Messages

[General Gaming / Gear VR Appreication Thread - Holodeck in your face!]

Back in 1991, Sega announced "Sega VR" which was going to be the start of the consumer boom of VR technology.......other companies cashed in on the VR craze of the early 90's, but ultimately failed in the consumer space due to fact that VR failed on its promise to "transport you into another world" due to technological limitations and the rise of the Internet.

Now, it's 2015 and VR is finally making a comeback – the long-awaited consumer Oculus Rift (hopefully!) will be released this year, Sony and Microsoft will also most likely release helmets for the PS4 and Xbox One this year, Google Cardboard, Samsung Gear VR and Oculus Rift DK2 are out now, and even more HMDs (Head Mounted Displays) were announced/shown at CES 2015.  Now that technology has caught up with the original promise of VR (to transport us to other realistic worlds/new experiences), the limit is now our imagination.

Now that I got the intro out of the way, this thread is about VR experiences – specifically on the Samsung Gear VR!  I just received mine on 1/12/15 and after waiting 20 years for VR to return, I'm happy to say that it is even more amazing now than it was back in the day.  For those who don't know, the Gear VR uses the Note 4 for display and audio, and has additional sensors/hardware in the HMD (Head Mounted Display) for extremely accurate head tracking.  Also included in the HMD is a touch pad for additional navigation and a sensor that knows when you are wearing the device to turn on the display.

The magic of effective VR is that it will make you think you are actually in another place (called "presence") - just watch this video of a guy who had his co-workers try out his Gear VR for the first time:

There are many other videos out there of people trying out the Gear VR and/or Oculus Rift with equal if not more intense reactions!

Just some of the "experiences" I've had with Gear VR:
- Flying suspended below a helicopter with a 360 degree view of the lush landscapes of Iceland
- Watching a movie from the surface of the moon

- Swimming with an array of 3D futuristic marine life:

- Being transported thousands of miles above the Earth and then sitting center stage in a Cirque du Soleil performance:

It may not seem like much from a screenshot or YouTube video, but when you actually experience the feeling of "being there" it suddenly takes on an entirely new meaning.  There are also many game demos currently available as well that are being made or ported from the Rift for the Gear VR which I'll be trying out very soon - but so far I'm loving the experience and can see myself spending a lot of time in this new world......

[PC/Console/Mobile Ports / Re: "Lords of Thunder: PC" (Updated 1/11/14 - v.001 released)]

UPDATE 1.10.14: Starting from scratch...release .001
DOWNLOAD: 1drv.ms/17w42s1

Since I'm pretty much starting over with this, I went ahead and started re-sourcing the sprites in higher native resolutions, starting with the title screen.  This first release is just the title screen background with proper parallax (nothing else).

[PC/Console/Mobile Ports / Re: "Lords of Thunder: The Return of Landis" (status: v0.3 released)]

Hehe............I better not peruse any more interests, otherwise I won't get any of them done!

[PC/Console/Mobile Ports / Re: "Lords of Thunder: The Return of Landis" (status: v0.3 released)]

Still have the source files/assets and decided to see if I could re-create what I had made back in 2009, but better.  Not promising how far I'll get with this but we'll see.

Loaded the title screen....looks like it works

/2ykiexk.jpg

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: 3D Printed HuCard Case (UPDATED 1/7/15)]

Awesome Aaron, have you considered other PCE related products? Hucard doors for Duo systems or TE battery covers?

I think jelloslug gots those fine tuned, even turbo everdrive covers....if he ever gets around to selling us any

Yes, exactly.  He was working on those and I believe has those pretty much done.  I don't have the 3D modeling skills to make those as good as he did but the HuCard case was within my ability and is still what I plan on making available.

Well were all waiting to give you our money once these are ready!

Thanks cjameslv!  Believe me, I want to make this available ASAP.....just takes a lot of testing/printing/iterations which in turn takes time....

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: 3D Printed HuCard Case (UPDATED 1/7/15)]

Awesome Aaron, have you considered other PCE related products? Hucard doors for Duo systems or TE battery covers?

