Just a quick update on the dynarec status, as I know a lot of people are more interested in this than the grizly details of branch delay instructions

Last weekend (13/14 May) I managed to assemble the fragment buffers into native x86 code, and execute this dynamically. I spent some time debating whether to target MIPS or Intel initially, but I decided that it would be a lot easier for me to debug the code generation on the PC than it would be to debug code gen on the PSP.

In the end I'm glad I started with the PC as it allowed me to fix a number of hairy problems without going down the torturous path of debugging self modifying code on the PSP with just a few printf() statements to help track down any problems.

With this version of the dynarec, 200KB of N64 code was now generating just 2MB of x86 assembly (i.e. an expansion ratio of around 1000%). The PC version was running around 60% faster with dynarec enabled than with it disabled, which is a pretty significant speedup (although this is still very early in the process).

What's also important is that this is before I've done any real optimisation of the generated code. For each instruction I'm still calling the generic instruction handler which has the overhead of figuring out which source registers to use, which register is the destination etc. The *real* speedup comes from generating code to handle op codes explicitly, as you remove all this decoding overhead along with the overhead of jumping to another function. Once you've removed most of the generic instruction handling you can start looking at caching register values to minimise the amount of memory that's being moved around.

With the PC version up and running fairly successfully, I've spent this weekend getting the PSP code generation working. I don't want to go into too many details (as I want to go into more depth in future posts), but I know people are keen to hear some news about how this is going.

I got the basic code generation working on Saturday morning (thankfully I'd already resolved most of the tricky issues in developing the x86 version the previous weekend). I spent most of Saturday afternoon fixing some really horrible instruction cache related bugs. I'm still not 100% sure I've fixed them, but it seems very stable at the moment. At the moment I'm at the same stage with the PSP version of the dynarec that I was with the PC version last weekend - the code generation is running fine (and executing on the PSP without crashing more importantly but I've only just started looking at optimising things. It's still too early to speculate on numbers for the performance improvement it will give. Currently it's running around 10% faster with dynarec enabled, but it's still very early days.

More soon.

-StrmnNrmn

Jackass: The Game, previewed at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles earlier this month, lets players perform stunts similar to those in the TV series, which have involved riding in shopping trolleys and the "Human Wrecking Ball".

The game is due out in November for a handheld and a home console – possibly the PlayStation and the PlayStation Portable, though Sidhe will not confirm this.

Mr Wynands expects to do even better with Jackass, a TV series that's almost a cultural phenomenon with young males in North America, where it still pulls in viewers four years after the last series was filmed.

Jackass was a magnet for both viewers and controversy during its three-year run on US-cable network MTV. Though it wrapped up in 2002 it has been kept alive in reruns, including on New Zealand's C4 music station.

AdvertisementAdvertisementCritics blamed the show for encouraging young people to participate in dangerous stunts, especially as it grew in popularity.

A Jackass movie was released in 2002 containing stunts and uncensored clips that weren't allowed on TV. It cost $US5 million to make and earned more than $US60 million in North America alone.

"We're trying to create a game that's true to the licence," says Mr Wynands, who says he's a fan of the show's stunts. "They involve a certain amount of physical endangerment, but nobody's head is going to get blown off with a shotgun. Jackass isn't about that."

Jackass director Jeff Tremaine is helping to design the game. So far the game's virtual stunts include rolling down a hill in a garbage can trying to avoid traffic and driving bumper cars on top of a skyscraper. Others are titled Bus Surfing, Grenade Golf, and Extreme Unicycling.

There'll also be a "director mode", letting players save their stunts and replay them with several camera angles and trade them with friends.

ARComics, Inc. continues to retool their vision/version of what a digital comic book could be with input from the visitors to the site. The site currently has several short animated Macromedia Flash teasers available (as well as artwork and information on various properties) that will give you an idea of the type of content being developed. Be sure to check out the latest release: THE FRONTEERS, to see the evolution of the ARComics digital animated episode on the Sony PSP.

ARComics sees the PSP screen size, Internet/network connectivity, commercial success and target demographic as a perfect venue to bring an entertaining means of reading to a new generation by blending technology with art and storytelling.

The ARComics.com version of the digital comic book is certain to stand apart.

Also note, the ARComics.com is looking for assistance from the comic book, technical, art and videogame communities to showcase up and coming pencilers, inkers, colorists and flash animators (the potential to have your work seen is enormous).

Installing, place the select folder in ms0:/psp/system folder and edit the eloader config file to point to the select pbp file

ms0:/psp/system/select/eboot.pbp

Current BUILD still being tested.

NEXT...
Keyboard for renaming files & folders
Fillter effects for backdrops
Drag & Drop moving of files