Sega Dreamcast Port

[Multimedia Mike]

I just discovered ZeldaClassic (thanks to a mention in Electronic Gaming Monthly). I see that a Linux port is allegedly underway. Any chance for ports to other systems? Specifically, I was thinking of a port for the Sega Dreamcast. I have experience coding on this system and could lend assistance.

Thanks, Multimedia Mike

[Dart Zaidyer]

Zelda on a Sega machine? That's like Sonic on a Nintendo machine!

Oh wait...

Well anyway, Zelda Classic is built on Allegro, so don't expect it to happen unless there's a version of it for the Dreamcast. And apart from that, is there actually any interest in playing it on a Dreamcast?

[Multimedia Mike]

Zelda on a Sega machine? That's like Sonic on a Nintendo machine!

Oh wait...

Well anyway, Zelda Classic is built on Allegro, so don't expect it to happen unless there's a version of it for the Dreamcast. And apart from that, is there actually any interest in playing it on a Dreamcast?

Well, I was sort of interested in the exercise, just because the Dreamcast is so much fun to work with, and because ZC is so nifty. I have seen some references to Allegro projects ported to the DC but I think developers just rewrote or wrapped API calls. I can not find any official DC support in the Allegro library.

It is probably possible but I would have to see the source code to determine the extent of the work required.

[Dart Zaidyer]

Well good luck with that. The ZC source code is reportedly horribly complicated and hard to figure out. Plus, not just anyone gets to work on it.
You can take a look at the sound engine, though. DN released that in hopes of getting some help making it ship-shape, and adding things like NSF support.

[Multimedia Mike]

Well good luck with that. The ZC source code is reportedly horribly complicated and hard to figure out. Plus, not just anyone gets to work on it.
You can take a look at the sound engine, though. DN released that in hopes of getting some help making it ship-shape, and adding things like NSF support.

Not releasing the source code is not that big of a deal. Data is more important than code, anyway. What they should do is document the quest data file format. Other programmers could create independent, interoperable engines.

[zhila]

Documenting the quest file format currently will compromise the password storage system in place. An engine is required to play a quest reguardless of the password stored, so there has to be a method of reading the entire quest, even if password protected. If this information is simply released to the public, then "password protecting" a quest file would be pointless.

[Multimedia Mike]

Documenting the quest file format currently will compromise the password storage system in place. An engine is required to play a quest reguardless of the password stored, so there has to be a method of reading the entire quest, even if password protected. If this information is simply released to the public, then "password protecting" a quest file would be pointless.

Remind me again: Why is password protecting a quest file so important? Does it keep unauthorized persons from playing a quest?

[[sic]]

I was thinking about this a few days ago. I wanted to play my custom quest on the Dreamcast. Which brought me to a question, is there anyway to convert a custom quest file into a .NES file? That would be awesome.

[Multimedia Mike]

']I was thinking about this a few days ago. I wanted to play my custom quest on the Dreamcast. Which brought me to a question, is there anyway to convert a custom quest file into a .NES file? That would be awesome.

I sincerely doubt that but I can not offer an authoritative answer since the project technical details are locked down.

[Multimedia Mike]

Hmmm...

Actually, poking through the other threads, I see that the file format for the unencoded quest files is available (well, source code headers for the data structures). I have not finished studying it yet, but it could contain everything needed to create an interoperable game engine.

All that would be left for creating a production engine would be to crack the encryption format of the .qst files (looks like it is also compressed).

[Dart Zaidyer]

It would definitely be impossible to convert a quest to a ROM file, since it doesn't work like that at all. The internal structure is completely different and it would never run.

By the way, people who try to crack the encryption format are usually met with a total rewrite. It's a matter of security, you know.

[Multimedia Mike]

By the way, people who try to crack the encryption format are usually met with a total rewrite. It's a matter of security, you know.

That's okay; after such a code is cracked once, it is usually much easier to do the next time. Total rewrites take much longer. It's a matter of time, you know.

Again, securing what, exactly?

[Foxx]

Remind me again: Why is password protecting a quest file so important? Does it keep unauthorized persons from playing a quest?
No, it keeps unauthorized persons from editing one.

You see, most people don't care to have their personal quests opened up by other people with the editor for cheating or feature-lifting.