Quake Dev mod on DC limitations

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Hilltopper
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Quake Dev mod on DC limitations

Post by Hilltopper »

I was wondering if there was an info list on RADQuakes limitations concerning mods.

Here are some questions that I have.

What is that largest mod that can still fit in the DC's RAM?

Is there a limit on map or model sizes as far as MB or polys go?

Does RADQuake support any other sound playback besides WAV?

Any other info would be greatly appreciated.

I tried to search to find answers and didn't have much luck. I thought maybe a sticky with mod limitations would be helpful for new quake devvers. Thanks! :D
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Post by mankrip »

Hilltopper wrote:What is that largest mod that can still fit in the DC's RAM?

Is there a limit on map or model sizes as far as MB or polys go?
There's no size limit for the mods as a whole. The RAM usage depends mainly on how many files are loaded at once, and on the size of the individual files. IIRC QuakeDC can't load maps bigger than 2.1 MB, and RADQuake Finito can load maps up to 4 MB.

The best way to ensure that the engine won't run out of memory in a mod is to test it on the PC using the same amount of heap memory that's used in the DC. HexQuake/QuakeDC has 9.1 MB of heap memory, and RADQuake Finito has 10 MB.

To define the amount of heap memory you must add this to the commandline:
-heapsize 9216 (which means 9 MB of heap memory)

I'm not sure about the polygons, but there are some models out there with about 2000 polygons, so it isn't a problem.
Hilltopper wrote:Does RADQuake support any other sound playback besides WAV?
No. By the way you can edit the WAV files to make them loop.
Hilltopper wrote:I thought maybe a sticky with mod limitations would be helpful for new quake devvers.
There's one or two here, but they aren't updated and doesn't contain all the info available in the topics... :oops:
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Post by Hilltopper »

Thanks for the info Fragger. I knew about the wav looping thing, I was just looking for ways to cut memory corners, as wav files can get large quick. The heapsize info is what I was unsure about.

About the poly count thing. How many polys can Finito or QuakeDC push while still maintaining a decent FPS. I would only need around a 10-15 FPS, since the mod I am working on is a topdown RPG. Thanks for the reply.
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Post by Tyne »

Envenom uses the highest polygon count to date, Corporal is always on screen weighing in at 1684 polys and soldiers are 1300 polys.
1684 + 1234 polys = 2918 polygons.

Then you have geometry, particle effects and so on.
Envenom is roughly 3500 polygons per scene, so yeah... go nuts :)
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Post by Hilltopper »

cool, I guess I can go ahead and tell what I am doing even though there is not much done yet. My brother and I are remaking the NES action/rpg Radia Senki (Trans to ENG: Chronicle of the Radia War). We are trying to keep the 8bit feel of the original game, so do not expect modern graphics, but it will look nice and clean. Do not expect any sort of release until at least January, but I may start to show some screensots in mid to late december.
(tentative schedule, subject to drastic change based on real life events and the fact that I do not live with my brother)
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Post by Tyne »

New information found reguarding sprites, the Quake Engine, and Dreamcast itself.

Awhile ago I was having problems getting Envenom to load on Dreamcast, and now recently TAoV; basically you have to be careful with sprite usage as opposed to .mdl's, RADQuake/QuakeDC or any other Dreamcast Quake engine can load up any model I've thrown at it fine. Sprites however are a completely different story.. when using .spr files ALWAYS make sure their image size is multiples of 2, or else you can expect your Dreamcast to freeze on loading the map .. I'm guessing the Dreamcast/Power VR 2DC/whatever doesn't like odd sprite dimension sizes. 19x33 would cause it to crash for example, yet 20x34 would most likely be fine.

I've actually known of this for awhile but I wanted to confirm it before posting this information!

This will also help out mods that never worked on Dreamcast from Day 1 with this new information!

[Edit] It may not actually be the odd sprite dimensions that are causing problems and it may possibly be the compiler were forced to use which has several oddities with floating point numbers, never the less stay safe with dimensions of multiples of 2.
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