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DS homebrew announcements > AmplituDS v3 released! Also a model-converter and -viewer.

#129771 - Dark Knight ez - Sat May 26, 2007 1:30 pm

AmplituDS v3 is now released. A huge update over v2 which improves graphics, feel and adds 3 new stages.
If you don't know what the game is about, it's based on Amplitude for the PS2... which was created by the team that made Guitar Hero later on.
The official AmplituDS website:
http://amplituds.drunkencoders.com

First off, the boxart:
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]

Then, a couple of images:
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]

And last, a couple of movies:
Movie 1
Movie 2

Hurry up to the AmplituDS site and get it! :)



Now, as for the model converter and viewer.
They both run on the NDS. How's that for portability?
The converter converts models in the .x format of a certain syntax to a .c file which contains a display list in an array.
You could use that .c file in your own homebrew projects.
The model viewer reads out that .c file, and also slaps on textures if you've put that in the same directory.
Check it out. It's worth it.

Direct link to the model converter and viewer.

Example models available (not to be used in your own projects):
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]
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AmplituDS website

#129778 - dantheman - Sat May 26, 2007 9:20 pm

I never really played this game in the past, so this is my first experience with the game. Aside from having to use SCSD_moon.dldi on my miniSD card that usually works fine with the regular SCSD.dldi file, I had no issues getting it to boot. My first time using the drum training, the audio got out of sync, but replaying it somehow fixed this, making a lot more sense this time around.

Sweet game so far. This one is staying on my card for a long time.

EDIT: forgot to mention, great use of Tepples's AXE demo, hehe.

EDIT 2: woah, TSSF helped you with this? Even more reason to like the game.

#129780 - felix123 - Sat May 26, 2007 9:54 pm

I see lots of improvements over v2. With DLDI, saving highscores is much easier. The graphics is better. Great job.

A small request: can you please put the data folder in /data/amplitude instead? I don't want a cluttered root directory.
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Nintendo DS homebrew on Wikipedia

#129787 - Dark Knight ez - Sun May 27, 2007 8:54 am

At dantheman

Unfortunately it's a libmikmod issue and I couldn't fix it. A restart usually does the trick though, yeah. And if the synch is right at the start of the stage, it'll be spot on the entire stage.
Tepples's AXE demo got an "upgrade" to handle what base note it uses, if it uses a major or minor and what BPM. In order to be able to match it better to a stage. His concept/code made for a nice addition. :)
And yes. TSSF made two of the five stages. (I'm excluding training stage in the count here. So I suggest you go and play your thumbs off.)
And thanks. :)


At felix123

The second "move data folder" request I've got since the release. I like the position of the folder this way myself, and am not keen on making more builds with the amplituds folder in another place. If you really don't want the folder "cluttering up" your card, you can always try and create a FCSR'ed build with DLDIrc (basicly: appending the folder to the .nds so that you only have a large .nds). Or you could install devkitpro r19, download the source to AmplituDS, change in fileio.c the line "/amplituds/" to your needs and "make" a new build.
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AmplituDS website

#129788 - Devil_Spawn - Sun May 27, 2007 9:41 am

get lots of stars to unlock the bonus level

#129789 - LoTekK - Sun May 27, 2007 9:54 am

Dark Knight ez: I have to say, I've been hoping for something like this for some time now, so a huge thanks.

That said, I can't seem to get this to work with the .x files I've exported from Blender. I'm not too familiar with the format, so I'm wondering if there are maybe different variants of .x files? When I try and run the convertor on my models, the system locks up, while the included triangle converts without a hitch.

Additionally, I can't seem to figure out the texture convertor (there isn't a convert_textures.bat included in the archive?). I've played with the various command-line options, but can't seem to output a .pal file, only a .bin texture.

Apologies, I'm an artist, not a technical guy. :)

#129790 - Dark Knight ez - Sun May 27, 2007 11:15 am

AmplituDS stuff.
Devil Spawn wrote:
get lots of stars to unlock the bonus level

Yup. :)


At LoTekk

Yes, there are different .x files possible.
Check the triangle example's .x file in notepad to see what it should look like.
I know that MilkShape can at least export to that format the right way. Check the readme concerning the notes by LDAsh for that.
If you can't use that program, well, trying out different export options for .x until you get a format which looks the same?
(The indentation in a .x file does not matter, by the way. All that matters is how its laid out.)

As for convert_textures.bat... it's in the download. In the triangle example folder to be exact. Double click it and it should convert model.pcx and bg.pcx in the current folder.

