GP2X

[d-soldier]

... So I finally did some investigation for the GP2X (many of you have one?). Could someone please share their opinion on what/how well GE games work in their experience? Do some things not work? Does the GP2X run exes... limited file sizes? what?

[berighteous]

I wanna know too. I was supposed to get my gp2x back today, but NOOOO. It better be monday.

I'm very interested in writing games for the gp2x.

[HillBilly]

What type of stuff are you wanting to know about. I have a GP2X and full version of GE I should be able to help you out.

The only draw back that I can tell you about GE running on the GP2X is that you can only get a max of 25 FPS right now. Mak is optimizing GE so the speed should go up in the future if not in the next version of GE.

He is also planning on rewriting the motor for the GP2X in the future also.

One other problem that I have found is that the GP2X uses a 16 postion (8 read locations) joystick comparied to most DPads that have a 8 position (4 read locations). So you haft to add extra code so you do not get dead spots on the controls. You can see what I mean in BearOids.

If you keep your game clean with out a bunch of background stuff running around you can get a game to run a solid 20-25FPS without too much trouble.

I overclock my GP2X to about 225 on the stuff that I have made. The only thing that I have posted right now is BearOids. There are some probs. with that one but you can atleast see a GE game on the GP2X. It is avail at http://www.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,30,2066
Also a cute game but not one of mine is http://www.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,37,1838

Most people can make a better game than what I have made, but I know nothing about C and I just wing it, kind of learn as you go.

I started making a new version of BearOids that runs alot smoother, but I have been to busy right now to work on it. I will get to it agian one of these days.

If there is something you would like to know, just ask. I will help you out with what ever I can. PM me or post here.

[HillBilly]

I forgot. I have had a 8 meg GPE and not had any probs. I have not made anything bigger than that. It was a bunch of backgrounds that caused the file that big.

[pixelpoop]

I made a puzzle game for the GP2X that uses a bunch of clones(no transparent pixels used, just flat squares). The fps drops to about 5 with 80 clones on screen and to about 13 fps with 40 clones.

I have made a simple side scroller that functioned alright but I never got around to putting much into it and the fps were already dipping to 18-23.

As of now GE only supports 1 of the 2 prossesors the GP2X has. Many GP2X programmers use the first proccesor to run the code and the other to handle the graphics much like a desktop has a general prossessing unit and a graphics card.

I have an iPaq h2210 from 2003 that runs GE games about the same as the GP2X.

Some of the draw functions don't work, but the new "draw_from" does.

Also I have been having problems with actor.width, actor.height and GetKeyState. I still need to do some testing to confirm these as not working and report them as bugs.

Here is what some other people wrote on it.
http://game-editor.com/forum/tp-2973-ho ... -gp2x.html
http://game-editor.com/forum/tp-2491-gp ... -slow.html
http://game-editor.com/forum/tp-3186-Do ... ssor-.html

if you want me to test something I can, even just something with a bunch of actors to see the FPS, that you will have to deal with.

[HillBilly]

I will see if I can find the last version of the new BearOids I was making. I thought I had atleast 60 or 70 actors on screen moving B4 I went under 20FPS.

[HillBilly]

OK here is that BearOids Test file I was telling you about. It does drop off at about 30 actors.

http://hillbillyarcade.tripod.com/siteb ... stfile.zip


The FPS is bottom left, and towards the middle is the bears, and shot count.

Hit LR to exit.

There are alot of bugs in this as you will see, but I have the ship collision off so if you watch your shots you can get ALOT of stuff moving at once.

Run some tests then fire up GMenu and clock up to 225 or 240 and see how much that improves you.

[berighteous]

good info all around. Hillbilly, check out my Oidzone pc game in the dev section. That's what I'm planning to do. If I could get 20 fps would be fine for that - it's the same rate as the PC version.

[d-soldier]

Thanks for all the information... I was just curious because I dont think Sony is ever going to let their psp's run such games, though I think they would be able to handle the graphics pretty well.

[HillBilly]

Not a problems guys.

[pixelpoop]

Hey, I used Gmenu for the first time and overclocked the GP2X to 240 and I didn't have an increase in fps. I also underclocked it to 100 and the fps were still the same.
(16fps at 48 bears by the way)
Does GE set the clock speed to its default when it starts up?

[makslane]

Does GE set the clock speed to its default when it starts up?

No

[HillBilly]

I have always see an increase when I overclocked, up to the 25FPS. I will try it when I get home again.

If you have not used GMenu B4 make sure you are launching with a shortcut, I do not think it will pass the overclock setting to the launched program unless it is run under a shortcut, but I could be wrong. Press SELECT then find the program you want to launch, that will put a shortcut on your menu. Highlight it, select then you can change the options.

I will try this again with the new BearOids test that I have posted that way we are using the same program.

[pixelpoop]

you are right. I wasn't using the Gmenu properly. It looked like it was working my way, but it wasn't. There was a definite increase in speed. I increased the bearoids demo to 240Mhz and the fps stayed very close to 25.