[Xsera] Other Xsera

I don't think it does.

A quick stop at Wikipedia could've cleared it up...I knew what he meant. The term predates cg. People mostly make spaceships around here, but there's no reason you couldn't use the same technique to make, say, an artificial cityscape, or a circuitboard facsimile.

QUOTE

My suspicions are confirmed. Shlimazel - unhand those Dryads!

Hey, man, I was just admiring the local flora!

QUOTE (adam_0 @ Feb 22 2009, 02:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Anybody else with Xcode and a PowerPC Mac want to try and build? It appears the application that my computer builds isn't UB.

Update: over the past few hours, I have had access to a G5 and built Xsera on it. It works just fine, comparatively speaking. It still won't work on my G4. Perhaps there is a problem with the 32-bit or AltiVec code? Does Xsera use AltiVec to begin with? I would try compiling with a MacBook, but it is at the Apple Store currently. Maybe next week.

On Ye Olde PowerBook, I can press 'D' and I get a mostly black screen (below). The PK works and presumably the hyperdrive as well, but I can't see a thing. I can tell by sound.

And is there actually a readme or did I miss it?
Picture_1.png (90.83K)
Number of downloads: 12

This post has been edited by gavin83209 : 05 March 2009 - 08:12 PM

Yes, it uses AltiVec, but the G4 supports AltiVec. It's not 64-bit, because SDL doesn't support 64-bit yet. It'll have 64-bit in the next major version, and once that's out I'll add 64-bit support, but I won't remove 32-bit support.

QUOTE (gavin83209 @ Mar 5 2009, 05:10 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I would try compiling with a MacBook, but it is at the Apple Store currently. Maybe next week.

My primary system being a MacBook, I can tell you that it works just fine there.

QUOTE (gavin83209 @ Mar 5 2009, 05:10 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

On Ye Olde PowerBook, I can press 'D' and I get a mostly black screen (below). The PK works and presumably the hyperdrive as well, but I can't see a thing. I can tell by sound.

Well it appears to be exclusively a video problem. It's weird how you're only seeing part of the screen. Try hitting "t" for test or "c" for credits, the music may or may not change and you should see something. Post what you see (if it's not entirely black).

QUOTE (gavin83209 @ Mar 5 2009, 05:10 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And is there actually a readme or did I miss it?

There is no Readme yet, you didn't miss anything.

I have a dual-G4 CPU (PowerPC obviously) running on Leopard, so I should be able to fill the xcode vacancy if you need it...

Thanks, Dark.Revenant. First thing you'll want to do is download git. Then, in Terminal, cd to the directory where you want Xsera to be, and type:

CODE

git clone git://github.com/prophile/xsera

This will take a while. When done, type:

CODE

git pull origin windows

In Finder, go into the directory that you put Xsera in and open Xsera.xcodeproj. Hit "build and go".

If you need further instructions or help, just reply here.

This post has been edited by adam_0 : 06 March 2009 - 02:04 AM

I have found that the test and the credits still have a black screen, but the music does change. I have also found that if I warp in the general direction of the starfield for a handful of seconds, the stars actually move. I have found the following in my journey up and right:

Picture_2.png (55.84K)
Number of downloads: 26

Picture_3.png (53.66K)
Number of downloads: 17

The framerate is actually pretty good.

The build I am using is dated March 4, 10:56 PM.

This post has been edited by gavin83209 : 06 March 2009 - 10:20 PM

Well at least you're seeing the stars. I've never seen this kind of color problems before, although I have had massive color discrepancies between PowerPC and Intel (although you got it to work on the other PowerPC?). That star you're seeing is supposed to be blue (in the first picture). What's weird to me is how the top part fades out.

Just out of curiosity, what resolution is your computer? Go into Preferences.cfg and change the resolution to 800x600 or some other 4:3 aspect ratio, and try again.

The res that Xsera used was 960x720 and my system res is 1280x854. Still no difference besides a smaller window. Would a corrupted framework do this?

Resolution is not the issue. I suspect lack of support for shaders is to blame.

gavin: try pulling from git like so:

CODE

git pull origin compatibility

I've made a compatibility branch that SHOULD remove shader stuff. Tell me what happens, because it doesn't work on my computer.

Shaders stay. The latest GL specs officially deprecated the fixed-function pipeline.

Well then what does he do, if / since he's incompatible?

I got the same results as last time.

I'm sorry, I don't know what it could be. I'll see if I can get my dad's PowerPC to work, once I get Xcode on it.

Your GPU is most likely an ATi Radeon 9200, which doesn't support GL_ARB_fragment_shader which is necessary for Xsera. The reason I will not be adding backwards compatibility is because that limits us hugely to FFP fallbacks and because by the time Xsera is even in beta these cards will be all but nonexistant.

I understand. My card is a Mobility Radeon 9000, as stated above. Is there a list stating which cards support it somewhere?

I got it built and running. Keep in mind that I'm using the build contemporary to Sunday night.

I noticed some issues:
- A crash after demo'ing for about 1 minute.
- SFX was uncomfortably high pitched compared to the original. It just sounds weird. However, it wasn't unbearable or anything; it's just kind of impure.
- PK beams rotated weirdly. Some random lasers would spin like autistic little bastards.
- Credits are not entirely up-to-date
- UI looks a bit squished. This is probably intentional, but I suggest you change it.
- Starmap isn't infinite. This is probably not an issue, more a lack of completion.

So far, the two main problems to be dealt with are the f–k'ed up projectiles and the spontaneous crash. I was flying next to that blue-green thing (looks like a ball of blue crud more than a planet or star).

This build did not have very much effect (overall +20% cpu usage) on my computer. It was completely smooth and built just fine.