I think jelloslug gots those fine tuned, even turbo everdrive covers....if he ever gets around to selling us any

Yes, exactly.  He was working on those and I believe has those pretty much done.  I don't have the 3D modeling skills to make those as good as he did but the HuCard case was within my ability and is still what I plan on making available.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: 3D Printed HuCard Case (PROGRESS UPDATED 12/12)]

UPDATE 1/7/15: Just waiting for my new 3D printer to arrive...once put together and configured, I'll then be able to re-print the case and do any re-tweaking to the design (if needed) before going into full production.

[General Gaming / Re: Sega Saturn Blu-ray art]

I never understood why covers over at coverproject were done in DVD cases and whatnot....it's personally not appealing to me but I can get behind Saturn in Bluray cases ;)

[General Gaming / Re: Your Daily Dose of Gaming.]

Crazy....my first post to this thread was 10 years ago!

I'm deep into Dragon Age Inquisition on Xbox One (80hrs so far) and loving it.

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Esperknight and Filler's PC-FX Translation Projects]

Really great news!  Glad to see translation work is still going on.  I'm very much awaiting the day I can play TI in English!

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Your new TG16/CD collection purchases for the month?]

Damn indeed. 

Where'd the Shadow of the Beast poster originally come from?  A magazine fold out perhaps?

It may have been - unfortunately I don't have the history on where it came from.

What is the sign made of? Damn!

The sign is combination of rigid cardboard and some sort of plastic coating on the logo side.  It is really strong whatever it is, and it shows as it is still in really good shape after all this time.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Your new TG16/CD collection purchases for the month?]

That's a 6 foot TurboGrafx 16 sign - this was most likely hung inside a Software ETC or Babbages back in the day.

From the left: 2 TurboDuo extension cables, TurboGrafx secrets book, 3 JPN HuCards, Club Turbo/TurboGrafx Product Line/TurboGear pamphlets, a TG-16 and TG-CD manuals, over a dozen issues of TurboPlay/DuoWorld/TurboForce mags, and a poster from Shadow of the Beast.

Don't ask what I had to do to get these. ;)

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: 3D Printed HuCard Case (PROGRESS UPDATED 12/12)]

If you are shopping for printers stay away from the Makerbot Z18.  I have had nothing but trouble out of ours.

I've stayed away from Makerbot since the beginning.  They never appealed to me due to being way overpriced compared to everyone else for the build quality you get.

I wanted a no frills, all quality 3D printer for my 2nd time around so it was a tie between the LulzBot TAZ 4 and Makergear M2 (both highly rated and have large build plates).  Decided on the Makergear M2.

If anyone is wondering on what the current best 3D printers out there are, check out the 2015 3D Printer Guide by 3D Hubs which just recently came out: http://www.3dhubs.com/best-3d-printer-guide

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: 3D Printed HuCard Case (PROGRESS UPDATED 11/18)]

Update 12/12/14:

Well I had hoped to take orders before the holiday but looks like this won't happen for multiple reasons:

- I will be purchasing a 2nd 3D printer in the next few weeks which will not only be at least 2x faster, but will also give me better print quality.
- I will be on vacation starting the 23rd, so nothing will be printed till after the 6th anyway.

Once I get the new 3D printer, I'll evaluate the print of the case, make any tweaks (if needed) and start printing cases en masse, which at that time ordering details will be provided.

[News / Re: 09.01.14 - Announcing mega-redesign of pcengine-fx.com]

Curious why The Addams Family title screen needs to be a separate video from intro and gameplay. Shouldn't intro be it's own video? The loading screen should be its own video as well. Also each room in the level should be its own video. The level should be assembled by clickable annotations.

Addams Family only got it's own title video because of the music.  In my book, if the title screen has any type of looping music or animation it will get its own vid to show that off.

[News / Re: 09.01.14 - Announcing mega-redesign of pcengine-fx.com]

BTW, if you really want to see how I'm progressing on the remake, follow the new PCENGINEFX YouTube channel as I'm uploading videos for games as I add them to the site.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrrUmoS61-UPw-fDzSvnA4A

[News / Re: 09.01.14 - Announcing mega-redesign of pcengine-fx.com]

Looks like 60fps video now works in IE 11 (not sure about older versions).  60fps still not supported when video is embedded (yet).