Hope you can figure it out. :)
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AmplituDS website

#129791 - LoTekK - Sun May 27, 2007 11:20 am

Dark Knight ez wrote:
Yes, there are different .x files possible.
Check the triangle example's .x file in notepad to see what it should look like.
I know that MilkShape can at least export to that format the right way. Check the readme concerning the notes by LDAsh for that.
If you can't use that program, well, trying out different export options for .x until you get a format which looks the same?
(The indentation in a .x file does not matter, by the way. All that matters is how its laid out.)

Thanks for that, and the quick lowdown on .x; I'll give Milkshape a shot (been exporting with Blender). I must have missed the section in the readme you mentioned. :p

Quote:
As for convert_textures.bat... it's in the download. In the triangle example folder to be exact. Double click it and it should convert model.pcx and bg.pcx in the current folder.

DOH! Didn't even think to look in the triangle folder. Thanks. :)

#129874 - 9th_Sage - Mon May 28, 2007 3:55 pm

I have an M3 miniSD, and the training and SMB remix levels work fine, but Space Trip...on the 'demo' screen, it plays the music and shows the level, but when I try to load the level it loads the ship, and the BG and everything, but it freezes as the ship descends. I don't think I hear the music, either.

Is it just me, or does this happen to anyone else? I know it's not my SD card, I just reformatted it to be sure it wasn't some error on the card itself.
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Now 10% more Old Man from Zelda 1 than ever before!

#129888 - Dark Knight ez - Mon May 28, 2007 6:13 pm

Weird. I haven't had any such issue myself. And also not from the people in my testing group who owned M3 cards.
It's additionally weird because you said it works perfectly at the demo screen. Weeeird.

The only thing I can advice is to try out a couple of things. Such as loading the game up differently. MoonShell, DSOrganize... .nds, .ds.gba... maybe even a different SD card (although I do believe you it's fine, it's worth a shot due to access times).

If you can't get it to work, know that you can "cheat" by removing that stage out of the Origin world. Then at least you can play synth night (at least, hopefully). Check /amplituds/world_origin.txt and you'll know what to do with it. If you do that, you might also want to adjust the amount of stars needed for world_bonus.txt

Unfortunately I have big tests at university coming up this Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, so I can't start a debugging session for/with you until (at earliest) next week.
Let me know if you can get it to work loading the game up in different ways. And if not, I hope you can at least enjoy the rest of the game.
_________________
AmplituDS website

#129892 - 9th_Sage - Mon May 28, 2007 8:40 pm

Dark Knight ez wrote:
Weird. I haven't had any such issue myself. And also not from the people in my testing group who owned M3 cards.
It's additionally weird because you said it works perfectly at the demo screen. Weeeird.

The only thing I can advice is to try out a couple of things. Such as loading the game up differently. MoonShell, DSOrganize... .nds, .ds.gba... maybe even a different SD card (although I do believe you it's fine, it's worth a shot due to access times).


Huh, weird. I did try Moonshell, and the behaviour was the same, I should try DSO but I can never get DSO to boot stuff even after I patch everything with DLDI that needs patching (always helpful). :P Ah well, I'll keep playing with it.
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Now 10% more Old Man from Zelda 1 than ever before!

#129988 - Sweater Fish Deluxe - Tue May 29, 2007 10:17 pm

This is great. A very nice overhaul from v2, though there's still some changes you made between v1 and v2 that I don't like, I'll get over it. The new tracks are nice, though I was hoping they'd be video game themes, too, like the earlier tracks. The new topscreen display and all the new graphics including the background are totally great. The new way you move between lanes took me a little while to get used to, but now that I've got it, it's perfect.

Where's the closeup view, though? The new ship model is nice, but honestly I felt closeup view played better.

Also, wasn't there some sound or something when you fired on beat in the previous versions? There must have been because the lack of any signal that I'd fired was really awkward at first in this version. I've more or less gotten used to it now, but I think it would be better if there was some signal that you'd fired correctly. I know there's a laser shot that appears briefly, but I can hardly ever see that. Maybe the corresponding crosshair could light up or the target dot could explode (even if it happened silently) or something.

Anyway, I've been looking forward to this release and I'm definitely not let down. Such great gameplay and the overall polish just keeps improving. Hopefully we'll see some new user-created created tracks now that this new version is out and it's getting some attention. It can't be that hard, maybe I'll try my hand at it.


...word is bondage...

