DKC Atlas Forum

[Simion32]

.
CHANGES IN UPDATE PROCEDURE

I would like to announce that the Program Releases and Bug Reporting sub-forums are going to spring to life very shortly.

I'll be using those forums to make any further releases.

Please report all program bugs in the appropriate version topic once it is created by me.

This change of procedures includes the next DELTA update, so be on the watch.

EDIT: Thanks for getting those set up properly, Qyzzy!

[Morzeka]

Hello, hello!

After re-visiting after a short break from my Donkey Kong fantasy, I noticed that you've at long last released the Delta engine. I would love to contribute to testing, if I may. Those pesky bugs (not you, my precious zingers) need purging, of course! I am very excited.

Sincerely,
Morzeka.

[Simion32]

Spoiler!

CRITICAL COMPONENT FAILURE.
GRAPHICS CARD OUT OF ORDER!!
DEVELOPMENT FULLY HALTED.

The fan on my GPU has just died. (The card itself survived, though.)

I'm posting this notification from my old clunker machine.

[Shy Guy]

Damn it when will you get a new one?

[Simion32]

My father happened to have some compressed oxygen (used as pure air to remove dust from inside part of fan) and some thermal compound handy, so...

...for a little while (however long the fan lasts) I'm back in business!

I still plan on getting a new card in case this one permanently bites the dust.

[Crammalamma]

Make sure you make the Barrel Bayou barrels act like they do in SNES9x. Because that's how they're supposed to act.

[Simion32]

I'm well aware of the bug. I played the original on a real SNES long before I played an emulation of it.

The bug in question happens due to bad (or non-existent) OpenBus emulation.

[Crammalamma]

Also, have you thought about how the 3D effect in the ship hold BG is achieved?

[Markster]

SNES9X seems to be more correct, I prefer it over ZSNES.

By the way Simion32, do you plan to buy a new PC anytime soon?

Spoiler!

My mother wants to buy my old computer off of me for 400$, that means I'll be building a brand new computer next month!

[Simion32]

I think I simulated the ship 3D effect in one of my extremely old demo programs (back when I was using MMF2), so I shouldn't have any trouble doing it in C++.

I don't think I'll have the funds for a new PC for a good long while.

Oh, and since the last GPU related post, I've gotten and am using a new graphics card.

[Simion32]

Spoiler!

MAIN SYSTEM BRICKED (since mid July)
DEVELOPMENT AT FULL HALT.

I've been brought to a screeching halt by a very nasty virus infection, which in the aftermath of my attempts to restore caused my main development system to get completely bricked. It has been a very grueling road towards being able to post here, which is why it took so long for me to post this.

I won't bother with all of the details here, but I have to post this message here.

There may be a very significant delay in Delta Project/DKCLB, but planning will continue to happen in the background.

A new machine will obviously be necessary in order to get anything non-planning-related done, but I'm not going to rush this.

<notice posted to all major threads>

[Simion32]

MAIN COMPUTER BRICKED....
I Seriously Need Donations!

Spoiler!

>>> DONATE TO DELTA PROJECT <<<
(DELTA PROJECT DOES NOT INCLUDE
THIRD PARTY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL)

This is a callout post to notify those who track the other topics.

[Joselix]

Can you send me the link to download DKC Level Builder please?

[Simion32]

Unfortunately, "DKC Level Builder" (the editor tool) does not exist yet.

My original teammate left and eventually the project has taken its own more comprehensive direction.

This used to be just a DKC fangame project, but has transformed over time into something much larger. Now DKCLB will be a toolkit to be used **in** DELTA - but DELTA, the continuation of the project, (now a generic game engine) is not anywhere near completion.

The scale of what is being made here is like any one of the large game creation software suites found out there, to some degree - it is very large and complex.

I've been saying this for years, but the project will just get done when it gets done. I'm the only one working on it, and the only one capable of getting it done at all, essentially.

[Cody]

You're the unsung hero of DKC hacking, Simion. Please take all the time you need--we can wait. Even if I'm 40 by the time this comes out it'll still be worth it.

