Homebrew Homebrew game [HELP] Convert DsHeretic from slot2 (.ds.gba) to slot1 (.nds)

[Nikokaro]

we suffer a little from the disappearance of the "run function"

The run button must absolutely be set again. In some wads (maybe even in Heretic) some switches are timed and you have to run to reach the exit, before the door closes again.
Also, some maps require you to go running against the current of the stream to reach a switch: for this reason I am stuck on the e2m5 map.
We could set running function to B (also action) button.

Again, another necessary thing is the button to zoom in/out the map, but I don't remember if it was implemented in the original Heretic (ver. DOS).

 

[elhobbs]

I just did a little longer test and here is what I noted:

Level 1 is 100% terminable without technical problems

Level 2 is 100% terminable, technically there are some sound glitches problems here and there but nothing very serious, on the gameplay side at times we suffer a little from the disappearance of the "run function", the same for the " fly function ", if you can take off without any problem you have to wait for the magic to run out to land it is much more complicated to manage on a whole level.

From level 3 even if the level is 100% terminable, purely technical problems appear, the music stops to become an uninterrupted whistle, it is no longer possible to use the key combinations, so we no longer have the ability to change weapons, access inventory, use an item, and view the map. Only the functions of the L, R, A, B, Start and Select buttons can be used

You can play at level 4 but the problems mentioned above encountered during level 3 are still present


Note: level 100% complete including secret areas

the music is being played with the adlib emulator library from pate's dsx86 emulator. this runs on the arm7 cpu. also the x and y (maybe the touch screen too) are run on the arm7 processor as well. I mention this as the x button not working and the sound playing a constant tone are generally indicative of the arm7 processor either having crashed or is in a hung state. I doubt the error is in pate's code and is far more likely in my code, but it is difficult to track down errors on the arm7 processor.

 

[Nikokaro]

...the x button not working and the sound playing a constant tone are generally indicative of the arm7 processor either having crashed or is in a hung state.

If I may report my experience, with the new release the sound has improved considerably, and also the hissing, crackling and echoing sounds are almost absent, and anyway I never encountered the button problem reported above, related to sound issue.

Since @Indy13 didn't specify it, isn't it that he was using a custom, not vanilla, wad not fully compatible, and not the main Heretic (Iwad) episode?

I've played several hours, with original Heretic and with simple vanilla wads, and the emulation seems almost perfect. Compared to the previous release the slowdowns are greatly reduced, both in the presence of large open spaces and in front of crowds of monsters.
Also the problem of the textures not loaded, or loaded in cga(4bit) mode, at the beginning of the level (that I had already reported), with this update no longer occurs.

As I said, however, the lack of the button to run prevents you from continuing in some levels and that's the most important thing to fix , and I think the flight function is perhaps needed later on as well.

As for the black horizontal lines, strangely enough they are only present at the beginning of a level, and then on rare occasions.

All in all, we are almost close to perfection, and on DS is difficult to expect more than this: the quality achieved is already impressive and personally I am more than satisfied and very grateful.

 

[Indy13]

Since @Indy13 didn't specify it, isn't it that he was using a custom, not vanilla, wad not fully compatible, and not the main Heretic (Iwad) episode?

Indeed I forgot to specify it but I am doing my tests with the original iwad of Heretic, the commercial version.

I also test the pwads but it is not on these tests that I grant the greatest reliability because it is true that with the pwads we can have compatibility problems.

After perhaps my problems are related to my installation because currently I have placed everything in subdirectories my installation is as follows:

SD root / data / subfolder1 / Heretic

Maybe I installed this too deep on my sd card, I didn't try to put all files directly to the root of my sd card.

I don't know, can this have an impact on how well homebrew works?

the quality achieved is already impressive and personally I am more than satisfied and very grateful.

As @Nikokaro says (and with better words than mine), a huge thank you to you @elhobbs for all this work, it's really great to have a new FPS like Heretic on the DS, again thank you very much!

