GoldenEye 007 Nintendo 64 Community, GoldenEye X, Nintendo 64 Games Discussion

[oldyz]

Ollo me and the gang had suspected that the explosions was going to be changed.....

for all that talk that the xbox version is not emulation,
the story behind the master quest "port" for the gamecube always gived us a clue that PD 360 was going to be some kind of fancy combination of emulation and new programing.

also , in the comparison pictures of the datadyne labs basement level-
the shiny lights in the cooperative split screens are mising, just like in the nintendo 64 - so we ask why program in those limitations...
if it is no emulator kind of thing , why not enable the lights shining for the split screen.

it turns out that our suspicion was correct- explosions did have changes made to them, they look different in the trailer video.
the smoke seems to be the same and a person who made a review of the game reported slowdown issues when the smoke animations are present
just like in the n64 and emulators...

"To see the game running at a searing 1080p that's matched by a near constant 60 frames per second (there's the occasional slowdown when the smoke effects come into play, but hey, it wouldn't be Perfect Dark if it run totally smoothly) is to see the game how it was intended, and it's a magnificent sight. Rare's eccentric vision, equal parts Bond, Philip K Dick and Mamoru Oshii, is served brilliantly, ensuring that despite its age it's still a handsome game."

http://uk.xboxlive.ign.com/articles/106/1068824p1.html

still we are very curious to know what theories
Wreck
Dragonsbrethen
and
SubDrag
and others have about this curius thing.

Last edited by oldyz on Mon Feb 15, 2010 6:01 pm; edited 2 times in total

[SubDrag]

It's the same basic engine, just recompiled with minor modifications. They didn't mess with the setup files as far as I know, and if they want to change something, they add a new model or new sound, don't update old. I would imagine explosions are simply a new image.

[oldyz]

But why does the game slow down on the xbox 360?

someone told us that the slow down in the n64 was because 2d animation was hard on the n64's processor...

the reviewer reported the slow-down when the smoke animations are seen...

and that really makes no sense unless the relation of the original program and n64 processor was "coded" to the port too .(or something like that)

it looks clear they changed the explosions, and the fireball seems to last less time too.

i will try to find the review and post part to of the video.....

[oldyz]

OK here is the review , check the first post

[SubDrag]

GE had an "old graphics" mode, but I don't think PD's does

[radorn]

The code for the game seems to be, as SubDrag said, mostly a direct port of the original. Actions, AI, collisions, etc etc are just that, a port of the original N64 code, but the graphics (and audio) programming obviously had to be changed completelly since the original was made for the N64's RCP and it's microcodes. After all, the RCP technology is property of Nintendo and Silicon Graphics and they are bound not to license it to MS, Rare or the company that made this conversion of PD, so they wouldn't have it easy to make a wrapper, recompiler, or whatever to convert from RCP to XB360 graphics in realtime, both in legal and technical terms, nor they need to, since they have the original source and docs which would be easier for them to change.

Whoever told you that the smoke slowdowns are because 2D animation is hard on the N64 shows that he has no idea of what he's talking about.
These explosions are not 2D. They are textured triangles in a 3D environment, like everything else in the game.
The N64 slowed down with them because they were a very intensive effect since it used quite a few different textures of fire and smoke, and a lot of moving surfaces with these textures applied on, with varying intensities of coloring, alpha channel transparency and possibly other effects.
I agree that these should not, in principle, be a problem for a system as powerful as the 360, so it's rather obvious that the way the stuff is programmed is to blame, but determining the exact reasons with the information we have is mostly impossible.

SubDrag, beta shots were published showing XBLA PD's classic graphics mode. Is is missing from the final version? if yes, then that's a real shame.

Finally, as a personal comment, I have to say that I don't like at all the updated graphical effects. The shot flares have a lame and dull reddish/orange color that I don't like at all, specially copared to the clear yellow original ones. The same goes for the explosions. Both their look and their "speed" may be more realist, but I think the original style was an important part of the look and feel, and I can't agree with their decission of changing it.

More critizism next time... xD

[00Dark]

We need an old graphics mode just like the one on N64, but simply play it online because it's on the Xbox 360. Damn it. They also need to allow N64 controllers to be used on your Xbox 360 with this game by using the two only USB controller ports on the console for an N64 to USB converter shouldn't they? I really hope that it feels like Classic PD when I play because I'm buying it when the day it's released.

[oldyz]

radorn wrote:

Whoever told you that the smoke slowdowns are because 2D animation is hard on the N64 shows that he has no idea of what he's talking about. These explosions are not 2D. They are textured triangles in a 3D environment, like everything else in the game. The N64 slowed down with them because they were a very intensive effect since it used quite a few different textures of fire and smoke, and a lot of moving surfaces with these textures applied on, with varying intensities of coloring, alpha channel transparency and possibly other effects. I agree that these should not, in principle, be a problem for a system as powerful as the 360, so it's rather obvious that the way the stuff is programmed is to blame, but determining the exact reasons with the information we have is mostly impossible.

mmm - guess we believed it because of previous talks and articles that stated many times that the n64 was bad for 2 dimencional sprites, like in the case of Mortal Kombat trilogy , that was one of the excuses of why it was not made as good as it should have been.
we thought that same reason applied the explosions in some way....

radorn wrote:

The same goes for the explosions. Both their look and their "speed" may be more realist, but I think the original style was an important part of the look and feel, and I can't agree with their decission of changing it. More critizism next time... xD

i liked them , they where like volcano clouds all made of fire.....

So at the end you think they changed them just for looks? or they did probably alter the fireball's programings too to make it less complex and keep the game at true speed

[linkk98]

Obviously they're changing the explosions in PD, (if they even are doing that), because the old explosion tended to lag sometimes. Though they could just make it so the old explosions don't lag, I'm pretty sure the main reason why they're doing it, (if so), is to make the game and the graphics look newer. I mean, look what they did with Banjo Kazooie & Tooie, same game and graphics, it just looks a bit newer.