Recognized developer program

[Mirh 103]

So.. you may recall back this winter I started a really tough rediscover of the ancient Aureal 3D audio technology.
After what initially seemed very good progress I slowly realized I was only touching the tip of the iceberg.
Besides those crappy (which should get a little cleanup in the future btw) solutions on PCGW i linked before, no other advancement could be done without some programming skills.

Moving ahead with time, last month, I did some akin digging out about ATI -old- truform technology
Even this time even when I thought I was almost there.. I was wrong more than ever and, again, no results without programming knowledge.
But I wasn't alone though now. Expack3 was phenomenal helping in the research and he even suggested something which could be truly decisive.

Given both of us are too noob for the venture... and given we wouldn't probably receive so much attention.. what if we could launch a sort of development project with PCGW sponsorship?
We are unknown in the programming world, but there's sure to be at least a few potential developers who've heard of PCGamingWiki and who know their business

The reasons for all this well, seem obvious:

• Preserving gaming history. ATI/AMD's TruForm marks the first time a real-time tessellation implementation was seen in video games.
• Enabling retro games to look their best. When a game's 3D assets were designed around TruForm (i.e. C&C Renegade), it put them a visible step above the competition.
• Unique publicity opportunity. This would be the first major "game fix" project sponsored by PCGamingWiki. Also, more fixes = more visit = profit :P

 

And there's even more things that in my opinion would be worth to ask to an advanced developer, besides truform:

• Aureal3D sound API
• Proper DirectX ≤ 8 support on Windows ≥ Vista wasn't a windows problem
• Xinput controllers having both triggers working in DirectInput games Xinput plus is a thing

Then of course there would be plenty of channels where the "offers" could be advanced: Reddit, Wine mailing lists, Vogons are the first which come to my mind
So, is this somewhat feasible? Am I asking too much?

Thanks for reading

Edited June 26, 2015 by Mirh
removed odd job offer, reworded, added additional "projects"

[Guest]

Neat

[Guest]

As stated by Mirh and Soeb on IRC, "Looks awesome on a developer's resume" isn't exactly a selling point - we'd get laughed at if we tried to use it as such. Instead, a more appropriate response would be something like "Do you know something about tessellation?" or "Can you help me with this project?" I feel both my documents do just that - they basically say "hey, we're looking to re-implement ATI TruForm, which is an old form of tessellation, on modern hardware. Interested in helping us out?" - albeit in a more contractual way. If the staff thinks it would be better to move from a contractual statement to a more informal statement - or something else I'm overlooking - I could make the appropriate changes.

[Garrett 214]

I think an informal approach would work best, finding some interested developers to collaborate on GitHub or the like.

 

Either way such a project would need an accurate list of the games (or versions of games) that definitely support TruForm since some may have had it patched out later on or never had it working correctly.

[Guest]

Either way such a project would need an accurate list of the games (or versions of games) that definitely support TruForm since some may have had it patched out later on or never had it working correctly.

 

Ask, and you shall receive. :)

• C&C Renegade (all official versions)
• Half-Life: Counter-Strike (goldsrc engine, version 1.2)
• Half-Life (goldscr engine, version 1.1.0.7)
• Serious Sam - The First Encounter (original retail version, version 1.05)
• Serious Sam - The Second Encounter (original retail version, unpatched)
• Madden 2003 (unpatched)
• Neverwinter Nights (last official patch)
• Unreal Tournament 2004 (all official patches)

There's more TruForm games out there, but the ones listed above are the ones I could confirm.

Edited July 9, 2014 by Expack3

[Guest]

I've updated the draft e-mail to Peter Thoman with an informal tone - along with cutting out the now-unnecessary details! The link to the draft, found in the OP, is still the same, so you can redownload it using that.

 

Also, as some of you may have noticed, I keep saying "on behalf of PCGamingWiki" in my documents. Given as I'm technically not a staff member, is it really appropriate to include that?

[Pridit 39]

I am not comfortable with this at all, the draft is way too big headed to entice someone to become a volunteer, although I appreciate what you're trying to do here this is completely the wrong way to go about doing it.

 

WE WILL CONTACT YOU - any applicants who PM me or any member of PCGamingWiki on Reddit will be automatically disqualified. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

 

That just isn't acceptable, there's no need for the full capitalization and there's no real benefit for someone to jump through all these hoops to effectively volunteer. There should be no strict requirements, no deadlines, no start dates. It should be relatively open. If this was a paid position I would understand but we aren't able to provide that. You also shouldn't be saying "on behalf of PCGamingWiki" especially anywhere public without being officially affiliated in some way, so please refrain from doing so.

 

First and foremost, this needs to be run through Andytizer. Without his express approval, this stops here. If people want to contribute towards this, then they can do so, but in no way at this stage should any emails go out or posts on reddit be made.

[Guest]

Has this been going anywhere? I don't really have any good knowledge of this stuff. Are there any public APIs which can be worked with?

[Guest]

Has this been going anywhere? I don't really have any good knowledge of this stuff. Are there any public APIs which can be worked with?

Not really. To my (limited) knowledge, while there are API call interceptors, and there exists old source code for doing software Truform-compatible tessellation - albeit, to the author's admittance, highly-unoptimized - I don't know of any public APIs which would allow for the interception of model or polygonal data meant for a GPU. Shaders, depth buffers, etc - that's known and doable (see ReShade), but model or polygonal data interception in a public API? I have no idea if such a thing exists. Plus, it's hard to find people willing to take on hobby projects for obscure technology like this. I'm going to ask around on VOGONS, but I doubt anyone there'd be interested.

[Mirh 103]

Actually, first of all, I was still wondering whether we could have a featured box, a hint, a window where, you know, somebody with the right knowledge could see he's wanted.

It's a pity Andy went MIA with his life project (or whatever :p) about a year ago.

 

Besides, after what they did with pandora tomorrow, I love vogons (and don't underestimate their passion).

Even though it's probably one of the least showcased places on the internet

[Andytizer 269]

I admire your passion for accurate TruForm implementation! We are truly getting into the nitty gritty detail of accurate presentation of older games. 

 

Unfortunately I don't see much benefit for us to actively pursue these fixes. The games work on modern hardware, and accurate TruForm implementation is only going to be relevant to a very small number of people.

 

However we could place information in the wiki for fix projects that are ongoing in the form of references, which point to progress on externally hosted fix projects like this TruForm project.

[Pridit 39]

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