I know how to write games using DirectX and C++, and I was wondering how I could get started writing Playstation games, perhaps maybe porting a game I wrote for DirectX or something like that. What do I need? Is it more difficult than writing DirectX games? Is it possible that when I burn a completed game to CD it would run on Bleem?

Developing for the playstation is complex unless you have Sony''s or another ''licensed'' development kit. There are ways you can do it..... at the moment It usually involves........

You need a library to do the graphics work (for DC, not sure about PSX) etc...
Make a patch cable so you can communicate with the playstation as you develop the game/program.

Dreamcast is much simpler (still a pain in the ass).

In any case, you will usually end up having to use free tools. (and NO this IS NOT ILLEGAL).

Assembler knowledge is helpful.

I didnt ever mess with the PSX much(usually DC) but here are some links

http://dev.paradogs.com/
http://home.hiwaay.net/~jfrohwei/psx/other.html
http://www.anarchists.co.uk/ - PSX DEVELOPMENT
http://www.hitmen-console.org

Check the link pages in the different sites....... you should find some good info.

If you have the money then you can go all professional and license the SDK from Sony. Otherwise you will have to stick to the supposed underground, and free hacks etc...

For the PSX, I think you have to convert the executable (graphics, sound etc.) to Sony''s format, in which case there are tools available.

PSX2, I read somewhere that most PSX2 development takes place on a Linux box...... don''t quote me on it though.

To other users and the moderator(s)....

This is NOT ILLEGAL, it''s freely available and doesnt violate any agreement or copyright. That I or anyone else know of.
The tools that I have used and have seen are NOT pirated copies of any commercial software etc.. All tools have been developed by home users/reversers and the like.
So, in short DONT FLAME ME for passing along information.

It''s NOT illegal? Could have sworn it was. But then again, I don''t know where I got that idea, really.

You have to make the serial cable, eh? Like the one you use with a Gameshark when hacking with your PC? How do you make that?

What about Playstation''s black CDs? Will silver CD-Rs play just like the black ones?

So long as the CDs aren''t too transparent, the CD colour is irrelevant (on the original PSX at least). The only reason home-burnt CDs donn''t work is because the territory information that is on every CD doesn''t copy. What the mod chips that let you play copied games are intended for (supposedly) is to let you play imported games, so they bypass the territory information. Umm... in short, you don''t need black CDs If your home-cooked CDs don''t seem to be working, it might be a good idea to cover the back with a CD label so the laser read head doesn''t mess up.

Harry.

The black cd''s are used to prevent people from seeing the "burn" marks where the disc has bad sectors. The Playstation looks for these bad sectors, and if it doesn''t find them it doesn''t run the disc. Normal cd-burners can''t burn bad sectors, if they see them they just ignore them, this is why you can''t burn a playstation game without a mod chip.

Sony designed cd-burners that do burn the bad sectors, to release to people that are developing games. It is a method of antipiracy.. albeit a crappy one (how many mod chips are on the market now?)

No, really... it''s just territory information, that''s why the mod chips let you play imports. Well maybe there are different kinds of mod chips, and some don''t do anything with the territory information (maybe just for backups).

Harry.

The MOD chips just fool the system into booting up any CD. There are different types of MOD chip because the software manufactureres got wise and created games that could detect a MOD chip and failed to load, so people created stealth MOD chips and so on.

The thing to be careful about when burning CD''s for playstation development is the thickness of the CD. A lot of playstation consoles are very temperamental about the type of disc used, and if the disc is too far off the normal thickness you will get problems, mostly with FMV skipping.

Development is pretty easy, you can use assembler, or C (or whatever compiler you can get, there is a BASIC interpretor available). You can then run this on a PSX emulator, or burn onto CD''s, or run through an Action Replay cartridge flashed with caetla or similar.

There''s an enourmous quantity of information about PSX development on the net, so it shouldn''t be too hard to get started. The most difficult bit is getting your hardware together.

Check this address
http://www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown/2004/psx/ny_e.htm#devenv

also in www.mamma.com search for playstation programming

note the PSX 2 uses OpenGL for graphics i don''t know is PSX uses it.

I was told on a post of mine in one of these forums that Playstation is not a true-3d console, so it is pretty unlikely that it uses OpenGL or anything. This is kind of hard for me to swallow, when I think about it-- How did they make games like Final Fantasy 8 without a 3d API?

This doesn''t have anything to do with the subject, but I''m not sure if Nintendo 64 is or is not true-3d, either. Almost everything is converted to 2d sprites, but then again, those sprites are placed in a 3d matrix. The engine obviously is not that powerful (comparably), since many of the models don''t have many angles. Yes, I am stumped on how this console works.

Then playstation does not use OpenGL. OpenGL is not the only graphics API you know. Sony has it''s own API which you can use, and it is 3D, or you can always write direct to the hardware. Since all playstations are exactly the same it''s not really difficult.

What do you class as true-3D anyway? What on earth is false-3D?