[News / Re: 09.01.14 - Announcing mega-redesign of pcengine-fx.com]

Well, you don't have to do it right now (or ever).  I was just asking, man.

No problem NEC...  I actually can't do anything else with my HuCard case until my new filament comes in, so I can work on this now

[News / Re: 09.01.14 - Announcing mega-redesign of pcengine-fx.com]

Any chance of an update to the Turbo Legacy poster to include new homebrews? 

Sure - that's an easy change!

Any news on the poster update yet?  I gotta get one ordered soon for one lucky Santa.

OH, so you want that now.......ok - I'll look into it here in the next day or so.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: 3D Printed HuCard Case (PROGRESS UPDATED 11/18)]

So. Is this something where we combine this with a upper cd clear case? 

Exactly.  The only thing not included (obviously) will be the spine sticker.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: 3D Printed HuCard Case (PROGRESS UPDATED 11/18)]

Due to a color density issue with new spool of filament that just came in, pricing/bundle details will be delayed.  Can't estimate when this will be resolved at this time.....sorry guys...was hoping to start orders this week

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: PCE Memories "Turbo Duo Edition"]

Even the posters are made out of quality materials......they have a laminate on them which make them feel/appear glossy.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: YES!]

Hey reson8er - for future reference, please use a more descriptive title for your post then just "yes" so that people know what the thread is about - thanks!

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: PCE Memories "Turbo Duo Edition"]

Aaron should have a cool photo spread and/or review when the new version of the site goes up. I am looking forward to receiving mine as well. Glad they made them harder to pass off as real while still keeping them looking awesome.

I got mine last week and yes they look awesome.  If you want photos, I'll put them up here instead of on the new site which won't be up till next year.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: 3D Printed HuCard Case (in progress)]

Jackie Chan finally has a proper home.

My 3D printed HuCard case is finally done.  Will be posting up ordering details most likely this week.

Congratulations!

Also, you're kidding about selling these, right? lol

Thanks, and no I was not kidding.

Mmm, that looks sexy.  How durable is the plastic compared to the originals, and does the plastic self-lubricate / outgas (causing label issues)?

The one you see in the photo has 10% infill, and even then it is pretty strong.  As long as there isn't a big hit on print time, I may increase this to 15-20% to give it even stronger internal support (will be trying this tonight).  Just don't go bending the thing on purpose and it should be perfectly fine sitting on your shelf.

As far as self-lubricate/outgassing, I would guess that 3D printed objects don't have this issue since they are not perfectly sealed  (someone else can chime in about outgassing with 3D printed objects - I don't know for sure).

I'm most likely going to offer the case in small quantity bundles to make it worth my while - stay tuned.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: 3D Printed HuCard Case (in progress)]

Jackie Chan finally has a proper home.




My 3D printed HuCard case is finally done.  Will be posting up ordering details most likely this week.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: 3D Printed HuCard Case (in progress)]

Just an FYI, those soiled paper towels were used to apply hairspray to my 3D printer build plate

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: 3D Printed HuCard Case (in progress)]

STILL tweaking/fixing fit issues with top case but am really close to finishing.  Modeled HuCard case arm and now in process of fitting both pieces.

Final print times:
HuCard Arm: ~10mins
HuCard Case: ~2h30mins

(below, using timer to alert me when prints are done)


The design of my case will be extremely close to the original, with minor differences to facilitate faster 3D printing.......more to come.....

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: 3D Printed HuCard Case (in progress)]

Not failure, but progress.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Anyone here have any original cover artwork?]

wow very cool,
I was actually thinking of doing the dragon slayer map but since you have an original I'll leave it to you,
Also for my cover project stuff I was looking for the lot cover like that since the original cover has too many logos on it
then i was going to put the title from the poster style on it (metal airbrush looking style) instead of the pixelated one thats on the original.

out of curiosity what are the sizes of those and what are they printed on?
thats just awesome that someone has these

So after NEC of Japan had these pieces drawn for them by the artists, they mastered them onto these original Fuji Pro Color film prints for both the JPN and US NEC/TTi marketing teams.  The Dragon Slayer map and Lords of Thunder prints are the largest in my collection (about 4x5 inches for the map).

