Project 64 - To Open Source or .. ?

[sytaylor]

yeh documentation is the best route, and maybe a few open source emus as examples, but theres already 1964 and daedalus.

i tried reading the 1964 source and i was boggled!! messed with my miiind im also a fan of documentation well commented code only goes so far

 

[Smiff]

Well, if not open source, perhaps find some dedicated individuals who might want to continue the project - many out there would love to see it continue, no matter how "perfect" 1.4 is.

But, it's up to you. Either way, you've already made your mark on the 64 emu community, and aided in the preservation of Nintendo64 throughout all time - years from now, we can show our children and grandchildren "see, this is what WE played" without having to dig out old, obsolete consoles.

Long live digital.
Long live Project 64.

- Houn

lol, youll have to dig out your old, obselete PC instead... and that's less likely to still work than an N64

 

[Eddy]

the thing thats really gonna kill everythin, is when there is no jabo gfx, because cores can catch up to zilmar's in time, but not gfx to jabo any time soon, it would be cool if jabo handed the code to someone else so they can continue it, as well as zilmar to another person;

 

[zeus]

There are pros and cons with everything in this world but in this situation the pros for open sourcing Pj64 clearly outweights the cons. A lot of work has gone into this project and an open source situation could be the revival it needs.

If the code is well commeted and well documented it would be a great resourse, otherwise it would be almost impossible for someone else to understand three years of thinking. If that is the case documentation with references or sections of the code would be better.

Or you could do it with a catch, release the source for v1.0 a couple of months after the last release and then continue with 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4. This way the ripoffs would be way back in terms of compatibility and features, the "1964 - Blade" dilemma.

And if we were to remove the lame part of this discussion, the ripoff´s, and concentrate on the progress on n64 emulation after pj64 disconnutination, and yes, I know it´s wrongly spelled, a project could be setup. It would take skilled and dedicated ppl to continue the work and raise it to another level. With a little luck maybe one or more of the psx gfx emulation peeps would step over.

And if you don´t want a open source situation you could give the code to another team, to futher the progress.

 

[Eddy]

Jabo can give the gfx source to strmnNrmn, who is a very good gfx coder. the gfx is gonna kill n64 emulation.

 

[Slougi]

Jabo can give the gfx source to strmnNrmn, who is a very good gfx coder. the gfx is gonna kill n64 emulation.

Also StrmnNrmn is converting the daedalus built-in gfx into a dll.

 

[zeus]

After giving it a little thought open sourcing wouldn´t do any difference if there wasn´t anyone to pick it up, a lot of ppl would learn from it but it´s to the other coders that it will make all the difference.

With the recent release of the new tr64 ogl plugin which is good but when using it with a game with a lot of visuality, i.e zelda MoM the difference between the plugins becomes crystal clear. The new tr64 ogl plugin emulates a lof of the gfx but it doesn´t do all the those small things, which ihmo makes all the difference. If these things were incoporated into this plugin, not the cut-n-paste way, which I`m sure isn´t even thoght about but the problem/solution route. They can c how this problem has been attacked, and hopefully solved ,and attack it their own way.

 

[Smiff]

No offense to anyone but the position Jabo is in actually makes it hard for him to release the source.. he's just so far ahead of anything else.. I know in his position I wouldn't, it wouldn't be right... source sharing is great up to a point with other contributors but that would just spoon feeding, I dunno its hard to explain but it's not good, people need to be on roughly the same planet before you start.

 

[Eddy]

Well, jabo's gfx is a important asset to n64 emulation, so is zilmar's core. But if they feel its time to call it quits, in time, there will be enough to replenish the scene. 1964 has moved up. alot. And with azimer's excellent audio plugin, the audio, and core is taken care of, icepir8's tr64ogl and the daedalus plugin are enough also. TR64 is improving and back on dev.

 

[pj64er]

just to throw in a little different opinion, users shouldn't always be glad when something goes open source. it usually means that the authors will not be working on it anymore, or a lot less. And in theory since they created the software, they would be the best ones to continue working on it. But if the project is ending than open source is great in that respect as well, also others can learn quite a bit from it. I'm more of a fan of documentation to tell you the truth. Open Source is over-rated.

i just read this again,

is Jabo hinting that he is going to do documentations?
this would be a great asset to the n64 emu scene!

but this would mean more work for Jakob...

 

[Smiff]

I'm not saying no one else will be able to do a plugin as good as Jabo's, im saying it will take them a long time, probably at least a year from now, maybe two, unless someone is at a much further state then they are letting on or has a huge amount of free time. (and Nemu doesn't count 'cos it's not going to be usable).