[Simion32]

Massive DELTA Project Update Video!!!

>>> VIDEO HERE <<<

[Cosmicman]

Thanks for this update Simion32, I can't wait for that demo.

[Simion32]

UNIVERSITY COMPLETE!!!
I've finally passed it all. Every. Last. One.


DELTA Project will resume from scholarly intermission shortly.

But I may take a few weeks to unwind.

[KAOSKarnage]

Umm... "Click here to browse downloads" doesn't actually have a link to browse downloads.

[Simion32]

The Future of DKC Level Builder

I realize it has been a long time since anything was posted here, and I thought I'd post an update to let you guys know where this project is at, and where it's going in the months and years to come.

While I've been working on NitroGUI v2.0 I've come to the ultimate conclusions about DELTA, DKCRE, and DKCLB in general. I've spent an enormous amount of time planning and getting things together to attempt to make an update to DKCRE once NitroGUI v2.0 is done, but I'm feeling that it may not be time for me to do that, and here's why.

The updates to the interface will require me to fully re-code DKCRE all-the-way, and it isn't looking like a good prospect for me making progress on DELTA and/or DKCLB in general. DELTA Game Engine will not require so much effort, and a new DELTA editor will be easy for me to get going from the NGUI jump-off point that is fast approaching. Essentially, I have more momentum in the direction of DELTA than I do DKCRE, and it's looking like I'll have to ride this train of development where ever it's going to take me.

So, you may be wondering why I've posted this here in the DKCLB topic if I was mainly concerned with the rest of the project. Well, I've decided that I no longer have the time or resources to fully develop on DKCLB alongside DELTA, and what this means is:

— DELTA will become its own closed-source game engine and editor, with a for-pay version for those who want to sell games.
— DKCRE will have its updates delayed for probably another year or so, after which I expect it to be able to open and edit DKC2/3.
— DKCLB Toolkit will be made open-source, with collaborative development being done.

I will no longer have the time to fully develop for DKCLB, although I still plan to manage the project as the project's "master".

So there you have it. I'm sorry that it has come to this, but the decision had to be made. DELTA will be given heavy priority from here on out, and there will be little to nothing on DKCRE for a good while. I just don't have the time to juggle all the extraction and DKCLB stuff while attempting to develop DELTA, which I consider more important than getting LB working.

All of that said, I will still be doing development on DKCX for VideoViking, but it will have to springboard off of the open-source LB environment instead of me solely hand-coding every LB object that might be used. DKCX will most likely remain closed source at least until its time of release (I still need to discuss this over with VideoViking).

[Super Luigi!]

This is great news, Simion32. Use that springboard to create even more greatness with DELTA, even if that means moving away from DKCLB. You must do what feels right for you, after all. Good luck in the future!

[rainbowsprinklez]

DKC...X? A creative ROM hack name? Ooooo I'm excited.

[Simion32]

DKCLB doesn't do ROM hacks, it is a toolkit for a PC-based game engine and game editor (DELTA).

DKCX is therefore not a ROM hack.

--------------------------------------

It will probably be several years before we see DKCLB at its full potential.

[rainbowsprinklez]

Ohhhh. Ok I wish the rom hacking scene would take off more... I have something that might be useful to you. I'll likely release the program tomorrow.

[Simion32]

MASSIVE UPDATE:
DELTA Game Designer GOING LIVE!!! CLICK HERE

[Simion32]

DKCLB is now officially OPEN SOURCE
>>> LINK TO THE GIT REPO <<<



I will be uploading changes over the course of time.

The current starting repository is just the core files that will be required to start building the program.

The program will be made to extract multimedia from the DKC trilogy ROMs and then we will have C++ objects in the project that will run under DELTA Game Designer to create the ultimate DKC Level Builder experience, with high accuracy and all that shiny polished stuff.

[Simion32]

One more thing - we are going to need a centralized database of all the ROM offsets and stuff from all 3 games that are required to build the extraction components in DKCLB.