I really should one day get all of these professionally framed....right now they are all in a zip lock bag

[News / Re: 09.01.14 - Announcing mega-redesign of pcengine-fx.com]

Now we'll all need the ROM for that so we can witness it on our Turbos.

WITNESS!........er...uhh......OBEY!
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=9B7A95AB8E342DC7!55143&authkey=!ALn_KfJClBxVfL0&ithint=file%2cpce

[News / Re: 09.01.14 - Announcing mega-redesign of pcengine-fx.com]

Just learned how to code my first PCE program...and with that, a little self promotion pre-hype

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: What PC-Engine Stuff did you get today?]

Just picked up these three mint w/spine Arcade Super CD-ROM2 games.  $20 for all.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: 3D Printed HuCard Case (in progress)]

Everything is fitting nicely now - current stage of modeling/print/fit-testing:

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: 3D Printed HuCard Case (in progress)]

I think the warping has been solved - ended up upping the build plate temp by 10 degrees C and last 2 prints not warping any longer.

Doing some final tweaks to the base model for exact sizing with the HuCard top case and adding a few more details to the design before moving on to finally modeling the area where the HuCard will sit.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Anyone here have any original cover artwork?]

Here is the original artwork for the Dungeon Slayer map.



One of these days I'll get these scanned in high-res for doing something fun with them....

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Your new TG16/CD collection purchases for the month?]

Local pickup.  $105 for all.  I'm pretty much only buying hardware these days.

Dude, that's a lot of money. I could have scanned the boxes for you (but I got rid of the cable package  eons ago).

Well, better now than later/never.  Prices will only keep going up and finding anything brand-new/sealed is a must get.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Your new TG16/CD collection purchases for the month?]

Local pickup.  $105 for all.  I'm pretty much only buying hardware these days.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Anyone here have any original cover artwork?]

I own a selection of original film transfers that Steve from TTi gave me before closing up shop.  These were used to create all of the print ads/manual/box/etc.  Here is LoT:

[News / Re: 09.01.14 - Announcing mega-redesign of pcengine-fx.com]

My point is that I can't have good 30fps and good 60fps in the same file. On Game Sack I show the full beam at 30fps and there is none of that annoying flashing back and forth nonsense. At 60fps there is no option for this for the 30fps default view.

Right, that's correct.......either you can have good 30fps or you can have good 60fps (not both right now at least).  I'm hope Google will tweak playback further, but only time will tell.  For my stuff however, I'm going for archival/future-proof quality so will be capturing everything at 1080p/60.

I think the best strategy is to future-proof, despite the current problems. Heck, we don't know how much extra time it will buy, but the fact that Google already supports it is reason enough. 2 years from now you will be happy you don't have to upload everything again.

I understand Joe's stance, and I know he wants to deliver the best possible experience to viewers now (5:17 am November 8, 2014). But a year from now? Folks are still going to be watching all of this content (SameGack, pcefxTV).

Well personally I don't think there is any rush to *really* future-proof the videos (even though I am)....YouTube still supports playback in sub-480p resolutions which they will probably do forever...

Since I'm making a new channel and uploading newly-captured videos it makes sense for me because I really don't want to have to re-upload all of this stuff again   I'm sure GameSack and my old stuff will be fine (unless the apocalypse comes).

[News / Re: 09.01.14 - Announcing mega-redesign of pcengine-fx.com]

My point is that I can't have good 30fps and good 60fps in the same file. On Game Sack I show the full beam at 30fps and there is none of that annoying flashing back and forth nonsense. At 60fps there is no option for this for the 30fps default view.

Right, that's correct.......either you can have good 30fps or you can have good 60fps (not both right now at least).  I'm hope Google will tweak playback further, but only time will tell.  For my stuff however, I'm going for archival/future-proof quality so will be capturing everything at 1080p/60.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: New printed parts arrived today (duo door and everdrive case) update 11-7-14]

Hey jelloslug - I may have missed the answer to this question (if it was asked) but you're still doing fit testing with these parts correct?  Also, was this the reason you are ordering them in white?

The only one that I'm still developing is the DUO-R door, the others have been tested.  I order them in white because they have to be dyed to get the right color.  Shapeways dyes their parts that are not white so there is no reason to pay extra to have it done when I have to dye them myself.

