DScent: Descent for the Nintendo DS

[Neumaennl]

Hi guys & gals,

I don't know how many of you have heard of the project called DScent.
It's a port of Descent 1 to the Nintendo DS

Unfortunately this project was discontinued the same year it was started: 2007.
Even more unfortunate is that the author, a guy that called himself kayvenm, didn't release the source code for the latest builds. Only the source of an older, way more buggy build is available.

I really like the idea of playing Descent on my Nintendo DS, but the version that is available still has quite some bugs and crashes every now and then.

So I downloaded the source code and lifted it to the most recent version of libnds so that I could compile it.
I even got it to run on my Nintendo DS (albeit without sound yet).

The sad thing is that there is a bug in the briefing code which prevents players from starting a new game.
I can load a saved game, though.
The problem is within a timer function (I guess), but the code is hardly documented/commented so that I have no idea what the function is supposed to do and therefore I can not fix it.

Maybe someone with a bit more knowledge of the Descent source code can help me get iron out some of the bugs (especially the one described).
Knowledge of libnds is beneficial but not mandatory.

I can provide a Nintendo DS emulator with debugging capabilities (gdb stub) that can also package the necessary files into a libfat image so that the NDS executable can find the Descent files.

I would really like to get this running flawlessly so that Descent fans around the world can enjoy their favorite game even when they're not in front of a PC (provided they have a Nintendo DS and a Flash cartridge).

I am working as a developer for a bank and I used to work for a mobile phone game company. So I do have quite some programming experience and I'm not some script kiddie that neglects the project in a week. I \"just\" need some help with the Descent source code.

So please help me if you can


I can provide the links to the tools necessary to compile and debug this stuff on a PC and upload my version of the source somewhere if people are interested.

[zico]

Hey,

I have a DS, a R4 card and by DXX I know the code pretty good. Please send me a PM with your eMail address and maybe the link to the source. I am sure we can - if I find a little time - figure something out.

[Neumaennl]

YES!

you are exactly what I've been looking for

You could simply tell me your eMail address via PM or contact me via MSN or ICQ (see my profile).
I could then send you the source and the emulator that has debugging enabled directly.

I adapted the code so that it compiles with the latest version of libnds. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to compile it. The original source of the port is available from the blog I linked to in my original post, though.

We could use IRC or one of the instant messengers mentioned above to communicate directly.

I'm so looking forward to this

[fliptw]

IIRC, you needed a card with additional ram for it to work.

[Neumaennl]

IIRC, you needed a card with additional ram for it to work.

I don't think so.
I can't find anything mentioned about this on the blog of the guy who ported this and the code has nothing about this, too.
I also haven't set the emulator to emulate additional RAM and it runs there (with the abovementioned flaws).
I do have such a cartridge in my NDS Lite, though and it shows exactly the same behavior as the emulator.

Would you like to help? I can send you the stuff, too. zico said that it will take a while until he has time to look into this. Maybe we can iron out some bugs in the meantime

[Neumaennl]

https://dscent.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/dscent

1 bug fixed - countless bugs to go

I had a hard time bootstrapping the project and finding a way to debug it plus I have another project going on right now (but that should hopefully be finished soon).
I hope the next bug will take less than two weeks to squash.

[KoolBear]

Any progress Neumaennl?

[Neumaennl]

Unfortunately not.
Turns out a good Java developer doesn't automatically make a good C developer
I could perhaps get SFX working, but for music I'd have to write a MIDI parser and create a soundbank and that's way beyond my capabilities.
So my version will never be as good as the Alpha4 from kayvenm
Add to this that my flash cartridge stopped working and you have me stopping the project before it really took off.
I'd still be willing to help anybody set up a development environment and get started with the code, though...

[zico]

Considering the actual development goes as slick as it goes right now, I'm planning to integrate the DS port into DXX at some point. I do not wanna promise too much right now, but so long my R4 (I think I am one of the few only using such a card to not rip a new hole in the NAND memory of the modules I paid for) works, I think I'll be able to maintain a port.
We recently got OpenGL ES working and with some correctures here and there, it should work. Especially because MIDI does not serve a problem for us anymore.

I just cannot say when this'll happen considering the manpower behind our project...

[Neumaennl]

Hi zico,

I've already sent you all the stuff to get started, so good luck and happy coding.
Considering MIDI: you use SDL in DXX for playing MIDI and SDL is not available for NDS as far as I can tell (at least not in a usable state).
I'd be surprised if you could get DXX to run with sound and music on the NDS without SDL in a decent timeframe. Even if you can compile SDL for NDS you'll probably run into massive memory problems as even the current DScent has memory problems in bigger levels.

[zico]

Yeah I know about that. I was rather referring using some modified AddOn DXX can already use to replace any music format with another one. All we need for this is PhysFS and this definately is a must-have for Rebirth (and it's pretty portable). So I can take the soundtrack, put it into a NDS comaptible format and that should do it.