Hi, this is certainly a newbe question but here it is: I want to start programming for the Playstation (1 or 2) but I can't find any kick-off info on the net. Metrowerks site is down and Sony's Net Yaroze scheme has just closed. Is C the language of choice for Playstation programming? Where can I find examles of Playstation game code? Is it possible to make a playstation CD on my own CD engraver with my own game on it? Thanks for your help, I am a bit lost. Edited by - Keermalec on 5/20/00 9:27:30 AM

Yes, the Net Yaroze project is down, probably for good. C is the choice for playstation games, though some developers do it with C++. No you cannot make a playstation game in your own burner, you have to buy a development kit from Sony, it has the proper compilers on it and somethings. As you know, playstation disks are black on the underside, while PC disks are silver (thought the Official Playstation Magazine seems to think they are blue for PSX and gold for PC). This color difference is for security reasons, so you don''t play pirated games on your PSX. If you want to make Playstation 1 games, after buying the development kit you will still need a high powerd SGI system or workstation to make the games. If you want to make PS2 games, all you need is the Devel. Kit, it has all the hardware since the ps2''s hardware is so unique. But, the ps2 is hard to code for (or so I here, I can''t even code text based games yet) if you''re going to do it alone. But, if you''re willing to spend a little more money you could enroll in their middleware program that should have most of the engines already coded for you. I think the devel. kit cost US$15,000 (or is it $5,000). I have gleaned all of this info out of gaming magazines, so you should be able to find more detail online.

"YOU APES WANNA LIVE FOREVER?" Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
"Who wants to live forever?" Queen
"Never trust a bald barber" me
B^)

for playstation? if you want to get the fullest power, use assembly.

Actually, webspynner, I''ve known people to play CD''s burned with PC writers on Playstations. Yes, there was security.
Overridden with those chips or something.

I''m interested to know why you need an SGI workstation to create PS games though; I would have thought a less intense system would have done.

-Mezz

You can use burned CDs with the playstation. This is how many game companies do it. And you don''t need a high powered workstation. I went to a game company last summer, and they were using a regular CD-R drive to burn their test CDs (with mod-chipped playstations). Also, some of the programmer''s computers were pretty old, like Pentium 120s and such. They had a board in them that came with the PSX dev kit that was basically a playstation emulator card to debug the games on. All the development computer needs to do is compile and debug, which doesn''t require much with the emulator card. It''s the graphics and 3d modellers that require hotrod computers for the most part...

Last I heard, PS2 development kits costed $2 million. Also, I heard that Sony charged very high licensing fees.

Shinryuu64
Solenoid Software Interactive
http://solenoid.50megs.com
shinryu64@kiss-my.as

There is a way that you can modify a standard playstation
so that you can program games for it .

Not Yaroze Playstation Development
http://www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown/2004/psx/ny_e.htm




IF THE BOMB'S NOT BROKE DON'T FIX IT

Edited by - the dictator on May 21, 2000 9:56:59 PM

i thinked that the games companys uses the blue psx that can run gold cds

Actually the black/blue color has absolutely nothing to do with security. It just makes the cd''s look cool. My friend copeis psx games, the trick they use to make the copies not run on reagual non mod chip psx stations is that the blue/black cds have been purpusely written with bad sectors in them. That is how the psx knows that the cd is an authentic, store bought and payed for cd.

When you copy the game, the cd burner will not let you write garbage sectors. Thats why you get errors copying those disks. All that the mod chip does is trick the playstation into thinking that there are bad sectors.

OneEyeLessThanNone

Metal Gear Solid had had to be the best psx game I ever played, too bad it only lasted for 10hours.

quote: Original post by OneEyeLessThanNone

Actually the black/blue color has absolutely nothing to do with security. It just makes the cd's look cool.

That much is true, at least.

quote: My friend copeis psx games

The less said the better, I think.

quote: the trick they use to make the copies not run on reagual non mod chip psx stations is that the blue/black cds have been purpusely written with bad sectors in them. That is how the psx knows that the cd is an authentic, store bought and payed for cd.

No, it's not. PS CDs are standard ISO9600 (or whatever - it's too damn early in the morning to remember numbers). Same as PCs. The difference is that PS CDs use a few sectors at the start of the disc, which isn't part of the ISO format, and so isn't read by CDROM drives. This area contains region info, etc. A normal PS checks for this, doesn't find it, and so might do anything from think it's an audio CD, to think there's no CD in it at all.

quote: When you copy the game, the cd burner will not let you write garbage sectors. Thats why you get errors copying those disks. All that the mod chip does is trick the playstation into thinking that there are bad sectors.

Actually, it's easy to write 'bad' sectors. My HP writer is happy to oblige, anyway. Most CDROM drives won't /read/ bad sectors, though, which is a different problem. As it happens, I've got a drive which is particularly good at reading so-called bad sectors, too. Aren't I a lucky bunny?

All the mod chip does, in fact, is get in the way of the PS interrogating the CD. It lies to it, in fact, so that the PS thinks it's a proper (ie black) CD.

Out of interest, do you want to know who first chipped a PS? Tough, I'm going to tell you anyway: Sony.

Yup, Sony invented chipping on the PS. So that developers can, as someone else said, use gold CDs burned on a dev kit/other PC in a normal PS, for testing, without paying a fortune to get a proper PS CD duplicated.


TheTwistedOne
http://www.angrycake.com

Edited by - TheTwistedOne on May 22, 2000 3:58:52 AM