Sorry if i link a thread on another forum, but it is the original discussion.
http://amigans.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=596&forum=11


Quote:

Hi guys! Rogue confirmed that he has not the time update Quake 3 for OS4. His port was a "fast" one. Indeed there are few bugs to fix and maybe performance to increase. I also had confirmation that other users experience freeze in menu and in-game.... I know there are other much more important programs to fix or port... but hey it is the only "modern" game or at least the only FPS which can be played with friends (mac e PC) that is not too old... i would like to have a new version of it... and i hope someone could work on it.

Reply here i will check both threads.

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ikir

Sigh... nobody?

I fear we will stay with this unstable version forever :-/

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ikir

@ikir

I'm not working on any software ports anymore for OS 4 untill the 'no hardware' issue has been changed to 'plenty of hardware'. At the moment I choose to put my time in Microsoft Certification.

The way it is going now is that the OS 4 user base is decreasing because of hardware that is breaking down.

By the way, to get a useful increase in speed one is dependent on a component one has no control over so until that has been changed I don't think there is a lot of point in spending my time on Quake 3.

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AmigaOne-XE G3 OS 4.
A4000 PPC
A1200 PPC

@ikir

Hmmm... I can do something about that.
I have no experiance with AOS API - so one have to provide me with source code that already works with Amiga.
I also have only PC. It's not a real problem for me, but someone will have to check that my new version still works with AOS.

About my abilities - I'm coder experianced in 3D raytrace graphics. (and/for animation purposes)
At the moment I'm finishing my highschool (Warsaw Highschool of Technology). My thesis is about data buffering in raytrace methods (for 3D animation).

There is some info:
http://www.max3d.pl/forum/showthread.php?t=33980
Unofnatelly the site is in polish, I asked there for some help, but it's not important. Look at four pictures - the first one shows scene that was rendered with my raytrace tool. It took almost 30 minutes. Other pictures shows the same scene but with some modyfications:
2 picture - the object in the center of the screen (a ball) has a new texture and parameters (less transparency, more reflections)
3 picture - soft shadows added for object on the left
4 pictue - fog effect added.
All those mods were applied in seconds (7,4s...), with no raycast and no quality lost.
Can provide you with fith another picture showing depth of field effect (5-15 seconds to compute for that scene).
And this is, what my thesis is all about - there's no need to render data for each scene modyfiacation (especially in postproduction). One can have equall quality in a faster way. And I know how to implement "that way"

I'm thinking about implementation for AOS but it's still to early to think about.
(And there is still no hardware.... )

To sum up:
Quake III - can do that and will do that. I only need Amiga compatible source code...

PS. Hm... what about Hired Guns Gold with qIII engine?

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@Radov

Here is the source i think Q3 Source

@Radov & fryguy

Nice!

Yes, source code is on OS4 Depot.


@PulsatingQuasar

ACube system now offers CPu replacement so broken A1s can be bought to life again, and SAM440 is progressing well. So help us with Quake3 The real problem is its stability... even if it is not so fast.

Last edited by ikir on 07-Mar-2007 at 03:59 PM.

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ikir

@ikir

From my experience with Q3 it seems as stable as the PC version which also locks up in the game. I think the lockups in the menus only seem to happen when you leave a menu for some time, so I wonder if it has something to do with the demo kicking off or something similar.

The engine seems to run real well for me at least. I think it would be cool to play with the code and get it to do some different things. Perhaps even make it into an entirely different game.

@nzv58l

OSX version never crashed a single time on several machine even under Rosetta emulation. On WinXP i get crash occasionally but few, on OS4 version if i play 3-5 games i'm sure it will crash.


menu crash very often for me. Like 2/3 times, i need to click fast on new game and start... if i wait even 5-10 seconds it usually crash.

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ikir

Last "BUMP"....

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ikir

@ikir

I've looked into source code a bit. There are many issues I have to resolve by myself... but it can be done
Don't know how much time it will take.... (when it's done...)

My work will be done in three steps:
1) SDL port of q3. Without any GL isuses and no asm. The goal is to get a stable, slow version, easy to test on x86 and easy to port (similar to 'ioquake3' I guess...) .
2) Integrate it with miniGL functions via standard openGL. (all optimalizations in this step)
3) Integrate with Amiga specific code already written by Thomas Frieden.

In my opininon it is the best way to done it without proper hardware

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OK. Do you have a PayPal account?

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ikir

Yes I have, though don't use it yet...

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@Radov

Write a pm or here, i'll show my support.

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ikir

@Radov
ioquake3 seems like a nice project. would'nt it be better to base any port to OS4 on the work they have done. mainly to implement the bugfixes they have discovered.

and be able to continue to take advantage of any future improvements they make to the code.

also the more "portability" nature of the code, seems better suited for an easy port.

never the less you got my support also

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Also remember that there is a MorphOS version, maybe it would be a good idea to go through both (OS4&MOS) sources for major differences?

Thanks, don't want to disappoint you all:)

OS4 and MOS ports are very similar There are only some minor differences.
Unfornatelly there's no use to base on ioquke3 (though I use it for help) . It shares major disadvantages of q3 sources:
- plain C language (I mean - no objects - it is hard to 'trace' data flow)
- flattered objects/structures hierarchy (better say - no hierarchy)
- global variables
This solution may be fast, but makes code hard to understand and improve.
I'm going to make sources object oriented. The goal is not only to port q3, but also to convert sources so that one can easily use them to create own 3D game.
(Don't worry - my primary target is to make quake 3 working properly on Amiga )

To be honest - q3 sources looks weird. I have felling that almost 40% can be deleted and no one will miss them:)

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@all

I made some progress. There is a lot of work, but luckily - no troubles (as for now).

I have one request to you:
Please, post in this topic all bugs and problems that Quake 3 is causing (with some details).
It's good time to trace and fix them...

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@Radov

I know only 3 issue:
-Performance are not great but it is not a problem.
-It often crash in the menu, after few seconds. This not happen to all users.
-Some times it crash the game itsefl during play.

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ikir

@ikir
Quote:

-It often crash in the menu, after few seconds. This not happen to all users. -Some times it crash the game itsefl during play.

Both problems may be caused by bug in quake3 Virtual Machine. One of VM's task is text displaying. It might be VM's asm mistake (unfortunatelly there's some assembler code that must be included to the quake VM's code), or it might be missing text string.
( maybe it's configuration files problem?)

Can someone confirm when exactly it crashes?
On certain map? Just before/after wepon/power-up pickup?

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@Radov

It usually crashes on the menu if I leave it for too long. I was thinking it was because of the demo kicking in.

I have seen it crash in just about any scenerio. It crashed twice on me when I completed the whole thing and then switch to hurt me bad or whatever the 3rd one is and the first scenerio. I was just waiting for the armor to appear again.

Seems like the other times it has crashed on me was when there were alot of things going on. Usually when I was getting the upper hand. I thought it was just a cheat for the computer when it was loosing. Sometimes I play it I can go through nearly the whole thing without a crash. Then other times it crashes on simple things.

Have any ideas on anything I can turn on to track the crashes? Keep in mind that every time it crashes it freezes the computer so there is no going back to workbench to try and figure things out. It is a fun game and the other artificial players have some good intellegence. I would love to help out.

Also I have an A1 XE/G4 and a bit of extra memory. I will have to check and see how much I have when I get back to my machine.