Homebrew Preview of OpenJazz for 3DS *DEMO included

[MrHuu]

Our dearest GBATemp member @carstene1ns has been able to update the SDL 1.2 library available for 3DS.
With this fix OpenJazz for 3DS is running without graphical issues. Some things still need to be sorted out, but it's in a fully working state now.

Issue is discussed here: https://github.com/AlisterT/openjazz/issues/65

While it's not mine to release, i like to tease all you Homebrew development lovers a bit.

So i made this DEMO release.
It features the shareware game inside the .3dsx file, this will allow you to play the demo without the ability to save or upgrade to the full game.

Like i said, full credits go to:

@carstene1ns as the current maintainer of OpenJazz,
and AlisterT for OpenJazz itself.

How to use:

- Thank the original authors
- Place 'OpenJazzDEMO.3dsx' anywhere on your SD
- Run with the Homebrew Launcher
- ???
- profit !!!

Screenshots:

If you want to play the full version:
Either wait for it, or compile it yourself. Have fun Homebrewing! mwhahaha

Source: https://github.com/AlisterT/openjazz

 

[Vague Rant]

Nice, I always hoped OpenJazz would get a 3DS port, great to finally play Jazz Jackrabbit it on a handheld after all these years!

The default controls are pretty rough in this demo: each buttons seems to be mapped to multiple functions, e.g. A is Jump and X is simultaneously fire and change weapons. You can remap keys in "Setup Options --> Keyboard", but you'll have some trouble because of the way the keys are all multi-mapped. The menu buttons don't seem to be mappable, from what I can tell Select is "Escape" (quits from menus) and Start is "Enter" (selects options).

EDIT: It's not an ideal control scheme, but for anyone trying this out, I'd recommend remapping them so A is Jump, B is Fire, and X is Weapon. This was the best layout I could come up with that doesn't have overlapping buttons, so e.g. You can fire without switching weapons at the same time, etc.

 

[MrHuu]

Nice, I always hoped OpenJazz would get a 3DS port, great to finally play Jazz Jackrabbit it on a handheld after all these years!

The default controls are pretty rough in this demo: each buttons seems to be mapped to multiple functions, e.g. A is Jump and X is simultaneously fire and change weapons. You can remap keys in "Setup Options --> Keyboard", but you'll have some trouble because of the way the keys are all multi-mapped. The menu buttons don't seem to be mappable, from what I can tell Select is "Escape" (quits from menus) and Start is "Enter" (selects options).

EDIT: It's not an ideal control scheme, but for anyone trying this out, I'd recommend remapping them so A is Jump, B is Fire, and X is Weapon. This was the best layout I could come up with that doesn't have overlapping buttons, so e.g. You can fire without switching weapons at the same time, etc.

Yeah, this doesn't have the controls remapped at all for now.

That's an easy fix.

I also noticed you won't die when the time runs out.
And some other timing issues.

The engine currently runs at 268mhz by default. But 804mhz doesn't seem to have any influence on timing.

The same issues are included on other platforms as well, so it's not 3ds specific.

 

[Vague Rant]

Since Jazz Jackrabbit has Gravis Gamepads plastered all over it and I never owned one back then (or now either), I was curious to see what button layout Jazz Jackrabbit used by default. Unfortunately, it's full insane.

It was hard finding an exact layout anywhere because I didn't know which button was which on a Gravis pad, so that was the first thing I had to find:

   _____     || ----------------------------------------------
  |     \____||________     X-Axis     Joystick A, X-Axis
  |  __    GRAVIS      \    Y-Axis     Joystick A, Y-Axis
  | /  \  GamePad   B  |    Button A   Joystick A, Button #1A
  | \__/          A   C|    Button B   Joystick A, Button #2A
  |______________   D  |    Button C   Joystick B, Button #2B
                 \_____|    Button D   Joystick B, Button #1B

Next, from the Jazz Jackrabbit digital manual:

Joystick controls:

  <Button 1> Jazz Jumps.

  <Button 2> Jazz Shoots.

  <Button 2 + UP> Cycle weapons.

  <LEFT> & <RIGHT> See Jazz Run.  Run, Jazz, Run!

  <UP> Jazz looks up.

  <DOWN> Jazz ducks and looks down.

  If you have a Gravis PC Gamepad or another 4-button joystick, use
  <Button 3> to cycle weapons.

Our first problem: it's not clear whether Jazz Jackrabbit's "Button 1, 2 and 3" correspond to the Gravis Gamepad's "A, B and C". It might seem like that's the most likely setup, except that the way Gravis Gamepads work is mildly weird. From the ASCII art controller above, you can see that the way it actually works is that the pad behaves as the player 1 and player 2 joysticks simultaneously. Does Jazz Jackrabbit consider "button 3" to be the Gravis "C" button (player 2, button 2) or the Gravis "D" button (player 2, button 1)?

If we assume A-C map to buttons 1-3, then in 3DS terms (or any other SNES-based button layout), this means the official layout was Y to jump, X to shoot and A to swap weapons. If we take the alternate reading, then it's the B button to swap weapons. Both of those are pretty spectacularly awful, so maybe it's not even important. In a future version where we can map our controls as desired, I wouldn't recommend anybody use this Gravis scheme. The most sensible layout in my mind would be Y to shoot, B to jump, and I suppose any of A/X/L/R to switch weapons.

 

[MrHuu]

@carstene1ns Has updated the controls to work properly on the 3ds.
https://github.com/AlisterT/openjazz/commit/e1c3379b0f6c611e6a06752cba2445a258bf9c65
https://github.com/AlisterT/openjazz/commit/e1c3379b0f6c611e6a06752cba2445a258bf9c65

I have yet to try it out personally, but it should work the right way.

He's been making good progress and is very helpfull. Thanks! @carstene1ns

 

[carstene1ns]

Yeah, we are near a release by now...
I started working on this in 2017, but the palette problems were a stopper.

There are still some small things I would like to do, but I like the current state.