 

[Nikokaro]

I don't know, can this have an impact on how well homebrew works?

I don't think that has anything to do with it.
As for me, I put cHeretic.nds and Heretic.wad in the root and the various wads in a same folder.
Rather, did you restart the same level and had the same problem in the same place?
Have you had the same sound/buttons issue in other levels?

Changing topic, do you also agree with the need to set again the run function, maybe with the B button (run and action don't get in each other's way)? Have you also found places impossible to pass without this?

 

[Indy13]

I don't think that has anything to do with it.

I don't think so too but maybe @elhobbs will be able to confirm it, in any case it's good that you and me, we do not have the same installation, it will allow to see if cHeretic works better by being installed at the root or if it can support an installation in a directory architecture.

Rather, did you restart the same level and had the same problem in the same place?
Have you had the same sound/buttons issue in other levels?

I develop my answer in two points:

1. I redid the test by making a save at the very beginning of level 3 before the bug occurred, it did not change anything, I have a new bug with the game freezing

2. For now, with my installation, I have noticed two types of bugs, the first is the sound and the buttons (which appears from level 3) when I play a game starting at the very beginning of the first level until the fourth (I did not go further), the second is that of the game which freezes from the third level when I load a saved game.

I will therefore do several new tests in the coming days, first I will see if by fully recharging the battery of my DS, I can play from a saved game without there being any bugs (I don't don't think that changes much but you never know), for the second test, I'm going to make some space on my sd card because currently I have only 340mb of free space left which (I think) it's not enough, I can already see that things like DSx86 or DSOrganise run very slowly, maybe doing a little cleaning will get a little better and thirdly, I'll give it a try with an installation from the root and not in a subdirectory.


What level did you get by doing your tests? I mean what's the farthest point you got to?

Changing topic, do you also agree with the need to set again the run function, maybe with the B button (run and action don't get in each other's way)? Have you also found places impossible to pass without this?

I agree with you regarding the "run" function but on re-reading the PC game manual, if I am not saying anything stupid, I believe that the "action" and "run" functions are assigned to two different keys on the keyboard , so I do not know if it is possible to combine them on the "B" key of the DS, perhaps it would be useful to integrate a virtual keyboard on the touchscreen that would allow both to be able to run at the desired time but also to be able to allocate other possibilities like the "land" function, the ideal would be to be able to have on the touchscreen the map with the possibility of switching with a virtual keyboard or at least to have the missing keys allowing all the capacities of the character. Afterwards, in my case, I was not blocked until level 4 (I remind you I did not go any further so I will not be formal about the rest) but what I know is that without these keys we miss hidden bonuses or lose life unnecessarily and there it can possibly complicate things to complete the game.

 

[Nikokaro]

What level did you get by doing your tests? I mean what's the farthest point you got to?

First I made it to level e2m5 without having any problems, and I stopped here only because you need to run to go against the river current to reach the switch.

Then I restarted by saving in the second slot and I'm at level e3m3 again without any graphic or audio problems.

I reiterate that the buttons have always worked perfectly and also the sound effects/bgm are almost perfect, greatly improved over the previous version.

It would be necessary for a third person to report their experience with this.

 

[Indy13]

So I just did some of the tests I wanted to do, here is the result:

1.with charged battery no change, i still have a bug from e1m3

2.with the installation on the root of the sd card, it's the same, always the same bug in the same place


But there is something new! ^^

I couldn't reproduce the bug that disabled the controls and the sound problem.

During my last test in my previous post, I loaded my saved game at e1m3 level, I could play a few seconds then the game froze but I just noticed that by deleting the heretic.cfg file then I could reproduce the very first bug, the one which deactivates the combinations of the buttons and which causes a long interrupted whistle and in this case I can continue to play despite the bug but if I turn off the console and turn it back on even if the heretic.cfg file is deleted when playing from my saved game, I found the same game bug freezing.

In any case by deleting the heretic.cfg file, there is a change and it seems that the conflict could be around the backup files and the heretic.cfg file.

