Project Artemis

[kh2k4]

:-) you said it, nice work Jimmi a massive step indeed.

I think you should get Berion to design the gui, he did the gui for the latest fmcb installer 1.8b and it looked great. Maybe get suloku on hand to handle the config / settings file side too.

[Lazy Bastard]

That would also be wonderful. I've been toying with the GUI, since no one else seems interested in doing it, but if someone else can do it better (and I'm sure someone can), I'd love the help.

[Berion]

Hi,

I could (try ;D) make it one with pleasure.

How many free space is avaible in VRAM? It's possible to use i.e. *.png or *.tim2 file format (4/8bit with 32bit clut or maybe "whole" 32bit)? You need only graphics or maybe sounds too?.

[kh2k4]

Edit: He beat me too it lol.

[Lazy Bastard]

Heh.

We're just talking about a boot GUI, so the sky's the limit as far as resources. The boot GUI will simply launch the next GUI, whether that's the remote debugger, the PS2-side hacking tool, or the cheat system. So for the boot GUI, we will just need something nice-looking, that will allow the user to choose codes to apply during gameplay (with file I/O for .txt code files), set a few options (to be defined later), and choose which system to launch. All that would be required for now is a skeleton GUI, that's simple enough to edit as we progress.

I don't think music will be required, but feel free to add some if your heart desires

Give me a sec, and I'll give some details...

[Lazy Bastard]

As for a background, I've attached the one we've started out with, which I think will be quite nice given the right buttons and text. I've also attached the splash screen on bootup, which ps2dragon designed for us.

As for the layout of the menu system, here's a snippet from the Project Artemis specs:

[Start Game]
[Options]


---[Start Game] will consist of the following sub-choices:

------[Start Game]
------[Choose Codes]


------[Choose Codes] will consist of a list of games (which will be user-modifiable - able to be renamed, deleted, and so forth), each of which will consist of a list of codes (addresses to which a chosen value will be written to constantly). It will also contain a choice, at the top of the list of games, called [Add A Game], which will allow a user to add a game to the list. Inside each game choice will be a choice, at the top of all codes present: [Add A Code], which will allow a user to add a code to the list within that game.


---[Options] will consist of a few aesthetic and theme-related options, to be ironed out and detailed at a later time. It will also include a menu to allow the user to modify the button combination used to invoke the application's in-game GUI. These are of little consequence now.



_______________________________________

Here's an example (note that before a user can see any sub-choices, he must first select one of the choices one layer above it):

---Start Game

------Start Game

------Choose Codes

---------Add A Game
---------Game #1
------------Add A Code
------------Code #1
------------Code #2
------------Code #3
---------Game #2
---------Game #3

---Options
------Option #1
------Option #2
------Option #3

__________________________________________

Games and codes will be alphabetized automatically.

The user will be able to toggle each code on or off, the default being off.

When he is finished selecting which codes will be enabled (if any will be enabled at all), he will press the Start button, which will bring him back to the menu that includes [Start Game] and [Choose Codes]. At this point, he can either select [Choose Codes] again and change which codes will be enabled, or select [Start Game] to start his game with the selected codes enabled.

[Lazy Bastard]

...and beyond that, I suppose we're pretty open to design ideas.

We won't be working on in-game GUI until we've found a way to force graphics during gameplay...

[Lazy Bastard]

Oh, and file I/O, ELF launching, etc can be implemented after a good-looking GUI has been built. You don't need to be concerned with those if you don't want to.

And, for any help at all, thanks in advance

[Berion]

Thanks for advise. I'll think on this for a few weeks (probably two, maybe sooner).

One more thing: screen resolution. PAL (640x512?) or NTSC (448x640)?


@kh2k4
THX for inviting.

[Lazy Bastard]

We might as well have both. Several other apps have auto-detect features; I borrowed one from Dreamtime's G2 examples, but better ones have been pointed out to me.

Sounds great. I'll keep toying with the GUI I've been working on, if for nothing else but a good model of what one might look like (I'm fairly sure you could design a better one, heh).

[ffgriever]

I wasn't able to find a contact address for FFGriever but I think that's his homepage http://bialy-wilku.netau.net/ psx-scence.com is down for moment too.

It isn't my homepage (I have none), but current project page (along with berion /graphics, as usual / and norek we're making polish translation of Okami. It's 100% now, just some fixes being made. It took freaking 8 months to complete, but it was worth it. Finally we have it in our native language and we finally get the japanese feel of the game instead of this english childish crap. Sure, the game had furigana in japanese, which means it was meant to be played by children, but the text was not that childish, judging by our standards ). The forum (it's not mine, I just created thread on genereal translation/hack forum) is out right now - bandwith exceeded.

Anyway... As for the Artemis Project. I've been watching it for a while (not that long since it got public, really). I'm rooting for you. If I can be of any service, then I would gladly help. I'm a little bit short on free time, as usual, but the least I could do is to help with things I already done here and there .

[kh2k4]

Even though I can probably offer nothing in terms to help this project along apart from bug testing, I thought the very least I could do is bring your great minds together the more hands on deck the quicker the goal is reached kind of thing.
You people could probably even start your own game company given your skills, hell I can't even setup tool chains let alone program anything console wise, I'm only good on something that I can see instant output like Delphi or Visual Basic where you don't need to fiddle around setting up tool chains to get it to compile your executable the only thing I can program the PS2 with is YaBasic.

[Lazy Bastard]

Anyway... As for the Artemis Project. I've been watching it for a while (not that long since it got public, really). I'm rooting for you. If I can be of any service, then I would gladly help. I'm a little bit short on free time, as usual, but the least I could do is to help with things I already done here and there .

Cool. You've already helped, with your IGR proof of concept

Even though I can probably offer nothing in terms to help this project along apart from bug testing, I thought the very least I could do is bring your great minds together the more hands on deck the quicker the goal is reached kind of thing.
You people could probably even start your own game company given your skills, hell I can't even setup tool chains let alone program anything console wise, I'm only good on something that I can see instant output like Delphi or Visual Basic where you don't need to fiddle around setting up tool chains to get it to compile your executable the only thing I can program the PS2 with is YaBasic.

Every little bit helps. Even just general interest in the project keeps the developers motivated. Thanks.

[kh2k4]

With the dumper is there anyway to halt gameplay and then release it to carry on?
i'm looking for the superstar call names for SVR2009 and I need it to halt the gameplay half way through the announcer's speech.

[Lazy Bastard]

I'm sure that is feasible, but it hasn't been implemented. Gameplay is halted during the dump, but then resumed automatically after the dump has finished.