PS2 Programming

Maybe this goes in the Main Forum, I dunno..  But anyways..  I\'m really starting to get interested about programming for the PS2.  I mean seriously developing something.  I need help though.  Anyone in here have any idea about this?  Like where to start, etc.  I want to buy the dev kit (?) cuz I heard its available at Akihabara near Tokyo for not that much.  I just want to know if anyone has any ideas about this, whether anyone was interested in this stuff as I am, and whether anyone has ever tried anything in this field.  I pretty much have no idea yet, but I really am interested in learning all this stuff in the near future.  Any thoughts?

Some of us are interested but I\'d like to know exactly what we\'re dealing with before I sign up for any project.  So I don\'t know if I\'ll get the kit or not.  I\'d really like someone who\'s already got the kit to post some info on it.

About the kit, I was planning on trying to get a hold of the TOOL development station (DTL-T10000) if possible.  Not sure how much development you can actually do on the Linux Kit, and coming from the price and everything, I\'m not totally sure if its what I exactly want.  My project manager here at work says he bought the TOOL kit for his kid a while back... I gonna talk to him to see if it really is the TOOL kit, and see how much he got it for.  I believe it retails for about $18k, and if that\'s the case, I aint getting it for a loonnngg time.

edit:  Okay, I\'m done looking for info on the t10k.  Too expensive..  and supposedly the Linux kit will allow us to do about the same stuff with it, minus one document and some memory...  Welp.. off to buy the Linux Kit I suppose... but then again, i\'d rather get the U.S. (english) version, so I\'ll wait till i head back to the states to pick me up one =P  But I\'m dead serious about this programmin stuff, so let\'s get something going after a while

let me know some info on it whenever you pick the kit up.  And since I\'m no good at Japanese I\'d be getting the English version as well.  There are a few other people on the board I know would be interested in this.  They should see this thread, too.

cool kokopuphz! Seems to me there are more and more people interested in PS2 development! I started a thread like this one a while back, but it didn\'t last for long unfortunately.

So, yeah I\'m pretty interested (but still waiting for my Linux kit unfortunately). BTW; the Linuxkit should do just fine for programming - not to mention that the chances of fully exploring the full potential of the hardware is quite little (come to think that real time developers are having a hard enough time already). The Linuxkit does however let you program to the metal just like the proffesional T-Kits the licensed developers get. It does take a very small hit though, but that should hardly influence your program. Therefore, it is quite possible to program games that will look like current games out now (of course, if the talent is there).

I\'ve put together quite a nice section in my forum (on my site) where you can find some additional information on "getting started". I figured this place might not be the right one due to very few enthusiasts (but it\'s changing, so who knows?!). I\'ll be starting a project right after the kit arrives (something simple really), so I\'ll see how things progress. I\'m still reading through the manuals and figureing out step by step, but we\'ll see how the real stuff looks like once the kits gets here (with some sample code included).

Anyway, what programming skills / knowledge do you have? If you have some knowledge (or not), I\'m sure we\'ll be able to help each other out.

seven, I looked at your site, and its definitely a site that I will have bookmarked for a long time.  Currently I\'m working in Japan as a programmer/consultant, using Oracle Applications (Java and PL/SQL)  I haven\'t really touched C++ or any sort of assembler type deal, so I\'m still rather new to the field.

Pretty much as of this point, I have no idea of how to program a game, never the less using 3d objects and programming anything 3d.  But I learn fast once I have some interest in any subject, so I\'m not too worried about that part.  The main question I have right now is how companies incorporate 3d objects created in programs such as Lightwave into their games and applications.  My friend is going berserk with Lightwave

As far as Linux goes I can do C/C++ Perl and most of the other popular stuff.  I don\'t think I\'d be much help in the graphics department.

Here are a few links that I guess you want to know about..

http://ps2dev.livemedia.com.au/

http://ps2dev.sourceforge.net/

Originally posted by kokopuphz
seven, I looked at your site, and its definitely a site that I will have bookmarked for a long time.  Currently I\'m working in Japan as a programmer/consultant, using Oracle Applications (Java and PL/SQL)  I haven\'t really touched C++ or any sort of assembler type deal, so I\'m still rather new to the field.