Maybe it also comes from my hardware configuration, I don't know, to do my tests I use a DS Lite with an R4 SDHC GOLD Pro 2016, I will try to test this new version of cHeretic on DSTwo+ and R4 classic

One last note, I am using the last version of HBmenu to launch cHeretic

It would be necessary for a third person to report their experience with this.

Yes it would be nice to have one or two more opinions from other people

 

[Nikokaro]

As for me, I use your same r4 gold pro, but from 2020, as firmware/kernel I use YSMenu and the latest version of HBMenu.

During my last test in my previous post, I loaded my saved game at e1m3 level, I could play a few seconds then the game froze

Have you tried to completely delete the save files from the microSD via file manager or PC, and not just overwrite them in the game?
Once completely deleted, you should then try starting over and see how it goes.

Maybe it also comes from my hardware configuration.

Maybe, but it could be the software instead.
Which kernel are you using, the one that comes with your r4? What if the problem comes from this? I repeat that I use the alternative software YSMenu.

Tonight I'll play the first episode up to e1m3 and see if I get the same issue as you.

 

[Indy13]

Have you tried to completely delete the save files from the microSD via file manager or PC, and not just overwrite them in the game?

Yes, I first made a save at the start of the second level after completing the first level in slot 1, then I made a second save after completing the second level at the start of the third level in slot 2 , this second backup, I had already erased it with DSOrganize to redo another one later in slot 2, I did not overwrite my backups.

Which kernel are you using, the one that comes with your r4?

Yes, the one that comes with my r4

What if the problem comes from this?

Maybe I'm wrong but YSMenu or the original R4 kernel, once HBMenu is launched theoretically it shouldn't make any difference anymore, no?

 

[Nikokaro]

I loaded my saved game at e1m3 level, I could play a few seconds then the game froze

Important report:
I have finally reached the beginning of level e1m3 and i confirm that, after a long hiss, the game freezes but, i must point out, in different points at the beginning of that level (having saved at the start of the level and loaded several times).
It is absolutely and without any doubt a defect in the reproduction of bgm, which at a certain point stops and freezes the whole game.
There must be a sound tone that, for some technical reason, the cpu cannot reproduce.

Meanwhile, I want to do a little test. I'm editing the Iwad with XWE (wad editor) so that the .mus files (BGM) will be empty (I can't just delete them since cHeretic.nds requires them, otherwise it crashes).
If my assumption is correct, it should no longer freeze.

 

[Nikokaro]

This humble experiment confirmed, as I expected, my earlier hypothesis.
I got to the e1m4 level, with the sound effects but no music, with no problem at all, although even among the sound effects there are brief noises, hisses, and creaks, but nothing important.

Instead with the buttons I had no issue before, and even less now; @Indy13 , maybe you had saved when the sound defect was already active and near a crash: loading from this you started having problems with the buttons.
I can find no other explanation.

In conclusion, in my opinion, the cause of this issue lies in the software that synthesizes the sounds (perhaps adlib emulator?), at the moment it plays a certain file.

Of the 15 or so maps I have tested this is the only one whose .mus file does not play correctly.
The simplest and quickest solutions that come to mind are :
-make the map e1m3 play no music at all;
-otherwise play in this map the .mus file of another map.
This done without modifying the original Heretic Iwad, assuming this would be possible.

 

[Indy13]

Thank you @Nikokaro for all your tests

I tried to make the e1m3 map from my backup by muting the music in the options menu, I did not expect any change because finally the options menu of the game does not offer not to stop the music but just to lower the volume of the sound so technically even if we do not hear the music the program still makes it play which has the consequence of reproducing this game bug which freezes. So at the moment apart from modifying the original iwad to disable the music of this level or to replace it with another one, there does not seem to be any other solution to work around this bug.

 

[Nikokaro]

So at the moment apart from modifying the original iwad to disable the music of this level or to replace it with another one, there does not seem to be any other solution to work around this bug.