Ah gotcha - cost cutting measure.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: 3D Printed HuCard Case (in progress)]

Small update - need to resolve issue with the print warping on the build plate.  The case has so much surface area that there are some warp issues on the thicker end of the model.  Nothing I've not already had experience with before.

Can you heat the chamber on your printer?

I have a heated build plate, but not a sealed chamber.  I just added the hollow rectangular sections to the spine area so I'm guessing that will fix the issue.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: New printed parts arrived today (duo door and everdrive case) update 11-7-14]

Hey jelloslug - I may have missed the answer to this question (if it was asked) but you're still doing fit testing with these parts correct?  Also, was this the reason you are ordering them in white?

[News / Re: 09.01.14 - Announcing mega-redesign of pcengine-fx.com]

Here's my first try at 60fps using real hardwarez:

Be sure to watch it in 30fps. This is how the majority of people would be seeing it. Even the stars scroll very jerkily (compared to a proper 30fps video). That's why I'll wait on 60fps until everything everywhere can view it fine.

Slight jerkiness aside with the stars, you can actually see the *entire* laser beam at 30fps in your video.  I checked out a few random Blazing Lazers 30fps captures from other people and when that weapon was used it only showed 1/2 of the laser graphic (which I feel looks much worse compared to slightly jerky stars).

I think all comparisons aside, nothing will look perfect at 30fps because the Turbo essentially runs at 60.  At least now we finally are getting the options to view at higher framerates.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: 3D Printed HuCard Case (in progress)]

Small update - need to resolve issue with the print warping on the build plate.  The case has so much surface area that there are some warp issues on the thicker end of the model.  Nothing I've not already had experience with before.

[News / Re: 09.01.14 - Announcing mega-redesign of pcengine-fx.com]

Is the glitch you were talking about that occasional stutter in the framerate? I hope Youtube improves this because if anyone watches in any other browser or at any other resolution or embeds it only half of the shield will appear, etc.

So the shield issue I would expect to happen at 30fps playback due to the frequency of the shield flicker....so at least to me I'd not really consider that to be a bug but the cost of viewing 60fps @ 30fps.  Since YT just recently rolled out 60fps playback, I'm sure they will make it available on other browsers/devices soon (I hope...)

The bug I was talking about you can see at 3:01.  Watch the mothership as it moves away and it will "pop" back for a frame or so.  60fps is really tricky to get right as it took me all last night of recording/encoding/uploading to fix the issue.

[News / Re: 09.01.14 - Announcing mega-redesign of pcengine-fx.com]

I discovered a glitch in the Gate of Thunder gameplay video (leaving it up for now), but I've fixed it for the rest of the videos (I also upped the maximum resolution to 1080p).  Remember to watch these using Chrome on YouTube's site to get the 720p/60 & 1080p/60 playback option.

Gate of Thunder (Intro)

Lords of Thunder (Intro)

Dungeon Explorer II (Intro)

[News / Re: 09.01.14 - Announcing mega-redesign of pcengine-fx.com]

beautiful... 60FPS really makes a difference!  How are you capturing the vid?  Emulator or capture card/dongle/etc... w/ real hardware?

I'd love to capture from real hardware (I just had my TurboDuo modded for component output) but unfortunately almost nothing supports capturing component @ 240p resolution, so I had to go the emulator route.  I turned off all that emulator smoothing crap and kept the raw sprite look and feel intact.  The fact that YouTube recently turned on 60fps was just an added bonus.

If anything, my video process method will not only show off the system's amazing animation, colors and sprites, but will also be "future-proofed" in a 720p/1080p video file.

[News / Re: 09.01.14 - Announcing mega-redesign of pcengine-fx.com]

I had previously mentioned that I'm re-capturing all media (screenshots & video) to give you guys the best quality possible...well, I'm ready to show it off now.

Presenting Gate of Thunder (stage 1) in YouTube 60FPS.  To watch in 60FPS, you MUST:

1. Click on the video link and watch directly from YouTube (60fps does not work in embedded YT videos...yet)
2. View the video using Chrome (for now) to change quality setting to 720p/60.

This will also be the official YouTube channel for all videos related to the new PCENGINEFX remake site.  Enjoy.