75 as to how to handle/release these assets.

3) Analyze the differences between all the (Sonic) source code trees spread around the archive, and all the tools present in the archive

4) Analyze the source code of PC/NVidia NV1 version of the Sonic engine (Ofer's), all its required tools/dependencies and how to make it run on my old PIII machine
4a) NV1 SDK has been obtained, and the code seems to build properly, but I have no way to test it until I have a NV1 card to run it on.
4b) Find a Diamond Edge 3D card (not found yet)
4c) The version of the engine present in the archive has been heavily biased towards using the NV1 and Saturn systems, and it doesn't build without using one of the two "backends". I am investigating what the code needs to be compiled/run without either of the two. I found parts of the source code to have provisions to be compiled for Mac as well, which confirms everything that has been said about Ofer's code.

5) Analyze the complete Saturn build environment required to build the Saturn version of the Sonic engine (Ofer's), by analyzing the tools present in the archive and their references to many build paths

6) Analyze the Sonic Editor (Ofer's) (different build of the same source tree, with additional dependencies)

7) Understand how to build the Sonic POV engine for Saturn (pieces of the build system seem to use the PSYQ toolchain, other pieces the Sega toolchain)

I have not found any design documents so far, but it doesn't mean there are any, the archive is rather large and I have inspected only a part.

Please be patient, I am not a student nor I have infinite time to work on this, so it's going to take a while.

Jollyroger

 

Upload them using whatever file service, in the Downloads section. No need to ask for anything. If you would like a hand with videos prior to uploading, send me a PM (for any of the non-Sonic stuff that is, other people can have that )

 

x

 

We're waiting^^ This is a huge thing you got here

 

No hurry. The fact that you are willing to share stuff and aren't just teasing us is more than we've ever wanted. Thank you so much for sharing stuff with us. What you have in your hands is very special to a lot of people .

- Ok, that C&C Commando prototype sounds uber cool indeed!
- Have you asked Vetz (from Vogons) and LGR about lending you their NV1 cards for the cause?

Anyway, these things couldn't have been in better hands. Again, thank you, you are awesome.

 

Wow!

This is is pretty major!

 

Woah, I obviously need to be checking this rather often. Doesn't matter how slow the information comes in. I for one am excited and appreciative of any info released in any time frame. Huge thanks for handling all this!

 

So what is realistic though? A working Sonic Xtreme prototype, or just a tech demo?

 

In my opinion, from what I have seen so far of the Sonic material, the chances are that we will realistically be able to compose the following, over time:

1) Sonic PC demo with some levels and textures never released before, which should be somewhat similar to what the fan community has produced with the leaked material; this requires a NV1 card to run

2) Sonic PC level editor, which also requires a NV1 card to run

3) Sonic Saturn version of the PC demo, basically a basic form of port of the PC demo

4) Sonic POV Saturn tech demo, based on the POV Saturn technology

5) Given enough time we should be able to decouple the PC demo from the NV1 rendering backend and produce a OpenGL/DirectX version of the PC demo and the editor

Jollyroger