Since I wrote that post, continuing to play, I have to reconsider something; even in level e3m5 the same thing happens, but if my hearing doesn't deceive me the sound track is the same, and requires the same solution.

 

[Indy13]

but if my hearing doesn't deceive me the sound track is the same, and requires the same solution.

If so, it would mean that there is only one .mus file that creates a conflict, this is potentially good news as it could drastically reduce the things that need to be improved to fix the problem, at least I suppose.

 

[Nikokaro]

As I had assumed, the e1m3, e3m5 and e4m3 levels share the same music track, as is clearly stated here:
https://doom.fandom.com/wiki/Heretic_music

As a temporary solution, for @Indy13 and those interested, I've uploaded an xdelta patch to apply to Heretic Iwad (the latest, expanded version, with 5 episodes) that empties the sound tracks (but doesn't delete them, since they are required and without them cHeretic.nds crashes).

I used the command line version of xdelta3 to create it, since the Win version doesn't work on my pc, but to patch it will be fine this version.

I suggest to keep both original and patched Iwads in the flashcart SD and alternate them (renaming them when necessary with DSOrganize) to pass those mentioned, troublesome maps.

 

[Indy13]

I've tested the patched game version, it works like a charm, there is no more freezing problem !

Thank you very much @Nikokaro !

 

[elhobbs]

I added a new version to the git repository.
* disabled music
* added onscreen keyboard
* added R+L speed key

as a note the box in the top right corner of the touch screen toggles the keyboard full/mini mode

 

[Nikokaro]

I take the liberty of expressing my modest opinion on this latest update, hoping I don't seem ungrateful.

I don't know if this is the final release, but I have to say, at the risk of contradicting myself, that you feel the lack of background music, which while not being anything exceptional or remarkable, helped to create the right atmosphere of adventure, mystery and suspense.

Rather than removing it altogether, you could have removed the bgm only from the three mentioned maps, or maybe you might want to replace Adlib with Soundblaster emulation and see if the sound improves, assuming that's possible and does not take too time and efforts.

Moreover, rather than the keyboard, I would have preferred the map on the bottom screen, since you need to keep an eye on it all the time, and also aesthetically would have completed the whole thing.
But as the english people say "beggars can not be choosers".

I hope, however, that this is not the author' s final decision.
Personally I will keep both files in my r4 and only use the recent version to get past certain points where the game crashes or you need to run.

P.S. I just finished the second episode and defeated the legendary Maulotaur unleashing my best move: the swirling, bewildering circular strafe. And his fate was sealed. What can I say !?! A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. What an experience!! Many people here, especially some brats, do not know what they are missing ...

Thanks and greetings

 

[elhobbs]

I take the liberty of expressing my modest opinion on this latest update, hoping I don't seem ungrateful.

I don't know if this is the final release, but I have to say, at the risk of contradicting myself, that you feel the lack of background music, which while not being anything exceptional or remarkable, helped to create the right atmosphere of adventure, mystery and suspense.

Rather than removing it altogether, you could have removed the bgm only from the three mentioned maps, or maybe you might want to replace Adlib with Soundblaster emulation and see if the sound improves, assuming that's possible and does not take too time and efforts.

Moreover, rather than the keyboard, I would have preferred the map on the bottom screen, since you need to keep an eye on it all the time, and also aesthetically would have completed the whole thing.
But as the english people say "beggars can not be choosers".

I hope, however, that this is not the author' s final decision.
Personally I will keep both files in my r4 and only use the recent version to get past certain points where the game crashes or you need to run.

P.S. I just finished the second episode and defeated the legendary Maulotaur unleashing my best move: the swirling, bewildering circular strafe. And his fate was sealed. What can I say !?! A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. What an experience!! Many people here, especially some brats, do not know what they are missing ...

Thanks and greetings

the background music is disabled until I can fix it.

I added a new version to the git repository
* added the automap to the bottom screen