#130022 - Dark Knight ez - Wed May 30, 2007 8:12 am

Quote:
though there's still some changes you made between v1 and v2 that I don't like

Erm.... powerups? Wasn't that the only thing different? xD

Quote:
The new tracks are nice, though I was hoping they'd be video game themes, too

Space trip stage has Yoda in it, man... it's classic. (Even though I don't actually like Star Wars.) Anyway, there's a theme music in the works by tssf but not sure when that'll be done.

Quote:
Where's the closeup view, though?

Erm... this _is_ the closeup view, technically speaking. I'm not kidding. This is probably as close as the closeup view in v2, only I put the ship in there because it still fitted. I didn't change the view just to get the ship in or anything like that. :)

Quote:
Also, wasn't there some sound or something when you fired on beat in the previous versions?

I think there was. However, I thought it would be nicer to not interfere as much with the music, seeing as how every target is a note anyway, the laser sound would be obscuring those notes... now only a laser sound when you miss. More people mentioned this though, so I might have to make hitting a target more visual.

Quote:
It can't be that hard, maybe I'll try my hand at it.

It's not that hard, no. Just takes a bit of time. Check out the AmplituDS forums if you want any advice or what-not. There's a nice topic going on by someone who is working on one and that thread explains pretty much everything there is to creating a stage.


Oh. And glad you like it. ;)
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AmplituDS website

#130024 - SasukeXXX - Wed May 30, 2007 8:37 am

I some suggestions you might want to consider:

you should something that notifies you if a dot was hit correctly, maybe burst into a flame somewhat like in Guitar Hero.

it might just be me, but the controls are a little difficult to get use to. I was thinking it should be something like the dual controls used in some games. (like L and R to move left and right, and using up, left, right, and y, a, x to shoot) but I have no idea how the game is going to turn out in the future.

with the model viewer: is there a way for it to support multiple textures, or at least be able to convert the model on a computer. I hate going through the process of getting the models, trying to convert it and have th DS crash, going back to fix the model, load it on the ds and having it crash again.

also would it be possible to use the touch screen to rotate the model?

#130055 - Dark Knight ez - Wed May 30, 2007 3:53 pm

Quote:
you should something that notifies you if a dot was hit correctly

Like I said in my previous reply, I'll look into it.

Quote:
it might just be me, but the controls are a little difficult to get use to.

You could go to the options menu and set controls to Pad controls instead of Default controls. Uses Y X and A for shooting instead of L X and R. You might like that better. I personally think the default controls are perfect, especially on harder stages, but to each his own I guess.

Quote:
with the model viewer: is there a way [..]

I don't have very much interest in developping the model tools any further myself. I don't get much satisfaction out of it like my other projects. The source code is there for people who want alterations. I'm more than willing to host improved versions, but that's pretty much it unless someone can spike my interest for working on it in some way. *shrugs*
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AmplituDS website

#130125 - Sweater Fish Deluxe - Thu May 31, 2007 3:30 am

Dark Knight ez wrote:
Quote:
though there's still some changes you made between v1 and v2 that I don't like

Erm.... powerups? Wasn't that the only thing different? xD

Well, yeah, I'm not really into the powerup, but they're easy to ignore so that's no big deal. The main change I'm referring to is how much easier it is to keep your combo meter going. In v1 when you completed a bar only the next two bars of that lane got auto-played. Now correct me if I'm wrong since I haven't actually done any measure counting in v2 or 3 (I haven't had to since it's so easy to keep your combo going) and I don't have my DS here with me to test it, but it seems like in v2 and v3 at least three or four get played right? It's really tight in v1 to keep your combo meter going throughout the track and I loved that. It made me have to play and replay the track hundreds of times trying to figure out the perfect way to play. The fact that your crosshairs didn't move between lanes instantly the way they do now made v1 even more high pressure, too. I guess I just like that sort of memorization based gameplay. I tend to like shooters like Gradius that make you memorize levels, too.

What happens if I use a self-looping .IT track as the music for a level? It'd be pretty cool if the level could go on forever.


...word is bondage...

#130144 - Dark Knight ez - Thu May 31, 2007 8:48 am

Ah, yes. Those changes were made to make it "playable" for most people. ;) I guess v1 had its charm. xD
The bonus level's insane would probably be undoable if not for those changes though. Even for the most skilled players.

Quote:
What happens if I use a self-looping .IT track as the music for a level? It'd be pretty cool if the level could go on forever.

I forgot if libmikmod handles looping of music okay. Anyway, a level couldn't go on forever... I haven't coded in a way for lane-parts to loop (infinitely). Would be pretty awkward anyway. xD
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AmplituDS website