Pretty much as of this point, I have no idea of how to program a game, never the less using 3d objects and programming anything 3d.  But I learn fast once I have some interest in any subject, so I\'m not too worried about that part.  The main question I have right now is how companies incorporate 3d objects created in programs such as Lightwave into their games and applications.  My friend is going berserk with Lightwave

That sounds cool. I\'ve done a few projects in Java, but can\'t say I really like the language a lot. I\'m more the C/C++ kind of guy I guess... Anyway, I haven\'t programmed any (3d) games myself as of yet, but programmed some small applet in Java which lets you display 3d objects and rotate it around all 3 axes (x, y, z). Something quite small and only an approach to things. If you\'re interested, I can send you a demo and the code if you\'re interested. I also thought of putting it up in the forum and have the important things explained for comprehension. This might be quite good especially for the Emotion Engine documents, since their pretty tough to understand.

\'Bout the applet I mentioned above; I\'ve always wanted to rebuild the program so that you can read in objects from 3d StudioMax etc. That would be cool and the game-developers I\'m sure use this approach aswell when programming their games. I\'ll look into it a bit more though.

BTW;
Does anyone know of some good books on Assembly?
And a book to programming 3d games?

Also, which might help, I think the source code to the first Doom game is ready to download on ID\'s website. I\'ll get the correct link and post it. This stuff might also be quite hard to understand though if you never delt with it, so going through it in the forum might be another plus which might help a lot.

The Doom codes would help a lot for starters.  Just getting the basics down.  Especially because the original Doom engine was DOS based, and didn\'t really take the shortcuts that DirectX allows you to do.  Actually, I\'m not sure on that point, but it\'s still probably a good starting point.  If you could find a link to the source codes, I\'d appreciate it.  I\'ll keep an eye out for them from my end too.

And your java applet for the 3d object, I\'m really interested in seeing those too.  

Zeric: thanxs for the links.  I haven\'t had time to look fully into the sites, but they look like sites that could help me a lot:)

Hey guys,

You want to make games right???....  well there\'s no reason to re-invent the wheel.

Just get some sort of software like "renderware" and skip the hard part.  I mean, it\'s cool that you guys want to learn all of the coded aspects of 3-D gaming, but by the time you put a game together from scratch (without any bugs) the next line of consoles will be out.

You guys are not getting paid.  I imagine programming a full 3D working game engine is frustrating and not fun.

If you guys want to make a game I\'ll help in whatever way I can. even if it\'s just creating textures in photoshop.  But it doesn\'t seem like you guys are very experienced in programming, so maybe getting the game creating software would be best.

I don\'t know everything, so if anyone else knows better please put me in my place.

Originally posted by juslight
Hey guys,

You want to make games right???....  well there\'s no reason to re-invent the wheel.

Just get some sort of software like "renderware" and skip the hard part.  I mean, it\'s cool that you guys want to learn all of the coded aspects of 3-D gaming, but by the time you put a game together from scratch (without any bugs) the next line of consoles will be out.

You guys are not getting paid.  I imagine programming a full 3D working game engine is frustrating and not fun.

If you guys want to make a game I\'ll help in whatever way I can. even if it\'s just creating textures in photoshop.  But it doesn\'t seem like you guys are very experienced in programming, so maybe getting the game creating software would be best.

I don\'t know everything, so if anyone else knows better please put me in my place.

thanks juslight. Might come in as a option, but I think I\'ll learn from scratch first. And the challenge for me isn\'t quite "making a game", but learning "how to make it". It\'s the technical achievement that\'s I\'m looking for... But I\'ll see how I progress and check out some renderwares if I have too much of problems.

Depends on how difficult the learning curve is, which will be steep I\'m sure.  We should do something easy first.

Thanx for the suggestion, and I\'ll definitely keep it in mind, but I guess in my case using renderware would defeat the purpose.  I\'m not really interested in making games so to say, but more interested in creating it from scratch.  I\'m one of those who buys a car and does all the engine work himself instead of having a shop do everything for you.

Zeric\'s links led me to a mailing list for ps2dev, which turns out to be a pretty decent little group.  I\'ve been busy reading all the posts in the mailing list.. starting from something like 1999...  I spent the whole day yesterday at work reading post after post. Yes, they really dont give me anything better to do here.