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[PC-FX Discussion / Re: What PC-FX game are you currently playing?]

I've been playing Farland Story FX a bit, mostly because it's the only PC-FX game I have that doesn't require too deep of a knowledge of Japanese >_>
I wish I could play Albarea no Otome more

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Works In Progress: obeybrew.com and PC-FX homebrew! :)]

It wasn't just a Sega game I played it on Amiga and SNES too D:

[PC-FX Discussion / Re: Anyone care to comment in-depth on the PC-FX hardware design?]

Wow, thanks for the insightful post, trap15. I have a few of questions, if you don't mind.

Are the 7up chips the only ones that draw sprites?  
Do the 7up chips have the same color palette limitations as the PCE?
Is it possible to freely layer the 7up planes/sprites and the KING planes in any way you like, or are there priority restrictions?
How can the MPEG layer be integrated into a real game?

Also, I think the commonly assumed number of planes that the Saturn's VDP2 can generate is five. I wouldn't be surprised if that's a mistake; after all, there are people who think that the PCE has dual CPUs and that the Sega CD can do HAM like the Amiga. However, I think that five was the number that Sega themselves put out. Have you verified it personally to be four (or trusted someone else who has)?

Yes, only the 7up chips can draw sprites.
Each 7up can output 15 color sprites (0 is transparent, obviously), and 16 color backgrounds, but you get to have very very wide spectrum of colors. You can "chain" the 7ups to make them output 240 color sprites and a 256 color background, but you lose having 128 sprites, and you go back to 64.
Each 7up creates a single plane for mixing (which is the sprites behind/in front of the background), which can be layered in any order around KING, though you cannot put the sprites behind a KING bg without it also being behind that 7up's bg.
MJPEG layer can be used for FMVs, or in a ridiculous fashion like the guys above were talking about.
Now that I think about it, I believe you are correct about the Saturn generating 5 layers. I'm not sure, so don't trust that quote (but the rest should be fairly accurate).

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Works In Progress: obeybrew.com and PC-FX homebrew! :)]

Those are PCE chips, not PC-FX :p
Though I think they have great taste in soda/pop/cold drinks/soft drinks/cokes!

[PC-FX Discussion / Re: Anyone care to comment in-depth on the PC-FX hardware design?]

For what it's worth, since I'm aware of the hardware behind Saturn, PC-FX, and to a lesser extent PSX, I'll help clear some stuff up.

First off, Saturn's dual SH-2s blow the PC-FX's V810 away. Even one of the SH-2s out-performs the PC-FX's CPU. PSX's MIPS is also faster than the PC-FX's V810. The V810 is just not that fast of a CPU, unfortunately (though in my professional opinion, it's probably more fun to program V810 assembly than SH-2 and MIPS).

The PC-FX has 4 backgrounds on one of the video chips (KING), of which a single background can rotate/scale. These backgrounds are fairly powerful though; they can do all sorts of neat video modes per-background, which is interesting to play with. It has 2 more backgrounds, each one generated by a 7up (the same video chip that was in the PCE), which don't really have anything special. Those chips together also can generate a total of 128 sprites, 32 per scanline. And then we have 1 more background, which comes from the MJPEG decoder, which is actually where the PC-FX beat out all the other consoles of the generation. The PC-FX's MJPEG decoder can play JPEG video streams along with Redbook audio at a very pleasant 30 fps.
On the other hand, you've got Saturn with a full 3D renderer, and 4 background layers, 2 of which can rotate/scale. The 3D renderer gives it a nearly unlimited sprite count, and "virtual" backgrounds, without any per-scanline limitations. It lacks an MJPEG decoder, though I believe it has some sort of hardware acceleration for FMV, but it does not run at a consistant 30 fps, in any case.

The PC-FX's audio chip, SoundBox, is basically the sound chip from the PCE with 2 stereo ADPCM channels, and the ability to stream redbook audio. It's very not-fancy, though it certainly gets the job done.
The Saturn has a whole processor dedicated to handling any sound tasks, has 3 timers, a DMA channel, a full Yamaha FM sound generator, MIDI input support (not the general MIDI soundfont, it's a way to control the sound channels), and a total of 32 sound channels (which can be mixed and matched between FM and PCM) with a DSP that can apply 16 different effects.

In essence, the PC-FX was rather low-power for the time, however if they had actually released it with the 3D chip that was on their PC-FXGA boards, it might have stood a chance (the fill-rate, though slower than the Saturn even, was not too bad).

Also, I fully expect us homebrewers to be able to unlock the full power of this device; it's basically a PC-Engine on super-steroids, though we rarely saw anything that was even as good as most PCE software.

I've asked before, and I'll ask again. Someone port Doom to the FX.  Sure Doom is on everything known to man, but the FX needs it.  Also the PS1 and Saturn Doom ports are terrible, a good 32-bit console port needs to be made!  DO IT!

Haha, I'm sorry, that will probably never happen. The PC-FX just doesn't have the sprite power to do it unfortunately.

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Works In Progress: obeybrew.com and PC-FX homebrew! :)]

I think this is wonderful, though it does worry me. The hobbyist niche for the FX is even smaller than the PCE. If this pulls work away from the PCE scene it means less fun for me. I don't need ANOTHER niche system in my house.

On another note, all of the SCSI and DMA code has been pushed up, so everyone can get their fill of seeing 1 more partly nude image on their PC-FX :V

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Works In Progress: obeybrew.com and PC-FX homebrew! :)]

Ok... It's done. SCSI now works perfect in Mednafen and on a real PC-FX.

My head hurts... 

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Works In Progress: obeybrew.com and PC-FX homebrew! :)]

This just in: CD reading works!

Currently VERY low level, but it works! And it only took me an all-nighter and another half of a day to work out about 5 typos that kept killing it

EDIT: And the CD reading only works in Mednafen (and probably other emulators) I'm attempting to get it to work on a real PC-FX now.

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Works In Progress: obeybrew.com and PC-FX homebrew! :)]

I wouldn't say crazy; I think passionate is a better word

liberis should be usable already for the most part, aside from the things Old Rover has already mentioned (7up interface being very low-level, currently no real SCSI code, etc.), and I was working on a game until I ran up against issues with GCC that drove me a bit mad

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Works In Progress: obeybrew.com and PC-FX homebrew! :)]

The SCSI code has just been adapted, and I'm working on testing it out and whatever now.

I guess I should have posted about my library earlier; I thought no one would have cared!

[PC-FX Discussion / Re: "The PC-FX: A Devotional Film" (Dec, 2009)]

A masterpiece! 
Now whenever I hear that song, all I can think of is PC-FX