FLI/FLC player for hi res Intros/Cutscenes in homebrew games

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FLI/FLC player for hi res Intros/Cutscenes in homebrew games

Post by Christuserloeser »

Ever since I first played Beats of Rage with its impressive GIF based intros and cutscenes, I couldn't help but think of the FLIC file format from the early 90s MS-DOS era. Basically it's a lot like an animated GIF but less restrictive in its color palette. CPU usage is VERY low from what remember (and read). Should be the perfect choice for video in homebrew games (if played simultaneously with an audio file).

Some links:
http://www.compuphase.com/flic.htm
http://www.drdobbs.com/windows/the-flic ... /184408954
http://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php?title=Flic_Video

Video Sample:

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Re: FLI/FLC player for hi res Intros/Cutscenes in homebrew g

Post by Christuserloeser »

Sample fli/flc files can be found here: http://samples.mplayerhq.hu/fli-flc/
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Re: FLI/FLC player for hi res Intros/Cutscenes in homebrew g

Post by |darc| »

Not sure if this was the format they used, but that sample video reminds me of MegaRace for DOS... loved that game :P
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Re: FLI/FLC player for hi res Intros/Cutscenes in homebrew g

Post by Christuserloeser »

Don't think so. One of the advantages of FLI/FLC is that there's zero compression artefacts but MegaRace sure has those judging by the YT footage I've seen.
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Re: FLI/FLC player for hi res Intros/Cutscenes in homebrew g

Post by |darc| »

Christuserloeser wrote:Don't think so. One of the advantages of FLI/FLC is that there's zero compression artefacts but MegaRace sure has those judging by the YT footage I've seen.
I don't remember there being video compression artifacts, I do remember it not looking that great because of the limited colors though.

I put the disc in and there are two FLI files on it, but they're just short little animations; all the video is in a large DAT file that I couldn't get to play in any video player.
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Re: FLI/FLC player for hi res Intros/Cutscenes in homebrew g

Post by DaMadFiddler »

It'd have to be pretty easy on system resources if it was developed for early 90s PC games. Your high-end processors were the Intel 80386 (for IBM clones... yes, back when they were still sort-of thought of as IBM clones) and the Motorola 68030 and 68040 (for Macs), both in the 20-50 MHz range.

I'd imagine the trade-off probably comes in the form of file size, but I can't remember the last time a DC homebrew title even came close to filling the disc.

The other thing that would be important for making this useful is a codec or conversion tool for Windows/OSX so that developers can easily get their content into the format.
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Re: FLI/FLC player for hi res Intros/Cutscenes in homebrew g

Post by Christuserloeser »

Yeah, exactly. I had a 386 with 33 MHz at the time.
|darc| wrote:I don't remember there being video compression artifacts, I do remember it not looking that great because of the limited colors though.
Later revisions of the codec allowed 32.000 RGB colors so I don't think this is a problem anymore.

DaMadFiddler wrote:I'd imagine the trade-off probably comes in the form of file size, but I can't remember the last time a DC homebrew title even came close to filling the disc.
Despite being uncompressed it is highly space effiecent in that it only stores the information that is updated from the previous frame. Much like SCUMMVM actually.
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Re: FLI/FLC player for hi res Intros/Cutscenes in homebrew g

Post by Christuserloeser »

Christuserloeser wrote:Ever since I first played Beats of Rage with its impressive GIF based intros and cutscenes, I couldn't help but think of the FLIC file format from the early 90s MS-DOS era. Basically it's a lot like an animated GIF but less restrictive in its color palette. CPU usage is VERY low from what remember (and read). Should be the perfect choice for video in homebrew games (if played simultaneously with an audio file).

Some links:
http://www.compuphase.com/flic.htm
http://www.drdobbs.com/windows/the-flic ... /184408954
http://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php?title=Flic_Video

Video Sample:

*bump* :)
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Re: FLI/FLC player for hi res Intros/Cutscenes in homebrew g

Post by PH3NOM »

640x480 video decoding is very hard to manage on DC.
I thing ROQ is the closest we will get to that resolution, checkout DreamROQ by Multi-Media Mike...
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Re: FLI/FLC player for hi res Intros/Cutscenes in homebrew g

Post by Christuserloeser »

Thanks for the reply. I will check out DreamROQ

but I ask you to take a quick look into the format I recommended here. It's made with 16-bit PCs in mind and works more like a GIF than a real fmv.
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Re: FLI/FLC player for hi res Intros/Cutscenes in homebrew games

Post by Ian Micheal »

Hi, There was a FLI lib ported to dreamcast just for that I still have the src. I only ,helped compile it. here is the readme.


I - Feature

this lib work 4 KOS-1.1.7 or (greater)
and can read the video format FLI / MPEG 1 & 2 / PSS (Playstation 2 format) on DreamCast.
Now you can add some FMV to your game

FLIC :
use a resol 320x240 or 640x480 (a bit slow)

MPEG :
use a resol 320x240 (a bit slow)
no sound suport yet ... sorry
encode your video with :
Profile & level : MP@ML
Stream type : System or Video (ES)
YUV format : 4:2:0
Bitrate : <= 700
PSS :
PSS interleave an M2V and ADS sound , you can found around the web
some tool for encoding pss file.
use a resol 320x240

I have tested it years ago.
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