I'll be working on gathering this data first, then I'll try to get some extraction going later.

[edevore]

This is awesome news, Can't wait to check it out.
This could help you with dkc2 (contains some address info in the rom) -> https://github.com/p4plus2/DKC2-disassembly

[WesternTanager794]

Very cool! This is great news!

[Super Luigi!]

Well done, Simion32, and I hope you can gather all the data you need.

[Cyclone]

Yes! This is exiting!!!

[Simion32]

Just to let you guys (and gals!) know, I'm busy working on some new code advancements for the next big thing. I can't say what yet though.

I'll be doing DKC 1/2/3 hacking where necessary to compile the necessary information for DKCLB, but this may take some time.

I'm hitting some delays real-life-wise so things may seem a bit slow at first.

[WesternTanager794]

no problem! this is awesome!

[Simion32]

Just a quick update:
I've been hitting even more delays as of late.

I don't have much to post and have had very little free time to work on DKCLB. I've basicaly not even gotten to the "hacking" part yet.

Sorry that it's come to this. I finally get DELTA done and BAM, a flood of interruptions!!

[WesternTanager794]

Sorry to hear that, Simion. Good Luck!

[Super Luigi!]

I'm sorry that your plans need to change, Simion32, but I also wish you the best.

[Simion32]

Progress Update:
I feel there is a need for an update, so here we go...

I've slowly been gathering ROM details for some in-depth documentation on all 3 games. I'm going to be pulling data from all across this forum and several downloads in the community. I already have to give credit to Mattrizzle for sprite palette documentation, included in his sprite viewer downloads (though I already had DKC3 sprite palettes documented before he made those hacks).

I've used bsnes-plus to start a ROM map for each of the 3 games; first step being to document where code is and what the M and X flags are when each instruction runs. I played each game in its entirety (max percent) and then plugged the logs into some allegro bitmap code to create a large 2048x2048 image for each game. The ASM mostly resides in the later banks with a smaller portion being at the beginning of the ROM.

-------------------------------
I'll also be working on a revamped DKCRE, hopefully with basic 2/3 support, alongside the DKCLB extraction hacking.

I'll be making use of Kingizor's compression library which should allow me to add in 2/3 support to DKCRE without much trouble once I have an offsets INI built for those games.

[rainbowsprinklez]

That's amazing! I'm super excited for it! Let me know if I can help in any way.

[Simion32]

DKCLB: Defining a Universal Level Identification Code

I'm going to be working on various aspects of the DKCLB at some point, and I came to the realization that we need a system designed to have level ID's that are sortable (so that things appear nice and neat in the DELTA editor).

Let us define a four-character code that defines:
--Game
--World
--Level
--SubRoom

Now ordinarily you wouldn't think about this much but I want to standardize the use of particular letters and numbers for various purposes. So here we go...

Game: This defines which game we are talking about. Zero is a reserved value for DKCLB debugging levels. Values 1 to 3 are the respective games in the trilogy, and custom DKC games carry a value of 4 or above. Values A to Z are free for whatever use.
World: This defines the world that the level is in, given a number 1 to 9 and A to Z. The value 0 indicates that we are talking about the overworld map itself.
Level: If the world digit is zero, this is the submap we are talking about, with 0 meaning the overworld itself ala DKC3's overworld map. If we are talking about a playable level, the number specifies which level, with values ranging from 1 to 9 and for shops or save points A to Z.
SubRoom: For the overworld map this value is always zero. Otherwise the value 0 is the level itself, with 1-9 inidicating bonus rooms and A-Z for other rooms (so W for warp rooms in DKC2, etc).

So for example Haunted Hall from DKC2 would have a code of #2520 with its first bonus room being #2521.

When I get around to coding the part of DELTA that lets you select a level, these codes will be a level property that will act as a sorting code.

Hopefully this will make referring to levels in DKCLB just a tad cleaner.

EDIT: I suppose that Animal Antics would use the A-Z range to encode level subrooms, eg. #285A.

[Super Luigi!]

It sounds like a good system to me. Well done, Simion32.